Carolina López-Nicolás

An assessment of advanced mobile services acceptance: Contributions from TAM and diffusion theory models

Today, in addition to traditional mobile services, there are new ones already being used, thanks to the advances in 3G-related technologies. Our work contributed to the emerging body of research by integrating TAM and Diffusion Theory. Based on a sample of 542 Dutch consumers, we found that traditional antecedents of behavioral intention, ease of use and perceived usefulness, can be linked to diffusion-related variables, such as social influence and perceived benefits (flexibility and status).

Analysis of users and non-users of smartphone applications

Purpose: Smartphones facilitate the potential adoption of new mobile applications. The purpose of this research is to study users and non-users of three selected mobile applications, and find out what really drives the intention to use these applications across users and non-users. Design/methodology/approach: The authors measured actual usage of mobile applications in a panel study of 579 Finnish smartphone users, using in-device measurements as an objective way to identify users and non-users. A web-based survey was used in collecting data to test an extended TAM model in explaining intention to use. Findings: Perceived technological barriers negatively affect behavioural control, reflecting peoples assessment of themselves being capable of using the services without trouble. Behavioural control is directly linked to perceived usefulness (except for games) and perceived enjoyment, as hypothesized. Perceived enjoyment and usefulness were generically found to explain intention to use applications for both users and for non-users. Research limitations/implications: With regards to the impact of social norms, the study finds that further research needs to be done in exploring its impact more thoroughly. The dataset of the research, consisting purely of male-dominated, young smartphone users, make the generalization of results difficult. Practical implications: There are differences regarding what drives the usage of different kinds of mobile applications. In this study, map applications and mobile Internet, are driven by more utilitarian motivations, whereas games are more hedonic. It is also clear that not everybody are using applications facilitated by smartphones, and therefore the presented approach of studying users and non-users separately provides a new approach to analyze adoption on a practical level. Originality/value: This research proves that models like TAM should not treat mobile services as a generic concept, but instead to specifically address individual mobile services. The research also demonstrates the unique value of combining objective usage measurements (reflecting actual behaviour) with traditional survey data in more comprehensively modelling service adoption.

Strategic knowledge management, innovation and performance

Abstract Our aim is to shed light on the consequences of knowledge management (KM) strategies on firms innovation and corporate performance. Organisations are not aware of the real implications that KM may have. Based on an empirical study consisted of 310 Spanish organisations and structural equations modelling, results show that both KM strategies (codification and personalisation) impacts on innovation and organisational performance directly and indirectly (through an increase on innovation capability). Also, findings demonstrate a different effect of KM strategies on diverse dimensions of organisational performance. Our conclusions may help academics and managers in designing KM strategic programs in order to achieve higher innovation, effectiveness, efficiency and profitability.

Analyzing ICT adoption and use effects on knowledge creation: An empirical investigation in SMEs

This paper investigates the influence of the adoption and use of information and communication technology (ICT) on organizational learning (OL). The focus is on knowledge, creation, as an articulated construct for the OL concept, and the SECI (Socialization, Externalization, Combination and Internalization) model is used as a reference for knowledge, creation. ICT use is seen here as consisting of three different orientations: informative, communicative and workflow. The results, based on a sample of around 300 Spanish small- and, medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), indicate that ICT has a significant positive influence on the, four processes for creating knowledge. ICT oriented to communication and workflow is found, to produce a significant positive impact on knowledge creation processes, except for, socialization process, while ICT use for information does not influence any of the processes for, creating knowledge and OL.

Knowledge management strategy diagnosis from KM instruments use

– The purpose of this article is to measure knowledge management (KM) implementation and determine KM strategy by assigning KM instruments into KM orientations., – Information is collected from ten SMEs in Spain and ten in Austria taking part in a KM audit project., – Results show that instruments can be used to diagnose KM strategy. Besides, some firms characteristics as industry, national culture, size and age act as contingent factors. Personalisation strategy is predominant probably due to be more feasible in first KM stages., – Besides the increase of cases, business strategy could be introduced to explore relationships with KM instruments and strategy., – This study helps management to auto‐diagnosis its KM implementation and strategy, – Instead of sophisticated measures, KM strategy is revealed considering knowledge instruments use.

Analyzing collaborative technologies' effect on performance through intranet use orientations

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on studying the impact of collaborative technologies on firm performance. The methodology used analyzes the influence of collaborative technologies not only directly but through an intermediary variable. This variable represents different intranet use orientations (e‐information, e‐communication and e‐transaction).Design/methodology/approach – A structured questionnaire consisting of close‐ended questions was developed. Face‐to‐face surveys were conducted on a sample comprising 310 Spanish firms in May 2005. Research hypotheses were tested through ANOVA and hierarchical regression analyses.Findings – Empirical results show that distinct collaborative technologies are associated with different intranet use orientations and demonstrate there is a positive relationship between e‐information and organizational performance. That is, the use of collaborative technologies with an informational orientation contributes to increased organizational performance. In addi...

The impact of organizational culture on the use of ICT for knowledge management

The paper aims at analyzing the influence of diverse organizational cultures on the use of ICT for strategic KM. By combining literature from different areas, namely strategic KM, ICT for KM, organizational culture and effectiveness, a theoretical model is proposed and tested in a sample of more than 300 firms in Spain. Results show that diverse organizational cultures (hierarchy, clan, adhocracy and market) are found to impact on the use of ICT for strategic KM (personalization and codification) differently. Specifically, corporate cultures based on hierarchies and markets do not impact on the use of ICT for KM, while clan culture favours the use of ICT for personalization strategy and adhocracy positively influences technologies for personalization and codification as well. These findings may have significant implications for researchers and managers.

The effect of information overload and disorganisation on intention to purchase online: The role of perceived risk and internet experience

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a research model that examines the effect of information overload and information disorganisation upon customers’ perceived risk and purchase intention online in a single integrative model. In addition the paper investigates whether internet experience moderates these relationships. Design/methodology/approach – To achieve the papers objectives an experiment that involved visiting the ten most visited e-commerce web sites in Spain was conducted. Hypotheses were tested by using structural equation modelling on a data set of 1,396 online shopping customers. Findings – The results suggest a positive relationship between information overload and customer purchase intention and that internet experience reinforces this positive effect. Moreover the results confirm that the relationship between information disorganisation and customer purchase intention is not significant and that internet experience does not moderate the relationship. The findings also indicate...

Innovation objectives as determinants of organizational innovations

Abstract This study analyzes the adoption of organizational innovations focusing on their drivers or objectives pursued. Complementarities of objectives and organizational innovations are considered together with a sectoral approach to evaluate differences between manufacturing and service industries. Based on the Community Innovation Survey (CIS), a canonical analysis is performed to allow the study of interrelationships among sets of multiple dependent variables (organizational innovations) and multiple predictor variables (objectives). Improving innovations skills is the most relevant objective in adopting any organizational innovation. Two objectives are closely related to innovations in workplace organization, namely reducing response time and cost (efficiency drivers). New business processes and external relations are more affected by desires to improve innovation skills and quality (intangible drivers). The results reveal similar behavior in manufacturing and service industries supporting the synthesis approach. Logit regressions confirm these findings.

Mobile travel services: the effect of moderating context factors

This article has two objectives: (1) to draw an international comparison regarding the acceptance of mobile travel services in three countries with different profiles when it comes to travelling and mobile telecommunications, and (2) to extend relevant literature on mobile applications, more specifically travel services, by including context-related concepts, taking moderating factors like location, mobility of users, physical, and social context into account. Based on surveys that were carried out in 2009, structural equation modelling is used to identify differences in patterns in the use of mobile travel services and in the role of context-related variables. the conclusion of this article is that context-related factors, that is, mobility and (physical and social) context, have an impact on the relationship between the core concepts of technology Acceptance model (TAM) and Diffusion of Innovation (DoI) research. many studies on the acceptance and use of mobile services indicate that a deep understanding is needed of individual, context-related, and technological characteristics and the way they interact. this is also highly relevant to the travel industry, which wants to utilize the opportunities provided by mobile technology.