Design Improvements from users’ experiences of low and zero carbon technologies

The development and rapid consumer adoption of low and zero carbon (LZC) technologies are key elements of UK and EU carbon reduction strategies to meet the challenge of climate change. Many LZC technologies are available, ranging from established energy efficiency products such as home insulation and energy-efficient lighting to more innovative renewable energy technologies, including solar thermal systems, micro-wind turbines, solar photovoltaics and biomass stoves. This paper examines key influences on consumer adoption – and non-adoption – of energy efficiency products and renewable energy systems based on the findings of a UK Open University project, which conducted some 111 in-depth telephone interviews plus an on-line survey with nearly 400 responses. The results show that it is important to research consumer requirements and use behaviours when developing ‘green’ technologies. Consumer adoption of LZC products and systems has been relatively slow and, even when installed, due to behavioural effects, they have not always reduced carbon emissions as much as expected. The results of this study of UK consumers’ experiences shows that improved designs are required to address barriers to LZC adoption and problems in use, including functionality, ergonomics, interconnectedness with other systems and symbolic value, as well as price and payback. Offering challenges for designers, engineers and managers, the paper identifies user-centred improvements to promote more rapid adoption and effective use of LZC technologies

Arduous implementation: Does the Normalisation Process Model explain why it's so difficult to embed decision support technologies for patients in routine clinical practice

Background: decision support technologies (DSTs, also known as decision aids) help patients and professionals take part in collaborative decision-making processes. Trials have shown favorable impacts on patient knowledge, satisfaction, decisional conflict and confidence. However, they have not become routinely embedded in health care settings. Few studies have approached this issue using a theoretical framework. We explained problems of implementing DSTs using the Normalization Process Model, a conceptual model that focuses attention on how complex interventions become routinely embedded in practice.Methods: the Normalization Process Model was used as the basis of conceptual analysis of the outcomes of previous primary research and reviews. Using a virtual working environment we applied the model and its main concepts to examine: the 'workability' of DSTs in professional-patient interactions; how DSTs affect knowledge relations between their users; how DSTs impact on users' skills and performance; and the impact of DSTs on the allocation of organizational resources.Results: conceptual analysis using the Normalization Process Model provided insight on implementation problems for DSTs in routine settings. Current research focuses mainly on the interactional workability of these technologies, but factors related to divisions of labor and health care, and the organizational contexts in which DSTs are used, are poorly described and understood.Conclusion: the model successfully provided a framework for helping to identify factors that promote and inhibit the implementation of DSTs in healthcare and gave us insights into factors influencing the introduction of new technologies into contexts where negotiations are characterized by asymmetries of power and knowledge. Future research and development on the deployment of DSTs needs to take a more holistic approach and give emphasis to the structural conditions and social norms in which these technologies are enacte

Softer perspectives on enhancing the patient experience using IS/IT

Purpose – This paper aims to argue that the implementation of the Choose and Book system has failed due to the inability of project sponsors to appreciate the complex and far-reaching softer implications of the implementation, especially in a complex organisation such as the NHS, which has multifarious stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach – The authors use practice-oriented research to try and isolate key parameters. These parameters are compared with existing conventional thinking in a number of focused areas. Findings – Like many previous NHS initiatives, the focus of this system is in its obvious link to patients. However we find that although this project has cultural, social and organisational implications, programme managers and champions of the Connecting for Health programme emphasised the technical domains to IS/IT adoption. Research limitations/implications – This paper has been written in advance of a fully implemented Choose and Book system. Practical implications – The paper requests that more attention be paid to the softer side of IS/IT delivery, implementation, introduction and adoption. Originality/value – The paper shows that patient experience within the UK healthcare sector is still well below what is desired

Gain and Loss in System Switching: A Behavioral Economics View to Understand the Joint Effects of System Usage Performance on User Satisfaction

Information systems acceptance has long been an interesting topic for both researchers and managers. It is necessary to understand user’s attitudes and behaviors toward an information system so as to evaluate the consequence of system implementation. Different from previous research, this study investigates user acceptance toward a newly introduced system from a behavioural economics perspective. Specifically, the study targets the effects of system usage outcomes on user satisfaction in a mandatory context where an old system is replaced by a new one. Based on the Prospect Theory, we argue that users evaluate the new system according to their perceptions from a value function, comparing their current system usage status with a reference point in terms of gain and loss. By describing a three-stage system switching process, this study unpacks how the usage outcomes of both the old and the new system and their contrasts affect perceived value toward the new system, which positively predicts user satisfaction. The system usage performances related to both the old and the new system are incorporated in the research model. Their joint effects, the main and the interacting effects, on user satisfaction with the new system are explicitly explored and explained. Findings of the study enable firms to better understand a system switching process and to design more effective managerial interventions for improving new system acceptance

Educational building conditions and the health of users

In order to maintain a healthy learning environment, diagnosis and management of defects in the educational facility are paramount. The preliminary results of the ongoing research reported here seek to identify defects associated with educational buildings and their effects on the health of polytechnic students and staff in Nigeria. A questionnaire survey, including 34 defects based on a post-occupancy evaluation (POE) was used to establish relationships with the health of polytechnic students and staff. Two hundred (200) respondents were randomly selected based on their schools (faculty) within Lagos State Polytechnic. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for analysis of the collected data. The results of the study indicate that defects such as plumbing and dampness problems, cobwebs and dust, are prominent in the institution. Also the relationship between building conditions (defects) and health problems was established, with the predictors of the health problems. Based on the findings, it is important for designers and managers of facilities within tertiary institutions to develop and implement design and maintenance policies targeted at minimizing the likelihood of plumbing, dampness, electrical, cobweb and dust problems in educational buildings due to the health risks induced by the defects. It is evident that effective maintenance schedules and policies should be put in place to ensure that facilities are not left to decay before replacement

TECHNOLOGY ACCEPTANCE IN A MANDATORY ENVIRONMENT: A TEST OF AN INTEGRATIVE PRE-IMPLEMENTATION MODEL.

Technology acceptance has been studied extensively within the IS discipline. The introduction of the technology acceptance model (TAM) has given researchers the opportunity to produce a vast body of knowledge; however, existing gaps within the technology acceptance literature warrant further investigation of these understudied areas. Namely, few if any have studied end users’ acceptance of newly implemented technologies within organizational contexts before end-users start using the technology. Additionally, leadership is one of the areas that has not yet been sufficiently integrated with the technology acceptance literature. The Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) theory with its roots in the social exchange theory offers us an opportunity to investigate an overlooked facet of the social influence processes, specifically, the role of the direct leader (i.e. supervisor) as it relates to technology acceptance. In this research LMX, which captures the quality of the relationship between employees and their supervisors, is introduced as a moderating variable for many of the research model’s relationships. Thus, by integrating variables from multiple relevant literatures, this research attempts to answer this research question: Will the introduction of a richer model for technology acceptance in a mandatory adoption environment, specifically in the pre-implementation phase, allow us to capture and account for the complexities of organizational technology implementations? The research model was tested in an organizational setting where a new Content Management System was being implemented. One of the study’s major findings is that it reveals a relatively different pattern of relationships between the variables within the context of this research. A majority of the hypotheses were supported and the model has displayed relatively large explanatory and predictive power. LMX’s moderating role also highlighted the important role that direct supervisors play in the acceptance process; support was found that LMX strengthens the relationship between supervisor influence and behavioral intention, Perceived Behavioral Control, Appropriateness, Perceived Usefulness, Valence, and Perceived Ease of Use