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Strategic alliances are an important option for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) when obtaining knowledge and information. Although existing studies suggest that entrepreneurial competencies (ECs) enable SMEs to form alliances and achieve alliance success, they overlook the role played by external knowledge absorption and mutual trust. Our study was thus aimed to address this issue by exploring and understanding the relationship between ECs and alliance success. The analysis of survey data drawn from 246 UK manufacturing SMEs suggests that the absorption of external knowledge mediates the relationship between ECs and alliance success. Moreover, mutual trust enhances the strength of the relationship between ECs and external knowledge absorption. By drawing on the relational view, our study contributes to the strategic alliance and SMEs literatures and supports a moderated mediation mechanism.

The pandemic COVID 19 has altered individuals' daily lives across the globe. It has led to preventive measures such as physical distancing to be imposed on individuals and led to terms such as 'lockdown,' 'emergency,' or curfew' to emerge in various countries. It has affected society, not only physically and financially, but in terms of emotional wellbeing as well. This distress in the human emotional quotient results from multiple factors such as financial implications, family member's behavior and support, country-specific lockdown protocols, media influence, or fear of the pandemic. For efficient pandemic management, there is a need to understand the emotional variations among individuals, as this will provide insights into public sentiment towards various government pandemic management policies. From our investigations, it was found that individuals have increasingly used different microblogging platforms such as Twitter to remain connected and express their feelings and concerns during the pandemic. However, research in the area of expressed emotional wellbeing during COVID 19 is still growing, which motivated this team to form the aim: To identify, explore and understand globally the emotions expressed during the earlier months of the pandemic COVID 19 by utilizing Deep Learning and Natural language Processing (NLP). For the data collection, over 2 million tweets during February-June 2020 were collected and analyzed using an advanced deep learning technique of Transfer Learning and Robustly Optimized BERT Pretraining Approach (RoBERTa). A Reddit-based standard Emotion Dataset by Crowdflower was utilized for transfer learning. Using RoBERTa and the collated Twitter dataset, a multi-class emotion classifier system was formed. With the implemented methodology, a tweet classification accuracy of 80.33% and an average MCC score of 0.78 was achieved, improving the existing AI-based emotion classification methods. This study explains the novel application of the Roberta model during the pandemic that provided insights into changing emotional wellbeing over time of various citizens worldwide. It also offers novelty for data mining and analytics during this challenging, pandemic era. These insights can be beneficial for formulating effective pandemic management strategies and devising a novel, predictive strategy for the emotional well-being of an entire country's citizens when facing future unexpected exogenous shocks.

This paper aims to explore and understand the digital divide in older adults when accepting and using smart devices within an organization. Using an in-depth single case study, the digital divide is explored and understood using technology-mediated learning for older adults when using smart devices; ie. tablet devices. The case study is based on a group of educated, older Indian adult volunteers at a local Punjabi radio station. A qualitative approach used the data collection techniques of interviews, observations, informal conversations and reference to archival documents and interpretivism for analysis. Our findings revealed that older adults with ailments have shorter lives, contrary to popular perception, can be very active in their communities, are able to use basic IT and are willing to use technology when it leads to significant tangible or intangible benefits without considering the remaining time of their lives. Contributions for policymakers and industry are also offered in this paper.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine sharing economy online marketplaces with the aim of understanding how trust perceptions form and get communicated through sharing economy platforms. Design/methodology/approach The authors build on online user comments and reviews as aggregated by independent third-party websites, and apply a qualitative analysis. Findings The findings show that the quantity of information and communication are important drivers towards building trust perceptions, while an overall lack of interaction between users and the marketplace provider intensifies perceived risks. Originality/value The authors validated the importance of trust and the authors have illustrated that the critical conditions that hinder trust formation are information asymmetry as well as the lack of interaction. What is also an interesting implication is that the impact of both of these can be exacerbated when there is a perceived lack of support among users and between them and the marketplace operator.

Employees are increasingly relying on mobile devices. In international organizations, more employees are using their personal smartphones for work purposes. Meanwhile, the number of data breaches is rising and affecting the security of customers' data. However, employees' cybersecurity compliance with cybersecurity policies is poorly understood. Researchers have called for a more holistic approach to information security. We propose an employee smartphone-security compliance (ESSC) model, which deepens understanding of employees' information-security behavior by considering influences on the national, organizational, technological (smartphone-specific), and personal levels. The research focuses on secure smartphone use in the workplace among Gen-Mobile (aged 18–35) employees in a cross-cultural context: the United Kingdom (UK), United States (US) and United Arab Emirates (UAE) where 1735 questionnaires were collected. Our findings suggest that those who wish to understand employees' smartphone-security behavior should consider national cybersecurity policies, cultural differences in different countries, and threats specific to smartphone use. In addition, our findings help companies to increase customers’ trust and maintain a positive reputation.

Mobile banking has become increasingly important to society; however, not all members of society adopt and/or use it as much as others: older adults, the disabled and lower-income families remain behind in their use and adoption of this service. This finding helped us recognise a research gap and led us to form our primary aim: to understand and explain the factors that influence the adoption, use and diffusion of mobile banking among one of those groups in particular, older adults, in the UK. To form a theoretical understanding, this paper presents a comprehensive review of the surrounding literature in the area and proposes a conceptual framework that can be used for future research. The implications of this research for academia and businesses are also provided in this paper.

Jyoti Choudrie FBCS, Professor of Information Systems at the University of Hertfordshire, talks to Johanna Hamilton AMBCS about COVID-19, sanity checking with seniors, robotics and how AI is shaping our world.

This study is informed by two research gaps. One, Artificial Intelligence's (AI's) Machine Learning (ML) techniques have the potential to help separate information and misinformation, but this capability has yet to be empirically verified in the context of COVID-19. Two, while older adults can be particularly susceptible to the virus as well as its online infodemic, their information processing behaviour amid the pandemic has not been understood. Therefore, this study explores and understands how ML techniques (Study 1), and humans, particularly older adults (Study 2), process the online infodemic regarding COVID-19 prevention and cure. Study 1 employed ML techniques to classify information and misinformation. They achieved a classification accuracy of 86.7% with the Decision Tree classifier, and 86.67% with the Convolutional Neural Network model. Study 2 then investigated older adults' information processing behaviour during the COVID-19 infodemic period using some of the posts from Study 1. Twenty older adults were interviewed. They were found to be more willing to trust traditional media rather than new media. They were often left confused about the veracity of online content related to COVID-19 prevention and cure. Overall, the paper breaks new ground by highlighting how humans' information processing differs from how algorithms operate. It offers fresh insights into how during a pandemic, older adults—a vulnerable demographic segment—interact with online information and misinformation. On the methodological front, the paper represents an intersection of two very disparate paradigms—ML techniques and interview data analyzed using thematic analysis and concepts drawn from grounded theory to enrich the scholarly understanding of human interaction with cutting-edge technologies.

Despite the acknowledgement of the significance of income, affordability and cultural factors in using mobile phones research, there are few studies on how these factors affect females' use of mobile technology. Hence, this paper aims to expand knowledge on female consumers' use of mobile phones and mobile applications in developing countries. It develops a model based on combining the extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology and the cultural influence model. Multi-stage cluster sampling was used to distribute hard copy questionnaires in Jordanian, Iraqi and UAE households led to 629 replies from female consumers. The results indicated that although income is an important factor, cost is not the highest barrier for females. Culture, society, national IT development and inclusive policies play a key role. This study contributes to existing literature by proposing a new integrated model acknowledging the role of income for females’ use of mobile phones.

We provide a novel analysis of social information system (SIS)-driven innovation in Austrian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).The backbone of SIS utilization is SIS governance.SIS capabilities mediate the positive effects of SIS utilization on adsorptive capacity (AC).AC components build on each other to positively affect innovation.AC mediates the positive effects of SIS capabilities on innovation. The study aims to understand the influence of social information systems (SIS) on absorptive capacity (AC) and innovation in Austrian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). For this purpose, a framework was developed and empirically tested using a nationwide, mixed-mode survey on a random sample of 138 SMEs of knowledge-intensive industries. The results show that the backbone of SIS utilization is SIS governance. SIS capabilities mediate the positive effects of SIS utilization on AC components, which build on each other and mediate the positive effects of SIS capabilities on innovation. Our findings provide a number of useful implications for research and industry.

Electronic commerce (EC) has substantial potential to foster the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in developed and developing countries alike. However, EC adoption by SMEs in developing countries has faced many challenges that have not been adequately addressed due to the complex nature of EC adoption in such countries. The aim of this study is to systematically examine the influence of organizational, industry, and national readiness and environmental pressure on the adoption of diverse EC technologies by SMEs in developing countries. A quantitative survey was conducted with retail SMEs within the Malaysian grocery sector to validate the proposed multi-level model. Findings indicate significant influence of environmental pressure on the adoption of various EC technologies. Organizational and national readiness have different influences across diverse EC technologies, while the influence of industry readiness is shown to be insignificant. This study extends the current understanding of the influence of micro-, meso- and macro-level factors and has important implications for researchers, practitioners, and policy makers.

The public sector's adoption of Information and Communication Technologies is often seen as a way of increasing efficiency. However, developing public e-Services involves a series of organisational and social complexities. In this paper, we examine the organisational issues of implementing an ERP system, which was designed and developed within the context of Lagos State's e-Services project. By doing so, we showcase the impact of organisational cultural perceptions and working practices of individuals. Our findings illustrate the strong role of cultural dimensions, particularly those pertaining to religion and multi-ethnicity. Our study provides insights to international organisations and governments alike towards project policy formulation within the context of ICT-based initiatives and reforms that aim to bring forward developmental progress.

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of the following article: Jyoti Choudrie, ‘Silver surfers adopting and using Facebook? A quantitative study of Hertfordshire, UK applied organizational and social change’, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Vol. 89, pp. 293-305, November 2014. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ The final, published version is available online at DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2014.08.007 © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

This exploratory paper aims to apply a qualitative, method known as Ethnographic Futures Research (EFR) to predict the future for mobile phones when used for social development in developing countries. The EFR approach was used in a participatory manner to provide scenarios of the future for mobile phone growth. By employing EFR there is an opportunity to consider different paradigms of mobile services creation deployment in developing environments where historically tele-center models are shown to be unsustainable. The implication of this research study is the provision of a novel way of determining diffusion strategies within regions displaying increasing mobile services adoption patterns. In terms of decision making, this research provides an alternative approach to considering scenarios using a qualitative approach, something amiss within decision support systems literature.

Purpose – Using the case study of a small firm this research study aims to understand the actions required for diffusion of an innovation in a small firm. Design/methodology/approach – The research used a qualitative approach involving interviews, referring to archival documentation and observations to understand the actions required for diffusing an innovation in an SME. Findings – From this case study various institutional actions specific to a small firm were identified as a result of government intervention. Classic theories of adoption and use such as, TAM, TPB, TRA or DoI can quantify measures but cannot explain the impact of the actions that the applied King et al. framework did. Further, although these actions are not directly evident, using the qualitative findings and analysis it can be seen that they are important for the diffusion of an innovation. It can also be learnt that these institutional actions can be vitally important for the growth and development of a future innovation. Although the role of government intervention was small in monetary terms, the mere presence of government representation was critical to ensure that the proposed plans and measures were implemented in the appropriate manner and at the appropriate time, both for the small firm and for the government. In terms of the theoretical framework's institutional actions it can be learnt that not all action outcomes are clearly visible. Some are tangible, while others are not. This implies that to diffuse innovation, there needs to be an understanding of monetary, human and other such resources to form a better understanding. However, most importantly it can be concluded that the diffusion framework developed by King et al. provides a clear picture of the diffusion of an innovation and is most useful for understanding not only national government interventions that previous research identified. Previous institutional actions research has not clearly shown how a micro understanding of the impacts of the various actions can be obtained, of which this study provides further evidence. Originality/value – Collaborative arrangements between HEIs, SMEs and government funding agencies are increasingly encouraged. This paper examines and understands the impacts of strategies used for diffusing innovations, of which the SME and KTP contexts have fewer studies.

Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) penetration is growing at exponential rates and affecting societies, countries and organizations, which has led to a need for understanding whether they contribute to development. To ascertain whether ICT are contributing to development, the example of a current ICT, Twitter is used, along with the aim of this research: To understand and explain how public sector organizations are adopting and using online social networks; namely twitter, for the delivery of e-government services that will provide a better world to live in the Omani public sector. By considering this aim, we attempt to explain whether Twitter, contributes towards the creation of a ‘better world’ to live in, or leads to diverse outcomes in a developing country, Oman. To achieve the aim, we used two public sector organizations workforces’ experiences and applied the Choice Framework (CF) developed by Kleine [1]. For the research approach, we employed a qualitative approach and the data collection techniques, reference to archival documents, interviews, photographic evidence and observations. The analysis was completed using the lens of interpretivism, socio-materiality along with grounded theory concepts. The study reveals that ICT4D is providing a better world for most of the citizens, but for the providers of the improved e-government services, it implies aligning local practices to the technology, which affects their home/work life balance. The contributions of this research lie in emphasising largely how the use of Twitter in Oman will lead to development. The Choice Framework selected for our understanding was adapted and led to diverse results to those mentioned in previous ICT4D studies; therefore, our research makes a contribution of understanding ICT4D in an e-government context, which was amiss in the previous frameworks. For businesses, our findings inform practitioners on the ICT Technologies areas that need attention while implementing them within an environment similar to Oman’s public sector. For policymakers, this research informs of the areas that require policymakers’ attention when placing their efforts where they are best served.

Outsourcing is a strategy being considered appropriate to cope with the current turbulent times. In the information systems (IS) area, outsourcing has fastly become an essential part of an organization's IS strategy. By signing outsourcing agreements, firms expect to reduce their overall information technology (IT) costs, focus on their core competencies, and gain superior technical resources. This paper offers a conceptual model for the area of outsourcing, which is based primarily on the concept of meta-abilities. The principal argument offered by this paper is that organizations need to develop meta-abilities in order to facilitate the process of outsourcing. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This article examines how horizontal integration between the various departments of a local authority in the United Kingdom (UK) occurs. Following that the aim of this article is to extract the “success factors” in government intervention that support horizontal and vertical integration based on the strategies pursued in the UK in order to render favourable results if applied elsewhere. The research methodology consisted of an in-depth case study that used the research tools of interviews and referring to archival documents. This research is timely as the maturity of e-government increases the issues of integrating processes and systems across various government departments becomes pertinent. The conclusion and lessons that can be learnt from this research is that e-government integration on a horizontal level obtains significant ef- ficiency and effectiveness as more and more public services are being centralized.

PurposeResearch has found that the implementation of learning‐based systems development is a complex issue since it requires the input of employees at all levels of an organization. Successful implementation is a challenge for organizations as the basic training and education offered by them and the particular experiences of the individuals on their own and other factors such as fear and ignorance prevent such actions. For this purpose, the addition of other elements is also required. This research aims to identify and explain the usage of the elements that can encourage employees to contribute the inputs necessary for learning‐based systems development.Design/methodology/approachTo achieve this aim, this research developed a conceptual framework based on the concepts of meta‐abilities and tacit knowledge externalization and sharing. To illustrate the application of the framework in a real life setting, a case study approach that involved a large manufacturing organization in Malaysia was employed.FindingsThe processes undertaken in the novel conceptual framework of this research should ensure that organizational information systems are subject to continual re‐examination and modification. By internalizing a system's operations, individuals can improve actions by acquiring better knowledge and understanding, which is the learning process. It was concluded that the future focus for the management of information in organizational learning should be towards the development of an individual's meta‐abilities and creating a suitable organizational culture and infrastructure such that knowledge sharing is promoted.Originality/valueGenerally, this paper offers a contribution by illustrating the application of a conceptual framework in a practical situation; thereby demonstrating a theoretical and practical understanding of the integration of staff members into the IS development process.

Broadband technology has been introduced to the business community and the public as a rapid way of exploiting the Internet. The benefits of its use (fast reliable connections, and always on) have been widely realised and broadband diffusion is one of the items at the top of the agenda for technology related polices of governments worldwide. In this paper an examination of the impact of the UK government's polices upon broadband adoption is undertaken. Based on institutional theory a consideration of the manipulation of supply push and demand pull forces in the diffusion of broadband is offered. Using primary and secondary data sources, an analysis of the specific institutional actions related to IT diffusion as pursued by the UK government in the case of broadband is provided. Bringing the time dimension into consideration it is revealed that the UK government has shifted its attention from supply push-only strategies to more interventional ones where the demand pull forces are also mobilised. It is believed that this research will assist in the extraction of the "success factors" in government intervention that support the diffusion of technology with a view to render favourable results if applied to other national settings.

PurposeTo describe the development of a survey instrument designed to measure consumer perceptions of the broadband adoption within the UK households.Design/methodology/approachA survey research approach was employed to achieve overall aim and following three objectives of this research: to identify initial items that may help to explain the broadband adoption behaviour and determine them employing an exploratory survey approach; to confirm the representativeness of items to a particular construct domain employing content validity approach; and finally, to test the instrument in order to confirm the reliability of items and construct validity.FindingsThe final outcome of the instrument development process that culminated from the confirmatory study was a parsimonious, 39‐item instrument, consisting of ten scales, all with acceptable levels of content validity, reliability and construct validity.Practical implicationsThe developed instrument is relevant to both academic and practitioner communities who hold a particular interest in the study and management of broadband adoption from the household consumer perspective.Originality/valueThe most conspicuous contribution of the paper is to provide a reliable instrument that is fundamental to measure the household consumer's perceptions of adopting broadband internet.

The diffusion of tacit knowledge is pervasive in the organisational learning (OL) process. To undertake this, a conceptual framework based on meta-abilities is proposed. The framework suggests that meta-abilities create individual influencing skills, sharing attitudes and asking habits. These three elements externalise tacit knowledge through the medium of ideas, actions, reactions and reflection. Knowledge stewards' document externalised tacit knowledge thereby making it measurable, tangible and available to systems analysts for future information systems (IS) development. The framework is tested using a case study in Malaysia. It is concluded that the future focus when managing information for OL should be toward an individual's meta-abilities development and creating the correct organisational culture and infrastructure that promotes knowledge sharing.

PurposeThe considerable success achieved with information and communications technologies (ICTs) within the private sector has influenced various stakeholders (including the government) to link up public sector services with the internet revolution. This is being achieved by making expeditious attempts to provide online public sector products and services on a nationwide basis. However, there are certain regions and groups of the populace in a country where this aim will not be achieved. Aims to focus on this.Design/methodology/approachUsing two comparative case studies and a combination of qualitative and quantitative data, this research identifies the challenges being faced by the UK government in ensuring e‐government products and services to both the rural and urban areas. The London Borough of Hillingdon is used to illustrate the case of the urban area, whilst Conwy County Borough Council is the rural case.FindingsThe research found that while citizens' backgrounds influenced accessibility to e‐government services in the urban area, geographic location related issues were posing problems to the same in the rural area.Practical implicationsWhile illustrating a digital divide, this implies that the UK government still has challenges to overcome, as it has to obtain and convince the citizens to attain internet access that will allow them to acquire the online products and services offered by the government. Amongst other challenges to be encountered are how to overcome the organisational and technical issues that could impede the desired integration of business processes and technologies across government institutions for effective e‐governance.Originality/valueAddresses issues that the UK has to overcome in providing online public sector products and services offered by the government.

This paper is about the broadband development in South Korea (henceforth Korea). Korea is considered to be a world leader in this field. Based on various sources including a study trip to Seoul that took place in July 2002, the reasons for this success are offered in this paper. The purpose of the study trip was to investigate how Korea achieved such a relatively fast penetration rate in a time span of approximately 4 years. Using documentary secondary data such as, written documents published materials, and primary data, such as interviews, the paper explores and presents the factors contributing to this development. The factors covered include government leadership, fierce competition, low prices due to the competition, cultural aspects, and geographic and demographic aspects. Although some strategies and success factors are Korea specific, there are general lessons that can be drawn. Anyone considering the deployment of broadband and other future innovations will benefit from this investigation into the successful strategies undertaken in Korea. European Journal of Information Systems (2004) 13, 103-114.

Diffusing tacit knowledge, a transparent and subjective form of knowledge, needs an individual’s ability to externalize and sharing of this knowledge. This paper proposes a framework for the diffusion of tacit knowledge by using the concept of meta‐abilities. The argument of this research is that meta‐abilities develop individual influencing skills and sharing attitudes. These two elements in turn enable individuals to externalize their tacit knowledge in the form of creative idea, actions, reactions and reflection. Documenting these externalized and shared knowledge can provide a basis to keep information systems (IS) updated with relevant and reliable “best practices”. From a discussion of this framework, it is concluded that the future focus for the diffusion of tacit knowledge should be toward an individual’s meta‐abilities development that develop creativity and interpretivity. There should also be an impetus towards creating the right organizational culture and infrastructure that promotes tacit knowledge sharing and externalization within and between employees.

When a new technology is launched, its diffusion becomes an issue of importance. There are various stakeholders that influence diffusion. The question that remains to be determined is their identification and roles. This paper outlines how the strategies pursued by a government acting as the key stakeholder affected the diffusion of a new technology. The analysis is based on a theoretical framework derived from innovation diffusion and stakeholder theories. The empirical evidence comes from a study of broadband development in South Korea. A web of stakeholders and strategies is drawn in order to identify the major stakeholders involved and highlight their relations. The case of South Korea offers implications for other countries that are pursuing broadband diffusion strategies.

Teamwork is increasingly seen as a prerequisite for many job functions within those organisations seeking to sustain total quality management (TQM). However, the daunting task of creating a teamwork environment within many companies is often left to pro‐active senior management that assumes the responsibility for creating a culture of interdependency. The opportunity for maximising employee potential through empowered teamwork represents a challenge for many managers. These managers who often become champions for success inevitably contribute towards improving organisational performance through re‐engineering the people process. This paper describes a reflective case experience of a small to medium enterprise that developed a team‐based organisation, where all employees were empowered to challenge the status quo, implement continuous improvement strategies and, thus, strive towards TQM. The paper describes how the formation of self‐directed work teams (SDWTs) is used as a strategy for motivating a diverse group of people with different attitudes, skills and personalities, to work together towards common business goals. Particularly, emphasis is placed on the role of the team facilitator within dynamic teams, and the necessary attributes of such a facilitator are identified. This identification also assists in providing an understanding of how a facilitator can assist in curtailing conflict. The benefits experienced by the case study as it sustains its TQM efforts through flexible SDWTs are also identified.

When business process reengineering (BPR) is undertaken, one of the requirements leading to its development and implementation is that of teams. There have not been many publications about the teams that are formed for undertaking BPR. This article addresses the theoretical issues surrounding such teams and attempts to provide an understanding of the role of motivation in such teams. Furthermore, an overview of the research process that is undertaken within the article is presented.

Many organisations undertake business process re-engineering (BPR) projects in order to improve efficiency and reduce costs. Although this approach can result in significant improvements and benefits, there are high risks associated with radical changes of business processes and the failure rate of BPR projects is reported to be as high as 70%. The Centre for Re-engineering Business Processes (REBUS) was established at Brunel University to provide a multidisciplinary environment for research into BPR and its success factors. This paper describes the REBUS approach to research concerning the success of BPR projects and presents examples of some of the projects carried out.

The aim of this mini-track is to offer a global perspective of how ICTs are being diffused, used and adopted within society including households, organizations and social communities around the world.

This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Interacting with Computers following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available online at the link below. Governments around the globe are striving to provide e-government, online products and services to all the citizens of their respective countries. This has meant that there is a shift in the conventional mode of public service delivery from a face-to-face and telephone mode to electronic means. However, not all the citizens are making use of these changes, and the one demographic group that is currently attracting immense interest related to their welfare, health and other such issues is the older age group. Using this as a reason, the aim of this exploratory and explanatory research was to understand the e-government initiatives in the UK, more specifically in London. To conduct this research, a mixed qualitative and quantitative research approach was pursued. It was concluded that the benefits of the Internet to many of the users is relative, depending on the age, perceptions and level of innovativeness of the user. It was learnt that in relation to quality, the local authority websites do contain useful and relevant information for the elderly. However, this information is difficult to access, mainly due to the lack of knowledge, skills in the use of computers or Internet. From this research, it is expected that a contribution to academia will emerge in the form of a better understanding of issues related to e-government, the digital divide and older citizens. For industry, the contributions of this research are the identification and understanding of issues related to online products and services and the older citizen. For policy-makers, this research proffers an understanding of issues related with demand and supply of online products and services that governments are currently providing.

This paper aims to identify, explain and understand the adoption, use and diffusion of OSNs within UK's older population. This was achieved using a quantitative online survey questionnaire. Results from a sample population of 252 participants' revealed that age, gender, education, Internet usage history and usage frequencies are all associated with adoption rates. However, it was also learnt that Internet speed is not associated with adoption and is a factor that requires further investigations. Contributions for academia include application of an empirically tested Model of OSN Adoption (MOSN) that employed previous IS theories; DIT, MATH & DTPB. For policymakers our research recommends that age should be considered when developing and implementing novel and innovative technologies. For industry our study identifies specific factors of consideration for wider penetration of OSNs in UK's population.

(2003). Editorial: Broadband Internet and Electronic Commerce. Journal of Information Technology: Vol. 18, No. 4, pp. 227-229.

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010. The UK National Health Service (NHS) is embarking on the largest investment programme in Information Technology (IT). The National Programme for IT (NPfIT) in the NHS is the biggest civil IT project in the world and seeks to revolutionise the way care is delivered, drive up quality and make more effective use of resources of the NHS. Despite these high expectations, the NHS has historically experienced some high profile IT failures and the sponsors of the programme admitted that there remain a number of critical barriers to the implementation of the programme. Clinicians’ reluctance to accept new IT systems at a local level is seen to be a major factor in this respect. Focusing on such barriers, this paper reports research that explored and explained why such reluctance occurs in the NHS. The main contribution of this research derives from the distinctive approach based on Kelly’s Personal Construct Theory (PCT) to understand the ‘reluctance’. The argument presented in the paper indicates that such reluctance should be viewed not as deliberate resistance imposed by clinicians, but as their inability of changing their established group personal constructs related to ISDD activities. Therefore, this paper argues that the means that could occur to reduce the ‘reluctance’ are creative rather than corrective or normative. The research took place in a NHS Trust and the paper pays considerable attention to technological, behavioural and clinical perspectives that emerged from the study. The research was conducted as a case study in a NHS trust and data was collected from two local NHS IT project. The main research participants in this study were: (a) IT professionals including IT project managers and senior IT managers; and (b) senior clinicians.

The aim of this paper is to describe the development and use of a computer simulation model that can be used as a Decision Support System (DSS) to tackle the critical public health issues of HIV and HIV-related tuberculosis in the Russian Federation. This country has recently witnessed an explosion of HIV infections and a worrying spread of the Multi-Drug Resistant form of Tuberculosis (MDRTB). The conclusions drawn are that a high population coverage with Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Treatment (HAART) (75% or higher), allied with high MDRTB cure rates, reduces cumulative deaths by 60%, with limited impact below this level. This research offers a simulation model that can be applied as a DSS by public health officials to inform policy making. By doing so, ways of controlling the spread of HIV and MDRTB and reduce mortality from these serious public health threats is provided.

Government websites of developing countries are pertinent since they are part of the e-government efforts occurring on a global scale. The aim of this research is to investigate the usability issues of government web portals of developing countries. The data was collected from a diverse range of respondents. The main contribution of this paper is to identify the usability issues when implementing government web portals. This is pertinent as web portals are the only feature and source of information that people from various locations will obtain prior to visiting the country and may be a decisive factor for an individual. © 2009 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Large investments have been made by various governments for the deployment of broadband within their respective nations; however, the citizens of such countries have demonstrated a slow adoption of this technology. The Handbook of Research on Global Diffusion of Broadband Data Transmission explores broadband adoption and the digital divide through a global perspective, providing up-to-date research on constructs such as relative advantage, utilitarian outcomes, hedonic outcomes, and service quality. Compiling cutting-edge research from over 100 noted experts in nearly 30 countries, this invaluable reference source allows policy makers, internet service providers, and others to gain multicultural insight into what factors actively influence consumers decisions to adopt broadband.

The development of national broadband infrastructures has been recognized as an important part of the vision of the information society, as well as of the modernization of the public sector. This paper investigates the relationship between broadband dissemination and service innovation in the public sector. We ask, what characterizes successful broadband based service innovation projects in the public sector? The research approach is a quantitative survey in a large public broadband diffusion initiative in Norway. The paper offers three conclusions. First, broadband based service innovation is seen as a two-step process; first a technologically oriented project, followed by an organizational implementation. The focus of the project manager should be on the second of the phases, not the first. Second, the engagement of a professional external project manager does not support service innovation. The reason is that the external project manager lacks the necessary local knowledge and alliances with central stakeholders. Third, traditional project management is not well suited to understand and manage service innovation

The concept of e-government has evolved from the domain of e-business where enterprises need to collaborate with partners, suppliers and customers for the effective delivery of e-services. While needing integration and communication between business processes and underlying information systems in disparate organizations, in a non-process-oriented, legacy system driven public sector, this presents a significant challenge. Using a case study in a local council, this research will explore process management and integration issues in the UK public sector and highlight the opportunities for service improvement in the context of e-government implementation. While cross organisational process and information systems integration barriers are seen in the literature as presenting the main technical challenge for realising fully integrated e-government services, this research found that a legacy of bureaucracy and established illogical routine tasks were preventing the government from expediting their e-government initiative in the UK.

This research is concerned with studying the elements that can encourage staff members to contribute inputs for learning-based systems development. To achieve this aim, this research developed a conceptual framework based on the concepts of meta-abilities and tacit knowledge externalization and sharing. Meta-abilities, in turn, are developed by using the elements of understanding organizational roles, internal strengths, formal and informal discussions and rational discourse. The processes undertaken in the novel conceptual framework of this research will ensure that organizational IS are subject to continual re-examination and modification. By internalizing a system’s operations, individuals can improve actions through better knowledge and understanding — the learning process. The framework is tested using fieldwork experimentation in Malaysia. It is concluded that the future focus when managing information for OL should be toward an individual’s meta-abilities development and creating the correct organizational culture and infrastructure that promotes knowledge sharing.

Internet connectivity has a profound impact on almost all aspects of human lives including social interaction and individual behaviour. The impacts may further foster due to the availability and access of broadband Internet connection. This paper focuses on evaluating the impact of broadband on the growth and development of business-to-consumer (B2C) electronic commerce. The research data was collected from a total of 104 respondents and subjected to both quantitative and qualitative data analysis. The results indicate a significant impact of broadband use on transforming consumer behaviour towards adoption of B2C electronic commerce. The paper illustrates how broadband use has an influence on off-line purchase behaviour, online B2C electronic commerce and overall online experience. The conclusions drawn are that broadband adoption and use is encouraging the adoption of B2C electronic commerce.

The concept of reengineering teams is not new to business process change practice and research. However, frameworks that describe the organisational changes that have to be undertaken in order to establish reengineering teams, in particular, are novel. By having such a framework, practitioners and academics alike can determine beforehand what to expect before the actual team is formed. This in turn allows organisations to prevent disastrous consequences, something that can occur if information is not available. Additionally, the chapter describes the characteristics that surround the planning and design of reengineering teams. This can be used as a suggestion for organisations in order to decide if they do have the appropriate numbers of individuals within a team. From these explanations it can then be stated that this chapter can serve as a directive that organisations undertaking business process change in the future can use as guiding information. INTRODUCTION The normative literature on business process change (BPC) emphasises the role of reengineering teams; however, when investigated in detail it can be found that there is minimal literature about their formation, tasks and so forth. In particular, when BPC was being introduced, Davenport (1993) and Hammer and Champy (1993) stressed that the implementation of BPC is better if a reengineering team is This chapter appears in the book, Knowledge and Business Process Management edited byVlatka Hlupic. Copyright © 2003, Idea Group Publishing. 701 E. Chocolate Avenue, Hershey PA 17033, USA Tel: 717/533-8845; Fax 717/533-8661; URL-http://www.idea-group.com ITB8194 IDEA GROUP PUBLISHING