bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Socio‐economic determinants of broadband adoption
Authors: Dwivedi Yogesh K. , Lal Banita 
Published: June 2007

PurposeAs innovative forms of information and communication technologies (ICTs) such as broadband internet are being adopted, the equitable distribution of ICTs has become an issue of concern. These apprehensions are being attributed to social exclusion that could arise due to the limited internet use among citizens with lower incomes or educational levels. This research aims to examine the impact of socio‐economic determinants, such as age, gender, education, income and occupation, on the adoption of broadband.Design/methodology/approachA survey research approach was employed to achieve the overall aim of this research. The empirical data of the socio‐economic variables was collected employing a postal survey in the UK.FindingsThe findings of this research suggest that in terms of broadband adoption, except for gender, all the other socio‐economic variables, including age, education, occupation and income, significantly helped to explain differences between the adopters and non‐adopters of broadband.Practical implicationsThe implications of the findings are discussed in the context of promoting the adoption of emerging technologies such as broadband to parts of the population that have limited access to the internet and ICTs in general.Originality/valueThe primary value of this paper lies in extending the understanding of broadband adopters and non‐adopters according to their socio‐economic attributes. This has been achieved by synthesising the previous literature on a number of socio‐economic variables (such as age, gender, education, income and occupation) and also by empirically examining their effects on broadband adoption.
On network externalities, e‐business adoption and information asymmetry
Authors: Lai Fujun , Wang Jian , Hsieh Chang‐Tseh , Chen Jeng‐Chung (Victor) 
Published: June 2007

PurposeThis paper seeks to investigate and provide empirical evidence of the interrelationships among network externalities, e‐business adoption and information asymmetry.Design/methodology/approachA conceptual model was proposed and tested using 307 completed interview cases selected from a database of 2,075 Chinese international trading companies published by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Commerce for this study.FindingsThe results indicated that network externalities significantly influenced e‐business adoption and information asymmetry, and e‐business adoption influenced information asymmetry through information sharing and collection. A split sample analysis showed that cultural contexts significantly moderated the interrelationships among network externalities, e‐business adoption, and information asymmetry.Research limitations/implicationsData for this study were collected only from mainland China, therefore, non‐Chinese companies (foreign‐owned) operating in China may have been influenced by Chinese cultures and some of them have been localizing their operations in China. The influences of network externalities on business performance and decision making remain unclear. In addition, data were collected from self‐reported questionnaires, and thus may be subject to self‐reporting bias. Future studies should use more objective measurements to reduce the potential for self‐reporting bias.Practical implicationsThis study contributes significantly to the literature by providing empirical evidence on interrelationships among network externalities, e‐business adoption, and information asymmetry. The findings in this study also provide valuable insights for managers to better understand the influence of network externalities on e‐business adoption.Originality/valueThis study contributes significantly to the literature by providing empirical evidence of the interrelationships among network externalities, e‐business adoption, and information asymmetry. The findings also provide managers with valuable insight into better understanding of the nature of these interrelationships.
Influencer and other “buying” roles in the decision‐making process of retirement housing purchasers
Authors: Livette Martin 
Published: June 2007

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to show that the role of children in persuading their parents to move is known to be significant, but there has been extensive debate about the roles of other people involved in the process. It is necessary to investigate who plays these roles, for they will be legitimate targets for informative promotion or help from not‐for‐profit agencies – the public sector and voluntary/charitable organisations – wanting to improve the older person's decision making when choosing from a range of housing options.Design/methodology/approachThe paper shows that questionnaires were delivered to every property in nine retirement housing schemes, chosen at random, in the West Midlands region of the UK. Approximately 200 were completed. Semi‐structured interviews were undertaken with 20 of the respondents.FindingsThe findings in this paper demonstrate that almost all initiators were from within the family. The spouse and adult children were the most important influencers, but children had the greatest impact because almost all respondents had children, whereas only a quarter were married. Respondents alone made the decision to purchase in three‐quarters of instances.Originality/valueThe paper shows that not‐for‐profit agencies, when providing information and offering advice about retirement housing, need to target the potential purchaser, the spouse, adult children and other relatives. Other influencers can almost be ignored. Such action will improve the decision‐making process.
E‐government and records management: an assessment tool for e‐records readiness in government
Authors: Mnjama Nathan , Wamukoya Justus 
Published: June 2007

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to indicate that, with the proliferation of information communication technologies (ICT), electronic records are being generated in many public sector organisations in Africa, which has resulted in many challenges hitherto never experienced by archivists and records managers.Design/methodology/approachThe paper reviews literature on ICT, records management and e‐governance and the challenges faced by archivists and records managers particularly in developing countries as they deal with records generated by ICT.FindingsThe paper shows that, while many governments have systems and procedures for managing paper‐based records, the same cannot be said for electronic records and other digital images.Practical implicationsThe paper demonstrates that, without proper planning and adoption of various methods, e‐records created using modern ICT are likely to become inaccessible in the future, thus compromising the ability to remain accountable to the citizens.Originality/valueThe paper shows that, while various e‐records readiness tools are available in the West, none of them addresses e‐records readiness issues in Africa where systems and procedures for managing records both paper and electronic are inadequate. The article provides a simple tool for assessing a country's e‐readiness for the adoption of e‐records in an e‐government environment.
Reading habits and attitude in the digital age
Authors: Shahriza Abdul Karim Nor , Hasan Amelia 
Published: June 2007

PurposeThis study aims to attempt to understand the reading habits and attitudes of the Bachelor of IT students and the Bachelor of Arts students from the International Islamic University Malaysia. The study also aims to explore these differences in terms of gender.Design/methodology/approachThe study used a survey approach in collecting the data. The population of the study was the undergraduate students from two academic faculties at the university. The faculties were Kulliyyah of Information and Communication Technology (KICT) (IT‐based) and Kuliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Science (KIRKH) (arts‐based). Based on the 400 sample drawn, 127 responses were received from the survey.FindingsThe study finds that the web site is seen as an increasingly important reading source. Significant differences exist between academic programs and types of reading materials and reading resources particularly use the web sites. Some differences in reading habits and attitudes were also observed between male and female participants.Research limitations/implicationsLimitations in this study are related to the small sample size, the inclusion of only two academic faculties, and the limited amount of variables studied.Practical implicationsIn general, the findings of the study should assist the University authority, especially the library and the computing department, to look into service matters pertaining to accommodating the reading as well as the studying habits of the student.Originality/valueThe pattern of reading, as is known from the past, may not be the same as reading as it is known today or in the future. Research in reading habits needs to be further updated by including current advancement in ICT, where the technology has enabled reading to be more timely and somewhat non‐linear by using devices such as computers, PDAs and wireless phones without the presence of any printed document.
Industrial information programs in Korea: an overview
Authors: Choi Wontae 
Published: June 2007

PurposeThis paper seeks to provide an overview of industrial information programs in Korea and to describe the databases, service contexts, document supply services and issues in the field.Design/methodology/approachPresents the current status, practical issues and vision for the development and access to industrial information programs. Focuses on the external drivers of change and the strategic issues, in particular for industrial information and document supply services.FindingsRecognizes the problem of access, the need for a long‐term strategy and cooperation, an effective document supply service and makes proposals for the future of industrial information programs in Korea.Originality/valueOffers a practical source of information and issues. Advises any organization to design an extensible, collaborative and integrated industrial information program.
Donald J. Urquhart and the integration of science with librarianship: Part 1
Authors: Bensman Stephen J. 
Published: June 2007

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to analyze the historical significance of Donald J. Urquhart, who established the National Lending Library for Science and Technology (NLL) that later was merged into the British Library Lending Division (BLLD), now called the British Library Document Supply Centre (BLDSC).Design/methodology/approachThe paper presents a short history of the probabilistic revolution, particularly as it developed in the UK in the form of biometric statistics due to Darwin's theory of evolution. It focuses on the overthrow of the normal paradigm, according to which frequency distributions in nature and society conform to the normal law of error. The paper discusses the importance of the Poisson distribution and its utilization in the construction of stochastic models that better describe reality. Here the focus is on the compound Poisson distribution in the form of the negative binomial distribution (NBD). The paper then shows how Urquhart extended the probabilistic revolution to librarianship by using the Poisson as the probabilistic model in his analyses of the 1956 external loans made by the Science Museum Library (SML) as well as in his management of the scientific and technical (sci/tech) journal collection of the NLL. Thanks to this, Urquhart can be considered as playing a pivotal role in the creation of bibliometrics or the statistical bases of modern library and information science. The paper relates how Urquhart's son and daughter‐in‐law, John A. and Norma C. Urquhart, completed Urquhart's probabilistic breakthrough by advancing for the first time the NBD as the model for library use in a study executed at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, connecting bibliometrics with biometrics. It concludes with a discussion of Urquhart's Law and its probabilistic implications for the use of sci/tech journals in a library system.FindingsBy being the first librarian to apply probability to the analysis of sci/tech journal use, Urquhart was instrumental in the creation of modern library and information science. His findings force a probabilistic re‐conceptualization of sci/tech journal use in a library system that has great implications for the transition of sci/tech journals from locally held paper copies to shared electronic databases.Originality/valueUrquhart's significance is considered from the perspective of the development of science as a whole as well as library and information science in particular.
Document supply in a large research library: the experience of the London School of Economics
Authors: Paine Karen 
Published: June 2007

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to describe the measures taken to deal with some issues affecting the LSE interlending and document delivery (IDD) department within the last two years.Design/methodology/approachThe paper provides a descriptive approach.FindingsThere is a wide range of issues affecting document supply at present and a variety of approaches is needed to deal with them.Research limitations/implicationsSome research was carried out by a colleague into user satisfaction and what developments users would like to see in the future.Originality/valueLSE is a fairly unusual IDD department but the issues discussed will be familiar to many colleagues. This case study describes one way of dealing with them that may help colleagues make decisions in their own departments.
Interlending and document supply: a review of the recent literature: 59
Authors: McGrath Mike 
Published: June 2007

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to provide a review of the most recent literature concerning document supply and related matters.Design/methodology/approachThe article covers the reading of over 150 journals as well as monographs, reports and websites.FindingsThat the fundamental debate on the direction of scholarly publishing continues intensely and that opposition is growing to DRM constraints. Electronic books remain a small minority market but the mass digitisation of books is proceeding apace. Open access continues to grow but with widely differing views on its impact – the publishers start to fight back.Originality/valueThe paper represents a useful source of information for librarians and others interested in document supply and related matters.
FM – a pragmatic tool to model, analyse and predict complex behaviour of industrial systems
Authors: Sharma Rajiv Kumar , Kumar Dinesh , Kumar Pradeep 
Published: June 2007

PurposeThis paper aims to permit the system reliability analysts/managers/practitioners/engineers to analyze the system failure behavior using fuzzy methodology (FM)Design/methodology/approachIn order to deal with both qualitative and quantitative information related to system performance the authors have adopted failure mode effect analysis (FMEA) and Petrinets (PNs), the well‐known tools for reliability analysis, to build an integrated framework aimed at helping the reliability and maintenance managers in decision‐making.FindingsUsing the proposed framework an industrial case from the paper mill is examined. From the results it is observed that the limitations associated with the traditional procedure of risk ranking in FMEA are efficiently modeled using fuzzy decision‐making system (FDMS) based on FM. Also, the fuzzy synthesis of system failure and repair data helps to quantify the system behavior in a more realistic manner.Originality/valueThe simultaneous adoption of the proposed techniques to model, analyze and predict the uncertain behavior of an industrial system will not only help the reliability engineers/managers/practitioners to understand the behavioral dynamics of system but also to plan/adapt suitable maintenance practices to improve system reliability, availability and maintainability (RAM) aspects.
An integrated PCA DEA framework for assessment and ranking of manufacturing systems based on equipment performance
Authors: Azadeh A. , Ghaderi S.F. , Ebrahimipour V. 
Published: June 2007

PurposeThis paper seeks to present an integrated principal component analysis (PCA) data envelopment analysis (DEA) framework for assessment and ranking of manufacturing systems based on equipment performance indicators.Design/methodology/approachThe integrated framework discussed in this paper is based on PCA and DEA. The validity of the integrated model is further verified and validated by numerical taxonomy (NT) methods.FindingsThe results of the integrated PCA DEA framework show the ranking of sectors and weak and strong points of each sector with regard to equipment and machinery. Moreover, a non‐parametric correlation method, namely, Spearman correlation experiment shows high level of correlation among the findings of PCA, DEA and NT. Furthermore, it identifies which indicators have major impacts on the performance of manufacturing sectors.Practical implicationsTo achieve the objectives of this study, a comprehensive study was conducted to locate all economic and technical indicators which influence equipment performance. These indicators are related to equipment productivity, efficiency, effectiveness and profitability. Standard factors such as down time, time to repair, mean time between failure, operating time, value added and production value were considered as shaping factors. The manufacturing sectors are selected according to the format of International Standard for Industrial Classification.Originality/valueThe modeling approach of this paper could be used for ranking and analysis of other sectors in particular or countries in general.
Investigation of WBZ‐α method for solving nonlinear systems
Authors: Chang Shuenn‐Yih 
Published: June 2007

PurposeIt has been verified that the WBZ‐α method of Wood, Bossak and Zienkiewicz can have unconditional stability and numerical dissipation for linear elastic systems. However, it is still unclear about its performance in the solution of nonlinear systems analytically. Hence, this study proposes to analytically investigate its numerical characteristics for solving nonlinear systems.Design/methodology/approachTwo parameters are introduced to facilitate the basic analysis for nonlinear systems. One is the step degree of nonlinearity, which describes the stiffness change within a time step, and the other is the step degree of convergence, which describes the convergence error due to an iteration procedure.FindingsIt is theoretically proved that the sub‐family of WBZ‐α method of −1≤α<0, β=(1/4)(1−α)2 and γ=(1/2)−α is unconditionally stable and has desired numerical dissipation for any nonlinear systems even with the presence of convergence error. These theoretical results are confirmed by numerical examples.Originality/valueThis analytical study reveals that the performance of the WBZ‐α method for nonlinear systems is in general the same as that for linear elastic systems.
Understanding international branding: defining the domain and reviewing the literature
Authors: Whitelock Jeryl , Fastoso Fernando 
Published: June 2007

PurposeThis paper's objectives are first to analyse the patterns of research on international brands and branding so far, secondly to provide a definition for international branding based on these previous studies in the field, and finally to suggest fruitful paths for future research in this area.Design/methodology/approachContent analysis of academic papers published in major marketing, advertising and international business journals.FindingsThe field of international branding is broad and has developed in the course of the last 30 years in different directions and with different understandings of what the term refers to. This paper gives an overview of these directions, of the different understandings of the term found in the literature, proposes a definition of international branding, and finally suggests paths for future research.Research limitations/implicationsAs with all literature reviews, this paper is limited to analysing works in a selection of the top academic journals in the field. However, a careful choice of the most important journals has been made, providing a good reflection of the knowledge in the area.Originality/valueThis appears to be the first literature review in the field of international branding and also the first to discuss the different interpretations of the term international branding that have developed over time. The authors also believe it is the first to offer a definition of the term in itself as well as in relation to international marketing.
Global branding, country of origin and expertise
Authors: Pecotich Anthony , Ward Steven 
Published: June 2007

PurposeThe globalisation of markets combined with the paradoxical rise of nationalism has created an increased concern about the importance of the interaction of global brands with other cues such as the country of origin (COO) of products and services. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the decision‐making processes of experts and novices with respect to international brand names, COO and intrinsic quality differences.Design/methodology/approachWithin subject experimental design, quantitative study analysis of variance.FindingsResults of a series of experiments with personal computers as a product with strong COO effects supported this argument. Experts or highly knowledgeable consumers were found to use COO in a circumspect manner or as a limited summary construct, only when such information was consistent with a linked brand name or a particular level of physical quality. Novices, for both products used COO as a halo regardless of brand name and physical quality.Research limitations/implicationsInternational brand names are used in a more analytical manner by experts, with respect to quality, whilst novices based their decision‐making on extrinsic cues. This was a controlled experimental design and results could be evaluated further by more realistic design using actual products in a more market setting. Although the use of product description as used as experimental treatments in this study is not an unusual manner in which personal computers are purchased by consumers, especially when they are purchased online.Practical implicationsInternational marketers must carefully consider the quality, brand and COO information carefully when marketing to consumers of varying product knowledge as it appears different decision‐making styles are used by experts and novices.Originality/valueThis is one of the few studies to experimentally manipulate brand, quality and COO information amongst different groups of consumers with varying product knowledge (experts and novices). The experimental treatments were also carefully chosen so that differences due to the use of a global brand IBM could be evaluated against a lesser known local brand name.