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As a little research has been conducted to understand the factors influencing users’ intentions to adopt blockchain-based telemedicine (BBT), it is important to investigate BBT acceptance as incorporation of blockchain technology can solve telemedicine-related issues. Accordingly, this study aims to investigate the factors influencing behavioral intentions (BI) to adopt BBT.

An integrated model comprising the constructs taken from technology–organization–environment framework, technology acceptance model, unified theory of acceptance and use of technology and theory of planned behavior based on their relevance to the context and the objectives of the study has been used for this research. A quantitative approach has been used to test the hypotheses, for which the data was collected from 324 respondents through a self-administered questionnaire. Partial least squares structural equation modeling has been used to test the hypotheses.

The results of the study show that relative advantage, perceived usefulness, trust and perceived ease of use have a significant impact on BI to adopt BBT, whereas regulatory support, subjective norms and facilitating conditions do not have any significant impact on the same.

As the concept of BCT in Pakistan is at its nascent stage and literature regarding this technology’s adoption is also limited, researchers and scholars can apply it to several other fields in Pakistan. For example, this study can be extended to explore the factors influencing blockchain adoption in areas such as education, logistics, transportation, finances and management. This research only considers the direct effects of constructs on BI to adopt BBT and does not consider any mediation and moderations constructs. Future researchers can also study the influence of mediation and moderation constructs on BI to adopt BCT.

Although studies on the acceptance of telemedicine exist, there is a gap concerning the acceptance of BBT, which the current study helps to bridge. From a practical standpoint, the current study makes a highly valuable contribution toward understanding acceptance factors for BBT projects, leading to help policymakers devise policies to promote telemedicine.

Some aspects of technology behaviour remain unclear, such as the generation of technology use and engagement. So, this study aims to address the following question: does engagement with technology drive the use of technology?or does the use of technology create the engagement with technology?

Based on the uses and gratifications theory, this study compares three alternative competing models that explain technology behaviour on a sample of 715 individuals, using the selection criteria proposed by Mathieson. A comprehensive analysis and comparison of three structural competing models on technology behaviour, namely, “use-and-engagement”, “use-to-engagement” and “engagement-to-use”, are presented.

Findings show that the “use-and-engagement” model provides a better explanation of technology behaviour and is superior to predict technology behaviour, suggesting that both technology engagement and use could be considered as consequences.

This study’s major contribution is the empirical examination of three structural competing models and the selection of the best explaining model of technology behaviour.

Algunos aspectos del comportamiento tecnológico permanecen sin aclarar, como la creación del uso e implicación hacia la tecnología. Así que abordamos la siguiente pregunta: ¿La implicación con la tecnología impulse su uso?, o ¿es el uso de la tecnología el que impulse la implicación?.

Basándonos en la Teoría de los Usos y Gratificaciones se han comparado tres modelos alternativos que compiten entre sí para explicar el comportamiento tecnológico, en una muestra de 715 individuos utilizando el criterio de selección propuesto por Mathieson. Se presenta un análisis y una comparación exhaustive de tres modelos estructurales competitivos sobre el comportamiento tecnológico, que son “uso-e-implicación”, “uso-para-la implicación” e “implicación-para-el uso”.

Los resultados muestran que el modelo “uso-e-implicación” proporciona la mejor explicación del comportamiento tecnológico y es superior para predecir el comportamiento tecnológico, lo que sugiere que tanto la implicación como el uso de la tecnología podrían considerarse como consecuencias.

Nuestra principal contribución es el análisis empírico de tres modelos estructurales competitivos y la selección del mejor de ellos para explicar el comportamiento tecnológico.

技术行为的某些方面仍然不清楚, 例如技术使用和参与的产生。因此, 我们意在解决以下问题：对技术的参与是否推动了技术的使用,还是技术的使用创造了技术的参与？

基于 “使用与满足 “理论, 我们使用马蒂森提出的选择标准, 在715人的样本上比较了三种解释技术行为的替代竞争模型。即我们对三个关于技术行为的结构性竞争模型, “使用和参与”、“使用到参与 ”和 “参与到使用 ”进行了综合的分析和比较。

研究结果显示, “使用和参与 “模型更好的解释了技术行为, 并且其优于预测技术行为, 这表明技术参与和使用都可以被认为是后果。

我们的主要贡献是对三个结构性竞争模型进行了实证检验, 并选择了对技术行为的最佳解释模型。

Digital twin (DT) is an emerging technology that enables sophisticated interaction between physical objects and their virtual replicas. Although DT has recently gained significant attraction in both industry and academia, there is no systematic understanding of DT from its development history to its different concepts and applications in disparate disciplines. The majority of DT literature focuses on the conceptual development of DT frameworks for a specific implementation area. Hence, this paper provides a state-of-the-art review of DT history, different definitions and models, and six types of key enabling technologies. The review also provides a comprehensive survey of DT applications from two perspectives: (1) applications in four product-lifecycle phases, i.e. product design, manufacturing, operation and maintenance, and recycling and (2) applications in four categorized engineering fields, including aerospace engineering, tunneling and underground engineering, wind engineering and Internet of things (IoT) applications. DT frameworks, characteristic components, key technologies and specific applications are extracted for each DT category in this paper. A comprehensive survey of the DT references reveals the following findings: (1) The majority of existing DT models only involve one-way data transfer from physical entities to virtual models and (2) There is a lack of consideration of the environmental coupling, which results in the inaccurate representation of the virtual components in existing DT models. Thus, this paper highlights the role of environmental factor in DT enabling technologies and in categorized engineering applications. In addition, the review discusses the key challenges and provides future work for constructing DTs of complex engineering systems.

Open government data (OGD) is a comparatively new field in e-government and the factors influencing its continuance use by citizens have not been extensively explored. A better understanding of these factors can help the government to articulate strategies and policies that can advance the acceptance and use of OGD technologies. Thus, this paper aims to empirically determine the predictors influencing the continuance usage intention of OGD technologies.

Following an empirical investigation among 370 respondents in Bangladesh, a developing country, the paper applied path analysis using the structural equation modeling approach. The unified theory of acceptance and use of the technology model is integrated with the information system continuance model to investigate the continuance usage intention of OGD technologies.

The outcomes of this study reveal that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions (FC) directly affect users’ satisfaction (SAT). In addition, SAT and FC were found statistically significant toward continuance usage intention of OGD technologies.

The findings of this study suggest policymaker and OGD providers to formulate or modify their strategies to retain the existing OGD users and stimulate persistence usage.

Facilitating long-term use by citizens would increase their engagement and they might derive value from the OGD platforms. Concurrently, the government’s objective of ensuring increased future use of OGD technologies would be better realized.

The novelty of this study lies in the fact that it addresses a previously overlooked area of open data research, namely, the acceptance and use of open data technologies and ways to stimulate it. This study has contributed to the existing but limited literature on continuance usage intention of OGD technologies in the context of a developing country.

The dependency of academic information services on information technology is growing, particularly as information technology is the primary infrastructure of a digital library. This is compound by the fast changing/developing nature of information technology and the trend towards digitisation. The changing nature of information technology contributes to the need to manage it. The focus of this article is on the management of information technology with specific reference to the changing nature of this resource. To find a suitable model with which to manage information technology the management of change as well the management of technology was studied. In doing so 11 variables (which should be included in a management model) were distilled for literature. Directors of academic information services in the South African territory sector were approached to rank the variables. Of these 11 variables, the first six were identified as key criteria. When existing information technology models were evaluated, these key criteria were used as the most important measured of effectiveness. However, attempts to find suitable existing model that accommodates all six key criteria were unsuccessful. Ultimately, a new model was designed which could be implemented by academic information services (i.e. university libraries).

For the success of future investments in the implementation of continuous authentication systems, we should explore the key factors that influence technology adoption. The authors investigate the effect of various factors of behavioral intention through the new incorporation of a modified technology acceptance model (TAM) and diffusion of innovation theory (DOI). Also, the authors have created a new theoretical framework with constructs such as security and privacy risks (SPR), biometrics privacy concerns (BPC) and perceived risk of using the technology (PROU). In this paper, the authors conducted a structural equation modeling empirical research. This research is designed in such a way to respond to the trade-off between users’ concern for the protection of their biometrics privacy and their protection from risks.

The authors provide an extensive conceptual framework for both existing models (TAM and DOI) and the new constructs that the authors have added to the model. In addition, this research explores external factors, such as trust in technology (TT) and innovativeness (Innov). In addition, the authors have introduced significant constructs, to overcome the limitations of the TAM and to adapt it to the needs of the present research. The new theoretical framework the authors introduce in the present research concerns the constructs SPR, BPC and PROU.

The authors found that the main facilitators of behavioral intention to adopt the technology (BI) are TT, followed by compatibility (COMP), perceived usefulness (PU) and Innov. This research also shows that individuals are less interested in the ease of use of the technology and are willing to sacrifice it to achieve greater security. COMP and Innov also play a significant role. Individuals who believe that the usage of the behavioral biometrics continuous authentication (BBCA) technology would fit into their lifestyle and would like to experiment with new technologies have a positive intention to adopt the BBCA technology. The new constructs the authors have added are SPR, BPC and PROU. The authors’ results support the hypotheses that SPR is a facilitator to PU and PU acts as a facilitator to BI. Consequently, the hypothesis that individuals do not feel adequately protected by classical methods will consider the usefulness of the BBCA as a technology for their extra protection against risks is confirmed by the model. Also, with the constructs BPC and PROU, the authors examined if individuals’ concerns regarding their biometrics privacy act as inhibitors in the BI. The authors concluded that individuals consider that the benefits of using BBCA technology are much more important than the risks for their biometrics privacy since the hypothesis that the major inhibitor of BI is PROU is not supported by the model.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is among the first in the field that examines the factors that influence the individuals’ decision to adopt BBCA technology.

This chapter focuses on techniques and technologies to aid groups in making decisions, with an emphasis on computer-based support. Many office workers regularly meet colleagues and clients in virtual meetings using videoconferencing platforms, which enable participants to carry out tasks in a manner similar to a face-to-face meeting. The development of computer-based platforms to facilitate group tasks can be traced back to the 1960s, and while they support group communication, they do not directly support group decision making. In this chapter we distinguish four technologies developed to provide support to group decisions, clustered into two main traditions. Technologies in the task-oriented tradition are mainly concerned with enabling participants to complete tasks to solve the group's decision problem via computer-supported communications. Group Decision Support Systems and social software technologies comprise the task-oriented tradition. Alternately, in the model-driven tradition, participants use computers to build and use a model that acts as a referent to communicate, mostly verbally, about the group's decision problem. System modeling and decision-modeling technologies constitute the model-driven tradition. This chapter sketches the history and guiding ideas of both traditions, and describes their associated technologies. The chapter concludes with questioning if increased availability of online tools will lead to increased use of group decision support technologies, and the differential impact of communication support versus decision support.

This study proposes targeted modernization of the Department of Defense (DoD's) Joint Forces Ammunition Logistics information system by implementing the optimized innovative information technology open architecture design and integrating Radio Frequency Identification Device data technologies and real-time optimization and control mechanisms as the critical technology components of the solution. The innovative information technology, which pursues the focused logistics, will be deployed in 36 months at the estimated cost of $568 million in constant dollars. We estimate that the Systems, Applications, Products (SAP)-based enterprise integration solution that the Army currently pursues will cost another $1.5 billion through the year 2014; however, it is unlikely to deliver the intended technical capabilities.

We review the literature on individual acceptance of technology to show how organizations can improve the effective use of human resource web-based technologies. Integrating and expanding several theoretical models of technology acceptance, we develop a perceptual model of employee self-service (ESS) acceptance and usage. Based on this model, we propose several key individual, technological, and organizational factors relevant to individual intentions to use ESS technology. We summarize these in several testable propositions and also discuss implications for organizational researchers and practitioners.

Information and communications technology (ICT) offers enormous opportunities for individuals, businesses and society. The application of ICT is equally important to economic and non-economic activities. Researchers have increasingly focused on the adoption and use of ICT by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as the economic development of a country is largely dependent on them. Following the success of ICT utilisation in SMEs in developed countries, many developing countries are looking to utilise the potential of the technology to develop SMEs. Past studies have shown that the contribution of ICT to the performance of SMEs is not clear and certain. Thus, it is crucial to determine the effectiveness of ICT in generating firm performance since this has implications for SMEs’ expenditure on the technology. This research examines the diffusion of ICT among SMEs with respect to the typical stages from innovation adoption to post-adoption, by analysing the actual usage of ICT and value creation. The mediating effects of integration and utilisation on SME performance are also studied. Grounded in the innovation diffusion literature, institutional theory and resource-based theory, this study has developed a comprehensive integrated research model focused on the research objectives. Following a positivist research paradigm, this study employs a mixed-method research approach. A preliminary conceptual framework is developed through an extensive literature review and is refined by results from an in-depth field study. During the field study, a total of 11 SME owners or decision-makers were interviewed. The recorded interviews were transcribed and analysed using NVivo 10 to refine the model to develop the research hypotheses. The final research model is composed of 30 first-order and five higher-order constructs which involve both reflective and formative measures. Partial least squares-based structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) is employed to test the theoretical model with a cross-sectional data set of 282 SMEs in Bangladesh. Survey data were collected using a structured questionnaire issued to SMEs selected by applying a stratified random sampling technique. The structural equation modelling utilises a two-step procedure of data analysis. Prior to estimating the structural model, the measurement model is examined for construct validity of the study variables (i.e. convergent and discriminant validity).

The estimates show cognitive evaluation as an important antecedent for expectation which is shaped primarily by the entrepreneurs’ beliefs (perception) and also influenced by the owners’ innovativeness and culture. Culture further influences expectation. The study finds that facilitating condition, environmental pressure and country readiness are important antecedents of expectation and ICT use. The results also reveal that integration and the degree of ICT utilisation significantly affect SMEs’ performance. Surprisingly, the findings do not reveal any significant impact of ICT usage on performance which apparently suggests the possibility of the ICT productivity paradox. However, the analysis finally proves the non-existence of the paradox by demonstrating the mediating role of ICT integration and degree of utilisation explain the influence of information technology (IT) usage on firm performance which is consistent with the resource-based theory. The results suggest that the use of ICT can enhance SMEs’ performance if the technology is integrated and properly utilised. SME owners or managers, interested stakeholders and policy makers may follow the study’s outcomes and focus on ICT integration and degree of utilisation with a view to attaining superior organisational performance.

This study urges concerned business enterprises and government to look at the environmental and cultural factors with a view to achieving ICT usage success in terms of enhanced firm performance. In particular, improving organisational practices and procedures by eliminating the traditional power distance inside organisations and implementing necessary rules and regulations are important actions for managing environmental and cultural uncertainties. The application of a Bengali user interface may help to ensure the productivity of ICT use by SMEs in Bangladesh. Establishing a favourable national technology infrastructure and legal environment may contribute positively to improving the overall situation. This study also suggests some changes and modifications in the country’s existing policies and strategies. The government and policy makers should undertake mass promotional programs to disseminate information about the various uses of computers and their contribution in developing better organisational performance. Organising specialised training programs for SME capacity building may succeed in attaining the motivation for SMEs to use ICT. Ensuring easy access to the technology by providing loans, grants and subsidies is important. Various stakeholders, partners and related organisations should come forward to support government policies and priorities in order to ensure the productive use of ICT among SMEs which finally will help to foster Bangladesh’s economic development.