Tertiary educational institutes have had many Information Systems developed and implemented for the use of students and lecturers. The problem is that more often than not, the impacts of Information Systems on social communities of organisations have not been taken into account, or insufficient attention has been paid to them. The social impact of Information Systems are rarely taken into account when systems are being designed or implemented, and as a result lead to many Information System failures. This research explores the issues of the interface between information systems and society, and addresses the social impact of these systems. A thorough investigation of the Information Systems and users of those systems at the University of South Africa has been undertaken in this study Details regarding certain social impact of Information Systems will be discussed. This research proposes a set of guidelines to help ensure that the social impacts of tertiary institutes’ Information Systems are taken into account in the design and implementation of these systems, thereby increasing the chance of success of those systems. Those who stand to benefit from information contained in this study include various tertiary institutes’ faculties of Information Systems and Technology, the departments responsible for the development of those Information Systems, users of those systems, and the social community encompassing those systems.

Based on grounded theory and thematic analysis of 70 in-depth interviews conducted over 32 months (from November 2007 to June 2010) with domain scientists, computational technologists, supercomputer center administrators, program officers at the National Science Foundation, social scientists, policy analysts, and industry experts, this dissertation explores the rationalities behind initial adoption of cyberinfrastructure for e-science in the early 21st century U.S. This dissertation begins with Research Question 1 (i.e., how does cyberinfrastructure's nature influence its adoption process in early 21st century U.S.?) and identifying four areas of challenging conditions to reveal a lack of trialability/observability (due to the participatory/bespoke nature), a lack of simplicity (due to the meta/complex characteristic), a lack of perceived compatibility (due to the disruptive/revolutionary quality), and a lack of full control (due to the community/network property). Then analysis for Research Question 2 (i.e., what are the rationalities that drive cyberinfrastructure adoption in early 21st century U.S.?) suggests that there are three primary driving rationalities behind adoption. First, the adoption of cyberinfrastructure as a meta-platform of interrelated technologies is driven by the perceived need for computational power, massive storage, multi-scale integration, and distributed collaboration. Second, the adoption of cyberinfrastructure as an organizational/behavioral practice is driven by its relative advantages to produce quantitative and/or qualitative benefits that increase the possibility of major publications and scientific reputations. Third, the adoption of cyberinfrastructure as a new approach to science is driven and maintained by shared visions held by scientists, technologists, professional networks, and scientific communities. Findings suggests that initial adoption by pioneering users was driven by the logic of quantitative and qualitative benefits derived from optimizing cyberinfrastructure resources to enable breakthrough science and the vision of what is possible for the entire scientific community. The logic was sufficient to drive initial adoption despite the challenging conditions that reveal the socio-technical barriers and risky time-investment. Findings also suggest that rationalization is a structuration process, which is sustained by micro individual actions and governed by macro community norms simultaneously. Based on Browning’s (1992) framework of organizational communication, I argue that cyberinfrastructure adoption in the early 21st century lies at the intersection of technical rationalities (i.e., perceived needs, relative advantages, and shared visions) and narrative rationalities (i.e., trialability, observability/communicability, simplicity, perceived compatibility, and full control). / text

Sales is an essential department for organizations, it connects the products and services with the customers. The literature highlights that sales has faced a number of changes in the past years, especially with the introduction of new technologies that aim to contribute in the sales process, making it more precise and efficient. However, the previous studies have not yet explored how the companies are innovating in their sales process to adopt the new technologies that have been developed. In this research, we are studying how these elements are connected in real life, bringing a perspective of how Swedish B2B companies are adopting technology to innovate in their sales process. As the theme of this research is relatively new to the literature, we adopted an inductive approach, conducting qualitative research. To collect the data we used semi-structured interviews, which allowed our interviewees to speak freely about the research topics. Our aim was to capture new insights and avoid preconceptions based on sales studies executed in another context, such as the USA market. To analyze the data we used thematic analysis, which is based on generating codes and connecting them according to their relationship. The analysis also connected concepts of the Theoretical Framework with the empirical data. Thereby, we identified the connection between sales process innovation and technology adoption in the context of the participants.  The results of our research showed that sales process innovation is, most of the time, not a priority for the companies. The participants were using technologies in different ways, according to the particularities of their sales process. The innovation in the sales process is very incremental in the adoption of CRM and Sales Automation Technologies. The companies have not had significant innovations in the way they sell to adopt new technologies. Thus, they are satisfied with the current structure of their sales process and the outcome of it. Our findings contribute to the literature by casting light over sales innovation and technology adoption in a context outside the USA. We also contribute academically by connecting the process innovation and technology adoption models and performing an empirical research on the subject. In the managerial contribution, we presented a variety of insights about the reasons that lead to technology adoption. With our constructionist approach, we also expect to have a contribution to the development of the sales departments in the participant by promoting the reflection and debate around sales process.

<p> </p><p>An era of vast digital advancements has given way to emerging technologies capable of transforming the educational experience. Personal learning technologies are increasingly pervasive and becoming more central to human interaction. Among university students, these devices often include mobile phones and tablets. The ubiquity of these technologies among college students has caused researchers to study their effective use in the higher education environment. The upcoming field of mobile learning recognizes mobile devices as tools capable of putting students at the center of learning. Currently, a large body of mobile learning literature highlights how students perceive the adoption of mobile devices in their college courses. Factors such as student skill level, attitude, and practicality have been identified as critical elements to adoption. As a result, multiple studies suggest that students be trained in a way that impacts these factors. Yet, literature is silent on how this can be successfully done. The following research articles experiment with how training students impacts their skills and attitudes toward mobile learning. It also proposes how mobile learning can be used in a practical manner to improve a present issue, namely students’ lack of global competence.</p> <p> </p>

It is well known that cross-country diferences in income per worker are very large. For example, the average per-capita income of the richest ten percent of countries of the Penn World Tables in 1996 is about thirty times that of the poorest ten percent. Development accounting uses cross-country data on output and inputs to measure the relative contribution of diferences in factor quantities, and di?erences in Total Factor Productivity (TFP) or the efciency with which those factors are used, in explaining these vast diferences in income per worker. The consensus view in development accounting is that TFP is the most important factor in accounting for diferences in income per worker across countries (See, for example, Klenow and Rodriguez-Clare (1997), Prescott (1998), Hall and Jones (1999), Ferreira, Issler and de Abreu Pessa (2000), and Caselli (2004).) This suggests that in order to explain cross-country diferences in income per worker we need to understand why TFP difers across countries. An emergent literature addresses this issue and shows that cross-country di?erences in the institutional environment, in policies, or in human capital can cause large diferences in TFP. In particular, Acemoglu and Zilibotti (2001) emphasize the role of skill-mismatch. They argue that even if all countries have equal access to new technologies, the existence of technology-skill mismatch can lead to sizeable diferences in TFP and output per worker; Parente and Prescott (2000) and Herrendorf and Teixeira (2004) build the ories in which the protection of monopoly rights impedes the adoption of superior technologies; Rogerson and Restuccia (2004) argue that diferences in the allocation of resources across heterogeneous plants may be a signi?cant factor in accounting for cross-country di?erences in output per capita; Erosa and Hidalgo (2005) propose a theory in which capital market imperfections are at the origin of cross-country TFP differences; and Kocherlakota (2001) shows that limited enforcement and high inequality are crucial to understand the existence of institutions leading to the ine?cient use of technologies.

ABSTRACT Taiwan privatized the industry of celluar phone in 1998. The number of cellular phones has increased promply ever since. The cellphone density in Taiwan is ranked number one in the world in 2003. As competition increases, telecommunications companies are eager to attract new users by the value-added services like short messages and web-browsing. In the early phase of mobile development in Taiwan, journalists were the main category of heavy users. In the past two years, more creative services with strong promotions have been lauched by telcos, notably the value-added services. This study surveys how journalists in Kaohsiung, a municipal city in southern Taiwan, adopts these new mobile services and functions in improving news coverage, and whether these functions serve as useful assistant tool in reporting. Disseminated to all kins of media reporters in Kaohsiung, this survey finds that more than 50 per cent of sample journalists use value-added services, notably the short message function. Less than 20 per cent of participants use other functions, such as personal information management (PIM), web-browsing through cell phone, image transmission and ¡¥living database¡¦. It suggests that there is potential for further promotion of using the value-added services by phone. A factor analysis suggests that there are eight factors affecting journalists¡¦ technology adoption: time efficiency, dependence, a sense of safety, cost of bearing, function and cellphone brand, interference to work, and helpness to work. A further correlation analysis suggests that the previous six factors are positively correlated with the journalistic covering and editing benefit. Still, this study also suggests that some respondents do not use the value-added servives simply because they feel that basic voice mail function suffices in their work. But 90 per cent of them show strong intention to use it if mobile phone companies lowers prices and adds user-friendly functions. Among them, 40~50-percent are willing to use firstly the function of web-browsing as they see it the most useful in news coverage. Key words: mobile value-added service, news production, technology adoption, journalists, Kaohsiung

The increased popularity in mobile devices and technology has motivated business to adopt the technology for increased productivity. However, not much research has investigated the adoption of mobile technology. The purpose of this thesis is to study the factors that influence the adoption of mobile technology and to develop a model of mobile technology adoption. The model can serve as a foundation for future research and provide useful guidelines for organizations that plan to adopting mobile technology. The model suggests two categories of factors that determine the decision of adopting mobile technology: fit and viability. Fit measures whether the functional capabilities of mobile technology match the need of a task, whereas viability measures whether an organization is ready for the technology. This research develops instruments for measuring fit and viability. A survey was conducted to collect data for model evaluation. Major findings from the study include: (1) the fitness between task and technology had a direct positive impact on the success of mobile system adoption. (2) Personal characteristic and organizational viability had indirect positive impacts on the success of mobile system adoption via the mediation of system quality. (3) Personal characteristic and organizational viability had positive impacts on the information quality and system quality but had no impact to the service quality. (4) Only the system quality had a positive impact on the success of mobile system adoption.

While information technology has rapidly changed work in the United States in the past 50 years, some businesses and industries have been slow to adopt new technologies. Healthcare is one industry that has lagged behind in information technology investment for a variety of reasons. Recent federal initiatives to encourage IT adoption in the healthcare industry provide an ideal context to study factors that influence technology acceptance. Data from 261 practicing pediatricians were collected to evaluate an extended Technology Acceptance Model. Results indicated that individual (i.e., perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use), organizational (i.e., subjective norm), and device (i.e., compatibility, reliability) characteristics collectively influence pediatricians' intention to adopt tablet computers in their medical practice. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. Future research should examine additional variables that influence information technology adoption in organizations.

This study investigated the factors that influence foreign language instructors to adopt the use of educational technology as a supplement to their on-campus face-to-face classes. In particular, this study explored the various educational technologies that the foreign language instructors in one public post-secondary institution used to meet their teaching and learning objectives and the factors that affected their technology selection decisions. Previous literature has shown that the field of language education has historically included educational technology but few studies have explored the role that conversations amongst instructors can have on their technology adoption decisions. This study, therefore, utilized social network theory to explore the effects of foreign language instructors’ conversations with one another on their technology adoption decisions. The findings revealed an emerging trend for instructors who had adopted a greater number of technologies to be in a central position in their departmental social network influencing the spread of information and subsequently helping promote technology to their peers. However, interview data concluded that the most influential factors for technology adoption are not the result of these social networks or conversations, but are consistent with Davis’ Technology Acceptance Model instead. / 2012-10

People value their privacy; however, they typically do not make the protection of their privacy a priority. Privacy is oftentimes not tangible, complicating the efforts of technology users to express and act according to their privacy needs. Additionally, people may not be fully aware of the risks they are subjecting themselves to once they use the Internet for financial transactions, or create profiles on online social networks. Companies post privacy policies inform people about their informational practices; but, this information is extremely difficult to use and typically not considered in users’ decision-making processes. Privacy concerns have also had an impact on users’ adoption of new technologies that share personal information. A plethora of mobile location-finding technologies applications have become available over the last two decades, but the products and services offered by the technology developers may not comprehensively address the privacy implications and privacy concerns surrounding their use. The design considerations for these products may not provide the necessarily amount of control or risk mitigation for users to ensure that their location information is not misused. In this thesis, I focus on the impact of salient privacy information on privacy concerns and behavior in two contexts: online shopping and the use of a mobile-location sharing technology. I examine several case studies focusing on the evolution of privacy attitudes after people use specific technologies. Based on the examination of the use of a location-sharing system, I highlight several design considerations for mobile-location application developers to ensure they address their users privacy concerns. I use the results of online surveys and user studies to provide concrete information on the impact of feedback on the comfort with using location-sharing technology. This research shows that users will pay a premium to purchase from websites that offer better privacy policies IF that privacy information is made visible and understandable. This research points to the importance of control in the management of privacy concerns. Whether it be mandated by legislation, or recommended in industry standards or design standards, offering users control in the form of understandable privacy policy information, or control over the disclosure of personal information by technology, is essential.