Determining the drivers of m-banking adoption: A cross cultural study

This study empirically examines the motivators that influence a consumer’s intentions to use mobile banking. A web-based survey was employed to collect data from 348 respondents, split across Thailand and Australia. Data were analysed by employing exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, path and invariance analyses. The findings indicate that for Australian consumers, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and perceived risk were the primary determinants of mobile banking adoption. For Thai consumers, the main factors were perceived usefulness, perceived risk and social influence. National culture was found to impact key antecedents that lead to adoption of m-banking. Interestingly, the actual variance explained by this study’s model was higher in Australia than for Thailand, suggesting future research of m-banking adoption in emerging Asian cultures. The findings of this research give banking organisations a foundational model that can be used to support m-banking implementation. This study is perhaps the first to examine and compare the intention to adopt m-banking across Thai and Australian consumers, and responds to calls for additional research that generalises m-banking and m-services acceptance across cultures. This study has proposed and validated additional constructs that are not present in the original SST Intention to Use model.

Mobile Romberg test assessment (mRomberg)

Background The diagnosis of frailty is based on physical impairments and clinicians have indicated that early detection is one of the most effective methods for reducing the severity of physical frailty. Maybe, an alternative to the classical diagnosis could be the instrumentalization of classical functional testing, as Romberg test or Timed Get Up and Go Test. The aim of this study was (I) to measure and describe the magnitude of accelerometry values in the Romberg test in two groups of frail and non-frail elderly people through instrumentation with the iPhone 4®, (II) to analyse the performances and differences between the study groups, and (III) to analyse the performances and differences within study groups to characterise accelerometer responses to increasingly difficult challenges to balance. Methods This is a cross-sectional study of 18 subjects over 70 years old, 9 frail subjects and 9 non-frail subjects. The non-parametric Mann–Whitney U test was used for between-group comparisons in means values derived from different tasks. The Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test was used to analyse differences between different variants of the test in both independent study groups. Results The highest difference between groups was found in the accelerometer values with eyes closed and feet parallel: maximum peak acceleration in the lateral axis (p < 0.01), minimum peak acceleration in the lateral axis (p < 0.01) and minimum peak acceleration from the resultant vector (p < 0.01). Subjects with eyes open and feet parallel, greatest differences found between the groups were in the maximum peak acceleration in the lateral axis (p < 0.01), minimum peak acceleration in the lateral axis (p < 0.01) and minimum peak acceleration from the resultant vector (p < 0.001). With eyes closed and feet in tandem, the greatest differences found between the groups were in the minimum peak acceleration in the lateral axis (p < 0.01). Conclusions The accelerometer fitted in the iPhone 4® is able to study and analyse the kinematics of the Romberg test between frail and non-frail elderly people. In addition, the results indicate that the accelerometry values also were significantly different between the frail and non-frail groups, and that values from the accelerometer accelerometer increased as the test was made more complicated.

Linking client and employee perceptions of the organization: A study of client satisfaction with health care services

Client satisfaction with health care services has usually been researched in terms of socio-demographic and predispositional characteristics associated with the client. The present study included organizational characteristics as predictors of client satisfaction with health care services. Participants in the research were clients and employees of an Australian public-sector health care organization who responded to separate client and employee questionnaires. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that, after controlling for a number of client characteristics, organizational characteristics, as perceived by employees, accounted for a significant proportion of additional variance in client satisfaction with health care services. Results of the present study provided some support for the proposition that employee perceptions of the working environment should be considered in a more comprehensive understanding of client satisfaction with health care services. Limitations of the study highlight practical difficulties in the assessment of client outcomes and methodological complexities in linking individual and organizational processes.

Contributing to computing services to benchmarking asset management knowledge management

Asset management has broadened from a focus on maintenance management to whole of life cycle asset management requiring a suite of new competencies from asset procurement to management and disposal. Well developed skills and competencies as well as practical experience are a prerequisite to maintain capability, to manage demand as well to plan and set priorities and ensure on-going asset sustainability. This paper has as its focus to establish critical understandings of data, information and knowledge for asset management along with the way in which benchmarking these attributes through computer-aided design may aid a strategic approach to asset management. The paper provides suggestions to improve sharing, integration and creation of asset-related knowledge through the application of codification and personalization approaches.

Market structure of international construction professional services: Evidences from top design firms

Construction professional service (CPS) in the international arena has been very competitive despite that the industry is proliferating at a high rate. To excel in international business, CPS firms have the importance of building overseas competition strategies on a proper understanding of the international CPS (I-CPS) market. However, subject to borderless trade, information technology–based networking, global outsourcing, and changing forms of procurement, the I-CPS market structure has become more covert, intricate, and unstraightforward than before. Through examining business competition among top international design firms, this study aims to identify the attributes of the I-CPS market structure from two perspectives—concentration and turnover. Data from Engineering News-Record over the period 2001–2011 were collected to calculate market concentration ratios and turnover indices. The results show that I-CPS competition is characterized by atomism, much turbulence with a steady increase in competition intensity, and the predominant role of new entrants and exiting firms in market turnovers. The combination of concentration and turnover is found useful to address the attributes of the I-CPS market structure, which favors I-CPS firms to formulate international competition strategies in due ways.

Females as mobile resources: communal roosts promote the adoption of lek breeding in a temperate bat

Males of lek-breeding species defend clustered territories from which they display to visiting females. However, the mechanisms leading to the adoption of clustered male display sites are often unknown. In this study, we examined the possibility of a resource-based lek in New Zealand’s lesser short-tailed bat (Mystacina tuberculata) (Mammalia: Chiroptera), by assessing the placement of “singing roosts” used by males in relation to communal roosting sites used by females. The “resource-based lek” model posits that males settle near resources required by females to increase female encounter rates. For most bat species, where females are highly mobile and widely dispersed across landscapes while foraging, communal daytime roosts dominated by females may represent such a resource. Through use of video footage, spatial analyses of singing-roost locations, and passive-integrated transponder tags we confirmed that M. tuberculata employs a lek mating system. We found that male singing roosts were significantly clustered in space, were defended by resident individuals, and were visited by females (who did not receive resources from males) for mating purposes. Transponder records also indicated that some singing roosts were shared between multiple males. Spatial logistic regression indicated that singing-roost locations were associated with communal roosting sites. Communal roosts are selected based on criteria independent of the locations of singing roosts, suggesting that males responded to the location of communal roosts and not the reverse. Mystacina tuberculata thus provides evidence of a resource-based lek, and is only the second bat species worldwide confirmed to use a lek-mating system.

The role of context and motivation variables in mobile commerce usage: A further perspective on Chong (2013)

We comment on a recent article by Chong (2013) on the roles of demographic and motivation variables in mobile commerce usage. Drawing on the recent research on the service-dominant logic, socioemotional selectivity theory, and data from a first empirical study, we argue that a broader discussion on the value relevance of mobile commerce activities for customers and the consideration of consumers' future time perspectives would provide a richer, potentially more appropriate picture of the drivers of mobile commerce usage. Furthermore, using data from a second empirical study, we highlight several validity issues of the used scales. We hope to motivate a replication and extension of Chong's study and also provide recommendations for future research on this area.

Global business services: Increasing specialization and integration of the world economy as drivers of economic growth

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the contribution of global business services to improved productivity and economic growth of the world economy, which has gone largely unnoticed in service research. Design/methodology/approach The authors draw on macroeconomic data and industry reports, and link them to the non-ownership-concept in service research and theories of the firm. Findings Business services explain a large share of the growth of the global service economy. The fast growth of business services coincides with shifts from domestic production towards global outsourcing of services. A new wave of global business services are traded across borders and have emerged as important drivers of growth in the world’s service sector. Research limitations/implications This paper advances the understanding of non-ownership services in an increasingly global and specialized post-industrial economy. The paper makes a conceptual contribution supported by descriptive data, but without empirical testing. Originality/value The authors integrate the non-ownership concept and three related economic theories of the firm to explain the role of global business services in driving business performance and the international transformation of service economies.

Perceived quality of e‐health services: A conceptual scale development of e‐health service quality based on the C‐OAR‐SE approach

Purpose Health service quality is an important determinant for health service satisfaction and behavioral intentions. The purpose of this paper is to investigate requirements of e‐health services and to develop a measurement model to analyze the construct of “perceived e‐health service quality.” Design/methodology/approach The paper adapts the C‐OAR‐SE procedure for scale development by Rossiter. The focal aspect is the “physician‐patient relationship” which forms the core dyad in the healthcare service provision. Several in‐depth interviews were conducted in Switzerland; first with six patients (as raters), followed by two experts of the healthcare system (as judges). Based on the results and an extensive literature research, the classification of object and attributes is developed for this model. Findings The construct e‐health service quality can be described as an abstract formative object and is operationalized with 13 items: accessibility, competence, information, usability/user friendliness, security, system integration, trust, individualization, empathy, ethical conduct, degree of performance, reliability, and ability to respond. Research limitations/implications Limitations include the number of interviews with patients and experts as well as critical issues associated with C‐OAR‐SE. More empirical research is needed to confirm the quality indicators of e‐health services. Practical implications Health care providers can utilize the results for the evaluation of their service quality. Practitioners can use the hierarchical structure to measure service quality at different levels. The model provides a diagnostic tool to identify poor and/or excellent performance with regard to the e‐service delivery. Originality/value The paper contributes to knowledge with regard to the measurement of e‐health quality and improves the understanding of how customers evaluate the quality of e‐health services.

Defective co-creation: Developing a typology of consumer dysfunction in professional services

Purpose This study aims to explore the scope of consumers’ defective co-creation behaviour in professional service encounters. One of the founding premises of service-dominant logic (Vargo and Lusch, 2004, 2008) is that consumers co-create the value they derive from service encounters. In practice, however, dysfunctional consumer behaviour can obstruct value co-creation. Extant research has not yet investigated consumers’ defective co-creation behaviour in highly relational services, such as professional services, that are heavily reliant on co-creation. Design/methodology/approach To investigate defective co-creation in professional services, 164 critical incidents were collected from 38 health-care and financial service providers using the critical incident technique within semi-structured, in-depth interviews. Thematic coding was used to identify emergent themes and patterns of consumer behaviour. Findings Thematic coding resulted in a comprehensive typology of consumers’ defective co-creation behaviour that both confirms the prevalence of previously identified dysfunctional behaviours (e.g. verbal abuse and physical aggression) and identifies two new forms of consumer misbehaviour: underparticipation and overparticipation. Further, these behaviours can vary, escalate and co-occur during service encounters. Originality/value Both underparticipation and overparticipation are newly identified forms of defective co-creation that need to be examined within the broader framework of service-dominant logic (SDL).

If you don’t know, you can’t help: A practical guide for alcohol and other drug screening in psychological services

Alcohol is implicated in over 60 diseases and injuries and accounted for 6.2 per cent of all male deaths globally in 2004 (WHO, 2011). Alcohol and other drug (AOD) abuse causes significant individual, family and social harms at all age levels and across all socioeconomic groups. These may result from intoxication (e.g., overdose, vulnerability to physical injury/trauma or death, consequences of impulsive behaviour, aggression and driving under the influence) and longer-term consequences (e.g., alcohol or drug-related brain injury, cardiovascular and liver diseases, blood borne viruses e.g., Chikritzhs et al., 2003, Roxburgh et al., 2013). Mental health problems may be triggered or exacerbated, and family breakdown, poor self-esteem, legal issues and lack of community engagement may also be evident. Despite the prevalence of substance use disorders and evident consequences for the individual, family and wider community, it would seem that health professionals, including psychologists, are reluctant to ask about substance use.

Evaluation of a mobile phone image-based dietary assessment method in adults with type 2 diabetes

Photographic and image-based dietary records have limited evidence evaluating their performance and use among adults with a chronic disease. This study evaluated the performance of a mobile phone image-based dietary record, the Nutricam Dietary Assessment Method (NuDAM), in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Criterion validity was determined by comparing energy intake (EI) with total energy expenditure (TEE) measured by the doubly-labelled water technique. Relative validity was established by comparison to a weighed food record (WFR). Inter-rater reliability was assessed by comparing estimates of intake from three dietitians. Ten adults (6 males, age=61.2±6.9 years, BMI=31.0±4.5 kg/m2) participated. Compared to TEE, mean EI was under-reported using both methods, with a mean ratio of EI:TEE 0.76±0.20 for the NuDAM and 0.76±0.17 for the WFR. There was moderate to high correlations between the NuDAM and WFR for energy (r=0.57), carbohydrate (r=0.63, p<0.05), protein (r=0.78, p<0.01) and alcohol (rs=0.85, p<0.01), with a weaker relationship for fat (r=0.24). Agreement between dietitians for nutrient intake for the 3-day NuDAM (ICC = 0.77-0.99) was marginally lower when compared with the 3-day WFR (ICC=0.82-0.99). All subjects preferred using the NuDAM and were willing to use it again for longer recording periods.

Community Controlled Health Services: What They Are and How They Work

This chapter provides an overview of the role of community controlled health services and health sector and the role of the nurse.

Regulating unilateral supermarket misconduct as customer/acquirer of goods and services

Supermarkets in Australia may have substantial market power as buyers in wholesale markets for grocery products. They may also have substantial bargaining power in negotiating contracts with their suppliers of grocery products. The Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) (CCA) regulates misconduct by supermarkets as customer/acquirers in three ways. First, s 46(1) of the CCA prohibits the ‘taking advantage’ of buyer power for the purpose of damaging a competitor, preventing entry or deterring or preventing competitive conduct. Secondly, s 21 of the ACL prohibits unconscionable conduct in business–to–business transactions. Thirdly, Pt IVB of the CCA provides for the promulgation of mandatory and voluntary industry codes of conduct. Since 1 July 2015 the conduct of supermarkets as customer/acquirers has been regulated by the Food and Grocery Industry Code of Conduct. This article examines these three different approaches. It considers them against the background of the misconduct at issue in ACCC v Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty Ltd which the ACCC chose to litigate as an unconscionable conduct case, rather than a misuse of market power case. The article also considers the strengths and weaknesses of each of the three approaches and concludes that while the three approaches address different problems there is scope for overlap and all three should be retained for compete coverage.

Using mobile technology to motivate adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus: A systematic review of recent literature

Introduction Behavioural interventions have been shown to improve outcomes in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). There are a small number of studies that suggest text-messages (TM), native mobile applications (NMAs), and other mobile tools may be useful platforms for delivering behavioural interventions to adolescents. Aim The aim of this study was to explore, by way of a systematic review of available literature, (a) the outcomes of interventions using mobile technology for youth with T1DM and (b) what mobile technologies, functional design elements and aesthetic design elements have the best evidence to support their use. Methods A search of six online databases returned 196 unique results, of which 13 met the inclusion criteria. Results Four studies were randomised controlled trials (RCTs), and all others prospective cohort studies. TM (10) was the most common intervention technology, while NMAs were used in four studies. The most common outcome measured was HbA1c (9); however, only three studies showed a significant decrease. Similarly, the results reported for other outcome measures were mixed. The studies included in this review suggest that interventions which have data collection and clinician support functionality may be more effective in improving adherence and glycaemic control, but more evidence is needed. Further, the evidence base supporting the use of NMAs in T1DM management for adolescents is weak, with most studies adopting TM as the intervention tool. Overall, the studies lack adequate descriptions of their methodology, and better quality studies are required to inform future intervention design.