Access To Quality Information Research Articles

Challenges in Obtaining and Seeking Information Among Breast Cancer Survivors in an Asian Country: a Qualitative Study.

Breast cancer survivors on adjuvant endocrine therapy (AET) have distinct information-seeking experience compared to those in the diagnosis and intensive treatment phase. This study aimed to understand the challenges in obtaining and seeking information among Malaysian breast cancer survivors. We conducted semi-structured, one-to-one interviews among patients using AET from two hospitals and a local cancer organization. Interviews were conducted until theme saturation was achieved (N = 25). Interviews were de-identified, transcribed verbatim, and analysed using thematic analysis. To ensure rigor, coding was conducted through regular discussions between two researchers and the findings were shared with several participants after analysis was completed. Three main themes were identified: limitations in the healthcare system, pitfalls of seeking information online, and limited information from local sources. The participants perceived that their information needs were not met by their healthcare providers and sought information on the Internet to complement their information needs. However, they were faced with risks of misinformation, information overload, and unethical promotion of health products. Those with limited English proficiency had difficulties in accessing quality information, and suggested that there should be more content created by local health advocates in local languages, with information that is tailored for local cultures. As the Internet has become an important medium of health education, healthcare providers and patients should be equipped with the skills to share and search for information online. Digital health literacy needs to be incorporated in patient education modules to create a more informed and empowered patient community.

Development of Smart Food Value Chain Intervention Models for the Milkfish Industry in Region 1, Philippines

Milkfish production is an important sector of the Philippine aquaculture industry. The Ilocos Region (Region 1), particularly the province of Pangasinan, is the country’s largest producer of milkfish. However, production and environmental constraints confront the milkfish industry, such as insufficient egg supply, degradation of water quality, limited processing facilities and technology, and noncompliance of small-scale processors to food safety standards. To achieve sustainability and resilience, the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOST-PCAARRD) commissioned a value chain study to examine the current and “new normal” threats posed to Region 1’s milkfish industry. The study aims to develop intervention models to create a “smart” milkfish value chain. In a smart value chain, the industry players access quality information better, and there are technological innovations along the chain. Various milkfish industry players, such as hatchery operators, growout operators, market intermediaries, retailers, and processors, were interviewed for the study. Furthermore, consultations with various stakeholders, such as relevant government agencies and industry practitioners, determined the most suitable solutions to address the value chain’s core issues. The value chain analysis surfaced a need for an effective strategy to help farmers adopt technological solutions. In addition, the efforts of various support institutions should be harmonized and rationalized. We are proposing these interventions: (1) create a regional milkfish seedstock command center; (2) implement a science and technology community-based farm; and (3) establish a bangus processing enterprise development hub.

Analysis on Influence of Business Intelligence Information Quality over User Information Adoption Based on Multiple Mediating Effects

From the perspective of information, this paper constructs a theoretical model based on information system (IS) success model and information adoption model (IAM), aiming to further disclose the action mechanism of business intelligence (BI) on user information adoption (UIA). Firstly, the BI factors affecting UIA were modeled in reference to the existing literature. Next, a questionnaire survey was carried out to collect valid samples from 423 Chinese enterprises. After that, an empirical analysis on structural equations was conducted on Amos 24.0 and SPSS 26.0. The results show that BI information content quality (ICQ), expected performance (EP), expected ease-of-use (EEOU), and perceived risk (PR) have a direct and significant influence on UIA, and ICQ further significantly influences UIA via mediators such as EP, EEOU, and PR; BI information access quality (IAQ) has a direct yet insignificant influence on UIA, but exerts a significant positive effect on UIA of BI via EP and EEOU. The research provides a new perspective into BI user behaviors in the context of big data, and a good reference for the successfully implementation and use of BI in practice.

Relationship between Business Intelligence Components and Financial Reporting Quality in Firms

The purpose of this research studies the impact of business intelligence on the financial reporting quality of listed companies in the Tehran Stock Exchange using structural equation modeling. The instruments of this research were the business Intelligence Questionnaire (Provich, 2012) and the financial statements of listed companies in The Tehran Stock Exchange to study of the financial reporting quality. For this purpose, the data of 182 listed companies in the Tehran Stock Exchange in 2018 was collected and processed. To analyze the data, Partial Least Squares Method and PLS-3 software were used. The findings of the research showed that each of the components of business intelligence including data integrity, analytical capabilities, information content quality, information access quality, use of information in business process, and Analytical decision - making culture has a positive and significant effect on the financial reporting quality

The Role of Regulatory Agencies in Agenda-Setting Processes: Insights from the Italian Response to the COVID-19 Infodemic.

International organizations such as the WHO have worked to raise awareness of the massive infodemic that accompanied the COVID‐19 outbreak and made it hard for people to find trustworthy sources of information and reliable guidance for their decisions. Our contribution focuses on the Italian case, where the Communications Regulatory Authority (AGCOM) was able to act as first mover in its field so as to strategically frame the problem of disinformation in the absence of a pre‐existing policy intervention. An emerging body of research shows that the activity of formally independent regulators is not necessarily limited to the implementation of delegated regulatory competencies. We discuss the implications of the activity of independent regulators for the fight against disinformation during the COVID‐19 pandemic. We find that as a political actor in its own right, the Italian media regulator claimed control over sectoral expertise in order to shape the crucial first steps of the response to the infodemic.

Access to library services and facilities by persons with disability: Insights from academic libraries in Ghana

A group of the academic library’s vast untapped clientele to whom more attention is now being paid is persons with disability. Drawing from the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions’ checklist on what constitutes disability-friendly libraries, this study sought to ascertain if academic libraries in the Upper East Region of Ghana have made provisions for persons with disability. The research adopted a qualitative approach. The data used for the analysis is drawn from interviews with respondents, the majority of whom were visually or mobility-impaired, who were purposively selected from 11 tertiary institutions. The findings reveal that academic libraries in the Upper East Region have yet to implement the stipulated regulations of the ratified Persons with Disability Act of Ghana. The majority of libraries are inaccessible to persons with disability beyond the main entrance of the libraries. The biggest challenge is the absence of diverse media information for persons with visual and hearing impairments. Also, the findings reveal that library staff lack adequate knowledge of issues relating to persons with disability and their right to access information. The study highlights the challenges which hinder persons with disability from accessing quality information from libraries. The study, therefore, recommends that relevant state institutions be empowered to implement the ratified Persons with Disability Act in Ghana and increase education among stakeholders on the need to improve access to information for persons with disability. Also, there should be increased investment and allocation of funds to libraries to provide for the information needs of persons with disability.

Perceived information pollution: conceptualization, measurement, and nomological validity

PurposeCurrently, employees are facing information explosion in the presence of disruptive information and communication technologies of industry 4.0. With the prevalent nature of information pollution, employees are suffering to process large volume of information in order to access quality information. The objective of present study is to develop a measurement scale of perceived information pollution in the context of workplace. Furthermore, this study aims to assess the nomological validity of the proposed construct.Design/methodology/approachThis study has employed a sequential exploratory mixed-method design to develop and validate the measurement scale of perceived information pollution. The population of the present study comprised of the employees who work in the operations and credit department of banking sector. The present study has used exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to analyze data in AMOS.FindingsThe present study has developed the second-order measurement scale of perceived information pollution. The perceived information pollution comprises of five dimensions – accessible, intrinsic, contextual, representational, and distractive information pollution. This study has also confirmed the nomological validity of the information pollution in relation to employee's job satisfaction, work effort, and learning effort.Research limitations/implicationsManagement may employ the five dimensions as a benchmark in revealing polluted information as well as enhancing information quality through information processing.Originality/valueThis study has contributed to the literature of information management by providing a five-dimensional scale of perceived information pollution and confirming its nomological validity.

Bachelor of Education Teacher Trainees’ Information Evaluating Ability and Utilization of E-resources at the University of Nairobi, Kenya

Utilization of e-resources by Bachelor of Education Teacher Trainee exposes the learner to up-to-the minute information in multimedia format such as Compact Disk Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) databases, e-journals, institutional digital resources and video recordings among other resources. To benefit from accessing quality information from e-resources, trainees are supposed to evaluate resources. However, there have been complaints from library staff and faculty that trainees of the University of Nairobi were inadequately inducted on evaluation of e-resources. The trainees hardly utilize e-resources while experiencing difficulties in evaluating sources for quality. The study examined trainees’ evaluating ability. The objective of the study was to establish trainees’ evaluating ability and utilization of e-resources. The study adopted descriptive survey design. Stratified random sampling was used to identify 370 teacher trainees and data was collected using questionnaires, interview guides and document analysis guide. Validity was ascertained using the faculty involved in teacher training processes. The instrument demonstrated high internal consistency (>.90) using test-retest method. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical techniques to establish the relationship between trainees evaluating ability and utilization of e-resources. The findings revealed a significant statistical association between trainees’ evaluating ability and utilization of e-resources. The study recommended that a policy be formulated at the University of Nairobi requesting trainees to attend information literacy sessions conducted by the library. The trainees should be taught evaluation criteria to improve learners’ practices of assessing accuracy, currency, objectivity, coverage and authority of information that support academic tasks. Replication of a longitudinal study should be undertaken to monitor trainees’ evaluating ability from first year to fourth year.

Impact of Management Information Systems (MIS) on Decision Making

Today’s business environment is unpredictable, dynamic, unstable and, necessitates the growing demand for accurate, relevant, complete, timely and, economical information needed to drive the decision-making process. The quick developments of information technology coupled with the development of telecommunications technologies, have modernized all areas of business and human activities. In today’s business world, there are different types of information systems. Each plays a unique role for a manager decision-making functions. In this paper, the decision maker’s satisfaction, contents of information and information access quality have been analyzed and studied. Here identified necessary variables aiming to evaluate the influence of management information systems in decision support capabilities and side by side discuss the concept, characteristics, types of MIS, the MIS model, and in particular it will highlight the impact of MIS in decision making. At the same time, different models and figures are presented to enrich the discussion and to highlight the status of each MIS and DSS information systems in an organization decision-making process.

The need to know: The information needs of parents of infants with an intellectual disability-a qualitative study.

The aim of this study was to explore the information needs of parents of infants with an intellectual disability in the first year of life. Parents whose infant has an intellectual disability need access to information if they are to facilitate optimal care for their child. A lack of timely, accurate information provision by health professionals, particularly nurses and midwives, can increase parental stress and hinder access to the supports they and their infant require. A qualitative descriptive methodology was used for the study. Qualitative interviews were undertaken with parents of 11 children with intellectual disabilities in Victoria, Australia in 2014. Data were analysed using descriptive thematic analysis. Parents experienced challenges accessing quality information during the first year of their child's life. Parents required incremental information provision to build a strong knowledge base to facilitate optimal care for their infants. Three types of knowledge were identified as crucial for parents: knowledge about (1) the infant's condition; (2) the infant's specific needs and (3) available supports and services. Health professionals were the key resource to access this information. Health professionals' responsibilities include providing relevant, timely information to parents of infants with intellectual disabilities. This study conceptualises three types of information parents need to develop a strong knowledge base to guide their infant's care and provides guidance concerning the optimal timing for the delivery of information.

Youth Voucher Program in Madagascar Increases Access to Voluntary Family Planning and STI Services for Young People.

Young people often express a preference for seeking family planning information and services from the private sector. However, in many Marie Stopes International (MSI) social franchise networks, the proportion of young clients, and particularly those under 20 years of age, remains low. Marie Stopes Madagascar (MSM) piloted a youth voucher program that joins a supply-side intervention-youth-friendly social franchisee training and quality monitoring-with a corresponding demand-side-component, free vouchers that reduce financial barriers to family planning access for young people. Young people identified by MSM's community health educators (CHEs) received a free voucher redeemable at a BlueStar social franchisee for a package of voluntary family planning and sexually transmitted infection (STI) information and services. BlueStar social franchisees-private providers accredited by MSM-are reimbursed for the cost of providing these services. We reviewed service statistics data from the first 18 months of the youth voucher program, from July 2013 to December 2014, as well as client demographic profile data from July 2015.Findings: Between July 2013 and December 2014, 58,417 vouchers were distributed to young people by CHEs through a range of community mobilization efforts, of which 43,352 (74%) were redeemed for family planning and STI services. Most clients (78.5%) chose a long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC), and just over half (51%) of young people benefited from STI counseling as part of their voucher service. Most (78%) services were provided in the Analamanga region (the capital and its surroundings), which was expected given the population density in this region and the high concentration of BlueStar franchisees. The client profile data snapshot from July 2015 revealed that 69% of voucher clients had never previously used a contraceptive method, and 96% of clients were aged 20 or younger, suggesting that the voucher program is successfully reaching the intended target group. MSM's youth voucher program has revealed a high demand for voluntary family planning services, especially among youth under 20 years old, and MSM has since integrated the youth voucher beyond the initial pilot locations. MSM's experience indicates that youth vouchers are a novel and effective means of increasing young people's access to voluntary family planning services in Madagascar, and this model could potentially be replicated or adapted in other contexts where young people are faced with barriers to accessing quality information and services.

Information Governance in Dynamic Networked Business Process Management

Competition in today’s globalized markets forces organizations to collaborate within dynamic business networks to provide mass-customized integrated solutions for customers. The collaboration within dynamic business networks necessitates forming dynamic networked business processes (DNBPs). Networked business processes need to be supported by high quality information that is exchanged in a trustworthy environment. Information governance (IG) is described as a holistic approach to different mechanisms that support high quality and secure information exchanges. However, dynamism of networked business processes causes IG issues like unsecured information access and low quality information products to emerge. In this paper, a comprehensive list of the IG issues in DNBPs is identified through structured steps. The identified IG issues are characterized within four main categories, respectively, information product quality, information service quality, information security, and metadata issues. For the evaluation of the practical significance of the identified IG issues, a case study is conducted in a business network that provides mobility solutions. In this way, the paper closes the gap between studies on IG, which have mostly concentrated on IG within the borders of a single organization or IG in stable business networks, and studies on dynamic business networks, which have addressed the formation of dynamic inter-organizational interactions without paying rigorous attention to information artefacts that are exchanged.

Use of Management Information Systems Impact on Decision Support Capabilities: A Conceptual Model

In this article, the identification and the analysis of the problem in facilitating the role management information systems have been studied. Moreover, the decision maker’s satisfaction and content of information and information access quality have been critically analyzed and studied following the methodology of the previous studies. We identified necessary variables aiming to analyze the influence of management information systems in decision support capabilities. Precisely, this investigation proposes different hypotheses most of which aims to identify the relationship between management information systems and decision support capabilities. The variables included in the research model are the impact on problem definition, speed of problem identification, decision-making analysis, user satisfaction, information access, the content of information quality, decision speed, and decision quality.

Impact and alternative metrics for medical publishing: our experience with International Orthopaedics.

This paper compares the traditional tools of calculation for a journal's efficacy and visibility with the new tools that have arrived from the Internet, social media and search engines. The examples concern publications of orthopaedic surgery and in particular International Orthopaedics. Until recently, the prestige of publications, authors or journals was evaluated by the number of citations using the traditional citation metrics, most commonly the impact factor. Over the last few years, scientific medical literature has developed exponentially. The Internet has dramatically changed the way of sharing and the speed of flow of medical information. New tools have allowed readers from all over the world to access information and record their experience. Web platforms such as Facebook® and Twitter® have allowed for inputs from the general public. Professional sites such as LinkedIn® and more specialised sites such as ResearchGate®, BioMed Central® and OrthoEvidence® have provided specific information on defined fields of science. Scientific and professional blogs provide free access quality information. Therefore, in this new era of advanced wireless technology and online medical communication, the prestige of a paper should also be evaluated by alternative metrics (altmetrics) that measure the visibility of the scientific information by collecting Internet citations, number of downloads, number of hits on the Internet, number of tweets and likes of scholarly articles by newspapers, blogs, social media and other sources of data. This article provides insights into altmetrics and informs the reader about current tools for optimal visibility and citation of their work. It also includes useful information about the performance of International Orthopaedics and the bias between traditional publication metrics and the new alternatives.

Factors influencing business intelligence system use in decision making and organisational performance

This research examined the factors that contributed to use of information from a business intelligence system (BIS) in management decision making and the relationship to organisation and business process performance. Business intelligence (BI) is a timely topic, as organisations continue to invest in systems to leverage big data and gain sustainable competitive advantage. Few studies have examined whether organisational performance benefits result from management use of information from the BIS in decision-making processes. This research surveyed 259 managers with access to a BIS for use in their decision-making processes. A partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) approach was used to analyse the results. The global model indicated that use of information from the BIS in management decision making contributed to organisational performance benefits. Information content quality, information access quality, and analytical decision-making culture contributed to use of information in the global model.

An Innovative ICT Approach to Evaluate and Enhance Delivery of Government of Tamil Nadu Advisory Messages to Farmers

Over 52% of India’s population depends on agriculture but generates merely 13.9% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP). With fragmented landholdings, the number of independent farmers has risen to 88 million with near-stagnant productivity. Despite the Central and State Governments initiating many reforms in agricultural extension in India, there continue to be serious information gaps between farmers, extension workers and agricultural scientists. In the state of Tamil Nadu, small and marginal farmers have a share of more than 90% of the 8 million total land holdings. And it is these farmers who still find it difficult to access quality information when they need it the most. The Government of Tamil Nadu, with the aim of providing farmers the latest farming and crop-related information using ICT tools, has launched a service to relay agricultural advisories by means of a ‘PUSH’ voice-message to farmers in five delta districts. A mechanism of gaining feedback on different aspects of this service was embedded in the ‘PUSH’ messages itself. The paper presents how such a technique adds to the agility of service-delivery and improves the service even while it is being deployed. The results indicate that ICT does have a transformative potential – empowering farmers to convey feedback in real-time and enabling the Government to respond in a timely manner based on the feedback. At a broader level, whether evaluation, feedback and modification can be made part of the ICT service delivery itself, enabling better-targeting and better delivery of services, is discussed.

Clinical credibility and trustworthiness are key characteristics used to identify colleagues from whom to seek information

To explore the use of information by nurses making decisions in clinically uncertain situations in one aspect of critical care nursing practice (enteral feeding). In this paper, we report the characteristics, which participants identified as important, of the people from whom they sought information for the purpose of making clinical decisions. Registered nurses have a plethora of information sources available to assist them in making clinical decisions. Identifying and selecting the best information to support these decisions can be difficult and is influenced by factors such as accessibility, usefulness and variations in quality of the information. An instrumental case study design using multiple case study analysis. Twenty-two critical care nurses from two intensive care units contributed to the data through multiple methods of data collection including concurrent verbal protocols (think aloud), retrospective probing and focus group interviews. Nurses preferentially used colleagues as a source of information when faced with uncertainty about their clinical practice. Most participants placed greater emphasis on evaluating the individual providing the information rather than on evaluating the information itself. Key features used for identifying an individual as a source of information included experience, clinical role, trust and approachability. Establishing clearly what clinical credibility means, and to what extent trustworthiness and expertise play a role in the establishment of credibility, is an important debate for nursing. We need to carefully consider what defines the construct of clinical credibility and how this aligns with the concept of clinical currency, to allow clinicians to determine in others the characteristics associated with clinical credibility to access quality information through social interaction. Processes to focus on determining the quality of information obtained from colleagues should be emphasised. What these processes are and how they could be implemented into clinical practice remains unknown and is highlighted as an area for future research.

The Impact of Claims Management, Treatment, and Rehabilitation on Recovery and Return to Independence

The use of contemporaneous evaluation in personal injury insurance enables schemes to maintain and enhance their viability through access to quality information on cost, liabilities and outcomes. Best practice in research programs in the sector requires data on client outcomes and financial performance to be collected. This article presents a case study of the research and evaluation program for the National Serious Injury Service of New Zealand's Accident Compensation Corporation.

Towards business intelligence systems success: Effects of maturity and culture on analytical decision making

The information systems (IS) literature has long emphasized the positive impact of information provided by business intelligence systems (BIS) on decision-making, particularly when organizations operate in highly competitive environments. Evaluating the effectiveness of BIS is vital to our understanding of the value and efficacy of management actions and investments. Yet, while IS success has been well-researched, our understanding of how BIS dimensions are interrelated and how they affect BIS use is limited. In response, we conduct a quantitative survey-based study to examine the relationships between maturity, information quality, analytical decision-making culture, and the use of information for decision-making as significant elements of the success of BIS. Statistical analysis of data collected from 181 medium and large organizations is combined with the use of descriptive statistics and structural equation modeling. Empirical results link BIS maturity to two segments of information quality, namely content and access quality. We therefore propose a model that contributes to understanding of the interrelationships between BIS success dimensions. Specifically, we find that BIS maturity has a stronger impact on information access quality. In addition, only information content quality is relevant for the use of information while the impact of the information access quality is non-significant. We find that an analytical decision-making culture necessarily improves the use of information but it may suppress the direct impact of the quality of the information content.

Hybrid adaptive/non-adaptive multi-user OFDMA systems in the presence of user-specific imperfect channel knowledge

In this article, a hybrid multi-user OFDMA scheme which considers different user demands regarding channel access and user-specific imperfect channel quality information (CQI) is analytically described and evaluated. The considered hybrid scheme offers two possible modes to serve the user: firstly, via a non-adaptive mode which applies a discrete Fourier transform precoding to exploit frequency diversity and, thus, does not require any CQI at the transmitter. Secondly, via an adaptive mode which performs an adaptive resource allocation and link adaptation. Since this adaptation to the channel is done based on CQI, the adaptive mode is prone to imperfect CQI which results from estimation errors or time delays. Hence, in case of user-specific imperfect CQI, the question arises which user shall be served adaptively or non-adaptively and which resource shall be allocated to which user such that the system data rate is maximized while fulfilling a certain target bit error rate (BER) and minimum required user data rate. Analytical expressions of the system performance considering imperfect CQI and different user demands are derived. Based on these expressions, algorithms determining which user is served adaptively or non-adaptively subject to the BER and minimum data rate constraints are developed. Simulations show the superiority of the hybrid OFDMA scheme in terms of achievable data rate and user satisfaction compared to conventional pure adaptive and non-adaptive OFDMA schemes in the presence of user-specific imperfect CQI.