Abstract
Unusually for this journal, the first paper in this issue reports on a study carried out in the United States. In ‘Investigating personal information management motivation in a mandatory adoption of content management systems’, Yujong Hwang of De Paul and Kyung Hee universities reports an investigation of the acceptance, by end users in a university in the Chicago area, of newly implemented technologies within organizational contexts before they start using the technology. The findings provide important insights on understanding information management motivation in a mandatory adoption environment.
In the first of several contributions from Africa, Janet O. Adekannbi and Olumide Morakinyo Adeniran, of the University of Ibadan, report the findings of a study on ‘Information literacy of women on family planning in rural communities of Oyo State, Nigeria’. The findings showed that while the women had a basic level of knowledge about family planning, most had not yet adopted family planning. Reasons for non-adoption included husbands’ disapproval and unavailability of health facilities, as well as reported complications arising from use. Family planning information was obtained mainly through radio and health centres, where available; there were no reported cases of enlightenment programmes by the government except in one community, where such programmes had been introduced but stopped.
We leave Africa for the second paper, ‘Understanding G2G e-government project impasse: a stakeholder theory perspective’, by Vidushi Pandey and Sumeet Gupta of the Indian Institute of Management Raipur, India. The paper examines the impasse reached during the implementation of a statewide Digital Secretariat Project in India through the lens of stakeholder theory. The results revealed that in a G2G project it is crucial for the implementing agency to identify dominant stakeholder departments and take them into confidence right from the beginning of the project. Intervention by higher level government offices is important to impart saliency to the implementing agency and prevent any other dominant stakeholder from stalling the project. Undertaking such a widespread project without strong government support can lead to failure of implementation and waste of important public resources.
We return to Africa with a paper on ‘Staff training and development programmes and work performance in the university libraries in Ghana’, by Mac-Anthony Cobblah of Methodist University College Ghana and TB van der Walt of the University of South Africa. The authors examined the effectiveness of staff training and development policies, programmes, methods, training needs analysis and the monitoring and evaluation methods of five university libraries in Ghana in order to establish the effectiveness of staff development initiatives in library and information services. The findings established that there is a positive relationship between staff training and development and work performance of library staff in the selected university libraries. The results also revealed that staff development must be complemented with other human resource management strategies, such as reward, promotion, retooling, etc.
Remaining in Africa, the next paper reports on a study of ‘Technology-assisted communication in older persons in a residential care facility in South Africa’, by Jennifer Chipps of the University of the Western Cape and Mary Ann Jarvis of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The purpose of the study was to identify the use and acceptance of technology-assisted communication to increase social connectedness in older persons in an urban residential care facility in South Africa. Participants with the highest Behavioural Intention were residents in their first year of relocation, younger participants (60–74 years), divorced participants and participants with higher educational qualifications. Perceived Ease of Use contributed significantly towards Attitudes concerning technology use. Video chat offered the greatest appeal for future use.
We leave Africa again with the next paper, ‘Activating the role of the public library towards Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in Kuwait’, by Husain F. Ghuloum and Waleed M. Alyacoub of the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET), Kuwait. Individuals with ASD are considered an important part of the population of the State of Kuwait, but public libraries do not pay attention to them for several reasons, including librarians’ lack of awareness of ASD. This research attempted to outline a new role for public libraries in serving individuals with ASD and their families in Kuwait.
Returning to Africa, but again focusing on public libraries, the final paper in this issue, by Paul M Gichohi of Kenya Methodist University, Omwoyo B Onyancha of the University of South Africa and Frankwell W Dulle of Sokoine University of Agriculture, considers ‘How public libraries in Meru County, Kenya, address the business information needs of small-scale enterprises’. The study found that the many business information needs of small businesses are sector-specific and cut across all stages of business development. In Meru County, these needs are fulfilled mainly by consulting informal information resources, but the few small traders who were using public libraries for business information expressed high levels of satisfaction. The study concluded that public libraries can have a facilitative role in providing business information to small enterprises by collaborating with like-minded stakeholders.
The Developing Latin America column in this issue, by Juan D. Machin-Mastromatteo and Javier Tarango of the Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua and Eduardo Medina-Yllescas of CETYS Universidad deals with ‘Latin American triple-A journals 1: A quality roadmap from the quality indicators and journals’ presence in Web of Science and Scopus’; the next issue will study the quality requirements and Latin American journals’ presence in other recognized indexes and platforms. To close this issue, Msafiri comments that ‘Book learning is forbidden’.
In the next issue
Articles due to appear in the next issue (Vol. 33, no. 5) will include: ‘Characteristics and factors that differentiate Internet users and non-users information seekers: the case of rural women in Tanzania’, by Edda Tandi Lwoga and Wallace Chigona; ‘Evaluation of information needs of agricultural extension agents in Ghana’, by Joel Sam, Simon K Osei, Lucy P Dzandu, and Kirchuffs Atengble; ‘Web content strategy in higher education institutions: the case of King Abdulaziz University’, by Amany M Elsayed; ‘Cloud service adoption by firms in Taiwan: advancing trust theory and applications’, by Tsui-Yii Shih and Cha-Wei Lin; ‘Communicating corporate social responsibility via telecommunications websites: a cross-country analysis’, by Anas Sulemena; and ‘Public administration employees’ readiness and acceptance of e-government: findings from a Croatian survey’, by Darko Dukić, Gordana Dukić and Neven Bertović, while Msafiri will ask: ‘Who wants freedom of information’?