Shahizan Hassan

Knowledge management strategies, innovation, and organisational performance: An empirical study of the Iraqi MTS

Purpose - The purpose of the present study is to examine the relationships among knowledge management strategies, innovation, and organisational performance in the Iraqi mobile telecommunication sector. Design/methodology/approach - Research suggests that knowledge management strategies are essential capabilities for effective innovation and organisational performance. Through analysis of surveys collected from 220 mid-level managers, the present study empirically tested a proposed theoretical framework by estimating structural equation model. Findings - The results show that knowledge management strategies had a statistically significant and direct positive effect on innovation and organisational performance. Most outstandingly, the results indicate that knowledge management strategies had a positive and statistically significant effect on organisational performance through the partial mediation effect of innovation. Originality/value - Conclusions of the present study may help academics and managers in implementing knowledge management strategies in order to enhance innovation and improve organisational performance.

Electronic Participation in Malaysia

This article seeks to highlight the prevalent role of electronic participation (e-participation) in the implementation of e-government (EG) and possible approaches in enhancing the application of e-government through the insertion of e-participation module. Previous case studies on e-participation cover definitions and technique of e-participation, applicable strategies to implement e-participation, and the quality of e-participation for top management decision making. Several literature in EG supports the statement that e-participation could improve the quality of public sector governance process. As a result, most developed countries implemented EG projects to enable involvement of citizens in the political decision making process through e-participation. However, this is not the case in most of the developing countries which focus more on improving public sector services rather than e-participation. Among others, there are arguments which focus on the issue of lack of citizen participation in the political process through the Internet. This is particularly true in the context of EG implementation in developing countries whereby the focus is more on e-services rather than eparticipation. Malaysian government has implemented EG, since 1997 under one of the MSC flagships, to deliver information and services in an integrated manner. Malaysian Government Portal or myGovernment performs as a single platform providing information and services related to government agencies. Despite this effort, myGovernment, as evident in other developing nations, also does not place emphasis on e-participation.

Core requirements of knowledge management implementation, innovation and organizational performance

AbstractThe present study aims to examine the relationship among core requirements of knowledge management implementation, innovation, and organizational performance in the Iraqi mobile telecommunications sector. A questionnaire was conducted on mobile companies based on a proportionate stratified random sampling technique. The results indicated that core requirements of knowledge management implementation had a statistically significant and direct positive effect on innovation. The critical success factors of knowledge management and knowledge management strategies had a statistically significant and direct positive effect on organizational performance. Then the direct relationship of knowledge management processes with organizational performance was positively affected, but it was not statistically significant. The results also indicated that the innovation had a positive and statistically significant effect on organizational performance. More importantly, the results indicate that core requirements of ...

Social Media as Persuasive Technology for Business in Malaysia

The use of social media for business purposes has been growing exponentially due to its great potential as an effective marketing tool. Nonetheless, studies which assess how effective social media can be as a persuasive technology are limited, especially in the context of developing countries. Therefore, this study attempts to evaluate the perceived impact of social media as a persuasive technology for businesses in Malaysia. To accomplish this, a questionnaire survey was conducted with 1,196 social media users. Geographical clustering sampling was used, together with simple random sampling to select participants for the survey, which was based in five regions in Malaysia. The outcome of the survey shows that social media can have a significant impact on business and that the majority of social media users perceive that social media content can indeed persuade people to purchase products or services offered. Furthermore, it was found that social media content can also significantly influence purchasing decisions.

Measuring Blog Influence: Recognition, Activity Generation, and Novelty

Netizens around the world increasingly use blogs to share thoughts and opinions, create special interest groups, collaborate, and debate on issues. However, the social influence of blogs remains largely undetermined. This paper presents the outcomes of a study which investigates how the influence of blogs can be measured quantitatively. The purpose of the study was to determine how to assess the social influence of blogs and to develop two new tools for measuring blog influence: the Blog Influence Index BII and Blog Influence Analyzer BIA. These tools were applied to identify top influential blogs in the blogosphere community of Malaysia. The results indicate that the top 10 most influential blogs in Malaysia fall under the categories of politics, entertainment, sports, lifestyle, and technology.

Systems Development Methodology for Mobile Commerce Applications: Agile vs. Traditional

There are several systems development methodologies including traditional and agile methodologies being utilized in current systems development. However, it could be argued that when developing mobile commerce applications, suitable development framework should be investigated as these applications are utilized in different contexts from fixed ecommerce applications. This study identifies suitable system development methodology framework for mobile commerce applications. In order to achieve this aim, the practitioners from seven organizations were asked to provide information about their development methodologies by answering the questions regarding mobile commerce application development. The questions were opened and aimed to explore practitioner’s perspectives on the development methodologies. From the practitioner’s perspectives, it was found that there were several development methodologies being used in mobile commerce application development and these can be classified into two different development frameworks which are heavyweight/traditional and lightweight/agile methodologies. The suitable methodology framework for mobile commerce application development thus was identified. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-1861-9.ch018

Blog Influence Index: A Measure of Influential Weblog

Although weblogs are a popular medium of communication, their influence on society is unclear. In particular, studies that investigate the impact and influence of blogosphere on the community and government have not been fully exploited. Such studies are important especially to the government in reshaping and realigning the policies related to new media. This article presents the outcomes of a study to identify measures on how to assess the influence of weblogs. At least four dimensions are critical for measuring weblog influence, which are recognition (number of in links and number of visitors), activity generation (number of comments and number of posts), novelty (number of out links), and credibility of a blog (number of information presentation type, number of factual errors, and number of hyperlink citations). It is hereby proposed that these dimensions make up a measure called the Blog Influence Index.

Systems Development Methodology for Mobile Commerce Applications

There are several methodologies, including traditional and agile methodologies, being utilized in current systems development. However, it could be argued that existing development methodologies may not be suitable for mobile commerce applications, as these applications are utilized in different contexts from fixed e-commerce applications. This study proposes a system development methodology for mobile commerce applications. In order to achieve this aim, four objectives are proposed: investigating existing systems development methodologies used to develop mobile commence applications, identifying strengths and weaknesses of existing development methodologies, construction of a suitable methodology for mobile commerce applications, and testing for its applicability and practicality. The research methodology used in the study is the design research, which includes the steps of awareness of problems, suggestion, development, evaluation and conclusion. However, this paper only focuses on the first two phases of the whole study, which are awareness of the problem and making suggestions, while the evaluation and conclusion will be conducted as future works.

Managing practicum program in the digital era: a case study of Universiti Utara Malaysia

The purpose of this paper is to share the experience of the Center for Industrial Placement (CIP), Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) in managing practicum program since early 1990s. Special focus is made on the use of information technology in assisting the whole CIPs administration. In particular, the discussion addresses some questions, which are what are the current major activities supported and unsupported by information technology and how these supported technologies can be enhanced in term of their features and functions. In order to suggest possible improvements, discussion among management team and an analyst programmer and think-aloud usability testing were conducted with all key personnel in the department.

Evaluating Social Media: Towards a Practical Model for Measuring Social Media Influence

Despite the widespread adoption and popularity of social media, research on measuring the quantifiable impact of popular social media platforms remains scarce. To this end, this study attempts to investigate how the influence of social media can be assessed in quantitative terms. The main objective is to develop a new assessment model able to integrate a broad range of criteria such as likes, subscribers, comments, posts, shares, and links. The authors extend previous assessment models focused on individual platforms such as blogs and propose a Social Media Influence Assessment model SMIA. The process of model development-criteria, dimensions, and formula-and its validation are discussed. The results indicate that social medias influence can be measured in a structured, quantifiable manner by utilising a set of nine criteria grouped into three dimensions: recognition, activity generation, and credibility.