No description available.

Making data openly accessible and how to utilize data are becoming increasingly clear in business development. Therefore, succeeding in it can allow a tremendous competitive advantage in the tourism market. The previous research has been lacking to show how tourism enterprises and regions can utilize open data in their favor. In this study, the implementation and the use of open data, and its interconnectedness to sustainable tourism development in Finland, are scrutinized. Visit Finland’s nationally launched open database is used as a case to examine the phenomenon. The study relies on qualitative methods using semi-structured interviews, interviewing tourism businesses, and regional tourism organizations, who meet the criteria of early adopters, following Rogers's diffusion of innovations theory. The study is to explore what both groups think of the advantages, disadvantages, facilitators, and hindrances of the implementation and the usage of the open database along with how they see its linkages to sustainable tourism development. The findings show that the overall perception of launching an open national database is affirmative. The significance of resource management, communication, and collaboration in succeeding in the implementation of the open database is highlighted in the results. The study shows that the diffusion of innovations is a fitting framework for understanding adaptation processes in terms of this kind of innovation. The linkages between open data and openness as a culture with sustainable development shall be made much more clearly, as they are linked; however, people do not often know how. The collaboration between tourism actors through organizational level management needs to be adequately navigated by increased awareness through communication. This way, the value of investing in open data can be perceived, and thus, the challenge of continuousness, which is a challenge of diffusion, can be overcome, and direct and indirect gains can be received by tourism stakeholders. The adaptation climate is favorable by accelerated competition in the global tourism market due to COV19, thereby urging tourism actors to take the digitalization leap. The study shows how all comes down to people and their management of change. Behind every technological appliance, there are people whose shoes must step in order to understand the diffusion.

Technological innovations have long been a driving force of change in different industries. However, not all innovations gain widespread diffusion and adoption, regardless of it being an incremental or a radical innovation. Driverless trucks are expected to have a substantial disrupting effect on the road freight transportation sector. The commercial timeline is characterized by great uncertainty and signs are pointing towards many trucks becoming completely driverless in the coming years. As such, it is of interest to study how the market dynamics will be affected by the introduction of driverless trucks and the potential adoption rate among companies within this industry. The study was carried out using a mixed-method approach consisting of the Bass model to estimate the future adoption rate of driverless trucksand semi-structured interviews with industry actors as well as a survey distributed to haulage organizations to contextualize the model and interview results. The findings suggest that 20 percent of the organizations within road freight transportation in Sweden will have adopted driverless trucks 15 years after market introduction. In addition, the model suggests that 100 percent adoption will be reached after 40 years. However, achieving a fully driverless fleet will be difficult due to complex traffic environments and non-driving related tasks. The interview respondents acknowledge the significant impact driverless trucks are expected to have on the industry that has been operating with the same practices for many years. Furthermore, the haulage companies expressed a reluctance towards driverless trucks and a low willingness to pay, albeit being open to innovations in general. This may be due to changes in the current way of operating, the emergence of new business models challenging the status quo, and the limited financial strength among these organizations that may have a harming effect on the opportunity to adopt the innovation. / Teknologiska innovationer har länge varit en drivande faktor till förändring i olika industrier. Alla innovationer får dock inte bred spridning och adoption, oberoende om det är en radikal eller inkrementell innovation. Förarlösa lastbilar ses av många som en radikal innovation och förväntas ha en störande effekt på transportindustrin och i synnerhet inom vägtransport. Det finns en del osäkerheter gällande den kommersiella tidslinjen, men det mesta pekar på att allt fler lastbilstillverkare kommer öka sin satsning på förarlösa lastbilar. Det är därför viktigt att försöka förstå hur marknads dynamiken kommer att påverkas av introduktionen av förarlösa lastbilar och vidare hur den potentiella adoptionen av innovationen kommer se ut bland användarna. Denna studie tillämpar en “mixed-method” metodik som vidare utgör en framtagen prognos med hjälp av Bass modell, semistrukturerade intervjuer med aktörer verksamma inom vägtransport, och en enkät som distribuerades till åkeriföretag för att sätta perspektiv på resultaten från intervjuerna och den framtagna modellen. Resultaten pekar på att 20 procent av organisationerna inom vägtransport i Sverige kommer att ha adopterat förarlösa lastbilar 15 år efter marknadsintroduktion. Modellen visar vidare att 100 procent adoption kommer att uppnås efter 40 år. Att nå en fullständigt förarlös lastbilsflotta anses vara svårt på grund av den komplexitet som medförs inom trafiken, med stora skillnader mellan orter. Samtliga intervjudeltagare bekräftade att förarlösa lastbilar förväntas ha en stor påverkan på transportindustrin som historiskt varit konservativ. Samtidigt visade enkäten att åkeriföretagen i Sverige hade en motvilja att adoptera förarlösa lastbilar, men verkar däremot vara generellt öppna för nya innovationer inom industrin. Detta kan bero på dagens arbetssätt, att nya utmanande affärsmodeller uppstår och de begränsade finansiella resurserna som organisationerna har som kan ha en bromsande effekt på förmågan att adoptera innovationen.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Nursing education is faced with addressing the challenge of educational reform as a result of the rapid changes in the complexity of health care delivery systems, increased technology and biomedical knowledge, a shortage in nursing faculty, and increased enrollment in schools of nursing. Although national nursing organizations have called for reform and innovation in nursing education little is known about the factors that are related to educators’ adoption of such changes. The purpose of this descriptive, exploratory, correlational, survey study was to explore the adoption of socioculturally-based teaching strategies (SCBTS) by examining the following variables in relation to their adoption using Everett Rogers’ diffusion of innovations model: (a) clinical nurse educators’ perceived characteristics of SCBTS, (b) clinical nurse educators’ perceived organizational support for innovation, and (c) selected demographic characteristics. Minimal research has been conducted regarding the factors related to clinical nurse educators’ adoption of SCBTS, which may better prepare nurse graduates for today’s health care system. Findings from this study suggest that adoption is not straightforward, but the perceived characteristics of teaching strategies play an important role in the clinical nurse educator’s decision to adopt or not adopt SCBTS. Rogers’ model was partially supported based on the findings that clinical nurse educators were more likely to adopt a teaching strategy if it was perceived to be advantageous, compatible, and not too complex. On the other hand, clinical nurse educators were more likely not to adopt teaching strategies that they must “try out” or that must be observable by others, which was not supportive of Rogers’ model. Adopters of SCBTS were more experienced clinical educators who felt supported by their academic organizations in terms of innovation; however organizational support for innovations was not associated with adoption of the teaching strategies. Holding a certificate in a nursing specialty, the type of program in which the educator taught, and the age of the educator were not associated with the adoption of SCBTS. Future research using Rogers’ model or other appropriate models is called for to further explore the adoption of SCBTS by clinical nurse educators.

I samband med den digitala teknikens utveckling som i dag är en stor del i många människors liv och vardagliga aktiviteter påverkas också sättet människor konsumerar och kommunicerar på. Generation Z är generationsgruppen som redan under uppväxten integrerat sina liv med den digitala tekniken och den har därför präglat generationen. Utvecklingen av digital teknik handlar om att hela tiden effektivisera och optimera, vilket också satt nya krav på hur konsumenter väljer att betala för produkter, tjänster och till varandra. Mobila betalningar är en av de växande alternativen till transaktioner och motsvara både betalningar med fysiska sedlar och kreditkort. Kina är i framkant gällande mobila betalningar och i Sverige ökar användningen av mobila betalningar för varje år.    Syftet med forskningsstudien är därmed att ta reda på jämförelsen mellan Sverige och Kina samt konsumenters adoption till mobila betalningar. Fokusgruppen i forskningsstudien är generation Z och för att kunna utföra studien används teorin Diffusion of innovations av Rogers (2003). Forskningsstudien använder sig av de fem befintliga variabler inom diffusion of innovations som teoretiskt bas för adoptionen till mobila betalningar där ytterligare två variabler lades till (Upplevd risk och socialt inflytande). Teoretiska basen konstaterades därmed av variablerna: relativa fördelar, kompatibilitet, komplexitet, observerbarhet, prövbarhet, upplevd risk och socialt inflytande. Totalt sett konstruerades 14 hypoteser för forskningsstudien.    För att kunna utföra forskningsstudien användes forskningsmetoden kvantitativ tvärsnittsstudie. Data som samlades in var via webbenkäter där de skickades ut till både svenska och kinesiska konsumenter. Totalt samlades in 125 webbenkät svar som kunde användas för analys där 50 var från svenska konsumenter och 75 kinesiska konsumenter. All data som samlades in analyserades genom regressionsanalys med hjälp av det digitala verktyget IBM SPSS version 28.0. Hypoteserna testades genom att använda multipel regressionsanalys samt Mann-Whitney U Test. Det  analysen har identifierat var att socialt inflytande, kompatibilitet och relativa fördelar hade högst påverkan för adoptionen till mobila betalningar. Kina hade även högre signifikans i alla faktorer förutom komplexitet. / The purpose of the research study is to find out the comparison between Sweden and China and consumers' adoption of mobile payments. The focus group for the research study is generation Z and to be able to carry out the study, the theory Diffusion of innovations by Rogers (2003) is used. The research study uses the five existing variables in diffusion of innovations as a theoretical basis for the adoption of mobile payments where two additional variables were added (Perceived risk and social influence). A total of 14 hypotheses were constructed for the research study.   In order to be able to carry out the research study, the research method quantitative cross-sectional study was used. Data collected were through web surveys where they were sent out to both Swedish and Chinese consumers. All data collected was analyzed by regression analysis using the digital tool IBM SPSS version 28.0. The hypotheses were tested using multiple regression analysis and Mann-Whitney U Test. What the analysis has identified was that social influence, compatibility and relative advantages had the greatest impact on the adoption of mobile payments. China also had higher significance in all factors except complexity.

Servitization describes the trend amongst companies of supplementing tangible product offerings with services. A case in point is the cloud computing which represents a paradigm shift of servitization in the IT industry as it allows physical products to be delivered entirely remotely as a service. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) constitutes a delivery business model of cloud computing which allows customers to access a supplier's application through a cloud infrastructure and is seen as a disruptive innovation. Despite the growing market for cloud computing services, the concept is claimed not to be very understood by many businesses. When transitioning from product-oriented to service-oriented value propositions, successful companies have for instance put efforts on the education of their sales personnel. Such employees could be seen as change agents whose goal is to influence the adoption decision making processes of the organization’s clients. Furthermore, as economies have become more knowledge-intensive, Knowledge management has become more critical. Previous research has put little attention to how Knowledge management relates to the diffusion rate of innovations. This study, therefore, explores how management of change agents' knowledge can facilitate the mediation of innovations. A case study was conducted of an IT company experiencing a servitization transition towards SaaS offerings to achieve the purpose of this study. The study is delimited to the diffusion of SaaS as an innovation within the financial industry in Sweden. 12 employees within the Case Company and six clients were interviewed regarding the subjects previously mentioned. The results suggest that the mediation of SaaS is done through personal communication, presentations, and distribution of sales material. The study has found that change agents need to be clear in their mediation efforts of SaaS solutions as the understanding of what SaaS includes sometimes differs between clients and suppliers. Furthermore, customers considered SaaS solutions for systems that they view as not being directly value-adding and for those systems they prefer standardization as it allows cost-efficiency. SaaS allows multi-tenant environments and is therefore suitable for standardized offerings, as standardization corresponds well to the business logic appropriate for a codification Knowledge Management strategy. The Case Company already conducts a codification strategy. However, the finding of this study suggests that they should strengthen it since a focused KM strategy is preferable to attain more of its benefits and to increase the organizational knowledge creation capabilities. Conducting a codification strategy is something they have good capabilities of pursuing and is suggested to facilitate the change agents' mediation of innovations. Sales material at the Case Company is identified as dependent on personal performance and standardizing the material would thereby ensure an even quality. Making a variety of standardized material easily accessible would further allow the change agents to select material with appropriate messages aimed at specific types of customers, which is important since the customers are found to have different preferences / Molntjänster representerar ett paradigmskifte inom tjänstefierings-trenden (servitisering), då IT-företag kan erbjuda fysiska produkter som tjänster via internet. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) är en affärs- och leveransmodell inom molntjänst-konceptet vilken ger användare tillgång till applikationer via molnlösningens infrastruktur, och ses fortsättningsvis som en innovation. Trots den växande marknaden för molntjänster är kunskapen angående konceptet fortfarande låg inom många företag. Vid övergång från produkt- till serviceorienterade värdeerbjudanden har framgångsrika företag bland annat fokuserat på utbildning av säljpersonal. Sådan personal kan ses som förändringsagenter vars mål är att influera beslutsprocesser hos för organisationens kunder. Fortsättningsvis har kunskapshantering (Knowledge Management) blivit allt viktigare då världsekonomierna har blivit mer kunskapsintensiva. Tidigare forskning har dessutom sällan lagt fokus på hur kunskapshantering relaterar till spridningen av innovationer. Den här studien undersöker därför hur kunskapshanteringen av förändringsagenters kunskap främjar medlingen av innovationer. För att uppnå syftet utfördes en fältstudie på en IT-organisation genomgår en tjänstefieringstransformation. 12 anställda hos IT-organisationen och 6 kunder intervjuades angående de tidigare nämnda områdena. Studien resultat visar att medlingen av SaaS lösningar sker genom personlig kommunikation, presentationer samt distribution av säljmaterial, och att förändringsagenterna behöver vara tydligare i sin medling då förståelsen utav SaaS tjänster skiljer sig åt mellan kunder och leverantörer. Fortsättningsvis efterfrågar kunder SaaS till de system som inte anses bidra med iv direkta konkurrensfördelar. De vill därför ha standardiserade lösningar hellre än kundanpassade lösningar för att dra nytta utav kostnadsfördelarna som standardiserade lösningar möjliggör. SaaS lämpar sig för standardiserade lösningar då flera användare kan koppla upp sig till samma applikationsmiljö, vilket ligger i linje med en kodifierings-kunskapsstrategi. Företaget som undersöktes i fallstudien använder redan en kodifieringsstrategi, men rekommenderas stärka den eftersom en mer fokuserad strategi skulle leda till en högre realisering av dess fördelar samt öka organisationens kapacitet att utveckla sin kunskap. Fallföretaget har bra förutsättningar att få till en mer fokuserad kodifieringsstrategi, vilket skulle kunna förbättra förändringsagenternas medlande av innovationen. Säljmaterial är ibland för personberoende och standardisering av sådant material skulle därav försäkra en jämnare kvalité. Att dessutom förbättra tillgängligheten av standardiserat material skulle fortsättningsvis ge förändringsagenterna större möjlighet att välja det mest passande budskapet till specifika kunder, vilket är fördelaktigt eftersom kunder visade sig ha olika preferenser.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Cross-dialectal acceptance of a written standard (CAWS) is essential for that standard to be used by speakers of divergent dialects of a language. Earlier works have focused on the influence of linguistic differences on comprehension of the standard, but little attention has been given the influence of socio-cultural and programmatic factors on acceptance of a standard. Case studies of the Lelemi and Likpakpaanl language development programmes provide information through which the socio-cultural and programmatic factors which influence CAWS can be identified. Due to the complex nature of the topic, various indicators are used to measure levels of acceptance of the written standard by speakers of each dialect. Socio-cultural factors which influence CAWS relate either to the language community's degree of interdialectal communication or to their perception of being a unified people. These factors include social structure, governance, cultural and religious activities, and patterns of marriage, commerce, transportation and migration. The existence of extensive social networks and the role of opinion leaders were also influential Activities of the two language development programmes which positively influenced CAWS included those which informed and involved speakers of all dialects of the language. These activities built on the existing levels of unity and inter-dialectal communication by using existing social networks. The Lelemi programme involved speakers of all dialects more uniformly than did the Likpakpaanl programme. However, both programmes informed and involved speakers of all dialects to some extent. The dialect communities of each language did not equally accept the written standards. Acceptance appeared to correlate more strongly with programmatic factors than with sociocultural or linguistic factors. This thesis provides a model for language teams to follow in 1) identifying socio-cultural factors which have the potential to influence CAWS; 2) applying knowledge about the socio-cultural situation to programme planning; and, 3) assessing levels of acceptance by speakers of each dialect. / Linguistics / D. Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics)