Technological developments cause products to include more software which become a part of products and a determiner of product characteristics. Today&amp / #8217 / s way of life surrounded by technological developments caused users to engage in inevitable interaction with products. By means of that interaction, users&amp / #8217 / way of meeting their needs and attitudes towards products shaped in both functional and emotional dimensions. Although users&amp / #8217 / attitudes seem to be governing this process, the nature and the characteristics of the products affected the manner of this interaction. Consequently, the existence of the software as a product characteristic would affect the users&amp / #8217 / attitude towards products. This thesis focuses on the effects of the software existence on users&amp / #8217 / attitudes. The empirical study conducted in the thesis explored the effects of different levels of software existence in products. This empirical study analyzes three product groups and the results of that analysis indicated that the existence of software affects users&amp / #8217 / perceptions about products in a way that it causes the bond between the user and the owned product to get weaker in hedonic aspects.

In this study,   the purpose is to measure how much the response time affect the effectiveness   and usability of the user on e-commerce pages, and to evaluate whether   displaying a loading symbol affects the user's opinion positively or   negatively. This study is based on three theories, Nielsen's (2010) theory of   how response time affect users effectiveness, Galetta et al. (2004) theory of   how response time affect users' attitude towards the side and Hong et al.'s   (2013) theory if users' perception of the response time is influenced by   displaying a symbol while loading. The empirical method used to collect the   data is two different quantitative methods. The data that form the basis of   the study has been collected by allowing users to carry out test purchases via   an e-commerce site and via a survey that was shown at the end of the   purchase. A total of 126 users chose to start the test, of which 96 chose to   complete the test purchase and responded to the survey. The users were   divided into six different groups, each group receiving a fixed delay   assigned as constant throughout the test purchase. The fixed delays assigned   to the different groups were 0 ms, 2000 ms, 4000 ms, 6000 ms, 8000 ms, 10 000   ms and 12 000 ms. The result found in the study is that all three theories   could be validated using the empirical study that was used. The conclusion   that can be drawn is the user's efficiency decreases as response time   increase. The users' attitude towards the side decreases as response time   increase. The loading symbol has a positive impact on users regarding long   response time, as it has a negative impact on those users with short response   time. The breaking point where the majority of users' efficiency dropped, the   negative attitude increased and the loading symbols had the greatest impact   occurred at 6000 ms delay.

Denna studie har undersökt hur lärare involveras i utvecklingen av IT-system som de förväntas använda i sitt arbete samt vilka möjligheter och utmaningar de finner i ämnet. Sveriges regering har satt som mål att bli det ledande landet i världen inom digitalisering i skolan. Detta har haft till följd att kommuner runtom i Sverige köpt in IT-system från Edtech-företag för att nå dessa mål. Följande har lett till starka reaktioner från lärare då dessa IT-system inte medför enbart positiva ting. Studien har utförts utifrån lärarnas perspektiv. För att göra detta arrangerades fem interjuver med lärare i varierande undervisningsnivåer, skolor och kommuner vilka ansågs kunna ge riklig och god information. Resultatet har för avsikt att lyfta fram den nuvarande situationen för involvering av lärare i utvecklingen av IT-system samt vilka möjligheter och utmaningar detta för med sig. Studien förväntas ge värde till lärare, skolor, kommuner och Edtech-företag. Vidare anses den även vara relevant för investerare, entreprenörer och politiker som även dem arbetar för att på ett bättre sätt digitalisera den svenska skolan. Resultatet visar att användarinvolvering i utvecklingen av IT-systemen är undermålig. Det finns dock goda möjligheter att involvera lärare i form av vilja att involveras, även genom att upprätta en stadigare och rakare kommunikation från Edtech-företagen. Vidare visar resultatet på att det finns utmaningar i form av att ett större deltagande från lärare i utvecklingen av IT-systemen kan krävas, eftersom läraryrket är brett och komplext. Slutligen talar även studien för att tid behöver avsättas i syfte att involvera lärare mer, och att kommuner behöver se över sin roll i att göra vägen mellan lärare och utvecklare kortare. / This study has researched how teachers are involved in the development of IT systems they expect to use in their work and what opportunities and challenges they find in the subject. The Swedish government has set a goal to becoming the leading country in the world within digitalization in school. This has resulted in municipalities around Sweden have bought IT-systems from Edtech companies to be able to reach those goals. Which has led to strong reactions from teachers since these IT systems does not always entail positive things. The study has been carried out from the teachers’ perspective. To achieve this, 5 interviews were arranged with 5 teachers in varying level of education, schools and municipalities which were considered to provide rich and good information. The result of the study is intended to highlight the current situation for the involvement of teachers in the development of IT systems and what opportunities and challenges the situation presents. The study is expected to give value to teachers, schools, municipalities and Edtech companies. Furthermore, it is considered relevant to investors, entrepreneurs and politicians who also work to digitize the Swedish school in a better way. The result shows that the involvement of teachers in developing IT systems is poor. But there are good opportunities in involving teachers in the form of willingness to be involved, also opportunities by establish a firmer and more straightforward communication from Edtech companies. The result shows that greater participation in developing the IT systems is needed, since the teacher profession is broad and complex. The study also shows that more time needs to be set aside with purpose to involve the teachers more, and that municipalities needs to look over their role in the situation and make the path between teachers and developers shorter.

The growing popularity of smartphones in recent years has led to an increase in mobile application development and use. However, a large number of mobile applications are only used once before being removed. For companies and organizations to spend time and money on application development only to achieve low user retention rates is unsustainable. During their first interaction with a mobile application it is crucial that users find functionality and value quickly to avoid discontinuation of use. User onboarding is often implemented in mobile applications to aid in first time interaction, making onboarding processes subject of investigation for effect on user attitude towards continued use of mobile applications. The study examined mobile onboarding processes and their effect on user attitude towards continued use of applications as well as the difference between onboarding processes effect on user attitude towards continued use of applications. The study was conducted within-subjects through a survey consisting of interaction with two prototypes with different onboarding processes and a questionnaire based on the technology acceptance model in order to investigate the variables of interest. The results of the survey were analyzed to measure the effects of the onboarding processes on the factors of the technology acceptance model and to investigate the differences between the onboarding processes. The results showed that user onboarding has a positive influence on perceived usefulness, attitude towards use and intention to use. There was no significant difference between the different types of onboarding patterns effect on attitude towards continued use. The positive effects on attitude and intention to use confirmed that implementing onboarding processes in mobile applications could be beneficial for value proposition and user retention. The perceived usefulness proved to be the determining factor on attitude and intention to use.

Education is one of the deciding factors for poverty alleviation and economic growth. Governments of developing countries is struggling to meet the demand for qualitative education and the nation of Namibia is no exception. Namibia is struggling with the lack of a skilled workforce and the lack of access to qualitative higher education has been identified as one of the prime causes. ICTs have been identified as a potential enabler for an increased access and quality of education in Namibia. This study employed a qualitative approach to examining the success factors and challenges that applies to e-learning at the University of Namibia (UNAM). The study identified a multitude of critical factors within 5 different areas: i) Access, ii) User motivation, -attitude and -awareness, iii) Systematic approach, iv) Evaluation and analytical challenges, and v) Transforming the education. This rapport will discuss the role of e-learning at UNAM, the factors that are critical for e-learning at the learning institution and how this correlate with previous findings made by the scientific community on similar issues.