Although older adults’ adoption rates of smartphones have continued to increase in recent years, health-related apps are not widely accepted by older adults. Therefore, the primary aim of this study was to explore older adults’ adoption behavior of mobile health (mHealth) apps in the U.S. Specifically, this study applied protection motivation theory (PMT; Rogers, 1975) as the theoretical base to explain older adults’ adoption process of health apps to understand the influences of threat and coping appraisals on older adults’ adoption behavior of health apps. In addition, the current study incorporated the technology readiness theory (Parasuraman, 2000) to understand the influences of older adults’ positive and negative technological readiness (TR) on their PMT components. Data were collected from older adults (n = 600; 60% female) aged over 55 in the U.S. using online survey questionnaires. The data analysis was conducted using partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings suggest the impact of coping appraisals on older adults’ attitudes toward mHealth apps and their (continuance) intention to use mHealth apps. Especially among PMT’s four appraisal components, response efficacy was the most critical underlying mechanism driving mHealth app-related attitude and behavioral intention. In addition, older adults’ beliefs about using mHealth apps (i.e., TR) significantly influenced their coping appraisal processes, while positive TR was more critical in forecasting their coping appraisals. The results suggest a need to classify older consumers into different segments based on their TR to develop differentiated marketing strategies. The findings also suggest that marketers understand various protective motivation components concerning the use of mHealth apps among older adults.
Objectives: This study is aimed at describing the needs, readiness for implementation of, and perceived strategies to deliver Occupation-Based Practice (OBP) using the Model of Human Occupation (MOHO).
Methods: We invited a systemic random sample of 1,100 practitioners to complete an online survey for 3 weeks. The invitation reached 468 email addresses, and 121 recipients consented, giving a response rate of 25.9%. However, we only included respondents who met the inclusion criteria (n = 111) for the analysis.
Findings: Participating practitioners reported high consensus regarding the necessity of OBP, indicating habituation and motor skills areas among the six theory-based areas as the most challenging for clients, yet support for OBP readiness was found to be insufficient. Correlation analysis revealed that time spent at the graduate level was associated with perceived usefulness (r = .659); perceived usefulness in the graduate program on MOHO was largely associated with desire to use MOHO (r = .857), and the adoption level of MOHO was modestly associated only with the desire to use MOHO (r = .285). We identified prioritized strategies, including translation of assessments and tailored professional development components.
Conclusion: Practitioners consented on the necessity of OBP sharing empirical needs seen among clients and commented with strategies to support implementation of OBP. Such findings inform the next step in developing the culture of the OBP practice environment in Korea.
한문에 대한 교육을 탐색하는 한문과 교육은 한문이라는 언어를 가르치고 배우는 언어교과라고 정의내릴 수 있다. 한문교육은 읽기 교육에 집중되어야 하고, 교과목표는 일차적으로 한문 텍스트 읽기 능력 향상을 토대로 설정되어야 한다. 한문의 언어적 특성과 한문 교과서에 실린 텍스트의 특성에 맞는 한문 텍스트 이독성 공식 개발은 한문 읽기 교육 내용의 위계를 설정하는데 시의적절 한 과제라 할 수 있다.
이 연구는 한문 텍스트 이독성 공식의 한계점과 현장의 비판점을 수용하여 설명력이 높은 이독성 공식을 개발하고자 한다. 또, 기존 이독성 공식 연구와는 달리 전체 기대 요인들 간의 상관관계를 파악하여 이독성 공식을 보완하는 방안을 강구하고자 한다. 이 연구는 기존의 한문 이독성 공식 개발 연구 방법에 ‘구조방정식 모형(Structure Equation Model: SEM)’을 활용한다. 단, 여기서 는 한문텍스트 이독성 공식 개발 과정의 기초 과제인 한문교육용 기초한자 1,800자 대표 훈·음, 텍스트 크기에 따른 공식 개발 가능성 탐색, 기대 요인 상호 관계 파악을 위한 설문 결과 분석을 중심으로 보고한다.
향후 예상되는 연구의 기대 효과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 학습자 수준에 적절한 텍스트 선정 기준을 마련하여 한문 독해 교육을 효율적으로 수행할 수 있는 기반을 마련할 수 있다. 둘째, 한문 독해에 영향을 미치는 기대 요인 상호 관계를 구조방정식 모형을 통해 규명함으로써 한문 독해 연구의 토대로 작용할 것이다. 셋째, 구조방정식 모형을 통해 기존 한문 텍스트 이독성 공식을 보완함으로써 기대 요인들과 텍스트 난도 간의 상세한 상관관계를 가시적으로 나타내 줄 수 있을 것이다.
The study is aimed at investigating whether learning readiness contributes to university students’ group discussion in English in a flipped classroom. The research questions are: 1) Is there a change in learning readiness before and after flipped learning?; 2) Is there a change in students’ participation in group discussion before and after flipped learning?; and 3) Does learning readiness contribute to participation in group discussion? A total of 52 students participated in the study. Student survey questionnaires and quizzes were collected for data analysis. Wilcoxon matched pairs signed rank test, a non-parametric test for repeated measures t-test, and multiple regression analysis were utilized to answer the research questions. The statistical analyses produced the following results: 1) there was a significant change in students’ participation in learning readiness and group discussion; and 2) learning readiness and quizzes greatly contributed to group discussion. These findings corroborated the previous research that learning readiness is essential for self-directed learning in a successful flipped classroom. This suggests that teachers devise ways to help students engage in online activities for greater learning readiness.
기존 학술적으로 논의되던 프로테안 경력과 무경계 경력에 대한 실증 연구들이 활발하게 진행 되고 그 개념도 명확해 지고 있다. 선행연구에서는 프로테안 경력과 무경계 경력의 주관적 경력성공에 대한 연구 등은 많았지만 두 독립 변인이 근로자의 긍정적 경력태도, 미래 학습 준비도에 미치는 영향 등에 대한 연구는 미흡하였다. 따라서 이 연구에서는 근로자의 프로테안 경력 지향성과 무경계 경력, 근로자의 긍정적 경력태도, 미래 학습 준비도에서 경력개발지원정책의 조절 효과를 탐색하였다. 경력관련 변인간 관계를 보면 프로테안 경력은 경력개발정책과 긍정적 경력태도에 정적인 상관을 나타내고, 무경계 경력은 긍정적 경력태도와 미래 학습 준비도에 정적인 상관을 나타냈다. 경력개발지원정책의 조절 효과에서는 프로테안 경력과 무경계 경력의 미래 학습 준비도와의 관계에서 경력개발지원정책은 조절효과를 나타냈다. 이 연구에서 나타난 경력개발지원정책의 조절효과는 자기주도적 경력개발을 위한 의도와 학습의 관계에서 유의미한 결과로 볼 수 있다. 또한, 경력개발지원 정책을 주관하는 조직내 HRD/HRM 부서의 역할에 따라 근로자의 미래를 위한 학습의지에 영향을 미칠 수 있음을 시사한다.
Purpose – Research on technology acceptance involves one's psychological aspect, known as technology readiness. Particularly in the digital acceptance context related to mobile advertising, this psychological condition is referred to digital readiness. Nasution, Rusnandi, Qodariah and Arnita (2018) argue that digital readiness is a prominent factor in the adoption of technology and digital applications. They have proven the importance of this digital readiness in their research on digital mastery level in a telecommunication company in Indonesia. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of digital readiness on the acceptance toward mobile advertising among millennials in Bandung, Indonesia.
Relevant theories – Mobile advertising is part of digital advertising, as stated by Nasution & Aghniadi (2016), they define mobile advertising as a form of digital advertising that has attentions on engaging a strong communication to audience. This type of advertising adoption is still continuously growing and becoming preferable form of advertising for the Millenials. Researchers developed a model that links the influence of digital readiness to mobile advertising acceptance. In addition to these relationships, the research model they developed from the Technology Acceptance Model also included the influence of perceived usefulness and perceived risk to mobile ads acceptance.
Design/methodology/approach – The research model is developed from Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) with a specific attention to assessing whether digital readiness influences the respondents’ perception of usefulness and risk of mobile advertising. The research performs quantitative approach using survey that is formed based on previous literature and conceptual model. Structural equations modelling (SEM) is also conducted to test the constructed model and the proposed hypotheses. Byme (2010) states the significance of the estimated coefficients for the hypothesis relationships which indicate whether the relationship between constructs held true or not. This research will then compare between three models that are differed by range of respondents’ ages. First model will be combined age that is 17-24 years old, second model is 17-20 years old and third model is 21-24 years old.
Findings – The results show that digital readiness has a significant influence towards mobile advertising acceptance among Millennials, in which action readiness is more considered than attitudinal readiness in terms of further assessing mobile advertising. In addition, the study also illustrates Millennials’ perception of usefulness and risk of receiving mobile advertising. Younger group (17 – 20 years old) will not be affected much by usefulness of mobile advertising rather than the older group who will consider much about usefulness on accepting mobile advertising. The group also will take risk along with their ability to accept mobile advertising. It contradicts with the older group (21 – 24 years old) who see risk as hindrance in accepting mobile advertising.
Research limitations/implications – The area coverage of respondents only included several cities across Java and does not concern about the place of origin of respondents. Besides, this research also possesses an age limit for its respondents that range from 17 to 24 years old to limit the diversity of attitudes, beliefs and perceptions.
Originality/value – This study focuses on the concept of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) in which the digital readiness is applied in the context that has not been conducted in Indonesia. Researchers conducted an empirical study on the effect of digital readiness on mobile advertising that is part of digital technology. The results of this research provide opportunities for digital readiness applications in research on the adoption of other digital technologies.
Paper type - Applied research
Introduction
Customer co-creation – customers‘ active participation and interaction with the company during their consumption processes, has gained increasing attention in tourism industry (Bertella, 2014; Chathoth et al., 2016; Campos, 2015). For example, Finnair and Helsinki airport invited passengers to workshop for co-developing new service concepts to improve passenger experience (Loukas, 2013). Despite of the increasing enthusiasm at the firm‘s side, customers do not necessarily share the mindset and feel ready for cocreation. The success of value co-creation greatly depends on continuous collaboration between customers and companies (Chathoth et al., 2013), making knowledge regarding customers‘ engagement in value co-creation essential. However, insufficient research attention has been devoted to theorize and empirically investigate the drivers of cocreation behavior in tourism (Grissemann & Stokburger-Sauer, 2012). To address this research gap, we draw on the organizational socialization theory (Van Maanen & Schein, 1979) to propose and empirically test customer education as driving factor for tourists‘ co-creation behavior during their tours. Additionally, we propose customer readiness as a mechanism mediating the effect of customer education on value co-creation behavior, while such effect should depend on tourists‘ involvement with tourism.
Background and hypotheses development
Organizational socialization refers to the process by which a newcomer gradually absorbs values, abilities, expected behaviors, and necessary social knowledge for assuming an organizational role and for participating as an organizational member (Louis, 1980, p. 229–230). Similar to the organizational socialization perspective, customer socialization characterizes how customers develop skills, knowledge, and attitude relevant to the marketplace (Ward, 1975), which offers a lens to explain how service providers can assist customers and behave as effective co-creators in the service system (Claycomb, Lengnick-Hall, and Inks, 2001). Büttgen et al (2012) demonstrated that customer socialization by training tactic has more important influence on consistent beliefs of service quality than prior reinforcement experiences, which engenders co-production motivation, in turn, leading to coproduction behavior as distal outcome of the socialization tactic. Previous studies suggest favorable customer outcomes to derive from the provision of customer education (Damali et al., 2016). Thus, this study proposed customer education as a socializing tactic, which is mediated by customer readiness for co-creation, to determine tourists co-creation behavior. The concept of co-creation has gained increasing attention in tourism literature, which is often described as the tourist‘s active participation, engagement and interaction during the consumption experience (e.g., Bertella, 2014; So et al., 2014). As Prahalad and Ramaswamy (2004, p. 8) stated, cocreation is ―the joint creation of value by the company and the customer, allowing the customer to co-construct the service experience to suit her context‖. Indeed, creating a favorable, memorable experience involves not only the service providers but also the tourism customers because customers are always the value co-creator (Vargo and Lusch, 2004). Challagalla and colleagues (2009) posit that firms can reach out to contact the customers to provide service after a sale is complete, rather than respond upon the customer‘s requests. In specific, Challagalla and et al. (2009) suggest the proactive service initiatives to consist of three dimensions, namely proactive prevention, proactive education, and proactive feedback seeking. In this study, the three key forms of proactive post-sales services proposed by Challagalla et al. (2009) provides a foundation that helps us to conceive customer co-creation behavior and define the dimensions underlying customer co-creation behavior of tourism services. Customer education, according to Meer (1984), involves learning activities that are organized and sustained by a firm to impart attitudes, knowledge or skills to customers or potential customers. Meanwhile, customer co-creation readiness (CCR) as a customer‘s condition or state in which he/she feels prepared to collaborate with service provider in value co-creation behavior, indicated by role clarity, ability and motivation to co-create (Meuter et al., 2005). Proper socialization process helps customers understand the product or service process as well as their role in performing service tasks, which not only could prevent customer‘s disruptive behaviors during the service process but also facilitate service flow and productivity (Rollag, 2012). Taken together, we propose the following hypotheses:
H1: customer education will have a positive effect on customer co-creation behavior
H2: Customer co-creation readiness will mediate the positive effect of customer education on customer co-creation behavior.
Further, we postulate that tourist‘s product involvement is a boundary condition that constrains the positive effect of customer socialization. Socialization process does not always have much weight on tourists because the influence of socialization on each individual depends on tourists‘ individual characteristics (Van Maanen & Schein, 1979). Some tourists are highly interested in traveling whereas some consider traveling as a dessert in their meal. In line of this sense, we suggest the following hypothesis:
H3: Product involvement will negatively moderate the mediation effect of customer co-creation readiness on co-creation behavior.
Methodology
The survey was posted on several well-known travel forums and referral networks. After eliminating invalid surveys, the authors obtain 300 valid questionnaires. Table 1 presents the sample characteristics. Customer education are measured by four items adapted from Bell and Eisingerich (2007). Product involvement depicts a customer‘s inherent needs, values, and interest towards tourism and is measured by ten items from Zaichkowsky (1985, 1994). Customer co-creation readiness is measured as a reflective first-order and reflective second-order construct by three dimensions: role clarity, ability, and motivation with 12 items adapted by Dellande et al. (2004) and Meuter et al. (2005). Customer co-creation behavior is measured as a reflective second order and reflective first order construct constituted by three dimensions of co-creation behavior with 12 items developed based on the review of concerns in the pre-site, on-site and post-site from several famous travel agencies.
Results
Measurement validation of constructs from construct reliability, convergent validity to discriminant validity were examined; and the results are provided in the table 2, indicating measurement validation requirements are satisfactory. Then, hypotheses testing was performed. In each analysis, we control variables, including customer gender, previous transaction experience with the travel agency (EP), and social desirability (SD), which are expected to have potential influence on co-creation behavior. H1 predicts a positive relationship between customer education and value co-creation. In support of H1, the analysis shows that customer education positively relates to co-creation of customers (β = 0.272, p = 0.043, R2adjusted= 0.292). Gender (β =-0.170, p<0.001) and SD (β =0.141, p=0.011) are negatively and positively related to customer co-creation behavior respectively. To test the mediating effect of customer readiness on the relationship between customer education and customer co-creation behavior, we used the PROCESS Macro (model 4) developed by Hayes‘s (2013) and estimated the effects with a bootstrap sample of 5000 cases. The indirect effect test indicates that customer education had a significantly positive effect on customer co-creation via the mediation of customer readiness for co-creation (0.312; 95% bootstrap CI [0.157, 0.517]) because the confidence interval did not include zero. The results support H2. Gender also has a significant effect on customer co-creation (β =-0.189, p <0.05). H3 postulated that product involvement will moderate the mediation effect of customer readiness. We used the PROCESS macro model 8 established by Hayes (2013) to test the moderated mediation. The conditional indirect effect test shows that customer readiness significantly mediates the influence of customer education on customer co-creation behavior, regardless of the level of product involvement (zero was not included in the confidence intervals). Nonetheless, customer education on customer co-creation behavior via customer readiness is significant and stronger in low level of product involvement (0.281; 95% bootstrap CI [0.186, 0.398]) but weaker in high level of product involvement (0.128; 95% bootstrap CI [0.029, 0.256]). Therefore, H3 is supported. Among the controlled variables, gender is the only significant predictor of customer co-creation behavior (β =-0.158, p<0.05). In a summary of dominant results of control variables, gender is significant in all three of the tested hypotheses; particularly, female shows a higher level of co-creation behavior than male.
Conclusion
we introduced organizational socialization theory to the literature on co-creation of tourism context and explored the effect of firms‘ education effort to socialize customers in co-creation activities. We found customer education as a socialization tactic and then conducting an empirical study by collecting data from several travel agencies to investigate the effect of firms‘ socialization tactic on customer co-creation. The results suggest that customer education could promote customer co-creation through customer readiness as a mediator. We also investigated whether the effect of socialization tactic differs on the different levels of product involvement. The results show that customers with high involvement were less influenced by customer education than those with low involvement.
In order to identify the antecedents of internet purchasing intention toward fashion items, this study examines shopping-related variables as both direct antecedents of internet purchasing intention, and as indirect antecedents of internet purchasing intention through online-related variables. Impulse buying and market mavenism were considered as shopping-related variables, whilst online interaction readiness and online consumer procrastination were considered as online-related variables. It was hypothesized that impulse buying and market mavenism not only directly influence purchasing intention toward fashion items, but also indirectly influence it through online interaction readiness and online consumer procrastination. Data were gathered by surveying university students in Seoul using convenience sampling. A total of 286 questionnaires were used in the statistical analysis. SPSS was used for exploratory factor analysis, and AMOS was used for confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis. The factor analysis of market mavenism, impulse buying, and online consumer procrastination revealed one dimension, whilst the factor analysis of online interaction readiness revealed two dimensions: ‘online relationship’ and ‘internet role.’ Tests of the hypothesized path proved that impulse buying indirectly influences internet shopping intention only through online consumer procrastination, whereas market mavenism influences internet shopping intention indirectly through both online interaction readiness and online consumer procrastination. The results will be useful for Internet shopping mall marketers and for future study.
This research was conducted in order to examine the effects of user socio-demographics and recently introduced streamlined technology readiness index TRI 2.0 (Parasuraman & Colby, 2015) on mobile device use in B2B digital services. Mobile adoption has been studied from a consumer perspective, but to the best of the authors’ knowledge, very few studies explore mobile use in B2B markets. Mobile marketing is becoming a strategic effort in companies, as digital services not only in B2C but also in B2B sector are getting increasingly mobile (Leeflang, Verhoef, Dahlström & Freundt 2014). This raises an interest to better understand the characteristics of those mobile enthusiasts who primarily use B2B services via a mobile device rather than via a personal computer. The study tests hypotheses with a large data set of 2,306 business customers of which around 10 percent represent these innovative mobile enthusiasts.
Technology readiness is an individual’s propensity to embrace and use new technologies for accomplishing goals in home life and at work (Parasuraman & Colby, 2015; Parasuraman, 2000). Parasuraman and Colby (2015) recently introduced an updated version of the original Technology Readiness Index (TRI 1.0) scale called TRI 2.0 to better match with the recent changes in the technology environment. At the same time they streamlined the scale to a compact 16-item version so that it is easier for researchers to adopt it as a part of research questionnaires. Likewise the original scale, TRI 2.0 consists of four dimensions: optimism, innovativeness, discomfort, and insecurity. Optimism and innovativeness are motivators of technology adoption while discomfort and insecurity are inhibitors of technology readiness, and these motivator and inhibitor feelings can exist simultaneously (Parasuraman & Colby, 2015). Optimism is a general positive view of technology containing a belief that technology offers individuals with increased control, flexibility and efficiency in their lives. Innovativeness refers to a tendency to be a pioneer and thought leader in adopting new technologies. Discomfort reflects a perception of being overwhelmed by technology and lacking control over it. Moreover, insecurity reflects distrust and general skepticism towards technology, and includes concerns about the potential harmful consequences of it. As individuals differ in their propensity to adopt new technologies (Rogers, 1995), the authors propose that technology readiness influences mobile device use of B2B customers:
H1: Optimism has a positive effect on mobile device use of B2B digital services.
H2: Innovativeness has a positive effect on mobile device use of B2B digital services.
H3: Insecurity has a negative effect on mobile device use of B2B digital services.
H4: Discomfort has a negative effect on mobile device use of B2B digital services.
The earlier literature argues that socio-demographic factors such as gender (Venkatesh & Morris, 2000; Chong, Chan & Ooi, 2012), age (Venkatesh, Thong & Xu, 2012; Chong et al., 2012; Kongaut & Bohlin 2016), education (Agarwal & Prasad, 1999; Chong et al., 2012; Puspitasari & Ishii 2016) and occupation (Okazaki, 2006) influence technology adoption behavior in general, and mobile adoption in particular. For example, men are nearly twice as likely as women to adopt mobile banking, and age is a negative determinant (Laukkanen, 2016). Higher educated use mobile devices more for utilitarian purposes, while lower educated use mobile devices more for entertainment (Chong et al., 2012). Moreover, research suggests that occupational factors influence mobile use (Okazaki, 2006). The authors hypothesize:
H5: Males are more likely than females to use mobile device for B2B digital services.
H6: Age has a negative effect on the use mobile device for B2B digital services.
H7: Customers with higher education level have a higher likelihood for using mobile device for B2B digital services than customers with lower education level.
H8: Occupation has an effect on the use mobile device for B2B digital services.
The study tests hypotheses with a data collected among B2B customers of four large Finnish companies, all representing different industry fields. The large sample (n=2306) consists of procurement decision-makers all experienced with using B2B digital services. The sample shows that over 90 percent of the B2B customers are still using a computer (laptop or desktop computer) as their primary access device for digital services in their work. The sample divides between females and males in proportion to 46 and 54 percent respectively. University degree represents a majority with 42 percent, while only 2,7 percent of the respondents have a comprehensive or elementary school education. Over half of the sample represent top management or middle management with 24,6 and 28,4 percent respectively, while 9 percent are entrepreneurs, 21,2 percent represent experts, and 16,7 percent are officials or employess. Mean age of the respondents is 51,6 years, ranging from 18 to 81 years.
The study uses logistic regression analysis with backward stepwise method in which the dependent variable is a dichotomous binary variable indicating the respondent’s primary access device for B2B digital services with 0=computer and 1=mobile device. As for the independent variables, the study measures individual’s technology propensity with recently introduced 16-item TRI 2.0 scale from Parasuraman and Colby (2015) using a five-point Likert scale ranging from Strongly disagree=1 to Strongly agree=5. The authors used confirmatory factor analysis to verify the theory-driven factor structure of the TRI 2.0 scale, i.e. optimism, innovativeness, discomfort, and insecurity. The analysis show that the measurement model for the TRI 2.0 scale provides an adequate fit and standardized regression estimates for all measure items exceed 0.60 (p<0.001) except for one item in discomfort (β=0.516) and one item in insecurity (β=0.480). After removing these two items the model shows an excellent fit with χ2=478.033 (df=71; p<0.001), CFI=0.965, RMSEA=0.050. Moreover, discriminant validity is supported, as the square root of the average variance extracted (AVE) value of each construct is greater than the correlations between the constructs (Fornell & Larcker, 1981). In addition, composite reliability values vary from 0.726 to 0.852 supporting convergent validity of the TRI 2.0 factors (Table 1). Thereafter, the factor scores of the latent factors showing sufficient internal consistency were imputed to create composite measures. These composite measures were used as independent variables in the logistic regression model. With regards to socio-demographic variables, age is measured as a continuous variable, while gender, education, and occupation are categorical independent variables in the model.
The results of the logistic regression analysis show that innovativeness, insecurity, age, and occupation are statistically significant predictors of mobile device use in B2B services, supporting hypotheses H2, H3, H6, H8. The stepwise analysis procedure removed optimism (p=0.860), education (p=0.789), gender (p=0.339), and discomfort (p=0.159) from the model as they proved to be non-significant predictors of mobile device use. The results indicate that occupation is the strongest predictor for mobile device use in B2B digital services so that the top management has the greatest likelihood as the odds ratios of middle management, experts, and officials/employees are 0.610, 0.282, and 0.178 respectively. This means that, for example, the odds of the top management using mobile device as their primary channel for B2B digital services are 1.64 (1/0.610) times greater than the odds of the middle management, and 5.62 (1/0.178) times greater than the odds of the officials/employees. Interestingly the β-value for the entrepreneurs is positive indicating that their likelihood for mobile device use is even greater than the likelihood of the top management. However, the p-value (0.913) indicates that the difference is not statistically significant.
With regards to age of the B2B customer, the results indicate a negative relationship with mobile device use. The odds ratio [Exp(β)=0.979] claims that the odds of a B2B customer to use mobile device as the primary channel for digital services decrease by 2 percent for each additional year of age. Regarding the TRI 2.0 constructs, the results show that innovativeness is a highly significant positive predictor for mobile device use, while perceived insecurity has a negative effect (Table 2).
Literature suggests that B2B customers increasingly use mobile devices but yet little is known about those individuals most enthusiastic in using B2B digital services via a mobile device. Thus, the current study attempts to better understand those mobile enthusiasts who among the first have adopted mobile devices as their primary method to access B2B digital services. The results suggest that occupation is the most significant predictor of mobile use among B2B customers, implying that top managers are among the most likely to adopt and use mobile device for business services. Moreover, younger B2B customers use mobile devices more eagerly as the results suggest the likelihood for mobile device use degreases by 2 percent with every added year of age. The results further imply that out of the four TRI 2.0 dimensions innovativeness and insecurity influence in the mobile device use of B2B customers, innovativeness positively and insecurity negatively as the theory proposes. Innovativeness represents individual’s tendency to be a pioneer and thought leader in terms of technology adoption, while insecurity stems from the general skepticism and distrust of technology. These results imply that B2B customers who mainly access B2B digital services via a mobile device are open minded towards the possibilities new technologies can provide for them. Moreover, it appears that those B2B customers still accessing digital services primarily via a computer are more skeptical than mobile users towards technology in general. Compared to the use of mobile devices for individual purposes, business related use is more functional in nature, and thus, mobile devices and technologies must be convenient to use, offer real benefits for example in forms of mobility and portability, and be reliable in order for B2B customers to use them. Interestingly, our results do not support the effects of generally positive attitudes towards technology reflecting optimism, or discomfort of using technologies to influence mobile use among B2B customers. In addition, there are organizational factors (e.g. voluntariness of use) that the authors omit in the current study. These may limit the findings.
Mobility will be a key driver in the ongoing digital revolution of marketing and sales. Understanding online behavior of mobile enthusiasts assists B2B marketing and sales leaders to plan and implement more effective mobile marketing strategies. Rogers (1995) has shown that the majority will follow the early adopters, and the adaptation cycle has even shortened during the last years (Downes & Nunes, 2014). Thus, mobile devices are evidently becoming the primary method in accessing B2B digital services.
The live fire test has been playing a critical role in evaluating the goals-to-meet of the weapon systems which utilize the power of explosives. As such, the successful development of the test systems therein is quite important. The test systems development covers that of ranges and facilities including system-level key components such as mission control, instrumentation or observation, safety control, electric power, launch pad, and so on. In addition, proper operational guidelines are needed with well-trained test and operation personnel. The emerging weapon systems to be deployed in future battle field would thus have to be more precise and dynamic, smarter, thereby requiring more elaboration. Furthermore, the safety consideration is becoming more serious due to the ever-increasing power of explosives. In such a situation, development of live fire test systems seems to be challenging. The objective of the paper is on how to incorporate the safety and other requirements in the development. To achieve the goal, an architectural approach is adopted by utilizing both the system components relationship and safety requirement when advanced instrumentation technology needs to be developed and deteriorated components of the range are replaced. As an evaluation method, it is studied how the level of maturity of the test systems development can be assessed particularly with the safety requirement considered. Based on the concepts of both systems engineering and SoS (System-of-Systems) engineering process, an enhanced model for the system readiness level is proposed by incorporating safety. The maturity model proposed would be helpful in assessing the maturity of safety-critical systems development whereas the costing model would provide a guide on how the reasonable test resource allocation plan can be made, which is based on the live fire test scenario of future complex weapon systems such as SoS.
Self Service Technology (SST) refers to technological interfaces that enable customers to produce a service independently, without service employees’ direct involvement. Because of the recent technological evolution and rising labor cost, most companies in the retail and service industries tend to use more technology-based SST options. In this study, we tried to investigate the effects of technology readiness and consumer readiness on SST service quality, attitude toward using SST, and intention to use SST in franchise fast food restaurants. The study results showed a significant and positive influence on all six dimensions of SST service quality. This research found that consumer readiness has a stronger and statistically more significant influence on all of SST service quality’s six constructs than does TR. Within a setting in which a customer is using SST, consumer readiness is a concept that is composed of the following: customer’s own role clarity, ability to utilize SST, and self-efficacy about using SST. Shim & Han (2012) confirmed that Consumer Readiness is a strong variable that effects motivation to use SST. This research presents academic significance in that it verified that consumer readiness is a major leading variable that influences perceived SST service quality. This research confirmed the moderating effects of consumer traits (self-consciousness, need for interaction, technology anxiety) and situational factors (perceived crowding, perceived waiting time) within the relationship between SST service quality and attitudes and intentions toward using SST. Study results showed that all variables have moderating effects. Ease of SST use was shown to have a strong influence on developing attitudes and intentions toward using SST in people with high levels of technology anxiety. For people with low levels of technology anxiety, ease or difficulty of SST use did not affect their attitude toward using SST. The expectation of increased enjoyment through SST use had an impact on developing attitudes and intentions toward using SST. This implies that expectation of increased enjoyment does not affect the development of intention toward using SST for people with high technology anxiety, as their technology anxiety is greater than such expectation. In contrast, this expectation of increased enjoyment greatly affects the development of attitude toward using SST for people with low technology anxiety. As a result, when introducing SST, firms need to design the system to appeal to people with high technology anxiety. Results also revealed that innovativeness does not have statistically significant influences on enjoyment or convenience. Because our results confirmed that technology readiness is an important leading variable of SST service quality, our research supported the works of Lin & Hsieh (2006) and Zeithaml et al. (2002). Managerial implications and limitations of the study were also discussed.
The purpose of this study was to examine English lecturers’ readiness toward internet use in English teaching and learning at selected universities in Jambi, Sumatra, Indonesia. A questionnaire was used as a research instrument to sixty-five participants who were recruited through a variety of networking sources, but forty-seven participants completed and returned the questionnaires. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics, Pearson Product Moment Correlation, and a t-test. The major findings indicated that the English lecturers’ readiness toward Internet use for teaching and learning was at an average level. This study also found that there was a significant positive correlation between the lecturers’ background of internet use and the level of lecturers’ readiness toward Internet use. There was a positive correlation between lecturers’ knowledge readiness and attitude readiness. However, there were significant differences in the level of readiness between English lecturers at public institutions and private institutions. The findings of this study shed light on policy makers and leaders’ understanding of English lecturers’ readiness toward internet use in English teaching and learning in Indonesian higher education. Policy implications and future research are also discussed.
The objective of this paper is to propose a method of how to perform risk assessment in the early stage of defense research and development for the acquisition of weapon systems. An advanced method for risk assessment and its associated objective functions are developed first based on the concept of systems engineering. The developed method is then applied to carry out the analysis of alternatives in the trade-off environments. As a case study, the multi-purpose training ship is considered, where it is performed using the notions of technology readiness levels, degrees of difficulty, and technology need values to facilitate design space visualization and decision maker interaction. It is noted that decision makers can benefit from our approach as an improved risk assessment method in the context of multi-criteria decision making.
RAM(Reliability, Availability, Maintainability) is important performance factor to keep combat readiness and optimize operational and maintenance cost of weapon systems. This paper discusses the method to establish RAM for combat readiness by using field
Malaysian secondary school teachers' readiness to use Information Communication Technology (ICT) is considered a critical skill in terms of national goals for schools that will prepare students to compete in the knowledge economy of the 21st century. The study investigated 303 teachers' ICT readiness in terms of their basic ICT knowledge, skills, and attitudes towards ICT. Data were collected via the Teachers' ICT Readiness instrument which consisted of an ICT knowledge test, an ICT skills test, and attitude towards ICT questionnaire. The results indicated that the majority of teachers had a moderate level of basic ICT knowledge and skills. A majority of the teachers too had a positive attitude towards ICT. Discussion and recommendations focus on the need to capitalize on the positive attitudes to turn these into action, increasing readiness to use ICT.