Although methodology use generally leads to fewer software defects and reductions in development time, the introduction of a formalized systems development methodology is often met with substantial resistance. Motivated by the purported benefits of methodology use, yet resistance to the introduction of a methodology, this study explains developer attitude toward using a formalized commercial methodology. An important variable for explaining attitude is perceived usefulness, defined as the degree to which using a methodology will enhance a developer's job performance. If, however, a benefit of using a methodology is different than increased job performance, then limiting the definition of perceived usefulness to beliefs surrounding job performance may provide an incomplete representation of what makes a methodology useful to developers. A methodology may be perceived as a rational process, used to achieve objectives such as increasing job performance or as a political process used to achieve objectives particular to one person or group. In order to determine what makes a methodology useful to developers, the perceived usefulness construct was expanded to include benefits of methodology use related toward achieving political objectives. In addition to broadening the perceived usefulness construct, this research also broke down perceived usefulness into its referent dimensions. Decomposing perceived usefulness provided a deeper understanding of what makes a methodology useful to developers and revealed the relative importance of each dimension of perceived usefulness. The study surveyed 120 developers. Partial least squares regression was used to test the antecedents of developer attitude as well as the hypothesized structure of perceived usefulness. Results indicate that developers will have more favorable attitudes toward methodologies they perceive as useful, easy to use, and consistent with the way they like to develop systems. Additionally, findings suggest that developers may find methodologies not only useful for achieving rational goals such as increasing system quality, raising productivity, and enhancing communication, but also useful for achieving political goals such as increasing career opportunities, showing others that professional development practices are being used, reducing anxiety, and defending against unreasonable user demands. / Ph. D.

The ever-evolving information technology gives users more opportunities, but also put higher demands on them. The digital agenda of the state and society clarifies the objectives and effects academic libraries’ development. E-books influence the development of organizational, economic, legal and political perspectives.   At the University Library in Gävle work is ongoing. The process is controlled by the acquisition policy which makes it clear that e-books should be purchased if possible. By offering e-books including textbooks it expands the availability for student demands. It is one of University Libraries fundamental tasks.   The curiosity about how this work is received by students is the purpose of this thesis and addresses the questions concerning what affects students' acceptance, perception, attitude and usage of e-books in studies at the University of Gävle?   Through an online questionnaire based on a theoretical foundation developed to be used in tests of new information technology, Technology Acceptance Model, students' perceptions of e-books is mapped. Important variables are perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use which influence the attitude, the intention to use and actual use.   The thesis concluded that students accept e-books as a supplement to printed books. The factor students’ value as most important is availability and that it is easy to find. The main goal of students' reading is to gain access to required literature of the course and perceived usefulness of e-books is primarily to its being available which affects studying and learning.

Many Extension organizations in the United States utilize social media to communicate with clients and deliver Extension educational programs. The purpose of this study was to investigate what social media platform Extension employees were using as a communication tool to deliver educational programs, and to examine factors influencing Extension employees’ attitude toward using social media with Mississippi State University Extension. The study followed a descriptive correlational design, using a researcher- developed questionnaire. Data were collected via Qualtrics. A total of 170 Extension faculty and agents responded to the questionnaire. Most of respondents were Extension agents, white, with an equal percentage of male and female. Their age ranged from less than 25 to over 65 years old, and 51.2% were in age range from 25 to 44 years old (f = 87). Facebook and Twitter were the most-used social media platforms by Extension faculty and agents. Based on 135 usable responses of social media users, two principle component analyses were conducted. The result of principle component analyses on organizational and social media scales revealed five components that influence social media use. These five variables were named social media characteristics, clients’ interest and skills, graphic skills, organizational support, and availability of equipment and Internet. The results revealed that Extension faculty and agents’ social media users and nonusers have a positive (in range of agree) attitude toward using social media in Extension. Social media users have positive (in range of agree) perceived usefulness of social media in Extension. Extension faculty and agents Facebook self-efficacy was in the range of agree, and their Twitter self-efficacy was in range neither agree nor disagree. Perceived usefulness, clients’ interest and skills, and social media characteristics were the significant factors that influenced Extension faculty and agents attitude toward social media with Mississippi State University Extension.

<p> </p><p>This study firstly examines the current literature concerning the electronic banking problems during implementation of electronic problems in Pakistan and causes that hinders this process. To investigate in the real-time scenario we have taken the case study of Muslim Commercial Bank Limited in Pakistan in order to understand “why” and “how” the electronic banking could not be implemented successfully.</p><p>The data was collected via interviews, surveys and bank website. Both qualitative and quantitative research approach has been used to investigate and have proper understanding of current e-banking issues. We have sent questionnaire to bank employees and interviews were conducted by the bank mangers. The response of interviews and surveys shows that there are certain issues that hinder the use of e-banking in Pakistan. In-spite of the fact that internet banking has been started in Pakistan, people are still using the old manual system to do the banking transaction, popularity of cash system, waiting in long queues for hours and lacking of proper computer education and trust etc are the major problems that are hurdles in electronic banking. On the other side there are a lot of reasons that the banks did not concentrate on internet banking and cash flow is still popular in banks and internet banking was used by the banks for the limited services.</p><p>Last years a lot of changes has been done and a greater understanding have been developed and now banks are offering various online banking services but banks are facing the problem of customer awareness regarding security and privacy of using Internet banking services as still customers are reluctant to use the online banking services so they prefer to come to banks and deposit the money by hand. So we have investigated these hindrance in our research and also we put some light on what are the advantages in using electronic banking and the how the customers are getting benefit by using e-banking in Pakistan.</p><p>We have developed our own model based upon the prior research. The results were presented in detail based upon the interview and questionnaire and later on we have given recommendations so that e-banking concept can be implemented in Pakistan and suggestions which can be very helpful for the future research</p>

Even though the development of business intelligence is moving forward rapidly, a substantial number of organizations are yet to implement business intelligence. Therefore, this thesis aims at investigating what internal organizational obstacles that could be hindering the implementation of business intelligence and how these obstacles could be overcome. In order to answer this, the Technological Acceptance Model combined with the notion IT identity, is used as the theoretical framework. This thesis is of an interpretivist nature and data was collected through qualitative, semi-structured interviews with six experts within the field of business intelligence, consisting of consultants and business intelligence managers. The identified obstacles could be connected to employees’ perceived usefulness being too low in relation to the perceived non-pecuniary cost. The proposed solutions aims at raising the perceived usefulness and lower the non-pecuniary cost through different methods presented in this thesis.

The Swedish consumers are concerned of their online privacy, while companies increasingly gather personal information with business intelligence (BI) technologies in order to customize online banner ads, among the favoured marketing techniques. Meanwhile, marketers treasure the opportunity to target individuals. The purpose of this research is to generate insights of Swedes’ experiences of intrusion of their privacy online, and their behavioural response to personalised banner advertisements. The research will also observe if there are differences depending on the consumers’ ages. Mediating factors will be regarded how they influence the online users perceived intrusiveness and usefulness of personalised ads. The study is exploratory and aims to provide extensive awareness and beliefs around a complex phenomena. It will have a qualitative approach where data collection is conducted through semi-structured, in-depth, interviews with Swedish consumers from two age groups, complemented by three expert interviews. The results show that, in comparison, elderly consumers have less knowledge of personalised advertising, as well as BI-technology, leading to higher privacy concern and perceived intrusiveness when exposed to these ads. Members of the generation Y comprehend the phenomena to a greater extent, and more easily see the usefulness presented, but are overall ambiguous. Attitudes are likely to be formed based on the experienced intrusiveness contra usefulness, but are not clearly influencing trust, loyalty of future purchasing behaviours. Generally, marketers and consumers’ views show incongruence, as marketers remain very positive to using personal information to customize ads, while consumers do not always perceive it similarly. A balance can be difficult to achieve, but a unanimous belief demand high accuracy of content and placement of the personalised ads to be perceived as useful.

Abstract Background: Around 45% of Swedish consumers canceled their online purchase in 2018, due to too high delivery fees and issues concerning payments. This research is focusing on e-payments by utilizing the Technology Acceptance Model 3 and its determinants perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, and how they contribute to the e-payment method decision. Additionally, the relevance of online trust and online security are examined in relation to purchasing cancellations due to trust and security issues in e-payment methods.   Purpose: The purpose of this research paper is to understand how Swedish millennial consumers’ perceptions of online security and online trust of e-payment methods effect on online purchasing cancellation. Furthermore, this paper examines how perceptions of usefulness and ease of use contribute as determinants in choosing between e-payment methods according to Swedish millennial consumers.   Method: The research is carried out in a qualitative manner by conducting a series of semi-structured face-to-face interviews. Fifteen Swedish millennials contributed to the empirical study. The gathered primary data is analyzed and then presented in chapter 4 and connected to the existing literature in chapter 5.   Conclusion: For the Swedish millennials, both online trust and online security are perceived as important determinants when evaluating whether or not the e-payment method could be used. When choosing between different e-payment methods, perceived ease of use seemed to be more important. Additionally, the decisions are made based on which e-payment method is secure, trustworthy, and easy to use. The presence of those determinants also increases perceived usefulness. When making purchases online domestically it appears that perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness weight heavier. While trust and security are given more importance if the purchase is made from a foreign website.

Today, advances in the technological sector spurs invention toward new heights. What can be achieved today was just decades ago science fiction. Recent years, augmented reality has emerged which is explained by Kipper &amp; Rampolla (2012, p. 1) as a technology that combines the real world with virtual objects which creates a supplement to reality. With its ability to strengthen the impressions of reality by weaving the physical and the digital world together, enables it to be used in various settings. The retail industry has been struggling as of late, with e-commerce flourishing on one hand but contrastingly classic brick-and-mortar stores foreclosing by the thousands. Thus, a technology that has the ability to combine these two channels would thus act as a mitigating force enabling customers to virtually try on their clothes or make furniture digitally appear in their living room. There are numerous possibilities with this technology, given that it can be used in different industries as well with examples from the marketing and gaming industries as the most prominent. What is evident is its ability to interact and engage, making it a usable tool for many activities. Thus, through this thesis we study if augmented reality can affect consumer engagement, and if so which attributes of it has significant positive relationships with the dimensions of consumer engagement. In this thesis, we first provide a framework in which to measure augmented reality in general settings quantitatively, through the use of attributes. These attributes consist of; Interactivity, Playfulness (Escapism &amp; Enjoyment), Service Excellence, Aesthetics, Ease of Use and Perceived Usefulness. We then hypothesize the attributes relationship with two dimensions of consumer engagement identified by Hollebeek et al. (2014); Affection and Cognitive Processing. However, Ease of Use and Service Excellence were not tested in this thesis, as a result of unsatisfactory loadings in the factor analysis. Through an online survey, 79 useful responses were collected and used in testing the hypotheses. Significant positive relationships were found for all tested attributes and Affection, and further significant positive relationships were found between Aesthetics and Perceived Usefulness with Cognitive Processing. It is our belief that this thesis further develops and solidify the current work with consumer engagement quantitively by validating the use of a known framework. Further, it adds to the literature by adopting a general definition of the concept of consumer engagement. This thesis also adds to quantitative work with augmented reality by creating and using a framework in which to study the attributes of augmented reality in a general setting, which has not been done previously. For practitioners, this thesis provides insight into which attributes of augmented reality systems should be emphasized in order to maximize consumer engagement. The thesis ends in suggestions for future research, where we call upon further testing on consumer engagement across different contexts with the use of Hollebeek et al.’s (2014) framework. Such work could lead to a universally accepted quantitative scale for measuring consumer engagement. Lastly, adopting the framework for augmented reality presented in this thesis and applying it to further contexts could yield valuable results, and further tests on Ease of Use and Service Excellence to validate their importance for consumer engagement would be of utmost interest.

Organizations invest sizable amounts of financial and human capital toward developing and implementing innovative technology solutions that will help them achieve organizational objectives. Professionals are now able to use online social networking technology to maintain and grow their network of business contacts virtually, resulting in increased efficiency and the ability to foster relationships with colleagues who otherwise would not be accessible. Organizations can use the benefits of online social networking to their strategic advantage if they understand the nature of the technology and how it is used. The Technology Acceptance Model is often used to explain the acceptance of new technology at work, and can predict which workers are likely to adopt a newly-implemented technology as it was intended to be used. It is not clear, however, if the model can predict the acceptance of social networking technology, and it does not account for experience the user might have had with similar systems. Five hundred students completed a questionnaire about their prior usage of online social networking systems as well as an assessment of their perceptions of the technology in terms of ease of use and usefulness, and the social forces influencing usage decisions. Findings suggest the Technology Acceptance Model is a reasonable model of the acceptance of online social networking systems, but the subjective norm component was not predictive of acceptance.

Adverse drug events, resulting in preventable patient harm or death, are of great concern. To keep patients safe, hospitals have implemented barcode medication administration (BCMA) technology for RNs who have accepted this technology with varying levels of satisfaction. When nurses are dissatisfied with a BCMA system, they may find alternative methods to complete their work. Framed by the Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1989), this analytic, cross-sectional study aimed to understand the relationship between BCMA satisfaction and workarounds, perceived ease of use (PEOU) and perceived usefulness (PU) of a BCMA system by 80 hospital-based RNs in northeastern US. Data were collected using the Workaround Usage and Satisfaction with Barcoding Instrument for Nurses (WUSBIN), which was adapted from Hurley's (2006) Medication Administration System-Nurses Assessment of Satisfaction Scale (MAS-NAS) Halbesleben and Rathert's (2010) Workaround Assessment. Results suggested that RNs who were more satisfied with the BCMA system were less likely to use workarounds than nurses who were less satisfied (r2(78)= -.681, p &lt; .05). Significant relationships were noted among BCMA Satisfaction and PEOU (r2(78) = -.725, p &lt; .05), Workaround Usage and PEOU (r2(78) =.943, p &lt; .05) and Workaround Usage and PU (r2(78)=.501, p &lt; .05). RNs perceived the BCMA system to be easy to use (PEOU), but not very useful (PU). BCMA Satisfaction was significantly related to the use of six workarounds, while Workaround Usage was significantly related to five. Significant relationships were also noted among both BCMA Satisfaction (r2(78) = -.393, p &lt; .01), and Workaround Usage (r2(78) = .423, p &lt; .01) with the total number of workarounds used. Significant relationships were found among demographic variables, BCMA Satisfaction, and Workaround Usage. Since admitting to the use of workarounds may be a sensitive matter for RNs, measuring BCMA satisfaction may help understand the state of patient safety related to medication administration. Based on high satisfaction scores and low workaround usage, a profile may be developed to identify nurse champions to improve quality of care. Further research is indicated to fully understand these possibilities. / School of Nursing / Nursing / PhD / Dissertation