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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 5 September 2016

Reinald Adrian D.L. Pugoy, Consuelo D.L. Habito and Roberto B. Figueroa

The purpose of this paper is to present mobile solutions that aid in accessing open educational resources (OERs) in areas that have limited bandwidth resulting in poor internet…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present mobile solutions that aid in accessing open educational resources (OERs) in areas that have limited bandwidth resulting in poor internet connectivity and a gap between those with ready access to the online OERs and those without such access.

Design/methodology/approach

A system architecture was designed to support the repository-based, mobile-friendly, and hybrid online/offline characteristics of OERs. In a hybrid online/offline setup, the learner connects to the internet to obtain OERs from the repository via a process called syncing. Afterward, he may view any OER content regardless of whether he is online or offline. Mobile solutions based on Browser-Like Android App (BLAP)/HTTrack and Worona/Corona approaches were successfully implemented and evaluated by 139 respondents using the System Usability Scale.

Findings

BLAP/HTTrack and Worona/Corona solutions were well received. These were found to be both relatively usable, acquiring above-average usability scores of 73.2374 and 71.6546, respectively.

Research limitations/implications

The findings of this study aim to contribute to the literature of hybrid online/offline model that addresses low bandwidth access of OERs in developing countries, which is not historically well provided.

Originality/value

The mobile solutions were designed to help those learners who experience internet connectivity difficulties in accessing OERs efficiently and updating them conveniently.

Details

Asian Association of Open Universities Journal, vol. 11 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1858-3431

Keywords

Abstract

Purpose

This article aims to report on the development and validation of a bribery measurement index for the business sector, which, based on institutional theory, seeks to overcome the limitations of traditional measurements, recognizing the dynamics that originate the phenomenon and identifying process components.

Design/methodology/approach

To construct the index, correlational and principal component analysis techniques were used, as well as rigorous statistical tests, validating the instrument in a sample of 2,963 companies in Latin America, including Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru.

Findings

The result was an instrument composed of two dimensions: (1) anti-bribery game rules, composed of regulations knowledge and anti-bribery efforts, and (2) bribery as a perceived habit, allowing an objective representation of reality due to its internal consistency, concurrent and discriminant validity.

Practical implications

This instrument is one of the few that focuses on measuring bribery in the business sector in terms of corrupt practices, applicable for both public and private institutions to promote game rules against bribery. Additionally, the proposed theoretical model can be used to measure other phenomena with similar characteristics.

Originality/value

This article empirically highlights different variables that make bribery possible. The results can be helpful in the design of strategies to prevent this type of behavior. It also highlights the importance of designing mechanisms to record information related to bribery and the different expressions of corruption in order to explain its different nuances.

Propósito

Este artículo informa sobre el desarrollo y validación de un índice de medición de soborno para el sector empresarial, que, basado en la teoría institucional, busca superar las limitaciones de las mediciones tradicionales, reconociendo las dinámicas que originan el fenómeno e identificando los componentes del proceso.

Diseño/metodología/enfoque

Para la construcción del índice se utilizaron técnicas de análisis correlacional y de componentes principales, así como rigurosas pruebas estadísticas, validando el instrumento en una muestra de 2.963 empresas de América Latina, entre ellas Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, México y Perú.

Hallazgos

El resultado fue un instrumento compuesto por dos dimensiones: (1) reglas de juego antisoborno, compuestas por conocimiento normativo y esfuerzo antisoborno (2) soborno como hábito percibido, permitiendo una representación objetiva de la realidad debido a su consistencia interna, validez concurrente y discriminante.

Originalidad/Valor

Este artículo pone en evidencia empírica diferentes variables que hacen posible el soborno. Los resultados pueden ser útiles en el diseño de estrategias para prevenir este tipo comportamiento, también destaca la importancia de diseñar mecanismos para registrar la información relacionada con la lucha contra el soborno.

Implicaciones prácticas

Este instrumento es uno de los pocos que se enfoca en medir el soborno en el sector empresarial en términos de prácticas de corrupción, útil para instituciones tanto públicas como privadas para promover mejores reglas de juego en contra del soborno. Adicionalmente el modelo teórico propuesto puede ser utilizado para medir otros fenómenos con características similares.

Details

Academia Revista Latinoamericana de Administración, vol. 36 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1012-8255

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 November 2016

Angélica Espinoza-Ortega, Carlos Galdino Martínez-García, Humberto Thomé-Ortiz and Ivonne Vizcarra-Bordi

The purpose of this paper is to identify segments of Mexican consumers with regard to their motives for food choices.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify segments of Mexican consumers with regard to their motives for food choices.

Design/methodology/approach

A questionnaire based on the Food Choice Questionnaire was applied to 1,202 consumers. A factor analysis and a cluster analysis were performed on the data.

Findings

Ten factors were identified: care for weight and health, social sensitivity, practicality, economic aspects, non-industrialized, hedonism, traditionality A, familiarity, traditionality B, and no added sugar. Resulting clusters were named as: traditional, healthy, conscious, and careless. Statistically significant differences (p<0.05) were found due to gender, age, marital status, and educational level, but not for body mass index. There are signs of different consumers, but it seems that Mexican consumers in general express low sensitivity to issues of health and nutrition, even more so towards animal welfare and products that are friendly to the environment.

Research limitations/implications

The large diversity of motivations and behaviours in food consumption in Mexico are not all addressed in this study. However, this work opens a new area of research in Mexico so that in the near future studies on the diversity of Mexican consumers are undertaken, looking at the transformation of their food preferences.

Practical implications

In Europe, governments have addressed the new forms of consumption taking advantage of opportunities that benefit local producers, through the generation of added value as “Protected Designations of Origin (DOP)”, geographical indications, collective brands, ecological produce, local products of the land, among others. These proposals are promoted as a path to follow in Latin America, assuming that Latin American consumers have the same characteristics or interests as in those developed countries. But, not knowing consumers motives of preference represents a problem in the processes of valorization of food products.

Social implications

Economic development, demographic, and sociocultural changes in Latin America have promoted phenomena both in the polarization of livelihoods in their societies as well as changes of lifestyles in different social strata. Therefore, studies are needed on the effect of these changes not only in food consumption, but also on the symbolic elements when consumers choose their food.

Originality/value

In Mexico, the study of food consumption has followed diverse approaches, as a matter of policy, from an economic perspective, from anthropology, particularly focussed on indigenous cultures, from the nutrition and health field or emphasizing economic aspects. As in other developing countries, those works do not address the role of the consumer and their motivations, so that research that studies their motives in the choice of foods is needed.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 118 no. 11
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

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