Current Issue : April - June Volume : 2012 Issue Number : 2 Articles : 5 Articles
Systems that help to find answers to suitable experts have received the attention of many researchers. Pioneer researchers on the development of search system for experts emphasized the importance of a search system that required returning a list prioritizing the names of individuals. Among the issues raised related to locating experts are, the critical problem of maintaining up-to-date information in the expert database and the inadequacy in expert finding systems in returning search results that are expected to account for not only the list of the names of the experts, but any information related to the experts and those involved with them. In the last decade, researchers have examined the search for experts from various research perspectives such as expert tracking system and construction of expert profiles involving ontology. This paper aims to describe a new approach in designing a framework for the construction of ontology that will be used in the directory of ICT experts. The researchers propose to incorporate thesaurus in their construction of ontology on ICT experts by providing a profile of the experts including their social profile and whatever concerns that may be associated with the expert. The researchers constructed the ontology on ICT experts by extracting information from sources such as their resumes and personal web sites to obtain the index glossary of words that characterized experts to be used in the directory of experts system. In this study, the standards contained in the Performance Evaluation System of the National University of Malaysia are used to extract information on the academicians in the Faculty of Information Science and Technology. The researchers employed the index glossary, metadata of experts and integrate appropriate taxonomy, thesaurus and classification schemes; such as Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) taxonomy, web classification schemes such as Standard Industrial Classification (SIC), North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) to enrich the ontology of ICT expertise. The proposed framework aims at helping users find information on the expert they require and at the same time obtain other information related to the experts from various perspectives encompassing research, consultancy, links with research partners, other interest related to a particular field and other resources. With a semantically driven directory of ICT experts, matters related to ICT can be referred to the right experts. The framework will be validated by developing the directory of ICT experts prototype and by involving domain experts to evaluate the content of the ontology constructed. In addition, the researchers will evaluate the search results of users who will use the prototype to search for ICT experts....
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has been widely regarded as an enabler to boost the competitive level of SMEs in the business arena. Notwithstanding the many efforts undertaken by governments to promote ICT adoption among SMEs across different types of industries, many of them failed to reap this benefit evenly. This problem is prevalent among the SMEs in the Asia Pacific region and Malaysia is no exception. This paper therefore investigates industry types as a moderating factor that may exert significant effects on the adoption of ICT among SMEs in Malaysia. Based on the extended Diffusion of Technology Innovation model, a questionnaire-based survey was conducted on 406 managers/owners of SMEs in the southern region of Malaysia. The findings suggest that different type of SMEs do affect the strength relationship between some predictor variables and ICT adoption intention. The findings are discussed and interpreted to provide key implications to the policy makers in general and the SMEs in particular....
E-business as a multifaceted application has vast capabilities to support today''s business. Nevertheless, these capabilities do not equally benefit all firms. Therefore, appropriate selection of e-business solutions would substantially enhance firm efficiency and effectiveness. Despite extensive research in this domain, there are limited works that explore the extent to which SMEs successfully align diverse e-business capabilities to their strategic business functions. This is crucial considering that SMEs have relatively limited resources and thus make them more selective in e-business-related investments. This study therefore explores the current state of e-business fit (alignment) among Malaysian SMEs. The next attempt is to reveal any possible patterns that represent firms with respect to their e-business alignment characteristics. A self-administered survey was conducted on 140 SMEs owner/manager in order to investigate present status of e-business alignment across various business processes. The results generally indicate that firms perceive a relatively higher level of alignment in terms of information searching, sales, and internal-related functions relative to other functions. A cluster analysis further classifies firms into three (3) groups with somewhat distinct alignment patterns. Despite several limitations, this study has provided insights on how e-business penetrates across firm operation and the extent to which it corresponds to the most salient functions of the business. This study, therefore, supports the claim that SMEs have different priorities over e-business solutions in support of various business functions. These findings have also provided more insights such as why some firms do not progress into a higher e-business ladder....
The present study explored the role of gender and family location in moderating the impact of job characteristics on organizational commitment. A valid sample of 389 Taiwanese expatriates was invited to participate by e-mail. The methods of data analysis used in this study consisted of exploratory factor analysis, internal consistency reliability, and moderated multiple regression. Findings indicate that job\ncharacteristics sub-variables, variety and autonomy, significantly influence organizational commitment positively while friendship opportunity and task identity significantly influence organizational commitment negatively. Gender is identified as moderating relationships between job characteristics and organizational commitment. The implications for future research are also discussed....
The construction industry is an important player in the economy of South Africa. In spite of the numerous constraints facing the industry in developing countries, it makes significant contributions to economic growth. The construction industry is a challenging place to work. This diverse industry is, however, associated with high risk environments and employees are exposed to harsh and dangerous situations, for example, employees have to work with dangerous machines and equipment. The\nindustry stands out from other industries as having the highest worker injury and fatality rates. Every construction worker is likely to be temporarily unfit to work at some stage as a result of moderate injuries or health problems after working on a construction site. The construction industry is closely linked to the economy of a country and is often a good indicator of the state of that economy. If the\nconstruction sector and the economy of a country are so closely linked, then it makes sense to effectively manage the human resources active within that industry. In order to investigate and explore the well-being of employees, a research questionnaire was developed and presented, to a sample of 34 male respondents in a medium sized construction company for completion. A non-probability sampling\nprocedure was utilised for the study. The empirical results indicated the difficulties that the respondents are experiencing. The results further revealed the need for assistance from the employer to the respondents. It is anticipated that the research will contribute, firstly, to an awareness of problems in the construction industry regarding the well-being of workers, and secondly to develop a model which will positively contribute to the effective development and implementation of assistance\nprogramme for employees in the construction industry....
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