I extended and adapted the current technology acceptance models and privacy research to the peculiar context of the COVID-19 pandemic to ascertain the effective "power" of IT in fighting such a pandemic. The research models developed for the purpose of this study contain peculiar modifications to the technological-personal-environmental (TPE) framework and privacy calculus model because of the unique technologies implemented and the peculiar pandemic scenario. I developed three studies that investigate the interaction between social, legal, and technical factors that affect the adoption of IoT devices and blockchain systems implemented to fight the spread of COVID-19. Essay 1 systematically reviews existing literature on the analysis of the social, legal, and technical components in addressing phenomena related to IoT architecture and blockchain technology. The employment of a comparable coding method allows finding which of the above components is prominent in relation to the study of IoT and blockchain. Essay 2 develops a technological acceptance model by integrating the TPE framework with new constructs, i.e., regulatory environment, epidemic ecosystem, pre-epidemic ecosystem, perceived social usefulness, and technical characteristics. Essay 3 further explores the interplay between social, legal, and technical factors toward the adoption of smart contracts in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Essay 3 integrates the privacy calculus model by introducing new constructs, i.e., technical characteristics, regulatory environment, and perceived social benefits. For both Essays 2 and 3, research surveys were developed and distributed to undergraduate and graduate students in a major university located in the US. The research hypotheses were tested using partial least square modeling.

Today’s world is characterised by a heavy dependence on information technology and technological devices to perform even the simplest of tasks. While this in itself is not a bad thing, our over dependence and neglect has put us in a situation where the confidentiality, integrity and availability of our information resources are continuously being questioned. ENISA (2010) report that in the third quarter of 2010 eighty million Smartphones were sold worldwide, with the UK, Germany, France, Spain, and Italy reporting a sixty million increment in the number of smartphone users. Reardon (2007) additionally predicted that between 2007 and 2012 there was going to be a 30% year-on-year growth in the sale of smartphones. The improvement of smartphones together with its rapidly decreasing unit price has placed smartphones within the reach of all employees. Due to the mobile nature of the device, it has brought challenges to the information security needs of organizations. As the sale of smartphone continue to increase so does the number of vulnerabilities on mobile operating systems. Knowing where to place the smartphone is of prime importance in this study. Is it just a socio-technical tool for private use or it must be extended to be used as a working tool? If so, how should it be used to limit the exposure of organizational information? The study makes use of interviews in finding out what users of the device think about the device and how secure they think their device is. The interviews also tries to find out how securely the users have configured their devices, their mobility rate and what policies have been put in place to help guide users of the device while using the device. Findings from this study indicate that smartphone threats are diverse, complicated and smart. As the price of the smartphone reduces and their functionality improves, the number of its users increases. This makes it a target for hackers and malware as they can exploit the device to gain personal and organizational data. In spite of this, the perception of users on the risks of using a smartphone for work is not as high as can be. Users still think that if only the phone is used for making and receiving calls, reading and replying to emails and checking calendar schedules, then there is nothing much to protect. In reality this is not the case. Smartphones have a lot more going on them than just the aforementioned. Users must be educated on the reality of the matter and be made aware of the current risks there are so as to increase their consciousness on this matter. Finally, the discussion in this study sheds some light on the challenges that mobility and smartphone usage for work pose to organizational information security. The choice of a counter measure depends on factors such as what kind of data the organization produces as well as what kind of usage patterns employees have. There is no one size fit all counter measure that can be implemented. Organizations must realize this and embark on the best solutions that are suitable for their organization. To get the best counter measures in place, organizations are advised to make their own risk assessments and weigh the risks against the potential benefits in their own specific cases. / <p>Validerat; 20130827 (global_studentproject_submitter)</p>

Today, sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 75% of the world population without access to electricity which corresponds to over 500 million people. One strategy to reduce this number and provide access to electricity for more people, is to install mini-grids. The installment of those is currently in progress in Kenya, and this study put focus on the socio-economic benefits families’ experiences when connecting to a mini-grid. By using a literature review to get a socio-technical perspective, and a case study to investigate the situation in the rural communities of Kenya, several findings were discovered. Some benefits identified are that people felt more included in the society by getting access to information (with radio or TV), a possibility to raise the household income (by starting a business using electricity), and a more favorable study environment at home (thanks to electric lights). This, (among other findings), were visualized using personas, to represent the inhabitants in the counties of interest. Lastly, a discussion about sustainable development is included to explain what it means on a bigger scale if households are electrified. / Idag lever 75 % av världens befolkning utan tillgång till elektricitet is subsahariska Afrika, vilket motsvarar över 500 miljoner människor. En strategi för att ge fler tillgång till elektricitet är att installera så kallade mini-grids. Flera projekt där sådana installeras finns i Kenya och denna studie har som mål att undersöka de socio-ekonomiska effekter som uppkommer när familjer ute på landsbygden börjar använda dessa småskaliga energidistribueringsstationer. En litteraturstudie gjordes för att få ett socio-tekniskt perspektiv på dessa system och efter det gjordes en fallstudie för att få en uppfattning om hur situationen med elektrifiering på landsbygden ser ut just nu. Resultatet blev att vissa av de familjer som valde att ansluta sig till ett fristående elnät kände sig mer inkluderade i samhället, eftersom de nu kan få information genom radio eller TV. Dessutom har de bättre möjligheter att höja sin inkomst genom att starta ett mikro-företag tack vare elektriciteten. En ytterligare upptäckt var att de som behöver studera hemifrån får lättare att göra just det tack vare elektrisk belysning inomhus. Dessa fördelar (bland andra) visualiserades med hjälp av personas, vilket är en grupp fiktiva karaktärer som representerar invånarna i de kommuner som var inkluderade i studien. Slutligen diskuterades relationen mellan de socio-ekonomiska fördelarna och en hållbar utveckling för att sätta fingret på hur samhällen kan bli mer hållbara, om tillgång till pålitlig eldistribution finns för invånarna.

Ce travail de recherche porte sur l’évaluation du système d’information (SI) bancaire de front-office. Àtravers un cadre d’analyse sociotechnique, nous avons cherché à identifier les variables et leurs liens àprendre en compte pour évaluer le succès perçu du SI auprès des utilisateurs. La proposition centrale est quele succès perçu du SI bancaire de front-office dépend à la fois de caractéristiques techniques et sociales.Aussi, les spécificités du monde bancaire, l’évolution de l’environnement aussi bien réglementaire queconcurrentiel, nous ont convaincus de la nécessité d’une évaluation appropriée au domaine bancaire. C’estpourquoi ce travail de recherche est composé d’une part d’une approche qualitative exploratoire afind’identifier les variables spécifiques au domaine bancaire, et d’autre part d’une démarche quantitative denature hypothético-déductive.Au final, on propose un modèle composé de huit variables (les qualités de la formation, du système, duservice, de l’information, l’utilisation, la satisfaction, le soutien des managers intermédiaires, les bénéficesnets) expliquant le chemin menant au succès du SI bancaire. L’influence de la participation des utilisateurs àune phase de projet concernant le SI, ainsi que celle des caractéristiques sociodémographiques desrépondants ont été analysées.Ce modèle constitue à la fois un apport théorique, mais aussi managérial puisque les banques disposentmaintenant d’un instrument leur permettant de mesurer le succès de leur SI.Ce travail souligne l’importance de certaines variables, et met en évidence des liaisons spécifiques audomaine bancaire. / This research focuses on evaluating the banks’ front office information system (IS). By using asociotechnical analysis frame, we wished to identify the variables and the links that have to be taken intoaccount in order to evaluate the perceived IS success among users. The main proposal is that this perceivedsuccess depends on characteristics which are both technical and social ones. At the same time, we wereconvinced by the bank specificities, rules and competition evolution, that an evaluation, peculiar to the fieldof the banks, is necessary. This is why this research uses at the same time a qualitative approach, to identifythe specific variables in the bank world, and a quantitative approach based on hypothesis and deduction.We finally propose a model showing eight variables (the qualities of the training, the system, the service, theinformation, the use, the satisfaction, the middle managers’ support, the net profit) which enlight the wayleading to the success of bank IS. Both users’ participation to a IS step of a project and the surveyed people’ssociodemographic characteristics were analysed. This model both provides a theoretical and managerialaspect, since the banks now have a tool measuring the success of their Information System. This workemphasizes the weight of some variables and highlights some links specific to the banks field.