Adoption Of Communication Technologies Research Articles

National digital strategy development: Guidelines and lesson learnt from Asia Pacific countries

Adoption of information and communication technology (ICT) to create a digital ecosystem gives rise to substantial economic and social benefits. Therefore, many countries develop National digital strategies (NDSs) to establish objectives, policy priorities and outline necessary actions for implementation of digital transformation. However, given the digital divide between different economies, it is difficult to compare consistently the priorities of NDS across various countries. This paper is an effort to explicate various priorities on different country groups. Using a macro-analysis lens, this research project explored specific policies and regulations that are perceived useful in identifying strategies for strengthening ICT adoption for economic and digital growth. We surveyed members of Asia Productivity Organization (APO) from mid-2020 to 2021 and interviewed three member countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Republic of Korea). Findings offer a guideline for countries to develop their NDS and discuss implications for policy makers in the Asia Pacific region.

Adoption of Information and Communication Technology to Improve The Performance of Processed Food-Based Msmes In Lampung Province

The objectives of this study are (1) analyzing the types and utilization of ICT, (2) analyzing business profits and the effect of ICT adoption on MSME revenue performance, and (3) analyzing factors affecting the ICT adoption of processed food MSMEs in Lampung Province. This research was conducted in Lampung Province, covering Bandar Lampung City, Central Lampung Regency, Pringsewu Regency, South Lampung Regency, Metro City, and Pesawaran Regency. Locasi is determined intentionally (purposive), considering that the location has adequate ICT facilities and access. The samples from this research were MSME actors in the production of superior processed foods, especially banana chips, cassava chips, emping melinjo, tempe chips, eyek-eyek, crackers, jackfruit chips, and kelanting based on the KJPU in Lampung Province. This study used a sample of 40 respondents. This research is a survey method. The data used in this study were divided into two, namely primary data and secondary data. The research data were analyzed descriptively qualitatively and quantitatively. The data are tabulated, mathematically analyzed, and statistically analyzed according to the purpose of the study. The results showed that the highest level of ICT use used by processed food MSMEs in Lampung Province, namely mobile phones, reached 95%. The most widely used social media whatsapp reached 77.5%. The most widely used use of the marketplace is the shoppe marketplace, but the use of the marketplace as a marketing medium for processed food MSME products is relatively low, only reaching 30%. Internet usage is quite high, reaching 82.5% and respondents think that the internet has an important role in marketing products, communicating with customers, and finding packaging information and product labels. Adopsi of ICT by processed food MSMEs in Lampung Province is still relatively low. Business revenues for processed food MSME actors were obtained by IDR 4,213,737.50, business profits obtained by IDR 2,448,951.73 in 2021. The level of ICT use has a significant influence on the performance of Processed Food MSMEs.

Exploring Global Competitiveness Index 4.0 through the lens of country risk

The Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) 4.0 provides an annual evaluation of country-level productivity and development in the fourth industrial revolution era. The GCI 4.0 is classified into 12 pillars representing socioeconomic, financial, health, technological, and other factors of production. Country risk, which is an aggregate measure of country-level exposure to financial, political, and economic risks, can influence national development. This study explores the association between country risk and competitiveness by mapping country risk drivers to GCI and GCI pillars to country risk. Two Bayesian Belief Network models, with a minimum prediction accuracy of 81.3 %, are developed using two data-sets representing the GCI and country risk ratings of 107 countries. Sensitivity analysis reveals that low performance in information and communication technology (ICT) adoption (monetary policy) can significantly affect country risk (GCI), whereas innovation capability (financial system risk) and institutions (legal system) can considerably improve country risk (GCI). By delving into how the pillars of competitiveness interact with various risk factors such as political stability, economic volatility, and regulatory environment, decision-makers, investors, and policymakers can gain valuable insights that guide effective resource allocation, risk mitigation strategies, informed policy formulation, and sustainable development efforts.

Digital sustainability: Ethics, epistemology, complexity and modelling

The growing attention to digital sustainability can arguably be linked to climate change and digital transformations as major megatrends rapidly altering our collective present and future. The current Russian-Ukrainian war and the recent pandemic, however, have both raised uncertainty over the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) achievement and the role of technology and innovation for sustainability. Without ignoring the dramatic consequences for people, the Ukrainian war can be deemed as a significant shift in geopolitics and global energy policies, with a short-term return to fossil fuel and commitments to renewable and clean energy transitions. At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic acted as a catalyst for a more pervasive diffusion and adoption of information and communication technologies (ICTs) transforming our lives and notions of sustainability. By considering the disruptive impact triggered by the pandemic, this paper aims at advancing awareness and knowledge of digital sustainability and at drawing a coherent framework of arguments including ethical and epistemological issues, taking into account the approach of complexity science. This will be essentially carried out by considering digital sustainability as “the convergence of digital and sustainability imperatives that involves a trans-disciplinary approach of deploying digital technologies in tackling sustainability issues” (Pan and Zhang, 2020). Across different interpretations reflected within business and management debates (Sharma, et al., 2021), this definition gives meaning to the concept or construct by specifying operations that must be performed in order to measure or manipulate the concept (Berrío-Zapata, et al., 2021). This paper will focus on the profound transformations of our view of reality by ICTs acting as instrumentarian technologies, and the need to avoid determinism, rethink science-technology relations, and consider the distributed morality of multi-agent ecosystems as significant aspects to further a debate on the trans-disciplinary nature of digital sustainability, including the potential negative impacts of digital technologies on society, economy and environment.

The incorporation of information and communication technologies in medication administration: opportunities and challenges for nursing management

Introduction: the safe and efficient administration of medications is essential to guarantee the quality of medical care and the safety of patients. The adoption of information and communication technologies (ICT) in this process can improve accuracy and efficiency, reduce errors. Objective: determine the incorporation of information and communication technologies in medication administration: opportunities and challenges for nursing management. Methods: quantitative, descriptive and transversal approach. A questionnaire was applied that has a Cronbach's alpha = 0,9, composed of 5 closed questions based on a Likert scale, the same one that was applied to health personnel who work at the San Pablo Health Center, Bolívar Province, Ecuador. Results: the nursing staff presents different levels of competence. Certain participants show a low level in certain dimensions, while others demonstrate a medium or high level of competence. Challenges are identified in areas such as the management of digital systems, digital communication, information processing and content generation. Conclusions: the incorporation of ICT in the administration of medications in the field of nursing management offers significant opportunities to improve safety, efficiency and quality in medical care. It is recommended to provide adequate training and support to strengthen the digital skills of nursing staff

Factors related to information and communication technologies adoption in small businesses in Colombia

This study is an analysis of how a set of factors influenced the decision to adopt information and communication technologies (ICTs) in small businesses in Colombia; for this purpose, a logistic modeling is applied, wherein the explained variable represents the companies’ decision to adopt ICTs. The main explanatory elements include demographic aspects of the owner, the company characteristics, and the legal practice of the company and its social capital. Data from the Microbusiness Survey 2019 conducted by the National Administrative Department of Statistics of Colombia were employed. The results show that traits such as owner age and gender affect adoption. Furthermore, variables such as the age and size of the company, the amount of computer equipment, business formalization practices, and social capital influence the use of these technologies. Therefore, it follows that the individual features of business owners are also determinants of technology adoption, and their inclusion becomes essential to supplement the analysis of these issues. In addition, the study supports the evidence that the acceptance of these technologies is positively related to the business size and infrastructure. By exploring, for example, the business formalization factor, a positive effect is obtained; consequently, the implementation of legal practices is linked to the ICT use. Thus, some of the areas for policy implementation would be, on one hand, the endowment of computer equipment, since it is a critical aspect in these small businesses, for which a subsidy policy for the acquisition of devices would be useful. In addition, the promotion of business formalization practices could lead to an improvement in the firm’s culture of technology use.

E-Government in Indonesia: Policy Review and Implementation of Jokowi's Government

The rate of adoption of information and communication technology in government administration, known as E-Government, has become an important issue in the Indonesian context, especially under the leadership of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi). This research aims to provide an in-depth overview of E-Government policies and implementation in Indonesia during Jokowi's administration. Researchers analyzed the policy steps taken by the Jokowi government in advancing E-Government and analyzed the success rate of its implementation. In addition, this study also identifies challenges and obstacles faced in efforts to improve public services through information technology. The results of this study provide a better understanding of the progress of E-Government in Indonesia, its contribution to government efficiency, and its impact on public services. By understanding the extent to which E-Government policies and implementation have been successful, the government and other stakeholders can take further steps to improve this system to achieve a more transparent, inclusive, and effective governance in Indonesia.

The Perils of Asymmetrical Technological Changes in a Knowledge Economy with Complete Markets

How does the asymmetrical adoption of advanced communication technology affect economic and social sustainability? We examined the impact of Industry 4.0 on these two pillars of sustainability, focusing on the productivity divide arising from the asymmetric adoption of advanced technologies. We used a theoretical, general equilibrium model to describe a population within a knowledge economy with complete markets who gets exposed to a generally available advanced technology. Our main assumption was that only the more-knowledgeable individuals are able to adopt or fully benefit from the technology, leaving the unskilled ones behind. We demonstrate that this asymmetry prevents the property of positive sorting to apply, leading to a failure to sustain an equilibrium. The divide between knowledgeable and less-skilled individuals poses challenges for workers situated around the boundary, who face penalties in terms of employability and cost-effectiveness. Bridging this skill gap is crucial for inclusive growth. Policy recommendations include retraining programs, accessible education, and targeted policies promoting technology diffusion. As a possible extension, the model could be adapted to analyze collective bargaining agreements.

An Integrated Testbed for Power System Cyber-Physical Operations Training

The increased adoption of information and communication technology for smart grid applications will require innovative cyber–physical system (CPS) testbeds to support research and education in the field. Groundbreaking CPS testbeds with realistic and scalable platforms have progressively gained interest in recent years, with electric power flowing in the physical layer and information flowing in the network layer. However, CPSs are critical infrastructures and not designed for testing or direct training, as any misbehaving in an actual system operation could cause a catastrophic impact on its operation. Based on that, it is not easy to efficiently train professionals in CPSs. Aiming to support the advancement and encourage the training of industry professionals, this paper proposes and develops a complete testbed using a real-time simulator, protection and automation devices, and a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system. The testbed replicated the performance of smart grids, and the main potential cyber threats that electric grids may face. Different case scenarios include a distribution system protection study, a denial of service (DoS) attack, a jamming attack, a network packet manipulation attack, a sensor data manipulation attack, a false trip command attack, etc. The system’s performance before and after the cyberattacks are studied using packet-sniffing tools and a network packet analyzer. The impact on the grid is analyzed using metrics such as voltage oscillation, frequency deviation, and loss of active power generation. Moreover, the complex interdependencies between the cyber and physical domains are discussed in detail, providing insightful guidelines for key features and design decisions for future smart grid testbeds.

THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON DIGITAL BANKING

In the current business landscape, characterized by the widespread adoption of Information and Communication Technologies, companies must adapt to new paradigms and align their management strategies accordingly. The retail banking sector has experienced significant transformations, and the process has been further accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic. The shift towards digital banking has become essential due to market conditions, offering advantages such as differentiation from competitors, cost reduction, and improved customer engagement. This study aims to explore the strategies implemented by the banking sector during the digital transformation and examine the extent to which Covid-19 has influenced the growth of Digital Banking. The research methodology involved conducting a questionnaire survey among clients of banking institutions. The sample size for this study comprised 351 respondents. The survey findings indicate that, overall, respondents are content with the digital services provided by financial institutions. They perceive them as secure and exhibit a preference for Homebanking/Mobile Banking over traditional channels.

Adopting e-government to monitor public infrastructure projects execution in Nigeria: The public perspective

Public infrastructure projects (PIPs) are critical to the socioeconomic development of any country and similar to most public activities, their governance requires effective public participation to be successful. Information and communication technology adoption in government-public engagements (i.e., e-government) has improved public participation in governance in developed countries. This study utilizes the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology to investigate determining factors for the Nigerian public to adopt e-government tools to promote public participation in monitoring PIPs execution. It adopts questionnaire survey and structural equation modelling techniques to show that performance expectancy, facilitating conditions, social influence, and effort expectancy significantly and positively affect behavioral intention to adopt e-government tools to monitor PIPs execution in Nigeria. This study provides scholars with an exploratory baseline for extension of e-government adoption to public infrastructure project management. This study also provides recommendations to policy makers, government technocrats, and project engineers on the need for policy changes, creation of interactive and up-to-date project websites for PIPs in Nigeria.

ICT Adoption and Factor Productivity of Manufacturing Firms in India

This paper examines the effect of information and communication technology (ICT) adoption on the factor productivity of the Indian manufacturing firms during 2010-19. The study focuses on the selfselection and endogenous effects of ICT adoption on capital-labour productivity and discusses strategies to capture untapped growth opportunities. We find that ICT adopters have greater stakes for survival and growth, have a larger proportion of tangible assets, and are intensively engaged in exporting and outreach. In addition, ICT adoption leads to a 155 percent growth in capital productivity and a 62 percent fall in labour productivity – leading to a net growth of 80 percent in the capital-labour productivity ratio.

Città intelligenti e neutralità climatica: verso la transizione energetica

The contribution discusses the goal of achieving global climate neutrality, focusing on the activities of cities, energy production, and consumption. Europe is committed to supporting a hundred selected cities in reaching climate neutrality by 2030 through the Mission Climate Neutral and Smart Cities. This commitment combines climate neutrality with the concept of smart cities, promoting innovation and setting an example for other cities to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. For the hundred cities, Europe envisions the use of financial tools, regulatory interventions, and a Climate City Contract, along with funds from the national recovery and resilience plans, which are expected to be suitably coordinated. Due to the continued high consumption of fossil fuels, and of their inevitable use in the coming – hopefully few - decades, efforts must be made to improve the efficiency of existing power plants and utilize less polluting fossil fuel sources. The use of renewable sources, particularly solar, wind, and hydroelectric power, becomes increasingly imperative. Gradual electrification of sectors emerges as a key strategy for the energy transition, considering the natural integration of these sources into the power grid. The use of hydrogen as an energy carrier and storage source, as well as ongoing research in nuclear energy, are additional essential elements contributing to the implementation of a diversified energy strategy deemed necessary. The widespread adoption of information and communication technologies (ICT) and smart sector integration are also fundamental components of the energy transition. Renewable energy communities of prosumers, promoted by the European directives RED II and IEM of the Clean Energy Package, could potentially generate 20% of the energy consumed in cities by 2030, further emphasizing the importance of the electrical system and smart grids in this context.

Mobile computing-enabled health physique evaluation in campus based on amplified hashing

With the increasingly wide spread of COVID-19 pandemic, people’s various behavior activities are influenced more or less all over the world. For example, students in campus have to learn at home or in dormitory so as to avoid the attacks of the virus as much as possible. However, such a location distribution structure of student places a heavy burden on the monitoring and evaluating the sport physique of students in an effective and efficient way. Fortunately, the wide adoption of various mobile computing terminals (e.g., smart watches, mobile phones, etc.) and wireless communication technology makes it possible to know about the daily physique of students in a remote way. However, students’ health physique data are accumulated with time, which raises a challenge of quick data processing and cost-effective data scalability. Moreover, since the students are geographically distributed, we need to integrate their respective health physique data into a central cloud platform for more comprehensive data analysis and mining. However, the above data integration operations often involve student privacy. Motivated by the above two challenges, a mobile computing-aided health physique evaluation solution is brought forth in this paper, which is mainly based on a kind of amplified hashing technique. To prove the evaluation performances of the proposal, extensive experiments are designed to test the algorithm performances in terms of various evaluation metrics.

A thorough examination of smart city applications: Exploring challenges and solutions throughout the life cycle with emphasis on safeguarding citizen privacy

With the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoTs), it is crucial to acknowledge the potential security and privacy issues that arise from these advanced technologies in smart cities. This article provides overview of these concerns, highlighting the various ways in which smart city technologies can be vulnerable to cyber-attacks and other security threats. Additionally, the paper examines the privacy risks associated with the collection and use of personal data in smart cities. Effective security measures and privacy protection policies are crucial in ensuring the safety and security of smart cities. Cooperation between governments, private companies and citizens is essential to implement such measures and policies, allowing smart cities to continue developing while guaranteeing the security and privacy of their citizens. Likewise, smart city public safety systems that utilize AI-powered surveillance technologies may be predisposed to hacking, leading to privacy breaches and data misuse. Moreover, smart city energy systems, which rely on IoT devices to regulate power grids, are susceptible to cyber-attacks that can result in power outages or significant damage to vital infrastructure. The adoption of information and communication technology for smart city development has increased the risk of cyber threats, emphasizing the need for a review cybersecurity governance model. In addition, smart city water systems that rely on AI-powered sensors to monitor water quality may also be at risk of hacking, which could result in the contamination of the water supply. Further research is required to better understand the potential risks associated with smart city technologies and develop new solutions to address them. This article shows as a valuable resource for city administrators, policymakers and researchers interested in the security and privacy concerns of smart cities.

ICT and academic transformation in universities

The Covid-19 pandemic transformed the way people interact, necessitating the global adoption of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as both established and emerging resources. Although the University of La Guajira had been integrating face-to-face and virtual modalities, resistance was identified among the teaching staff. This research aimed to clarify the role of teachers in the use of these technologies within teaching and learning processes, employing a quantitative, descriptive approach and a non-experimental field design. The study population consisted of 1,062 students, and the sample included 282 students. Data collection was conducted via a Likert scale questionnaire, which obtained a reliability of 0.859 through Cronbach's Alpha. The study concluded that teachers demonstrate command of technology, utilize basic support equipment, and provide procedural support through explanations, collaboration, guidance, and motivation to enhance performance in accordance with the individual needs of each student.

Energy transition and pollution emissions in developing countries: are renewable energies guilty?

PurposeThis study aims to examine the effects of energy transition on pollution emissions in Africa. In addition, it explores the indirect channels through which energy consumption impacts environmental quality.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses system Generalised Method of Moments approach for a panel of 51 developing African countries over the 1996–2020 period.FindingsThe results show that fossil fuel and renewable energy consumption increase pollution emissions. The environment-degrading effect of renewable energy in Africa is however counter-intuitive, though the results are robust across regional economic blocks and income groups except for upper-middle-income countries where energy consumption is environment enhancing. Moreover, the results show that the environmental impacts of non-renewable energy consumption are modulated through financial development and information and communication technology (ICT) adoption, leading to respective positive net effects of 0.04460796 and 0.07682873. This is up to respective policy thresholds of 203.265 and 137.105 of financial development and ICT adoption, respectively, when the positive net effects are nullified.Practical implicationsContingent on the results, the study suggests the need for African countries to develop sound financial systems and encourage the use of green technologies, to ensure that energy transition effectively contributes to emissions reduction. Policymakers in Africa should also be aware of the critical levels of financial development and ICT, beyond which complementary policies are required for non-renewable energy consumption to maintain a negative impact on environmental degradation.Originality/valueFirstly, extant studies on the nexus between energy transition and environmental degradation in Africa are very sparse. Therefore, this study fills the existing research gap by comprehensively examining the effects of energy transition on pollution emissions across 51 African economies. Additionally, besides accounting for the direct environmental effects of energy transition, the current study accounts for the indirect channels through which the environmental impacts of energy transition are modulated. Hence, this study provides critical thresholds for the policy modulating variables, which enlighten policymakers on the necessity of designing complementary policies once the modulating variables attain the established thresholds.

Remote Learning (Distance Education) is Not New; it Has a Pre-COVID History

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic governments across the world closed schools, forcing billions of students to undertake their education remotely. Despite the attention this situation received, learning at a geographical distance from the teacher is not a new form of schooling. Distance learning, or distance education as it is also known, can be traced back to the introduction of compulsory education. This article examines the development of distance learning in Australia, and the adoption of communication technologies that have assisted this form of schooling to expand and diversify.

The activities of creating and valuing English digital textbooks in the process of teaching

Digital textbooks can play an essential role in representing a school discipline’s educational content through their interactive and multimedia features. The goal of the present research is to critically analyse some types of interactive educational resources developed using the MDIR Constructor 2.0 application to value English digital textbooks in the process of teaching. A content analysis of computers as an approach to language learning has been introduced by many researchers in the last few years. The current paper aims to show the impact of digital textbooks in the field of English language learning and provide examples of how the digital textbook might complement various classroom exercises to promote student-centred learning and individualization in language learning. First of all, the adoption of information and communication technology in the educational process in our country will be discussed. Secondly, an extensive review of a series of scientific studies about computer involvement in a language-learning environment will be examined. And finally, the practical aspects regarding the development of some interactive educational resources within the digital textbook for English language level A 1.2 will be presented.

Adoption of Information Communication Technology during the Pandemic: Exploring the University Teachers' Experiences in Pakistan

This study aimed at exploring the university teachers’ experiences regarding the adoption of Information Communication Technology (ICT) during the pandemic in Punjab. The sample has been selected conveniently from four public universities based in Punjab. The sample consisted of 28 university teachers teaching in the Education departments. The data were collected with the help of a semi-structured interview protocol comprising 10 questions. The collected data from individual interviews have been analyzed with the help of Thematic Analysis. The results revealed that the teachers working in Distance Education providing universities were already aware of using ICT in teaching. However, those who were teaching in Formal Education mode universities were not well versed in the integration of ICT in teaching. Similarly, the teachers were not given any proper training for conducting online classes. Rather they were given some videos which described how to use online channels for teaching.