In the digital technology era, mobile devices have an important rule to deploy a copy of data and information through the network. An electronic reader (eReader) allows readers to read written materials in an electronic manner that is available in many models. The objective of this study is to evaluate the usage of eReader by higher education students. We firstly identified the most frequently used eReader by surveying higher education students. The survey results showed that Apple iPad, Amazon Kindle, and Samsung Tablet are the most popular eReader devices used by higher education students. We presented these results, and then we analyzed the surveyed results in detail in order to develop an evaluation metric of the eReader in a mobile platform that clearly allows the selection of the most suitable eReader for higher education students. The main contribution of this paper is the development of a set of criteria that can be used by students in the selection of an eReader that matches their specific needs and requirements.

The significance of ICTs in supporting socio-economic development in developing countries is inevitable. As academics of information systems in developing countries, we cannot ignore the need for teaching and building the capacity of our students to become knowledgeable and skilled in Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) practice and discourse. Furthermore, it is vital to equip our students with the ability to apply their discipline knowledge in addressing some of the ICT discrepancies in current ICT4D practice in their own context. I introduced and teach the ICT4D module to the Honours level course at my university in South Africa. This paper explores the factors that have influenced and shaped the development of the ICT4D module curriculum in the South African context I teach in, using a qualitative ethnographic lens and theoretical study. This provides a practice lens to motivate for and support the introduction of an ICT4D module in tertiary curricula in developing countries.

Simulations have been shown to be an effective tool in traditional learning environments; however, as distance learning grows in popularity, the need to examine simulation effectiveness in this environment has become paramount. A casual-comparative design was chosen for this study to determine whether students using a computer-based instructional simulation in hybrid and fully online environments learned better than traditional classroom learners. The study spans a period of 6 years beginning fall 2008 through spring 2014. The population studied was 281 undergraduate business students self-enrolled in a 200-level microcomputer application course. The overall results support previous studies in that computer simulations are most effective when used as a supplement to face-to-face lectures and in hybrid environments.

The field of business intelligence (BI), despite rapid technology advances, continues to feature inadequate levels of adoption. The attention of researchers is shifting towards hu-man factors of BI adoption. The wide set of human factors influencing BI adoption con-tains elements of what we call BI culture – an overarching concept covering key managerial issues that come up in BI implementation. Research sources provide different sets of features pertaining to BI culture or related concepts – decision-making culture, analytical culture and others. The goal of this paper is to perform the review of research and practical sources to examine driving forces of BI – data-driven approaches, BI agility, maturity and acceptance – to point out culture-related issues that support BI adoption and to suggest an emerging set of factors influencing BI culture.

The most common course delivery model is based on teacher (knowledge provider) - student (knowledge receiver) relationship. The most visible symptom of this situation is over-reliance on textbook’s tutorials. This traditional model of delivery reduces teacher flexibility, causes lack of interest among students, and often makes classes boring. Especially this is visible when teaching Computer Literacy courses. Instead, authors of this paper suggest a new active model which is based on MS Office simulation. The proposed model was discussed within the framework of three activities: guided software simulation, instructor-led activities, and self-directed learning activities. The model proposed in the paper of active teaching based on software simulation was proven as more effective than traditional.

Aim/Purpose: Governments, private business, and academia have become increasingly aware of the importance of collaboration in multi-stakeholder, multicultural environments. This is due to the globalization and (developing) mutual relationships with other global partners, due to the often varying visions and goals between the respective organizations in managing projects that span those environments. Background: This research conducts a survey of literature pertaining to organizational collaboration in multi-stakeholder, multicultural environments in government, private business, and academic sectors, conducting an analysis to identify the gaps in the basic questions thus far explored in the literature. The gap analysis will expose the opportunities for greater collaboration in these environments. Methodology: The author conducted a literature review to identify existing research gaps to focus interviews that will develop multiple case studies in future research. Contribution/Findings: This literature review has determined gaps in understanding how contributing factors to cultural communication impact collaboration in multi-cultural, multi-stakeholder organizations, encouraging additional research in this area. Recommendations for Practitioners: Practitioners have the opportunity to develop their use of cultural communication contributing factors, potentially increasing their collaboration efficiency. Recommendation for Researchers: Researchers have opportunity to gather empirical evidence that factors of cultural communication may influence collaboration in the multi-cultural, multi-stakeholder environment. Impact on Society Improved understanding of how cultural communication factors influence collaboration in multi-cultural, multi-stakeholder organizations can improve organizational efficiency. Future Research: Gather empirical evidence that factors of cultural communication may influence collaboration in the multi-cultural, multi-stakeholder environment.

Aim/Purpose: Despite millions of apps on the market, it is still challenging to develop a mobile app that can run across platforms using the same code. Background: This paper explores a potential solution for developing cross platform apps by presenting the hybrid app approach. Methodology: The paper first describes a brief evolution of the different mobile app development approaches and then compares them with the hybrid app approach. Next, it focuses on one specific hybrid app development framework called Ionic. Contribution: The paper presents the hybrid app approach as an emerging trend in mobile app development and concludes with the highlight of its advantages and teaching implications. Findings: The hybrid app approach reduces the learning curve and offers tools to allow the reuse of code to create apps for different mobile devices. Recommendations for Practitioners: The experience that the paper describes in using Ionic framework to create a hybrid app can be adopted in a web design or mobile app development course. Impact on Society : The advance in hybrid framework in general and the growing acceptance of open source framework, such as Ionic in particular, may provide an alternative to the native app domination and may trigger the rapid rise of hybrid apps in the years to come.

Aim/Purpose: The aim and purpose of this study is to understand why there is a dearth of faculty of color ascending to senior levels of leadership in higher education institutions, and to identify strategies to increase the representation of faculty of color in university senior administrative positions. Background: There is a lack of faculty of color in senior level academic administrative position in the United States. Although there is clear evidence that faculty of color have not been promoted to senior level positions at the same rate as their White colleagues, besides racism there has been little evidence regarding the cause of such disparities. This is becoming an issue of increased importance as the student bodies of most U.S. higher educational institutions are becoming increasingly more inclusive of people of various racial and ethnic backgrounds. Methodology: Qualitative interviews were used Contribution: This study adds to the research and information made previously available regarding the status of non-White higher educational members in the U.S. by contributing insights from faculty of color who have encountered and are currently encountering forms of discrimination within various institutions. These additions include personal experiences and suggestions regarding the barriers to diversification and implications of the lack of diversity at higher educational institutions. Given the few diverse administrative or executive leaders in service today in higher education, these personal insights provide seldom-heard perspectives for both scholars and practitioners in the field of higher education. Findings: Limited diversity among faculty at higher educational institutions correlates with persistent underrepresentation and difficulty in finding candidates for leadership positions who are diverse, highly experienced, and highly ranked. This lack of diversity among leaders has negative implications like reduced access to mentorship, scholarship, and other promotional and networking opportunities for other faculty of color. While it is true that representation of faculty of color at certain U.S. colleges and programs has shown slight improvements in the last decade, nationwide statistics still demonstrate the persistence of this issue. Participants perceived that the White boys club found to some extent in nearly all higher educational institutions, consistently offers greater recognition, attention, and support for those who most resemble the norm and creates an adverse environment for minorities. However, in these findings and interviews, certain solutions for breaking through such barriers are revealed, suggesting progress is possible and gaining momentum at institutions nationwide. Recommendations for Practitioners: To recruit and sustain diverse members of the academic community, institutions should prioritize policies and procedures which allocate a fair share of responsibilities between faculty members and ensure equity in all forms of compensation. In addition, institutional leaders should foster a climate of mutual respect and understanding between members of the educational community to increase confidence of people of color and allow for fresh perspectives and creativity to flourish. Where policies for diversification exist but are not being applied, leaders have the responsibility to enforce and set the example for other members of the organization. Assimilation of diverse members occurs when leaders create an inclusive environment for various cultures and advocate for social and promotional opportunities for all members of the organization. Recommendations for Researchers: Significant research remains on understanding barriers to the preparation of faculty of color for leadership in higher education. While this research has provided first-hand qualitative perspectives from faculties of color, additional quantitative study is necessary to understand what significant differences in underrepresentation exist by race and ethnicity. Further research is also needed on the compound effects of race and gender due to the historic underrepresentation of women in leadership positions. At the institutional and departmental level, the study validates the need to look at both the implicit and explicit enforcement of policies regarding diversity in the workplace. Future Research: Higher education researchers may extend the findings of this study to explore how faculty of color have ascended to specific leadership roles within the academy such as department chair, academic dean, provost, and president.

Aim/Purpose: This paper explores the benefits and challenges of experiencing virtual multi-cultural teamwork in order to learn entrepreneurship. Background: Entrepreneurial eco-system usually requires working in international, virtual multi-cultural diverse teams. Higher education institutes are trying to educate future generation of entrepreneurs, coping with challenges derived from the virtual work and cultural diversity. Prior research shows that traditional learning is not effective for entrepreneurial education. Methodology: An explorative study was conducted based on the BIPA project, a Bavarian (German)-Israeli Partnership Accelerator, which was held four times between 2015 and 2017. The project aims to experience entrepreneurial virtual multicul-tural teamwork via co-creation of tailored-solutions for challenges of German or Israeli corporates. Retrospective interviews with participants were held after finishing their mission, and analyzed. Contribution: This research contributes to the body of knowledge about multicultural diverse participants in virtual entrepreneurial environments, in order to work together. This situation raises new challenges, due to the combination of multicultural teamwork and the use of virtual communication. Findings: The multicultural teamwork was a trigger to participate, specifically in the con-text of entrepreneurship studies with those two cultures, German and Israeli, which were found by participants as complementary, stimulating and fruitful, although challenging. Through experience, participants improved their entrepreneurial skills and mindset. The major teamwork challenges that were found included conflicts concerning free-riding, as well as communication challenges, due to virtual, language and cultural communication competencies. Recommendations for Practitioners: At a practical level, results can be useful for global companies, showing the benefits of virtual teamwork of employees in different locations, both in terms of reducing expenses and improving innovation. Moreover, managers can motivate employees by highlighting personal benefits, such as cultural awareness and improving their entrepreneurial skills and mindset. In addition, faculty may use this kind of experience to enhance entrepreneurial learning skills and mindset. Recommendations for Researchers : At the theoretical level, this research advances the body of knowledge of entrepreneurial multicultural teamwork in a virtual environment. In this research, the teams worked for a short time together (14 weeks) and had a week of face-to-face interaction with their team members. It is recommended to examine long-term teamwork, and how it affects teamwork challenges, as well as entrepreneurial learning. This research found the combination of German-Israeli cultures as stimulating entrepreneurial teamwork. It is recommended to examine other cultural combinations in teams, in order to be able to generalize findings. Impact on Society: Understanding the needs, benefits, and challenges of entrepreneurial multicul-tural teams working in a virtual environment can be useful to current global entrepreneurial eco-system, which is commonly using this kind of teamwork. Future Research: ‎This study included teams from two cultures: German and Israeli. Research must be expanded to different cultures and to groups compounded from more than two cultures. Moreover, the combination of virtual communication and face-to-face meetings in different milestones during the timeline of the teamwork must be further examined, especially in longer projects.

Aim/Purpose: Little is known of the cultural competence or leadership styles of a minority owned newspaper. This autoethnography serves to benchmark one early 1990s example. Background: I focused on a series of flashbacks to observe an African American weekly newspaper editor-in-chief for whom I reported to 25 years ago. In my reflections I sought to answer these questions: How do minorities in entrepreneurial organizations view their own identity, their cultural competence? What degree of this perception is conveyed fairly and equitably in the community they serve? Methodology: Autoethnography using both flashbacks and article artifacts applied to the leadership of an early 1990s African American weekly newspaper. Contribution: Since a literature gap of minority newspaper cultural competence examples is apparent, this observation can serve as a benchmark to springboard off older studies like that of Barbarin (1978) and that by examining the leadership styles and editorial authenticity as noted by The Chicago School of Media Theory (2018), these results can be used for comparison to other such minority owned publications. Findings: By bringing people together, mixing them up, and conducting business any other way than routine helped the Afro-American Gazette, Grand Rapids, proudly display a confidence sense of cultural competence. The result was a potentiating leadership style, and this style positively changed the perception of culture, a social theory change example. Recommendations for Practitioners: For the minority leaders of such publications, this example demonstrates effective use of potentiating leadership to positively change the perception of the quality of such minority owned newspapers. Recommendations for Researchers: Such an autoethnography could be used by others to help document other examples of cultural competence in other minority owned newspapers. Impact on Society: The overall impact shows that leadership at such minority owned publications can influence the community into a positive social change example. Future Research: Research in the areas of culture competence, leadership, within minority owned newspapers as well as other minority alternative publications and websites can be observed with a focus on what works right as well as examples that might show little social change model influence. The suggestion is to conduct the research while employed if possible, instead of relying on flashbacks.

Aim/Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine the sense of challenge and threat, negative feelings, self-efficacy, and motivation among students in a virtual and a blended course on multicultural campuses and to see how to afford every student an equal opportunity to succeed in academic studies. Background: Most academic campuses in Israel are multicultural, with a diverse student body. The campuses strive to provide students from all sectors, regardless of nationality, religion, etc., the possibility of enjoying academic studies and completing them successfully. Methodology: This is a mixed-method study with a sample of 484 students belonging to three sectors: general Jewish, ultra-orthodox Jewish, and Arab. Contribution: This study’s findings might help faculty on multicultural campuses to advance all students and enable them equal opportunity to succeed in academic studies. Findings: Significant sectorial differences were found for the sense of challenge and threat, negative feelings, and motivation. We found that the sense of challenge and level of motivation among Arab students was higher than among the ultra-orthodox Jewish students, which, in turn, was higher than among the general Jewish student population. On the other hand, we found that the perception of threat and negative feelings among Arab students were higher than for the other two sectors for both the virtual and the blended course. Recommendations for Practitioners: Significant feedback might lessen the sense of threat and the negative feelings and be a meaningful factor for the students to persevere in the course. Intellectual, emotional, and differential feedback is recommended. Not relating to students’ difficulties might lead to a sense of alienation, a lack of belonging, or inability to cope with the tasks at hand and dropout from the course, or even from studies altogether. A good interaction between lecturer and student can change any sense of incompetence or helplessness to one of self-efficacy and the ability to interact with one’s surroundings. Recommendations for Researchers: Lecturers can reduce the sense of threat and negative feelings and increase a student’s motivation by making their presence felt on the course website, using the forums to manage discussions with students, and enabling and encouraging discussion among the students. Impact on Society: The integration of virtual learning environments into the learning process might lead to the fulfilment of an educational vision in which autonomous learners realize their personal potential. Hence they must be given tasks requiring the application of high learning skills without compromise, but rather with differential treatment of students in order to reduce negative feelings and the sense of threat, and to reduce the transactional distance. Future Research: Further studies should examine the causes of negative feelings among students participating in virtual and blended courses on multicultural campuses and how these feelings can be handled.

Aim/Purpose: The aim of this project was to explore a method to enable an updated under-standing of digital literacy to be implemented in curricula in an environment of an existing, but outdated, understanding of digital literacy. . Background: The changing healthcare environment increasingly emphasizes the importance of digital literacy skills; therefore academics in the optometry discipline at Deakin University sought to better understand where digital literacy skills were taught in their program, and whether delivery was implicit or explicit. Methodology: This case study describes a systematic review of the optometric curriculum to first identify where and what digital literacy skills are currently being addressed in the curriculum, identify the gaps, and develop a strategy to address the gaps. Contribution: The main outcome of this work is the development of a spiraling curriculum to support the development of digital literacy skills required in later units of the program and for clinical practice post-graduation. Findings: Although the definition of digital literacy may be outdated, the digital literacy capabilities being addressed in the curriculum had grown as digital technology use by staff and students had expanded. This, together with the realization that students were not as digitally capable as expected, indicated that teaching digital literacy skills needed to be made overt throughout the curriculum. Recommendations for Practitioners: The process developed through this case study provides a strong foundation for course teams, curriculum developers and educational designers to efficiently analyze digital literacy expectations in existing, accredited health-related curricula and improve the curricula by more overtly embedding digital literacy teaching into it. Impact on Society: Graduates of the amended program of study are expected to be better prepared to undertake their future careers in a digitally enhanced and disrupted environment. Future Research: The framework will be used to explore digital literacy teaching practices in other disciplines. A systematic evaluation will be undertaken to identify the benefits and short comings of using the framework. The elements that make up the new definition of digital literacy need to be better articulated to allow curriculum developers to be better informed as to how to interpret the framework in their context.

Aim/Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic demanded an immediate and massive adaptation of higher education to distance learning. Teachers had to transform from face-to-face to distance teaching, with insufficient pedagogical and technological knowledge and resources. This study aims to capture higher education faculty experiences in the very early stages of the crisis-prompted transition into synchronous distance education in order to obtain a broader view on the faculty’s perspectives (benefits, challenges and insights) on distance teaching through synchronous online environments. Background: Although online teaching and learning have been part of higher education teaching for more than two decades, many instructors found themselves teaching remotely for the first time and facing new and unpredicted challenges. Methodology: This study explored and analyzed an e-mail thread discourse between teachers in a higher education institute, two months after “going online” due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A singular case study was conducted, and a retrospective and snapshot case study approach was used. Data analysis was an iterative exploratory process of going back and forth the empirical material, resulting in the construction of categories, then themes, and finally a conceptual framework was developed. Contribution: The findings contribute the knowledge domain of implementation of immediate and massive online teaching and learning from the faculty perspective. Findings: Two main focal points, students and teachers, were encountered. Three main recurring themes were identified associated with both students and teachers: Convenience, Ethical Issues, and Insights for the future. Two themes were identified associated with faculty: Pedagogy and Tools, and Resources. In addition, two themes were identified for students: Attendance and Responses. Each of the themes was decomposed into several aspects. Recommendations for Practitioners: Higher education institutions and stakeholders should build a campus wide e-learning agenda including appropriate infrastructure and professional development for the future. Recommendations for Researchers: The study presented a conceptual model based on qualitative case study methodology. The impact and influence of each of the components of the model should be further researched and measured using quantitative methodologies. Impact on Society: Understanding the benefits and challenges of distance learning from the faculty perspectives in order to implement better distance learning strategies. Future Research: The impact and influence of each of the components of the model should be further researched and measured using quantitative methodologies.

Aim/Purpose: This research study explores the challenges, successes, and supports de-sired in implementing virtual learning following a survey of faculty for their experiences and interests. Faculty in higher education need quick, practical tools and strategies to enhance teaching and learning in a virtual classroom. Background The sudden and ongoing COVID-19 pandemic had created an urgency to transition to a virtual learning environment, yet expectations for faculty to teach virtually may not have matched best practice and current research. Methodology: This qualitative research begins with an anonymous, emailed survey of higher education faculty designed to explore participant thoughts and experiences related to their virtual teaching in Fall 2020. The survey included a series of demographic questions related to what type of faculty they were (full-time or adjunct), which discipline they taught, which format they were teaching in, as well as 5 open-ended questions to elicit feedback to teaching in this format of their challenges, some positives, strategies used, how they assessed learning, and which workshops they would like offered to better support them. A full year after the pandemic began, we sent out a follow-up survey to check in with faculty and find out specifically new skills/mindsets they developed, new tools they may have tried, their level of stress as well as how they perceived their students’ stress and their students’ level of learning. We decided to broaden our population by sharing the follow-up survey via social media to capture a diverse audience, which included international participants. Contribution: Despite the different stress levels for most faculty and students during the pandemic of 2020-2021, our research highlights that it was also a time of growth and learning. Learning from past experiences can help us be pre-pared for future challenges related to virtual learning. Findings: We found that the emergency remote teaching caused faculty to explore new ways of teaching and learning and helped them to develop a mindset that embraced a variety of skills such as flexibility, creativity, and innovation. We also learned that being aware of the stress levels of both faculty and students is of great value to institutions and with a good infrastructure and support, virtual learning can be successful. Recommendations for Practitioners: Through our research, we have found faculty are lacking the tools necessary to engage their learners in a virtual setting. As such, best practices need to be shared and then embedded into the instructional approach. However, given the pandemic, faculty were forced to transition face to face classes to a virtual format without having been provided these best practices. Recommendations for Researchers: We recommend researchers explore the habits of minds of faculty and how they have developed and continue to develop due to challenges they experienced related to virtual learning and continue to experience. Impact on Society: Many of the skills that faculty developed due to this emergency shift to virtual teaching during 2020 and beyond are skills faculty will have for life. With support and ideas faculty can implement quickly, faculty will be better prepared to provide instruction and create settings that enhance teaching and learning in a virtual setting. Future Research: Future research could include providing a voice for students by distributing a survey to the student body for their views and perceptions on virtual learning during the pandemic and moving forward.

Aim/Purpose This paper focuses on systematizing and rethinking the conformity of modern transdisciplinarity with its prime cause and initial ideas. Background The difficulties of implementing transdisciplinarity into science and education are connected with the fact that its generally accepted definition, identification characteristics, and methodological features are still missing. In order to eliminate these disadvantages of transdisciplinarity, its prime cause and initial ideas had to be detected. It is also important to analyze the correspondence of the existing opinions about transdisciplinarity with the content of these cause and ideas. Methodology The qualitative analysis of the literature reviews on the subject of transdisciplinary was used in order to determine the correspondence of the opinions about the transdisciplinarity with the meaning of its prime cause and initial ideas. These opinions had to be generalized as well. Through this method, it was possible to detect and classify opinions into 11 groups including 39 stereotypes of transdisciplinarity. For substantiation of transdisciplinary approaches that are consistent with the approaches of contemporary science, C.F. Gauss random variables normal distribution was used. The “Gauss curve” helped to show the place of transdisciplinary and systems transdisciplinary approaches in the structure of academic and systems approaches. The “Gauss curve” also demonstrated the step-by-step “broadening of the scientific worldview horizon due to sequential intensification of synthesis, integration, unification, and generalization of the disciplinary knowledge.” Contribution After reconsideration of the results on qualitative analysis of the literature reviews, the generalized definition of transdisciplinarity could be formulated, including the definition for transdisciplinary and systems transdisciplinary approaches. It was proven that transdisciplinarity is a natural stage for the development of contemporary science and education, and the transdisciplinary approaches were able to suggest the methods and tools to solve the complex and poorly structured problems of science and the society. Findings Many existing stereotypes of transdisciplinarity do not meet its prime cause and initial ideas. Such stereotypes do not have deep philosophic and theoretical substantiation. They also do not suggest the transdisciplinary methods and tools. Thus, the authors of such stereotypes often claim them to be transdisciplinary or suggest perceiving them as transdisciplinarity. This circumstance is the reason why many disciplinary scientists, practitioners, and initiators of higher education view transdisciplinarity as a marginal direction of contemporary science. Based on the generalized definition of transdisciplinarity, as well as its prime cause and initial ideas, it was shown that transdisciplinarity is presented in contemporary science in the form of two different approaches, i.e., the transdisciplinary approach and systems transdisciplinary approach. The objective of the transdisciplinary approach is to ensure science development at the stage of synthesis and integration of disciplinary knowledge, while the objective of the systems transdisciplinary approach is to ensure that the problems of modern society are solved through unification and generalization of the disciplinary knowledge. Recommendation for Researchers The researchers should consider that within the limits of the transdisciplinary approach, the disciplinary specialists are managed. Within the limits of the systems transdisciplinary approach, the disciplinary knowledge is managed. Thus, the transdisciplinary approach is efficient for organization and research with participation of the scientists of the complementary disciplines. An example of such research can be a team of researchers of medical disciplines and complementary disciplines from chemistry, physics, and engineering. The systems transdisciplinary approach is efficient for organization and performance of research with participation of the scientists of non-complementary disciplines such as economics, physics, meteorology, chemistry, ecology, geology, and sociology. Future Research In terms of the main initial idea, transdisciplinarity is formed as a global approach. The global approach should have a traditional institutional form: it should be a science discipline (meta-discipline) and have carriers with the transdisciplinary worldview. Training for such carriers can be organized by the universities within the limits of the systems transdisciplinarity departments and Centers of Systems Transdisciplinary Retraining for Disciplinary Specialists. Thus, it is reasonable to initiate discussion for the idea to reform the disciplinary structure of the universities considering creation of such departments and centers.

Aim/Purpose. The most crucial aspects of teaching a foreign language to more advanced learners are building an awareness of discourse modes, how to regulate discourse, and the pragmatic properties of discourse components. However, in different languages, the connections and structure of discourse are ensured by different linguistic means which makes matters complicated for the learner. Background. By uncovering regularities in a foreign language and comparing them with patterns in one’s own tongue, the corpus research method offers the student unique opportunities to acquire linguistic knowledge about discourse markers. This paper reports on an investigation of the functions of multi-word discourse markers. Methodology. In our research, we combine the alignment model of the phrase-based statistical machine translation and manual treatment of the data in order to examine English multi-word discourse markers and their equivalents in Lithuanian and Hebrew translations by researching their changes in translation. After establishing the full list of multi-word discourse markers in our generated parallel corpus, we research how the multi-word discourse markers are treated in translation. Contribution. Creating a parallel research corpus to identify multi-word expressions used as discourse markers, analyzing how they are translated into Lithuanian and Hebrew, and attempting to determine why the translators made the choices add value to corpus-driven research and how to manage discourse. Findings. Our research proves that there is a possible context-based influence guiding the translation to choose a particle or other lexical item integration in Lithuanian or Hebrew translated discourse markers to express the rhetorical domain which could be related to the so-called phenomenon of “over-specification.” Recommendations for Practitioners. The comparative examination of discourse markers provides language instructors and translators with more specific information about the roles of discourse markers. Recommendations for Researchers. Understanding the multifunctionality of discourse markers provides new avenues for discourse marker application in translation research. Impact on Society. The current study may be a useful method to strengthen students’ language awareness and analytic skills and is particularly important for students specializing in English philology or translation. Beyond the empirical research, an extensive parallel data resource has been created to be openly used. Future Research. It should be noted that the observed phenomenon of “over-specification” could be analyzed further in future research.

This work investigated the suitability of a new tool for decision support in training programs of high performance athletes. The aim of this study was to find a reliable and robust measure of the fitness of an athlete for use as a tool for adjusting training schedules. We examined the use of heart rate recovery percentage (HRr%) for this purpose, using a two-phased approach. Phase 1 consisted of testing the suitability of HRr% as a measure of aerobic fitness, using a modified running test specifically designed for high-performance team running sports such as football. Phase 2 was conducted over a 12-week training program with two different training loads. HRr% measured aerobic fitness and a running time-trial measured performance. Consecutive measures of HRr% during phase 1 indicated a Pearson’s r of 0.92, suggesting a robust measure of aerobic fitness. During phase 2, HRr% reflected the training load and significantly increased when the training load was reduced between weeks 4 to 5. This work shows that HRr% is a robust indicator of aerobic fitness and provides an on-the-spot index that is useful for training load adjustment of elite-performance athletes.

Health Data collection is one of the major components of public health systems. Decision makers, policy makers, and medical service providers need accurate and timely data in order to improve the quality of health services. The rapid growth and use of mobile technologies has exerted pressure on the demand for mobile-based data collection solutions to bridge the information gaps in the health sector. We propose a prototype using open source data collection frameworks to test its feasibility in improving the vaccination data collection in Kenya. KenVACS, the proposed prototype, offers ways of collecting vaccination data through mobile phones and visualizes the collected data in a web application; the system also sends reminder short messages service (SMS) to remind parents on the date of the next vaccination. Early evaluation demonstrates the benefits of such a system in supporting and improving vaccination of children. Finally, we conducted a qualitative study to assess challenges in remote health data collection and evaluated usability and functionality of KenVACS.

Efficient knowledge and information management is essential for companies to prosper in the rapidly changing global environment. This article presents challenges of a large Finnish multinational company relating to their current knowledge and information management practices and systems. The focus is on New Product Introduction (NPI) process. The study is based on interviews and facilitated workshops in the Research and Development (R&D) and Production departments. Furthermore, the identified challenges are reflected to the findings presented in knowledge and information management literature. The results gained from the company case study were well in line with the findings in the literature. Three main topics, which can be generalized to cause challenges for knowledge and information management in most companies, were recognized: 1) Issues related to human behavior, individual characteristics and capabilities, different backgrounds, and professional vocabulary; 2) Codifying tacit knowledge into explicit information, which can be saved to company information system; 3) Lack of interoperability between different information systems. The study provides the management of the case company, and other similar organizations, focus points while seeking for better knowledge and information management. From a scientific perspective, the main contribution of this article is to give practical examples of how the theoretical findings presented in literature manifest themselves in real industrial practices.

According to the different behavior characteristics of knowledge contribution of enterprise employees, a multi-task principal-agent relationship of knowledge contribution between enterprise and employees is established based on principal-agent theory, analyzing staff’s knowledge contribution behavior of knowledge creation and knowledge participation. Based on this, a multi-task principal agent model for knowledge contribution of enterprise staff is developed to formulate the asymmetry of information in knowledge contribution Then, a set of incentive measures are derived from the theoretic model, aiming to prompt the knowledge contribution in enterprise. The result shows that staff’s knowledge creation behavior and positive participation behavior can influence and further promote each other Enterprise should set up respective target levels of both knowledge creation contribution and knowledge participation contribution and make them irreplaceable to each other. This work contributes primarily to the development of the literature on knowledge management and principal-agent theory. In addition, the applicability of the findings will be improved by further empirical analysis.

A central premise for the creation of Electronic Health Records (EHR) is ensuring the portability of patient health records across various clinical, insurance, and regulatory entities. From portability standards such as International Classification of Diseases (ICD) to data sharing across institutions, a lack of portability of health data can jeopardize optimal care and reduce meaningful use. This research empirically investigates the relationship between health records availability and portability. Using data collected from 168 medical providers and patients, we confirm the positive relationship between user perceptions of expected satisfaction with EHR availability and the expected satisfaction with portability. Our findings contribute to more informed practice by understanding how ensuring the availability of patient data by virtue of enhanced data sharing standards, device independence, and better EHR data integration can subsequently drive perceptions of portability across a multitude of stakeholders.

Aim/Purpose: Unified Communications (UC) is touted as a technology that will transform business communication. While positive claims abound, the factors of UC attributable to its success have yet to be identified. By examining how users perceive UC impacts productivity, this study aids organizations in making better decisions regarding investments in and usage of communications technologies. Background: Unified Communications integrates disparate communications and information sharing applications into a single platform. The promise of UC is that it will revolutionize the workplace by providing a more synchronized fit between the way people communicate and the technology they use. Methodology: Through case study research conducted within a large multinational corporation (the Hewlett Packard Company), this study investigated the impact of UC on productivity. Interview narratives were examined using an open coding technique to capture individual perceptions of productivity. Further, to assess the role UC plays in facilitating relationship building and its connection to productivity, participant responses were mapped to the key factors of technology that influence relationships within an organization as identified by Dillon and Montano (2005). Contribution: This research contributes to studies on the impact of UC on productivity in the workplace. Findings UC was found to increase personal productivity, remove communication barriers, and create a more positive work environment. Recommendations for Practitioners : The findings of this study will aid organizations in making investment decisions as they evolve their business communications strategy. Impact on Society: Unified Communications will play an increasingly important role as people adapt to the evolving digital world through which they communicate and collaborate. Future Research: Little research exists that examines the impact of UC within an organization. Additional research investigating the use of UC in a variety of business sectors is needed.

Aim/Purpose: This research aims to develop an information technology (IT) maturity model for incident management (IM) process that merges the most known IT frameworks’ practices. Our proposal intends to help organizations overcome the current limitations of multiframework implementation by informing organizations about frameworks’ overlap before their implementation. Background: By previously identifying frameworks’ overlaps it will assist organizations during the multi-framework implementation in order to save resources (human and/or financial). Methodology: The research methodology used is design science research (DSR). Plus, the authors applied semi-structured interviews in seven different organizations to demonstrate and evaluate the proposal. Contribution: This research adds a new and innovative artefact to the body of knowledge. Findings: The proposed maturity model is seen by the practitioners as complete and useful. Plus, this research also reinforces the frameworks’ overlap issue and concludes that some organizations are unaware of their actual IM maturity level; some organizations are unaware that they have implemented practices of other frameworks besides the one that was officially adopted. Recommendations for Practitioners: Practitioners may use this maturity model to assess their IM maturity level before multi-framework implementation. Moreover, practitioners are also incentivized to communicate further requirements to academics regarding multi-framework assessment maturity models. Recommendation for Researchers: Researchers may explore and develop multi-frameworks maturity models for the remaining processes of the main IT frameworks. Impact on Society: This research findings and outcomes are a step forward in the development of a unique overlapless maturity model covering the most known IT frameworks in the market thus helping organizations dealing with the increasing frameworks’ complexity and overlap. Future Research: Overlapless maturity models for the remaining IT framework processes should be explored.

Aim/Purpose: The wide use of online banking and technological advancement has attracted the interest of malicious and criminal users with a more sophisticated form of attacks. Background: Therefore, banks need to adapt their security systems to effectively stem threats posed by imposters and hackers and to also provide higher security standards that assure customers of a secured environment to perform their financial transactions. Methodology : The use of authentication techniques that include the mutual secure socket layer authentication embedded with some specific features. Contribution: An approach was made through this paper towards providing a more reliable and complete solution for implementing multi-level user authentication in a banking environment. Findings: The use of soft token as the final stage of authentication provides ease of management with no additional hardware requirement. Recommendations for Practitioners : This work is an approach made towards providing a more reliable and complete solution for implementing multi-level user authentication in a banking environment to stem cybercrime. Recommendation for Researchers: With this approach, a reliable system of authentication is being suggested to stem the growing rate of hacking activities in the information technology sector. Impact on Society :This work if adopted will give the entire populace confidence in carrying out online banking without fear of any compromise. Future Research: This work can be adopted to model a real-life scenario.

Aim/Purpose: The current study investigates the relationship between mobile and email marketing and consumer impulse buying tendencies in Pakistan. Background: Technology has become a primary driver for all business operations, which has dramatically transformed the wireless communications marketing paradigm. However, researchers have claimed that further inquiry is still needed to explore the role that distinct and emerging global technologies have on marketing communication strategies. This study explores the linkage of mobile and email marketing on consumers’ impulse buying behavior in Pakistan. Methodology: Primary data were collected through the distribution of 1000 questionnaires among students of different universities within two provinces of Pakistan: Punjab and Khyber Pakhton Khan (KPK). The study was conducted between November 2016 and March 2017. The authors received back 950 surveys, which is a very significant rate of return (95%). Of those submitted, 900 surveys were deemed eligible for analysis after improper documents were eliminated. Structure equation modeling (SEM) was utilized to test the study’s hypotheses. Contribution: This study assists organizations in improving marketing campaigns by focusing more on mobile devices (m-devices) and email medium to better comprehend consumers’ assessment processes at a lower budgetary cost. Such digital considerations could provide innovative possibilities for marketers in approaching their target market by adopting novel methods for information sharing. Findings: The findings revealed a positive association between mobile and email marketing on consumers’ impulse buying tendencies. The comprehensive analysis affirmed; however, there is a higher positive relationship of mobile marketing results compared to email marketing outcomes. There are favorable benefits in considering such emerging methods in marketing communications as promotional strategies are considered by organizations. Recommendations for Practitioners: Marketers are encouraged to evaluate the potential of using both emerging mediums to take advantage of consumer impulse buying habits where m-devices and emails approaches are utilized. Future Research: Future inquiries might examine the global influence of m-devices and email technology toward other buying tendencies of consumers: exploratory, online, variety seeking, habitual, and other emerging complex on-demand buying behavior.

Aim/Purpose: This study investigates the issue of knowledge acquisition among faculty members. Background: The paper reports the use of knowledge acquisition tools and reading knowledge sources by faculty members. It also identifies demographic differ-ences among participants in using knowledge acquisition tools and reading knowledge sources. Methodology: The study used an online survey-based questionnaire tool for data collection. The participants consisted of 300 faculty members from 26 academic institu-tions in UAE. Statistical tests are used to verify and validate the hypotheses. Contribution: The paper represents one of the few empirical studies conducted on knowledge acquisition among faculty members in the GCC countries. Find-ings of the study may contribute to the theoretical and practical understanding of knowledge acquisition among faculty members. Findings: Findings of the study revealed that medical faculty members read knowledge acquisition sources more than other faculty members. Likewise, IT faculty members use knowledge acquisition tools more than other faculty members. Results of the study supported stage three of knowledge acquisition proposed in the “Stage Theory of Knowledge Consumption Growth” (Mathew, 1985). The study found that journals are the most sources read by the participants while web-based training (WBT) tools are the most used knowledge acquisition tools among faculty members. Results of the study indicated significant differ-ences among faculty members of different age groups, academic ranks, aca-demic specializations, and institutional affiliation in reading knowledge sources. Likewise, findings of the study revealed significant difference among partici-pants of different academic specializations in using knowledge acquisition tools. Recommendations for Practitioners: Results of the study could be extrapolated to other faculty members in the GCC countries. Recommendation for Researchers: More researches could be done to address different issues of knowledge acquisition among faculty members. Impact on Society: Faculty reading of knowledge sources and use of knowledge acquisition tools may have direct or indirect positive impacts on innovation, creativity, and re-search productivity in any society. Future Research: It will be interesting to apply more than one data collection method in the future research.

Aim/Purpose: Despite the fact that the plethora of studies demonstrate the positive impact of information technology (IT) capabilities on SMEs performance, the understanding of underlying mechanisms through which IT capabilities affect the firm performance is not yet clear. This study fills these gaps by explaining the roles of absorptive capacity and corporate entrepreneurship. The study also elaborates the effect of IT capability dimensions (IT integration and IT alignment) upon the SMEs performance outcomes through the mediating sequential process of absorptive capacity and corporate entrepreneurship. Methodology: This study empirically tests a theoretical model based on the Dynamic Capability View (DCV), by using the partial least square (PLS) technique with a sample of 489 manufacturing SMEs in Pakistan. A survey is employed for the data collection by following the cluster sampling approach. Contribution: This research contributes to the literature of IT by bifurcating the IT capability into two dimensions, IT integration and IT alignment, which allows us to distinguish between different sources of IT capabilities. Additionally, our findings shed the light on the dynamic capability view by theoretically and empirically demonstrating how absorptive capacity and corporate entrepreneurship sequentially affect the firms' performance outcomes. At last, this study contributes to the literature of SMEs by measuring the two levels of performance: innovation performance and firm performance. Findings: The results of the analysis show that the absorptive capacity and the corporate entrepreneurship significantly mediate the relationship between both dimensions of IT capability and performance outcomes.

Aim/Purpose: This article proposes a methodology for selecting the initial sets for clustering categorical data. The main idea is to combine all the different values of every single criterion or attribute, to form the first proposal of the so-called multiclusters, obtaining in this way the maximum number of clusters for the whole dataset. The multiclusters thus obtained, are themselves clustered in a second step, according to the desired final number of clusters. Background: Popular cluster methods for categorical data, such as the well-known K-Modes, usually select the initial sets by means of some random process. This fact introduces some randomness in the final results of the algorithms. We explore a different application of the clustering methodology for categorical data that overcomes the instability problems and ultimately provides a greater clustering efficiency. Methodology: For assessing the performance of the proposed algorithm and its comparison with K-Modes, we apply both of them to categorical databases where the response variable is known but not used in the analysis. In our examples, that response variable can be identified to the real clusters or classes to which the observations belong. With every data set, we perform a two-step analysis. In the first step we perform the clustering analysis on data where the response variable (the real clusters) has been omitted, and in the second step we use that omitted information to check the efficiency of the clustering algorithm (by comparing the real clusters to those given by the algorithm). Contribution: Simplicity, efficiency and stability are the main advantages of the multicluster method. Findings: The experimental results attained with real databases show that the multicluster algorithm has greater precision and a better grouping effect than the classical K-modes algorithm. Recommendations for Practitioners: The method can be useful for those researchers working with small and medium size datasets, allowing them to detect the underlying structure of the data in an intuitive and reasonable way. Recommendation for Researchers: The proposed algorithm is slower than K-Modes, since it devotes a lot of time to the calculation of the initial combinations of attributes. The reduction of the computing time is therefore an important research topic. Future Research: We are concerned with the scalability of the algorithm to large and complex data sets, as well as the application to mixed data sets with both quantitative and qualitative attributes.

Aim/Purpose: This paper reports a case study of organizational transition from a non-competitive selection method to a novel bidding method for the selection of consultants in the Architectural and Engineering (A/E) industry. Background: Public procurement agencies are increasingly relying on external consultants for the design of construction projects. Consultant selection can be based on either competitive bidding, or quality-based criteria, or some combination between these two approaches. Methodology: Different sources of information were reviewed: internal documents, and quantitative data from the enterprise software platform (ERP). In addition, informal and unstructured interviews were conducted with relevant officials. Contribution: As there are mixed opinions in the scientific literature regarding the use of competitive bidding for the selection of consultants in the A/E industry, this paper contributes a detailed review of a transition to a competitive selection method and provides a financial and qualitative comparison between the two methods. In addition, the method implemented is novel, as it delegates most of the responsibility of hiring and managing consultants to one main contractor. Findings: While the new selection method was intended to reduce bureaucratic overload, it has unexpectedly also succeeded to reduce costs as well. Recommendations for Practitioners: It may be more efficient and profitable to adopt the selection method described in this study. Recommendation for Researchers: Similar methods can be applied to other industries successfully. Impact on Society: Our method was applied in a public organization and resulted in a better outcome, both financial and managerial. Adopting this approach can benefit public budgets. Future Research: The selection, data storage, and analysis methods are interrelated components. Future analysis of these components can help better shape the consultant selection process.

Aim/Purpose: ******************************************************************************************** After its investigation, the Research Ethics, Integrity, and Governance team at RMIT University found that the primary author of this paper breached the Australian Code and/or RMIT Policy and requested that the article be retracted. ********************************************************************************************* This paper aimed to examine the impact of knowledge management on firm innovativeness of multinational enterprises (MNEs) via the mediating role of innovative culture in Malaysia. Background: Inadequate management practices and growing competition among MNEs operating in developing nations, notably in Malaysia, have hindered their organizational success. Although several studies have shown that knowledge management has a substantial impact on MNEs’ success, it is not apparent if innovation at the company level has a direct impact on their performance. Thus, there is no definitive evidence between knowledge management with business innovativeness and organizational success. Methodology: This study adopted a quantitative approach based on a cross-sectional survey and descriptive design to gather the data in a specific period. A convenient sampling approach was used to select 296 respondents from Malaysia-dependent MNEs of different industries. One of the advantages of this study methodology is that the sample targeted many fields. Afterward, SPSS AMOS 24.0 software package analysis was performed to test the hypotheses. Contribution: The study contributes to knowledge management and firm innovativeness literature through advancing innovative culture as a mediating factor that accounts for the link between these two constructs, especially from an emerging economy perspective. The research findings also offer managerial implications for organizations in their quest to improve firm innovativeness. Findings: The results support that innovative culture significantly affects MNEs’ performance. Innovative culture enhances the capability of MNEs to be innovative that finally leads to the superior performance of firm innovativeness. Recommendations for Practitioners: According to this research, companies that exhibit an innovative culture, the acquisition of new information, the conversion of tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge, the application of knowledge, and the safeguarding of knowledge, all have a positive effect on their innovativeness. This means that for organizations to run an innovative MNE in Malaysia, a creative culture must be fostered since the current study has shown how it is seen as a catalyst that facilitates learning, transformation, and implementation of relevant knowledge. Recommendation for Researchers: Future studies should be carried out in other sectors aside from the manufacturing sector using the same scales used to measure knowledge management. Furthermore, a comparative analysis of knowledge management and firm innovativeness using innovative culture as a mediator should be researched in other developing economies. Impact on Society: While the main aim of this study was to better understand how and why MNEs operate the way they do, it had an indirect impact on the business and political tactics taken by CEOs and managers working in MNEs in developing countries, as this research has shown. Future Research: Future research should employ the methodology presented in this study and pursue this in other sectors, such as emerging and developed nations’ major businesses, to validate the results and further generalize the conclusions. Other methods should also be incorporated to investigate the other dimensions of MNEs’ performance, including market orientation, technology orientation, and entrepreneurial orientation.