Smart TV business regulation and collaboration among business operators and regulators: Focus on the case analysis of Smart TV blocking and IPTV regulation process in Korea

The lack of detailed guideline of network traffic management has led complex conflicts among ICT players. Among them, the most severe case was KT and Samsung's case: Korea Telecom (KT) once blocked Internet connection of Samsung Smart TV service users. This aroused the needs of a reasonable policy establishment. On the process of making policy regarding network management, participants, for example network operators, device and platform providers, and contents providers, are sticking to their own stances. Their passive responses are now leading deepen problems. Thus, we focused on the way of conflict management in a policy level. With internal and external case studies and conflict management grid, we substantiated that the dispute participants will be better off altogether under a reasonable regulation and collaboration

Determinants of user satisfaction in internet use among socio-economically advantaged and disadvantaged groups: The role of digital access and government policy

Digital divide is one of the most concerning issues today. It positions those who 'have-no' access to technology at disadvantage socially and economically. The key to reduce digital divide is to provide access to basic technology and information content. This study explored the role of government policy support in affecting digital access which in turns determining user satisfaction toward Internet use. A large data set that was provided by the Korea Information Society Development Institute confirmed the existence of digital divide in South Korea along the line of education and income. The proposed research model was tested using survey data of 233 socio-economically advantaged (SEA) individuals and 319 socioeconomically disadvantaged (SED) individuals. All hypotheses were supported with the exception of the relationship between policy support and social access for the SEA group. The study has implications on how governments should devise policies to facilitate technology and social access for different socio-economic groups within the country

Adoption of mGovernment service initiative in developing countries: A citizen-centric public service delivery perspective

The phenomenal advancement of mobile technologies and the large penetration of mobile phones in developing countries have provided alternative solutions to re-engineer public service delivery mechanism. Governments are now challenged to deliver an expanding set of services to citizen given the general pervasiveness and ubiquity of mobile devices. This development has given a growing focus on modernizing public service delivery to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of services. The devices have become the world's most common means of interpersonal communication and constituting the new frontier that is beginning to transform governance; making government more accessible and more citizen-centric by extending the dividends of governance. This emerging trend in public service delivery has been named mGovernment. This new paradigm shift of governance is the latest innovation and practice in developed countries. mGovernment has emerged as an appropriate form of governments' initiatives using mobile devices within the purview of government administration to deliver public services to citizens and organizations in a transparent, accountable, efficient and effective manner on mobile devices. The Public Private Partnership (PPP) model has been advocated because of the budgetary constraints of governments. This paper examines some of the factors for its successful implementation and the policy directions for governments and other stakeholders. The paper draws on concepts from multiple theoretical perspectives using the theory of diffusion and grounded theory to understand the proposition of the new initiative. The paper explores mGovernment potentials for transforming governance by increasing their accessibility and citizen-centricity. This study contributes to the literature on mGovernment by synthesizing best practices solutions for public service delivery and suggests a new business model for its sustenance. The paper also suggests policy direction to governments and stakeholders

Innovative Information and Knowledge Sharing Platform for Business Sector: Focus on Intranet-based Social Network Service

Recently, ICT ecosystems are changing rapidly due to the increasing number of innovative products and services in these ecosystems. Among them, SNS is one of the most important elements that make up the ICT ecosystem. With the phenomenal boom of personal SNS, information and knowledge sharing within an organization through enterprise SNS is increasing exponentially. Many companies are adopting and using intranet-based SNS for communicating and sharing information within the firm. However, there have not been many studies exploring the impact of group intentions on the SNS service within a firm. In this study, we investigate user intentions as they relate to intranet-based SNS as better information and knowledge sharing communication tools which improve existing internal communication methods due to their system-wide implementation of a top-down approach and mandatory participation. To do this, this study developed a research model for an intranet-based SNS service based on social exchange theory, social learning theory, motivation theory and We-Intention theory. The results indicated that employees desire to use SNS service when they perceive a reciprocal benefit for themselves and other employees. Usability only affects desire and sociability affects what is termed here as We-Intention. However, sociability's result is opposite in that sociability directly affects We-Intention. Considering that communication and interaction between group members are recently increasingly important, this research results are academically significant because they suggest a meaningful implication to vitalizing information and knowledge sharing in organizations through the use of intranet-based SNS

Gender digital divide and online participation: A cross-national analysis

To achieve the information society for all, access for all is crucial. However, many countries have reported to have large gender discrepancies in online access and participation. This study empirically verified user perception data and compared the data across countries and genders to determine the differences between countries and genders. The results of surveys in Cambodia, Iran, and Korea verify that each aspect of the digital divide and online participation has a different influence on each aspect of digital access and online participation between the genders in each country. In this study, we propose measurement items of digital access and user participation in the online context. This paper also offers guidelines for online policy and business strategy for targeting users with different levels of digital access

Determinants of user satisfaction and continuance intention of smartphones: Focus on interactivity perspective

The development and complexity of mobile and smart technologies continues to evolve with a greater speed, attention needs to be turned to the possibility of continuous development. It has become important to monitor users’ post-purchase behavior in order to understand their continued use of smartphones and other smart devices. This study posits interactivity as a key variable to describe customer satisfaction and continuance intention in using smartphones. We classify interactivity into five sub-dimensions: system quality, network quality, contents quality, customer support, and compatibility. The established model in this study was empirically examined through survey research. Structural equation modeling demonstrated several key findings: contents quality is the most influential factor in shaping satisfaction, followed by compatibility, system quality, and customer support. The results also showed that satisfaction has a positive effect on the continuance intention. In addition, network quality had a positive direct effect on the continuance intention. Users also exhibit significant differences in post-purchase behavior, depending on their operating systems. These results will be helpful for the practitioners to further deliver appropriate service strategies for strengthening ongoing relationship with their customers

Determinants of the subscription to bundled services and their effect on customer retention in the Korean communications sector

Since bundlesprovide price discountsto customers and have lock-in effects forbusinessesin the communicationssector, the number of bundlesubscribersisrapidly growing in many countries,including Korea.The consumerwelfareand marketing effects of bundleshavebeen welldocumented. Existing literature, however,has paid little attention to identifyingthe facets of benefitsand risks that influence subscriptions, the differences in switching costs between subscribers and non-subscribers, and the relationships among bundle satisfaction, customerretention, and switching costs. To address these gaps, we performed an empirical analysis using survey data from 550 individuals.Our findingsshow that concernabout lock-inand performanceas well as economicbenefits influencesubscriptionsto the bundles, switching costs arehigher for thesubscribersthan for stand-alone service users, and monetary switching costsof bundlesdirectly affect customer retention. These results show the lock-in effectsofswitching costsof bundlesin subscribers’ decision-making, retention, and churn. The implications for regulatory policyand customer strategyare discussed