eHealth as a challenge to `expert' power: a focus group study of internet use for health information and management

Objective To investigate current use of the internet and eHealth amongst adults. Design Focus groups were conducted to explore participants' attitudes to and reasons for health internet use. Main outcome measures The focus group data were analysed and interpreted using thematic analysis. Results Three superordinate themes exploring eHealth behaviours were identified: decline in expert authority, pervasiveness of health information on the internet and empowerment. Results showed participants enjoyed the immediate benefits of eHealth information and felt empowered by increased knowledge, but they would be reluctant to lose face-to-face consultations with their GP. Conclusions Our findings illustrate changes in patient identity and a decline in expert authority with ramifications for the practitioner–patient relationship and subsequent implications for health management more generally.

Leadership in high-value services for manufacturers:information and communication technologies and the delivery of advanced services

Services-led competitive strategies are critically important to western manufacturers. This paper contributes to our foundational knowledge of such strategies by examining the enabling information and communication technologies that successfully servitized manufacturers appear to be adopting. Although these are preliminary findings from a longer-term research programme, through this article we seek to offer immediate assistance to manufacturers who wish to understand how they might exploit the servitization movement.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) international spillovers

As information and communications technology (ICT) involves both traditional capital and knowledge capital, potential spillovers through various mechanisms can occur. Having tried to confirm the existence of ICT spillovers across country borders as Park et al. (Inf. Syst. Res., vol. 18, pp. 86-102, 2007), we investigate the patterns and mechanisms of international ICT spillovers. We use panel data on 37 countries from 1996 to 2004. We find that developing countries could reap more benefits from ICT spillovers than developed countries. We also find that the higher the Internet penetration rate in recipient countries, the more international ICT spillovers there might exist. Our findings are important for policy decisions regarding national trade liberalization and economic integration. Developing economies that are more open to foreign trade may have an economic advantage and may develop knowledge-intensive activities, which will lead to economic development in the long run.

Access to medical information and the role of english language in an Algerian selected community : media and modes of exchange among the paediatricians

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Examining the information and communication technologies enabling servitized manufacture

Services-led competitive strategies are critically important to Western manufacturers. This paper contributes to our basic knowledge of such strategies by examining the enabling information and communication technologies that successfully servitized manufacturers appear to be adopting. Although these are preliminary findings from a longer-term research programme, through this paper we seek to offer immediate assistance to manufacturers who wish to understand how they might exploit the servitization movement.

ICT and internet use at the household levels:a melting pot of sub-optimum decision making in the case of E-Grocery shopping

Research shows that consumers are readily embracing the Internet to buy products. This paper proposes that, in the case of grocery shopping, this may lead to sub-optimal decisions at the household level. Decisions online on what, where and from who to buy are normally taken by one individual. In the case of grocery shopping, decisions, however, need to be ‘vetted’ by ‘other’ individuals within the household. The ‘household wide related’ decisions influence how information technologies and systems for commerce should be designed and managed for optimum decision making. This paper argues, unlike previous research, that e-grocery retailing is failing to grow to its full potential not solely because of the ‘classical’ hazards and perceived risks associated with doing grocery shopping online but because e-grocery retailing strategy has failed to acknowledge the micro-household level specificities that affect decision making. Our exploratory research is based on empirical evidence which were collected through telephone interviews. We offer an insight into how e-grocery ‘fits’ and is ‘disrupted’ by the reality of day to day consumption decision making at the household level. Our main finding is to advocate a more role-neutral, multi-user and multi-technology approach to e-grocery shopping which re-defines the concept of the main shopper/decision maker thereby reconceptualising the ‘shopping logic’ for grocery products.

Community accessibility of health information and the consequent impact for translation into community languages

This paper reports on a research project that investigated the accessibility of health information and the consequent impact for translation into community languages. This is a critical aspect of the mediation of intercultural and interlingual communication in the domain of public health information and yet very little research has been undertaken to address such issues. The project was carried out in collaboration with the New South Wales Multicultural Health Communication Service (MHCS), which provides advice and services to state-based health professionals aiming to communicate with non-English speaking communities. The research employed a mixed-method and action research based approach involving two phases. The primary focus of this paper is to discuss major quantitative findings from the first pilot phase, which indicated that there is much room to improve the way in which health information is written in English for effective community-wide communication within a multilingual society.

The role of information and communication technology in small Italian logistics enterprises

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is widely regarded as a key integration enabler in contemporary supply chain configurations. Furthermore, recent years have seen the vertical disintegration of supply chains as increasing numbers of manufacturers and retailers outsource significant parts of their supply chain functionality. In this environment, Third Party Logistics (3PL) providers - the majority of which are small companies - play a pivotal role. This raises important questions about the usage of ICT in this sector. However, there is a paucity of research in the field of small 3PLs with little empirical investigation into the usage of ICT by such firms. This paper presents the results of a survey on ICT systems usage in a sample of small Italian 3PLs. The results provide a technological profile of the surveyed companies, as well as an analysis of the role of ICT in customising services and of the factors influencing technology adoption.

Purchasing green transport and logistics services:implications from the environmental sustainability attitude of 3PLs

Environmental sustainability is an area of increasing importance for third party logistics (3PL) companies. As the design and implementation of services requires interaction between buyer and 3PL, the 3PLs are in a critical position to support the efforts towards greening operations of different supply chain participants. However the literature in this field reflects a gap between the perspectives of buyers and 3PLs. This chapter attempts to fill this void through an explorative case study analysis on the environmental attitude of 3PLs in order to derive implications for buyers’ behavior. The results indicate that the buyer’s role is critical in different ways in the development of green initiatives among 3PLs. An increased orientation towards longer-term contracts and joint development would likely enhance the level of green initiatives. Indirectly, the buyer has the opportunity to influence its 3PLs through interaction with employees on different levels in the company, including top management.

The causal relationship between information and communication technology and foreign direct investment

This paper investigates the simultaneous causal relationship between investments in information and communication technology (ICT) and flows of foreign direct investment (FDI), with reference to its implications on economic growth. For the empirical analysis we use data from 23 major countries with heterogeneous economic development for the period 1976-99. Our causality test results suggest that there is a causal relationship from ICT to FDI in developed countries, which means that a higher level of ICT investment leads to an increase inflow of FDI. ICT may contribute to economic growth indirectly by attracting more FDI. Contrarily, we could not find significant causality from ICT to FDI in developing countries. Instead, we have partial evidence of opposite causality relationship: the inflow of FDI causes further increases in ICT investment and production capacity. © United Nations University 2006.

Market-level information and the diffusion of competing technologies:an exploratory analysis of the LAN industry

Market-level information diffused by print media may contribute to the legitimation of an emerging technology and thus influence the diffusion of competing technological standards. After analyzing more than 10,000 trade media abstracts from the Local Area Networks (LAN) industry published between 1981 and 2000, we found the presence of differential effects on the adoption of competing standards by two market-level information types: technology and product availability. The significance of these effects depends on the technology's order of entry and suggests that high-tech product managers should make strategic use of market-level information by appropriately focusing the content of their communications. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Externality effects of information and communication technologies across country Borders

As information and communications technology (ICT) involves both traditional capital and knowledge capital, potential spillovers through various mechanisms can occur. We posit that ICT capital may boost productivity growth, not only in the home country, but also in other countries. In this paper, we provide empirical evidence of such spillovers using panel data on 37 countries from 1996 to 2004. Our results support the existence of ICT spillovers across country borders. Furthermore, we find that developing countries could reap more benefits from ICT spillovers than developed countries. This is particularly important for policy decisions regarding national trade liberalization and economic integration. Developing economies that are more open to foreign trade may have an economic advantage and may develop knowledge-intensive activities, which will lead to economic development in the long run.

Information and communication technology (ICT) and human development

Using panel data for 41 developed and developing countries over the period 1998-2004, this paper examines the links between ICT diffusion and human development. We conducted a panel regression analysis of the investments in healthcare, education and information and communication technology (ICT) against human development index (HDI). The results show that these variables can be used to predict HDI scores. In agreement with findings of previous research, it is clear from our analysis that the central focus on ICT as a solution for development will not bring the results that the promoters of ICT as an ‘engine of growth’ are expecting. It is unwise to disaggregate the issues of education and healthcare infrastructure from ICT infrastructure development. ICT policies should be integrated with other national policies in order to find a holistic and structural solution to development.

The impact of information and communication technology (ICT), education and regulation on economic freedom in Islamic Middle Eastern countries

Our study investigated the impact of ICT expansion on economic freedom in the Middle East (Bahrain, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen). Our empirical analysis used archival data from 1995 to 2005; it showed that ICT expansion in the Middle East has been effective both in bridging the digital divide and also in promoting economic freedom in a region that was vulnerable to political, social, and global conflict. However, differences between countries, such as the educational attainment of their citizens and institutional resistance to technology acceptance, both enhanced and restricted the relationship between ICT and economic freedom.