Cultural effect on electronic consumer behaviour: the effect of uncertainty avoidance on online trust for the Egyptian Internet users

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.The ubiquitous nature of e-commerce demands an innovative conceptualization of consumer behaviour that responds to various cultural preferences. Culture has been identified as an underlying determinant of consumer behaviour, and this extends to ecommerce. This research investigates this phenomenon for the Egyptian consumer. This research designed a plausible, integrated framework for investigating the target phenomenon, especially for un-explored cultures. To help to identify salient components of the phenomenon, a three-study exploratory phase, that included: interviews, a survey, and card sorting sessions, was undertaken. The exploratory results highlighted the roles of trust, uncertainty avoidance, Internet store familiarity, and reputation as the main salient factors affecting the perception of the targeted group toward e-commerce. The research hypotheses were then developed based on the exploratory results. Finally, a model testing phase to empirically assess the research hypotheses through a laboratory experiential survey with 370 Egyptian Internet users was undertaken. The experiential survey results support the significant role of the Internet store’s perceived familiarity and reputation as the main antecedents of online trust. The relationship between trust and its two antecedents are found to be culturally sensitive; the high uncertainty avoidance of the consumer is found to be associated with a stronger effect of the store’s reputation on trust, and a stronger effect of store’s familiarity on trust. The research also highlights the significant effect of trust on the attitude towards and the willingness to buy from an e-commerce site. This research, by providing an understanding of the cultural drivers of e-commerce, contributes to building a theory of consumer’s cultural trust within an Internet store context. The research reports on the development of an integrated cultural trust model that highlights recommendations for expanding the adoption of e-commerce. The systematic research framework, introduced by this research, can be a robust starting point for further related work in this area

Cultural effect on electronic consumer behaviour

The ubiquitous nature of e-commerce demands an innovative conceptualization of consumer behaviour that responds to various cultural preferences. Culture has been identified as an underlying determinant of consumer behaviour, and this extends to ecommerce. This research investigates this phenomenon for the Egyptian consumer. This research designed a plausible, integrated framework for investigating the target phenomenon, especially for un-explored cultures. To help to identify salient components of the phenomenon, a three-study exploratory phase, that included: interviews, a survey, and card sorting sessions, was undertaken. The exploratory results highlighted the roles of trust, uncertainty avoidance, Internet store familiarity, and reputation as the main salient factors affecting the perception of the targeted group toward e-commerce. The research hypotheses were then developed based on the exploratory results. Finally, a model testing phase to empirically assess the research hypotheses through a laboratory experiential survey with 370 Egyptian Internet users was undertaken. The experiential survey results support the significant role of the Internet store’s perceived familiarity and reputation as the main antecedents of online trust. The relationship between trust and its two antecedents are found to be culturally sensitive; the high uncertainty avoidance of the consumer is found to be associated with a stronger effect of the store’s reputation on trust, and a stronger effect of store’s familiarity on trust. The research also highlights the significant effect of trust on the attitude towards and the willingness to buy from an e-commerce site. This research, by providing an understanding of the cultural drivers of e-commerce, contributes to building a theory of consumer’s cultural trust within an Internet store context. The research reports on the development of an integrated cultural trust model that highlights recommendations for expanding the adoption of e-commerce. The systematic research framework, introduced by this research, can be a robust starting point for further related work in this area.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Managing tourists’ needs and expectations: ِAn empirical analysis of the Egyptian airline sector

An in-depth review of related literature has revealed that a majority of travel and tourism researchers tend to define quality as meeting tourists’ needs and expectations. Since tourists (Passengers’) expectations of service quality may vary at different stages in the service process, it has been strongly argued that in practice, most airlines measure passenger perceptions of their service offerings in order to evaluate and understand the airline’s performance level without clear knowledge of tourists’ expectations for service in each stage. Consequently, Lack of understanding or misunderstanding such expectations could pose serious problems in resource allocation decisions. On the one hand, this study therefore attempts to develop a new service quality management instrument called TNE-Matrix, to be used as a futuristic and a predictive airline strategic planning tool, which integrate airline service bundle planning, service delivery process enhancement and service process control. The results from the survey of the Egyptian airline frontline managers and employees suggest that TNE-Matrix is highly valued as a predictive and a daily management tool, used to empower frontline employees to act on information received regarding the passengers’ needs and expectations. On the other hand, it uses SERVQUAL model to measure perceived airline service quality from the passengers’ viewpoint. The results of both steps indicated that enhancing the communication process between tourists and the airline frontline staff, and particularly flight attendants, has been highlighted as a key benefit of using the TNE-Matrix in the services delivery process and consequently in managing tourists’ needs and expectations proactively

How Did the COVID-19 Pandemic Affect Higher Education Learning Experience? An Empirical Investigation of Learners’ Academic Performance at a University in a Developing Country

COVID-19 has dramatically reshaped the way global education is delivered. Millions of learners were affected by educational institution closures due to the pandemic, which resulted in the largest online movement in the history of education. With this sudden shift away from classrooms in many parts of the globe, universities had to rapidly shift to virtual and digital strategies. Many believe that the adoption of online distance learning will persist after pandemic. A new hybrid model of education is expected to emerge, and, given the digital divide, new shifts in education approaches could widen equality gaps. This is one of the first empirical studies investigating the effect of the sudden shift from face-to-face to online distance learning due to COVID-19 lockdown at one of the universities in Egypt. Comparison of grades was made between 376 business students who completed a face-to-face course in spring 2019 and 372 students who completed the same course but fully online via distance learning mode in spring 2020 during the lockdown. T-test was conducted to compare grades of quizzes, course work, and final exam for the two groups. Chi-square test was used to compare grade distribution for both groups. The effect of gender, credit hours, age, and CGPA was assessed. The results suggested that there was no statistically significant difference in students’ grades. In addition, the unplanned and rapid move to online distance learning at the time of pandemic did not result in a poor learning experience as was expected. The study also included a survey of 435 students and interviews with a sample of professors about their learning and teaching experience during the lockdown. The results of this study provide specific recommendations for universities, instructors, and higher education portal designers about future application of online distance learning. Since Egypt decided to make the shift to online distant learning in all future higher education plans, the results of this research would be especially vital for universities in Egypt and other developing countries. If administered correctly, this shift could lead to a larger learner population, more cost efficiencies, and more university revenue

The Intention to Use Mobile Student Portal: A Mobile Human Computer Interaction Study in a University Context in Egypt

Mobile devices are increasingly being used as platforms for interactive services. However, factors affecting adoption of mobile services in some specific contexts, such as student portals, are still underresearched. This paper reports thematic analyses of semistructured interviews conducted with 52 undergraduate users of mobile student portal in a developing country. The results uncover design features affecting the use of mobile student portals, such as (1) Content Sharing, comprising an Integrative Design to share posts from the mobile portal to social media, (2) Personalized Content and Notification, for personalized notification based on student’s academic status, (3) Location-Aware notification, providing location-based updates, (4) User Control, allowing to choose content formats and details level, and (5) Context Switching and Interrupted Behavior, leading to the need for displaying content in small, meaningful chunks to help pick up after interruptions of messages and calls. The findings suggest design recommendations for mobile student portal, in specific

Factors Affecting mHealth Technology Adoption in Developing Countries: The Case of Egypt

Mobile health apps are seeing rapid growth in the potential to improve access to healthcare services for disadvantaged communities, while enhancing the efficiency of the healthcare delivery value chain. Still, the adoption of mHealth apps is relatively low, especially in developing countries. In Egypt, an initiative for national-level healthcare coverage was launched in 2021, accompanied by a rise in mHealth start-ups. However, many of these projects did not progress beyond the pilot stage, with very little known about the antecedents of mHealth adoption for the Egyptian user. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 Egyptians, aiming to uncover factors affecting the use of mHealth apps for Egyptian citizens. Some of these factors were introduced by previous studies, such as Perceived Service Quality, Perceived Risk, Perceived Ease of Use, and Trust. Others were not well established in the mHealth research strand, such as Perceived Reputation and Perceived Familiarity, while Governance, Personalized Experience, Explain-ability, Interaction, Language, and Cultural Issues, are novel factors introduced by the current research. The effect of these suggested independent variables on the willingness to adopt mHealth apps was validated using a survey administered to 150 Egyptians, confirming the significant positive effect of most of these factors on mHealth adoption in Egypt. This research contributes to methodology by introducing novel constructs in the mHealth research context, which might be specific to the target developing country. Practical implications were suggested for designers and healthcare service providers might increase the adoption of their apps in developing countries, such as Egypt

The Use of Education Management Information Systems in Higher Education Institutions: An Empirical Investigation of the Effect of Degree of Interactivity

Technology is capable of revolutionizing the management of higher education institutions and improving services they provide. However, this does not happen in many cases because, either the appropriate technology is not available, or because technology is simply not used. The last decade has seen substantial investments in technology infrastructure for higher education enterprises. Resource constrains and accreditations requirements oblige higher education institutions to set their technology priority and select the most appropriate systems. This paper suggests and empirically evaluates a predicting Higher Education Management Information Systems (HEMIS) use model. Built on well-established information systems user’s behavioural models, the model suggested by this research hypothesizes that degree of interactivity have significant effect on HEMIS use, where user’s attitude and intension to use are mediator factors. The paper reports the findings of an experiential survey study, conducted over 110 higher education administration staff of different managerial levels, in 7 different higher education entities, looking at their use of three types of HEMIS. Structural Equation Modelling is employed to evaluate the goodness-to-fit of the suggested model. The results provide empirical evidence on how interactivity affects user behaviour in HEMIS context. Furthermore, the study reports some interesting findings concerning the use of HEMIS highly interactive tools within the environment of higher education entities. Implications and suggestions for future research for both researchers and practitioners are discussed

Understanding How Learners Use Massive Open Online Courses and Why They Drop Out: Thematic Analysis of an Interview Study in a Developing Country

This article presents a qualitative study on Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) dropout in a developing world. Thematic analyses of semistructured interviews were conducted with 52 learners, eight weeks after their actual registration for a course of their choice as part of a self-learning activity. The results uncover novel design factors affecting MOOC retention. Among these factors are Learner Control, in which users can design their own long-term learning track from various course modules; Integrative Design, comprising learners’ own accounts on social media; and Independent Design, in which a course’s modules can be taught separately and learners need not complete an overall course but rather can select modules from various courses. Mobility and Language are identified as important decisive factors for users to drop out from or complete a MOOC Course. This research also highlights the importance of Diversity and Novelty for this type of application. The research reveals the Multitasking Behavior of users, leading to the need for Easy-to-Scan content. The findings provide a basis for improving the understanding toward reasons for MOOC drops and suggest a number of practical design recommendations for designers and providers. Furthermore, the completion rate observed in this study was slightly higher than was typically found in previous studies. This result might suggest that using a MOOC as a learning opportunity within the context of a universityaccredited program would increase the likelihood of completion