Gbolahan Olasina

The influence of national culture on the performance expectancy of e-parliament adoption

E-parliament has gone global but the national culture may affect the adoption behaviour of legislators and citizens to it. Technology adoption literature is limited on the influence of national culture on e-parliament adoption and use. The study assessed the factors of national culture and their influence on adoption of e-parliament by legislators and citizens in Nigeria. The study investigated the correlations between national culture and the attribute of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, performance expectancy in regard to e-parliament adoption. The methods of data collection included a survey questionnaire and in-depth interviews conducted on 346 federal legislators in Nigeria and 5 members of the public, respectively. The results showed that the dimensions of national culture such as masculinity, uncertainty avoidance and Confucian dynamics (‘face saving’) had moderate effects on the relationship between perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and intention to adopt e-parliaments by legislators and members of the public in Nigeria. The other dimensions of culture and cultural contexts such as individualism, power distance, cultural diversity, multiculturality, power (in the context of culture), hermeneutics and dialogue had no significant effect on performance expectancy of e-parliament adoption in the context of Nigeria.

Predictors of the Use of E-Medicine by Medical Doctors

In order to achieve country-wide e-medicine awareness, interoperability and realize the relative benefits of ICT to curb poor health services delivery in Nigeria, doctors ‘use rates of e-medicine must be increased substantially. However, it is essential to implement the right ICT tools the right way and to ensure that the e-medicine has a high success rate for both doctors and the patients. Catwell et al. [1] and Wears et al. [2] reported the failure of a large chunk of health information technology projects in medical-based information science (IS) literature. An understanding of the predictors of doctors’ use of e-medicine will allow the administrators of health institutions to better assess system readiness and facilitate successful implementation of e-medicine projects and initiatives. The purpose of the present study was to determine the factors that predict doctors’ e-medicine use.

Exploratory study of collaborative behaviour in gaming and interactions of students in Second Life

The current research is conducted in the context of Second Life (SL) users in Scottsville, Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The research uses the Symbolic Interactionism Theory (SIT), a social science based theory as theoretical framework to underpin it and help inform the research. The overriding purpose is to analyze evidence of collaborative behaviour in the contexts of gaming, entertainment and socializing to support further exploitation of SL and overall improvement in the gaming experiences of users. The paradigmatic framework chosen is the interpretivist. The research design is a qualitative description. The population is made up of 20 matriculation students. The research uses focus group and interviews. In addition, reliability is considered before and after data collection by trustworthiness using criteria such as credibility, transferability and an audit trail. The methods of analysis involve reading of interview and focus group transcripts, developing own codes, coding the data and examining the patterns and themes using thematic analysis. The research is significant as it uses the SIT theory to improve the understanding of collaborative behaviour in the context of SL. The key results suggest that the SL can support not only collaboration but building citizenship and national identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

E-parliament services as tools for anti-corruption and transparency

Literature is rife on the dissatisfaction of the Nigerian public on the poor performance of political institutions such as the National Assembly of Nigeria (NASS). However, e-parliaments mostly in countries of America and Europe show legislators have considerably used Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to form new relationships and engagement of the public to participate in the performance of legislative functions, fight corruption, and strengthen representative democracy. However, this does not appear to be the case in the NASS. This study explores the main factors of e-parliament adoption for anti-corruption and finds out the perceptions and attitude of legislators and citizens of the phenomenon. The theoretical lens is a modified Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) by

Human and social factors affecting the decision of students to accept e-learning

ABSTRACT It is significant to highlight that educational technologies cannot improve academic performance if they are not widely accepted and used. Unfortunately, the decision not to accept e-learning continues to be a fundamental issue. The current research provided an alternative lens to view a decision to accept and use technology in a developing country landscape. Accordingly, the present study focused on the impact of human and social factors on the decision to accept e-learning. The undergraduate students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) formed the contextual setting. The theoretical framework employed was a modified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model. Accordingly, a survey questionnaire was used to employ a dataset of 204 and 15 students in April 2015 for quantitative and qualitative data. Overall, the principal findings show that social influence, attitude and perceived usefulness, stress, satisfaction and fatigue are critical to behavioural intention to accept e-learning. Meanwhile, strong correlations between perceived usefulness and social influence; previous e-learning experience and average time spent using e-learning; previous e-learning experience and behavioural intention demonstrate how the human and social factors influence the e-learning acceptance culture. Ultimately, the contribution provided valuable insights on how to speed up the process of adoption, the use and continuance of e-learning by an understanding of human and social factors. Moreover, recognising human, social and cultural components make it possible to improve e-learning experiences of users. The implications suggest that a better integration of human and social factors to e-learning may help reduce forms of e-learning challenges and shed new insights for theory.