Digital Artefacts and The Role of Digital Affordance

This work investigates how the concept of affordance should be revised following the digital evolution. Starting from a review of the literature about affordance, the most acknowledged constructs are compared with the variegated definitions of digital artefacts. The paper proposes a definition of digital affordance, overcoming the inconsistencies identified in the literature. The study is enriched by a series of interviews to investigate the final users' perception of affordance. Finally, the paper shows the application of the proposed model with a case study related to food delivery services

The relationship between leadership moral disen-gagement and burnout: the mediation effect of presenteeism climate and the moderation effect of contract types

The following research seeks to study the implications regarding Leadership Moral Disengage-ment (LMD), as it is an emerging concern in hotel management operations, as well as verify the subsequent effects of a relationship with burnout related symptoms, which may worsen overall work conditions. This study also aims to enrich a field of research that is still relatively unexplored, particularly raising awareness to the negative effects of LMD, which surely emerge from working in such environments. By studying data acquired regarding 129 employees from several hotels throughout the course of five consecutive working days, it is expected that these diaries should become quite insightful in future strategic decisions. Numerous tests and analyses were performed, including the usage of the PROCESS extension developed by Hayes, in order to assess the limita-tions of Leadership Moral Disengagement, more explicitly when related to burnout effects through the mediation of presenteeism climate. Furthermore, it is also tested whether contract types may moderate this relationship, since it is expected that more permanent contracts may attenuate the effects of burnout. The results found in this paper offer some support and insight for the proposed hypotheses, meaning that there was significant evidence regarding the relationship between LMD and burnout, on two separate instances: a mediation through presenteeism climate and a moderated mediation through contract types. Further research is required to strengthen the findings of this dissertation, even though results already reveal an urgent need for better procedures regarding the synergies between leaders and employees.A seguinte investigação procura estudar as implicações relativas o Descomprometimento Moral dos líderes, devido à crescente preocupação com a mesma na indústria hoteleira, bem como veri-ficar as consequências respetivas de uma relação com sintomas de "burnout", que podem deteriorar mais as condições de trabalho. Este estudo procura também enriquecer um campo de pesquisa ainda relativamente inexplorado, particularmente dando notoriedade aos efeitos negativos do Descomprometimento Moral dos líderes, que seguramente surgirão por se trabalhar em ambientes nestas circunstâncias. Estudando dados de 129 colaboradores de diversos hotéis ao longo de cinco dias de trabalho consecutivos, espera-se que estes diários venham a ser um bom contributo para decisões estratégicas futuras. Vários testes foram efetuados, incluindo o uso da extensão PRO-CESS desenvolvida por Hayes, para averiguar as limitações do Descomprometimento Moral dos líderes, mais concretamente quando relacionado com os efeitos de "burnout" através da mediação de clima de presenteeismo. Adicionalmente, é também testado se os tipos de contrato podem mo-derar esta relação, sendo que é esperado que os contratos permanentes possam atenuar os efeitos de "burnout". Os resultados obtidos nesta dissertação oferecem algum suporte para as hipóteses pro-postas, pela significância que houve relativamente à relação entre Descomprometimento Moral dos líderes e "burnout", em duas instâncias distintas: uma mediação através de clima de presente-eismo, e uma mediação moderada através dos tipos de contrato. São necessárias mais investigações para fortalecer as descobertas deste estudo, apesar de já se revelar a urgência em desenvolver me-lhores procedimentos relativamente às sinergias entre líderes e colaboradores

Automated synthesis of mediators to support component interoperability

Interoperability is a major concern for the software engineering field, given the increasing need to compose components dynamically and seamlessly. This dynamic composition is often hampered by differences in the interfaces and behaviours of independently-developed components. To address these differences without changing the components, mediators that systematically enforce interoperability between functionally-compatible components by mapping their interfaces and coordinating their behaviours are required. Existing approaches to mediator synthesis assume that an interface mapping is provided which specifies the correspondence between the operations and data of the components at hand. In this paper, we present an approach based on ontology reasoning and constraint programming in order to infer mappings between components' interfaces automatically. These mappings guarantee semantic compatibility between the operations and data of the interfaces. Then, we analyse the behaviours of components in order to synthesise, if possible, a mediator that coordinates the computed mappings so as to make the components interact properly. Our approach is formally-grounded to ensure the correctness of the synthesised mediator. We demonstrate the validity of our approach by implementing the MICS (Mediator synthesIs to Connect Components) tool and experimenting it with various real-world case studies

Linking internal marketing with customer outcomes

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to explore how the adoption of an internal marketing (IM) programme in a retail banking setting enhances some positive employee behaviours that promote customer perceived service quality. Design/methodology/approach – A multilevel research design is adopted which draws evidence from branch managers, employees and customers in order to investigate whether branch manager’s adoption of an IM philosophy affects front-line employee responsiveness to the firm’s IM strategies and their levels of motivation, empowerment and organizational identification (OI), respectively. Findings – Results indicate that manager’s IM adoption can enhance employee adoption of IM and raises their levels of motivation, empowerment and OI. The moderating role of manager-employee dissimilarity is also discussed. Finally, findings confirm that employee motivation, empowerment and OI affect customer perceptions of service quality. Originality/value – This study provides an important shift by formally including IM into multilevel marketing research and establishes another link in the IM-organizational performance relationship, uncovering some behavioural routes through which the positive effects of IM can add to the achievement of firm’s external marketing objectives

Are we predisposed to behave securely? Influence of risk disposition on individual security behaviors

Employees continue to be the weak link in organizational security management and efforts to improve the security of employee behaviors have not been as effective as hoped. Researchers contend that security-related decision making is primarily based on risk perception. There is also a belief that, if changed, this could improve security-related compliance. The extant research has primarily focused on applying theories that assume rational decision making e.g. protection motivation and deterrence theories. This work presumes we can influence employees towards compliance with information security policies and by means of fear appeals and threatened sanctions. However, it is now becoming clear that security-related decision making is complex and nuanced, not a simple carrot- and stick-related situation. Dispositional and situational factors interact and interplay to influence security decisions. In this paper, we present a model that positions psychological disposition of individuals in terms of risk tolerance vs. risk aversion and proposes research to explore how this factor influences security behaviors. We propose a model that acknowledges the impact of employees' individual dispositional risk propensity as well as their situational risk perceptions on security-related decisions. It is crucial to understand this decision-making phenomenon as a foundation for designing effective interventions to reduce such risk taking. We conclude by offering suggestions for further research.</p

Developing a distributed electronic health-record store for India

The DIGHT project is addressing the problem of building a scalable and highly available information store for the Electronic Health Records (EHRs) of the over one billion citizens of India

Buyers’ psychological situations in cross-border electronic commerce

Cross-border electronic commerce (CBEC) has emerged as an innovative business model that transforms consumer behaviour and mindsets, in the era of digitalization and globalization. Buyer situations in CBEC are complex due to the separation of global sellers and buyers in terms of geographic distance, language and cultural differences, and buyer preferences. However, few studies have explored buyers’ shopping decisions from a situational perspective. Drawing on the stimulus–organism–response framework, this study conceptualizes a CBEC buyer shopping model that theorizes four psychological situational factors (i.e., CBEC platform design, user–platform interaction, logistics evaluation, and task orientation) as stimuli, cognitive and affective states as organisms, and shopping intention as a response. The model was empirically tested using 241 data through structural equation modelling. The results indicate that all situational factors positively affect two evaluative states, which in turn positively affect shopping intention. Implications for theory and practice are discussed

Models of collaboration between psychologist and family doctor: a systematic review of primary care psychology

open2noThe prevalence of psychological suffering is greater than the actual request for clinical consultation in Europe (Alonso et al., 2004). In Italy, no more than 5.5% of the population requested psychological assistance during lifetime (Miglioretti et al., 2008). There are different obstacles that prevent the access to mental health services, such as economic restrictions (Mulder et al., 2011), cultural prejudice (Kim et al., 2010), and lack of knowledge about the service providers that can answer to the patient’s psychological needs (Molinari et al., 2012). Therefore, the psychologist is often consulted as a last resort, only after everything else has failed, when problems have become severe, and thus requiring longer, more intensive, and expensive treatments. The introduction of the Primary Care Psychologist, a professional who works together with the family doctor, allows to overcome the above-mentioned problems and intercept unexpressed needs for psychological assistance. This professional role is operating in many countries since several years. In this study, current literature concerning different models of collaboration between physician and psychologist, in Europe and in Italy, was reviewed. A systematic search of Web of Science (ISI), Pubmed, Scopus, and PsychINFO was conducted using the initial search terms Primary Care Psychologist, Family Doctor, Primary Care, Collaborative Practice, and several relevant papers were identified. The review has shown the improved quality of care when mental health care is integrated into primary. Analyzing how different programs are implemented, results indicated that the more efficacious models of Primary Care Psychology are those tailored on the environment’s needs.The results of our systematic review stress the importance of the Primary Care Psychologist implementation also in Italy, to intercept unexpressed psychological needs and enhance clients’ quality of life.openFrancesca, Bianco; Enrico, BenelliBianco, Francesca; Benelli, Enric

The Many Facets of Mediation: A Requirements-driven Approach for Trading-off Mediation Solutions

Mediation aims at enabling dynamic composition of multi- ple components by making them interact successfully in order to satisfy given requirements. Through dynamic composition, software systems can adapt their structure and behaviour in dynamic and heterogeneous envi- ronments such as ubiquitous computing environments. This paper pro- vides a review of existing mediation approaches and their key character- istics and limitations. We claim that only a multifaceted approach that brings together and enhances the solutions of mediation from different perspectives is viable in the long term. We discuss how requirements can help identify synergies and trade-offs between these approaches and drive the selection of the appropriate mediation solution. We also highlight the open issues and future research directions in the area