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PurposeThis study aims to investigate the impact of environmental scanning on organizational resilience through the mediation of organizational learning and innovation based on organizational information processing theory (OIPT) within Egyptian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) during the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopted a cross-sectional design to collect the data used to carry out mediation analysis. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample consisting of 249 Egyptian SMEs. The smart partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique was adopted to test the hypotheses.FindingsEnvironmental scanning does not have a direct effect on organizational resilience. However, organizational learning and innovation fully mediate the relationship between environmental scanning and organizational resilience.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample size was small, covering only Egyptian manufacturing SMEs. The results may differ in the service sector and other countries. The study was cross-sectional which is limited to tracing the long-term effects of environmental scanning, organizational learning and innovation on organizational resilience. Accordingly, a longitudinal study may be undertaken.Practical implicationsManagers in Egyptian SMEs should use signals from environmental scanning activities as input for learning and transforming business processes through innovation to develop organizational resilience.Originality/valueThis study is the first to investigate the role of environmental scanning in building organizational resilience through organizational learning and innovation based on the perspective of OIPT within Egyptian SMEs during the COVID-19 crisis.
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Today's lawyers must be technologically competent, per Model Rule of Professional Conduct 1.1. Law schools and law firms were keenly aware of this expectation and summarily responded. While law firms offered more professional development opportunities, law schools began offering various courses focusing on technology skills. These courses have increased and evolved over time as the curriculum has changed with the technology. First, we present the evolution of ethical requirements surrounding legal technology competency and offer a description of the lawyering competency models most discussed today. We then review data about technology trends at the most innovative law firms and examine curricular offerings in technology or technology-related fields at American Bar Association-accredited law schools. Next, we offer a comparative analysis of multiple empirical studies to determine whether key areas of technology training were reflected in the legal education curriculum and were sufficient to meet ABA ethical expectations. Finally, we recommend solutions law schools may implement to increase technology instruction, services, and infrastructure to meet ethical standards. ABA-accredited schools should implement these recommendations in light of ABA Standard 301(a), the forecasted changes planned by the National Conference of Bar Examiners, and the new virtual practice landscape set by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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PurposeThis study evaluates the impact of online menus and perceived convenience of online food ordering on consumer purchase intention and shows how a desire for food creates a relationship between an online menu and a customer's purchase intention. Suggestions for management are proposed to design an effective menu to improve business performance in the competitive market in Vietnam.Design/methodology/approachThe paper follows a quantitative method. Quantitative research aims to analyze and critically evaluate the research question(s) to discover new factors.FindingsFindings indicate a positive relationship between menu visual appeal (MV), menu informativeness (MI), desire for food (DF), the perceived convenience (PC) of ordering food online and intention to purchase (PI). The attractiveness of images and information is a significant factor affecting diners' desire to eat, while the demand for food and the convenience of ordering food online are also factors affecting purchase intention.Practical implicationsThe study confirms the importance of online menus to purchase intention. Economically, when supply and demand are reasonable, the market is stable and technology develops. In terms of social, hygiene, attractiveness and price factors, it is helpful to have an overview. Research is the premise for further studies with factors from menu to customer trust.Originality/valueThe study provides a solid foundation for further studies on restaurant menu elements as well as a new perspective on how restaurants improve their dishes.
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The phenomenon that occurs in universities today is the increase in the use of e-learning during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the readiness of students and universities is seen as too short. The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between expected benefits, e-learning curriculum, and educational partners in supporting student e-learning adoption. This study supports the sustainability of technology used in e-learning concepts. This research method is a quantitative survey of students in the city of Bandung (Indonesia) who implement e-learning as a learning medium. Data from students were taken through a questionnaire and processed using SmartPLS. The analysis was carried out using regression analysis with research hypothesis testing. The results of the study found that the expected benefits, e-learning curriculum, and educational partners have a positive relationship with the e-learning adoption of students in online learning. The E-learning curriculum is an antecedent variable that has better support for e-learning adoption. The research findings explain that e-learning adoption in universities can be built by three aspects starting from the e-learning curriculum, expected benefits, to educational partners. There is important information from this research that can be used as information support on the implementation and sustainability of online learning. E-learning organizers are expected to be able to improve the concept of e-learning, especially in the curriculum, because it has an important role to increase student e-learning adoption. © 2023 Author(s).
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PurposeIn order to ensure effectiveness of staff's performance using online meetings applications during coronavirus disease (COVID-19), having the behavioural intention is mandatory for staff to measure, test, and manage the staff's data. Understanding of Public Higher Education Institution (PHEI) staffs' intention and behaviour toward online meetings platforms is needed to develop and implement effective and efficient strategies. The objectives of this paper to identify the factors that affect staff to use online meetings applications, to develop a model that examining the factors that affect PHEI staff to online meetings applications and to validate the proposed model. This study used a cross-sectional quantitative correlational study with using UTAUT2 model by validating the model and mediating variables to enhance the model's explanatory power and to make the model more applicable to PHEI staff's behavioural intention.Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected in Malaysia from March to May 2021. The survey took place using Google form and was send to PHEI staff for answer. This research particularly chooses PHEI as the location to carry out the research due to two main factors. Statistical analysis and hypotheses were tested using structural equation modelling based on the optimisation technique of partial least squares. SmartPLS software, Version 3.0 (Hair et al., 2010) was used to conduct the analysis. A conceptualised estimation model was "drawn in” the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to analyse the consequences of the variables' relationships. In essence, the PLS-SEM simulation was carried out in a model by assessing and computing various parameters that included elements like validity, durability, and item loading. Henseler et al. (2009) suggested a two-step method that includes PLS model parameter computing. This is accomplished by first solving the estimation model in the structural model independently before calculating the direction coefficients. The results of data analysis using SmartPLS findings and interpretation of the data are addressed. The questionnaire was extensively examined to ensure that the data obtained were presented in a clear and intelligible manner, with the use of figures, and graphs.FindingsThis current study found that the usability of the material, the reliability of operating, the impact of the PHEI staff's views on its usage, and finally the familiarity with the online meetings platforms influenced PHEI staff's behavioural intention for adoption and long-term use of online meeting platforms using UTAUT2. The staff's behavioural intention for using online meeting platforms was significantly influenced by the effort expectancy, facilitating conditions and habit of online meeting platforms. There was a clear association between "Habit” and "Behavioural Intention” for the usage of information technology in learning in several studies (El-Masri and Tarhini, 2017;Uur and Turan, 2018;Mosunmola et al., 2018;Venkatesh et al., 2003). As a consequence of the utility of online meeting platforms in daily staff meetings and learning activities, this technology has been adopted.Originality/valueThis study used UTAUT2 and structural equations modelling in this study to assess respondents' perspectives on the use of online meetings platforms in PHEI, since users' perspective is a significant factor in the adoption and acceptance of online meeting applications. Staff's behavioural intention to use online meeting platforms was effectively enhanced by "Effort Expectancy,” "Facilitating Conditions” and "Habit” in this study. The study shows that identifying PHEI staff's perspectives will effectively increase the staff's aversion to utilising online meeting platforms for online meetings purposes.
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Recognizing reality, Uwe Schoenbeck, PhD, senior vice president and chief scientific officer for Emerging Science & Innovation (ES&I) at Pfizer, has synthesized and made functional core lessons from two of the past decade's best business books: According to Schoenbeck, ESLs are highly experienced in the relevant disease area and embedded within the respective therapeutic areas, resulting in high strategic alignment of the opportunity being sourced and avoiding opportunities that are not a strategic fit (1). The ES&I team, in conjunction with colleagues working in Business Development, has stood out for bringing genuinely creative partnership ideas and innovations into an already creative and crowded environment. [...]a collaboration with Codex DNA will potentially streamline the mRNA production process by facilitating synthetic DNA assembly, another notable fruit of the team's labour to bring forth a competitive pipeline in gene therapy.
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During the health crisis caused by COVID-19, virtual reality (VR) proved to be useful for the tourism industry, allowing this industry to continue working despite the restrictions imposed. However, it remains to be seen if the impact of this sanitary crisis in the tourism industry influenced managers' intention to adopt this technology in the post-pandemic period. To fill this gap, a qualitative methodological approach was adopted, using the MAXQDA20 software and interviews with managers of tourism enterprises. The results show that the willingness to invest in technology, the perception of VR as a business strategy, and the perception of the impact of the pandemic are factors that regulate the intention of companies to adopt VR. In addition, prior experience with VR and the perception of technical support are also important for its adoption. Thus, it was concluded that VR can be a valuable sustainable strategy for tourism companies to address the challenges imposed by the pandemic. However, adopting the technology depends on factors such as financial availability, business strategy, and previous experience with VR. Furthermore, tourism companies must also receive adequate technical support to ensure its correct implementation.
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PurposeAmid the COVID-19 contamination, people are bound to use contactless FinTech payment services. Because of restrictions on physical movement and avoidance of touching physical money, people willingly choose mobile payment, resulting in enormous growth in FinTech payment service industries. Because of this, this study aims to examine the effect of factors affecting Gen X and Millennials users to use FinTech payment services.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used 328 responses collected through convenience sampling of Indian users aged between 26 and 57 years in the Delhi-NCR region who are users of FinTech payment services.FindingsThe authors' findings verified that in India, perceived COVID-19 risk, perceived severity for COVID, individual mobility, subjective norms, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness have statistically significant impacts on FinTech payment services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Structural equation modelling was used to study the proposed research model. Overall, the model predicted 76.9 % of the variation in intention to use FinTech payment services by the abovesaid variables by Indian users during a pandemic.Practical implicationsThis study will provide valuable insight to all FinTech service providers and stakeholders in planning and designing the concerned policy. It will be able to draw the attention of users more.Originality/valueThis research added a valuable theory to the existing technology adoption model (TAM) theory. It demonstrated the utility of the above variables in adopting and using FinTech payment services, which will help service providers to develop future strategies because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Information Technology (IT) has become the integral part of majority of businesses. Healthcare sector is also one such sector where IT adoption is increased in recent times. This adoption of IT has increased the internet exposure and hence increased the attack surface of the organisations working in healthcare sector. During covid outbreak, we have observed various cyber-attack and threats on organisations operating in healthcare sector. This paper focuses on cyber threat pattern in healthcare sector during covid-19 outbreak and post-covid-19 period. This research paper also aims to generate basic cyber awareness through generic cyber sanity checks to secure healthcare sector from malicious threat actors. The adaptation of proactive measures required to enhance the cyber hygiene of organisations becomes very essential in this sector. © 2023 IEEE.
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To combat the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, many new ways have been proposed on how to automate the process of finding infected people, also called contact tracing. A special focus was put on preserving the privacy of users. Bluetooth Low Energy as base technology has the most promising properties, so this survey focuses on automated contact tracing techniques using Bluetooth Low Energy. We define multiple classes of methods and identify two major groups: systems that rely on a server for finding new infections and systems that distribute this process. Existing approaches are systematically classified regarding security and privacy criteria.Copyright © 2021 ACM.
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Information technology and supply chain agility are in vogue. The present study aims to investigate the impact of information technology (IT) on supply chain agility and its outcomes such as cost reduction and operational performance in fast food companies' chains. A total of 240 employees from fast food chains were selected as respondents. Data was collected using five-point Likert scale questionnaire developed from previous studies. The statistical results confirmed that adoption of IT is playing a vibrant role in achieving supply chain agility and supply chain agility helps to reduce cost and improves operational performance of firms. The study model provides a useful framework to examine the impact of IT adoption on supply chain agility and its outcomes. In conclusion, the firms have to focus on their supply chain management and make it efficient and agile by implementing the advanced technologies to gain operational performance. Implications have been discussed.
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Over the past 20-30 years, many public sector organizations have adopted organizational forms that include multi-located organizational units, in which leaders and part of their subordinates work in different geographical locations. The COVID-19 lockdowns have caused a similar trend with an increased use of home offices. Consequently, many leaders today have people working from different geographical locations, and virtual leadership (distant leadership) has become the possible normal practice. The situation before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic can be understood from multiple theoretical perspectives within organizational research: the technological, the performance gap and the institutional perspective. The purpose of this chapter is to present, illustrate and discuss these three organizational perspectives on the adoption of-and changes related to-telework and virtual leadership. The illustrations of these perspectives are conducted to the old normal and the lockdown period, while the discussion is in relation to possible "new normal practices.” The illustrations are drawn from Norwegian public organizations, and the perspectives build on classic and new contributions within organizational research. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.
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This study aimed to investigate the factors influencing the acceptance of mobile learning technology for 21st-century skills-based training among teachers in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. This study adopted the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model, which included constructs such as performance expectancy, effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, social influence, mobile self-efficacy, student self-efficacy, behavioural intention, 21st-century skills-based training, and creative thinking skills. A survey was conducted with 619 teachers from Saudi Arabia and Pakistan who participated in a two-week mobile learning-based training session. The data were analysed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results show that all hypotheses were supported, indicating a positive relationship between the constructs and the acceptance and use of mobile learning technology for 21st-century skills-based training. This study's findings suggest that by emphasising factors such as performance expectancy, effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, social influence, mobile self-efficacy, and student self-efficacy when designing mobile learning interventions, teachers will be more likely to accept and use mobile learning technology for 21st-century skills-based training and contributed to sustainability by providing increased access to quality education.
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PurposeDigital transformation in supply chains (SCs) has emerged as one of the most effective ways to minimize SC disruption risks. Given the unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global SCs, this study aims to identify and provide empirical evidence about the drivers of digital SC transformation, considering the interactivity between environmental dynamism, technology, and organizational capabilities during the pandemic era.Design/methodology/approachUsing partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), this study examines 923 firms in Vietnam to ascertain the drivers of digital SC transformation between small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and large enterprises, based on the technology–organization–environment (TOE) as an overarching framework.FindingsThis study finds that greater digital SC transformation adoption could be achieved under the interactivity between the TOE components of firms' technological competencies, learning capabilities, and disruptions in socioeconomic environments due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, a multigroup analysis shows that the drivers of digital SC transformation differ between SMEs and large enterprises. SMEs were found to be more motivated by the COVID-19 disruption risk when adopting digital SC models.Originality/valueThis study represents an original and novel contribution from Vietnam as an emerging market to the literature on the impact of COVID-19 on the global value chain. Apart from the unique dataset at the firm level, the analysis of interactions between external and internal drivers of digital SC transformation could provide crucial managerial implications for SMEs to survive major disruptions, such as those caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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[...]this critical step is receiving the attention it deserves, maybe even an overhaul, as the wave of clinical trial decentralization surges on. With this regulatory foundation, the site feasibility process involves choosing sites that not only conform to these requirements, but can also offer the best fit for specific studies, based on past performance, access to a database of appropriate patients, and the bandwidth to perform the study at hand. A recent article by Kurbegov et al. of the American Society of Cancer Oncology (ASCO) describes a Task Force that was convened to evaluate the burdens and challenges of site feasibility, which often lead to delayed study start-up and act as a barrier to site participation.6 With input from sites, sponsors, and CROs in the form of surveys and in-person meetings, the Task Force developed three recommendations for improvement, with a goal of speeding patient access to clinical trial participation, and ultimately, much needed new treatments, as shown in Table 1 on the facing page. According to Comis, "We now have 146,000 users of SIP, which represents 125,000 site researchers.
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The effects of the pandemic have shed light on the evolution of technology in the legal space, including the use of technology in videoconferencing proceedings and facilitating court procedures. Despite the benefits associated with technology, the rapid adoption of videoconferencing proceedings in courts may have unprecedented impacts on the relevance and practicality of the forum non conveniens doctrine. Additionally, the drastically different approaches that federal courts have taken in response to the disproportionate geographic effects of the pandemic may give way to forum shopping. Plaintiffs may be more incentivized to bring their cases to forums that allow for videoconferencing proceedings as a strategic way to circumvent a defendant's potential forum non conveniens argument in a motion to dismiss. This Note argues that videoconferencing technology allows courts to effectively transcend the restrictions of geography while mitigating arguments about the relative convenience of different forums. Creating more uniform rules for videoconferencing proceedings will ensure easier predictability and uniformity in the forum non conveniens analysis. Specifically, this Note recommends that Congress and the courts mandate standardized technological videoconferencing requirements and adopt the original understanding of the forum non conveniens doctrine for lower courts to more explicitly consider the benefits of technology when making a forum non conveniens determination.
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The success of the cooperation between government and the private sector to rapidly develop and build capacity for vaccines and treatments to combat the COVID-19 pandemic is an example of what is possible, in the normally slow-acting and risk-averse pharmaceutical sector, say industry experts. Reducing barriers to CM One positive sign is greater acceptance of public-private partnerships by the United States (US) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the US Congress, due to the successes demonstrated during the pandemic response, said Jennifer Luray, vice-president of strategy and communications at ResearchlAmerica, during a panel discussion hosted by the US Pharmacopeia Convention (USP) (2). USP can help fill the gap that exists in access to knowledge, experience, and laboratory capabilities for PAT model development and process development, adds De Belder. " "Some PAT systems are more suited to a development environment, where the goal is to gain process understanding and knowledge about the product, but those systems may not be robust enough for routine deployment on a commercial process," adds Connelly.
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COVID-19 pandemic brought up issues with healthcare costs, national economic development and welfare of the society in forefront. Nations across the globe followed different approaches to deal with COVID-19, such as zero tolerance, herd immunity, containment to build treatment capability. National healthcare became a contentious sociopolitical issue involving healthcare costs, technologies and societal health. In the United States even during the COVID-19 pandemic, the government approach was pursuing a sustainable improvement in patient care through adoption of medical and information technologies. The national healthcare policies are framed around technological interventions with the assumption that deployment of technologies could keep healthcare costs under control and at the same time improve health outcomes. However, evidences show that the healthcare costs are in the rise even with impressive progress in technological deployment. This article highlights some of the recent trends in healthcare costs, technological preparedness, medical technology developments in managing COVID-19 pandemic. The US government mandated electronic health record (EHR) systems implementation and assess its impact on healthcare costs and health outcomes. This article emphasizes the need for understanding the interconnectedness of costs, technology and societal health.
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The COVID-19 pandemic, emerging/re-emerging infections as well as other non-communicable chronic diseases, highlight the necessity of smart microfluidic point-of-care diagnostic (POC) devices and systems in developing nations as risk factors for infections, severe disease manifestations and poor clinical outcomes are highly represented in these countries. These POC devices are also becoming vital as analytical procedures executable outside of conventional laboratory settings are seen as the future of healthcare delivery. Microfluidics have grown into a revolutionary system to miniaturize chemical and biological experimentation, including disease detection and diagnosis utilizing muPads/paper-based microfluidic devices, polymer-based microfluidic devices and 3-dimensional printed microfluidic devices. Through the development of droplet digital PCR, single-cell RNA sequencing, and next-generation sequencing, microfluidics in their analogous forms have been the leading contributor to the technical advancements in medicine. Microfluidics and machine-learning-based algorithms complement each other with the possibility of scientific exploration, induced by the framework's robustness, as preliminary studies have documented significant achievements in biomedicine, such as sorting, microencapsulation, and automated detection. Despite these milestones and potential applications, the complexity of microfluidic system design, fabrication, and operation has prevented widespread adoption. As previous studies focused on microfluidic devices that can handle molecular diagnostic procedures, researchers must integrate these components with other microsystem processes like data acquisition, data processing, power supply, fluid control, and sample pretreatment to overcome the barriers to smart microfluidic commercialization.Copyright © 2023 by Begell House, Inc.
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This study aims to investigate how consumer's use of online food delivery (OFD) services is driven by its self-protective nature. Drawing on protection motivation theory, the unified theory of use and acceptance of technology, and diffusion of innovation theory, an integrated model was tested with 1,000 empirical data points to explain consumers' OFD use during the pandemic. Results confirmed the self-protective nature of OFD use by uncovering a significant positive effect of fear of COVID-19 on consumers' OFD ordering frequency. Perceived vulnerability contributed more strongly to an individual's fear of COVID-19 than perceived severity in dining activities. These findings theoretically expand the current understanding of OFD services and provide practical implications for OFD platforms, restaurateurs, and governments.