233 research outputs found
User’s Technology Acceptance Model to Promote Trust Towards Mobile Commerce in Qatar
No full textIn the present fast-moving generation, the world of technology along with the support of the Internet has splendidly enhanced our daily lives. For instance, today everything is accessible on our fingertips, there is no need to even step out of our houses as our favorite products can be available in front of us and this is being possible only because of the electronic and mobile commerce technologies. The shift from in-store shopping to online shopping might have taken hundreds of years; yet, the partial conversion from web world (E-commerce), which means conducting business transactions on the Internet using computers or laptops to mobile world (M-commerce) that refers to conducting the same transactions but with the use of mobile devices has simply happened within just a decade or two (Bhragava, 2017).
In Qatar, the average annual consumer expenditure is impressive. Surprisingly, only a small portion of the Qatari population has demonstrated an interest in online shopping via mobile devices due to a lack of trust. Therefore, in a multicultural nation such as Qatar, it is vital to explore the factors that can promote consumer trust in mobile commerce.
The objective of this study is to present and validate a conceptual framework for trust based on the original technology acceptance model. The proposed model is classified into three logical sets: (1) motivation factors, which are comprised of three independent elements: localization, social media, and luxury brands. (2) User cognitive response that consists of three factors: perceived usability that combines both perceived ease of use and usefulness; perceived privacy; and perceived security. (3) The affective response that is mobile commerce trust the primary target of this exploratory study.
An online survey was conducted amongst online users residing in Qatar to gather data and the proposed trust model was empirically validated using Structural Equation Modeling with Partial Least Squares (PLS-SEM) approach.
Our findings reveal that perceived security has the strongest positive direct relationship with trust formation, followed by social media influencers, whereas localization, luxury brands, perceived usability, and privacy indirectly influence trust through perceived security. Multi-group analyses recommend that consumers identified by different nationalities, gender, and ages have slightly diverse mobile commerce trust behaviors.
Finally, this research contributes towards better consumers trust on mobile commerce in Qatari community and the findings offer a number of theoretical implications for scholars as well as valuable strategies for practitioners
FACTOR ANALYSIS AND REGRESSION MODELLING OF E-COMMERCE EXPERIENCE FROM ORDER TO DELIVERY IN QATAR
No full textThe use of e- Commerce platforms has emerged as a key stimulant for purchase of goods and acquisition of services in the recent years around the globe. The main purpose of this study is to understand the critical dimensions of service quality in online setting which can have a reasonable impact on overall satisfaction or experience among consumers in Qatar. This study empirically examines the role of service qualities in overall satisfaction and the impact of gender, culture towards the dimensions of service quality. Using the survey data, from online customers this study explores the factors affecting service quality are interface quality, support service quality, product quality and logistics quality. The factors recognized from literature review has been rechecked for internal reliability and structure using exploratory factor analysis. Then the research furthermore investigates the effect of these service quality factors on overall satisfaction using ordinal logistic regression. Results indicate that all these factors are crucial for overall experience in e-Commerce industry and except some measures such as navigation, aesthetics and product packaging are not supporting the factors to attain overall satisfaction. Future research shall be focused to verify the local websites in the GCC region to improve the measurement model for overall satisfaction
SCENARIO-BASED COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF RISK AND BIAS EFFECTS ON COST ESTIMATION IN CONSTRUCTION CONSULTING
No full textThe aim of this study was to understand cost estimation in the construction industry by service providers such as consultants and construction contractors. The study was focused on determining how industry professionals estimate cost for projects while addressing risks and to understand the impact of subjective bias on the cost estimate. Initial questionnaire results reflected that the number of years of experience in the field plays a role in the accuracy of the cost estimate. Therefore, scenario based interviews were conducted and the data collected was then compared with the actual project data to determine if there is a relationship between experience and accuracy of the cost estimate. Through regression analysis a positive relation was observed concluding an increase in experience resulting in estimation accuracy increase. Additionally, two other scenarios were presented to understand the role of subjective decisions on valuation for expected risks faced during the construction project duration and the contingency planning for any unforeseen risks. Results from ANOVA suggested no statistically significant difference between the percentage cost multipliers for risk from internal delays and client design changes and experience levels. This suggested that other factors influenced the heavily subjective decision of accounting for risks. However, there was a difference found between the contingency allocation by entry level/ juniors and the senior/ experts
Molecular dynamics studies of interactions between Arg9(nona-arginine) and a DOPC/DOPG(4:1) membrane
No full textIt has been known that the uptake mechanisms of cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) depend on the experimental conditions such as the concentration of peptides, lipid composition, and temperature. In this study, we investigate the temperature dependence of the penetration of Arg 9 s into a DOPC/DOPG(4:1) membrane using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations at two different temperatures, T = 310 K and T = 288 K. Although it is difficult to identify the temperature dependence because of having only one single simulation at each temperature and no evidence of translocation of Arg 9 s across the membrane at both temperatures, our simulations suggest that following are strongly correlated with the penetration of Arg 9 s: a number of water molecules coordinated by Arg 9 s and the electrostatic energy between Arg 9 s and the lipid molecules. We also present how Arg 9 s change a bending rigidity of the membrane and how a collective behavior between Arg 9 s enhances the penetration and the membrane bending. Our analyses can be applicable to any CPPs to investigate their interactions with various membranes using MD simulations. © 2020 Author(s).1
Global trends in raw materials consumption
No full textThis paper reviews movements in raw materials consumption over the past 30 years. Included in this review are all base metals and steel, and important agricultural raw materials. These primary commodities share the common characteristic that they are used as inputs in manufacturing and construction. Some metals and minerals, energy commodities, and timber products are not included in this review for various reasons. The period reviewed is from 1961 to 1988. A prominent characteristic of the metals market during the past 15 years has been its very slow growth. In some years consumption of several raw materials has even declined. Explaining the causes of this slowdown, in the face of moderate economic growth, has become a topical issue. The slowdown has important implications for a number of developing countries that rely heavily on exports of these materials. The severity and persistence of post-1973 declines in metals intensity per unit of GNP, prompted the conjecture that it may have been structural. This paper reviews the debate on this issue, including results of statistical tests. It also summarizes the trends in raw materials consumption and reviews the technological developments relating to raw materials consumption.Mining&Extractive Industry (Non-Energy),Montreal Protocol,Sanitation and Sewerage,Primary Metals,Environmental Economics&Policies
Query translation-based cross-language diagnosis for nonnative English users
No full textMany companies have developed websites that their customers can use to diagnose product problems. However, it is often difficult for nonnative English users to read, understand, and follow information written in English. In this study, a query translation-based cross-language diagnosis (Q-CLD) tool for assisting nonnative English users diagnosing print defects was developed and then evaluated. The first step in developing the Q-CLD tool involved collecting print defect descriptions in Korean and English from 40 subjects in five universities in Korea. The remaining 40 subjects were from Purdue University. In the next step, three fuzzy Bayesian models were developed: one was based on English descriptions provided by English speaking subjects (referred to as the native English model); the second used English descriptions provided by Korean subjects (referred to as the nonnative English model); and the third used Korean descriptions provided by Korean subjects (referred to as the Korean model). Performance of the models was then evaluated using five different types of input descriptions: English descriptions given by English subjects (referred to as the native English descriptions); English descriptions given by Korean subjects (referred to as the nonnative English descriptions); Korean descriptions given by Korean subjects; descriptions translated from Korean into English using the Google translator (referred to as the Google translations); and descriptions translated from Korean into English using a keywords matching method developed in this dissertation (referred to as the keywords matching translations). Native English descriptions, Google translations, and keywords matching translations were used as inputs to evaluate the native English model. Korean descriptions were used as inputs to evaluate the Korean model. Nonnative English descriptions were used as inputs to evaluate both the native English model and the nonnative English model. The native English model using the native English descriptions gave the most accurate predictions of the tested models. In this case, the native English model correctly predicted 45% of the print defects with its top prediction, and in 87% of the cases the actual defect was one of the top five predictions. The keywords matching translations were nearly as accurate as the native English descriptions. Using the keywords matching translations, the native English model correctly predicted 37% of the print defects with its top prediction and, in 80% of the cases the actual defect was one of the top five predictions. Both were better than the predictions of the other tested models. The query translation-based Korean-English cross-language diagnosis (Q-KE-CLD) tool used for print quality troubleshooting was then implemented and evaluated through a human factors experiment conducted in four universities in South Korea. The experimental results showed that Korean subjects both generated Korean queries faster (p = 0.008) and identified print defects faster (p = 0.051) when they entered Korean queries. In addition, the subjects rated Korean queries as being easier to generate (p = 0.004). Untrained subjects reported that use of the Korean language made it easier to generate queries and identify print defects. Overall, the Q-KE-CLD tool resulted in quicker identification of print defects at all user levels
Influence of Different Types of Vibrations on Technical Acceptance of a Mobile Game Aiming for Hedonic Satisfaction
No full textA Comparison Study of Trust in M-commerce Between Qatari and Non-qatari Customers
No full textOver the past few years, mobile commerce (M-commerce), which is a new channel for conducting online businesses has revolutionized the global market. In Qatar, due to lack of trust, an only small percentage of Qatari populations has shown an interest in mobile shopping although the average annual individual’s expenditure is impressive. Therefore, it is crucial to investigate antecedents of consumer’ trust in the context of mobile commerce [1]. The objective of this paper is to explore whether trust perceptions towards mobile shopping among diverse segments of consumers living in Qatar vary significantly or not by proposing a conceptual framework for trust based on the Technology Acceptance Model. An online survey was conducted to empirically validate the newly developed trust factors between consumers with different nationalities, genders, and age ranges by performing permutations and partial lease squares multi-group analysis algorithms. Our research findings revealed that nationalities differences related to the factor perceived usability had positive indirect effect on Qataris trust, female consumers’ trust could be enhanced by perceived usability, and young consumers could easily trust mobile commerce via the endorsement of social media influencers. The results also emphasized that perceived security was one of the most significant factors that affect drastically mobile commerce trust between all groups of consumers. We ended our work offering some valuable theoretical implications for scholars and interesting strategies for practitioners to help to create customer’s trust especially during crises, such as COVID-19.Scopu
Communication and Social Network Requirements of Chinese Elderly People for Mobile Services
No full textThe precautionary demand for commodity stocks
No full textThis paper develops a theory of the precautionary demand for commodity stocks. It suggests that commodity stocks are held for precautionary purposes by producers, consumers, and intermediate processors, while speculators hold stocks on the expectation of capital gains from a subsequent price rise. Producer and consumer stocks usually account for the largest share of commercial stocks held at any point in time. For example, at the end of 1990, stocks held by producers and consumers of copper were 72 percent of all commercial stocks of the market economy countries. Yet, the theory explaining the behavior of this class of stocks has not progressed much beyond the concept of convenience yield, first introduced by Kaldor (1939). This paper proposes an alternative theory. Holding of stocks by producers and consumers is viewed as precautionary behavior towards output and price risks. As a theory of behavior towards risks, the precautionary stock demand model encompasses speculative demand by both producers and consumers. Furthermore, both stocks and futures are treated as precautionary instruments, in contrast to the dichotomy that only stocks provide convenience yield while futures are hedging instruments.Access to Markets,Markets and Market Access,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Non Bank Financial Institutions
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