The main purpose of this study is to explore the influences of factors on using SNSs that arise from the basic need of belonging to emotional disclosure then the intention to make connections to others. The participants of this study were 540 university students from Turkey and Poland. The results showed that the need to belong is a significant predictor of usage intensity of SNSs, the consecutive influences of emotion disclosure and make connection intention significantly mediate this relationship, and some of these direct and indirect relationships are varying in the different collectivism conditions. All these findings were discussed according to the related theories and the findings in the literature with suggestions for future studies.

This paper builds a research model with four constructs, i.e., competencies, knowledge-oriented leadership, innovation, and performance within manufacturing companies to find out, through path modeling, 1) the effect of competencies on innovation, 2) the effect of knowledge-oriented leadership on innovation, and 3) the effect of innovation on performance. The survey instrument included four constructs – Competencies (COMP), Knowledge-oriented Leadership (LEAD), Innovation (INNO), and Performance (PERF). A marketing research company administered the instrument via computer-assisted telephone interviewing to subjects (N = 377) from 10 different high-tech manufacturing companies in Poland. Collected data were analyzed through partial least square structural equation modeling. The findings revealed that competencies and knowledge-oriented leadership positively and significantly influence innovation and innovation positively and significantly influence performance. Moreover, innovation was found to be a mediating variable between competencies and performance and knowledge-oriented leadership and performance. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed, followed by addressing the study’s limitations and future research directions.

The purpose of this study was to explore and compare women’s perceptions of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), empowerment, and success among respondents in eight countries. The research sample consisted of 969 participants (137 from Georgia, 105 from Poland, 130 from Romania, 152 from Slovenia, 102 from Spain, 123 from Taiwan, 120 from Turkey, and 100 from the United States). Qualitative data analysis was used for exploring participants’ perspectives among different cultures. The results showed that there were numerous differences among the respondents regarding their perceptions of Information and Communication Technologies, empowerment, and success. Positive experiences of ICTs were primarily related to simplifying communication and enabling easy access to information and methods for sharing it, while negative experiences were typically associated with privacy issues. The success of using ICTs was similarly related to the ability to increase awareness and simplify communication, both of which are necessary for women to reach specified goals and achieve success in the workplace.

The purpose of this paper was to first examine the reliability, validity, and strength of a unified model for information security policy compliance that includes eight constructs explaining information security policy compliance. Second, seven hypotheses were developed and tested based on the constructs in the model. An instrument with eight constructs was used to reflect the traditional survey statements method that measures current or retrospective behavior for the items of each construct. A sample of 187 faculty and staff from a mid-sized university in the USA participated in the study. Data were collected electronically and analyzed through SmartPLS 3.0, a partial least square structural equation modeling software. The results indicated strong support for the models’ reliability, validity, and strength. The results also showed support for five hypotheses. Two hypotheses were rejected. The findings with implications are discussed. Recommendations for future research are made.

The purpose of this study was to find out which one of the four selected predictor variables, i.e., leadership, trusting beliefs, role values, and information security policy awareness are most influential in predicting employees’ intention to comply with organizational information security policy. An instrument with five constructs was administered to subjects from a higher-education university in the USA. Collected data were methodically examined through multiple regression analysis. Results indicated that all four predictor variables were influential in predicting employees’ intention to comply with organizational information security policy requirements. Implications of the findings are discussed and recommendations for future research are made.

Social technologies have rapidly become part of the workplace culture with companies using social platforms to communicate, for customer service, to gain exposure and create awareness, to gain new customers, to increase revenue and profits, for marketing purposes, to network and build relationships, and for recruiting purposes. This paper reports the results of a study of the usage of social technologies by working women in Spain to determine the purposes for using these platforms in a business environment. Furthermore, statistical analyses of the data reveal whether the age of the respondents make a difference in social media preferences. Based on these results, organizations will have a better grasp of how to optimize the use of social technologies in business and which age groups are better suited for managing specific platforms based on the purposes studied, thus adding to the literature in the field.

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of trust variables (trust: competence, trust: benevolence, trust: integrity) on leadership regarding the organization’s information security policy (ISP) compliance. An instrument with four constructs was used to collect data from 474 non-management subjects from various organizations in the USA. Collected data were analyzed through multiple regression procedure. Results revealed that all trust variables (trust: competence, trust: benevolence, trust: integrity) were influential in predicting the leadership regarding the organization’s ISP compliance. The findings are discussed and implications for practice are outlined. Conclusion, limitations, and recommendations for future research are drawn.

Information and communications technologies (ICTs) provide global connections, communication, and empowerment. Empowerment drives social and economic development. This study, part of an ongoing global study, investigated the use of social technologies including the purposes used and benefits realized in Italy as a means of empowerment for women. Women throughout the world are faced with technological and economic challenges. Italian women are no exception. Women in the workplace were surveyed to determine how technologies are used for business purposes. The results are applicable to entrepreneurs and others in developed and developing countries. Through awareness, education, and the use of social technologies, gender income equality may be achieved as a result of social and economic development.

Based on a stream of research, this study identified four components of the e-learning courseware usability: fundamental, appearance, information presentation, and communication. The communication component was considered an expanded component of the e-learning courseware usability. A theoretical model was built and three hypotheses were developed to examine whether the communication component as an expanded component of the e-learning courseware usability significantly and positively contributed to the three components of the e-learning courseware usability (fundamental, appearance, and information presentation). An instrument was developed and administered to subjects taking various e-learning courses. The collected data were analyzed using a variance-based Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) package that uses Partial Least Square (PLS). Analyses of the results indicated a strong validated model supporting all stated hypotheses.

This paper replicates a previous study that used an active learning for knowledge construction in the e-learning model with three stages of underpinning, ownership, and engaging hypothesizing that the underpinning and ownership stages positively and significantly contribute to the engaging stage where the actual knowledge construction takes place. The findings of the present study have ensured the validity and the generalizability of the previous study results. Also, the findings reiterated the efficacy of the model for active learning for knowledge construction in e-learning. The paper concludes with implications and recommendations for future research.

The primary goal of this article was to empirically assess how institutionalized organizational trust dimensions are linked with firm’s innovativeness. An approach to conceptualize and measure multidimensional institutionalized organizational trust as a profile model was proposed. The factor analysis, based on a survey study, was used to examine the dimensionality of the institutionalized organizational trust measure. Next, the regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between institutionalized organizational trust dimensions, such as organizational ability, integrity, benevolence, and willingness to be vulnerable, and the dependent variable of firm’s innovativeness. The findings revealed a significant positive relationship between the dimensions of institutionalized organizational trust and innovativeness. In other words, the higher the dimensions of institutionalized organizational trust, the higher the firm’s innovativeness. In addition, our results reveal that organizational willingness to be vulnerable and benevolence is of primary importance for establishing innovativeness. The practical implications for enhancing firm’s innovativeness based on findings are discussed.

The primary objective of this paper is to demonstrate the use of the strategic group map as a tool for knowledge management. If knowledge is understood as the ability to process information into decisions and actions, the strategic group map can be seen as a tool for knowledge management at a strategic level. It enables sector information to be processed into knowledge and, as a consequence, into decisions and actions regarding competitive and growth strategy. This article is based on the industry of the most popular pigment in the world - titanium dioxide. This sector is characterized by a large number of unpredictable changes, which makes it a valuable example in the presentation of the tool that facilitates the strategic knowledge management. The materials used in this article are secondary data and come from a variety of sources, which were the basis for the creation of a strategic group map that made it possible to identify marginal groups, mobility barriers, and, as a result, anticipated strategic changes in the sector.

The number of individuals engaging in social technologies for both personal and business reasons is staggering. This phenomenon is growing exponentially and fast becoming an integrated, cross platform experience which will impact every individual online. Social technologies used specifically by organizations for business support, the purposes and the benefits realized are addressed in this paper. Based on research results and a review of related literature, two issues are addressed: 1) How organizations can rethink their social strategy to gain competitive advantage; and 2) How social technologies education should be incorporated into the curriculum so students are prepared for life beyond graduation.

Factor analysis was used to empirically validate an active learning model that asserts knowledge construction in e-learning is achieved through active learning in three stages (underpinning, ownership, and engaging). Each stage is referred to as a component that is comprised of a number of elements or factors essential to the design of active learning in e-learning, leading to successful construction of knowledge. The findings of this study implied that the components in the model were empirically validated to be reliable and interpretable among their associated factors. Conclusions are drawn from the findings. Recommendations are made for further study.