Social learning approach in designing persuasive e-commerce recommender system model

Intention to purchase in existing online business practice is learned through observation of information display by online seller. The emergent growth of persuasive technologies currently holds a great potential in driving a positive influence towards consumer purchase behavior. But to date, there is still limited research on implementing persuasion concept into the recommender system context. Drawing upon the principle design of persuasive system, the main purpose of this study is to explore social learning advantages in creating persuasive features for E-Commerce recommender system. Based on Social Cognitive Theory, the influence of personal and environmental factors will be examined in measuring consumer purchase intention. In addition, dimensions of social learning environment are represented by observational learning theory and cognitive learning theory. From those reviews, this study assumed that social learning environment can be created based on attentiveness, retentiveness, motivational, knowledge awareness and interest evaluation cues of consumer learning factors. Furthermore, the persuasive environment of recommender system is assumed to have positive influence towards individual characteristics such as self-efficacy behavior, perceived task complexity and confused by over choice. Findings from those reviews have contributed to the development of a research model in visualizing social learning environment that can be used to develop a persuasive recommender system in E-Commerce and hence measures the impact towards consumer purchase intention

Effects of sugar sources and fermentation time on the properties of tea fungus (kombucha) beverage

Recently, fermented foods have been developing huge demand among modern consumers due to their health benefits and pleasant flavour. The objective of the present work was to evaluate the effects of fermentation time and different sugar sources on the physicochemical and antioxidant activities of kombucha tea. The sugar sources selected were white refined sugar (WRS), coconut palm sugar (CPS) and molasses sugar (MS). The fermentation substrate was boiled black tea, 10% (w/v) of each sugar, 3% (w/v) of tea fungus (SCOBY) and 10% (v/v) of previously fermented kombucha tea (back slope fermentation). The mixture was incubated in the dark at 24±3°C for 14 days. The sugar and organic acid contents were determined by HPLC, while the antioxidant active was determined by the DPPH and FRAP methods. Results demonstrated significantly higher biomass formation, glucose and sucrose content for kombucha tea fermented with WRS, while kombucha tea fermented with MS showed higher organic acid contents. Moreover, kombucha tea fermented with CPS exhibited the highest antioxidant activity and total phenolic content, followed by those fermented with MS and WRS. The present work demonstrated that kombucha tea fermented with CPS is recommended to be consumed as functional beverage for health benefits and prevention of oxidation related diseases. In addition, CPS and MS are good sugar alternatives to sucrose and other sugars frequently used in kombucha fermentation

Clinical-epidemiological pattern of primary immunodeficiencies in Malaysia 1987-2006: a 20 year experience in four Malaysian hospitals

Aim of study: To determine the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of patients seen with primary immunodeficiencies referred at four Malaysian Hospitals between 1987 to 2007 Methods: Patient data were retrospectively obtained from patient records and supplemented by information from a standardized questionnaires taken at the time of diagnosis from 4 participating hospitals. The completed data were transferred to document records kept by the first author. The diagnoses made were based on criteria set by WHO Scientific Committee 1986. Results: Fifty one (51) patients with completed records satisfied the criteria of primary immunodeficiencies based on WHO Scientific Committee 1986. Predominant Antibody deficiency (40.4%) is the commonest of the class of primary immunodeficiency (based on modified IUIS classification) followed by phagocytic defect (17.3%), combined immunodeficiencies (15.4%) and other cellular immunodeficiencies (11.5%). The commonest clinical presentation is pneumonia (54%). A positive Family history with a close family relative afflicted was a strong pointer to diagnosis for PID (52.6%) Primary immnodeficiencies are seen in all the major ethnic groups of Malaysia, predominantly among Malays. As observed in other patient registries, diagnostic delay remains the major cause of morbidity and mortality. Conclusion: Primary immunodeficiencies is relative rare but is an emerging disease in Malaysia. Creating awareness of the disease, may reveal more cases within the community. It is sufficient to be a health issue in Malaysia as in other developing countries in the future

Development of instrument for assessing information systems continuance use

Information systems (IS) or computer based systems plays a critical role in an organization's success. IS can facilitate organization through several courses of information management including gathering, processing and disseminating information. However, lack of research in continuance use of IS poses an obstacle in IS usage in an organization. Previous studies have examined continuance intention using the Expectation Confirmation Model (ECM) as it provides a basis of investigating IS continuance. ECM employed mainly the three factors or constructs to explain behavioural intention, namely confirmation, perceived usefulness, and satisfaction. However, the expansion in today's business requires a further integration with other constructs such as experience, self-efficacy, task technology fit, utilization and perceived support. Thus, this paper proposes a new comprehensive IS continuance model through the extension of ECM by integrating new constructs from other related theories which include Task-Technology Fit (TTF), Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), Social Support Theory (SST), and Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). The items are grouped into nine constructs modified to suit the context of the study. The proposed model and measurement items will provide useful knowledge for exploring ISC research

Connectivism: promising constructs to the e-learning systems success

The use of e-learning in teaching and learning today is very widespread. Various learning theories have been used behind the use of e-learning. However, there is still room for improvement by strengthening the connectivity aspect in the learning process. Connectivism has the potential to remove issues such as lack of interaction, inaccessibility to various ideas and resources, dissatisfaction with the systems, and failure in e-learning. Therefore, this study aims at the e-learning systems success by applying the principles of the connectivism theory. The findings of this study introduce the main connectivism determinants of interaction, autonomy, diversity, and openness which can equip the future e-learning studies with the necessary constructs and principles to propose models and frameworks for the e-learning success in not only usual but also unusual situations. This study will promote the satisfaction with the e-learning systems which leads to the e-learning success as a result

Requirement of knowledge centre based on web analysis

Knowledge centre (KC) is one of the ways to collect, share information and manage the knowledge in an organization. The advantages of KC are to help an organization to develop rational and coordinate approaches to capture, identification, storage and intellectual assets retrieval. However, there are limited guidelines in building the KC in an organization. In addition, the component of KC and its features are also not very clear. Thus, this paper presents requirement of KC model by defining the components of KC which are knowledge generation, knowledge dissemination and digital repository as engagement mechanism. This has been done based on comparison of several existing KC website and also based on previous studies. The proposed requirement of KC hopefully will improve the knowledge management in an organization

Extracting factors of physical activity tracking technology using wordcloud and relevancy ranking

In eHealth, physical activity (PA) tracking technology can assist people in monitoring their PAs. However, continuance usage is the cornerstone of PA product success; otherwise it is a failure. There is limited knowledge of IS continuance in this domain called PA tracking devices and apps with social media (PATT-SM). The purpose of this study is to analyze the factors that drive users to continue using PATT-SM. From literature, 33 prior studies were found to have included 315 variables in research. This study uses Wordcloud as to pinpoint which variables are to be highlighted. There are 19 variables in Wordcloud that received higher hits than others and these variables are ranked the importance based on experienced users. Then, the top ranks are used to form a model for further analysis on their impact on continuance intention (CI). The first 10 variables are Health Consciousness, Perceived Ease of Use, Privacy Concerns and Security, Habit, Perceived Value, Facilitating Conditions, Social Support, Price, Attitude, and Hedonic. The identified variables can be grouped as cognitive belief, value, social, and health related

Social media element for persuasive b2c e-commerce

Persuasive communication is a form of communication that encourages or changes consumer behaviour towards a certain product or service. Several researches have been conducted to understand the efficiency and effectiveness of persuasive communication. Among these researches is the development of the persuasive system design model that guides the development of e-commerce websites with persuasive features. However, the persuasive system design model does not take into consideration the effect of social media as it was developed when the social media world is coming into being. Considerations were not given to the social media element in the model development. Hence the need to incorporate the social media features that will extend the persuasive system design model to become all-encompassing and comprehensive. The aim of this study is to extend the persuasive system design model in business to consumer (B2C) e-Commerce. We employed a systematic literature review to identify the factors that will extend the persuasive system design model in a comprehensive manner. This study develops measurement items that will lead to the examination of the proposed model. These items were investigated for their reliability and validity using 30 respondents in Malaysia. The results showed that the items are a good representation of the constructs and hence can be used to assess the proposed model. This study will help in changing business trends that will lead to a successful implementation of persuasive communication in B2C e-commerce in Malaysia

Follower's quality factor in social commerce

Social commerce (SC) is about consumers shopping online and sharing their experience through social networking platform. The consumers are involved in transactional activities through online platforms using their network equipment such as mobile and laptop devices. SC is an extension of e-commerce platform where its success mostly depend on social factors that can influence consumers purchase intention. These factors include review and rating, recommendations and referrals, feedback, trust, forum and communities, communication, word of mouth, and follower. Followership in SC is one of the important factors in influencing purchase intention. However, less attention has been given in understanding the role of follower in SC. Therefore, the follower's factors whether for support or non-support follower has been identified in this paper such as self-presentation, social interaction, self-confidence, self-expressive and sharing brand content. The identification of these factors would result in a better management of followership in SC

Antecedents of internet of things adoption in oil and gas industry

Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the top digital topics recently emerging within the oil and gas industry. According to several definitions of IoT, everything should be interconnected and linked to each other. For IoT to emerge from the conceptual level and become a reality, organizations must be ready to invest and adopt this new technology. Several studies have showed the potentials that IoT holds for the industrial sector. However, IoT is still not properly adopted across various organizations in various industries, including the oil and gas. We conducted an extensive literature review on several databases to identify the antecedents of IoT adoption in the oil and gas industry. This study aims to identify the antecedents of IoT adoption in oil and gas industry from different literatures and present the research model. This paper will help the organizations in oil and gas industry to understand the antecedents of IoT adoption; and spur the research community to delve into more research on IoT adoption