E-VOTING SYSTEMS: A TOOL FOR E-DEMOCRACY

Using electronic voting systems is divisive as some countries used such systems and others did not. Electronic voting (e-voting) is relatively a new concept based on its application that aims at reducing errors and improving the convenience and integrity of election process. This paper tried to explore the factors that influence the adoption of such systems in a university environment. The study utilized a sample of 302 bachelor degree students in a public Jordanian university and in relation to students’ council election process. Results indicated that students were keen on the concepts of trust and usefulness of e-voting when adopting such systems. The study supported the findings of TAM in the area of technology acceptance. Conclusions are at the end of this paper.E-government, e-democracy, e-voting, students’ elections.

Students' perceptions of flipped classrooms, gender, and country difference

Information technology and the Internet has enabled faculty and educational institutions to implement new teaching methods to enrich the educational environment. The flipped classroom (FC) method changed the teaching practices and encouraged active learning. Using pre-class videos made the class time available for active discussions. This study utilized two samples to compare student perceptions on the challenges and benefits of such a method. The first sample included 200 students from a leading university in one of the Gulf Region countries, and the second sample included 114 students in Jordan. Results indicated a domination of higher means for the Jordanian sample, and the for males sample. Results partially supported the model for the Gulf university students and overall sample, but fully for the Jordanian sample. The strongest predictor of FC was perceived enjoyment and the weakest predictor was relative advantage. More results and discussion are reported at the end

Adapting the UTAUT2 Model for Social Commerce Context

Social commerce (SC) became a major channel for conducting business as a result of the ban adopted by many countries because of COVID-19. The simplicity of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) and its extended version (UTAUT2) invites researchers to explore other options that can yield better explanation of the adoption of SC. This study extended the UTAUT2 with perceived value, trust, and a SC-related construct. In addition, the study re-structured the UTAUT2 to fit with SC environment. The study utilized 463 surveys distributed in Qatar and analyzed the data using SEM. Results fully supported the proposed model, where trust, perceived value, facilitating conditions, and hedonic motivation significantly predicted behavioral intentions with an R2 value equal to 72%. The model supported the role of performance expectancy and SC constructs in predicting perceived value and the role of effort expectancy and habit in predicting hedonic motivation

Drivers of Social Media Networking Site Continuance Intention in Jordan and South Africa: Do National Cultural Differences Matter?

The present study integrates perceived service quality and national cultural dimensions into the expectation-confirmation model (ECM) to ascertain the antecedents of user satisfaction and continuance use of SNSs and tested the moderating role of culture on the strengths of relationships in the adapted ECM. Data for empirical testing of the research model, using a partial least squares (PLS) structural equation modelling technique with multi-group analysis, were obtained from 987 SNS users in Jordan and South Africa. The findings suggest that, although there are differences in the path estimates of users in these contexts, these differences are not statistically significant, implying that cultural factors are not salient considerations for promoting SNS user satisfaction and continuance use intention. Implications of these findings for theory and practice are discussed

A Descriptive Framework for the Field of Knowledge Management

Despite the extensive evolution of knowledge management (KM), the field lacks an integrated description. This situation leads to difficulties in research, teaching, and learning. To bridge this gap, this study surveys 2842 articles from top-ranked KM journals to provide a descriptive framework that guides future research in the field of knowledge management. This study also seeks to provide a comprehensive depiction of current research in the field and categorizes these research activities into higher-level categories using grounded theory approach and topic modeling technique. The results show that KM studies are classified into four core research categories: technological, business, people, and domains/applications dimensions. An additional concern addressed in this study is the major research methodologies used in this field. The results raise awareness of the development of KM discipline and hold implications for research methodologies and research trends in the selected KM journals. The results obtained from this study also provide practitioners with a useful quality reference source. The framework and the components included provide researchers, practitioners, and educators with an ontology of KM topics, where they can cover deficiencies in research and provide an agenda for future research

Utilizing radio frequency identification in libraries: The case of Qatar

Nowadays, RFID technology is widely being used in libraries across the world. This study is in line with global literature pertaining to the implementation of RFID technology in libraries and intends to explore and examine the perceptions of employees from two libraries in Qatar. Data was collected from both staff and managers using two separate surveys. The perceptions of both sets of employees were analyzed and compared to highlight the differences in benefits, drawbacks, and issues concerning the implementation of RFID in contrast to barcode. 'Shelf management of resources,' 'perceived RFID contributions,' and 'workplace efficiency' were the top 3 rated dimensions pertaining to the use of RFID. Additionally, 'increased customer satisfaction' was rated the highest among the reasons as to why RFID is adopted in libraries and the fact that all negative decision determinants were moderately perceived when compared to the positive ones indicates the overall positive attitude of managers in these libraries towards RFID technology. Further conclusions and future work are proposed at the end of the study

Critical Success Factors for ERP Implementation: Two Directions Focusing on Employee Perceptions in Qatar

Due to the high failure rate of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, implementation issues have been highly addressed in the literature. Two major directions were followed in the literature focusing on technology adoption theories and focusing on the critical success factors (CSF) of ERP implementation from organizational perspectives. However, few studies covered both directions in one study. This study extended the TAM with computer self-efficacy (CSE) and explored the major CSF that influence the implementation process of ERP systems in a Qatari environment. Three hundred twenty-one valid responses were collected from employees working in 40 different organizations with varied business lines in Qatar. Results indicated that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and computer self-efficacy were significant predictors of behavioral intention (R2 = 0.56). Major findings of the descriptive analysis related to the CSF concluded that top management support followed by users’ training and project management process are the major ones perceived by the sample

When Users Enjoy Using the System: The Case of AIS

This study utilized an extended model of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2) to explore the factors influencing the future adoption of accounting information systems (AIS) by Qatari students. A research model was proposed to predict future adoption, partially moderated by voluntary status of using the system. A sample of 237 students was used to probe their perceptions regarding the use of such systems in their future careers. Students were enrolled in an accounting information systems course in Qatar University. Results indicated that perceived facilitating conditions, performance expectancy and enjoyment were significant predictors of AIS. The other factors failed to be significant predictors. The estimated R2 was 48.4%. The moderation effect of voluntariness was also significant in influencing the relationship between enjoyment and future adoption. The moderator yielded a negative beta, which means that it faded the relationship under consideration. Conclusions and future recommendations are reported at the end of the paper

Utilizing the Internet of Things in the Public Sector

This study investigated the utility of the internet of things in the public sector and the factors influencing the satisfaction of its users. The study followed two directions: The first investigated managers’ perceptions and their satisfaction with using sensors for tracking vehicles. The second direction investigated drivers’ satisfaction with the system used. Results collected from 20 interviews conducted with managers revealed that cost reduction and more control over drivers’ behaviors are the contributions expected from the system. They reported the dissatisfaction of drivers based on violation of their privacy, inequity of implementation, and the low awareness of its utility. Surveys collected from drivers supported the role of trust and privacy but failed to support the role of usefulness. The qualitative and quantitative nature of this research revealed valuable insights and concluded to important recommendations and future work

End User Satisfaction With Cloud Computing: The Case of Hamad Medical Corporation in Qatar

Cloud computing assures a faster, cheaper and more efficient rendering of resources, which leads to huge popularity among businesses and specifically the health sector. The major objective of this research is to identify the benefits of cloud computing (CC) and the factors influencing users satisfaction. Utilizing a survey collected from 219 employees, the research model was tested. Results indicated that employee compliance issues, security and privacy issues, economic benefits, operational benefits, functional benefits, and trust are all significant predictors of satisfaction. Management issues and private cloud risks were not significant predictors of satisfaction. The coefficient of determination R2 = 0.81. This study conducted comparisons between different categories of the sample based on their satisfaction level and concluded that age and education were significant discriminators, while gender, experience, and department were not. Conclusions and future research are stated in the last section