Determinants of Green Purchase Intentions of Saudi Consumers

Much of the research on how and why consumers engage in pro-environmental consumption has occurred in the wealthy countries of the West, where green markets are increasingly well established. Research in other economic and cultural context is sparse and points to large regional differences that cause some researchers to call key theoretical foundations, such as the Theory of Planned Behavior, into question. In response, this study investigates the factors that predict green purchase intention for food and personal care products in Saudi Arabia, a wealthy country with a rapidly growing population, severe environmental challenges, and a nascent green consumer market that has rarely been the subject of green marketing research. After a review of the literature, which results in a conceptual research model, the research occurs with a sequential mixed method design: the first research phase consists of ten interviews that elucidate reasons for and barriers to green purchasing intention, including the role of religion, peer opinion, and the cultural norm of prudence. Findings from the interview study are used to develop a survey questionnaire that is administered to faculty and students of King Abdulaziz University (KAU) in Saudi Arabia, yielding 368 responses. Hypothesis-testing confirms the predictions of the Theory of Planned Behavior despite the unique cultural setting. Multiple Regression Analysis identifies the predictors of green purchasing intention, highlights the importance of subjective norms, and prompts an exploratory mediation and moderation analysis to examine the effects of individual behavioral beliefs on the subjective norms path. Results show that Saudi Arabia is a unique context, where green product adoption is in its early stages. Multiple factors influence green product intention, and several of them differ, depending on product category: Consumers who intend to purchase organic food products are strongly motivated by egoistic benefits, novelty seeking, and altruistic benefits, whereas consumers of organic personal care products are influenced by egoistic benefits, environmental concern, and awareness about green products. Moreover, subjective norms are very important and can cause conflict between consumers\u27 personal attitudes and their desire to conform to social norms. This conflict can be resolved by ignoring subjective norms, which consumers high in independent judgment appear to do, and by re-interpreting information about social norms to align norms and individual attitudes. These findings can be used to formulate effective marketing strategies to benefit the government and companies in the country

Managing the Ethical and Risk Implications of Rapid Advances in Artificial Intelligence: A Literature Review

The development of emergent technologies carries with it ethical issues and risks. We review ways to better manage the ethical issues and risks of one emerging technology: Artificial Intelligence (AI). Depending on how AI\u27s development is managed, it may have beneficial and/or deleterious effects. The processing capacity of Tianhe-2, the world\u27s fastest supercomputer, by some measures, exceeds the processing capacity of a single human brain. but at a prohibitive processing/power consumption ratio and physical size. Given the current pace of AI R&D activities, some estimates in the literature suggest that the technology could become capable of self-determination and super intelligence in only a few decades. This demands a serious analysis of the ethical implications of AI\u27s development and the risks it might pose, in addition to technology management recommendations. We review the state of AI development, the timeline and scope of its possible future development, and potential ethical risks in its implementation. Further, we briefly review ethics and risk management practices as they relate to technology. Finally, we make technology management recommendations, which may help to address the ethical implications and to mitigate existential risks to humanity - with the development and dissemination of AI - by guiding its proper management. © 2016 Portland International Conference on Management of Engineering and Technology, Inc

Assessing the Photovoltaic Solar Technologies as a Solution for Power Shortage in Iraq

In a developing country like Iraq, where the infrastructure of the electricity public sector (production, transportation, and distribution) has suffered for a long time from the direct effects of successive wars; lack of technocracy; bureaucracy; neglect; massive corruption; and much more, have all contributed to the failure of this sector. Indeed, the electricity sector in Iraq has not been developed for more than forty years; or even properly rehabilitated and/or maintained, which has led to a huge gap between the demand and supply (demand is double than the supply). It is obvious that the alternative solutions that have been proposed, and implemented since 2003 have not become a solution that could fill even a small portion of the gap. In this paper, a proposed solution that seemingly has never been given a chance to be put on the table by both the private and public sectors will be discussed. An assessment for photovoltaic solar panels technologies as an effective, viable, and quick solution for the infrastructure and demand problem was conducted using the Hierarchical Decision Model (HDM) as a methodology to assess the most efficient, and affordable candidate technologies relevant to all the valid perspectives and criteria. The technology candidates selected for the assessment process were Crystalline Silicon (C-Si), Cadmium telluride photovoltaics (CdTe), Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS). The finding shows that the C-Si is the favorable technology for the Iraq situation

Meet ARA, The Modular Phone Marketing Plan Report and Research Log

Project ARA is an initiative that aims to develop an open hardware platform for creating highly modular smartphones. This initiative provides a vehicle to support Google’s overall mission of organizing and connecting the world\u27s data making it not only useful but universally accessible. Data suggests that mobile technology, such as smartphones is significantly increasing in usage, so much that it is doubling that of laptop/desktop usage. Supporting data shows since 2008, mobile devices have been on a steep increase of usage [1] [2]. Google is using Project ARA to infiltrate this increasing mobile market by using the idea of a modular smartphone to not only meet the customer needs of customization but also to continue Google’s mission and demand for more data usage