Eva Martínez-Caro

Factors affecting students’ satisfaction in engineering disciplines: traditional vs. blended approaches

In this paper a two-year field study was carried out to analyse how satisfaction differs across the traditional and blended learning methods. Altogether, 21 courses for graduate and postgraduate engineering students were evaluated. Several variables and their relationship with student satisfaction in the first year, with all courses delivered in traditional mode, were compared with student satisfaction in the second year, which had the same courses delivered in blended mode. Results suggest that student satisfaction is greater in blended courses than in face-to-face courses. This can be explained because the levels of class attendance, motivation and collaboration with classmates were higher in blended learning than in classroom instruction. In addition, class attendance, access to teachers, collaboration with classmates and motivation were found to be leading predictors of student satisfaction in blended environments.

Understanding patient e-loyalty toward online health care services.

Background: Public health institutions are making a great effort to develop patient-targeted online services in an attempt to enhance their effectiveness and reduce expenses. However, if patients do not use those services regularly, public health institutions will have wasted their limited resources. Hence, patients’ electronic loyalty (e-loyalty) is essential for the success of online health care services. Purposes: In this research, an extended Technology Acceptance Model was developed to test e-loyalty intent toward online health care services offered by public health institutions. Methodology: Data from a survey of 256 users of online health care services provided by the public sanitary system of a region in Spain were analyzed. The research model was tested by using the structural equation modeling approach. Findings: The results obtained suggest that the core constructs of the Technology Acceptance Model (perceived usefulness, ease of use, and attitude) significantly affected users’ behavioral intentions (i.e., e-loyalty intent), with perceived usefulness being the most decisive antecedent of affective variables (i.e., attitude and satisfaction). This study also reveals a general support for patient satisfaction as a determinant of e-loyalty intent in online health care services. Implications: Policy makers should focus on striving to get the highest positive attitude in users by enhancing easiness of use and, mainly, perceived usefulness. Because through satisfaction of patients, public hospitals will enlarge their patient e-loyalty intent, health care providers must always work at obtaining satisfied users and to encourage them to continue using the online services.

The impact of e‐business on capital productivity

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence of the influence of different e‐business technologies on capital productivity (CP). Productivity measurement is a useful tool to gauge business performance. However, currently there is little empirical evidence to support the impact of e‐business technologies on productivity.Design/methodology/approach – In this paper, an empirical investigation of 132 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the UK telecommunication sector was carried out, using a hierarchical regression. In doing so, three different types of technologies that may be associated with e‐business (i.e. internet‐based applications, groupware applications, and collective systems) were considered.Findings – The main findings are that any improvement in CP is significantly influenced by groupware applications and collective systems. Therefore, the UK SMEs and other large companies might be over‐investing in the development of web sites to support their internet presence, while under‐inves...

Improving the absorptive capacity through unlearning context: an empirical investigation in hospital-in-the-home units

The Spanish healthcare system has undergone important changes, particularly in the development of new homecare services. In practice, however, results have been mixed. Some homecare services have been successful, but implementation failures are common and the intended patients are frequently reluctant to use the homecare services. A possible explanation for efficiency and effectiveness gaps of services provided by hospital-in-the-home units (HHUs) may relate to the advantages and disadvantages of the knowledge processes that these units highlight as a result of their different structural properties. This study examines the impact of an unlearning (forgetting) context on the HHUs ability to challenge basic beliefs and to implement processes that are explicitly or tacitly helpful in the reception of new ideas (absorptive capacity). These relationships are examined through an empirical investigation of 54 doctors and 62 nurses belonging to 44 HHUs. The results show that the unlearning context plays a key role in managing the tension between potential absorptive capacity and realized absorptive capacity.

e-Loyalty Towards ICT-Based Healthcare Services: A Patients’ Perspective

Public health institutions are making a great effort to develop patient-targeted ICT-based services in an attempt to enhance their effectiveness and reduce expenses. However, if patients do not use those services regularly, public health institutions will have wasted their limited resources. Hence, patients’ e-loyalty is essential for the success of ICT-based healthcare services. In this research, an extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is developed to test e-loyalty towards ICT-based healthcare services from a sample of 256 users. The results obtained suggest that the core constructs of TAM (perceived usefulness, ease of use and attitude) significantly affect users’ behavioural intentions (i.e. e-loyalty). This study also reveals a general support for patient satisfaction as a determinant of e-loyalty in ICT-based healthcare services. Finally, the implications of the findings are discussed and useful insights are provided on what policy to follow to establish the appropriate conditions to build patients’ e-loyalty.