Ali Tarhini

A Cross-Cultural Examination of the Impact of Social, Organisational and Individual Factors on Educational Technology Acceptance between British and Lebanese University Students.

This paper examines the social, organisational and individual factors that may affect students’ acceptance of e-learning systems in higher education in a cross-cultural context. A questionnaire was developed based on an extended technology acceptance model (TAM). A total sample of 1173 university students from two private universities in Lebanon and one university in England participated in this study. After performing the satisfactory reliability and validity checks, the hypothesised model was estimated using structural equation modeling. The findings of this study revealed that perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEOU), social norms (SNs), perceived quality of work life (QWL), computer self-efficacy (SE) and facilitating conditions (FC) are significant determinants of behavioural intentions (BIs) and usage of e-learning system for the Lebanese and British students. QWL, the newly added variable, was found the most important construct in explaining the causal process in the model for both samples. Differences were found between Lebanese and British students with regard to PEOU, SN, QWL, FC, SE and actual usage; however, no differences were detected in terms of PU and BI. Overall, the proposed model achieves acceptable fit and explains for 69% of the British sample and 57% of the Lebanese sample of its variance which is higher than that of the original TAM. Our findings suggest that individual, social and organisational factors are important to consider in explaining students’ BI and usage of e-learning environments.

A Jordanian empirical study of the associations among transformational leadership, transactional leadership, knowledge sharing, job performance, and firm performance: A structural equation modelling approach

Purpose – Knowledge sharing adoption has been considered as a significant practice for organizations. However, there is a modest empirical confirmation to indicate how these organizations value the richness of their knowledge capabilities. The purpose of this paper is to investigate both transformational and transactional leadership styles that influence employees’ knowledge sharing practices, and the impact of the latter on job performance, and then on firm performance. Design/methodology/approach – Data collected from 179 employees at the higher council of youth in Jordan were empirically tested using structural equation modelling. Findings – The findings revealed that both transformational and transactional leadership styles have significant impact on job performance, and the latter on firm performance. Also, it was found that transactional leadership impacted knowledge sharing, whereas transformational leadership did not. Originality/value – This research proposes a new approach to understand knowledg...

A multi-analytical approach to understand and predict the mobile commerce adoption

Purpose – The advent of mobile telephony devices with strong internet capabilities has laid the foundation for mobile commerce (m-commerce) services. The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine predictors of m-commerce adoption using a modification of the widely used technology acceptance model and the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model. Design/methodology/approach – The data were collected from 213 respondents by means of an online survey. The data were analyzed through multi analytic approach by employing structural equation modeling (SEM) and neural network modeling. Findings – The SEM results showed that variety of services, social influence, perceived usefulness, cost and perceived trust have significant influence on consumer’s intention to adopt m-commerce. The only exception was perceived ease of use which observed statistically insignificant influence on adoption of m-commerce. Furthermore, the results obtained from SEM were employed as input to the neural network mod...

User Acceptance Towards Web-based Learning Systems: Investigating the Role of Social, Organizational and Individual Factors in European Higher Education☆

Abstract Due to the rapid growth of internet technology, British universities and higher educational institutions around the world are investing heavily in web-based learning systems to support their traditional teaching and to improve their students’ learning experience and performance. However, the success of an e-learning system depends on the factors that influence the students’ acceptance and usage of such learning systems. So far little research has been done on the important role that social, institutional and individual factors may play in the use and adoption of the e-learning system. In this paper, the technology acceptance model (TAM) is extended to include social, institutional and individual factors in the general structural model to empirically investigate and study whether students are willing to adopt and use e-learning systems. Data were collected using a cross-sectional survey completed by a total of 604 British university students who are using web-based learning systems at Brunel University in England. After performing the satisfactory reliability and validity checks, the hypothesized research model was estimated using structural equation modeling. The results have revealed that perceived ease of use (PEOU), perceived usefulness (PU), social norms (SN), quality of work Life (QWL), computer self-efficacy (SE) and facilitating conditions (FC) are all having a significant positive influence on the adoption and usage of Blackboard system. With QWL; the newly added variable; was found to be the strongest and the most important factor. Overall, the proposed model achieves acceptable fit and explains for 69% of its variance of which is higher than that of the original TAM. Our findings have demonstrated policy makers should take into account that e- learning implementation is not simply a technological solution, but they should also address individual differences by considering a set of critical success factors such as social, institutional and individual factors.

The impact of knowledge management on innovation: An empirical study on Jordanian consultancy firms

Purpose The paper aims to examine the effect of knowledge management processes (knowledge acquisition, knowledge sharing and knowledge utilization) and knowledge management approaches (social network, codification and personalization) on innovation in Jordanian consultancy firms. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire that targets 266 respondents resulted in 216 usable ones with a response rate of 81.2 per cent. To test the research hypotheses, a multiple regression analysis was conducted, in addition to descriptive statistics that provide a background about the respondents. Findings The analysis showed that there is a significant and positive impact of knowledge management processes on innovation in Jordanian consulting firms, as well as a significant and positive effect of codification and personalization approaches on innovation, while the social network approach has a significant negative impact with innovation. Originality/value This is the first study that examines the effect of knowledge management processes (knowledge acquisition, knowledge sharing and knowledge utilization) and knowledge management approaches (social network, codification and personalization) on innovation in Jordanian consultancy firms.

The impact of knowledge management on job performance in higher education: The case of the University of Jordan

This is an empirical study of knowledge management performance (KMP) at a university and the purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between knowledge management process (KMPR), KMP and job performance (JP).,The data were collected using a questionnaire, as the instrument for the primary data collection, with total collected back responses of 207 from university lecturers who have actually participated. Structural equation modeling technique was used to fully analyze the data in order to determine what level of the relationship between knowledge management (KM) and JP existed.,The main findings were related to confirming the two main hypotheses of the research that were related to testing if there were relationships between the KMPR (represented by seven surrogate measures, namely, knowledge identification, knowledge creation, knowledge collection, knowledge organizing, knowledge storage, knowledge dissemination and knowledge application) and KMP, as well as if the KMP was related to the JP.,This paper focuses on investigating the actual role of KM at a university, which is assumingly a knowledge factory. Contrary to the conventional wisdom that presumes the importance of KM and specially when there is no proper KM regiment in place, the paper reports the limited influence KM has on staff JP. It is one of the few studies that fills the gap in the literature concerned with the relationship between KM and JP and perhaps the first to provide insights about the KM intricacies at a Jordanian University.

Examining the moderating effect of individual-level cultural values on users' acceptance of E-learning in developing countries: a structural equation modeling of an extended technology acceptance model

ABSTRACT In this study, we examine the effects of individual-level culture on the adoption and acceptance of e-learning tools by students in Lebanon using a theoretical framework based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). To overcome possible limitations of using TAM in developing countries, we extend TAM to include subjective norms (SN) and quality of work life constructs as additional constructs and a number of cultural variables as moderators. The four cultural dimensions of masculinity/femininity (MF), individualism/collectivism, power distance and uncertainty avoidance were measured at the individual level to enable them to be integrated into the extended TAM as moderators and a research model was developed based on previous literature. To test the hypothesised model, data were collected from 569 undergraduate and postgraduate students using e-learning tools in Lebanon via questionnaire. The collected data were analysed using the structural equation modelling technique in conjunction with multi-group analysis. As hypothesised, the results of the study revealed perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEOU), SN and quality of work life to be significant determinants of students’ behavioural intention (BI) towards e-learning. The empirical results also demonstrated that the relationship between SN and BI was particularly sensitive to differences in individual-cultural values, with significant moderating effects observed for all four of the cultural dimensions studied. Some moderating effects of culture were also found for both PU and PEOU, however, contrary to expectations the effect of quality of work life was not found to be moderated by MF as some previous authors have predicted. The implications of these results to both theory and practice are explored in the paper.

Extending the UTAUT model to understand the customers’ acceptance and use of internet banking in Lebanon

Purpose A number of studies have shown that internet banking (IB) implementation is not only determined by banks or government support, but also by perceptions and experience of IB users. IB studies have showed encouraging results from academics in developed countries. Yet little is known about the user adoption of IB in Lebanon. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors that may hinder or facilitate the acceptance and usage of IB in Lebanon. Design/methodology/approach A conceptual framework was developed through extending the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) by incorporating two additional factors namely; perceived credibility (PC) and task-technology fit (TTF). A quantitative approach based on cross-sectional survey was used to collect data from 408 IB consumers. Data were analysed using structural equation modelling based on AMOS 20.0. Findings The results of the structural path revealed that performance expectancy (PE), social influence, PC and TTF to be significant predictors in influencing customers’ behavioural intention (BI) to use IB and explained 61 per cent of its variance, with PE was found the strongest antecedent of BI. Contrary to the UTAUT, the effect of effort expectancy on BI was insignificant. In addition, both BI and facilitating conditions were found to affect the actual usage behaviour and explained 64 per cent of its variance Practical implications This study would be helpful for bank managers and policy makers to explain the currently relatively low penetration rate of IB in formulating strategies to encourage the adoption and acceptance of IB by Lebanese customers, where IB is still considered an innovation. Originality/value This study is the first research that extend the UTAUT by incorporating two additional factors namely; PC and TTF to study the IB in the Lebanese context. This study contributes to the research on computer technology usage by looking at IB adoption and incorporation into the lives of customers via the BI to use and actual usage of IB in Lebanon.

Development of quantitative model to investigate the strategic relationship between information quality and e-government benefits

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the relationship between improvements in information quality and the benefits and performance of e-government organizations. As information quality is multi-dimensional measure, it is very crucial to determine what aspects of it are critical to organizations to help them to devise effective information quality improvement strategies. These strategies are potentially capable of changing government organizational structures and business processes. It examines the nature, direction and strength of the connections between information quality and the success of e-government initiatives. A conceptual model by means of which organizations performance and information quality research can be viewed is proposed and validated in Kuwait. Design/methodology/approach – The study used a quantitative methodology to investigate the causal paths. A cross-sectional survey was completed by 268 employees positioned in the Kuwait Government ministries. Each of the main effect hypotheses...

Antecedents of ERP systems implementation success: a study on Jordanian healthcare sector

Purpose – Most small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) use some business management software to manage their daily operations. Ultimately they consider transitioning to an enterprise resources planning (ERP) system. However, implementing ERP system successfully is costly and complex, and often shows high disappointment rates or even abandonment due to need of fit with the business or social culture. In Jordan, large businesses have been using the ERP system for a long time, but SMEs usage of the system is relatively new. The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of ERP implementation success antecedents which consists of training, supportive leadership and ease of use on ERP implementation success itself through a mediating effect of user satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach – Empirical data were collected using a survey questionnaire which was distributed to ERP users in Jordanian healthcare organizations. A total of 175 responses were collected and analyzed using structure equation modeli...