Die Dissertation untersucht, welche individuellen Einflussfaktoren Wissenschaftler zur Wissensteilung mittels Social Software motivieren. Dazu werden universitäre Wissenschaftler, ihre Stakeholder und typische Karrierewege sowie die Bereiche Open Science und Open Educational Resources beleuchtet. Im Anschluss wird die Anwendbarkeit existierender Theorien der Technologieakzeptanz und der Wissensteilung (insbesondere in virtuellen Communities) auf die Wissensteilung von Wissenschaftlern mittels Social Software untersucht. Darauf aufbauend werden potentielle Einflussfaktoren identifiziert und ein spezifisches Erklärungsmodell abgeleitet. Dieses wird mittels Online-Umfragen empirisch überprüft und verfeinert.

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This dissertation aims to understand the mechanisms behind the adoption of smart cities technologies (SCT) and how they can promote social equity in local communities in the United States. There is a distinct lack of empirical research addressing the methods designed for the promotion of social equity despite their numerous benefits. The present study will address this omission in the scholarship by providing evidence-based insights on how public administrators can leverage SCT to promote distributional social equity through the Digital Era Governance (DEG) and Adoption Theory frameworks. This study also demonstrates the efficacy of applying the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to understand better the mechanism leading to the acceptance and adoption of SCT in the United States. Lastly, it provides insightful evidence demonstrating the value of these approaches and their influence on policymakers’ decisions using SCT to address one of society’s most challenging issues, fostering social equity. It utilizes data from the ICMA’s 2016 Smart Cities Survey, the 2015 Sustainability Practices Survey, and the U.S. Census Bureau. The study employs logistic and negative binomial regressions to examine the factors influencing commitment to using SCT, engagement with SCT, and distributional social equity. The findings indicate that factors such as ‘perceived usefulness’ and ‘ease of use’ influence commitment to SCT usage, which impacts SCT engagement, leading to social equity outcomes

To facilitate a better understanding of the social psychological factors that influence adoption of project management practices, this study draws upon the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB) from social psychology, and the technology acceptance model (TAM) from information systems research. These models define and relate a number of belief constructs that predict the acceptance of technologies in a variety of settings. In general, the three models each have relatively consistent empirical support, with comparison studies showing mixed support for each of the models being the moderately "better" model. In the current study, the three models are thoroughly integrated using a latent constructs approach and structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques. Overall, constructs from TRA and TAM, but not TPB, predict the use of specific project estimating, plan development, and plan commitment practices defined in the Capability Maturity Models (CMM/I).

[pt] Realidade Virtual (ou VR, do inglês Virtual Reality) é o termo usado para descrever um ambiente gerado por computador que as pessoas podem, sob os sentidos de imersão e presença, explorar e interagir. Esta tese tem como objetivo investigar como a presença de pessoas em cenários colaborativos como reuniões de trabalho pode ser mediada de forma benéfica pelo uso de tecnologias de Realidade Virtual. Neste sentido, acredita-se que aplicações em VR, se utilizadas como ferramentas para auxiliar reuniões híbridas, proporcionam maior envolvimento e engajamento das pessoas durante a atividade. Esta pesquisa foi parcialmente desenvolvida durante a pandemia de COVID-19 e argumenta sobre a relevância de investigar formas de interação em meio a regras de distanciamento social. Para uma base teórica, os conceitos de realidade e virtualidade foram formalizados e a evolução das tecnologias e aplicações de VR foi delineada. Aqui demonstrou-se como ambientes de imersão tridimensional podem impactar a experiência humana e têm sido adotados por diversas indústrias além do universo dos jogos. Após a revisão da literatura, foram definidas técnicas a fim de responder a uma série de questões de pesquisa: primeiro, um trabalho exploratório sobre movimento e interação em VR, seguido por entrevistas semiestruturadas e um questionário. Os dois últimos se concentraram em investigar as percepções das pessoas sobre as configurações físicas e remotas das reuniões de trabalho. Por fim, o experimento final buscou aplicar um Modelo de Aceitação de Tecnologia para medir a aceitação ou rejeição de VR como ferramenta para reuniões de trabalho híbridas. / [en] Virtual Reality is the term used to describe a computer-generated environment that people can, under the sense of immersion and presence, explore and interact with. This thesis aims to investigate how the presence of people in collaborative scenarios, such as work meetings, can be mediated in a beneficial way by the use of Virtual Reality (VR) technologies. In this sense, we believe that VR, if used as a tool to assist fully remote and hybrid work meetings, provide greater involvement and engagement of people during the activity. Our research was partially developed concurrently with the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, we argue about the relevance of investigating forms of interaction amid rules of social distancing. For a theoretical basis, we first formalized the concepts of reality and virtuality and covered the evolution of VR technologies and applications. Here, we demonstrated how three-dimensional immersion environments can impact the human experience and have been adopted by several industries beyond the universe of games. After the literature review, we defined research techniques to address several research questions. We started with an exploratory work on movement and interaction in VR, followed by semi-structured interviews and a web-based survey. The latter two focused on investigating people s perceptions of the physical and remote settings of work meetings. At last, the final experiment sought to apply a modified Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to measure the acceptance or rejection of VR as a tool for hybrid work meetings.

During the past years, gamification has become an influential trend in technology and the promises are widespread. The definition of gamification is known as the implementation of game elements (leaderboards, badges, points) within a non-game context. The term emerged as a result of business digitalization showing potential in increasing employee engagement and productivity. As a result of its infancy, little is known about the factors that define the use intention of a prospective user. Moreover, the role that different demographic backgrounds might have on the use intention of potential users is largely unknown.  This study has specifically sought to uncover these factors by subjecting the constructs of the Technology Acceptance Model within the context of gamification. The study investigates the factors that define the intention of users to engage in platforms based on gamification. Furthermore, by exploring the link between demographic factors and gamification use intention, this study contributes to filling an important research gap. Where prior research has predominantly focused on examining the effects of age and gender, this study has aimed to propose new findings on the factors of educational background and IT literacy.  This research has employed a quantitative research method based on the collection of survey responses. For data collection, an online survey was conducted within the organizational context of Volvo CE, 93 survey responses have been taken into consideration for the analysis. The data analysis method of choice is based on PLS-SEM, with the analysis performed through the software programmes SmartPLS and SPSS. Through this method, the relevance of the constructs to Gamification Use Intention (GUI) could be investigated, whilst the controlling effect of demographics was also uncovered. The conclusions indicate that the two main defining technological acceptance factors for gamification use intention are perceived enjoyment, and perceived usefulness. Additionally, perceived ease of use has materialized as an indirect indicator of GUI through its positive effect on enjoyment and usefulness. In the case of the demographic factors, gender was found to have no effect, age decreases GUI as individuals are older, individuals with higher IT literacy experience higher GUI, and higher GUI is found for individuals with lower educational backgrounds.

This project was initiated due to the need for new manners of taking care of elderly. The purpose was to determine the perception of eHealth within home care. The goal was to analyze the perception of eHealth in order to find factors which may affect the implementation of eHealth services. To distinguish the perception, surveys with health personnel within home care and the general public as well as and interviews with municipalities were performed. An extension of the Technology Acceptance Model was used in order to locate the perception to seven different categories related to eHealth. The results from the surveys were statistically analysed, and a factor analysis was executed on the surveys, in order to find groups with similar perception on eHealth. The surveys showed that the general perception of the usability and ease of use of eHealth is positive, even though one view was that the society needs to invest more money within the area. The factor analysis resulted in six different groups of perceptions for the personnel and three groups for the general public. The interviews demonstrated that a clear and common definition of eHealth is missing. Despite that, a positive perception of eHealth within the municipalities existed. A conclusion made was that with clear guidelines of how to work eHealth, a wider and faster implementation will be easier to accomplish. / Syftet med detta projekt var att undersöka inställningen till eHälsa inom äldrevården. Projektet initierades på grund av att det fanns ett behov av nya tillvägagångssätt för att ta hand om äldre människor. Målet var att analysera inställningen till eHälsa, och om möjligt, finna faktorer som kan påverka implementeringen av eHälsotjänster. För att lokalisera inställningen gjordes enkätundersökningar med personal inom hemtjänsten samt med allmänheten. Även intervjuer med kommuner utfördes. En påbyggnad av Technology Acceptance Model användes för att lokalisera upp- fattningen kring sju kategorier relaterade till eHälsa. Enkätundersökningarnas resultat analyserades statistiskt, samt så utfördes en faktoranalys för att hitta grupper som hade liknande uppfattning gällande eHälsa. Analyserna visade att den allmänna uppfattningen gällande nyttan med, och användarvänligheten av eHälsa är positiv. Majoriteten anser att samhället behöver investera mer pengar i området. Faktoranalysen resulterade i sex olika grupper av inställningar inom personalen samt tre grupper för allmänheten. Intervjuer med kommuner påvisade att en klar och tydlig definition av eHälsa saknas. Trots det, har de i stort en positiv inställning till eHälsa och dess utveckling. En slutsats är att tydligare riktlinjer rörande arbete med eHälsa skulle kunna möjliggöra en smidigare implementering.

Customers uses both offline and online channels before the final purchase, retailers that are operating and selling their products both online and offline can benefit from aligning the experiences on their channels by using an omni-channel strategy. The smartphone is becoming a natural part of our day-to-day life and keeping us connected, also when visiting abrick and mortar retailers. Mobile technology therefore possesses the opportunity to integrate in-store experience with the online world for creating value for customers. But many retailers are struggling in their integration efforts towards an omni-channel strategy due toall the possible technologies to invest. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis was to investigate the acceptance of mobile technologies in a brick and mortar retail setting, the chosen technologies are beacons and augmented reality.This research investigated the mediating effect of the four technology readiness dimensions:optimism, innovativeness, discomfort and insecurity, on the constructs of the technology acceptance model: perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. The research was carried out with a positivist research philosophy, inductive approach and lastly with an explanatory research design including a quantitative method. The data was collected through a survey, which got answered by 224 participants. The data was further statistically analyzed. The result showed that several of the dimensions of technology readiness had a significant effect on the constructs of technology acceptance model, especially the dimension: optimism. Thus, retailers that wants to introduce mobile technology into their stores should put emphasis on customizing their offerings towards the customers’ different level of technology readiness, especially optimism.

This thesis attempts to analyze the factors that affect the behavioral intentiontowards purchasing apparels through the Internet. A combination of TechnologyAcceptance Model and Theory of Planned Behavior along with constructs of Trustand Perceived Risk was chosen as the basis of framework for this study to explainhow online consumers behave while purchasing garments online and to illustrate thestrength of the relationship between consumers intention and constructs of attitude,Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, Subjective Norms, PerceivedBehavioral Control, Perceived Risk, and Trust. A pilot study along with severalinterviews was conducted to create a basis for the final questionnaire, which led to thedata gathered from 347 people of Iranian society. The measures and hypotheses wereanalyzed using Multiple Regression analysis. Results demonstrated crucial effect ofvariables such as social factors, Perceived Behavioral Control, Attitude, PerceivedRisk, and Trust on people’s behavioral intention towards shopping garments online.Furthermore, the implications of the findings for theory and practice are discussed andrelevant conclusions have been mentioned. / <p>Validerat; 20150827 (marikav)</p>

M. Tech. (Department of Information and Communication Technology, Faculty of Applied and Computer Sciences), Vaal University of Technology. / Mobile devices are rapidly becoming a key computing platform, transforming how people access business and personal information. Accessing business and personal data using mobile devices requires authentication that is secure. The world is rapidly becoming connected and all users of mobile devices need to be clear regarding individual data security. As a result, biometrics for mobile devices has come into existence. Biometric technology can be applied on mobile devices to improve the trustworthiness of wireless services. Furthermore, it is of great importance and necessary to start paying attention to and investing in mobile biometric technologies, as they are quickly turning into tools of choice for productivity. In the literature review, it shows that few studies measured the acceptance of biometric authentication technology on mobile devices. This study seeks to find out the perceptions as to the acceptance of biometric authentication technology on mobile devices. TAM2 was used as the foundation for generating the hypothesis and developing the conceptual framework for this study. This quantitative study used a survey-based questionnaire to collect data from 305 participants. The simple random sampling technique was used to select participants for this study. The response rate was 98% of the expected population, which was a total of 302 valid responses. A descriptive analysis was deployed to provide a description of respondents’ demographic characteristics. SPSS was used to compute the multiple regressions in order to evaluate the research hypotheses. The findings of this study revealed that perceived humanness, perceived interactivity, perceived social presence, perceived ease of use and subjective social norm, and perceived usefulness and trust are important determinants of customers’ intention to accept and use mobile biometric devices. It was found that reliability is a good predictor of trust. On the other hand privacy, identity theft and combining data are also important determinants of trust. This work can be used to strengthen biometric authentication technology in-cooperation with mobile devices for simplicity of use. Since most mobile devices are used for personal and business information, further research on the acceptance of biometric authentication technology on mobile devices is needed.