User adoption of mobile commerce in Bangladesh : integrating perceived risk, perceived cost and personal awareness with TAM

This paper develops and tests a model for predicting user adoption of mobile commerce (i.e. e-commerce using mobile phones) in developing countries. The model takes up the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) determinants of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, and extends these through the inclusion of three further determinants: perceived risk, perceived cost and personal awareness to enable prediction of the likelihood of mobile commerce adoption by users in the developing world. 575 usable surveys were gathered from the urban, semiurban and rural areas of Bangladesh. Perceived risk and perceived usefulness were found to be the most influential factors effecting mobile commerce adoption, while the effect of perceived ease of use and personal awareness was found to be low although significant. The study reconfirmed the need of extending TAM model, in the context of mobile commerce, to address both it’s transactional and non-transactional components. Service providers need to ensure high levels of security and privacy to reduce user’s perceptions of risk. Mobile commerce services and technologies should be upgraded to world standard to make them more useful to users

Firm size and its impact on continuous improvement

Building on a volume of previous work on Continuous Improvement (CI) in the supply chain based on the Continuous Improvement in Manufacturing Activity (CIMA) model, this paper significantly extends earlier work by examining the influences of firm size on organizational CI and on the individual contribution of all organizational departments to CI. Relationships between firm size on CI dispersion in the organisation and motivations for the implementation of CI; organisational experience with CI; problems encountered with CI implementation; and tools used in implementing and monitoring CI are also examined. The influence of firm size on reported benefits of CI is also investigated. Findings of this study provide support for earlier studies which held that firm size generally has little influence on CI innovation activity. However this study provides a finer grained analysis of the relationship between firm size and both the manner in which CI is undertaken and benefits flowing from CI. This study reinforces previous evidence that management in organisations should give serious consideration to strategies which enhance the spread of CI activities throughout their organisations

Competing stakeholder understandings of graduate attributes and employability in work-integrated learning

This study examined academics, students, professionals and careers advisors' perceptions of how the inclusion of of Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) in Human Resource Management (HRM) undergraduate degrees influenced students' achievement of Graduate Attributes (GAs) in Australian universities. Prior research finds that student participation in WIL can strengthen the opportunities for acquiring GAs, thus influencing their employability. Utilizing stakeholder theory 38 qualitative semi-structured interviews revealed different and sometimes competing understandings of GAs and employability, along with their link to WIL, across four stakeholder groups. Notably, a marked lack of understanding of GAs and employability was found in the student stakeholder group. These findings have practical teaching and learning implications for the embedding of GAs in higher education programs to increase student understanding of GAs and employability, and their importance for their future

Attachment and birth family contact for children in the New South Wales child protection system

Children who have been assessed at “risk of significant harm” may be removed from their biological parents and placed in out-of-home care as an interim measure until permanent placement orders are made. To maintain attachment with their birth family a schedule of contact visits is normally mandated during this period. With the aim of determining an optimal protocol for visitation scheduling, this research has identified a great inconsistency in the reporting of birth family contact visits. It further identifies a need for the provision of consistent guidelines for reporting and training of case workers in report writing. These are significant results as the reports are an important consideration in the determination of final court orders for the placement of children

Opportunities and challenges of m-commerce adoption in Bangladesh : an empirical study

The objective of this research is to explore the opportunities and challenges of m-commerce adoption in Bangladesh. An empirical study is conducted to see the user’s perception on this issue. The country has experienced a sheer adoption of mobile phone, around 70%, one of the biggest advantages for m-commerce adoption. Findings indicate a positive trend of m-commerce uptake in Bangladesh. More than 60% of the survey participants used mobile internet although mobile broadband, the key feature for m-commerce, has not been available in the country until the time of the study. Adoption of mobile financial services is also promising; for example, 40.5% used mobile balance transfer. Users of mobile billing (28%), mobile ticketing (21%), mobile remittance (16%) and mobile banking or SMS banking (10%) are also growing. Network infrastructure has continually been upgraded with the advance technologies including the recent launch of 3G mobile network. Study found that the lack of trust and literacy are the two major challenges of m-commerce growth in Bangladesh. Stakeholders need to make strategic plans to deal with these challenges and opportunities for rapid uptake of m-commerce in Bangladesh

Characteristics of trust

A study into the characteristics of trust in personal financial planning has identified seven characteristics. These being: vulnerability/risk, feeling, honesty, faith, best interests, accountability and competence

Characteristics of trust in personal financial planning

This Australian study utilises quantitative and qualitative research planning. Affective characteristics of trust were found to be essential to the client-adviser relationship. Increased legislation and specific behavioural and technical competencies of advisers were also found to build consumer trust in financial advice. The study’s results provide guidance to financial advisers with regards to the skills and factors that build and maintain trust with clients. This may lead some advisers to engage in additional training or education programs to improve specific skills, or to reconsider the way they interact with client

The future of m-commerce : prediction of the adoption of m-commerce in underdeveloped countries using the extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)

The aim of this paper is to develop a model for predicting the user’s acceptance behaviour of m-commerce (e.g. e-commerce through mobile phone) in underdeveloped countries. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) has been chosen for this purpose because it is widely used and tested both theoretically and empirically in the field of m-commerce. Our proposed model takes up TAM determinants of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use and then extends these with the inclusion of perceived risk, cost and public awareness to predict the adoption of m-commerce in underdeveloped world. The model will be tested as part of the extension of this research project. The outcomes of this research will help the key participants of m-commerce such as mobile companies and networks, financial organizations, business planners and government agencies to investigate the influential factors that can affect the customers’ behaviour in adoption of mobile commerce in underdeveloped countries

Interpersonal relationships and decision-making about patient flow : what and who really matters?

The aim of this research is to give insights into how interpersonal relationships influence managerial decision-making about resource allocation in the health context. The organizational culture literature suggests that an organization’s culture is unique (Louis, 1985; Schein, 1985; Van Maanen and Barley, 1985; Smircich, 1983) and shared (Schein, 1996; Kunda, 1992; Hofstede et al., 1990; Kroeber and Kluckhohn, 1952), but exactly what is unique and what is shared varies depending on the context. This paper investigates stakeholder saliency in a medium tertiary hospital. The majority of the staff have worked at the institution for more than seven years, live in the local area and interact with one another outside of the institution’s boundaries. Initial observations revealed that what was shared in this hospital is the sense of ‘community’. Most staff not only knew each other by name, but also new family details of their colleagues, including birthdays and other events. Interactions between various stakeholders, and relationships with persons who are classified as possessing ‘deep smarts’ are used to exemplify the shared and unique attributes of the organization’s culture, as well as the different decision-making approaches by stakeholders within the hospital. Leonard and Swap (2005: 2) define deep smarts as ‘the knowledge that provides a distinctive advantage, both for organizations and for managers as individuals’. In addition, organizational cultural literature has not yet been linked to stakeholder theory and the notion of ‘deep smarts’. We begin to address this gap in the literature

How firms develop technological capabilities through foreign technology acquisitions : case studies from Sri Lanka

There is a general consensus in the innovation literature that foreign direct investment (FDI) provides an underpinning mechanism for technological development and economic growth for host nations. However, the literature provides inconclusive evidence that FDI will necessarily drive technological development among host firms and lead to longer term sustainable technological benefits. Moreover, how direct technology adoption and associated learning from a developed or emerging economy by firms in less developed economies through FDI benefit host firms is far from clear cut. What we know confidently is that firm growth and development is a complex phenomenon and the strategic use of technology sources in that development process is quite complex. In order to study the learning process in more detail there is a need for more firm-level studies in less developed economies. This will help overcome the limited knowledge base on contextual differences and allow the opportunities for learning about firm growth and development within that context