Information Systems and Technology

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to provide a viewpoint on the historical roots and future evolution of social media. Design/methodology/approach-This paper provides a summary of the authors' previous research and experience in the area of social media. Findings-This paper contains practical insights on the consumer use and business potential of social media applications. Originality/value-This viewpoint provides insights to anyone who is interested in researching consumer use of social media or using social media in a managerial context. It will be particularly helpful to business leaders who are looking for answers in the fast-moving area of social media applications.

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to provide a viewpoint on the historical roots and future evolution of social media. Design/methodology/approach-This paper provides a summary of the authors' previous research and experience in the area of social media. Findings-This paper contains practical insights on the consumer use and business potential of social media applications. Originality/value-This viewpoint provides insights to anyone who is interested in researching consumer use of social media or using social media in a managerial context. It will be particularly helpful to business leaders who are looking for answers in the fast-moving area of social media applications.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to consider factors affecting the effective utilisation of information and communication technology (ICT) and the adoption of more sophisticated ICT solutions in small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in Lagos, Nigeria.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopts a case study approach. Semi‐structured interviews in 25 SMEs were used as tools for data collection.FindingsThe paper identifies eight key factors that affect the effective utilisation and adoption of more sophisticated or advanced ICT solutions in Nigerian SMEs.Research limitations/implicationsThe data for this research are drawn from a particular region in Nigeria, therefore, the findings are not generalisable to SMEs in other regions. Also, the data are collected from various industry sectors hence, it is not possible to have sector‐specific conclusions.Practical implicationsEffective utilisation of sophisticated ICT solutions in SMEs has great impact on SMEs' competitiveness. Al...

ALIFA DIAN RAMADHANI AKUNTANSI KELAS F -17312391 I. DIKAR MODEL DIKAR model adalah model proses yang menghubungkan data, informasi, pengetahuan dan tindakan strategis ke dalam hasil bisnisis. DIKAR model dapat membantu menemukan, mencari, dan kemudian menyebarkan pengetahuan dalam konteks bisnis. Pada gambar diatas dijelaskan bahwa data yang diolah menjadi informasi, dan satu pengetahuan sebagai keuntungan dengan menafsirkan pengetahuan informasi, kemudian digunakan untuk menentukan penyebab tindakan, yang mendorong sebuah hasil. Intinya, model dikar menjelaskan bahwa data diperlukan untuk memperbaiki prosedur pengambilan keputusan. Data dapat dikumpulkan menggunakan aplikasi yang memanfaatkan gambar melalui ponsel atau kamera, suara melalui telepon, serta teks, email, atau jejaring sosial. Oleh karena itu, pengumpulan data harus relevan serta berkualitas untuk memudahkan pengambilan keputusan yang efektif  Item data memiliki deskripsi dasar tentang kejadian, hal, aktifitas, dan transaksi yang dikelompokkan, dicatat, serta disimpan. Item data dapat berupa huruf, angka, gambar,

The paper reports on findings of a study conducted among micro and small enterprises from selected regions of Spain, Portugal and Poland. The research focused on issues regarding the use of Information and Communication Technology solutions by small and medium-sized enterprises. By analyzing the barriers that discourage SMEs from using ICT and e-Business solutions in their business processes, this paper points out to the causes of the "Digital Divide" phenomenon. Digital Divide at business level means, that SMEs are lagging behind large corporations as far as ICT and e-Business implementation are taken into consideration. The paper argues, that the main barrier of better utilization of ICT and e-Business and thus the main reason, why SMEs face Digital Divide is not as much as lack of access to information technology ("material access" barrier), as it is the lack of proper knowledge, education and skilled owner-managers and employees within the enterprise. As a result, the actions aimed at bridging the Digital Divide in SMEs should concentrate on overcoming the "skills access" and "usage access" barriers within SMEs, not the material ones.

O crescente interesse a nível nacional e mundial pelos sistemas de informação onde se inclui a perspectiva da Web como uma área imprescindível ao desenvolvimento das organizações tem levado ao lançamento em crescendo de oferta de formação aos níveis médio – focalizando apenas a aprendizagem de uma linguagem de programação – de Licenciatura – focalizando não só as linguagens de programação assim como a análise e concepção de sistemas e mesmo a nível dos mestrados já com uma perspectiva mais refinada. Assim, a criação deste programa – DTSI – permitirá ocupar um espaço de enorme oportunidade para a formação pós-graduada de topo nesta área através da pesquisa científica, contribuindo para o avanço do conhecimento e para a formação de pesquisadores, profissionais de elevada qualificação e de docentes do ensino superior, preenchendo desta forma um vazio que já se tornava visível no nosso país.

The multicore processor architectures have been gaining increasing popularity in the recent years. However, many available applications cannot take full advantage of these architectures. Therefore, many researchers have developed several characterization techniques to help programmers understand the behavior of these applications on multicore platforms and to tune them for better efficiency. This paper proposes an on-the-fly, configuration-independent characterization approach for characterizing the inherent characteristics of multicore applications. This approach is fast, because it does not depend on the details of any specific machine configuration and does not require repeating the characterization for every target configuration. It just keeps track of memory accesses and the cores that perform these accesses through piping memory traces, on-the-fly, to the analysis tool. We applied this approach to characterize eight applications drawn from SPLASH-2 and PARSEC benchmark suites. This paper presents the inherent characteristics of these applications, including memory access instructions, communication characteristics patterns, sharing degree, invalidation degree, communication slack and communication locality. The results show that two of the studied applications have high parallelization overhead, which are Cholesky and Fluidanimate. The results also indicate that the studied applications of SPLASH-2 have higher communication rates than the studied applications of PARSEC and these rates generally increase as the number of used threads increases. Most of the sharing and invalidation occurs in small degrees. However, two of SPLASH-2 applications have significant fraction of communication with high sharing degrees involving four or more threads. Most of the applications have some uniform communication component and the initial thread is generally involved in more communication compared to the other threads.

The maturation of database management system (DBMS) technology has coincided with significant developments in distributed computing and parallel processing technologies. The end result is the emergence of distributed database management systems and parallel database management systems. These systems have started to become the dominant data-management tools for highly data-intensive applications.

This study, using longitudinal data analysis, attempts to address the question of whether CSR is linked to financial performance for PLCs in Malaysia. Despite CSR disclosure being at a nascent stage in Malaysia, the findings of this study solidly support the outcome of the majority of results in developed markets. It was found to be positively related to financial performance. This suggests that local firms can achieve advanced levels of financial performance if they engage in social activities. The findings also confirm that there is limited evidence of a significant effect of CSR on financial performance in a long-term relationship.

Purpose–The purpose of this paper is to focus on the developing circular economy (CE) policy within China and its relationship to China's information technology (IT) and IT products industry. It provides a framework to understand the role CE plays in sustainability at many levels within China. Design/methodology/approach–This paper provides a review of the literature and practice in China various information sources including Chinese publications are used to further develop the framework and provide exemplary activities ...

Usability is considered to be one of the most important quality factors for Web applications, along with others such as reliability and security . It is not sufficient to satisfy the functional requirements of a Web application in order to ensure its success. The ease or difficulty experienced by users of these applications is largely responsible for determining their success or failure. Usability evaluations and technologies that support the usability design process have therefore become critical in ensuring the success of Web applications.

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to survey, systemize and analyse the e-readiness of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and determine which new technologies can be applied to build a digital business ecosystem (DBE) for SMEs. Based on the results of a survey, the authors' objectives are to propose an adequate solution system that uses open source solutions for the SME through the development of a prototype based on a DBE concept. Design/methodology/approach-On the resulting principal components, the authors applied the variance analysis and built two LISREL (a linear structural equation system involving multiple indicators of unmeasured variables) models. LISREL can handle a wide array of problems and models. Based on a survey, an open source prototype solution was developed based on DBE philosophy. Findings-The authors defined different clusters. An SME can then find within the clusters further methods that could be important for their business. The authors developed two LISREL models, aiming to examine the factors that impact the use of the community applications and how they impact them, as well as the factors that impact the increase of the on-line sales. Based on the survey, a prototype system was designed and created that can be used for the setup of digital business networks. Practical implications-The paper proposes an adequate solution system that uses open source solutions for the SMEs through the development of a prototype based on a DBE concept. Originality/value-Building DBEs helps to create and operate value chains that help enterprises to extend their markets. Through their help, the inquirers and buyers get to know the elements of the value chain, and can therefore make decisions much easier. The paper shows how to define e-attributes of SMEs and clusters to build and use a DBE system for them.

Purpose-Information literacy (IL) training for teachers in developing communities, e.g. rural areas or townships in developing countries, is expected to pose special challenges in terms of sustainability, contextualisation, lifelong learning and empowerment. Little has been reported on such training in developing countries. Based on the authors' involvement in a UNESCO-funded IL training project for teachers in a developing community in South Africa, the purpose of this paper is to review literature and to suggest a model that can further research and training in IL that meets actual requirements and needs of developing communities. Design/methodology/approach-Literature reviews on four issues are reported on: ICT skills, teachers and developing/rural contexts; IL skills, teachers and developing communities; internet usage, search skills, teachers and developing communities; and lessons from ICT for development (ICT4D). Findings-ICT4D literature and critical social theory seem useful to further research on IL training in developing communities as it empowers researchers to take up a position of enquiry that questions the value of ICT and the underlying assumptions embedded in the ways ICT is introduced in developing contexts. It is assumed that this would also apply to IL. Originality/value-The contribution is original in its attempt to combine IL and ICT training for teachers in a developing community against an ICT4D background.

This study, using longitudinal data analysis, attempts to address the question of whether CSR is linked to financial performance for PLCs in Malaysia. Despite CSR disclosure being at a nascent stage in Malaysia, the findings of this study solidly support the outcome of the majority of results in developed markets. It was found to be positively related to financial performance. This suggests that local firms can achieve advanced levels of financial performance if they engage in social activities. The findings also confirm that there is limited evidence of a significant effect of CSR on financial performance in a long-term relationship.

How can action research be made more rigorous? We discuss in this paper action research, positivism and some major criticisms of action research by positivists. We then examine issues relating the conduct of IS research in organisations through multiple iterations in the action research cycle proposed by Susman and Evered. We argue that the progress through iterations allows the researcher to gradually broaden the research scope and in consequence add generality to the research findings. A brief illustrative case is provided with a study on groupware introduction in a large civil engineering company. In the light of this illustrative case we contend that effective application of the iterative approach to action research has the potential to bring research rigour up closer to standards acceptable by positivists and yet preserve the elements that characterise action research as such.

This research is an empirical examination of the relationship between organizational characteristics and scientific research effectiveness. A sample of research-active scientists (N ¼ 295) from 25 biological and chemical science university research departments took part in this study. Data were collected using the Organizational Culture Survey , which measures six organizational characteristics of the research environment. Organizational characteristics are analysed across a measure of departmental research performance. Results support the hypothesis that specific characteristics of the organizational environment are related to research performance. The implications of these findings for the existing literature and the future management and organization of scientific research departments are discussed.

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to examine the basis factors involved in the information security management systems of Malaysian public service (MPS) organizations. Therefore, it proposes an empirical analysis which was conducted to identify the antecedents of the information security maturity (ISM) of an organization; and to clarify the relationship between ISM and the social and technical factors identified. Design/methodology/approach-This study uses quantitative approach, convenience sampling and the required data collected from 970 key players' managers in information security, in a total of 722 government agencies, through a self-administrated survey. Research adopted the Wallace et al. process to develop and validate the study's instrument. Findings-The paper provides empirical insights and reveals a number of underlying dimensions of social factors and one technical factor. The risk management was found to be the formal coping mechanism adopted in the MPS organizations and is the leading factor towards ISM. The social factors have the most influence on MPS organizations' ISM. Findings demonstrate that two independent variables, risk management and individual perception, discriminate between those organizations that have high and low ISM. Research limitations/implications-The research results may lack generalization; therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions further in a different context. Practical implications-The paper includes implications for the development of a powerful instrument in explaining the ISM. Moreover, it helps internal stakeholders of an organization to formulate a more appropriate policy or give a more effective focus on issues that are really relevant to MPS information security management. Originality/value-This paper fulfils the identified need to explore determinants of information security maturity.

This study, using longitudinal data analysis, attempts to address the question of whether CSR is linked to financial performance for PLCs in Malaysia. Despite CSR disclosure being at a nascent stage in Malaysia, the findings of this study solidly support the outcome of the majority of results in developed markets. It was found to be positively related to financial performance. This suggests that local firms can achieve advanced levels of financial performance if they engage in social activities. The findings also confirm that there is limited evidence of a significant effect of CSR on financial performance in a long-term relationship.

The development of Ecommerce within Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Wales is restricted by a number of barriers. Various projects initiated by government and academic bodies exist to assist SMEs overcome these barriers. However, whether these projects represent the needs of SMEs is debatable. The opportunity for SMEs to exploit information communication technology has increased due to the improved affordability and sophistication of computing equipment, along with the development and utilisation of the Internet. This progress has seen the emergence of Ebusiness and Ecommerce, whereby SMEs can operate, communicate and trade in global markets. Recent surveys by academia, government and trade bodies have identified Wales as the worst performing region for Ebusiness in the UK with sceptical attitudes towards its increased adoption. This paper reports on a quantitative study investigating Ebusiness utilisation within SMEs in Wales. Specifically this paper focuses on the key barrie...

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to identify and examine the major issues and challenges that impact the implementation of wikis as KMS. Wikis have been referred to as next generation KMS, providing an alternative to traditional knowledge management systems by addressing many of their limitations. However, research shows that there are cases where wikis have failed to achieve this potential. Further research on the range of issues and challenges surrounding the implementation of wikis in the corporate environment is required in order to enable organizations manage them more effectively and reap maximum benefits. Design/methodology/approach -This paper begins by providing a review of previously published empirical studies on wiki deployment in organizations. The disparate discussions are then synthesised by identifying the major issues and challenges in wiki implementation. Findings -Six major issues and challenges are identified including lack of a clear purpose for the wiki, wiki usability, integrating wikis into established work practices, social issues, role of management and organizational culture that supports knowledge sharing and collaboration. Originality/value -It is posited that in order for organizations to successfully implement wikis, it is necessary to first understand the issues and challenges surrounding wiki implementation. This paper contributes to practice by identifying the key issues and challenges in the implementation of wikis and suggesting strategies for using wikis to manage knowledge effectively. Building on this review, we critically analyse the findings and propose a model for the implementation of wikis which addresses these issues and identifies research areas that further need to be investigated.

Purpose – An open question in the advanced economies, and in the current crisis even more, is to widely improve knowledge sharing as a driver of innovation and creativity processes. The need of addressing knowledge, creativity and innovation is co-generating new knowledge sharing tools, attempting to create new network linkages among professionals (such as engineers, researchers, professors, architects, creative designers, etc.), among financial/business companies and, between professionals and financial/business companies. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – To achieve this goal, during the Knowledge Intelligence and Innovation for a sustainable Growth (KnowInG) project (2010-2013), the Social Network KnowInG (SoN-KInG) model and framework consisting in a digital eco-system were created. The benefits and the potentialities of the SoN-KInG as knowledge sharing tool both for professionals and businesses are discussed in the paper. Findings – SoN-KInG...

Purpose This purpose of this research is to investigate the project management factors that are affecting the enterprise resource planning (ERP) projects’ performance in Jordan. Based on the conducted literature review, four project management areas were selected for this research: the communication management, the human resource management, the time management and the risk management. Design/methodology/approach In total, 24 Jordanian ERP projects were surveyed through designing a questionnaire that was distributed to project managers. Moreover, interviews were conducted with both the project manager of the largest ERP project in Jordan and a consultant of one of the Big 5 consulting firms. Findings The interviews’ results confirmed the effect of the four project management areas on the ERP project performance which is consistent with the questionnaire results except for the risk management. Originality/value No similar studies were found in Jordan. Moreover, this subject was tackl...

Purpose The extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2) model has been adapted and applied by scholars to gain insight into mobile banking (m-banking) usage. By combining three perspectives, UTAUT2, gamification (GM) and generational cohort theory, this study aims to investigate the factors which impact m-banking usage and examine the moderating effect of generations Y and Z on the relationship between GM and intention to use m-banking. Design/methodology/approach The adopted model was tested in a quantitative study by using partial least square structural equation modelling. A total of 380 valid questionnaires from a transition country, Albania, have been examined. Findings In the study, scientific evidence concerning the UTAUT2 model and GM elements are provided. Thus, facilitation conditions, habit and hedonic motivation were found to be significant determinants of GM. Moreover, the results revealed that age moderates the relationship between GM and behav...

Viruses, worms, Trojan horses, spywares have been effective for quite sometime in the domain of digital computers. These malicious software cause millions of dollars of loss in assets, revenue, opportunity, cleanup cost, and lost productivity. To stop virus attacks, organizations frame up different security policies. These policies work only within the limited domain of the organization's network. However, the emergence of wireless technologies, and the seamless mobility features of the wireless devices from one network to the other have created a challenge to uphold the security policies of a particular network. Hence, in this digital society, while mobile devices roam in foreign networks, they get infected through viruses in the foreign network. Anti-virus software is not so effective for novel viruses. There have been no reports of mobile-phone viruses in the wild as yet. However, with the emergence of execution environments on mobile phones, it will be possible to write viruses and worms for mobile devices in cellular networks. We should be prepared to fight against viruses in the cellular networks. All the technologies available to fight against viruses are specific to virus signatures. We propose that this fight needs to be multilayered. In this paper the authors have proposed a novel philosophy in cellular network called Artificial Hygiene (AH), which is virus neutral and will work at the class level. With this process a device and the network will take the necessary steps to keep the digital environment safe.

... Franco, H., Cohen, M., Moran, N., Rumelheart, D., Abrash, V. (1994), "Context-dependent connectionist probability estimation in a hybrid ... Sheikh Hussain, SS, Ahmad, Z., Zulkarnain, Y.,Rahman, S., Lim, SC (2000), "Implementation of speaker identification systems by means of ...

Purpose -This study aims to examine usage and deployment trends of e-business technologies within the small and medium-sized enterprise (SMEs) community in Wales, since the turn of the millennium. Analysis of prior surveys such as the Department of Trade and Industry and Federation of Small Business reveals poor adoption levels of basic information and communication technology deployment and minimal uptake of sophisticated technologies in comparison to other UK regions. Uptake of e-business was assessed through a quantitative survey of SMEs and contrasted against prior studies undertaken within Wales since 2000 to identify trends and levels of adoption. Design/methodology/approach -The study is comprised of a survey of 500 SMEs including a representative population from diverse geographical and economic regions within Wales. The survey deployed a proportionately stratified and representative sampling technique, whereby two-thirds of the enterprises selected were micro sized classified enterprises with no employees to ensure compatibility with the Welsh SME population. Findings -Levels of e-business uptake within prior surveys varied significantly, due to the contrasting nature and size of the samples. As a consequence, several previous surveys presented an overly optimistic picture of e-business adoption and results must, therefore, be treated with caution. The authors' own survey revealed lower utilisation levels of e-business than prior studies, suggesting sophisticated use of e-business was limited, especially within the smaller SME size classifications. Originality/value -To achieve increased e-business uptake, it is critical that there is a long-term strategic vision by policy makers to ensure coordinated action by relevant public and private sector groups. Short-term strategies must be avoided and policy makers must drive an agenda for change by ensuring bodies, such as enterprises support agencies, academia and public and private sectors undertake complimentary activities that encourage e-business adoption. This study will be of value to academia, the SME community and key public sector stakeholders in the formulation of policy for e-business development and deployment.

We propose a reorientation of the way the concept of sustainability is dealt with in relation to information systems, positioning the processing of knowledge at the centre of the concept. The concept of Sustainability of Knowledge (SoK), referring to processes that govern knowledge is employed to define Sustainable Information Systems (SIS). Three knowledge aspects are found to be relevant for the design of Sustainable Information Systems: adaptability, offloading and knowledge evaluation. The proposed sustainability approach is translated into requirements needed for SIS, by employing a SOA architecture.

Purpose-Despite the actual prevalence of diverse types of multimedia information, research on video news is still in an early stage. Improving the accessibility of video news seems worth investigating, therefore, the purpose of this paper is to present a new combination mode of video news text clustering and selection. This method is useful for sorting out and classifying various types of news videos and media texts based on sentiment analysis. Design/methodology/approach-A novel system is proposed, whereby video news are identified and categorized into good or bad ones via the authors' suggested Hidden Markov Model (HMM) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) hybrid learning method. Actually, an exploratory video news sentiment analysis case study, conducted on various news databases, has proven that the feature-selection-combining method, encompassing the Information Gain (IG), Mutual Information (MI) and CHI-statistic (CHI), performs the best classification, which testifies and highlights the designed framework's value. Findings-In fact, the system turns out to be applicable to several areas, especially video news, where annotation and personal perspectives affect the accuracy aspect. Research limitations/implications-The present work shows the way for further research pertaining to the personal attitudes and the application of different linguistic techniques during the classification. Originality/value-The achieved results are so promising, encouraging and satisfactory, that they highlight the originality and efficiency of the authors' approach as an effective tool enabling to secure an easy access to video news and multi-media texts.

Purpose – In many organisations, the alignment between information technology (IT) and business is viewed as an important catalyst for the organisation's effectiveness and efficiency towards achieving a competitive advantage. Yet, a shared understanding between business and IT (the EA included) remains an issue in many organisations. The organisational structure affects the alignment between business and IT units. Conversely, a lack of alignment of both components (IT and business units) impedes organisations' capacity to increase and improve their productivity. Many studies have been conducted in the area of IT, EA and the organisational structure. There is, however, little evidence of work conducted in exploring the interface between organisational structure and EA prior to this study. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – A case-study research approach was employed to investigate the impact of organisational structure in the deployment of E...

Purpose Despite the widespread use of mobile government (m-government) services in developed countries, the adoption and acceptance of m-government services among citizens in developing countries is relatively low. The purpose of this study is to explore the most critical determinants of acceptance and use of m-government services in a developing country context. Design/methodology/approach The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) extended with perceived mobility and mobile communication services (MCS) was used as the theoretical framework. Data was collected from 216 m-government users across Bangladesh and analyzed in two stages. First, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to identify significant determinants affecting users' acceptance of m-government services. In the second stage, a neural network model was used to validate SEM results and determine the relative importance of the determinants of acceptance of m-government services. Findings The r...

Sistem dan Teknologi Informasi // Information System and Technology MANAJER MEMILIKI TIGA PERAN DASAR (Mintzberg 1973) -Interpersonal roles figurehead, leader, liaison -Informational roles monitor, disseminator, spokesperson -Decisional roles entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator, negotiator -Peran tokoh interpersonal, pemimpin, penghubung -Peran informasi dipantau, diseminator, juru bicara -Peran keputusan pengusaha, pengendali gangguan, pengalokasi sumber daya, negosiator.

This research is an empirical examination of the relationship between organizational characteristics and scientific research effectiveness. A sample of research-active scientists (N ¼ 295) from 25 biological and chemical science university research departments took part in this study. Data were collected using the Organizational Culture Survey , which measures six organizational characteristics of the research environment. Organizational characteristics are analysed across a measure of departmental research performance. Results support the hypothesis that specific characteristics of the organizational environment are related to research performance. The implications of these findings for the existing literature and the future management and organization of scientific research departments are discussed.

Usability is considered to be one of the most important quality factors for Web applications, along with others such as reliability and security . It is not sufficient to satisfy the functional requirements of a Web application in order to ensure its success. The ease or difficulty experienced by users of these applications is largely responsible for determining their success or failure. Usability evaluations and technologies that support the usability design process have therefore become critical in ensuring the success of Web applications.

During the past two decades, both academic researchers and business managers have attempted to understand the ways through which information technology (IT) can create business advantages. In this paper, we present a model that tests the relationship between IT infrastructure, customer focus, and business advantages. Customer Focus has been categorized into: customer responsiveness and product/service innovation. The data for the study were obtained from 116 executives from a number of business organizations. IT infrastructure is found to have significant effect on customer responsiveness, but does not show any significant relationship with product/service innovation. IT infrastructure, customer responsiveness, and product/service innovation are found to be significantly related business advantages.

Purpose -The purpose of this study is to evaluate the development of a blended e-learning pedagogical model for an undergraduate enterprise programme. The proliferation of e-learning programmes offers new opportunities and challenges for universities to meet the learning needs of new student markets. However, the use of e-learning as an enabling mechanism for enterprise education remains largely unexplored within academic literature. Design/methodology/approach -The case study methodology comprises a series of focus groups with key stakeholders in the project, namely online tutors, students and scheme leaders from a number of partner colleges involved in the delivery of the course. Findings -The study charts the evolution of the blended learning pedagogy which was found to best meet the learning requirements of non-traditional learners on an undergraduate programme. The blended learning pedagogy strategy which was developed replicated the best informal practice that had emerged through each of the partner institutions and the learning needs of the students. Constituent elements of the pedagogy included the provision of structured face-to-face events, a range of student supports systems and the creation of a code of practice for online tutors. As a result, a model of best practice for blended learning is proposed. Originality/value -This study contributes to the literature in terms of proposing a working framework for online undergraduate enterprise education with identification of critical success factors including supportive induction, viable pedagogy and effective support systems. The framework can be utilised by practitioners and theoreticians as a guide to the effective management of pedagogical issues associated with blended online education.

ABSTRACT Purpose ‐ The purpose of this paper was to design ontology for describing semantic context-aware quality services, and to present a new web management tool that provides a great flexibility and enables automatic semantic adaptation and customization of mobile client services. Design/methodology/approach ‐ The tool is developed using ontology-based approach. This ontology captures a shared conceptual schema common in the tourism domain and maintains semantic quality information in heterogeneous service providers for service model. The results of the tool will be compared to prior works from other quality and distributed based service selection methods for mobile-based application. Findings ‐ The tool support is based in the ontology Context-aware Quality Semantic Web Service called (CxQWS). At the first step, services are defined as a set of semantic metadata, reflecting service requirements and QoS parameters. At the second step, services with a semantic contextual metadata are elaborated. Such a procedure ensures that the selection decisions should be based on the semantic quality representation of the created services. The SELETOR tool results suggest that the level of intelligent method use continue to be high flexibility in World Tourism organisations. Research limitations/implications ‐ The tourism services in a mobile environment have a critical role in creating tourist satisfaction. They are neither a uniform group, nor able to give consistently high service quality. Indeed they have significantly different platforms and a variety of heterogeneous service providers which make the management of service qualities complex. Practical implications ‐ A significant proposition is to integrate new tourism quality attributes of mobile-based application, to provide a dynamic adaptation of selection services based on context metadata parameters (user, environment, device, and service provider context) and the management of the heterogeneity of service needs, of mobile devices capacities and their various communication protocols (GPRS, WIFI, Bluetooth, etc.) as well as the media variety (sound, video, text and image), possibly reflecting the decreased time responses and the increased visibility of standard services management methods. Originality/value ‐ The paper proposes SELECTOR, a dynamic service selection tool based on CxQWS ontology, defined as set of semantic metadata, which context and QoS parameters. The tool is based on semantic services and offer architecture, with three layers (semantic query, management and web services). The most innovative characteristic of the tool is that it profits from the potential of semantic representation techniques to express high level explicit constraints, while they may be useful to guide the selection and adaptation process. This tool provides low adaptation effort, e.g. takes into account all the heterogeneous services as its various communication protocols (GSM, 3G, Bluetooth, etc.) as consequences of self-selection for dynamic context evolution guided by the adaptation policies.