Adoption of the Internet and WAP-enabled Phones: The Case of Singapore

The Internet, and more recently mobile phones, has seen tremendous growth over the past few years. This paper examines the adoption of the Internet and WAP-enabled mobile phones in Singapore. Specifically, we examine the profile of Internet users, Internet activities and issues relating to WAP-enabled mobile phones. The results provide researchers and practitioners with some insights on the adoption of the Internet and WAP-enabled mobile phones. For researchers, such insights would be useful in understanding the adoption phenomenon, while for practitioners, such insights would provide some basis for adopting certain policies to promote adoption

Landowners, developers and the rising land cost for housing, the case of Seoul, 1970-1990.

A sharp rise in house prices became a political issue in Korea in the late 1980's. It opened a heated debate among scholars and experts on the causes of house price rises. In the debate, a common belief was that high land prices had been one of the main causes of high house prices. In fact, the proportion of land cost in new house prices has steadily increased as the latter has risen in Korea during the past two decades. This research calls into question the notion underlying that common belief that land prices exist independently of housing development. Most policy measures are sought on the basis of this notion. This research argues that land prices are an outcome of conflicts between landowners and developers in the process of housing development. In exploring the idea that the determination of land cost for housing is a result of conflicts between landowners and developers, the research came to the question of what the source of conflicts is, a question of why and how the two actors enter into conflictive relations. It was a suggestion of Marx's concept of rent that surplus profits are the material source of conflicts; the ability of developers to create higher surplus profits provides possibility of landowners to demand more payments for their land; landowners' appropriation of increasingly larger portions of surplus profits then conditions the way developers produce housing; thus both enter into a conflictive and contradictory relationship. It was thus hypothesised that the rising land cost for housing has been primarily a result of that conflicting and contradictory interaction, which is permanently operating in housing development. However, how far and in what forms the conflict affects housing development and the determination of land cost are affected by social mediation of the interaction. Thus the research, the test of the above hypothesis, comprises two parts: the identification of the material aspect of the process by which landowners and developers entered into conflicting relations resulting in increasing land prices for housing as suggested in Marx's concept of rent; and the examination of political and economic circumstances in which social relations between the two actors were conditioned to leave that material process unregulated. This hypothesis was tested with reference to the case of housing development in Seoul during the 1970's and 1980's. The empirical examination disclosed that the rising land cost for housing in Korea has been due to the conflictive nature of the relationship between landowners and developers. Developers have created large surplus profits by exploiting rapidly growing speculative demand for housing and government housing programmes relying on private development; this have provided room for landowners to raise land prices such that increasingly larger portions of new house prices have been allocated to land cost; increasing government intervention have been unsuccessful in controlling this conflictive and contradictory process and the consequent spiral rises in land cost and house prices because of its inability to break from its self-financing housing development strategy; this inability has been due to historical circumstances which, characterised by strong state and weak labour relations and the subordination of finance to industrial capital, have conditioned housing development to be driven by the private appropriation of development gains

Assessing the Impact of Internet Adoption Levels on Competitive Advantage

This paper introduces a model for Internet adoption, namely: level 0 – e-mail adoption; level 1 – Web presence; level 2 – prospecting; level 3 – business integration; and level 4 – business transformation. Two broad Web site categories can be identified: informational Web site and transactional Web site. The competitive advantages in terms of differentiation, cost reduction, innovation, growth, and alliance that are affected by Internet adoption are examined. A questionnaire survey of 553 firms was conducted, of which 159 usable responses were received, resulting in an effective response rate of 28.8%. The results show that proactive business strategy, firm size and competitive advantage are found to be positively related to Web adoption level. Implications of the results for researchers and practitioners are discussed, and directions for future research are proposed

Conciliatory and Non-Conciliatory Responses to Cyber Incivility

This paper examined a) non-conciliatory responses – revenge and avoidance, and b) conciliatory response – reconciliation to cyber incivility. Based on a survey of 192 employees, results showed that (dis)satisfaction with supervisor mediated the relationship between supervisor’s cyber incivility and victim’s responses. Individual responses to cyber incivility were moderated by a) victim’s personality through (dis)satisfaction with supervisor. The victim’s dark personality traits (Machiavellianism) and cyber incivility jointly produced conditional indirect effects on the victim’s responses. Machiavellianism produced a positive indirect effect on revenge and a negative indirect effect on reconciliation. Overall, findings suggested that the victim’s personality had a conditional indirect effect on the victim’s response to cyber incivility through (dis)satisfaction with supervisor

E-Government Maturity, Corruption, And Eco-Efficiency

There is growing interest in the role and contribution of e-government to the level of corruption and the eco-efficiency in terms of economic prosperity and environmental degradation of nation states. In this paper, we use publicly available archival data to explore the relationships among e-government maturity, corruption, and eco-efficiency (defined in terms of economic prosperity and environmental degradation). Results substantiate a significant relationship between e-government maturity and corruption, and e-government maturity and eco-efficiency through the mediating effects of corruption. The findings suggest that while e-government maturity did not contribute to eco-efficiency, its value could be realized indirectly via its impacts on corruption, which in turn influences eco-efficiency. Our findings contribute to the theoretical discourse on e-government impact by identifying the role of e-government in a country and provide indications to practice on enhancing its eco-efficiency by managing the level of corruption

The IT Way of Idling on the Job: A Preliminary Study of Cyberloafing

The Internet is a useful business tool that is increasingly being made available to employees to enhance their work productivity. Recent reports in the popular literature, however, suggest that the Internet may well be a doubleedged sword that companies should use with caution, since the ease and convenience with which the Internet may be accessed at the workplace lends the potential for it to be abused by employees. This study thus examined the extent to which Internet abuse – termed ‘cyberloafing’ – occurs at the workplace in Singapore. We define cyberloafing as the act of employees using their companies’ Internet access during office hours to surf nonwork related Web sites and to check personal email. Data were collected, using an electronic questionnaire posted on the Internet, from 188 working adults with access to the Internet at their workplace. Results of our study suggest that employees do cyberloaf while at work by surfing non-work related Web sites and checking personal email. Findings further suggest that respondents feel justified in using their companies’ Internet access for personal purposes when they have been treated unfairly, or when they feel that they have expended extra effort to fulfil their job duties. Majority of respondents in our study either worked in organizations where there were no policies regulating workplace Internet usage or were unaware of the existence of such policies. Implications of our findings for organizations are discussed

Understanding the Effectiveness of Carbon Management System (CMS): An Empirical Study

Despite increasing emphasis on corporate sustainability and green IS, empirical research on the relationships between specific green IS artifacts and intended outcomes (such as various resource consumption) are relatively scant. In addition, research is silent on the firm-specific factors that could influence the benefits from such artifacts. This paper seeks to fill this research gap by examining the relationship between carbon management system (CMS) and energy consumption. The paper also explores the role of the environmental management system (EMS) and human capital development (HCD) in influencing the relationship between CMS and energy consumption. The study utilizes data from secondary sources and proprietary databases. Findings from this study empirically demonstrate the environmental value of specific green IS artifacts and the role of facilitating factors

STARA fight or flight: a two-wave time-lagged study of challenge and hindrance appraisal of STARA awareness on basic psychological needs and individual competitiveness productivity among hospitality employees

The introduction of smart technologies, artificial intelligence, robotics, and algorithms (STARA) has changed the workforce significantly, with many concerns about its impact on employees. This study elucidates how one’s appraisal of this situation would influence basic psychological needs and individual competitiveness productivity. Using a two-wave time-lagged study, data collected from 224 hospitality employees was examined using the partial least squares method structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). Results suggested that individual appraisal towards STARA awareness has differential outcomes towards satisfying basic psychological needs. Among the three basic psychological needs, the needs for relatedness and competency were positively related to individual competitive productivity (ICP). We extend extant studies by incorporating challenge-hindrance framework and self-determination theory (SDT) in the context of the future of work involving STARA. It advances the body of knowledge in understanding a more fundamental issue of how STARA can bring out the best in employees, how STARA shapes employees’ opinions and perspectives of the work they are doing, and what they should do to work alongside STARA