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Investigating Factors that Affect Faculty Attitudes towards Participation in Open Access Institutional Repositories (open access)

Investigating Factors that Affect Faculty Attitudes towards Participation in Open Access Institutional Repositories

Open access institutional repositories (OA IRs) are electronic systems that capture, preserve, and provide access to the scholarly digital work of an institution. As a new channel of scholarly communications IRs offer faculty a new way to disseminate their work to a wider audience, which in turn can increase the visibility to their work and impact factors, and at the same time increase institutions prestige and value. However, despite the increased popularity of IRs in numbers, research shows that IRs remain thinly populated in large part due to faculty reluctance to participate. There have been studies on the topic of open access repositories with the focus on external factors (social or technological context) that affect faculty attitudes towards participation in IRs, and there is a lack of understanding of the internal factors and the psychology of the reluctance. The goal of this mix method study was to identify the overall factors that affect faculty attitudes towards participation in IRs and examine the extent to which these factors influenced faculty willingness to participate in IRs. First, from literature review and the Model of Factors Affecting Faculty Self-Archiving this study identified eleven factors that influenced faculty members' intention to participate in OA …
Date: December 2017
Creator: Tmava, Ahmet Meti
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Acceptance and Use of Cloud Computing Services by Small and Medium Enterprises in Lagos, Nigeria (open access)

The Acceptance and Use of Cloud Computing Services by Small and Medium Enterprises in Lagos, Nigeria

This study explored the acceptance of cloud computing (CC) services by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Lagos, Nigeria, which has been missing from CC services literature. It aimed to understand the motivations for adoption, the uses of the services, and the benefits they derive from it. The uses and gratification theory was applied as the theoretic framework for this endeavor. An online survey with close-ended and open-ended questions was distributed to 1200 randomly selected participants through email. In total, 392 valid responses were collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics and categories. The results found that SMEs in Lagos, Nigeria had a low level of awareness and appreciation of CC services. The adoption rate was also low. Unlike their counterparts in other regions, SMEs primary concerns were service downtime, stable power supply, and better internet access. The study found that SMEs were not taking full advantage of the capabilities of CC services. Some sections, however, were doing better than others, such as the information and communications sub-sector. This study suggested that targeted interventions should be conducted to raise the awareness of CC services in SMEs, and to improve their efficient and effective use of CC services. The uses and gratification …
Date: May 2017
Creator: Azogu, Olajumoke Oluwaseye
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Role of Tie Strength in the Diffusion of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Information among Yoga Practitioners (open access)

The Role of Tie Strength in the Diffusion of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Information among Yoga Practitioners

The National Center for Complementary and Integrated Health, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has highlighted a need for research to better understand the usage of complementary and alternative medicine practices. The purpose of this study was to investigate the flow of complementary and alternative medicine information among yoga practitioners. The study consisted of 51 yoga practitioners from 7 yoga studio locations. This mixed-methods study used interviews, surveys, and field notes to collect data. Content and social network analyses provided supporting evidence for Rogers' diffusion of innovations theory and Granovetter's strength of weak ties theory. Key findings included a preference for face-to-face communications, students having both strong and weak relationship ties to directors and instructors, and yoga being the top recommended practice. The study suggested that yoga practitioners related to complementary and alternative medicine information through the lens of their friends and relatives, sought information from trusted sources, and used this information to determine which practices were right for them to pursue.
Date: May 2017
Creator: Weaver, Margaret Louise
System: The UNT Digital Library