ABSTRACT
Background: Digital transformation has significantly reinvented the systems and operations in the supply chain and logistics industries, enabling organisations within the industry to be able to deliver higher value to customers at a lower cost. Some of the technologies that have taken up the industry by the storm include contactless technologies such as radio frequency identification, near-field communication, mobile wallets, smart cards, touchless check-in and robots. Adoption of these technologies has grown exponentially since the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, as organisations were forced to transform business operations from physical to digital. Objective: The study objective was to explore factors affecting the adoption of contactless technologies in the supply chain and logistics industry. The study has adopted the technological, organisational and environmental (TOE) framework to explore the technological, organisational and environmental factors affecting the adoption of contactless technologies in the industry. Method: The study adopted the quantitative content analysis research design and systematic literature review method to explore factors affecting contactless technologies adoption in the supply chain and logistics industry. Furthermore, a literature matrix was developed and used as an instrument to explore the TOE factors affecting the adoption. After the collection of data, findings were presented and analysed. Conclusion: The results suggest that technical (cost, value and security), organisational (change and management) and environmental factors (customer demand) affect contactless technologies adoption in the supply chain and logistics industry. The study contributes to the body of knowledge of factors affecting the adoption of contactless technologies in the supply chain and logistics. © 2022. The Authors. Licensee: AOSIS.
ABSTRACT
But this coronavirus has forced us into a new framework, within which we move without any ease: everything has new ways, everything appears as never seen, it's like finding yourself in an uncharted territory.. ' (G. Arma, 2020) With these words Gennaro Arma, Captain of the Diamond Princess cruise ship, describes the very first moments following the detection of what would become the first recorded outbreak of Covid-19 outside of China. It occurred during a roundtrip cruise which departed from Yokohama port, in Japan, on 20 January 2020. Among the 3,700 people on board, more than 700 tested positive for the virus, 14 of whom died during hospitalization. A situation which was faced without the support of emergency protocols that contemplated a modus operandi to follow. The ship constituted a confined control volume which allowed to analyze the main routes of virus propagation that mainly occur through direct contact between individuals, indirect one via contaminated objects and surfaces (also referred to as fomites) and airborne transmission. This has greatly affected the overall design paradigm, especially concerning the safety levels to be assured on board. The paper is going to analyze these focal points, starting from a possible implementation of HVAC system. It comes after an extensive study of the air flow circulation, as well as the application of filtering and purifications solutions, considering ship age and ventilation type, assessing the possibility of isolating those sectors of the plant acting on some areas dedicated to the management of emergency situations. Synoptically, there will be an extensive analysis related to the different surface types present on board and possible design interventions (i.e. smart materials). The Diamond Princess experience represents the prime mover aimed at the world of scientific research at the formulation of design guidelines applicable to the world of cruise ships and, consequently, in the civil architecture field. The outcome results have helped to build a transversal, holistic know-how, thanks to which it will be possible to control the occurrence of future pandemic episodes. © 2022 The authors and IOS Press. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
In this chapter, first, it is found that with the rapid increase in COVID-19 during the wave-1 and wave-2 of the pandemic in India, the overall mobility for various purposes as well as using various modes had decreased, while with decrease in COVID-19, the overall mobility had registered rapid increase. Second, an analysis of the perceptions of public transport commuters with respect to quality of service pre and post COVID-19 highlighted the declining popularity of public transport amongst the commuters post COVID-19. Third, the mode choices of the commuters during COVID-19 and prior to it in some of the Indian cities were investigated. Fourth, various existing contactless technologies were studied considering their inherent advantages and disadvantages and how to overcome those demerits. In summary, the readers are presented with a comprehensive overview of the issues as well as the possible solution towards handling public transportation in urban India post COVID-19.
ABSTRACT
Purpose>While there is an abundant amount of literature studies on mobile payment adoption, there is a scarce of knowledge concerning the sustainable use of mobile payment contactless technologies. As those technologies are mainly concerned with security and users' trust, the question of how security factors and trust can influence the sustainable use of those technologies within and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic is still unanswered. This research thus develops a theoretical model based on integrating the protection motivation theory (PMT) and the expectation-confirmation model (ECM), extended with perceived trust (PT) to explore the sustainable use of mobile payment contactless technologies.Design/methodology/approach>The developed model is evaluated based on data collected through a web-based survey from 523 users who used contactless payment technologies. Unlike the existing literature, the collected data were analyzed using a hybrid structural equation modeling-artificial neural network (SEM-ANN) technique.Findings>The data analysis results reinforced all the proposed relationships in the developed model. The sensitivity analysis results showed that PT has the largest impact on the sustainable use of mobile payment contactless technologies with 97.2% normalized importance, followed by self-efficacy (SE) (77%), satisfaction (72.1%), perceived vulnerability (PV) (48.9%), perceived usefulness (PU) (48.2%), perceived severity (PS) (40.7%), response efficacy (RE) (28.7%) and response costs (RCs) (24.1%).Originality/value>The originality of this research lies behind the development of an integrated model based on PMT and ECM to understand the sustainable use of mobile payment contactless technologies. The study provides several managerial implications for decision-makers, policy-makers and service providers to ensure the sustainability of those contactless technologies within and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a rapid surge of digitalisation in shopping activities. Although the rising phenomenon of technology-dependent shopping is sensational, the subtle motivations that cause such a phenomenon remain to be explored. Thus, extending the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), this study investigates two distinct motivations (i.e. to respond to health concerns and to express self-identity) that lead to technology-dependency among modern shoppers. A survey instrument is adopted for data collection online targeting adult shoppers in Singapore, and the data (n = 519) are analysed using structural equation modelling. Results reveal that the two motivations mediate the relationship between subjective norm/perceived behavioural control and shoppers’ behavioural intention. The response- and identity-mediated paths lead to differentiated behavioural consequences: the former is associated with only shoppers’ engagement intention with shopping technologies, whereas the latter also instigates the habit of technology-dependent shopping. The findings contribute to the TPB framework by confirming the mediator role of two context-specific motivations. The revealed habit formation process of technology-dependent shopping provides practical implications in managing the retailer-shopper relationship in the pandemic era. © 2022 Elsevier Inc.
ABSTRACT
Purpose While there is an abundant amount of literature studies on mobile payment adoption, there is a scarce of knowledge concerning the sustainable use of mobile payment contactless technologies. As those technologies are mainly concerned with security and users' trust, the question of how security factors and trust can influence the sustainable use of those technologies within and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic is still unanswered. This research thus develops a theoretical model based on integrating the protection motivation theory (PMT) and the expectation-confirmation model (ECM), extended with perceived trust (PT) to explore the sustainable use of mobile payment contactless technologies. Design/methodology/approach The developed model is evaluated based on data collected through a web-based survey from 523 users who used contactless payment technologies. Unlike the existing literature, the collected data were analyzed using a hybrid structural equation modeling-artificial neural network (SEM-ANN) technique. Findings The data analysis results reinforced all the proposed relationships in the developed model. The sensitivity analysis results showed that PT has the largest impact on the sustainable use of mobile payment contactless technologies with 97.2% normalized importance, followed by self-efficacy (SE) (77%), satisfaction (72.1%), perceived vulnerability (PV) (48.9%), perceived usefulness (PU) (48.2%), perceived severity (PS) (40.7%), response efficacy (RE) (28.7%) and response costs (RCs) (24.1%). Originality/value The originality of this research lies behind the development of an integrated model based on PMT and ECM to understand the sustainable use of mobile payment contactless technologies. The study provides several managerial implications for decision-makers, policy-makers and service providers to ensure the sustainability of those contactless technologies within and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.
ABSTRACT
Intelligent systems are enhancing city environments and improving their overall performance in all possible aspects. Innovations in the field of information and communication technologies (ICT) and the proliferation of big data, internet-of-things (IoT), and cloud (BIC) infrastructures revolutionize the existing agile city ecosystems while effectively addressing customers and citizens needs. In this paper, we address the technology-driven applications that are capable of influencing the existing city infrastructures during their transformation towards smart cities with contactless technologies. We present applications, design principles, technology standards, and cost-effective techniques that leverage BIC for contactless applications and discuss user interfaces deployed in smart city environments. We further discuss state-of-the-art sensing methods and smart applications that support cities with smart contactless features. Finally, a case study is reported on how BIC can assist in efficiently handling and managing emergency situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic.