Search results

This paper aims to introduce a new approach to the framing of e-government projects. It discusses e-government as a continuing process of interaction and change. The paper uses general concepts borrowed from actor–network theory (ANT) to highlight the on-going negotiation that is an endogenous characteristic of every e-government projects.

The research builds on the findings of a case study. The case of the Akshaya e-government project in Kerala, India, is presented to offer an instance of the negotiation that occurs among the different actors involved and the consequent changes the project itself experiences.

The paper shows that e-government initiatives are unstable and change over time, as they are cast in the dynamic interaction that occurs between the actors involved in the e-government project. It also suggests that the ANT is a valuable framework to study these dynamics.

Main contribution of the paper is the evidence that e-government projects should be studied in their making and not as a result of planned action and sequential evolutionary phases.

The paper offers new insights for the planning, design and most importantly management of e-government projects.

The paper contributes to the literature by shedding light on the importance of the dynamic interactions that shape the impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on government policies. The proposed framework is a basis for further theorisation with regards to the complexity underpinning the deployment of ICTs in the public sector.

OUT of the chaos of war and the further burdens immediately “peace broke out” came at least one glorious birth—the German novel. 1870—the German nation; 1919—the German novel…. Superficially, the antithesis is not without truth; at no time could it be said that pre‐war Germany kept pace with its Gallic and English neighbours in achieving great masterpieces of fiction: the pre‐war German novel, indeed, was popularly about as non‐existent as drama in Scotland or poetry in France. Nor, where it did exist, was its form other than merely plastic,—the conventional “novel of manners,” for instance, if it was really desired at all, seemed continually to be eluding Germany. Pre‐war novel writing Germany, in a word, was a complete paradox—Gilbertian and Chestertonian at the same time; for the very theories which might have been requisitioned to account for this strange phenomenon seem themselves of an almost contradictory nature.

THE catalogue, as a library appliance of importance, has had more attention devoted to it than, perhaps, any other method or factor of librarianship. Its construction, materials, rules for compilation and other aspects have all been considered at great length, and in every conceivable manner, so that little remains for exposition save some points in the policy of the catalogue, and its effects on progress and methods. In the early days of the municipal library movement, when methods were somewhat crude, and hedged round with restrictions of many kinds, the catalogue, even in the primitive form it then assumed, was the only key to the book‐wealth of a library, and as such its value was duly recognized. As time went on, and the vogue of the printed catalogue was consolidated, its importance as an appliance became more and more established, and when the first Newcastle catalogue appeared and received such an unusual amount of journalistic notice, the idea of the printed catalogue as the indispensable library tool was enormously enhanced from that time till quite recently. One undoubted result of this devotion to the catalogue has been to stereotype methods to a great extent, leading in the end to stagnation, and there are places even now where every department of the library is made to revolve round the catalogue. Whether it is altogether wise to subordinate everything in library work to the cult of the catalogue has been questioned by several librarians during the past few years, and it is because there is so much to be said against this policy that the following reflections are submitted.

Internet use has changed the mechanics of drug dealing. Although this has spurred some initial academic interest in how markets and their users have been changing, the issue is still under-researched. The purpose of this paper is to understand how the organisation of the distribution of prescription drugs and other illegal drugs overlap in these online markets by analysing data gathered from observation of the Swedish Facebook drug market and its participants.

Data were gathered during three months of digital ethnography conducted among Swedish Facebook posters supplemented by 25 interviews with sellers (20) and buyers (5). Screenshots and interview data were coded by carrying out an NVivo-based content analysis. The analysis is based on descriptive statistics of drug types, co-occurrence with other drugs, group size and the demographic characteristics of sellers. Additionally, the interviewees’ descriptions of the marketplace and their drug dealing or buying activities were included in the analysis.

In total, 57 Swedish Facebook groups that sold illegal substances were located. The groups rarely specialised in specific drug types, but were convened around demographic factors, such as specific cities and locales. The sales of prescription drugs were part of the overall activity of groups selling other illegal drugs, but they were more often sold in separate Facebook posts, possibly by specialist sellers. Swedish Facebook sales primarily concerned alprazolam, tramadol, pregabalin and clonazepam, and were sold by both professional and amateur sellers.

This study reports findings from a Nordic comparative study on social media drug dealing, representing the first in-depth study of digitally mediated prescription drug dealing outside of cryptomarkets.

This study aims to estimate the regulatory compliance impact on the risk of banks operating in Pakistan. The direct and indirect regulatory compliance of conventional banks with Islamic operations in terms of risk from 2009 to 2017 are estimated.

This study used a two-step system generalized method of moment (GMM) (dynamic panel) to examine the relationship between regulatory compliance, Islamic operations and the bank risk and tested the direct and indirect impacts of regulatory compliance and Islamic operations on the said risk.

Regulatory compliance has a significant and positive relation with bank risk, whereas the Islamic bank operations have a significant and negative relationship. Thus, regulatory compliance creates pressure on banks, but the Islamic operations of conventional banks reduce this pressure in direct and indirect ways.

Per the policy of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), banks shall pursue Islamic operations to reduce regulatory pressure and widen their scope. The results suggest that regulatory compliance creates pressure on bank risk irrespective of the type of the bank. Thus, the SBP should seek the appropriate measure for this occurrence.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this work is the very first study that has considered the unique Islamic operations of conventional banks and estimated its impact on risk. Moreover, this work examined two types of bank risk instead of employing stability and market measure. This research is also the first to implement a two-step system GMM for the methodology.

The purpose of this theoretical research paper in philosophy and theory of science is to argue for the necessity of developing transdisciplinary frameworks in order to be able to interact in an interdisciplinary fashion.

Reflects on interdisciplinarity and the prerequisites of doing scientific and scholarly research and develops a non‐reductionistic and transdisciplinary view on human knowing in the light of the growing development of interdisciplinary practices and sciences.

It is argued that there is at present an incompatibility between scientific and phenomenological approaches to cognition and communication. A broader framework is, therefore, needed to encompass both, if one wants to make coherent theories and models in this subject area. The work, therefore, focuses on the relation between information science and semiotics and creates a framework for the analysis of both meaning and truth.

The framework is very abstract here in the description. It has to be developed in detail and its effect demonstrated in practical examples.

They have to be judged both on how well their descriptions fit better than others with what actually goes on in the sciences and humanities and on their usefulness to function as a common map coordinating interdisciplinary work.

A trans‐scientific framework, which is suggested as a basis for the sciences and humanities to understand themselves in relation to other kinds of knowledge such as philosophy, art, religion, political ideology, etc. New also are the visual structural models.

India has a big pool of internet savvy population that is not only accessing the internet but also buying online. Online shopping could be defined as the concept of buying and selling of goods over the internet. From the perspective of the seller, it is the attempt on the seller's part to attract and persuade the prospect to conduct the purchase decision-making process, and ensure satisfaction and loyalty. From the perspective of the buyer, online purchase behavior is the degree to which consumers access, browse, shop and transact and repeat the behavior. With a revolution in the very basics of transaction from a physical store format to a non-store one, the retail industry has begun to understand the indispensability of the internet as a medium of transaction. However, the rate of diffusion and adoption of the new phenomenon among consumers is still relatively low. With the internet advancing new opportunities, it is important to understand the factors that could motivate Indian consumers to indulge in online buying. This paper is a theoretical attempt at conceptualizing “motivation” as a construct, in the context of online buying and testing it empirically. The objective of the study is to explore the critical motivational factors that influence the online buying decision of people, and to establish their causal impact, if any, through developing an integrated model.

The study, descriptive, diagnostic, and causal in nature, has been conducted in the context of online buying of railway tickets in India. In the first phase, a pilot survey was conducted on a sample of 100 users of the online railway reservation. After having tested the survey instrument for validity and reliability, the second phase of the study was conducted on a sample of 327 users of online railway reservation facilities. A series of multiple regressions analyses was conducted to determine the causal impacts of critical motivational parameters on online reservation of railway ticket by users in the Indian context. The analysis of demographics based on gender and age groups were also made to capture the cross-comparisons of critical motivational attributes.

The results were in expected direction and fulfilled the research aims of the current study. The factor analysis had grouped the items into nine constructs with 38 items. For analytical purposes, descriptive statistics were used through measures of central tendency and dispersion. The item total correlations to each construct were found significant. All the critical motivational constructs were found to have a significant impact on the intention of buyers of booking/purchasing railway tickets online in India. The analyses of demographics established that as far as gender is concerned, all the critical motivational attributes to online buying intention have no significant differences between men and women; however, for age groups it was observed that some of the attributes were found significant and others were not.

Through identifying and empirically establishing critical motivational parameters in online reservation of railway tickets in Indian context across demographics, this study helps to understand what consumers expect from the online reservation facilities from the railways for their convenience and satisfaction. By examining the various dimensions explored and established in this study, the concerned authority can develop a better understanding of consumer needs and expectations. Academicians and researchers can use this study for assessing consumer motivation towards online reservation of railway tickets in Indian context, and identifying such attributes that would lead to favourable motivational disposition towards online reservation of railway tickets. The policy decision makers of railway authority may also use the findings of this study as a resource, while constructing, managing, and evaluating their marketing strategies in the Indian context.