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The purpose of this study is to explore the role individual innovativeness along with e-learning self-efficacy play in predicting the e-learning readiness of first- and second-year students of an open and distance education institutions in an African context.

Therefore, building on previous related research in this area, a quantitative approach was adopted to address the research questions and to establish whether a statistically significant relationship existed between individual innovativeness, e-learning self-efficacy, the independent variables; and e-learning readiness, the dependent variable. In total, 476 first- and second-years students of the university participated in the four-Likert-type scale survey. The research instrument which comprises 74 survey items was completed by 217 of the students. Statistical tools used for analysing data included both Pearson Product Moment Correlation coefficients and t-tests.

It was discovered that a strong positive and significant relationship was observed between individual innovativeness and e-learning readiness of first- and second-year students of the Yenagoa Study Centre of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN); a statistically significant relationship was also found between e-learning self-efficacy scores and the e-learning readiness of the first- and second-year students of the Yenagoa Study Centre of NOUN; there was a statistically significant joint relationship between the three variables under investigation; findings equally revealed that male respondents had higher e-learning readiness than their female counterparts.

Like every other study of this nature, this one also suffers some limitations. First, NOUN is a very large university with over half a million students spread across almost 78 study centres. This means that observation from just one study centre amounts to a very small sample size. This according to Schweighofer, Weitlaner, Ebner and Rothe (2019) jeopardises the generalisability and validity of study results. The authors also maintain that empirical data generated from surveys that usually rely participants' abilities to read and select responses without further interpretation by the researchers suffer from cognitive biases like social desirability. To address the above limitations, detailed studies involving all studies centres of NOUN be undertaken and other qualitative and or mixed research methodologies be adopted in the future.

The implications for this study are that people who are innately innovative will willingly accept technology and by extension, learning in technology-rich environments like those found in like NOUN whose mode of study is blended learning inherently found in open and distance learning (ODL) institution. Therefore, this study is significant as it will provide relevant information to the management and administrators of NOUN, policymakers and regulatory institutions for the development, deployment and implementation of e-learning strategies. Findings will also benefit e-learning initiatives undertaken by similar institutions that adopt the ODL mode of education in Nigeria and other developing countries.

Even though, studies on the antecedents of e-learning readiness have been widely conducted across diverse contexts, studies exploring the associations between individual innovativeness, e-learning self-efficacy and e-learning readiness are relatively hard to come by. The above two variables as predicting the e-learning readiness in the study context are comparatively new. This study thus focuses on the relationships between the individual innovativeness levels, e-learning self-efficacy beliefs of students and their e-learning readiness which ultimately determines their ability to sustain studies in an ODL institution.

This study aims to investigate how online teaching of faculty members is affected by technological readiness (TR) of using online teaching platforms. The study sheds light on how many faculty members were ready to use different online platforms during COVID-19 period.

This study used TR measures to determine the impact of optimism regarding the perceived usefulness and ease of usage, impact of innovativeness in terms of perceived usability and ease of use, the influence of discomfort on perceived usefulness and ease of usage, the effect of uncertainty on perceived usefulness and ease of use and the influence of perceived usefulness and ease of use on behavior. An online questionnaire survey was conducted among 255 faculty members of different private universities of Bangladesh. The sample was chosen based on a convenience method. The responses were analyzed using partial least square (PLS) approach with the help of software Smart PLS 3.

The finding supported all of the hypotheses except that discomfort and insecurity have a positive relationship with ease of use and usefulness.

The study will help faculty members in developing their competency in using technologies in their pedagogy. Also, this study will provide some guidelines to the university management in developing adequate technological infrastructure to aid teaching.

The aim of the study was to investigate the faculty members' readiness level with respect to online teaching. The technology assessment model (TAM) was used to determine the readiness index. The study intended to validate the hypotheses regarding the extent to which the faculty members perceived that TAM factors affect Ease of Use and Usefulness of online teaching. Also, this research analyzed the perception of faculty members that Ease of Using online teaching affects its Usefulness. Lastly, the study examined how their perception of Ease of Use and Usefulness affect Intention to Use online as a mode of teaching. It was found from the study that each of the TAM factors, Optimism, Innovativeness, Insecurity and Discomfort has positive and significant contribution on the Ease of Use. On the other hand, Optimism, Innovativeness, Insecurity and Discomfort have positive and significant contributions on the Usefulness. The study also revealed that Ease of Use has positive and significant contribution on the Usefulness. Lastly, it was found that Ease of Use and Usefulness have positive and significant contribution on the Intention to use. Teaching remotely is still a novel concept, and it is more difficult for people who have not done it before. Many teachers became burned out as a result of trying to adjust to new teaching methods, especially after the lockdown began. They were having a difficult time since there was so much ambiguity. When a teacher is well-versed in communication tools, it can improve learning efficiency. When they are properly trained, deploying engaging features of virtual learning, such as audio-visual lessons, quizzes, and so on, becomes simple, and students become eager to learn more. Teachers can plan their classes, prepare and master technology and create innovative and stimulating discussion topics (Mishra et al., 2020). They need to utilize a variety of technological options. They can rehearse virtual classroom management with colleagues if they face any difficulty. All of the aforementioned abilities can be honed with the assistance of an integrated academic system. Teachers can be trained by educational institutions to ensure a smooth learning process through the use of ICT (information and communication technologies) (Scherer et al., 2021; Mishra et al., 2020). The training will assist teachers in efficiently taking online classes. Institutions should ensure that teachers are well-suited to teach online and are skilled at keeping students engaged during remote learning. To make every chapter engaging, aspects such as videos, slides, images and digital copies of books and workbooks can be used. This allows students to receive personalized support and counseling in order to maintain their motivation (Sahu et al., 2022; Lapitan et al., 2021). Every other day, group doubt resolution classes ensure that there are no gaps in learning (Lapitan et al., 2021). All teachers require is a digital mindset, the appropriate tools and a committed approach (Sahu et al., 2022). If teachers can hold their students' attention, they can easily deliver an effective learning experience (Lapitan et al., 2021).

This study was conducted to identify technological preparedness of faculty members of private universities in Bangladesh during COVID-19 period. Some studies were there to assess such kind of preparedness but none of those used TAM and technology readiness model either in isolation or in combination. Also, this paper focused on teachers' readiness in contrast to students' readiness specific to private universities.

Construction 4.0 technology is a novel innovative technology that has been proved to enhance project performance. However, information on the concept's awareness, adoption readiness and challenges in developing economies is still scanty. The purpose of the study is to appraise awareness, adoption readiness and challenges of Construction 4.0 technologies in Nigeria to bring to the fore the state of art of these innovative technologies in the study area.

The study used a convenient sampling technique to select 129 construction professionals (architects, engineers and quantity surveyors) in Osun State, Nigeria, who provided data for the study through a closed-ended structure questionnaire survey. The quantitative data supplied were analysed using frequency, percentile, Cronbach's alpha, mean score (MS) analysis and analysis of variance (ANOVA).

The overall awareness level of construction professionals in the study area about Construction 4.0 technologies is at a moderate level (MS = 3.03). The analysis of each component of the Construction 4.0 technologies shows that BIM (MS = 3.69) has the highest level of awareness, while augmented reality (MS = 2.51) has the least awareness level. More results show a significant difference in the opinion of the respondents, a significant difference in the respondents on 36% of the components of Construction 4.0 technologies. The adoption readiness of the Nigerian construction industry (NCI) to Construction 4.0 technologies is at an initial level (MS = 2.86). However, the 3D printing (MS = 3.36) and augmented reality (MS = 2.49) have the highest and lowest adoption readiness ratings, respectively. There is no significant difference in how respondents ranked the NCI adoption readiness on 73% of the components of Construction 4.0 technologies. The main challenges of Construction 4.0 technologies in the study area are lack of standardisation (MS = 4.02), lack of investment in research and development and cost of implementation (MS = 3.87) each. The result shows that there is perfect unanimity in the way respondents ranked the challenges of Construction 4.0.

The study provided information on the status quo of Construction 4.0 technologies in the NCI to enhance improvement in practice and the attendant project delivery.

The study attempted to bring to the fore the state of the art on awareness, adoption readiness and challenges of Construction 4.0 technologies in Nigeria. The study's information will be valuable to improve project delivery.

Manufacturing firms delivering complex products and systems are increasingly offering advanced data-based services. Customers, however, are not always willing to adopt manufacturers’ advanced services, so manufacturers need knowledge of how to promote customers’ service readiness. The purpose of this paper is to further develop the concept of service readiness by proposing a framework for industrial customers’ organizational dimension of service readiness and by increasing the understanding of the conditions underpinning that service readiness.

This case study explores service readiness among customers of a manufacturer delivering complex systems and related services. Interviews were conducted within the company and among key customers as the potential users of those services.

Customers use versatile processes, engage multiple people and use different evaluation criteria when considering adoption of data-based services. The organizational component of service readiness involves requirements in the service context, supplier relations and organizational habits and culture. Actions are proposed for manufacturers to promote customers’ readiness for new services.

The research is limited through its qualitative design and case selection. Mapping of the organizational dimension of service readiness further develops the concept of service readiness and offers a framework for further research. This research offers novel understanding of organization-level service adoption to complement individual-centric technology adoption.

New knowledge is offered to manufacturing firms about customers’ challenges and requirements in adopting advanced services. This knowledge will help manufacturers to support customers and develop the activities of their own salespeople when introducing advanced services.

The findings expose the contents of the organizational dimension of customers’ service readiness. The study provides a more complete picture of service readiness and shows it to be a multilayered concept with interdependencies between its levels, between individuals in customer organizations and even between the manufacturer and the customer organization.

The study aims to validate a mobile learning readiness scale through the technology readiness and acceptance model (TRAM), thereby assessing students' readiness to adopt m-learning in teaching and learning, including its acceptance.

A structured questionnaire was administered to open and distance learning (ODL) students in Odisha, India, to assess their readiness and acceptance of m-learning. 665 valid responses were collected, and collected data was analysed using statistical packages for social sciences (SPSS) and SmartPLS.

The findings of the study reveal that optimism contributes positively to perceived ease of use (PEOU) and perceived usefulness (PU) of m-learning (β = 7.921, p < 0.001; β = 2.123, p < 0.05), whereas innovativeness positively contributes to PEOU of m-learning (β = 2.227, p < 0.05), but not PU of m-learning. ODL student's optimism improves his/her PEOU and PU of m-learning, but innovativeness improves only his/her PEOU. Further, the impact of innovativeness is higher than that of optimism in the TRAM and innovativeness is the strong predictor to adopt m-learning. It also shows that the PU of m-learning positively influences behavioural intention to use m-learning (β = 4.757, p < 0.001). Integrating technology readiness (TR) with technology acceptance model (TAM) to predict students' acceptance of m-learning is very useful.

The paper will help decision-makers to adopt and use m-learning in higher educational institutions.

This paper is the first to explore the readiness and acceptance of m-learning in higher education in India.

This study investigates the determinants of digital census for population and housing census (PHC) program through the lens of performance expectancy, technology readiness, self-efficacy and hedonic motivation for the upliftment of a national data collection exercise and development of human resource management.

A quantitative and qualitative research method was used to survey enumerators' responses from the PHC exercise during the COVID-19 period in Ghana. Based on the four determinants, a conceptual framework was developed consisting of eight proposed hypotheses tested through a structural equation model.

The findings of the study indicate that technological readiness, self-efficacy and hedonic motivation significantly influence behavioural intention to adopt digital technologies for PHC training and data collection. Importantly, the authors identified four key themes relating to digital technologies in PHC – personal enablers, general enablers, inherent affordances (inherent possibilities by the user in relation to what the technology offers in context) and personal inhibitors.

For research, this work systematizes antecedents from diverse research streams and validates their relative impact on government digital transformation for accurate data, thus providing a cohesive theoretical explanation of digital technologies in PHC. Due to the study's infancy in a developing country context, the findings provide a preliminary foundation and constructive insight for a digitalization plan conducive to people’s personality and technological readiness.

Customer value perception of Internet of Things (IoT)-based services has not been studied in the context of a company’s readiness to adopt IoT technology. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap by indicating a research framing that combines insights from the IoT business model literature and customer perception of the value of such models and their drivers.

The interplay between a company’s IoT readiness and its perception of the value of IoT services is tested using a sample of 90 Eastern European business customers in a competitive business field. The conceptual framework described also examines relationships among constructs that refer to relationship quality. This study evaluates its quantitative sample using partial least squares path modeling.

Customers’ perceived value of IoT business models strongly relates to their digitalization capabilities and their own company’s innovativeness. When referring to disruptive technical offerings, existing trustful and satisfactory relationships cannot enhance the customer’s value perception.

The sample of Eastern European buyers is not representative of the majority of manufacturing companies. A randomized sample using other sources such as large industry databases could be useful. In addition, a replication of the study in other countries would allow for a cross-border validation of this study’s results.

This study suggests a detailed process that is based on a careful preselection of test customers working for innovative companies. A marketing communication approach must state clearly the benefits the buyers get in return for their sacrifice of sharing data.

Technology readiness refers to the user’s propensity to embrace and use new technologies. The results indicate that IoT readiness influences the successful launch of IoT-related business models. For managers, this study proposes a process to implement IoT-related business models.

This study aims to analyze how ready a firm is to transform into Industry 4.0 using the Readiness Index (INDI 4.0) assessment. It also investigates the differences (before and after) of the program “Making Indonesia 4.0” in 2018 in socioeconomic and demographic aspects.

The INDI 4.0 assessment involved a self-evaluation by 622 companies across 13 industry sectors, subsequently verified by the Ministry of Industry. This study incorporates discussions with industry experts to enhance the interpretation of the analytical findings.

This study explores the interrelation among the components of INDI 4.0 across different levels, assessing the readiness of each sector for Industry 4.0. The findings reveal the diverse impact of implementing Industry 4.0 in Indonesia on socioeconomic and demographic aspects. Furthermore, the study proposes several policy recommendations for the Indonesian government’s consideration.

This study’s scope is confined to the industrial context of Indonesia, as the assessment components are tailored to the specific characteristics and culture of the country’s industry. Subsequent research endeavors can leverage this study as a foundational reference, adapting the components to align with the particular interests of other nations.

Businesses, especially those in Indonesia, can employ these findings to evaluate their position in the context of Industry 4.0 transformation compared to their industry. Simultaneously, the Indonesian government can use these results as a starting point to evaluate and potentially enhance their policies related to Industry 4.0. We recommend five policy proposals for the Indonesian government: diversifying measurement models, shifting terminology, emphasizing soft skills, promoting continuous learning and implementing Center of Digital Industry Indonesia 4.0 (PIDI 4.0) initiatives.

This study offers a broad impact of Industry 4.0 implementation in socioeconomic and demographic aspects in Indonesia, such as income, job-shifting, age, educational background and gender.

To the best of our knowledge, no prior research has explored the repercussions of industrial implementation on socioeconomic and demographic facets.

This paper aims to explore various factors associated with radio frequency identification (RFID) adoption with quantitative meta-analysis. More specifically, this paper attempts to measure key variables of RFID adoption derived from Rogers’ innovation theory and further examines how state intervention influences the process of RFID adoption. First, this paper compares, relying on a meta-analysis, various mean effect sizes among technological, organizational and environmental factors (i.e. government-driven policies) that Rogers suggested in his innovation model.

In mean effect size analysis, this paper finds that the technological factor is the most powerful factor that affects the RFID adoption. The technological factor is statistically significant across all regions, including North America, Europe and Asia. The organizational factor is significant only in developing countries like Southeast Asian countries and East Asian countries. Environmental factors like government intervention for facilitating RFID adoption are strong enough only in Southeast Asia and Europe.

This paper finds that government’s supportive policy is more effective in Europe but not in America, while external pressure is still more effective in Southeast Asia. These results implicate that developmentalism or government-driven policy can be effective not only in developing countries but also in the case of developed countries. In addition, this paper conducts a seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) analysis based on Fisher’s standardized score.

In SUR analysis, this paper finds that the correlations between RFID adoption intention and three innovation factors vary across industrial areas. More specifically, the manufacturing area shows negative moderating effect on all three equations where correlations between Rogers’ innovation factors and RFID adoption intention are meta-dependent variables. Also, RFID adoption is accelerated when the size of the firm is large or the location of the firm is in Southeast Asia. This result implicates that the aspect of technology adoption can be changed by region and type of industry.

The paper proposes a framework for the successful deployment of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) principles in the aerospace industry, based on identified success factors. The paper challenges the perception of I4.0 being aligned with de-skilling and personnel reduction and instead promotes a route to successful deployment centred on upskilling and retaining personnel for future role requirements.

The research methodology involved a literature review and industrial data collection via questionnaires to develop and validate the framework. The questionnaire was sent to a purposive sample of 50 respondents working in operations, and a response rate of 90% was achieved. Content analysis was used to identify patterns, themes, or biases, and the data were tabulated based on specific common attributes. The proposed framework consists of a series of gates and criteria that must be met before progressing to the next gate.

The proposed framework provides a feedback mechanism to review minimum standards for successful deployment, aligned with new developments in capability and technology, and ensures quality assessment at each gate. The paper highlights the potential benefits of I4.0 implementation in the aerospace industry, including reducing operational costs and improving competitiveness by eliminating variation in manufacturing processes. The identified success factors were used to define the framework, and the identified failure points were used to form mitigation actions or controls for inclusion in the framework.

The paper provides a framework for the successful deployment of I4.0 principles in the aerospace industry, based on identified success factors. The framework challenges the perception of I4.0 as being aligned with de-skilling and personnel reduction and instead promotes a route to successful deployment centred on upskilling and retaining personnel for future role requirements. The framework can be used as a guideline for organizations to deploy I4.0 principles successfully and improve competitiveness.