Internet banking acceptance model: Cross-market examination

This article proposes a revised technology acceptance model to measure consumers’ acceptance of Internet banking, the Internet Banking Acceptance Model (IBAM). Data was collected from 618 university students in the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia. The results suggest the importance of attitude, such that attitude and behavioral intentions emerge as a single factor, denoted as “attitudinal intentions” (AI). Structural equation modeling confirms the fit of the model, in which perceived usefulness and trust fully mediate the impact of subjective norms and perceived manageability on AI. The invariance analysis demonstrates the psychometric equivalence of the IBAM measurements between the two country groups. At the structural level, the influence of trust and system usefulness on AI vary between the two countries, emphasizing the potential role of cultures in IS adoption. The IBAM is robust and parsimonious, explaining over 80% of AI

From family successors to successful business leaders:A qualitative study of how high-quality relationships develop in family businesses

Little attention has been given to the role of interpersonal relationships in building the leadership skills of next-generation successors, with most literature focusing on the development of their business and technical skills. Drawing on Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) theory, we qualitatively explore how high-quality relationships develop between next-generation leaders and family and non-family stakeholders and how they impact leadership development. Findings from interviews with 24 next-generation leaders of family businesses in India show that high-quality relationships develop through mutual respect, trust, early affiliation with the business, mentoring, and mutual obligation. By exploring how high-quality relationships develop between next-generation family business leaders and family and non-family stakeholders, we contribute to a finer-grained understanding of successful intergenerational succession in family businesses. We also contribute to LMX theory by considering networks of relationships (and not just dyadic relationships) and by identifying two antecedents that are specific to family businesses (early affiliation with the business and mentoring) to the previously identified ones (trust, mutual respect, and mutual obligation)

Technological elites, the meritocracy, and postracial myths in Silicon Valley

Entre as modernas elites tecnológicas digitais, os mitos da meritocracia e da façanha intelectual são usados como marcadores de raça e gênero por uma supremacia branca masculina que consolida recursos de forma desproporcional em relação a pessoas não brancas, principalmente negros, latinos e indígenas. Os investimentos em mitos meritocráticos suprimem os questionamentos de racismo e discriminação, mesmo quando os produtos das elites digitais são infundidos com marcadores de raça, classe e gênero. As lutas históricas por inclusão social, política e econômica de negros, mulheres e outras classes desprotegidas têm implicado no reconhecimento da exclusão sistêmica, do trabalho forçado e da privação de direitos estruturais, além de compromissos com políticas públicas dos EUA, como as ações afirmativas, que foram igualmente fundamentais para reformas políticas voltadas para participação e oportunidades econômicas. A ascensão da tecnocracia digital tem sido, em muitos aspectos, antitética a esses esforços no sentido de reconhecer raça e gênero como fatores cruciais para inclusão e oportunidades tecnocráticas. Este artigo explora algumas das formas pelas quais os discursos das elites tecnocráticas do Vale do Silício reforçam os investimentos no pós racialismo como um pretexto para a re-consolidação do capital em oposição às políticas públicas que prometem acabar com práticas discriminatórias no mundo do trabalho. Por meio de uma análise cuidadosa do surgimento de empresas de tecnologias digitais e de uma discussão sobre como as elites tecnológicas trabalham para mascarar tudo, como inscrições algorítmicas e genéticas de raça incorporadas em seus produtos, mostramos como as elites digitais omitem a sua responsabilidade por suas reinscrições pós raciais de (in)visibilidades raciais. A partir do uso de análise histórica e crítica do discurso, o artigo revela como os mitos de uma meritocracia digital baseados em um “daltonismo racial” tecnocrático emergem como chave para a manutenção de exclusões de gênero e raça.Palavras-chave: Tecnologia. Raça. Gênero.Among modern digital technology elites, myths of meritocracy and intellectual prowess are used as racial and gender markers of white male supremacy that disproportionately consolidate resources away from people of color, particularly African Americans, Latino/as and Native Americans. Investments in meritocratic myths suppress interrogations of racism and discrimination even as the products of digital elites are infused with racial, class, and gender markers. Longstanding struggles for social, political, and economic inclusion for African Americans, women, and other legally protected classes have been predicated upon the recognition of systemic exclusion, forced labor, and structural disenfranchisement, and commitments to US public policies like affirmative action have, likewise, been fundamental to political reforms geared to economic opportunity and participation. The rise of the digital technocracy has, in many ways, been antithetical to these sustained efforts to recognize race and gender as salient factors structuring technocratic opportunity and inclusion. This paper explores some of the ways in which discourses of Silicon Valley technocratic elites bolster investments in post-racialism as a pretext for re-consolidations of capital, in opposition to public policy commitments to end discriminatory labor practices. Through a careful analysis of the rise of digital technology companies, and a discussion of how technology elites work to mask everything from algorithmic to genetic inscriptions of race embedded in their products, we show how digital elites elide responsibility for their post-racial re-inscriptions of racial visibilities (and invisibilities). Using historical and critical discourse analysis, the paper reveals how myths of a digital meritocracy premised on a technocratic colorblindness emerge key to perpetuating gender and racial exclusions.Keywords: Technology. Race. Gender

Experimental analysis and theoretical modeling of forced mechanical response of nitinol stent for popliteal segment of femoral region

M.S. University of Hawaii at Manoa 2012.Includes bibliographical references.Stents are small, wire-mesh struts that are placed into arteries after an angioplasty procedure. The purpose of a stent is to help keep the portion of the blood vessel that has been treated with angioplasty open after the procedure. Stents have been used to help substantially reduce the restenosis associated with angioplasty procedures. Two broad categories of stents are self-expanding and balloon expanding. Balloon expandable stents have been available for several years, but the application of shape memory alloys to the manufacture of stents is relatively new. The differences between the two stents stem mainly from the material of construction. Self-expanding stents are investigated in this study. In particular, the mechanical response of a bare stent made of a shape memory alloy (SMA), Nitinol is investigated here. The Nitinol stent is investigated experimentally and using finite element methodology (FEM). The Guidant Absolute Nitinol Stent is experimentally tested for various uniaxial tensile loading conditions. In addition the stent specimen was subject to compressive, and crush loads as well. The stent geometry was rendered using computer aided design (CAD) software, Solidworks. Several different lengths of the stent were created, but only 7.30, 10.87, 14.42 mm stents were subject to the same uniaxial tensile, and compression loads. The crush test was not simulated. In addition three modifications to the Absolute stent geometry were also created and tested for the same uniaxial tensile loads. Results from the simulation were validated against the experimentally acquired results. Comparison of the simulation and experimental results reveals that the load-strain relationship from the different simulated lengths is similar to that found experimentally. The simulation represented the elastic region of the Nitinol stent under tensile loading well. The experimental results showed a steeper elastic region, which was accounted for by the increased length of the stent. The load-strain curve comparison reveals that the load at which the Nitinol undergoes phase transformation is 0.9 N from experiment and approximately 0.7 N from the simulations. The model correctly predicted the locations of concentrated stress, in turn, accurately identifying the regions that would be expected to suffer structural failure. Moreover, the geometry modifications reveal a dependence of the stiffness of the stent on the number, location, and length of the bridge elements

Small business in developing economies: A study of entrepreneurship in Nepal

The role of entrepreneurship in economic growth of a country is often accepted as a truism. Scholars are also in agreement that there is a need to adjust development programs to local need. Thus, there is a need to study entrepreneurship in the cultural context. Fairbairn (1988), based on his Pacific experience, argued that Schumpeter’s concept of the innovating entrepreneur appears to have a limited value in understanding entrepreneurship in many developing countries where the entrepreneurial ask lies in applying, modifying, and adapting existing knowledge rather than in implementing ideas based on new discoveries. He further noted that large closely integrated families or kinship groups continue to persist in many developing countries, which means that the focus should be on the family as entrepreneurial unit rather than on the individual. Peterson (1988) categorically states that ’entrepreneurship’s true believers often fail to appreciate the degree to which effective entrepreneurship is enmeshed with culture’ and that ’gradually it is becoming clear that each country/culture must develop its own brand of entrepreneurship and raise its own champions to promote entrepreneurial behavior that fits the prevailing societal mores’. There has been some research examining entrepreneurship in its cultural context in Norway and Ireland (Hornaday, 1986; Hisrich, 1988). However, there is a dearth of coverage of Asian entrepreneurs. It is in this context that the present survey of Nepali entrepreneurs was carried out

The role of culture theory in cross-cultural training: A comparative evaluation of culture-specific, culture-general, and theory-based assimilators

To examine the role of culture theory in cross-cultural training, a culture theory-based assimilator using the theory of individualism and collectivism was developed and tested. Results show that the theory-based assimilator can be an effective cross-cultural training tool.The comparative evaluation of three types of cross-cultural training tools, a culture-specific assimilator for Japan, a culture-general assimilator for sensitizing people to cultural differences, the individualism and collectivism assimilator (ICA), and a control group, indicated that the theory-based assimilator is effective.Compared to the other three groups, ICA was found to have significant effect on the Intercultural Sensitivity Inventory (ICSI). In addition, the ICA was significantly more effective on the category width scale compared to both the culture-specific and the culture-general assimilators. On the attribution making tendencies, ICA was significantly more effective compared to the culture-specific assimilator, whereas on reaction measures it was significantly more effective compared to the control group only. The findings indicate that the ICA may have significant advantages over the other assimilators.Future research should focus on testing the results of this study on other samples, especially a managerial one. Other ways of using culture theory in cross-cultural training should also be explored.U of I OnlyETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permissio