Business school techspectations Technology in the daily lives and educational experiences of business students

Business School Techspectations is the second in a series of reports based on research by the DCU Leadership, Innovation and Knowledge Research Centre (LInK) at DCU Business School. With its roots in an Irish business school, it is no surprise that LInK’s mission is to strengthen the competitiveness, productivity, innovation and entrepreneurial capacity of the Irish economy. Ireland’s next generation transformation will be enabled by information and communication technologies (ICT) and digital participation by members of Irish society. As a university research centre we have an important role to play in supporting education, industry and government to accelerate this transformation

The print and packaging forum: a report on the print industry’s review of its own performance

This report is presented to the Print and Packaging Forum in fulfilment of the activities envisaged under Research Agreement signed between the Leadership, Innovation and Knowledge Research Centre DCU and the Irish Printing and Packaging Forum dated 15 July 2010. The remainder of this report sets out our research findings and response to the requirements set out in the Research Agreement. Section 3 sets out our approach and research methodology including limitations on this study and subsequent findings. Section 4 details the research findings. A survey was conducted of the industry to provide information on various aspects of its performance. Unfortunately no firms operating in the newspaper or paper sectors responded thus impacting on the representativeness of the survey. The main findings are summarised below. The vast majority of companies surveyed continue to be private Irish-owned firms. Sales performance of surveyed companies is in decline. The Industry faces competition internationally; the overwhelming majority of companies surveyed do not export. The respondents considered themselves relatively capable against Irish competitors however less competitive across nearly all areas against International competition. Particular factors in their lack of competitiveness are seen as raw material costs and access and overall relative cost position. Average employment is 20 persons, inferring a significant decline when compared to the 2005 Report. This confirmed supporting data from Forfas. On average over 55% of employees of respondent companies are operatives or crafts people. Less than 20% of respondent companies had vacancies compared to over half reported in 2005. Both overcapacity and low capacity usage remain features of the industry however expected lead times and time lost due to breakdowns has improved when compared to the 2005 Report. Average capacity utilisation for companies in the survey was 69% with over a third operating at below 60%. Over 80% of companies surveyed indicated that they undertake benchmarking; this is a significant increase on the level reported in the 2005 Report

Online labs for distance learners: reflections from an Irish pilot study

This presentation discusses the introduction of remote online laboratory (lab) work into Communications Technology modules of an undergraduate BSc. in Information Technology (IT) by distance learning. The role of online labs and virtual instruments in undergraduate education is discussed and how they relate to physical labs. Outcomes are presented of a pilot introduction of online virtual labs. An argument is made that the introduction of online virtual lab work is worthwhile. We also argue it is increasingly feasible if suitable tools can be inexpensively sourced, such as from digital learning repositories as described here

The case for cloud service trustmarks and assurance-as-a-service

Cloud computing represents a significant economic opportunity for Europe. However, this growth is threatened by adoption barriers largely related to trust. This position paper examines trust and confidence issues in cloud computing and advances a case for addressing them through the implementation of a novel trustmark scheme for cloud service providers. The proposed trustmark would be both active and dynamic featuring multi-modal information about the performance of the underlying cloud service. The trustmarks would be informed by live performance data from the cloud service provider, or ideally an independent third-party accountability and assurance service that would communicate up-to-date information relating to service performance and dependability. By combining assurance measures with a remediation scheme, cloud service providers could both signal dependability to customers and the wider marketplace and provide customers, auditors and regulators with a mechanism for determining accountability in the event of failure or non-compliance. As a result, the trustmarks would convey to consumers of cloud services and other stakeholders that strong assurance and accountability measures are in place for the service in question and thereby address trust and confidence issues in cloud computing

Antecedents of Information Adoption of Sharing Mobile Social Commerce Experience: The Mediation Role of Trust

Despite the growing importance of mobile social commerce (Ms-commerce), little research has been conducted on the effects of informational-related factors on Ms-commerce and the role of trust in user willingness to share their experiences. Drawing on the Information Adoption Model, we examine the effect of information usefulness, quality, credibility, and need on information adoption and the effect of information adoption on trust and willingness to share Ms-commerce experience. Using data from 280 UK Ms-commerce users, we applied Partial Least-Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) to test the model. The findings show that informational-related factors have a significant and positive impact on Ms-commerce information adoption. Moreover, the effect of information adoption on trust and willingness to share Ms-commerce experiences was found to be significant. More importantly, this study has also yielded support for the mediating role of trust on the relationship between information adoption and willingness to share Ms-commerce experiences

Bid-Centric Cloud Service Provisioning

Bid-centric service descriptions have the potential to offer a new cloud service provisioning model that promotes portability, diversity of choice and differentiation between providers. A bid matching model based on requirements and capabilities is presented that provides the basis for such an approach. In order to facilitate the bidding process, tenders should be specified as abstractly as possible so that the solution space is not needlessly restricted. To this end, we describe how partial TOSCA service descriptions allow for a range of diverse solutions to be proposed by multiple providers in response to tenders. Rather than adopting a lowest common denominator approach, true portability should allow for the relative strengths and differentiating features of cloud service providers to be applied to bids. With this in mind, we describe how TOSCA service descriptions could be augmented with additional information in order to facilitate heterogeneity in proposed solutions, such as the use of coprocessors and provider-specific services

Slogans as Persuasive Accelerants of Electronic Word-of-Mouth Communication: A Preliminary Conceptual Model

Brands have been conceptualized as being made up of three different components: name, logo and slogan (Keller 1993, Dass, Kumar, Kohli, & Thomas, 2014). Slogans are short, memorable phrases that are often used to sign off on advertisements. They characterize a large proportion of brand advertising and are designed to attract consumer attention, crystallize brand positioning, increase advertising memorability, and improve brand affinity (Keller, 1993). Slogans have been part of our world for millennia, and a staple in the advertising world since its inception. Less complex messages – i.e., slogans – have been associated with improved advertising effectiveness (Lowrey 1998). Research into electronic word of mouth has grown rapidly. One reason is that online WOM elasticity has been found to be 2x larger than advertising’s (Hewett et. al, 2016). One recent advancement in creating and testing models of the eWOM process examined the relationship between several source and message characteristics on amplification and engagement Gourinovitch et. al (2019). The current paper will build upon this source-and-message model (see Figure 1). Slogans have rhetorical qualities that aid in gaining acceptance and dampening critique of the persuasive content (McQuarrie and Mick 1999). In some cases, their simple rhetorical nature may serve more as social expression of unified purpose than as communication to an intended audience. Slogans seem to be interpreted differently than textual information (Holbrook and Moore 1981; Holbrook 1982) and give the illusion of logical strength. We propose that because good slogans have persuasive strength and emotional elements, they can act as “accelerants” of eWOM. In social media, slogans most often appear in the form of hashtags, defined here as a word or phrase preceded by the symbol # that classifies or categorizes the accompanying text (such as a tweet). Not all hashtags include slogans, but slogans often do appear as hashtags in social media - for example: e.g., #Yeswecan, #Justdoit, #MAGA. Current models of word-of-mouth (WOM) persuasion and factors help explain the spread of electronic WOM (eWOM). However, little prior research has considered how rhetorical devices such as slogans may accelerate social media message acceptance and retransmission. The proposed model builds on prior theoretical work in source and message characteristics and their influence on eWOM in social media. The model predicts that message acceptance and retransmission is accelerated by high quality slogans – which often take the form of hashtags in social media – because they serve as a persuasive rhetorical device similar to enthymeme. We propose that how consumers perceive the quality of the slogan will determine if eWOM spreads slowly or quickly - a moderating effect. Our proposed model is shown in Figure 2. Future research will include a test of the full model using Twitter data. ABOUT THE AUTHORS Theo Lynn is Professor of Digital Business at Dublin City University Business School. Professor Lynn specializes in the role of digital technologies in transforming business processes. Pierangelo Rosati is an Assistant Professor in Business Analytics at Dublin City University Business School and a Co-Deputy Director of the Irish Institute of Digital Business (IIDB). Charles Wood is Professor of Marketing at the University of Tulsa

Social loafing in student entrepreneurship teams

This paper assesses the level of social loafing which occurs in an entrepreneurship education context, using a sample of 310 student teams from an Irish University. While teamwork is a common element of most deliveries of entrepreneurship education (Hytti & O’Gorman 2004), there are few studies which explore the actual impact of the team on performance in this context. In entrepreneurship more generally it has been found that team-level variables has an impact on team effectiveness (Hill et al. 2013) however studies like these are limited in the field of entrepreneurship education. As team-led entrepreneurship is gaining both academic and wider interest, as seen in the review by Klotz et al. (2014), the teamwork dynamic in an educational setting of entrepreneurship may have discrete characteristics, warranting its own research inquiry

Individual level assessment in entrepreneurship education: an investigation of theories and techniques.

This paper examines a number of commonly used theories and constructs applied to the investigation of the entrepreneur (at the individual level). For each of these theories, an existing measure is selected and assessed on its applicability to the study of entrepreneurship education, reflecting on past research and an empirical investigation in the entrepreneurship education context. Focusing on trait theory, self-efficacy, intentionality and passion, a measure for each construct was investigated by administering it on a sample of students (n=367) taking an entrepreneurship education module. Aspects of the reliability, validity, internal consistency and factor structure of each test were examined using SPSS and MPlus statistical analyses. The findings allow for a direct comparison to be made of the measures in a controlled environment. Theoretically there is a justification for applying each assessment approach to entrepreneurship education. Based on past research it was noted that trait theory has often been criticised for inconsistent empirical findings. This was echoed in our study as empirical analysis supported the use of the entrepreneurial intentionality and entrepreneurial self-efficacy measures, yet the trait measure, the General Enterprise Tendency (GET) test displayed worrisome reliability and structural validities and would not be recommended for future research without significant revision. The measure used to examine entrepreneurial passion was stable in the context, and furthermore suggested that this construct may offer valuable insight about the mindset of students undertaking entrepreneurship education in future. Limitations of the study include use of a mainly homogenous sample with no control group. The measures for analysis were selected as they were intended for entrepreneurship research and have since been applied to entrepreneurship education. The measures are not reflective of respective theory as a whole. Different and many theories could have been selected, as well as alternative measurement instruments. The measures could have been integrated together into a more complex analysis, however the intended purpose was to examine them in parallel. There have been repeated calls to systematise the assessment of entrepreneurship education, to converge existing knowledge and research. It is hoped that this paper provides educators with an overview and empirical insight regarding theories and measures to adopt for future research and assessment approaches

Individual trust and the internet

The emergence of Web 2.0 technologies and associated services heralded a second generation of the Internet emphasising collaboration and sharing amongst users. This resulted in a seismic shift in the relationship between individual consumers and firms but also between individual consumers and the Internet as a system. Consumers, not firms, became an emerging locus of value production and through the ability to publish and connect with known and unknown others, an emerging locus of power (Berthon, Pitt, Plangger, & Shapiro, 2012). Powered by broadband telecommunications and device connectivity, the intensity of these changes was further deepened by being freed from the desktop to the mobile web. We are more connected now than ever before. The high levels of societal interconnectedness encouraged by the internet have made trust an even more vital ingredient in today’s society (Hardin, 2006). The more recent development of Web 3.0 technology emphasises ubiquitous connectivity and a machine-facilitated understanding of information that may once more change the locus of activity, value production and control. In order to keep pace with the issues of contemporary society, trust researchers must consider the how trust relationships and perceptions operate and are influenced by the online environment. This chapter will discuss how traditional trust concepts translate to the online context and will examine empirical literature on online trust at three different levels. Interpersonal trust between individuals using the internet as a medium for communication is particularly relevant in a world where personal and professional relationships are increasingly mediated by technology. We will also discuss the role of the internet in relationships between individuals and organisations with particular attention to the provision of e-services. Finally, we discuss trust in the system of the internet itself as a distributed connected infrastructure made up of indirect system service providers which are often nameless or in the background. Our focus in the chapter is on individual trust in other individuals, organisations and the system of the internet itself. Trust from the perspective of the organisation may also be of interest to trust scholars. This includes issues relating to organisational trust in individuals, inter-organisational trust, and organisational trust in the system of the Internet itself however these topics are outside of the scope of this chapter (see Perks & Halliday, 2003; Ratnasingam, 2005)