Factors affecting the organisational adoption of blockchain technology in australia : a mixed-methods approach

Blockchain (BCT) is an emerging technology that promises many benefits for organisations, such as disintermediation, data security, data transparency, a single version of the truth, and trust among trading partners. Despite its multiple benefits, the adoption rate of BCT among organisations has not reached a significantly high level worldwide. The present thesis addresses this issue in the Australian context. There is a knowledge gap in what specific factors, among the plethora of factors reported in the extant scholarly and commercial literature, affect Australian organisations while deciding to adopt BCT. To fill this gap, this thesis uses a mixed-methods approach known as sequential exploratory mixed methods. In this approach, the research starts with a qualitative phase as an initial phase followed by a quantitative phase. During the qualitative phase, data were collected through semi-structured interviews of the BCT experts and decision-makers working with the ifferent Australian organisations that adopted or were in the process of adopting BCT. The Technology, Organisation, Environment (TOE) framework, based on the qualitative interpretative approach, was used as a theoretical lens during the qualitative phase. The qualitative data were analyzed using the thematic analysis technique with the SQR NVivo software. The analysis shows that the different factors, belonging to the technological, organisational, and environmental contexts, affect the organisational decision to adopt BCT in Australia. The technological factors include perceived benefits, perceived computability, perceived complexity, perceived disintermediation, and perceived information transparency; organisational factors are organisational innovativeness, organisational learning capability, top management support; environmental factors consist of government support, standards uncertainty, competition intensity, and trading partners readiness. The qualitative analysis also shows the direct and moderating effect of the perceived risks between the relationship of the identified factors and organisational adoption of BCT. Based on the findings of the qualitative phase, the thesis develops a theoretical conceptual model, which shows the relationship between the factors and the organisational adoption of BCT. To increase the external validity of the developed conceptual model, the thesis started a quantitative phase with the administration of an online survey for data collection. Certain criteria were set to screen out the irrelevant participants in the survey. During this phase, hypotheses were proposed for the relationship of the factors identified in the qualitative phase and the organisational adoption of BCT. The survey data was analyzed using the PLS Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) technique with the SmartPLS 3 software. The quantitative analysis confirms the findings of the qualitative phase that the perceived benefits, perceived compatibility, perceived information transparency, perceived disintermediation, organisational innovativeness, organisational learning capability, top management support, competitive intensity, government support, and trading partner readiness have a positive effect on the organisational adoption of BCT. Whereas the perceived complexity, standards uncertainty, and perceived risks have a negative effect. The analysis also shows that the moderating effects of perceived risks are significant in the relationship of perceived compatibility, perceived information transparency, perceived disintermediation, organisational innovativeness, organisation innovativeness, competition intensity, and organisational adoption of BCT. Contrary to the qualitative findings, ‘perceived risks’ has no moderating effects on the relationship of perceived benefits, organisational learning capability, top management support, government support, trading partner readiness, and the adoption of BCT. The thesis has both theoretical and practical contributions, which are useful both for theory development and decision-making for the adoption of BCT in Australia. Theoretically, this thesis contributes to the existing IT adoption literature in several ways. Firstly, the thesis provides empirical evidence about the factors affecting organisational adoption of BCT in Australia. This is the first in-depth sequential exploratory mixed methods research that bridges this knowledge gap in the extant literature. The identification of such factors is important, particularly for the Australian government and organisations interested in the value creation of BCT. Second, the thesis reports the effect of new factors, namely, perceived information transparency, perceived disintermediation, organisational innovativeness, organisational learning capability, standards uncertainty, trading partner readiness, and competition intensity on BCT adoption that are exclusively identified in this research. Third, this thesis confirms the findings of the past studies that the factors of perceived benefits and perceived compatibility, perceived complexity, and top management support have an effect on the organisational adoption of BCT. Fourth, according to the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first research that has used the qualitative interpretive research approach to investigate the organisational adoption of BCT. Therefore, the thesis confirms the suitability of the qualitative interpretive research approach for BCT adoption. Lastly, most of the researchers have used the TOE framework in either in qualitative or quantitative research. This thesis proves its validity in mixed methods research as well. The thesis's practical contributions are discussed in chapter 7.Doctor of Philosoph

Factors Affecting the Organizational Adoption of Blockchain Technology: An Australian Perspective

Blockchain Technology (BCT) is a novel innovation that has the potential to transform entire sectors, for instance, supply chain, energy, finance, and healthcare. However, despite the potential and the wide range of benefits reported, organizational adoption of BCT is low in several countries including Australia. Some studies investigated the adoption of BCT in different countries, however, there is a lack of research that examines the organizational adoption of BCT in Australia. This study fills this gap by exploring the factors, which influence BCT adoption among Australian organizations. To achieve this, we used an interpretative qualitative research approach based on the Technology, Organization, and Environment (TOE) framework and the Institutional Theory. The findings show that organizational adoption of BCT in Australia is influenced by perceived novelty, complexity, cost, and disintermediation feature of BCT; top management knowledge and support; government support, customer pressure, trading partner readiness, and consensus among trading partners

Distress Risk and Stock Returns in An Emerging Market

This study examines the link between financial distress and market performance of firm in the form of share performance by using Z-Score bankruptcy prediction model as the proxy of distress risk and the subsequent realized stock returns of the distress-listed companies as a proxy of systematic risk. The sample is drawn from Karachi Stock Exchange listed companies. We found that distress risk is not significant enough to explain the expected stock returns in the case of the Pakistani distress listed-firms. Altman’s (1968) measure of distress is operationalized to test the financial health of firms. The results show that distressed firms outperform as compare to healthy firms. This study deduces that distress risk is a systematic risk in relation to the Pakistani stock market to some extent. Keywords: Financial distress, Share returns, KSE, Distressed companies, Bankruptcy risk, systematic ris

Nature, scope and use of economic evaluation of healthcare programmes: with special reference to Pakistan.

Economic evaluation (EE)/cost effectiveness analysis(CEA) of healthcare programmes is an emerging area, yet the resource base to apprehend EE/CEA is very limited in Pakistan. This paper attempts to fill this gap by providing a basic text in the field of EE with special reference to Pakistan. We used four dimensional criteria (available, relevant, complete and accurate) for reviewing the EE contents in the locally available textbooks and reading material on public health. We find CEA as core competency and skill of medical doctors in undergraduate medical curricula yet we could not find EE contents in the recommended textbooks. We find that economic evaluation entails two rules: both cost and effectiveness should be included in the analysis, and there must be a comparison of at least two drugs or medical intervention. We describe EE/CEA in this article and recommend that EE content should be included in the medical and public health curriculum in Pakistan

Successful completion of pregnancy after mustard procedure for transposition of great arteries: A rare case from the developing world

Surgical repair of transposition of great arteries has undergone various evolutionary changes over the years. The initial of these treatment options was atrial septectomy followed by atrial switch and the current preferred treatment option is arterial switch operation worldwide. Due to various reasons, like lack of medical and surgical expertise atrial switch operation was commonly in practice in developing countries until few years back. Pregnancy in a patient with history of atrial switch operation poses a unique haemodynamic challenge. We report the case of a successful pregnancy in a 26 years old lady who had undergone Mustard repair surgery in the past in Pakistan

Comparative changes in the rheological properties and cell wall metabolism in rind of healthy and creased fruit of Washington navel and navelina sweet orange ('Citrus sinensis' [L.] Osbeck)

Creasing is a physiological disorder in navel oranges and causes serious economic losses. In 2007, the comparative changes in rheological properties of the rind, levels of starch, phenolics, pectins and the activity of pectinesterase (PE) in albedo and flavedo tissues of the healthy and the creased fruit of ‘Washington Navel’ and ‘Navelina’ sweet orange at ripe stage were investigated. During 2009, dynamics of the activities of PE, exo and endo polygalacturonase (exo-PG, endo-PG), and endo-1, 4-ß -D-glucanase (EGase) enzymes in albedo and flavedo tissues of the healthy as well as the creased ‘Washington Navel’ sweet orange fruit at different maturation and ripening stages were researched. The rind hardness, stiffness and tensile force were substantially lower in the creased fruit than the healthy ones in ‘Washington Navel’ and ‘Navelina’. The levels of starch, total phenolics, total pectins and water insoluble pectins decreased in the albedo and flavedo of the creased than the healthy fruit in both the cultivars. The levels of water soluble pectins increased in the albedo and flavedo of the creased fruit when compared to the healthy ones in both the cultivars. The activities of PE in albedo and flavedo tissues were higher in the creased fruit when compared to the healthy fruit of ‘Washington Navel’ and ‘Navelina’ in 2007. The activities of PE, exo and endo PG and Endo-1, 4-ß -D-glucanase were higher in the albedo tissue of creased fruit of ‘Washington Navel’ orange at different fruit maturation and ripening stages.In conclusion, the higher activities of pectinesterase, exo- polygalacturonase, endo- polygalacturonase, and endo-1, 4-ß -D-glucanase in the albedo of creased fruit at commercial harvest seem to be associated with the enhanced loss of pectins and starch in the cell walls of albedo tissue, leading to cell wall loosening and cracks formation consequently reducing hardness, stiffness and tensile force of the rind

Cost of primary health care in Pakistan

Background: Detailed cost analysis is an important tool for review of health policy and reforms. We provide an estimate of cost of service and its detailed breakup on out-door patient visits (OPV) to basic health units (BHU) in Pakistan. Method: Six BHUs were randomly selected from each of the five districts in Khyber Pukhtonkhawa (KPK) and two agencies in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan for this study. Actual expenditure data and utilization data in the year 2005 –06 of 42 BHUs was collected from selected district health offices in KPK and FATA. Costs were estimated for outpatient visits to BHUs. Perspective on cost estimates was district-based health planning and management of BHUs. Results:Average recurring cost was PKR. 245 (USD4.1) per OPV to BHU. Staff salaries constituted 90% of recurrent cost. On the average there were 16 OPV per day to the BHUs. Conclusion: Recurrent cost per OPV has doubled from the previous estimates of cost of OPV in Baluchistan. The estimated recurrent cost was six times higher than average consultation charges with the private general practitioner (GP) in the country (i.e.,PKR 50/ GP consultation). Performance of majority of the BHUs was much lower than the performance target (50 patients per day) set in the sixth five - year plan of the government of Pakistan. The Government of Pakistan may use these analyses to revisit the performance target, staffing and location of BHUs

Nexus between willingness to pay for renewable energy sources: Evidence from Turkey

The willingness to pay (WTP) plays a central role in directing appropriate policy regarding ambitious renewable energy targets. Based on this discrepancy, this study intends to investigate the willingness to pay (WTP) for Turkish citizens regarding green electricity by using a one-way analysis of variance (one-way ANOVA). The interviews were conducted comprising 2500 households in 12 major metropolitan cities of Turkey, which is based on the contingent valuation method and consists of 26 questions. The results indicate that for a 20% share of renewable energy, middle-income groups are willing to pay higher than lower and upper-income groups. Moreover, highly environmentally conscious people tend to pay more for a 20% share of green energy. On the other hand, high-income groups and old age groups indicated a positive and high willingness to pay for a 30% share of renewable energy (RE) sources. In addition, primary school and undergraduate educational groups recorded highly significant results for willingness to pay. The results also indicate that Turkish citizens are willing to pay 9.25 Turkish liras (TL) per month for a 20% share and 4.77 Turkish liras per month for a 30% share of renewable energy in total energy production.Q1WOS:0005681197000043289747

Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy: A Comparable Alternative to Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt for Obstructive Hydrocephalus Secondary to Infratentorial Tumors

Objective: To establish ETV  as a comparable alternative to ventriculoperitoneal shunt for obstructive hydrocephalus secondary to infratentorial tumors. Methods: 40 Patients with infratentorial tumors presenting with hydrocephalus were enrolled in a prospective descriptive case series. Symptoms, neurological examinations, CT scan and intra-operative findings were used detect the complications at 03 months. Results:   Mean age = 31.98 ± 15.24 years, female to male ratio of 1:1.2. The KPS score of the participants was ? 70% and ETVSS ?80. Average operative mean time was 21 ± 2.82 minutes. Within first week, the improvement in symptoms was recorded (CI=95%): headache – 87.5% (p < 0.001), nausea vomiting - 84% (p < 0.001), gait disturbance – 59.3% (p=0.442) seizures improvement -100% (p=0.016) and urinary incontinence – 66.7% (p=0.687). Radiological improvement in hydrocephalus on CT scan was seen in one patient within 24 hours – 2.5% (p= <0.001), 12.5% (p<0.001) after two weeks and 87.5% (p= <0.001) after three months post-operatively (CI 95%). Most common of these were decrease in the size of third ventricle and decrease in the size of frontal horns of lateral ventricles.  However, complete resolution of radiologic features was observed in two patients only 5% (p<0.001). However, complete resolution of radiologic features was not observed in any patient. No intra-operative or post-operative complication of ETV was recorded. Conclusion: ETV is a quick and safe method for CSF diversion in obstructive hydrocephalus alleviating the need for placement of VP shunt hardware, thus eliminating foreign body related cranio-abdominal complications