International Journal of Applied Management Sciences and Engineering

Tait E., MacLeod M., Beel D., Wallace C., Mellish C., Taylor S.

Purpose – Community initiatives to collate and manage different kinds of cultural forms and resources are a popular way for local people to engage with the heritage of their area. These initiatives are often heavily dependent, however, upon short-term funding and long-term efforts of a few dedicated individuals. This paper aims to explore how community digital archives offer scope to widen participation in cultural activities and to investigate the sustainability of these initiatives. Design/methodology/approach – A case study approach was taken of Hebridean Connections, which is a community managed, online historical resource. This paper is primarily based on interview data with key stakeholders, all of whom are based in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Findings – Participation in Hebridean Connections was reported in positive terms by respondents and many cited that it was a good way to reconnect with diasporic populations and that they believed that this would encourage tourism. It was also reported tha...

Yu Cheng M., Wah Hen K., Piew Tan H., Fai Fok K.

Purpose – By exploring the patterns of co-authorship, this paper aims to identify the degree and type of research collaboration in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 22,244 publication records from five research universities in Malaysia were retrieved from Scopus database. Journal articles published for the period between 2008 and October 2011 were collected. Indicators such as number of authors, subject areas, number of local institutions and foreign countries, were analysed using simple statistical tools to identity the degree and type of collaboration. Findings – The findings reveal that in Malaysia, researchers tend to work in teams but collaboration is more dominant in science-based research than social sciences. Academics published extensively with their colleagues from the same university or from other academic institutions, but there is little collaboration with researchers from public research institutes or industry. In terms of international collaboration, Iran, India, UK, Japan ...

Yueh H., Chen T., Chen C.

Purpose – This study aimed to examine organizational digitalization of farmers' associations (FAs) by conducting internal and external analyses of the contextual and geo-spatial attributes of the organizations, and further explored the role such associations play as key change agents in activating agricultural innovations and development in Taiwan. Design/methodology/approach – Unlike previous digitalization studies, which employed user data such as attitudes and behaviors as the major determinants, the present study focused on the spatial and organizational characteristics of FAs. An exploratory spatial analysis was conducted using a geographic information system to discover whether the organizational characteristics, local agriculture development, and neighboring FAs affect the organizational decision and adaption on information services. Research data from three national surveys were analyzed with a spatial regression model. Findings – Results showed that geographical neighborhood, in association with ...

Wu K., Vassileva J., Zhu Q., Fang H., Tan X.

Purpose – Wiki forms a new model of virtual collaboration. The original wiki is designed to hide content authorship information. Such design may hinder users from being aware of task conflict, resulting in low-efficient conflict management and decreased group performance. This study aims at increasing users' awareness of task conflict to facilitate wiki-based collaboration. Design/methodology/approach – A visual feedback dialog box is designed to increase users' awareness of task conflict. A survey-based comparative study is conducted by using original wiki and modified wiki (the new design). A total of 301 participants are invited. Structural equation model (SEM) is used to analyze survey data. Findings – Most users are willing to solve conflict issues, and the dialog box can increase users' awareness of task conflict. Conflict awareness can promote user's participation, gain better conflict resolution and improve group performance. The dialog box can enhance the influence of conflict awareness on user p...

Vargas-Quesada B., Mohammad Oglah Al-Dwairi K., Faba-Perez C., de Moya-Anegón F.

Purpose – This article aims to display the structure and reveal the web influence of institutions in the MENA zone, in geographic terms (country) and academic terms (universities), by means of their links. Design/methodology/approach – Using search engines and webcrawlers designed to gather information about web links, in conjunction with visualization techniques and degree indicators based on social network analysis, the authors achieved their objective and found responses to a series of pertinent research questions. Findings – There is no direct relationship between the number of university websites and the number of inlinks. Linking between countries in the MENA zone obeys patterns of vicinity and geopolitics. Arab universities are interlinked following trends governed by territorial proximity. There is a strong endogamic tendency, with universities from a single country citing each other, particularly in the case of Saudi Arabia. The authors present the first ranking of web influence in the MENA zone ...

Chang C., Wu C.

Purpose – The paper aims to clarify the relationship between organizational identification, knowledge sharing and work characteristics. It proposes hierarchical linear modeling analysis of work context and social support climate with regard to organizational identification. The study aims to understand and prescribe the cross-level effects of a supportive climate and the effect of job design on organizational identification and knowledge sharing. Librarians need to share knowledge with their colleagues to provide timely responses for readers. Through a cross-level study, the authors' findings provide insights for both practice and academia. Design/methodology/approach – Analysis approach in this paper consisted of the following steps. First, this study applied confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to assess the validity and reliability of the authors' instrument. Second, this study checked the viability of aggregating the responses of the librarians to library-level constructs. Third, this study adapted hier...

Hesamamiri R., Mahdavi Mazdeh M., Jafari M.

Purpose – As a way of assessing the ability of organizations to discover and manage unexpected failures in organizational capabilities of knowledge management (KM), this study aims to develop a measurement instrument that involves the five reliability dimensions of preoccupation with failure, reluctance to simplify interpretations, sensitivity to operations, commitment to resilience, and deference to expertise. Design/methodology/approach – To generate measurement items, previous research related to organizational reliability, high reliability theory, mindfulness, and required organizational capabilities of KM was reviewed. The measurement instrument was then verified in terms of reliability and validity, empirically using data from 240 companies in North America. Internal consistency of measurements, measurement item reliability, and construct reliability were examined to ensure the reliability of the instrument. Based on confirmatory factor analysis using structural equation modelling, construct validit...

Harvey Chaputula A., Patrick Majawa F.

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate the use of social networking sites (SNSs) by mass media organisations in Malawi. Design/methodology/approach – The research was a survey that was carried out amongst mass media organisations in Malawi. It mainly employed quantitative methods. Data were collected through a combination of mailed and self-administered questionnaires. Findings – The research established that SNSs were popularly used by mass media organisations in Malawi such that 20 (87 per cent) of the mass media organisations had SNS pages. Facebook was the most commonly used SNS although Twitter was also used. Mass media organisations benefited from using SNSs through increased listenership/readership, and soliciting of feedback which helped improve service offering. However, few mass media organisations registered increased business activity through the use of SNSs. Challenges associated with using SNSs were limited ICT penetration in Malawi, distraction of employees' attention at work...

Bergman O.

Purpose – Personal information management (PIM) is an activity in which an individual stores personal information items in order to retrieve them later on. As PIM research moves from an infant stage of exploratory studies to more rigorous quantitative ones, there is a need to identify and map variables that characterize and account for the variety of PIM behaviour. This is the aim of the current research. Design/methodology/approach – In an exploratory study, 20 semi-structured 90-minute interviews were recorded and transcribed. Variables were found by comparing the behaviors of participants who represent the two extreme poles of each variable's axis (i.e. when two participants showed a high and low degree of document redundancy, the redundancy variable was identified). In a later analysis, the variables were grouped into categories. Findings – The paper identifies 15 variables grouped in five categories: organization related variables (order, redundancy and name meaning), structure variables (collection ...

Borrego Á., Garcia F.

Purpose – This study seeks to analyse the policies of library and information science (LIS) journals regarding the publication of supplementary materials, the number of journals and articles that include this feature, the kind of supplementary materials published with regard to their function in the article, the formats employed and the access provided to readers. Design/methodology/approach – The study analysed the instructions for authors of LIS journals indexed in the ISI Journal Citation Reports, as well as the supplementary materials attached to the articles published in their 2011 online volumes. Findings – Large publishers are more likely to have a policy regarding the publication of supplementary materials, and policies are usually homogeneous across all the journals of a given publisher. Most policies state the acceptance of supplementary materials, and even journals without a policy also publish supplementary materials. The majority of supplementary materials provided in LIS articles are extende...

Baxter G., Marcella R., Chapman D., Fraser A.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report the results of a study of voters' online behaviour conducted during the 2011 Scottish parliamentary election campaign. Design/methodology/approach – The study used an interactive, electronically-assisted interview method, where 64 citizens were observed and questioned while they searched for, browsed and used information on the web sites and social media sites of political parties and candidates standing for election to the Scottish Parliament. Findings – While online campaign sites were generally regarded as serving a useful purpose, as being easy to use and understand, relatively interesting and likely to be visited again, there was very little evidence in this study to indicate that they had any significant impact on voting behaviour during the 2011 Scottish campaign. Rather, the participants' comments suggest that more traditional information sources, particularly print and broadcast media, coupled with long-established campaign techniques, such as leaf...

Aharony N.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore whether librarians are familiar with technological innovations and are ready to accept them. The objectives are: to what extent does the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) explain librarians' perceptions of mobile services (m‐services); and to what extent do differences in gender, age, workplace, role, and smart phone use explain librarians' perceptions of m‐services?Design/methodology/approachThe research was conducted in Israel during the first semester of the 2012 academic year. It encompassed three groups of Israeli librarians: academic, public, and special. Researchers used two questionnaires to gather data: a personal details questionnaire, and a mobile technology questionnaire.FindingsThis study supported the two core variables model (perceived ease of use and usefulness) of TAM that may predict librarians' behavioral intention to use m‐services in the library. However, it added two more components to the model: personal innovativeness and smart phone usage.Practical implicationsLibrary directors may try to implement more m‐services on their web sites. These services should be simple, attractive, and efficient. They should also try to expose librarians to the benefits and ease of use of m‐services.Originality/valueThe findings emphasize the importance of the TAM that may predict librarians' behavioral intention to use m‐services in the library and may lead to further research in this field.

Khurshid Z.

PurposeIn addition to quantitative analysis, the purpose of this paper is to measure the quality of articles published in foreign LIS journals by Pakistani authors based on their Impact Factor (IF) scores reported in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) of 2010; also to discuss the significance and implications of this study for the current and potential authors in Pakistan and other developing countries.Design/methodology/approachThe data for this study were collected from two sets of sources: first, online sources of Google Scholar, LISA, LISTA, an online 50‐year cumulative index of Pakistani LIS literature, and web pages of several authors; and second, printed indexes and bibliographies. The data collected were manually entered into MS Excel for tabulation and created nine tables, which formed the basis of discussion in the paper.FindingsThe contribution of Pakistani authors to foreign LIS journals is reasonable in number and below average in quality, according to the JCR IF scores. The authorship patterns show that there is a shift from single‐authorship to collaborative authorship. The contribution of academics is several times higher than that of library practitioners. Likewise the non‐resident Pakistani authors' share in the global LIS literature is much larger as compared to their counterparts living in Pakistan.Originality/valueThis is the first study that evaluates the quality of Pakistani LIS literature using the more popular journal ranking method, JCR IF. The results of this study are expected to have a positive impact on Pakistani authors as they start preparing articles according to the quality requirements of JCR‐ranked journals in the future.

Du W., Song S.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify the core literature of aerospace studies and the databases necessary to ensure its coverage in a collection for aerospace scientists. The paper also aims to examine whether China has different needs from other countries.Design/methodology/approachA sequence of bibliometric analyses was used. Institutions and countries with high aerospace research productivity were identified from 4,290 papers published in “aerospace engineering” journals in Science Citation Index. Journal papers cited in these papers (14,618 extracted from 17,015 citations in all) were analyzed to discover the core source journals for aerospace research. The availability of the core journals in online databases determined necessary library provision for aerospace research.FindingsThe most productive aerospace research institutions are in China and the USA. Journals are the most important information resources. While 20 per cent of cited journals were discipline‐specific, 80 per cent were in related fields. Chinese researchers had similar resource needs to researchers from other countries. To provide for aerospace research, a library collection needs to include the databases of the field, and commercial and open access journals that cover aerospace engineering, related disciplines and the sciences in general.Originality/valueThe paper reveals the characteristics of the literature of the aerospace discipline for the first time. It identifies the core journals used by aerospace researchers and the bundle of online resources necessary to adequately provide for research in the field. The technique used can be applied to other disciplines.

Dečman M., Vintar M.

Purpose – Based on a three‐level digital preservation framework, the purpose of this paper is to suggest a solution for long‐term digital preservation for the public administration sector, in the form of a centralised intermediate repository, on the basis of the concept of cloud computing.Design/methodology/approach – By means of a thorough review of the literature in this area and an analysis of the current state of the art, the paper investigates a three‐level digital preservation framework with a focus on the public sector. It cross‐links this framework with the cloud computing concept, in order to propose an appropriate solution.Findings – The mapping of six factors of digital preservation to three levels of digital preservation shows that using appropriate steps supported by suitable strategies and policies enables the public administration sector to take advantage of modern information technology and solve the demanding and critical problem of digital preservation.Practical implications – The paper ...