Moderating effect of religiosity on the relationship between technology readiness, trust and diffusion of e-commerce (B2C) in Sultanate of Oman

Electronic commerce has tremendously revolutionized the global economic system. Notwithstanding it has been playing a catalytic role in strengthening economies of the developing states, many countries are lagging behind in practicing electronic commerce due to numerous factors including technology readiness and trust. This study aimed to investigate the nature of relationship that exists between technology readiness, trust and diffusion of electronic while focusing on the public sector higher education institutions of the Sultanate of Oman. Furthermore, the study indented to examine the moderating effect of religiosity on the relationship between technology readiness, trust and diffusion of e-commerce. A structured questionnaire representing dimensions related to technology readiness, trust, religiosity and diffusion of electronic commerce was duly designed. Data was collected using survey method, through the distribution of the structured questionnaires to the public sector higher education institutions of Oman. The Partial Lease Square - Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed to test the hypotheses. The results indicated that technology readiness, trust and religiosity have positive effects on the diffusion of e-commerce. Additionally, the findings revealed that religiosity significantly and positively moderates the relationship between technology readiness, trust and the diffusion of electronic commerce. The results imply that all the stakeholders must call their attention to the core areas of e-commerce like technology readiness, trust and religiosity to ensure a brighter future in today’s fast moving and competitive environment. While contributing to the body of knowledge and highlighting the importance of technology readiness and trust in the diffusion process of electronic commerce, the study appropriately provides practical, managerial, educational and theological implications to the prospective consumers, governmental officials, policy- makers and the e-commerce global community. In terms of limitations, this study is confined to the impacts of technology readiness, trust and religiosity on the diffusion of (business to consumer) electronic commerce, and has targeted academicians from the public higher education institutions, as respondents. On the basis of this study, future research can be conducted in the perspective of developing countries other than the Sultanate of Oman. It would also be valuable to employ the framework in conducting comparative studies on the developing and the developed nation

Roles of selective agriculture practices in sustainable agricultural performance : a systematic review

Feeding the growing global population while improving the Earth’s economic, environmental, and social values is a challenge recognised in both the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Sustaining global agricultural performance requires regular revision of current farming models, attitudes, and practices. In systematically reviewing the international literature through the lens of the sustainability framework, this paper specifically identifies precision conservation agriculture (PCA), digital agriculture (DA), and resilient agriculture (RA) practices as being of value in meeting future challenges. Each of these adaptations carries significantly positive relationships with sustaining agricultural performance, as well as positively mediating and/or moderating each other. While it is clear from the literature that adopting PCA, DA, and RA would substantially improve the sustainability of agricultural performance, the uptake of these adaptations generally lags. More in-depth social science research is required to understand the value propositions that would encourage uptake of these adaptations and the barriers that prevent them. Recommendations are made to explore the specific knowledge gap that needs to be understood to motivate agriculture practitioners to adopt these changes in practice. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Academic Libraries during the COVID-19 in the Higher Education Institutions: A Case of Supporting Role to an Online Academic Activities

This article has been designed to study the role of academic libraries and online academic activities among students during the COVID-19 in higher education institutions. The outbreak spread from Wuhan city of China and placed online learning as well as hybrid modes of academic activities around the globe. A quantitative study design has been used to conduct an online cross-sectional survey in two public sector universities in the Punjab province. A sample of 1058 university students enrolled in BS programs out of 1820 participated through a classified random sampling technique. A structured questionnaire pretested from 30 students was used as a tool for data collection. This study concludes that all the predictors used as an independent variable including online library services, online research support, online library facilities, online material availability, and online audio/video material predict favourably online learning activities among university students during the COVID-19 outbreak

The role of FAIR data towards sustainable agricultural performance : a systematic literature review

Feeding a growing global population requires improving agricultural production in the face of multidimensional challenges; and digital agriculture is increasingly seen as a strategy for better decision making. Agriculture and agricultural supply chains are increasingly reliant on data, including its access and provision from the farm to the consumer. Far-reaching data provision inevitably needs the adoption of FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) that offer data originators and depository custodians with a set of guidelines to safeguard a progressive data availability and reusability. Through a systematic literature review it is apparent that although FAIR data principles can play a key role in achieving sustainable agricultural operational and business performance, there are few published studies on how they have been adopted and used. The investigation examines: (1) how FAIR data assimilate with the sustainability framework; and (2) whether the use of FAIR data by the agriculture industry, has an impact on agricultural performance. The work identifies a social science research gap and suggests a method to guide agriculture practitioners in identifying the specific barriers in making their data FAIR. By troubleshooting the barriers, the value propositions of adopting FAIR data in agriculture can be better understood and addressed. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

The moderating effect of religiosity on the relationship between technology readiness and diffusion of electronic commerce

Developing states, following the theory of “the survival of the fittest”, are severely in need of building up their electronic commerce for their economic survival on the globe.Beside other challenges, developing states are lagging behind in terms of technology readiness (TR).Another leading factor, particularly within the practicing Muslim communities, could be the impact of religiosity that has been unanimously found playing an immense role in buyers’ buying attitude, judgment of product price and quality. Having an immense influence, it affects both intra-personally and interpersonally.Furthermore, religiosity shapes consumers’ mind-set, learning and life style and is also considered as one of the significant factors with regards to hi-tech innovations adoption. This paper puts light on the relevant and valuable perspectives: technology readiness, religiosity and diffusion of electronic commerce, in the perspective of Muslim majority developing countries. While contributing to the field of knowledge, the study highlights the importance of technology readiness and trust in the diffusion process of electronic commerce. Looking into the moderating effect of religiosity in this regard, it underlines the unique features (completeness, universality, ever-greenness and applicability) of Islam including the moderate approach of Islam, toward technologies including e-commerce, thus boosting up electronic commerce trade.While, possessing the practical, educational and theological implications, the study will be helpful to all the stakeholders including; prospective consumers, governmental concerned authorities and e-commerce global community

Diffusion of electronic commerce (B2C) in Oman through education sector -an analysis based on E.M. Rogers' theory of diffusion of innovations (DoI) 1995

Notwithstanding Sultanate of Oman is recently entitled as one of the fastest growing nations over the last 40 years among 135 states in the world and is grouped as the most developed and stable country in the region by the United Nations Development Program me, it ranks low in the list of electronic commerce (EC) practicing countries worldwide.Indeed, it is locals' attitude towards EC that has been resulting in country's lower position in the list states pursuing EC and not technological infrastructure.Addressing important factors effecting persuasion of business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce in Oman, this paper aims to uphold a thorough analysis by using E.M. Rogers's theory of diffusion of innovations (DoI) and come up with a proposed framework and valuable suggestions those will help diffusing EC within the Sultanate.In this regard, it is recommended that intellectuals including; academicians, scholars and students can play a vital role by conducting interpersonal communication across the community

Role of Psychological Sense of Community in Enhancing Employee’s Well-Being

Yearning for sense of community is in part fostered by decline of traditional place of community due to which people feel less satisfied at workplace. Thus drawing on psychological sense of community theory, this paper is going to focus on relationship between employee’s sense of community and life satisfaction; a critical, yet under research relationship. Using regression analysis, it was found that if employees are provided with sense of community at workplace, then they are satisfied with their life

Inclinations of Global Research on Saffron as Represented by Science Citation Index-Expanded

Using the Science Citation Index-Expanded of the Web of Science Core Collection, we analyzed global saffron research literature published between 1991 and 2017. The variables examined were research performance of nations, institutions, and authors. The study noted that the distribution of author keywords, citations, and publication patterns of saffron related articles to ascertain the research inclinations. The highly cited articles and author keyword analysis showed that the chemical and biochemical qualities of saffron were of key interest for the researchers