The availability of information technologies (IT) that can be harnessed to support construction projects at the site-level (e.g. tablets devices) continues to increase substantially. Most computer devices and IT resources today are designed for mobility, providing construction onsite personnel potential access to electronic resources and relevant information while on the construction site or in the construction field office; enabling the possibility of real-time data exchanges amongst various project entities, unrestricted by location. Recent industry literature has highlighted the benefits associated with the use of onsite emerging construction IT and, as a result, construction organizations are showing a strong interest in implementing these technologies to improve and develop more cost effective construction document management and communication processes. Despite the perceived benefits, the construction industry has been slow to adopt IT, particularly in the construction execution phase and, more specifically, at the site-level. This research aims to analyze the industry's current state of construction field and office personnel's use and proficiency related to IT. This study also offers insight into the impacts the adoption of IT has on field personnel's onsite processes, and identifies industry-specific barriers associated with the adoption of IT. To extend the knowledge related to IT usage of project site-level personnel, the results of a survey, follow-up interview, and an IT training and evaluation study were reviewed. These tools helped to investigate and acquire data regarding site managers' and field engineers' technology-related competence, their applications of IT to produce work artefacts, and circumstances in which users and technology hinder the adoption of IT in construction. Collectively, an analysis of the results revealed that the construction industry's current state of IT adoption at the site level is more advanced than previously perceived; particularly with the use of basic technology and software tools. Furthermore, the results offer a foundation for determining "areas of improvement" for increased adoption of IT in an onsite environment. Industry business-related limitations and individual's technology proficiency currently present the prevalent barriers related to the hindrance of adoption. The inadequate effectiveness of IT to support field personnel's daily processes was also found to a be a contributory constraint. / text

The aim of this study was to examine first year teachers' experiences incorporating instructional technology into their teaching through the lens of Technology-Pedagogical Content Knowledge. Technology-Pedagogical Content Knowledge is a fairly new concept drawn from the concept of Pedagogical Content Knowledge, originating with Shulman. Participating teachers were graduates of a Southwestern University's College of Education laptop initiative that required all College of Education students to purchase a laptop. The laptop was used throughout their pre-service teaching course work. The first graduating cohort of this initiative was surveyed during their first full year of teaching. Ten of those surveyed then participated in interviews and journal writing related to their technology integration experiences. Results indicated that for the most part these new teachers are not facing access and support related barriers to technology use, though time constraints are still an issue. Results also indicated that the teachers are using technology in their instructional activities, and are continuing to grow in their technology integration skills. The basis in technology use from their College of Education combined with the technology-supportive school atmosphere in which they teach appears to be an environment that is fostering teachers who are willing to experiment with technology integration and are planning how to integrate it more in the coming school year. Their understanding of the connections between technology, content and pedagogy, their t-PCK, are developing and transforming. Impact on the field includes a greater understanding of how teachers come to design lessons for technology integration as well as a greater understanding of how graduates from teacher preparation programs with an emphasis on technology integration are able to apply their skills upon entering the teaching field. / text

This thesis concerns individuals’ behaviors with Information Systems (IS) once an application has been applied by users in accomplishing their work activity. Despite research on IS acceptance and continuance, little is known about individuals’ cognitive, affective, and behavioral processes and their associated outcomes after the initial adoption of a system. My research aims to address this shortcoming. In doing so, this dissertation combines novel theories – the ecological perspective based on ecological psychology and the emotional perspective based on neuroscience, physiological, and psychological research – with the current IS post-adoption literature – the deliberative perspective – to the study of IS use as an ongoing behavioral process that unfolds over time. Two studies were conducted to investigate these processes and outcomes. The first study used an experience sampling method. Employees of different organizations who used IS for their work were asked to carry a booklet and a pager for two weeks. Every time they were paged, they were asked to fill out both open-ended and close-ended questions about their feelings, thoughts and performance at the moment in the booklet. The second study followed an experimental design in order to investigate the phenomena of interest in a more controlled environment. The experiment combined multiple sources of data: such as protocol analysis, heart rate data, and analysis of behaviors through video coding. The overall results from both studies suggest that users do not think about the IS nor experience feelings related to the IS unless they are facing a difficulty with it (e.g., an error). Furthermore, the results indicate affective and physiological changes following difficulties with an IS as well as changes in cognitive and behavioral processes. Finally, the results show a relation between these affective processes and self-reported performance, and a relation between some of the cognitive and behavioral processes and both objective and self-reported performance. Overall, this thesis provides a refreshing theoretical and empirical examination of the various events, processes and associated outcomes involved during actual IS use. The two empirical studies provide support for the theory of post-adoption IS use developed in this thesis. Finally, this thesis suggests exciting opportunities for future research. / Thesis (Ph.D, Management) -- Queen's University, 2008-08-27 09:00:57.168

This research examined demographic factors and reported preferential learning mode among a sample of Florida Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) members compared to a national sample profile of OLLI members. This study was prompted by an earlier study of OLLI members conducted by the National Resource Center (NRC) for OLLIs, which produced a national profile describing OLLI members. Although there was a national profile for OLLI members, there were no existing profiles of Florida OLLI members that could be used by OLLI administrators and instructors. This study employed an online survey to compare data between the national OLLI member profile and the Florida profile. Demographic factors such as age, gender, marital status, educational level, employment status, and relocation after retirement, as well as reported preferential learning mode were compared. The data resulting from this comparison indicated that although the gender and marital status distributions of the sample participants were similar, a majority of the other demographic variables were different for the Florida and national OLLI samples. The reported preferential learning mode between national and Florida OLLI members also were significantly different, in contrast to earlier research, which suggested that OLLI members were a homogenous group. The findings from this study suggest that it is important for adult education field educators, administrators, and OLLI instructors to recognize the growing diversity and technical proficiency of current retirees in order to continue to promote effective lifelong learning practices.

Mobile money is gaining momentum in emerging markets as the solution to bank those who were previously unbanked. The number of people in Africa who have mobile phones is 644 million subscribers and has for a long time exceeded those who have bank accounts and access to formal financial services (Cobert, Helms,&Parker, 2012). About 2.5 billion adults, just over half of world’s adult population, do not use formal financial services to save or borrow, of this number 2.2 billion of these unserved adults live in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East (Chaia et al., 2009). This study sought to explore factors that will determine adoption of mobile money by adapting Venkatesh, Thong and Xu’s (2012) Unified Theory of Acceptance and Technology Use (UTAUT 2) research model to assess the drivers of behavioural intention. The model was extended by incorporating two additional constructs; trust and infrastructure reliability, which have been excluded in previous studies that have been done in developed countries. Further to this, the findings of this study will make a significant contribution to Information Systems (IS) research by identifying factors that influence technology adoption in a developing market context.This main aim of this quantitative research was to empirically discover the deeper motivations that affect the consumer behavioural intention and usage behaviour to use mobile money in Malawi. The value of this paper lies in the use of interviews to unveil new determinants of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Technology use in the adoption of mobile money in a developing market that influence behavioural intention and usage behaviour. The seven factors examined in this study are performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE), social influence (SI), facilitating conditions (FC), price value (PV), infrastructure reliability (IR), and trust (T) moderated by gender and age impact on technology adoption. The study sample consists of 508 respondents with a response rate of 84%.The findings indicate that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, trust, and price value were positively associated with consumer behavioural intention to use mobile money in Malawi. In addition, infrastructure reliability and social influence were found to have an insignificant effect on consumer behavioural intention to use mobile money.The research adds value on existing studies on technology adoption as it contributes to understanding disruptive technology from a consumer perspective in a developing market which has been excluded in previous research papers. Another value of this paper lies in the use of UTAUT 2 to identify a new construct, trust, as a determinant of mobile money adoption in a consumer perspective which is applicable in Malawi. In addition to this it enables us to contribute to current literature on the emerging mobile money market in Malawi, which is largely under researched. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Student motivation and technology use are important considerations for higher education institutions. With increasing proportions of institutional funding being tied to student success and retention outcomes, gaining an awareness of how students tend to be motivated as well as their comfort and skill level with technology is critical for supporting student success in the collegiate classroom. The purpose of this study was to examine motivations for learning and technology use by specific generations, Generation X and Generation Y, among participants in two learning settings, a four-year university and a two-year community college. Differences in motivation type including intrinsic, extrinsic, and amotivation, and technology proficiency were also assessed based on respondent gender and institution type. Results found that students from Generation Y had significantly higher scores on extrinsic motivation and amotivation compared to Generation X. Students in the two-year institution group scored significantly higher on intrinsic motivation compared to students from four-year institutions, and students from four-year institutions demonstrated significantly higher levels of amotivation. Female participants scored significantly higher than males on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and male participants scored significantly higher than females on the amotivation dimension than females. For technology use, participants from Generation X and participants from four-year institutions scored significantly higher than students from Generation Y and students from two-year institutions. No significant differences in technology use were found between male and female respondents.

Technology is transforming industries, challenging traditional marketing channels, and providing digital avenues for dynamic growth. The popularity of digital platforms has disrupted traditional distribution channels, increased reach of social networks, and changed the way people interact. This research examines how advanced technology is enabling direct sellers to create and maintain relationships. It investigates the multidimensional aspect of technology use and advances the proposition that it acts as a strategic success factor for customer relationship performance specifically within the peer-guided marketplace of direct selling. Using a survey of 114 direct sellers, findings suggest that, in general, technology use does enhance direct sellers' ability to create and maintain consumer relationships, especially among less-experienced salespeople.

Work from home: A qualitative study of an altered working life in early 2020, takes the global spread of coronavirus and its impact on Sweden in early 2020, as its starting point. Restrictions limiting crowds, the closing of workplaces and universities are some among the many ways in which people and societal institutions are facing the pandemic. The purpose of this essay is to examine the participating individuals’ experiences of an altered working life, in regards of them working from home, using technology in order to do so. Research questions asked are: How do the participants experience working from home? In what ways have their everyday practices and routines changed? Based on the climate crisis being part of my research area of concern, an extending question is: What can be learnt from the experiences that are made during this time? The essay is based on questionnaires responded to by eight people, whereof six participated in in qualitative interviews. Analyses show how participants negotiate ideas of home and work as the two categories become integrated in one and the same place. Drawing on theory that emphasizes the agency of materiality and its entanglement with social practices, sociomaterial aspects of working from home are discussed. The participants partake in learning processes where they acquire knowledge that is useful when working from home. Basic digital skills become practical necessities when coping with technical difficulties during virtual meetings. Besides affecting individuals’ everyday experiences, to work remotely seems to have implications at an organizational level as well. Social and material relations are highlighted as constitutive of organizations and effected by the distancing of employees and workplaces. The concluding discussion reconnects to the initial attempt at bringing together individuals’ experiences of working from home with the need of transformation towards sustainable ways of life.

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