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  • About
  • The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is provided by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
    Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
11

Innovation Capability in Project-based Organisations : Development and Validation of a Holistic Innovation Capability Assessment Framework (HICAF)

Jahid, Jamshid, Melander, Jakob January 2016 (has links)
Innovation is one of the most important factors behind today´s global economic growth and prosperity. In the current economic climate, increasing global competition and rapidly changing environment, an organisations ability to innovate is regarded as a key factor for success. It is widely accepted that creating new processes, products and procedures are vital for productivity and growth in all sectors. The literature on innovation measurements areas and utilities is voluminous and diverse. Assessing and measuring the complex conditions that influence a firm’s innovation capability is a challenging task, due to the inconsistency, inaccessibility, and complexity of measures. An integrative and holistic innovation capability assessment framework should include all aspects of innovation. This study attempt to address this gap, the lack of a holistic innovation capability assessment framework (HICAF) in project-based firms, by (a) reviewing the literature on innovation, innovation assessment, and measurement areas (b) through a qualitative case study exploring the factors promoting innovation in project-based firms (c) integrating the findings into a holistic assessment framework (d) generating items, in form of a statement, to address the underlying construct of each identified factor (e) applying the proposed framework within an organisation and statistically validating the instrument to achieve item homogeneity. Internal consistency reliability estimates have been utilized to produce a final framework consisting of 57 statistically validated items and eight theoretically grounded categories with 19 corresponding factors promoting innovation, also called enablers, in technology-orientated project-based organisations. In addition to the identified literature findings, the case study resulted in two new enablers, time management, and quality, which are not necessarily specific for project-based organisations, rather specific for the observed organisation. The performed case study is insufficient for determining whether there are any specific enablers for project-based organisations. The advantages of HICAF lies in its simplicity due to practical applicability in a large scale and facilitates managers to diagnose the organisation and recognize true symptoms to then apply appropriate treatment and remedies. A frequent application of HICAF can also help to study the effect of specific treatment and remedies in relation to innovation capability.
12

Study of Professional Medical Personnel's Awareness & Attitude of Knowledge Management

Huang, Yih-Sheng 19 July 2001 (has links)
In an information era of new knowledge-based economy, how should the traditional medical industry respond? Do medical professionals have any awareness of knowledge management? If yes, what is their attitude towards knowledge? What are the features? Based on the infusion methodology of knowledge management, if a hospital seeks to adopt an information system for knowledge management (KM), the hospital will have to go through the process of integrating the strategy, the process, the information technology and the awareness of the people and the organization. Subjects of this study were medical professionals, and Arthur Andersen¡¦s knowledge management model was taken as reference. The structure of the study is divided into two sections, i.e. ¡§employees¡¦ awareness of knowledge management¡¨ and ¡§employees¡¦ awareness of the hospital¡¦s knowledge management¡¨. In the former section, factor analysis reveals that medical professionals tend to view knowledge management as the planning and integration of personal knowledge management. Medical professionals recognize that knowledge is an important personal asset, and some inexpressible tacit knowledge still exists in one¡¦s knowledge that needs to be valued. Furthermore, they also believe that in order to increase the value of knowledge assets, it is necessary to share knowledge. In the latter section, factor analysis reveals that medical professionals recognize that a hospital should have a properly planned process to gain knowledge and should create an innovative and practical environment to accumulate knowledge-based assets for the hospital. As for personal property, in the section of ¡§employees¡¦ awareness of knowledge management¡¨, the study manifests obvious difference on the variables of personal property which includes scale of hospital, age, gender, working years, educational background, type of work and management post. On the other hand, the study shows that in the section of ¡§employees¡¦ awareness of the hospitals¡¦ knowledge management¡¨, there is obvious difference on the variables of personal property including scale of hospital, age, working year, educational background while the property of the gender, type of work and management post remain relatively the same. Moreover, the study also shows that if employees are more satisfied with the self-awareness of knowledge management, they are more likely to agree with every dimensions of the knowledge management of the hospital they work in. On the other hand, if all dimensions of the hospital¡¦s knowledge management are recognized by the employees, the variable of the self-awareness of knowledge management reflected on the employees will also be positive. This demonstrates that the demand of employee¡¦s personal awareness will be influenced by the working environment, and vice versa. Outstanding employees will affect the operation performance of the hospital. Similarly, a properly managed hospital will enhance the performance of the employees. It is apparent that the two are related to each other from the feature analysis of the study. Thus, if the hospital can invest in improving the structure of the knowledge assets of the hospital and enhance education and propagation, any improvement of the ability of knowledge management of either employers or employees will definitely benefit the other party. In regards to the four elements including the promotion of knowledge management, high-level leadership enterprise culture, information technology and measurement indicators, the canonical correlation analysis and the regression analysis show that the four elements have been highly approved by the medical professionals. In terms of high-level leadership, the establishment of the Chief Knowledge Office (CKO) has been applauded by the employees. At the meantime, the employees¡¦ ability of using computers and the willingness of sharing information have been greatly influenced by the culture of the enterprise. As for information technology, the information reveals the close relationship between the employees¡¦ ability of using computer and the result of the hospital performance of using the information technology. For measurement indicators, in order to make medical professionals recognize the introduction of knowledge management, performance evaluation of all phases of the introduction of knowledge management should be properly conducted. It is recommended by the study to adopt the theory of the balanced scorecard to be the measurement indicators for evaluation the practical performance of the three components of knowledge assets because the framework of both theories are quite similar. Furthermore, the study reveals that employees who have worked longer and who are older will be more likely to recogize the management of knowledge self-supervision and are more willing to share their knowledge. Apparently, when a hospital tries to introduce knowledge management to the employees, it will be more efficient and more effective if the hospital can make full use of the participation of senior employees.
13

User empowerment : an enabler of enterprise systems success

Sehgal, Rashi January 2007 (has links)
This research project has established a new measurement model for User Empowerment as an enabler to Enterprise Systems 1 success. This study was inspired by the reported relationship between Empowerment and improved work outcomes. From this, it was hypothesised that empowering the users of Enterprise Systems during the implementation process would improve the reports of post implementation system success. A new related concept of system oriented User Empowerment was conceived. The outcomes of empowering users (increased worker effectiveness; (increased work satisfaction) conceptually resonates very closely to the outcomes of individual performance, quality of system outputs, goodness of system functionality and, on a broader level, effective use of the system to yield successful business outcomes. These latter outcomes represent the measures of Enterprise Systems success. Thus Empowerment as an independent variable, and Enterprise Systems success as a dependent variable, provided a launching platform for the study. The research model was built upon the existing research into Empowerment as articulated by Spreitzer (Spreitzer, 1996) and Thomas and Velthouse (Thomas & Velthouse, 1990) and its derived systems related construct of User Empowerment, first explored by Doll, Deng and Metts (Doll, Deng, & Metts, 2003). It used a current and validated measure of Enterprise Systems Success as developed by Gable, Sedera and Chan (Gable, Sedera, & Chan, 2003); this measure is a refinement of the Information Systems Success Model of DeLone and McLean (DeLone & McLean, 2002). 2 In order to test the relationships of Empowerment to (Enterprise) System success, the following research sub-problems were explored: * What types of Empowerment are relevant in the Enterprise System context? * Is User Empowerment different from Psychological Empowerment and if so, how? * What is the relationship between Psychological Empowerment and User Empowerment? * How can User Empowerment be measured? * What is the effect of Psychological Empowerment on Enterprise Systems success? * What is the effect of User Empowerment on Enterprise Systems success? This research project was a PhD study funded by the Australian Research Council through an industry linkage program. The industry partner in this project was SAP - the most successful vendor of Enterprise Systems. Although limited in analysis the study spanned across two industry sectors, with two Enterprise Systems (Oracle and SAP). This research was a multimethod study and involved both qualitative and quantitative phases. The multimethod included content analysis, survey, and case study. This research was led by an explorative research strategy and paid considerable attention to analysing each research method in relation to other research methods, and also in relation to the demands of the research problem. A comprehensive literature review established extant definitions and constructs for Psychological Empowerment, User Empowerment and, Enterprise Systems success. The literature review employed a formal qualitative research method, using open coding supported through the use of Nvivo, a Qualitative software package, in order to identify and derive key themes in the referent disciplines. The responses from the email survey of Information Systems researchers, and Enterprise Systems consultants were triangulated with the findings from the categorised literature review on Empowerment. This sub-study utilised WordStat software and the findings were presented at the QualIT conference (Sehgal & Stewart, 2006). Drawing from the existing perspectives on Empowerment a contextbased perspective on Empowerment was proposed by the researcher. From this work, a new working definition of (User) Empowerment was derived. This construct proposed that User Empowerment involved Computer Self-efficacy, Perceived Usefulness, Intrinsic Motivation, User Autonomy, and Problem-solving and Decision support. Psychological Empowerment involves Meaning, Self-determination, Competence, and Impact. The research project then empirically tested the relationship of both Psychological Empowerment and User Empowerment to Enterprise Systems success using a quantitative enquiry. The new User Empowerment construct was statistically tested for validity and reliability. This quantitative study found no statistical evidence for a relationship between Psychological Empowerment and Enterprise Systems success. The study findings suggest significant statistical evidence for a relationship between User Empowerment and Enterprise Systems success. Statistical analysis showed that the construct for User Empowerment was different from the construct of Enterprise Systems success. These relationships held regardless of the level of the user: senior management, operational, end users or technical. This phase of the study was presented at the Americas Conference of Information Systems (Sehgal & Stewart, 2004). This exploratory survey was followed by another industry based case study, which confirmed the results for a different industry sector and different Enterprise System. This latter study was used in an independent confirmatory factor analysis of the Enterprise Systems success measurement which was presented at the Americas Conference on Information Systems (Sehgal & Stewart, 2004) and International Conference on Information Systems (Sedera, Gable, & Chan, 2004) by fellow researchers. This research has demonstrated that User Empowerment, rather than Psychological Empowerment was significantly related to Enterprise Systems Success. The study findings identified potentially significant benefits to the Enterprise System implementing organisations as well as the Enterprise System vendor from empowering Enterprise System users. Of the reported benefits one of the relevant one was improved and positive reports about the implemented Enterprise System. Further, the study highlights the importance of context when measuring a construct such as Empowerment. There are clear practical implications for the research outcomes. These include a recommendation that training programs should ensure that users have a high degree of computer self-efficacy when using the enterprise system. The validated User Empowerment instrument will be utilised as a diagnostic tool for organisational readiness prior to an ES implementation. This would assist in benchmarking the level of empowerment and predicted Enterprise Systems success. Future research will explore the effects of an Enterprise System on the components of User Empowerment as it is conjectured that there is a reciprocal relationship between the system and user attributes of Computer Self-efficacy, Problem-solving Decision Support, and understanding of business logic.
14

Vägen till en ledande position : En kvalitativ studie om vad som påverkar huruvida kvinnor kan anta ledande positioner inom tillverkningsindustrin / The way to a leading position : A qualitative study about what affects how women can attain leading positions in the manufacturing industry

Larsson, Johanna, Jakobsson, Therese January 2020 (has links)
Syfte - Studiens syfte är att undersöka vad som påverkar kvinnors förutsättningar för att anta ledande positioner inom tillverkningsindustrin och genom det förstå hur hållbar utveckling kan uppnås. För att besvara syftet har tre frågeställningar formulerats: - Vilka möjliggörare finns för att kvinnor ska kunna anta ledande positioner på tillverkningsindustrier? - Vilka barriärer finns för att kvinnor ska kunna anta ledande positioner på tillverkningsindustrier? - På vilket sätt kan organisationskontexten kopplas till påverkansfaktorerna? Metod – Som metod genomfördes en intervjustudie med fem kvinnor på fem olika tillverkningsindustrier i Jönköpings län. Ytterligare genomfördes en litteraturstudie och relevant teori har tagits fram. Resultatet från intervjustudien analyserades mot teori, som tillsammans formade studiens utfall. Resultat – För att kvinnor ska kunna anta ledande positioner på tillverkningsindustrier finns det både möjliggörare och barriärer, uppdelat internt och externt. De interna möjliggörarna som identifierades var kompetens, mångfald, organisationskultur och jämställdhet och fanns inom organisationerna. Den externa möjliggöraren som identifierades var representation, en möjliggörare som identifierades utanför organisationerna kopplat till individer. De interna barriärerna som identifierades var rekrytering, hierarki, organisationskultur, investeringar och motstånd vilket likt de interna möjliggörarna fanns inom organisationerna. Den externa barriären som identifierades var individens påverkan och kunde likt den externa möjliggöraren kopplas till individer utanför organisationerna. Organisationskontexten och påverkansfaktorerna var delvis kopplade då de identifierade barriärerna kunde kopplas till att organisationer inte prioriterade områden som barriärerna berörde. Det fanns en svagare koppling mellan möjliggörarna och organisationskontexten, vilket kunde förklaras med att möjliggörarna snarare tillhörde organisationernas sociala system än organisationernas struktur. Implikationer - Ur ett teoretiskt perspektiv bidrog de identifierade påverkansfaktorerna till att öka kunskapen kring kvinnors förutsättningar för att anta ledande positioner. Ur ett praktiskt perspektiv bidrog resultatet till att både individer och organisationer kunde ta lärdom av påverkansfaktorerna och förbättra förutsättningarna för kvinnor att anta ledande positioner inom tillverkningsindustrin. Begränsningar – Studien har begränsats av att endast fem respondenter på fem olika organisationer intervjuats. Hade fler intervjuer genomförts kunde studiens generaliserbarhet blivit högre då det förmodligen bidragit till att ett mönster mellan både respondenter och organisationer framkommit. / Purpose – This study aimed to examine what affects women’s prerequisites to attain leading positions within the manufacturing industry and through that understand how sustainable development can be achieved. To fulfil the purpose of this study, three questions have been formulated: - Which enablers exist for women to attain leading positions in manufacturing industries? - Which barriers exist for women to attain leading positions in manufacturing industries? - In which ways can the organizational context be connected to the impacting factors? Method – As a method, an interview study has been conducted with five women at five different manufacturing industries within Jönköping county. Furthermore, a literature study was executed, and relevant theory was brought out. The collected data from the interview study was analysed against the theory, which together formed the result of the study. Findings – For women being able to attain leading positions at manufacturing industries, there are both enablers and barriers, divided into internal and external fractions. The internal enablers that were identified were competency, diversity, organisational culture, and equality which appeared within the organisations. The external enabler that was identified was representation, an enabler that was identified out of the organisations connected to individuals. The internal barriers that were identified were recruitment, hierarchy, organisational culture, investments and resistance, just as the internal enablers that appeared within the organisations. The external barrier that was identified was the individual’s impact and could as the external enabler be connected to the individual herself outside of the organisations’ context. The organisational context and the impacting factors were partly connected since the identified barriers could be connected to organisations not prioritizing the areas of the barriers. There was a weaker connection between the enablers and the organisational context, which could be explained by the enablers belonging to the social system of the organisations rather than the structure of the organisations. Implications - The identified impacting factors could from a theoretical perspective contribute to increasing the knowledge regarding women’s prerequisites to attain leading positions. The result could from an practical perspective contribute to both individuals and organisations taking lessons from the impacting factors and improve women’s prerequisites to attain leading positions within the manufacturing industry Limitations – The study was limited by interviewing only five respondents at five different organisations. If further interviews had been conducted, the generalisability of the study would have been higher since it presumably would had contributed to a pattern between the respondents and the organisations.
15

Leading Innovators in Large Organisations : Enablers and Barriers for Intrapreneurship / Ledning av innovatörer i stora företag : Förutsättningar och hinder för intraprenörskap

Ringård, Fredrik, Segerlund, Carl January 2014 (has links)
Innovation is considered by many to be a driver of organisational performance and growth. A key factor to consider for competitive edge is the utilization of the companies’ innovative capabilities. The bureaucracy often involved with large companies could limit the utilization of the inherent innovative ability and new business development. The commissioner for this study, a large Swedish multinational technology company, has in a previous study raised the importance of innovators to be properly recognised and rewarded. Moreover, they have identified a need to better identify, track and train their innovators in order to utilise their full potential. With this in mind, the research question, "How can the company’s innovative capabilities be further utilised?" was formulated. The research question was further complemented with sub-questions narrowing the field of study and allowed for a more systematic approach. Three methods were used in this study, interviews, a questionnaire and a workshop. The interviews were conducted in order to capture the company specific context and factors influencing the company’s innovators to verify and complement the literature study. Secondly, the questionnaire was done to add an additional perspective on the topic including quantitative data verifying the extent of the found factors and exploring their importance throughout the organisation. Finally, the aim of the workshop was to let innovators in the company form specific actions targeting the most pressing issues discovered from the questionnaire. The findings suggest recommendations regarding what obstacles that are most important to address, how to motivate innovation efforts, identify innovators and how to enhance the utilisation of the company’s innovative capabilities. The proposed actions from the workshop, concluding the preceding data collections were to implement a strategy facilitating innovation execution, create an incubation team supporting innovators in realising innovations, and to foster an experimental culture. Keywords: Intrapreneurship, Innovation Enabler, Innovation Barrier, Innovator Motivation, Innovative Capability / Innovation anses av många vara en drivkraft som ofta medför konkurrensfördelar och starkt bidrar till organisationers positiva resultat och tillväxt. En nyckelfaktor är att nyttja företagets innovativa förmåga. Dock kan byråkratin och trögheten ofta förknippad med stora företag begränsa nyttjandet av innovationsförmågan och utvecklingen av nya marknader. Uppdragsgivaren, ett stort svenskt multinationellt teknikföretag, har lyft vikten i att företagets innovatörer stöttas, erkänns och belönas på ett korrekt sätt. De har även ett behov av att bättre identifiera, spåra och utbilda innovatörer för att nyttja deras fulla potential. Utifrån detta formulerades forskningsfrågan, "Hur kan företaget öka nyttjandet av sin innovativa förmåga?", som kompletterats med underfrågor för en mer systematisk och djupgående lösning. I studien användes tre metoder, intervjuer, en enkät och en workshop. Intervjuerna genomfördes för att fånga kontexten och samla in vilka specifika faktorer som påverkar innovatörer på det studerade företaget, som en verifiering och komplement till litteraturstudien. Enkäten undersökte generaliserbarheten i de tidigare funna faktorerna samt verifiera deras existens och betydelse i hela företaget, genom det kvantitativa resultatet. Workshopen syftade slutligen till att låta ett antal av företagets innovatörer forma åtgärdsplaner, specifikt anpassade för företaget utifrån de tydligast framträdande hindren för innovation funna från enkäten. Studien har resulterat i rekommendationer gällande vilka hinder för innovation som är viktigast att adressera, hur man motiverar och identifierar innovatörer samt hur företaget kan öka nyttjandet av sin innovativa förmåga. Workshopen, vilken binder samman resultatet från de tidigare datainsamlingarna, resulterade i tre åtgärdsplaner. Första åtgärden var att införa en strategi för realisering av innovationer. Andra åtgärden rekommenderade skapandet av en grupp som hanterar inkubationen av innovationer och hjälper idégivare att driva dessa mot realisering. Slutligen föreslogs att implementerandet av en experimentell kultur skulle gynna innovationsklimatet. Nyckelord: Intraprenörskap, Innovationsförutsättning, Innovationshinder, Innovatörsmotivation, Innovationsförmåga
16

Bottom-up Projects and the Study of Their Prerequisite Starting Points - A Multiple Case Study on Temporary Use Projects in Malmö

Sanglarpcharoenkit, Teerapong, Friedel, Sophia January 2020 (has links)
This paper uses an exploratory multiple case study research approach to investigate three bottom-up temporary use projects in Malmö. The aim is to provide an understanding of starting processes of temporary use through a project lens with a focus on phases and activities; key stakeholders and motivations; and project key enablers. Regarding temporary use project phases and activities, this study found that there are five steps/phases among the three cases: (1) inspiration; (2) ideation and feasibility; (3) preparation; (4) implementation; and (5) on-going operation. Furthermore, the common key stakeholders found in the projects are founders; landowner; intermediary; authority; temporary user (participant, volunteer, or tenant); researcher; local community; and funding body. Although the stakeholder groups were pretty similar, they engaged in different intensities in different projects. Their different motivations can be grouped in three different groups: personal interest; assigned task; or monetary incentive. Some stakeholders had mixed motivation. Moreover, this paper discovers 14 key project enablers: (1) municipality support; (2) landowner support; (3) intermediary support; (4) financial support; (5) communication & expectation management; (6) network; (7) good planning; (8) community support; (9) openness and engagement; (10) partnership; (11) space and location advantage; (12) project team and entrepreneurial mindset; (13) luck; and (14) influence from the neighbor city. The study recommends creating a municipal temporary use activating unit in order to grow this type of bottom-up movement in the city. This recommendation is in line with the discourse of the researchers in integrating bottom-up temporary use into the strategy and planning level of top-down activities. This research might allow future project leaders to get reference points and guidance for their own bottom-up temporary use projects, as well as provides understanding to researchers who are interested in temporary use and other bottom-up urban development fields.
17

Market challenges of incumbent telecom companies entering Internet-of-Things (IoT) ecosystems and organizational implications : A case study

Floriano, Sergio January 2018 (has links)
The Internet-of-Things (IoT) brings machine-to-machine communication to a global scale together with new business scenarios and inter-relationships. If compared to previous communication technologies, IoT transforms the traditional value chain and creates a different business ecosystem. In this scenario, incumbent telecom companies are taking the role of technology enablers to enter the market. These companies are trying to find ways to generate new value propositions and to position themselves along the IoT-specific value chain. To do that, incumbents need to overcome a number of external and internal challenges. The purpose of this research is to investigate those challenges from the perspective of an incumbent telecom company via a case study carried out at Ericsson. This Thesis is built on the theoretical foundations of innovation management and business model innovation. The research behind is based on academic literature, opinions from industry experts, market analyses, and qualitative data collected from several interviews and online resources. The outcome from this study remarks some major external and internal challenges faced by incumbents. From the internal perspective, the challenges are related to enable the structures within the company to make possible the development of IoT as a radically new business area. On the external side, the main challenges shift from entering the market and position themselves in the new IoT value chain, to the development of unprecedented relationships, innovative value propositions and a new business paradigm. In order to do that, companies need to understand the unexplored IoT ecosystem, find needs and opportunities via partnerships and develop joint business models. This work provides specific data to complement the scarce literature around the topic of IoT business models and challenges for incumbent companies. It offers practical help to guide managers to understand the nascent IoT market, to define adoption strategies and to find their way through the emerging ecosystems.
18

Enablers in criminal networks : An analysis of court cases involving encrypted chats

Thunberg, Hillevi January 2024 (has links)
Criminality related to organized crime and criminal networks, with gun violence, bombings, drug trafficking and money laundering, is a growing problem in Sweden. Many of these crimes are made possible through the network's links to legitimate businesses and the use of enablers - a field of research which has been historically underwhelming - but that is now starting to spark the interest of researchers and politicians alike. This thesis explores the phenomenon of these enablers in organized crime and criminal networks. The data consisted of a large sample of Swedish court documents that contain the verdicts derived from the encrypted chat services Anom, Encrochat and SkyECC. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the connections between individuals involved in organized crime and legitimate businesses. The results showed that 42 percent of the analysed cases contained enablers. A majority of the crimes that involved one or more enablers also involved narcotics, and that the legitimate businesses linked to the enablers were companies operating in professions such as the transportation sector, auto shops, exchange offices, law enforcement, storage or moving. Professional drivers were the most frequently prosecuted persons in the convictions, followed by business owners. Common themes for how the enablers presented in the material were related to the drug trafficking process and storing process. The results tell us that the use of enablers seem to be a relatively common aspect of organized crime operations and that it is, as previous research suggests, likely a problem that will only grow.
19

An investigation into the factors that influence customers' adoption of e-services

Persad, Kamisha 02 1900 (has links)
Customer satisfaction is a key concern in any business strategy. It is often assumed that customer satisfaction can be enhanced using e-services. E-service is defined as interactive service received via the Internet (Jiang et al., 2013). E-service has contributed to business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce by providing on-demand solutions to customers. The relationship with the customer is enhanced by introducing self-service options, product customisation and variety. However, there may also be negative impacts, such as techno-stress and lack of online customer assistance. The primary aim of this research was to develop a conceptual framework to describe the correlation relationship between the factors that influence customers’ adoption of e-services. Organisations use the Internet to attract customers, to conduct financial services and obtain information. This research focussed specifically on online shopping. The Grounded Theory research methodology was chosen for its flexibility and iterative comparison of data. A quantitative survey was conducted to determine the relative significance of the factors uncovered by the Grounded Theory methodology and to validate the hypothesis of the conceptual model. Customer adoption is attained where customer satisfaction is high, where the customer sees value in the service, and where there is customer loyalty or trust. To date, research has focussed primarily on developed countries. Many challenges face South Africa as a Newly Industrialised Country (NIC). The negative factors facing developing countries in terms of e-service adoption include: lack of infrastructure, economic constraints and an emergent socio-political framework. The aim of this research was to build a conceptual model for explaining interrelationships between the identified factors that have an impact on customer e-service adoption. The customer’s perception of technology-driven services affects the organisation’s reputation, which in turn affects profitability. This research will be beneficial to managers in local organisations that thrive on e-services. An understanding of customer preferences will lead to improvement of customer services in South Africa. / Information Science / M. Sc. (Information Systems)
20

An investigation into the factors that influence customers' adoption of e-services

Persad, Kamisha 02 1900 (has links)
Customer satisfaction is a key concern in any business strategy. It is often assumed that customer satisfaction can be enhanced using e-services. E-service is defined as interactive service received via the Internet (Jiang et al., 2013). E-service has contributed to business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce by providing on-demand solutions to customers. The relationship with the customer is enhanced by introducing self-service options, product customisation and variety. However, there may also be negative impacts, such as techno-stress and lack of online customer assistance. The primary aim of this research was to develop a conceptual framework to describe the correlation relationship between the factors that influence customers’ adoption of e-services. Organisations use the Internet to attract customers, to conduct financial services and obtain information. This research focussed specifically on online shopping. The Grounded Theory research methodology was chosen for its flexibility and iterative comparison of data. A quantitative survey was conducted to determine the relative significance of the factors uncovered by the Grounded Theory methodology and to validate the hypothesis of the conceptual model. Customer adoption is attained where customer satisfaction is high, where the customer sees value in the service, and where there is customer loyalty or trust. To date, research has focussed primarily on developed countries. Many challenges face South Africa as a Newly Industrialised Country (NIC). The negative factors facing developing countries in terms of e-service adoption include: lack of infrastructure, economic constraints and an emergent socio-political framework. The aim of this research was to build a conceptual model for explaining interrelationships between the identified factors that have an impact on customer e-service adoption. The customer’s perception of technology-driven services affects the organisation’s reputation, which in turn affects profitability. This research will be beneficial to managers in local organisations that thrive on e-services. An understanding of customer preferences will lead to improvement of customer services in South Africa. / Information Science / M. Sc. (Information Systems)

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