Search results

This scoping review article aimed to systematically search the literature on the use, purpose and barriers of information and communication technology (ICT) for culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) older adults in the host country. The review also conducted a search for literature on programs that aim to develop digital literacy skills for CALD older adults.

A scoping review approach was utilized to identify and search the available literature, and to map the key concepts. A total of 23 relevant articles were included following a systematic search across seven databases.

The review suggests that CALD older adults use ICT for various purposes, including social interaction, health management, information gathering, immigration, everyday routines and leisure. The barriers faced by these older adults in using ICT encompass fear and limited knowledge, language issues, lack of interest, limited access to technology and health concerns. The existing training programs focus on enhancing self-efficacy and confidence and promoting attitudinal changes toward ICT.

Despite the presence of empirical studies, few scoping or systematic reviews have focused on CALD older adults and technology. Research developments related to the technology use of CALD older adults and associated training programs have been fragmented and sporadic, resulting in gaps in the evidence base. This review fills such a gap to better understand the research status connected to CALD older people’s technology adoption and use.

This research empirically studies consumers' continued intention to use mobile food delivery applications (apps) during the post-pandemic era in Saudi Arabia.

Using the unified theory of adoption and use of technology 2 (UTAUT2) as a theoretical model, this study collected data from a survey of 304 Saudi Arabian consumers. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to examine the proposed model and its hypotheses.

Social influence and performance expectancy (PE) had the strongest effects on the intention to continue using mobile food delivery apps in the post-pandemic era. In addition, effort expectancy (EE) significantly influenced PE regarding the adoption of food delivery apps. Meanwhile, EE was not an important predictor of the continued intention to use mobile food delivery apps in Saudi Arabia.

This study enriches the literature on consumers' continued intention to use food delivery apps in the post-pandemic era, a subject that has rarely been studied. In addition, this study expands the theoretical potential of the UTAUT2 model by examining the role of trust in continued intention and the effect of PE on EE in the adoption of food delivery apps during the post-pandemic era in Saudi Arabia.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the practices that owners of public profiles in social networking sites can leverage to actively build online reputation and to evaluate the impact of the adoption of such practices on the initial formation of trust toward these individuals when they are presented as new virtual work partners.

A theoretical model was developed and an experiment with 233 participants was utilized to assess the model using partial least squares structural equation modeling.

The results suggest that individuals can build their online reputations in public profiles of social networking sites via a series of practices of self-disclosure of information and that the adoption of these practices has significant effects on the initial formation of trust toward the profile owner in virtual work contexts. Categorization mechanisms such as stereotyping, unit grouping and reputation categorization have been found to contribute to the initial formation of trust, both from an affect and cognition-based perspectives.

Little is known about the information disclosure practices in public profiles of social networking sites that new work partners can adopt to facilitate the formation of trust between them before they start working together. This study has contributed to the existing body of literature by clarifying these practices and the relative importance of online reputation to the initial formation of trust during the outset of a new virtual work relationship.

In order to meet the different quality of service (QoS) requirements of vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) and multiple vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) links in vehicle networks, an efficient V2V spectrum access mechanism is proposed in this paper.

A long-short-term-memory-based multi-agent hybrid proximal policy optimization (LSTM-H-PPO) algorithm is proposed, through which the distributed spectrum access and continuous power control of V2V link are realized.

Simulation results show that compared with the baseline algorithm, the proposed algorithm has significant advantages in terms of total system capacity, payload delivery success rate of V2V link and convergence speed.

The LSTM layer uses the time sequence information to estimate the accurate system state, which ensures the choice of V2V spectrum access based on local observation effective. The hybrid PPO framework shares training parameters among agents which speeds up the entire training process. The proposed algorithm adopts the mode of centralized training and distributed execution, so that the agent can achieve the optimal spectrum access based on local observation information with less signaling overhead.

This study aims to analyze how restaurants' collaboration with mobile food delivery applications (MFDAs) affects product development efficiency and argues that technological capabilities moderate relational ties impact the joint decision-making and development efficiency of restaurant products.

A product development efficiency model was formulated using a resource-based view and real options theory. In all, 472 samples were collected from restaurants collaborating with MFDAs, and partial least squares structural equation modeling was applied to the proposed model.

The findings of this study indicate three factors are critical to the product development efficiency between restaurants and MFDAs; restaurants must develop a strong connection with the latter to ensure meals are consistently served promptly. Developers of MFDAs should use artificial intelligence analysis, such as order records of different genders and ages or various consumption attributes, to collaborate with restaurants.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the few that considers the role of MFDAs as a product strategy for restaurant operations, and the factors the authors found can enhance restaurants’ product development efficiency. Second, as strategic artificial intelligence adaptation changes, collaborating firms and restaurants use such applications for product development to help consumers identify products.

This study aims to provide a better comprehension of the behavioural intentions that influence the adoption of Islamic financial technology (Fintech) in Malaysia for two kinds of Islamic lending Fintech services, which are crowdfunding and peer-to-peer (P2P) lending.

From May to July 2022 the primary data were collected by using a questionnaire distributed online to survey 437 Islamic Fintech clients in Malaysia. Structural equation modelling has been used to analyse the data based on using the partial least squares approach.

The findings of this paper shows that planned behaviour, acceptance model and technology's use models are positively impacting factors that influence customers' opinions on adapting Islamic Fintech services in lending. The acceptance model was found to exert a negative impact on the intention to adopt Islamic lending P2P Fintech service. In addition, technology's use has a negative impact on the intention to adopt Islamic lending crowdfunding Fintech service.

First, the study is limited to Islamic Fintech customers in Malaysia only, second, the study adopted an online survey but there is no guarantee that the geography area was fully covered. Another limitation is that the study covers only Islamic Fintech services in lending, thus the study did not attend to variables such as religiosity and the authors believe that this will provide useful insights for future research.

Despite the importance of this topic, there has been a lack of empirical evidence until now. In this paper, the authors take stock of the empirical evidence in the literature through the importance of the adoption Fintech. This study provides a broad view of the market potentials for Fintech providers from the demand side on a wide range of Islamic Fintech services rather than focussing only on payment, transfer, etc. as presented in previous studies.

The food industry is continuously developing its online services called food delivery applications (FDAs). This study aims to evaluate FDA's importance–performance and identify strategies to maximize its potential gains from a business partner's perspective.

Data are collected from 208 FDA partners in Indonesia. Importance–performance analysis (IPA) is applied to evaluate the FDA feature and extended the theory of potential gain in customer value (PGCV) to achieve potential gains from FDA business partners.

This study provides a clear and measurable direction for future research to develop FDA performance. Owning customer data, revenue sharing and competitive advantage are the most potential gains from joining the FDA from the business partner perspective.

The respondents are restaurants from the micro, small, and medium enterprises levels. Further research should involve middle to upper level restaurants to discover all business partners' perceptions. This will be very helpful for FDA providers interested in improving the best performance for all their partners.

FDA providers must focus on improving and maintaining the features of owning customer data, revenue sharing, competitive advantage, stable terms and conditions, customer interface, building customer loyalty, online presence, user credit rating, promotion and offers, delivery service and sales enhancement to increase consumer satisfaction and meet the expectations desired by business partners.

This research provides a meaningful theoretical foundation for future work. It extends the theory of PGCV using the value of a partner perspective as a substitute for customer value; hence, the authors call it a potential gain in partner value.

Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) are vital for economic growth in developing countries. Yet, little research has explored the link between Islamic principles and MSME performance, especially in Uganda. This study aims to investigate the relationship between Islamic financial principles and MSMEs’ performance in Makindye Division Kampala – Uganda.

This study used a correlational research design involving 86 respondents from 30 MSMEs between January and May 2023. Data collected through questionnaires was analyzed with Statistical Package for Social Sciences, examining three independent variables: ethicality, Halal investment and prohibition of riba, in relation to MSME performance.

The results revealed significant relationships between these variables and MSME performance. Prohibition of riba (r = 0.296, n = 86, p = 0.006), Halal investments (r = 0.308, n = 86, p = 0.004) and ethical principles (r = 0.283, n = 86, p = 0.008) all exhibited a statistically significant relationship. Regression analysis with R = 0.405, R² = 0.164 and adjusted R² = 0.134 indicated that all hypothesized variables were significant predictors of MSME performance. Based on findings, this study rejected the null hypothesis, confirming a moderately positive and significant relationship between Islamic financial principles and MSME performance.

This study underscores the importance of active involvement from key stakeholders such as the Uganda Halal Bureau, Uganda Muslim Supreme Council, Islamic financial institutions and government agencies in integrating robust support mechanisms for MSMEs into their strategic frameworks. Such efforts could enhance Uganda’s economic landscape, aligning with the experiences of Malaysia and Indonesia in leveraging Islamic principles for economic growth.

Policymakers are developing government-level pandemic response strategies (GPRS) to assist architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) enterprises. However, the effectiveness of the GPRS has not been assessed. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the interrelationships between GPRS and AEC enterprises. To achieve that aim, the study objectives are to compare GPRS effectiveness between small-medium and large AEC enterprises, develop groupings to categorize interrelated GPRS and evaluate the effectiveness of the GPRS and interrelated constructs.

A systematic literature review and semi-structured interviews with 40 AEC industry professionals were carried out, generating 22 GPRS. Then, questionnaire survey data was collected among AEC professionals. In total, 114 valid survey answers were received and analyzed using the Kruskal–Wallis H test, normalized mean analysis, factor analysis and fuzzy synthetic evaluation.

Small-medium enterprises have four distinct critical GPRS: “form a special task force to provide support in maneuvering COVID-19,” “provide infrastructure investment budgets to local governments,” “develop employee assistance programs that fit all types of working groups” and “diversify existing supply chain.” Large enterprises have two distinct critical GPRS: “provide help in digitalizing existing construction projects” and “mandate COVID-19 as force majeure.” Eighteen GPRS can be categorized into the following five constructs: “market stability and financial aid,” “enterprise capability management,” “supply chain improvement,” “law and policy resources” and “information and workforce management.” The former two constructs are more effective than other GPRS constructs.

This is the first paper that evaluates the effectiveness of GPRS for AEC enterprises, providing new evidence to policymakers for well-informed decision-making in developing pandemic response strategies.

The current study mainly focuses on the effect of varying diameter recycled steel fibers (RSF) on mechanical properties of concrete prepared with 25 and 50% of recycled coarse aggregate (RCA) as well as 100% natural aggregate (NA). Two types of RSF with 0.84 mm and 1.24 mm diameter having 30 mm length were incorporated into normal and recycled aggregate concrete (RAC).

The fresh behavior, compressive, splitting tensile, flexural strengths and modulus of elasticity of all the mixes were investigated to evaluate the mechanical properties of RACs. In addition, specimen crack and testing co-relation were analyzed to evaluate fiber response in the RAC.

According to the experimental results, it was observed that mechanical properties decreased with the increment replacement of NA by RCA. However, the RSF greatly improves the mechanical properties of both normal concrete and RACs. Moreover, mixes containing 1.24 mm diameter RSF had a more significant positive impact on mechanical properties than mixes containing 0.84 mm diameter RSF. The 0.84 mm and 1.24 mm RSF addition improved the mixes' compressive, splitting tensile and flexural strength by 10%–19%, 19%–30% and 3%–11%, respectively when compared to the null fiber mix. Therefore, based on the mechanical properties, the 1.24 mm diameter of RSF with 25% replacement of RCA was obtained as an optimum solution in terms of performance improvement, environmental benefit and economic cost.

The practice of RCA in construction is a long-term strategy for reducing natural resource extraction and the negative ecological impact of waste concrete.

This is the first study on the effects of varying size (0.84 mm and 1.24 mm diameter) RSF on the mechanical properties of RAC. Additionally, varying sizes of RSF and silica fume added a new dimension to the RAC.