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Internet has changed radically in the way people interact in the virtual world, in their careers or social relationships. IoT technology has added a new vision to this process by enabling connections between smart objects and humans, and also between smart objects themselves, which leads to anything, anytime, anywhere, and any media communications. IoT allows objects to physically see, hear, think, and perform tasks by making them talk to each other, share information and coordinate decisions. To enable the vision of IoT, it utilizes technologies such as ubiquitous computing, context awareness, RFID, WSN, embedded devices, CPS, communication technologies, and internet protocols. IoT is considered to be the future internet, which is significantly different from the Internet we use today. The purpose of this paper is to provide up-to-date literature on trends of IoT research which is driven by the need for convergence of several interdisciplinary technologies and new applications.

A comprehensive IoT literature review has been performed in this paper as a survey. The survey starts by providing an overview of IoT concepts, visions and evolutions. IoT architectures are also explored. Then, the most important components of IoT are discussed including a thorough discussion of IoT operating systems such as Tiny OS, Contiki OS, FreeRTOS, and RIOT. A review of IoT applications is also presented in this paper and finally, IoT challenges that can be recently encountered by researchers are introduced.

Studies of IoT literature and projects show the disproportionate importance of technology in IoT projects, which are often driven by technological interventions rather than innovation in the business model. There are a number of serious concerns about the dangers of IoT growth, particularly in the areas of privacy and security; hence, industry and government began addressing these concerns. At the end, what makes IoT exciting is that we do not yet know the exact use cases which would have the ability to significantly influence our lives.

This survey provides a comprehensive literature review on IoT techniques, operating systems and trends.

Relationship marketing principles have seldom been applied to the small‐ and medium‐sized enterprise (SME). The purpose of this paper is to develop what is a striking link by investigating the role of internet technologies in the customer relationship management of SMEs based in Northern Ireland (NI).

This study took an exploratory outlook and a quantitative approach to data collection was adopted. A self‐completion questionnaire was distributed by post to a sample of 300 SMEs in NI. A response rate of 18.6 per cent was obtained.

The findings of this study illustrate that SMEs are implementing fundamental electronic customer relationship management (e‐CRM) practices and reaping the benefits from internationalisation. Challenges are few, but centre on a preference for face‐to‐face relationships and a lack of government support.

It is hoped that this exploratory research has laid the foundation for further examination of e‐CRM in the SME context. Future studies should be able to replicate the process in other countries and on a larger scale. The potential also exists for in‐depth qualitative research.

The paper concludes that e‐CRM may have to move on to a more strategic and integrated level if SMEs in NI are to compete, both locally and globally.

This exploratory research has shed some light on the marginalised subject of e‐CRM in SMEs. For SMEs operating in a peripheral economy such as NI the benefits to be gained from e‐CRM are lucrative.

The objective of this paper is to show how Internet technologies have the potential to facilitate the achievement of transparency within public sector organisations. This change will also have a major impact on the way in which public sector organisations interact with their environment and in particular with users of their products and services. The connectivity that automatically results from Internet technologies can exert a very powerful influence in encouraging a free flow of ideas around the organisation, permitting individuals and organisational units to converge and inter‐connect. It is shown how the “open” systems nature of Internet technologies can facilitate greater co‐operation and communication across organisation units both internally and externally. There are significant benefits to be accrued from employing Internet technologies at the interfaces between the public sector organisation and other agencies and suppliers. At the citizen interface, it is shown how a number of public sector organisations have adopted Internet technologies, which in turn has allowed them to be more responsive to the needs of citizens. In the future, the expectations of the individual will continue to rise with increasing demands for online accessibility to organisations. Although there are considerable barriers to the full implementation of Internet technologies, the connectivity of the Internet presents public sector organisations with an immense opportunity to enhance the way in which they fulfil the needs of users of their products and services. Public sector organisations that do not embrace the technology will continue to have major problems achieving efficiencies and delivering the value demanded by citizens, particularly in the light of shrinking public sector budgets.

The main purpose of this paper is to assess the extent to which employees have benefitted in the internet age and to identify research gaps that surround such activities.

The approach is a combination of a systematic literature review and an empirical analysis of secondary data drawn from press reports of emergent employee internet activities.

The internet continues to provide fresh and exciting opportunities for the employee to explore in relation to furthering employment‐related interests. However, the internet very much represents a “double‐edged sword” in that the many advantages of the internet can be quickly cancelled out by employer attempts to monitor, control, and exploit for themselves such activities, for their own ends. It is also evident that a full assessment of some activities cannot be made without further research.

The paper is reliant on extant literature and resources that are known to have limited scholarly application.

A broad and eclectic discussion of employee internet activities is likely to be of interest to academics and human resource practitioners whose interests are based on a blend of employee relations practices and new internet‐based technological developments.

The study addresses how a distinct actor in employee relations has faired in an age denoted by shrinking opportunities for collective action, yet also denoted by rapid developments in empowering user‐generated and social networking forms of information communication technology.

This paper synthesises literature and data from a wide range of largely incongruous academic and non‐academic sub‐disciplines to provide a fresh and authoritative account of emergent employee behaviour.

Relationship marketing principles have seldom been applied to the small‐ and medium‐sized enterprise (SME). The purpose of this paper is to develop what is a striking link by presenting empirical evidence on the role of internet technologies in the customer relationship management activities of Irish SMEs. More specifically, this is a comparative study investigating electronic‐customer relationship management (e‐CRM) in international and domestic firms. The nature and role of e‐CRM is assessed, the strategies behind e‐CRM delineated, and the ensuing benefits and challenges revealed.

The paper has an exploratory outlook and a quantitative approach to data collection is adopted to facilitate broad classification in an under researched area. A self‐completion questionnaire is distributed to a sample of 1,445 SMEs. A response rate of 20 per cent is obtained, providing 286 usable responses. Univariate and bivariate analyses were performed using SPSS.

The findings of this paper confirm that SMEs are implementing fundamental e‐CRM practices. Those firms serving international markets tend to place greater emphasis on e‐CRM and are reaping greater benefits. Benefits range from enhanced customer service, reduced business cost, increased sales, and improved profitability. Challenges are few, but centre on a preference for face‐to‐face relationships and a lack of government support.

It is hoped that this exploratory research has laid the foundation for further examination of e‐CRM in the SME context. Future research will add explanation through in‐depth qualitative methods, while the potential exists to replicate the study in other countries. The authors conclude that e‐CRM can and must move on to a more strategic and integrated level if SMEs in Ireland are to compete both locally and globally.

This paper has shed light on the marginalised subject of e‐CRM in SMEs. For SMEs operating in a peripheral economy such as Ireland, the benefits to be gained from e‐CRM are lucrative. SMEs viewing their market beyond national borders are using e‐CRM to achieve a range of business benefits. The quantitative methodology adopted has provided an exploratory, yet solid, insight into an important area for academics and practitioners.

Introduction – In the twenty-first century, which is the age of communication and information, the time and space concepts have changed with new media technologies and changes have occurred in habits and ways of doing business using the Internet. In this respect, crowdsourcing concept comes first among the new applications with which internet users can share content. The crowdsourcing, which may be understood as ‘mass-based work’ or ‘crowded resource’, consists of a combination of ‘crowd’ and ‘source’, and refers to the use of a great number of human societies to do a common work. The crowdsourcing concept, used commonly as of the 2000s for different purposes, is included in the literature as a concept showing the power of crowds. It is a method in which communication and internet technologies are used with efficacy in the advertising and marketing fields.

Purpose – The objective of the present study is to determine the pros and cons of the crowdsourcing concept through new media applications in the form of critical evaluations by examining sample case studies that use the crowdsourcing concept, which is becoming widespread in Turkey and in the whole world in recent years.

Methodology – In this study, the ‘Case (Sample Event) Study Analysis’, which is one of the qualitative research methods and which is a methodological approach that includes examining how the crowdsourcing system works in-depth, will be used.

Findings – Crowdsourcing is becoming a worldwide business model and allows anyone with free time and an internet connection to contribute to economic productivity. This study has discussed the importance of crowdsourcing for companies in contextual terms and has made predictions on how to make this concept become a better model in which fields.

This study evaluated the use of Internet-mediated platforms for food supply chain among Ukrainian farmers due to the war.

The study was an online survey involving 325 Ukrainian farmers. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire.

The result of the study revealed the main effect of Internet-powered media such as social media, mobile applications and dedicated websites on food supply, F(1,308) 5.745, p = 0.004, p2 = 0.036. The result also revealed the interacting effect of supply intention (p = 0.001) and destination of supply (p = 0.001). Further analysis revealed that farmers with profit and charity intentions are likely to use dedicated websites, while those with trade-by-batter intentions are likely to use mobile applications. Also, the supply destination significantly interacted with the use of Internet-powered technologies (p = 0.001). A breakdown of the result showed that supply destinations in Ukraine are likely to be coordinated through dedicated websites, while those for neighbouring countries are likely to be coordinated through social media. Finally, variables from the unified theory of technology acceptance and use of technology, such as effort expectancy (ß = 0.412), performance expectancy (ß = 0.655) and social influence (ß = 0.182), collectively and individually predict the use of Internet-powered communication technologies for food supply among Ukrainian farmers, F(3,308)16.801, p = 0.001, R2 = 0.142.

This study explains how Internet-based media have contributed to the sustenance of agribusiness and food supply chain in challenging times like war.

Information from this study could be useful in understanding the contributing role of digital media in agribusiness and food supply during uncertainties.

This research describes the adoption and the usage of Internet commerce technologies (EC) in a small to medium‐sized business (SME) in New Zealand. The case study is part of the aerial mapping industry. By relying on the technological innovation theories in the context of small business, this research looks at determinants of EC adoption and success in this SME. The findings in this research highlight the importance of the technological factors in general and the relative advantage characteristic specifically in driving the EC phenomenon in the case study. The individual context has further endorsed the central role of the CEO and his characteristics in adopting new technological innovations. However, EC usage in business in the case study was limited and its success expected to happen in the long terms projections only. The research addresses both theoretical as well as professional contributions and highlights implications in EC research in the case study.

This study aims to examine the antecedents and performance consequences of three types of communication technology (phone, e-mail and internet) in cross-border business-to-business relationships.

Based on the proposed theoretical framework six hypotheses are advanced and tested. The authors use regression analysis on data from a survey of American exporters combined with secondary data on emerging European markets.

This research finds that relationship-level variables are better predictors of ICT use than country-level variables, and that ICT use impacts dyadic performance. More specifically, information exchange predicted all three communication modes, while the use of warnings predicted both inter-personal communication methods. From an institutional standpoint, the authors find that bureaucratic barriers predict both phone and e-mail communication. At the firm level, it is found that firm-level technological skills are a significant predictor for the use of internet-based data exchange. The paper also finds that increased frequency of phone and e-mail communication among dyadic partners improves performance.

Although micro-level variables are found to be more important, country variables still bring interesting insights and should not be ignored. Also, newer technologies should be explored in future research.

The authors explore antecedents of information/communication technology (ICT) use at three levels: country or macro level, dyadic (or inter-firm relationship) level, and firm capabilities (intra-firm). At the country level, the authors move beyond infrastructure to examine the impact of institutional factors, such as government red tape. At the relationship level, the authors include trust-type social norms, but extend the analysis to incorporate the use of unilateral influence attempts, such as warnings.

This study analyses how media choices can be used in the construction of social identity.

We approach the topic through the analytical lens of identity work. We present a case study of a community of IT students during their first year of studies, including participant observation, focus groups, and surveys. We focus on what community means to the individuals located within a specific social context. This allows us to examine ICT use and adoption holistically as a key aspect of community formation and identity maintenance.

We depict everyday interactions in which the choice of an older information communication technology, Internet Relay Chat, serves participants in their quest for social belongingness in their community and in distinguishing the community positively from other social groups. This chapter describes how identity work is accomplished by adopting and valuing shared, social views about users versus non-users, including: (1) emphasizing the skills and efforts needed for using Internet Relay Chat (IRC), (2) undermining the use of other technologies, and (3) deploying and referencing IRC jargon and “insider humor” within the broader community.

By examining online and offline social interactions in a defined community over time, we expose the process of identity work in a holistic manner. Our analysis emphasizes the underlying process where media choices can be harnessed to fulfill the need to identify with groups and feel affirmed in one’s claims to both personal and social identity.