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

Variasjon i investerings- og LCC-kostnader for skolebygg

De siste årene har det vært befolkningsvekst i Norge. Dette har ført til elevvekst i flere kommuner, noe som igjen medfører økt fokus på utbygging av skolebygg. Oslo kommune alene skal frem mot 2022 bruke 25 milliarder kroner på utbygging av skolebygg. Oslo vil få mellom 18 000 og 20 000 nye elever frem til år 2022. Dette er store investeringskostnader for Oslo kommune, og tilhørende fremtidige budsjettbindinger for forvaltnings-, drifts- og vedlikeholdskostnader (FDV-kostnader) for disse bygningene. Derfor er det viktig for Oslo kommune å se på den totale kostnaden de får i løpet av levetiden til bygningene (Aftenposten, 2012-03-14). Faget «prosjektledelse og -styring» har fanget vår interesse for å se nærmere på kommunens prosjektgjennomføring. Vi ønsker spesielt å se på variasjonene i investerings - og levetidskostnader. I tillegg er valg av entrepriseformer og måleparametere kommunene bruker, forhold vi ønsker å se på

Factors affecting the organizational adoption of blockchain technology : an Australian perspective

Blockchain Technology (BCT) is a novel innovation that has the potential to transform industries, 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. © 2021 IEEE Computer Society. All rights reserved

Information Technology and Organizational Learning Interplay: A Survey

The objective of this paper is to provide a systematic review of the evolutionary trends in the research domain of information technology and organizational learning. Having surveyed various journals and key conferences between 2000 and 2018 on the topic, we observe that information technology (IT) has expanded from its general form to various contemporary information systems, e.g. knowledge organization systems, communication and collaborative systems and decision support systems. However, organization learning (OL) now essentially occurs through knowledge management activities, e.g. knowledge acquisition, storing, sharing and application of knowledge. The survey reported here not only validates the interplay of IT and OL but also reveals some important intervening factors between IT and OL, e.g. absorptive capacity, organization culture, user trust, acceptance and satisfaction that work as deterministic elements in the reciprocal relationship of IT and OL. We propose future research to explore interaction between big data analytical systems and organizational learning

Poetry and Nationalism: Comparative analysis of Emerson and Mehjoor

Poets are the nation builders. Poets have always fueled the nationalistic movements all over the world from ancient times. Whatever be the nativity of the poets, they use the same motifs, themes and the historical representations in order to proclaim the nationalistic fervor. I have chosen two representative poets of the east and the west and under different political conditions to argue their similarities on the subject of nationalism. Ralph Waldo Emerson from America and Gulam Ahmad Mehjoor from Kashmir are the subject of my analysis. Both these poets are great in their own field. But they have the same nationalistic zeal. Both these poets advice and entreat both leaders and the common men to stand and defend their nation with courage, proper dedication and spirit. The focus of my study is to compare the two great poets on the theme of nationalism. There are many things common between the two poets such as veneration for nature, mysticism, belief in communal harmony and fraternity, and above all zeal of nationalism. Although they lived in different times and situations they deal with the subject of national consciousness in the same manner and brevity

The Impact of Psychological Empowerment of Project-Oriented Employees on Project Success: A Moderated Mediation Model

In the current era of accelerated economic growth, project success – successful completion of the final product for which the project was initiated – is the ultimate goal of every organisation. It is essential for organisations to keep project-based employees motivated and focused on successfully accomplishing the project objectives. This research examined the association between psychological empowerment of project-based employees and project success. We explored the mediating role of knowledge sharing to explain the intervening mechanism between psychological empowerment and project success. We also tested the moderating role of employee creativity along with conditional indirect effects by performing a moderated mediation analysis. Using a time-lagged research design, multiple-source field data (N¼327) were collected from employees of project-based organisations in Pakistan. The findings of the study showed a positive association between psychological empowerment and project success and significant mediation of knowledge sharing. Project employees with high creativity are likely to achieve project success when they possess higher psychological empowerment too. Results concluded that psychological empowerment is positively associated with project success directly as well as indirectly through its impact on knowledge sharing. The study has its importance and implications for management specialists and project employees at all levels

Enterobius vermicularis in tubo-ovarian abscess: A rare and interesting incidental finding - A case Report

Enterobius vermicularis is a common intestinal nematode; however, rare extraintestinal Enterobius infections have been reported from different parts of the world. Here, we present a case of tubo-ovarian abscess in an otherwise healthy young sexually active female with no known comorbids with history of on and off lower abdominal pain for one year and high grade fever for one month. On the basis of further workup and radiological evaluation, a preoperative diagnosis of right sided tubo-ovarian abscess was made and salpingo-oophorectomy was performed laproscopically in July 2015. Histopathology of the resected tissue revealed necrosis and in one area Enterobius vermicularis was identified surrounded by neutrophils and eosinophil rich abscess. A final diagnosis of severe acute and chronic salpingo-oophoritis with abscess formation, secondary to Enterobius vermicularis was made. Signs and symptoms of parasitic involvement in tubo-ovarian abscesses are not much different than usual presentations of pelvic inflammatory diseases and identification of a parasite in a tubo-ovarian tissue sample is a rare clinical finding. A high index of suspicion on the part of histopathologist as well as clinician is important for timely diagnosis and effective management of such cases

HYPOTHYROIDISM IN WOMEN HAVING MENSTRUAL PROBLEMS AT A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL

Background; Menstrual disorders frequently affect the quality of life of adolescents and young adult women, especially those who suffer dysmenorrhoea and heavy menstruation. Different studies have associated thyroid dysfunction with menstrual problems. This study was conducted to document the frequency of hypothyroidism in women with menstrual problems. Objective; To determine frequency of hypothyroidism in women having menstrual problems at a tertiary care hospital.  Material and methods; All the study cases (227) who meet inclusion and exclusion criteria of my study were taken from OPD of the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Nishtar Hospital Multan.  Once registered, 5 ml venous blood sample was taken and sent to the central laboratory of the Nishtar Hospital Multan for serum TSH and T4 levels by a pathologist having minimum 5 years experience after post-graduation.   Hypothyroidism was determined on laboratory report after serum analysis for TSH and T4. Data was analyzed by using SPSS Version 20. Results; Mean age of our study cases was noted to be 24.08± 4.65 years. Of these 227 study cases, 134 (59 %) were married while 93 (41%) were unmarried. Mean body mass index (BMI) of our study cases was 22.31 ± 2.70 kg/m2 , 160 (70.5%) were normal weight, 51 (22.5%) were overweight and 16 (7%) were obese. Secondary amenorrhea was noted in 25 (11%), oligomenorrhea in 42 (18.5%),  polymenorrhea in 16 (7%), heavy menstrual bleeding in 59 (26%) and irregular menstrual bleeding in 85 (37.5%). Mean serum TSH level of our study cases was 4.85 ± 0.91 mIU/L while mean T4 level was noted to be 86.90 ± 38.81 nmol/L and hypothyroidism was noted in 176 (77.5%) of our study cases. Overt hypothyroidism was noted in 75 (33 %) and subclinical hypothyroidism in 101 (44.5%) of our study cases. Conclusion; Very high frequency of hypothyroidism was noted in women having menstrual problems in our study. Hypothyroidism was significantly associated with residential status, obesity, poor socioeconomic status, level of education and type of menstrual problem. Subclinical hypothyroidism was more prevalent as compared with over hypothyroidism. Our study results suggest that women presenting with menstrual problems must be screened for thyroid hormones for proper management of these patients. Keywords; Hypothyroidism, Menstrual problems, subclinical hypothyroidism, overt hypothyroidism

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