Adoption Decisions Research Articles

Evaluating the barriers and drivers of adopting circular economy for improving sustainability in the mining industry

The transition towards a circular economy (CE) has been espoused as a key paradigm for achieving sustainability, but practical adoption has been limited because of the complexity of decisions involving consideration of many factors (both drivers and barriers) from various perspectives. Meanwhile, decision support frameworks that prioritise the main enablers and barriers of CE for the sustainability of the mining industry in emerging and developing economies are inadequate to aid wide-scale implementation. Also, empirical research that integrates well-established theories to capture the relevant set of barriers and drivers of adoption decisions is still scanty within the evolving literature, especially within developing African nations. Using the technology-organisation-environment (T-O-E) theoretical framework, this research develops a decision-support framework of the critical enablers and inhibitors to CE adoption and prioritises the most pertinent ones to achieving sustainability objectives within the specific context of the mining industry in a developing country using the best-worst method (BWM). The most relevant categories within the study context are ranked, as well as the individual drivers and barriers within them. The research outcomes can aid stakeholders of the mining industry in mineral-rich developing countries to understand the relevant drivers and direct resources to address the most pressing barriers to the successful adoption of CE operational practices to reduce ecological degradation, optimise the consumption and extraction of resources within operational activities, and contribute more sustainably to socio-economic development.

Adoption and impact of improved teff varieties adoption on food security: Micro level evidence from North Eastern Amhara Regional state, Ethiopia.

This study investigates the adoption and impact of improved teff varieties (ITVs) on food security in North Eastern Amhara Region, Ethiopia. The result of binary probit model shows that the adoption decision of improved teff varieties is determined by total family size measured in adult equivalent, off-farm income, number of traders known by farmers, variety information from development agents and research center affects positively and distance of farmer's residence from kebele office of agriculture negatively Endogenous switching regression (ESR)model was employed to evaluate the impacts of adoption of improved teff varieties on food security. The output from ESR asserted that had the adopter households decided not to adopt, their average daily calorie intake and annual food consumption expenditure per adult equivalent would have decreased by 417.908 kilocalorie and 1096.509 Ethiopian Birr(37.8.41 dollars) respectively. Thus, policies and development endeavors targeting to realize food security should facilitate the adoption of ITVs.

Dynamic pricing in the presence of social externalities and reference-price effect

This paper considers the pricing of a new product in the face of sophisticated consumer behaviors. At the individual level, consumers are forward-looking, whereby they may wait strategically for better purchasing opportunities. Additionally, and in line with prospect theory, consumers might also look back to form a reference-price point with which they can compare the current price. Consumers are assumed to be loss averse where losses resonate more than gains. Moreover, we account for the role of social influences in the form of externalities in consumers’ adoption decision. We develop progressively different nested models to examine the impact of each behavior. Two types of pricing regimes, that is, preannounced and responsive pricing, are utilized where the firm commits to the price path from the outset in the former while it does not in the latter. We find that a penetration pricing strategy can be both strengthened or weakened by forward-looking consumer behavior depending on the underlying dynamics. Our results also suggest that the superiority of the firm’s profit under committed pricing depends heavily on the consumer behaviors.

Gender-disaggregated analysis of sustainable intensification practices adoption: A case of northern Ghana

Agricultural productivity has remained low in Africa, especially among smallholder farmers. Women often suffer resource constraints and access to certain technologies needed to increase productivity relative to men. This study analyzes the effect of gender on the adoption of selected sustainable intensification practices (SIPs) in northern Ghana using a sample of 463 farmers involved in maize and cowpea production. Probit regression analysis revealed that age, membership of a farmer-based organisation (FBO), and perception of ease of adoption (PEC) would likely influence the decision of females to adopt SIPs. FBO membership and ease of adopting technologies affect both male and female farmers to adopt SIPs positively. SIPs adoption decisions by males are influenced by many factors relative to those of females, thus highlighting the complexities involved in agricultural technology adoption. These findings have implications for policymakers and development practitioners working to bridge the gender gap in agricultural productivity, particularly in developing countries. The article makes an empirical contribution to the innovation and technology adoption literature, especially in terms of the factors that drive gender-transformative processes. Strengthening FBOs and utilizing the concept of technology parks to deepen farmers’ perceptions and understanding of SIPs could help bridge the gender gap in technology adoption and improve productivity.

Costs to Implement a Pediatric Weight Management Program Across 3 Distinct Contexts.

The Connect for Health program is an evidence-based program that aligns with national recommendations for pediatric weight management and includes clinical decision support, educational handouts, and community resources. As implementation costs are a major driver of program adoption and maintenance decisions, we assessed the costs to implement the Connect for Health program across 3 health systems that primarily serve low-income communities with a high prevalence of childhood obesity. We used time-driven activity-based costing methods. Each health system (site) developed a process map and a detailed report of all implementation actions taken, aligned with major implementation requirements (eg, electronic health record integration) or strategies (eg, providing clinician training). For each action, sites identified the personnel involved and estimated the time they spent, allowing us to estimate the total costs of implementation and breakdown costs by major implementation activities. Process maps indicated that the program integrated easily into well-child visits. Overall implementation costs ranged from $77,103 (Prisma Health) to $84,954 (Denver Health) to $142,721 (Massachusetts General Hospital). Across implementation activities, setting up the technological aspects of the program was a major driver of costs. Other cost drivers included training, engaging stakeholders, and audit and feedback activities, though there was variability across systems based on organizational context and implementation choices. Our work highlights the major cost drivers of implementing the Connect for Health program. Accounting for context-specific considerations when assessing the costs of implementation is crucial, especially to facilitate accurate projections of implementation costs in future settings.

Affordance-led framework of understanding of BIM adoption

PurposeSuccessful adoption of building information modelling (BIM) by early adopters is crucial for its effective diffusion. The purpose of this study is to develop a framework of understanding that supports contextualized understanding of BIM adoption decisions in a BIM infant industry. The framework bridges the gap in current knowledge in terms of the absence of such a framework, which has hindered the structured understanding of the BIM decision of an adopter, curtailing the appropriate strategizing of their BIM adoption.Design/methodology/approachThe study focuses on a BIM infant industry, where early adopters begin using BIM, allowing insights into this crucial initial stage of adoption. Identifying affordances as a versatile concept that could effectively represent not only what an adopter perceives and expects from BIM implementation, but also, what the adopter, in fact, can achieve from it, an affordance-led framework of understanding (AFU) was developed to comprehensively capture varying dynamics of BIM decision process. The study took a qualitative retroductive approach to theory with semi-structured interviews to gather necessary data from a sample of BIM adopters purposively selected to maximize the breadth and depth of data.FindingsThe study concludes by identifying and defining pertinent affordances as a new concept and a compulsory state for BIM adoption. Findings further demonstrate that existing theories can be linked to the AFU to strategically direct the affordances dynamics towards the pertinent state.Originality/valueThe AFU enables a deeper contextualizable view of innovation adoption that was absent in existing innovation studies. It significantly enhances the precision of strategizing BIM adoption compared to previous approaches, enabling adopters to plan and implement BIM in a manner that aligns well with their expectations and specific conditions.

Cloud computing adoption decision-making process: a sensemaking analysis

PurposeThe authors study how cloud adoption decision making unfolds in organizations and present the dynamic process leading to a decision to adopt or reject cloud computing. The authors thus complement earlier literature on factors that influence cloud adoption.Design/methodology/approachThe authors adopt an interpretive epistemology to understand the process of cloud adoption decision making. Following an empirical investigation drawing on interviews with senior managers who led the cloud adoption decision making in organizations from across Europe. The authors outline a framework that shows how cloud adoptions follow multiple cycles in three broad phases.FindingsThe study findings demonstrate that cloud adoption decision making is a recursive process of learning about cloud through three broad phases: building perception about cloud possibilities, contextualizing cloud possibilities in terms of current computing resources and exposing the cloud proposition to others involved in making the decision. Building on these findings, the authors construct a framework of this process which can inform practitioners in making decisions on cloud adoption.Originality/valueThis work contributes to authors understanding of how cloud adoption decisions unfold and provides a framework for cloud adoption decisions that has theoretical and practical value. The study further demonstrates the role of the decision-leader, typically the CIO, in this process and identifies how other internal and external stakeholders are involved. It sheds light on the relevance of the phases of the cloud adoption decision-making process to different cloud adoption factors identified in the extant literature.

Does adoption of cocoa hand pollination (CHP) improve welfare of farmers? Evidence from smallholder cocoa farmers in Ghana

ABSTRACT This paper evaluates the impact of the adoption of cocoa hand pollination (CHP) on the welfare of smallholder cocoa producers. Using data collected from 1200 cocoa farmers in Huni Valley and Kejebril districts of Ghana, we employed endogenous switching regression, propensity score matching and inverse probability weighted adjustment techniques to assess the impact. The two-step Cragg was used to examine the determinants of the decision and intensity of adoption. The results showed that education, marriage and farm size positively influenced both the decision and intensity of adoption of the CHP technique. The result further showed that the cost of labour for implementing the technology, age, education, family head, economic active members, age of the cocoa tree, off-farm work, credit access and farm size significantly determined the impact of adoption on smallholder cocoa producers’ welfare. Additionally, there is a positive impact of CHP adoption on productivity, income and food security. Careful consideration should be given to these factors including collaborations between government and stakeholders in the cocoa industry through the regular sensitization and trainings for farmers on improved technologies as the CHP to increase productivity, household income and reduce food insecurity of smallholder cocoa farmers.

An exploration of instructors' perceptions about online proctoring and its value in ensuring academic integrity

AbstractAs universities moved to remotely taught courses during the COVID‐19 pandemic, the importance of maintaining academic integrity in online environments intensified. In response, this study explores instructors' perceptions about the role of online proctoring as a tool for their courses with the intent of enhancing the understanding of online proctoring's usefulness in ensuring academic integrity and the factors that may be swaying instructors' adoption decisions. An online survey was completed by 158 instructors at a variety of higher education institutions with 118 responding to an open‐ended question that allowed respondents to share any additional thoughts about or experiences with using online proctoring. A thematic review of the qualitative comments illustrates the multifaceted impact of online proctoring on instructors and students. Results identified instructors' perceived benefits and challenges of online proctoring to them, their students and the learning process. In addition, instructors voiced numerous legal, ethical and social concerns about the use of online proctoring, including concerns related to students' privacy. Despite these concerns, some instructors identified strong use cases for online proctoring while others provided alternative strategies for ensuring academic integrity in online courses. As institutions consider the role of online proctoring in ensuring academic integrity, a holistic approach that balances instructional design best practices, student‐friendly policies and proctoring tools is recommended to serve the complex needs and concerns of instructors, students and their institutions. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Prior research findings are mixed as to whether proctoring is valuable for ensuring academic integrity in online courses. Studies investigating grade performance in proctored versus unproctored exam settings have conflicting results; however, studies have found that students completing proctored formative exams perform better on summative exams than students completing non‐proctored formative exams. What this paper adds Qualitative data were collected to provide an overview of instructors' perceptions about and experiences with online proctoring. Analysis suggests that online proctoring is beneficial to some instructors, students and the overall learning process. At the same time, its use is also concerning to other instructors and students. Among the issues raised by instructors are concerns for student privacy, increases in student test anxiety and discriminatory proctoring practices. Implications for practice and/or policy Institutions must be proactive in ensuring that the use of online proctoring aligns with their institutional values and the changing legal landscape. Institutional policies should strive to find a balance between ensuring academic integrity and promoting a positive experience for students and instructors. Since there are strong use cases for online proctoring, these policies should include flexibility whenever possible.

Examining the adoption of agroforestry in Southern Rwanda: a double hurdle approach

This article analyzes determinants of farmers’ adoption decisions for agroforestry practices and the extent of adoption in rural Rwanda. The study also investigates the key constraints hindering smallholder farmers to adopt agroforestry. The study uses the cross-sectional data from a sample of 615 farmers and Cragg’s double-hurdle model is used for the empirical estimation. The findings show that farmers’ land ownership, cooperative membership, farming experience, market orientation, credit access, and distance to the market mainly determine adoption of agroforestry. Policies that enhance adoption of agroforestry should be consider the formation of farmers’ cooperatives and provision of door-to-door education to uneducated farmers. In addition, strategies for supporting liquidity-constrained households to get continuous and increased access to credit should be put forward. Agricultural and resources development policies should direct efforts toward increased access to institutional support services such as better extension to farmers through cooperatives to promote the adoption of agroforestry.

Adoption of improved chickpea technologies for productivity enhancement in the North Western Ethiopian highlands

Efforts have been made on promoting improved chickpea technologies. However, the result is not that much impressive. This study aimed to analyze drivers of technology adoption. 224 respondents were used for this study. Multivariate Probit (MVP) and Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) models were employed. The results from MVP model, marginal success probability of adoption decision were 60%, 19%, and 17% for a variety, bio-inoculant, and chemical fertilizer, respectively. Distance from farmers' training center, farm income, livestock holding, and field day participation have significantly affected for adoption of chickpea varieties. A social network, market information, and field day participation have significantly influenced the adoption of bio-inoculant fertilizer. In addition, household size, asset owned, and field day participation has significantly influenced the adoption of chemical fertilizer. Field day participation was the most important variable for the adoption decision of chickpea technologies as a package. The results from SUR model, farmers' training center distance, farm income, livestock holding, social network and agricultural training have significantly influenced adoption intensity of improved varieties. Age, farming experience, livestock holding, social network, education status, and field day and training participation have significantly influenced the intensity of bio-inoculant adoption. In addition, Age, education status, radio owned, training participation, asset owned and farmer's perception have significantly influenced the intensity of chemical fertilizer adoption. Training participation is the most determinant factor for adoption intensity of improved technologies. Hence, government should emphasize on improving of extension services, provision of education, encouraging livestock rearing, strengthening credit access for farmers, strengthening rural infrastructure, and considering community social network for adoption of chickpea technologies.

Co-adoption pathways toward a low-carbon energy system

Low-carbon technology adoption is an essential element of energy transitions toward net-zero emissions around the world. To exploit the full potential of low-carbon technologies, households should ideally co-adopt multiple low-carbon technologies. Whereas previous research primarily investigated predictors of single-technology adoption in isolation, here we focus on the co-adoption of multiple low-carbon technologies, including solar photovoltaics, stationary batteries, heat pumps, and electric vehicles, to examine the interconnections between adoption decisions and the potential of certain technologies to serve as "entry points" for the co-adoption of multiple low-carbon technologies. Based on a sample of 1967 homeowners, we identified unique demographic and psychological variables associated with co-adoption. We moreover observed specific co-adoption patterns across time in that the adoption of one technology increased the likelihood of adopting another technology. This effect, however, was primarily driven by co-adoption in close temporal proximity, pointing to opportunities for targeted policies that support technology bundles.

Ransomware Appeared in 2019

The article investigates the factors affecting customers’ adoption decision of mobile banking in Bako Tibe, Ethiopia. The continuous expansion of technological innovations especially in the banking sector have stirred competition which has changed the way businesses operate resulting in the introduction of mobile banking. This is illustrated that Ethiopia is recently expanding the use of internet banking such as mobile banking. To analysis of the determinants of mobile banking adoption in Bako Tibe, open and semi-structured questionnaires were used. The results of binary logit model indicates that quality of internet, lack of awareness, relative advantage, awareness, trial ability, experience, gender, education, income and age are the factors that are significantly influencing customers’ adoption decisions of mobile banking at Commercial Bank of Ethiopia. The conclusion is that commercial bank of Ethiopia invests massively in mobile banking and other information technology innovations in order to further promote efficient service delivery and increase adoption of mobile banking services. Key words: Mobile banking; adoption; logistic regressions; experience; awareness; experience. DOI : 10.7176/CEIS/10-1-02

Determinants of digital wallet adoption and super app: A review and research model

Abstract As many companies are transforming through digitalisation to increase efficiency and effectiveness of business processes, financial technology firms innovated the digital wallet as an omnichannel payment to facilitate the digital payments. This review aims to explore the conceptual structure of the digital wallet knowledge base in business and management literature and the determinants that influence the consumer adoption decision of a digital wallet. A bibliometric approach is used to analyse 156 Scopus-indexed documents in this study field. Author co-citation reveals four key schools of thought: digital marketing and consumer behaviour, management and business analytics, mobile commerce and technology, and information and communication technology. The temporal overlay keyword cooccurrence map shows the topical focus changes of research from mobile payment technology, business uses, and determinants of digital wallet adoption. The top cited empirical documents also show that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, trust or perceived ability, perceived risk, and perceived value are consumers’ key considerations in choosing digital wallets for payments. This review seeks to contribute to both scientific knowledge and the model of research practice that could provide insights into digital wallet payment. The comprehensive research framework proposes the facilitators and inhibitors which employ the status quo bias theory and presents the mediating effects of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology constructs on behavioural intention to use a digital wallet, positive word of mouth, and user satisfaction. Four additional determinants augment the existing theories, including perceived trust, perceived security and privacy, promotion, and super app for novelty.

Coal-Biomass Co-firing within Renewable Portfolio Standards: Strategic Adoption by Heterogeneous Firms and Emissions Implications

As electricity from coal declines, co-firing coal plants with biomass has been proposed to extend coal unit life, increase production, and reduce carbon emissions. Previous studies reach conflicting conclusions on whether coal biomass co-firing would result in a net increase or decrease in carbon emissions. We explore whether biomass co-firing would decrease emissions using a novel framework that includes two critical features of electricity markets: strategic adoption decisions by firms and intertemporal constraints on power plant operations. We apply this framework to a case study based on the Midwestern U.S. electricity market and show that profit maximizing firms will retrofit mid-efficiency coal units, rather than the most or least efficient units. We demonstrate that, contrary to expectations, this strategy leads to a net increase in system-wide carbon emissions under high carbon prices because of the other generators displaced by co-firing units.

Smart technologies and port operations: Optimal adoption strategy with network externality consideration

Smart technologies that streamline information among stakeholders can enhance operational efficiency at sea ports. The benefit of network externality from smart technologies further enhances port operations when more users adopt smart technologies. However, network externality has rarely been studied in port operations before. In this paper, we formulate a game theoretical model to identify a port’s optimal adoption strategy on smart technologies and analyze the impact of network externality on the port’s pricing and adoption decisions. A utility-based model is developed to study the added value of smart technology and its network effect for port operations. The port has three possible strategies in smart technology adoption: no adoption, full adoption and hybrid adoption. We show that either strategy can be optimal depending on the costs, direct benefit and strength of network externality of smart technology. Particularly, our findings reveal a positive relationship between the strength of the network effect and the likelihood of adopting the smart technology. Additionally, as the network effect strengthens, the likelihood of the hybrid adoption being optimal also increases. In addition, ports with frequent congestion and delay problems are likely better off with hybrid adoption than full adoption due to the benefit of network effect. Furthermore, our findings emphasize the importance of effectively communicating the network effect benefit of smart technology to port service users.

Adoption and potential of agri‐environmental schemes in Europe: Cross‐regional evidence from interviews with farmers

Abstract In Europe and elsewhere, agri‐environmental schemes (AES) are designed to reduce agriculture's impacts on the environment. Designing effective schemes requires an understanding of the reasons that drive farmers' decisions whether to adopt AES. Currently, most insights come from individual case studies or structured surveys based on predefined questions. There is a paucity of studies that do not rely on rigid preconceptions about relevant behavioural factors while also offering a geographically and socio‐culturally broad perspective that can address the cultural and institutional context‐specificity of behavioural studies. Also, most studies focus on the adoption decision, while implementation decisions and their consequences for the ecological effectiveness of AES remain understudied. In this article, we present the results from semi‐structured farmer interviews conducted in five agricultural landscapes across Europe. The results are used to uncover reasons for AES adoption as well as the implications of AES implementation decisions for their ecological effectiveness. The main reason for AES adoption that was common across case study regions is the interplay of opportunity costs and payment levels, which has negative implications for the ecological effectiveness of AES as farmers prioritized marginal land or adopted non‐additional AES. Among reasons that vary across regions, tenure relations and the role of ecological reasoning stand out. We find that AES are unlikely to trigger broader shifts towards sustainable management but there is some potential for improvement, mainly by increasing the flexibility, spatial targeting and ecological ambition of the schemes. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

What affects organic farming adoption in emerging economies? A missing link in the Indian agriculture sector

PurposeThis article intends to explore critical factors that affect the adoption of organic farming in emerging economies. The authors respond to the calls from policymakers, non-government organizations, business firms and scholars to improve the farmers' awareness of the negative impact of synthetic chemical pesticides, phosphorus, potassium fertilizers and mineral nitrogen used in traditional farming.Design/methodology/approachThrough self-administered survey questionnaires, responses were obtained from 397 farmers (conventional) regarding organic farming adoption in Haryana (India). The survey responses were collected between October 2022 and December 2022. The authors apply the “partial least squares structural equation modeling” (PLS-SEM) to test the framed hypotheses.FindingsThe present article demonstrates six critical determinants of organic farming adoption, i.e. behavioral, cultivation, economic, governmental, marketing, and social factors. These six factors drive 71.0% (R2) variation in organic farming adoption. Governmental factors have a positive but insignificant influence on organic farming adoption. Interestingly, the impact of behavioral and cultivation factors is crucial per path coefficient values.Originality/valueFor the first time, the authors conducted a study on organic farming adoption in Haryana that lies in its context-specific implementation, utilization of localized knowledge and expertise, regional policy support, agricultural diversification and community participation. Future research can build upon by adding agriculture scientists to the study to respond to the cost, quality of the crop and impact of socio-economic policies as moderators/mediators on adoption decisions.

The determinants of Gen Z's metaverse adoption decisions in higher education: Integrating UTAUT2 with personal innovativeness in IT

The determinants of Gen Z's metaverse adoption decisions in higher education: Integrating UTAUT2 with personal innovativeness in IT

Agricultural machinery service adoption and farmland transfer-in decision: evidence from rural China

With the deepening of China’s agricultural labor division, the rapid development of agricultural machinery service has had a profound impact on farmland scale management. Based on the new classical economic and transaction cost theories, this paper investigates the impact mechanism of agricultural machinery service on farmers’ farmland transfer-in decision from the dual perspectives of transaction cost and benefit of labor division, and uses the national rural survey data on the Chinese Family Database to conduct empirical research by using the ordinary least square (OLS) model and limited information maximum likelihood (LIML) method. The study finds that, first, agricultural machinery service expands farmers’ farmland transfer-in decision by encouraging them to obtain the economic efficiency of labor division. Not only agricultural machinery service can alleviate the constraint of farmers’ farmland transfer in labor and capital but also reduce the service transaction cost and increase farmers’ share of the division of labor economy, which further stimulates farmers to expand the scale of management. Second, with the deepening of labor division of agricultural machinery services, the higher transaction efficiency of agricultural machinery service promotes farmers’ farmland transfer-in participation. As long as the marginal net benefit obtained is greater than zero, farmers have incentives to expand the scale of farmland. Therefore, in order to promote China’s farmland scale management, the professional, whole-process, and large-scale development of agricultural machinery services should be further promoted, and the service capacity and fields should be expanded so that outsourcing services can be better provided to agricultural production demanders. At the same time, the technical standards, supervision system, and service platform of agricultural machinery should be established and improved so as to enhance the bargaining position of farmers in service outsourcing transactions, thus promoting the development of agricultural division of labor to a higher level and realizing the mutual promotion and mutual benefit of agricultural machinery service subjects and agricultural land scale management subjects.