The effects of individual-level culture and demographic characteristics on e-learning acceptance in Lebanon and England: A structural equation modeling approach

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel UniversityDue to the rapid growth of Internet technology, universities and higher educational institutions around the world are investing heavily in web-based learning systems to support their traditional teaching and to improve their students’ learning experience and performance. However, the success of an e-learning system depends on the understanding of certain antecedent factors that influence the students’ acceptance and usage of such e-learning systems. Previous research indicates that technology acceptance models and theories may not be applicable to all cultures as most of them have been developed in the context of developed countries and particularly in the U.S. So far little research has investigated the important role that social, cultural, organizational and individual factors may play in the use and adoption of the e-learning systems in the context of developing countries and more specifically there is almost absence of this type of research in Lebanon. This study aims to fill this gap by developing and testing an amalgamated conceptual framework based on Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and other models from social psychology, such as Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and TAM2 that captures the salient factors influencing the user adoption and acceptance of web-based learning systems. This framework has been applied to the study of higher educational institutions in the context of developing as well as developed countries (e.g. Lebanon and UK). Additionally, the framework investigates the moderating effect of Hofstede’s four cultural dimensions at the individual level and a set of individual differences on the key determinants that affect the behavioural intention to use e-learning. A total of 1197 questionnaires were received from students who were using web-based learning systems at higher educational institutions in Lebanon and the UK with opposite scores on cultural dimensions. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was used to perform reliability and validity checks, and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) in conjunction with multi-group analysis method was used to test the hypothesized conceptual model. As hypothesized, the findings of this study revealed that perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEOU), subjective norms (SN), perceived quality of work Life (QWL), self-efficacy (SE) and facilitating conditions (FC) to be significant determinants of behavioural intentions and usage of e-learning system for the Lebanese and British students. QWL; the newly added variable; was found the most important factor in explaining the causal process in the model for both samples. Our findings proved that there are differences between Lebanese and British students in terms of PEOU, SE, SN, QWL, FC and AU; however no differences were detected in terms of PU and BI. The results of the MGA show that cultural dimensions as well as demographic factors had a partially moderated effect on user acceptance of e-learning. Overall, the proposed model achieves acceptable fit and explains for 68% of the British sample and 57% of the Lebanese sample of its variance which is higher than that of the original TAM. Our findings suggest that individual, social, cultural and organisational factors are important to consider in explaining students’ behavioural intention and usage of e-learning environments. The findings of this research contribute to the literature by validating and supporting the applicability of our extended TAM in the Lebanese and British contexts and provide several prominent implications to both theory and practice on the individual, organizational and societal levels.Altajir Trus

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The Impact of IS-Business Alignment Practices on Organizational Choice of IS-Business Alignment Strategies

This study utilizes a mixed method approach to examine the relationship between IS/Business alignment practices and organizational choice of IS/business alignment strategy. To this end, the significance of six maturity factors of IS/Business alignment – governance, partnership, scope and architecture, communication, value, and skills – from the Strategic Alignment Maturity model are examined against three alignment strategies (independent, sequential, and synchronous) adopted by different organizations. Governance and partnership were found to be the most significant factors towards the evolutive process of IS/business alignment regardless of the alignment strategy. Moreover, our data shows that organizations that are most mature in partnership have a higher tendency to implement sequential integration strategy (IS strategy formulation follows and supports business strategy formulation) and not synchronous – where IS strategy formulation and business strategy formulation are done simultaneously. Follow-up group discussions with senior managers were also conducted in an attempt to identify the top management practices that advance the IS/business alignment process. The discussions revealed three management practices that considerably contribute to the process of aligning IS and business strategies: (1) the formalization of a program management process, (2) the improvement of support for hierarchies of authority, and (3) the integration of collaboration values. Those findings are discussed and future avenues of research are offered

Investigating the situated culture of multi-channel customer management:A case study in Egypt

This paper investigates the influence of national culture on customers' behavior and customers' choice of channel through the customer life cycle stages. An exploratory in-depth single case study in a multinational organization in Egypt was conducted. Specifically, 31 in-depth interviews were conducted with members of staff in marketing, IT, retail and customer services departments, and external prospects/customers. Based on an interpretive approach, the authors have articulated a situated cultural approach based on structuration theory to identify the cultural dimensions that have provided an understanding of the cultural influence on customers' channel choice. The results highlighted that verbal, human interaction, traditional shopping, and cash based were the themes for customers' channel choice through the four stages of customer life cycle. The results also show that the customers' channel choices were linked to the following Egyptian cultural dimensions: collectivism, market price relationship, emotional, power distance, low trust, uncertainty avoidance, and universalism

Overcoming Melanoma Immune Tolerance: Non-specific CTLA-4 Blockade/Interferon-alfa and Antigen Specific Immunization with TLR-9 Stimulation/Local GM-CSF as Components of a Melanoma Immunotherapeutic Strategy and Associated Biomarkers of Therapeutic Benefit

Immunotherapy utilizing cytokines or immune regulatory check point blockade has consistently demonstrated superior clinical efficacy in melanoma when compared to tumor peptide immunization strategies reported to date. In this project, I conducted 2 model studies representing alternative immunotherapeutic approaches (non-antigen specific combination of interferon-á2b and an anti-CTLA4 monoclonal antibody, IFN-Treme compared to a tumor antigen specific multi-epitope vaccine given in adjuvant with the potent combination of a TLR-9 agonist and GM-CSF) designed to overcome tumor immune evasion and conducted separately in a similar patient population. In addition to evaluating safety and clinical efficacy, I tested the following hypotheses: (1) Clinical benefits are likely to be associated with markers of reversal of immune tolerance (autoimmunity). (2) Clinical benefits may be predicted by baseline peripheral biomarkers of immune tolerance/suppression (C-reactive protein, CRP and absolute lymphocyte count, ALC). (3) Superior antitumor efficacy is likely to be associated with more effective downregulation of the host suppressor immune response (circulating T regulatory cells, T-reg and myeloid derived suppressor cells, MDSC). My findings supported superior clinical efficacy that was associated with more significant modulation of immune tolerance by the combination of IFN-Treme. Autoimmunity correlated with improved clinical outcome among the recipients of IFN-Treme (but not the vaccine) and suggested more significant reversal of immune tolerance. Baseline CRP and ALC were significantly predictive of therapeutic benefit with the IFN-Treme combination and may serve as variables for stratification of future trials, as these are validated in larger studies. Finally, my findings supported more significant downregulation of the host suppressor immune response by the nonspecific IFN-á/Treme regimen as compared to the vaccine-TLR agonist/GM-CSF combination. There was apparent increase in CD4+CD25hi+ CD39+ Treg but this was associated with an increase in the overall CD4+ T cell population suggesting that direct inhibition of CTLA4 suppressive effects on T effector cells leading to their expansion and prolonged activation is likely more important than the regimen's effect on T-reg. In addition, I saw parallel downregulation in several populations of MDSC following treatment with IFN-Treme which may have had a role in the reduction of immune suppression and superior clinical outcome observed