How higher education graduates experience the family influence within higher education and occupation markets : A Comparative Study of Hong Kong and Helsinki, Finland

This study aims to explore how family influences graduates in higher education and occupation markets, in the processes of opportunity, selection, purpose and motivation and performance in Hong Kong and Helsinki, Finland by applying the economic, cultural and social capitals introduced by Bourdieu and Coleman. Interviews (N=20) have been conducted to analyse the personal experiences of interviewees in both cities. However, results show that only cultural capital is the most influential resource provided by particularly parents in both Hong Kong and Helsinki. And the way of how parents in both cities contribute to and affect graduates is different from the claims of Bourdieu and Coleman. Thus, some sources of errors i.e. interview questions and interviewee’s answers and limitations are identified to support why results are not strong enough when applying Bourdieu’s and Coleman’s ideas of capitals. Also, diploma disease (Dore, 1976) is identified as one of the key problems in the education system, specifically in Hong Kong, which will be discussed at the end of this study

Exploring Website Evaluation Criteria using the Repertory Grid Technique: A Web Designers’ Perspective

This study aims to investigate web designers’ perceptions of an “effective” website. Twenty web designers were interviewed using Kelly’s Repertory Grid Technique in order to elicit factors that they consider important when designing or developing B2C websites. Using grounded theory approach, these elicited data were then classified into 14 meta-categories. The intensive nature of the interviews eventually gave rise to a comprehensive framework that broadens the base of existing web evaluation literature. This framework is based on an adapted Technology Acceptance Model with the 4 dimensions of Perceived Ease of Use, Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Playfulness and Attractiveness

Quasi-Local Energy Flux of Spacetime Perturbation

A general expression for quasi-local energy flux for spacetime perturbation is derived from covariant Hamiltonian formulation using functional differentiability and symplectic structure invariance, which is independent of the choice of the canonical variables and the possible boundary terms one initially puts into the Lagrangian in the diffeomorphism invariant theories. The energy flux expression depends on a displacement vector field and the 2-surface under consideration. We apply and test the expression in Vaidya spacetime. At null infinity the expression leads to the Bondi type energy flux obtained by Lindquist, Schwartz and Misner. On dynamical horizons with a particular choice of the displacement vector, it gives the area balance law obtained by Ashtekar and Krishnan.Comment: 8 pages, added appendix, version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Incorporating Technology Readiness (TR) Into TAM: Are Individual Traits Important to Understand Technology Acceptance?

Researchers have extensively and intensively examined Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) for many years. Unfortunately, despite years of research regarding technology acceptance, researchers today still cannot conclusively answer the question raised by Baron and Kenny (1986): “What processes link traits to behavior?” With respect to the role of individual traits within TAM, at least two research streams can be identified. However, they have generated conflicting results. Our study addresses this question by examining the effects of one set of individual traits, technology readiness (TR) which has four dimensions according to Parasuraman (2000), within TAM. Specially, our research question is about the role of the fours dimensions of TR. We argue that the four dimensions will moderate the hypothesized relationships within TAM. We believe that such a research attempt is a timely response to Venkatesh and Davis’s (2000) call for examining major contingency factors that moderate the effects of subjective perceptions on behavior intentions (BI). Data were collected via online survey. Two dimensions of TR, i.e., innovativeness and optimism, were found to interact with perceived usefulness to determine people’s intention to accept new technologies. Specifically, perceived usefulness was insignificant to influence behavior intention for people who are either optimistic or innovative with respect to new technologies. Such findings were quite interesting as previous research seldom explored contingencies for the perceived usefulness-behavior intention relationship

Surfacing Meta-categories of Web-designers’ Criteria for B2C Website Evaluation: A Qualitative Study Using the Repertory Grid Technique

Many businesses today are using the World Wide Web (WWW) to create a compelling presence and this phenomenon is projected to sustain in the near future. Organizations are increasingly using websites not only to capture but also to build relationships with their desired markets. However, research into the effectiveness of B2C websites remains highly fragmented and user-centric, ignoring the views of web-designers. This study therefore aims to investigate what web-designers consider as attributes of “effective” B2C websites. Twenty web-designers were interviewed using Kelly’s (1955) Repertory Grid Technique in order to elicit factors that they consider important when designing or developing B2C websites. Using Grounded Theory approach, these elicited data were then classified into 14 meta-categories. The intensive nature of the interviews eventually gave rise to a comprehensive set of factors that broadens the base of existing literature on website effectiveness