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.

User Perceptions of Privacy and Security on the Web

This paper describes an online survey that was conducted to explore typical Internet users' awareness and knowledge of specific technologies that relate to their security and privacy when using a Web browser to access the Internet. The survey was conducted using an anonymous, online questionnaire. Over a four month period, 237 individuals completed the questionnaire. Respondents were predominately Canadian, with substantial numbers from the United Kingdom and the United States. Important findings include evidence that users have tried to educate themselves regarding their online security and privacy, but with limited success; different interpretations of the term "secure Web site" can lead to very different levels of trust in a site; respondents strongly expressed their skepticism about privacy policies, but nevertheless believe that sites can be trusted to respect their stated policies; and users may confuse browser cookies with other types of data stored locally by browsers, leading to inappropriate conclusions about the risks they present.

Globalisation and security in the Taiwan Straits

Only recently the Sino-Taiwanese issue has again been in the headlines of the international media. On Saturday, 3 August 2002, Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian insisted in a passionate speech that there is 'one country on each side' of the Taiwan Strait. He went even further by calling for new legislation that would allow a referendum to be held on changing the island's current international status, saying that this would be a 'basic human right'. Chen's remarks resulted in a furious response from the mainland. Although the conflict between Beijing and Taipei can be interpreted as a legacy of the Chinese Civil War, the tensions intensified during the 1990s. The following article suggests that the linkages and dynamics between the globalization process and international security are increasingly important for a better understanding of the development of relations at the international level in general and in the China-Taiwan conflict in particular.

Integration and devolvement of human resource practices in Nepal

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the nature of human resource management in publicly listed finance sector companies in Nepal. In particular, it explores the extent to which HR practice is integrated into organisational strategy and devolved to line management. Design/methodology/ approach: A structured interview was conducted with the senior executive responsible for human resource management in 26 commercial banks and insurance companies in Nepal. Findings: The degree of integration of HR practice appears to be increasing within this sector, but this is dependent on the maturity of the organisations. The devolvement of responsibility to line managers is at best partial, and in the case of the insurance companies, it is more out of necessity due to the absence of a strong central HR function. Research limitations/implications: The survey is inevitably based on a small sample; however this represents 90 per cent of the relevant population. The data suggest that Western HR is making inroads into more developed aspects of Nepalese business. Compared with Nepalese business as a whole, the financial sector appears relatively Westernised, although Nepal still lags India in its uptake of HR practices. Practical implications: It appears unlikely from a cultural perspective that the devolvement of responsibility will be achieved as a result of HR strategy. National cultural, political and social factors continue to be highly influential in shaping the Nepalese business environment. Originality/value: Few papers have explored HR practice in Nepal. This paper contributes to the overall assessment of HR uptake globally and highlights emic features impacting on that uptake. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Meta-analytic model comparisons of surface- and deep-level relational diversity effects on social integration and individual effectiveness

While diversity might give an organization a competitive advantage, individuals have a tendency to prefer homogenous group settings. Prior research suggests that group members who are dissimilar (vs. similar) to their peers in terms of a given diversity attribute (e.g. demographics, attitudes, values or traits) feel less attached to their work group, experience less satisfying and more conflicted relationships with their colleagues, and consequently are less effective. However, prior empirical findings tend to be weak and inconsistent, and it remains unclear when, how and to what extent such differences affect group members’ social integration (i.e. attachment with their work group, satisfaction and conflicted relationships with their peers) and effectiveness. To address these issues the current study conducted a meta-analysis and integrated the empirical results of 129 studies. For demographic diversity attributes (such as gender, ethnicity, race, nationality, age, functional background, and tenure) the findings support the idea that demographic dissimilarity undermines individual member performance via lower levels of social integration. These negative effects were more pronounced in pseudo teams – i.e. work groups in which group members pursue individual goals, work on individual tasks, and are rewarded for their individual performance. These negative effects were however non-existent in real teams - i.e. work groups in which groups members pursue group goals, work on interdependent tasks, and are rewarded (at least partially) based on their work group’s performance. In contrast, for underlying psychological diversity attributes (such as attitudes, personality, and values), the relationship between dissimilarity and social integration was more negative in real teams than in pseudo teams, which in return translated into even lower individual performance. At the same time however, differences in underlying psychological attributes had an even stronger positive effect on dissimilar group member’s individual performance, when the negative effects of social integration were controlled for. This implies that managers should implement real work groups to overcome the negative effects of group member’s demographic dissimilarity. To harness the positive effects of group members’ dissimilarity on underlying psychological attributes, they need to make sure that dissimilar group members become socially integrated.

Process integration and improvement using systemic diagrams and a human-centred approach

If product cycle time reduction is the mission, and the multifunctional team is the means of achieving the mission, what then is the modus operandi by which this means is to accomplish its mission? This paper asserts that a preferred modus operandi for the multifunctional team is to adopt a process-oriented view of the manufacturing enterprise, and for this it needs the medium of a process map [16] The substance of this paper is a methodology which enables the creation of such maps Specific examples of process models drawn from the product develop ment life cycle are presented and described in order to support the methodology's integrity and value The specific deliverables we have so far obtained are a methodology for process capture and analysis, a collection of process models spanning the product development cycle, and, an engineering handbook which hosts these models and presents a computer-based means of navigating through these processes in order to allow users a better understanding of the nature of the business, their role in it, and why the job that they do benefits the work of the company We assert that this kind of thinking is the essence of concurrent engineering implementation, and further that the systemigram process models uniquely stim ulate and organise such thinking.

Human-computer interaction and innovation in handheld, mobile and wearable technologies

Handheld and mobile technologies have witnessed significant advances in functionality, leading to their widespread use as both business and social networking tools. Human-Computer Interaction and Innovation in Handheld, Mobile and Wearable Technologies reviews concepts relating to the design, development, evaluation, and application of mobile technologies. Studies on mobile user interfaces, mobile learning, and mobile commerce contribute to the growing body of knowledge on this expanding discipline.

Relational diversity, social integration and individual effectiveness: a social self-regulation perspective

Relational demographers and dissimilarity researchers contend that group members who are dissimilar (vs. similar) to their peers in terms of a given diversity attribute (e.g. demographics, attitudes, values or traits) feel less attached to their work group, experience less satisfying and more conflicted relationships with their colleagues, and consequently are less effective. However, qualitative reviews suggest empirical findings tend to be weak and inconsistent (Chattopadhyay, Tluchowska and George, 2004; Riordan, 2000; Tsui and Gutek, 1999), and that it remains unclear when, how and to what extent such differences (i.e. relational diversity) affect group members social integration (i.e. attachment with their work group, satisfaction and conflicted relationships with their peers) and effectiveness (Riordan, 2000). This absence of meta-analytically derived effect size estimates and the lack of an integrative theoretical framework leave practitioners with inconclusive advice regarding whether the effects elicited by relational diversity are practically relevant, and if so how these should be managed. The current research develops an integrative theoretical framework, which it tests by using meta-analysis techniques and adding two further empirical studies to the literature. The first study reports a meta-analytic integration of the results of 129 tests of the relationship between relational diversity with social integration and individual effectiveness. Using meta-analytic and structural equation modelling techniques, it shows different effects of surface- and deep-level relational diversity on social integration Specifically, low levels of interdependence accentuated the negative effects of surface-level relational diversity on social integration, while high levels of interdependence accentuated the negative effects of deep-level relational diversity on social integration. The second study builds on a social self-regulation framework (Abrams, 1994) and suggests that under high levels of interdependence relational diversity is not one but two things: visibility and separation. Using ethnicity as a prominent example it was proposed that separation has a negative effect on group members effectiveness leading for those high in visibility and low in separation to overall positive additive effects, while to overall negative additive effects for those low in visibility and high in separation. These propositions were sustained in a sample of 621 business students working in 135 ethnically diverse work groups in a business simulation course over a period of 24 weeks. The third study suggests visibility has a positive effect on group members self-monitoring, while separation has a negative effect. The study proposed that high levels of visibility and low levels of separation lead to overall positive additive effects on self-monitoring but overall negative additive effects for those low in visibility and high in separation. Results from four waves of data on 261 business students working in 69 ethnically diverse work groups in a business simulation course held over a period of 24 weeks support these propositions.

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.

A common rule for integration and suppression of luminance contrast across eyes, space, time, and pattern

Visual perception begins by dissecting the retinal image into millions of small patches for local analyses by local receptive fields. However, image structures extend well beyond these receptive fields and so further processes must be involved in sewing the image fragments back together to derive representations of higher order (more global) structures. To investigate the integration process, we also need to understand the opposite process of suppression. To investigate both processes together, we measured triplets of dipper functions for targets and pedestals involving interdigitated stimulus pairs (A, B). Previous work has shown that summation and suppression operate over the full contrast range for the domains of ocularity and space. Here, we extend that work to include orientation and time domains. Temporal stimuli were 15-Hz counter-phase sine-wave gratings, where A and B were the positive and negative phases of the oscillation, respectively. For orientation, we used orthogonally oriented contrast patches (A, B) whose sum was an isotropic difference of Gaussians. Results from all four domains could be understood within a common framework in which summation operates separately within the numerator and denominator of a contrast gain control equation. This simple arrangement of summation and counter-suppression achieves integration of various stimulus attributes without distorting the underlying contrast code.

Deschooling society? A lifelong learning network for sustainable communities, urban regeneration and environmental technologies

The complexity and multifaceted nature of sustainable lifelong learning can be effectively addressed by a broad network of providers working co-operatively and collaboratively. Such a network involving the third, public and private sector bodies must realise the full potential of accredited flexible and blended formal learning, contextual opportunities offered by enablers of informal and non formal learning and the affordances derived from the various loose and open spaces that can make social learning effective. Such a conception informs the new Lifelong Learning Network Consortium on Sustainable Communities, Urban Regeneration and Environmental Technologies established and led by the Lifelong Learning Centre at Aston University. This paper offers a radical, reflective and political evaluation of its first year in development arguing that networked learning of this type could prefigure a new model for lifelong learning and sustainable education that renders the city itself a creative medium for transformative learning and sustainability.

Surface- and deep-level dissimilarity effects on social integration and individual effectiveness related outcomes in work groups:a meta-analytic integration

Prior research linking demographic (e.g., age, ethnicity/race, gender, and tenure) and underlying psychological (e.g., personality, attitudes, and values) dissimilarity variables to individual group member's work-related outcomes produced mixed and contradictory results. To account for these findings, this study develops a contingency framework and tests it using meta-analytic and structural equation modelling techniques. In line with this framework, results showed different effects of surface-level (i.e., demographic) dissimilarity and deep-level (i.e., underlying psychological) dissimilarity on social integration, and ultimately on individual effectiveness related outcomes (i.e., turnover, task, and contextual performance). Specifically, surface-level dissimilarity had a negative effect on social integration under low but not under high team interdependence. In return, social integration fully mediated the negative relationship between surface-level dissimilarity and individual effectiveness related outcomes under low interdependence. In contrast, deep-level dissimilarity had a negative effect on social integration, which was stronger under high and weaker under low team interdependence. Contrary to our predictions, social integration did not mediate the negative relationship between deep-level dissimilarity and individual effectiveness related outcomes but suppressed positive direct effects of deep-level dissimilarity on individual effectiveness related outcomes. Possible explanations for these counterintuitive findings are discussed. © 2011 The British Psychological Society.

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.