Citizen empowerment through smart surveillance: evidence from Indian smart cities

PurposeCitizens often perceive surveillance by government authorities as oppressive and, hence, demonstrate reluctance in value co-creation from such services. This study aims to investigate the challenges and benefits of citizen empowerment through technology-driven surveillance or "smart surveillance.”Design/methodology/approachGuided by Dynamic Capability theory, the authors conduct in-depth interviews with officers in-charge of surveillance in smart cities. Given the contemporary advancements, this approach allows a retrospective and real-time understanding of interviewees' experiences with smart surveillance.FindingsThe authors develop five propositions for citizen empowerment through smart surveillance to summarize the findings of this study.Research limitations/implicationsThis study advances the relevance of Dynamic Capability in public administration.Practical implicationsSmart city authorities and policymakers may leverage the insights provided in this study to design appropriate policies for smart surveillance.Originality/valueThe authors find that factors such as digital technology and infrastructure, information management, skill divide and perceived return on investment may influence citizen empowerment through smart surveillance.

Barriers towards the continued usage of massive open online courses: A case study in India

The COVID-19 pandemic has escalated the digitization of learning processes with the help of massive open online courses (MOOCs). However, many candidates drop out of MOOCs. Hence, this study aims to identify factors inducing resistance towards the continued usage of MOOCs. The aim is met with a case study in a prominent business school in India following a multimethod approach that involves a qualitative inquiry and an empirical survey. The factors identified following a grounded theory approach from the qualitative inquiry are classified into four groups that represent usage, value, tradition, and image barriers. The empirical survey validated the findings from the qualitative inquiry by confirming that all four barriers are significantly associated with resistance towards the continued usage of MOOCs. The present case study may deliver value to educators offering online courses and managers of MOOCs.

BARRIERS TOWARDS THE ADOPTION OF DIGITAL LEARNING PLATFORMS

MOOCs give individuals opportunities to learn from experts who are vastly acclaimed and highly regarded in their respective fields (Markovic et al., 2012). [...]the introduction of virtual environments into higher education may bring a positive change in the learning experience (Liarokapis et al., 2011). [...]MOOCs do not provide adequate attention to make components of effective learning available to students, motivate them with institutional support, and promote the development of interpersonal relationships (Clow, 2013;Lushnikova et al., 2012;Willging & Johnson, 2016). [...]through understanding of the barriers affecting the adoption of MOOCs may be a valuable addition to the extant literature (Salamzadeh, 2020). [...]we find that the factors may be largely assigned to four groups, as reported in Table 1. [...]the inputs from FGD confirms the validity of the findings from the meta-ethnographic study.