Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries最新文献

Healthcare actors have designated a set of services as essential health services (EHSs), essential for achieving universal health coverage. Therefore, monitoring the provision of EHS is indispensable to gauge how countries progress toward achieving universal health coverage. However, there are no mechanisms for sector-wide monitoring of these services. While EHSs cover the entire health sector, monitoring is left to individual subunits and health programs, which often confine themselves to specific diseases and health interventions. This makes it difficult to monitor interferences to the provision of these services. Such interferences include epidemics and pandemics such as COVID-19, Marburg, Ebola, and seasonal incidences of cholera. This study, therefore, proposes an EHS tracker, a data visualization tool, to enhance routine data use for monitoring and tracking EHSs regularly. The paper details a collaborative process for developing the tracker, culminating in the creation of the tool itself. The paper contributes to the ongoing initiatives to strengthen data use practices using innovative solutions in the efforts to institutionalize data use practices and data-driven decision-making for improved healthcare service delivery.

This paper aims to analyze the dynamics of social capital within community-based P2P ridesharing practices through the relational (trust), cognitive (shared meaning and identity), and structural (network of social ties) dimensions of social capital. 21 users of Facebook P2P ridesharing participated in three focus groups. Using reflexive thematic analysis, we identified the key themes around social capital dimensions and the main factors that impact social capital dynamics (social broker, social debriefing, and time pressure). The impact of the social broker on social capital dynamics in ridesharing activities via Facebook can be explained by creating new bridging capital through linking different online and offline networks (inter-network bridging) and by strengthening bonding capital through linking ridesharing group members (intra-network bridging). Negative social debriefing weakens bonding capital and creates new bridging capital, whereas positive social debriefing strengthens bonding capital. Under high time pressure, travelers engage in activities that foster bridging capital development, whereas, under low time pressure, they rely on their bonding capital, avoiding engaging in bridging capital. We provided a comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing social capital dynamics that further influence P2P ridesharing practices, thus improving the current theory on social capital dynamics.

Governments are increasingly placing an emphasis on the long-term growth of e-government development. However, the evaluation of e-government development is still in its infancy. The current research proposes a multi-dimensional evaluation system of e-government development based on Complex Systems Theory. Accordingly, we extracted three dimensions with 17 criteria and collected actual data of e-government development from 17 cities in Shandong, China as an example. The Analytic Hierarchy Process-Entropy Method (AHP-EM) was employed to correctly and objectively evaluate the performance of e-government development. Furthermore, we analyze the current situations and deficiencies of e-government development in each city of Shandong, China and offer recommendations for sustainable e-government development using geographical distribution maps and radar graph.

The impact of information and communication technology (ICT)-enabled waste management systems on municipal solid waste, waste reclaimer integration, and resource recovery is critical, particularly in the informal recycling sector. This study investigates the effects of the ICT-enabled waste management system in Cape Town, South Africa, with a focus on the Regenize model. Leveraging digital technologies, the Regenize model aims to improve waste picker integration and resource recovery within the local waste management system. A qualitative research methodology involving semi structured interviews with key stakeholders in Cape Town's ICT-enabled waste reclaimer system, data triangulation, and thematic content analysis was employed to investigate the system's transformative potential. Preliminary findings indicate the Regenize system's alignment with extended producer responsibility (EPR) principles and its embodiment of local entrepreneurial innovation. Waste pickers' active participation as cocreators of waste management mobile platforms has transitioned them from traditional waste collectors to technological contributors, enhancing their role in the waste management ecosystem. Furthermore, the ICT-enabled waste reclaimer system has significantly regularized the status of foreign waste pickers, providing them with essential rights and access to banking services through mobile platforms. By utilizing Internet and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and the Internet of Things (IoT), the Regenize model not only improves resource recovery but also promotes sustainable waste management practices. This represents a substantial step towards inclusive urban waste management in Cape Town. The study's implications extend beyond Cape Town, offering valuable insights for enhancing waste management practices and promoting sustainability across South Africa's broader waste management landscape.

Portfolio management is a critical component of financial investments. With the advent of artificial intelligence (AI)-driven portfolio management, retail investors have the choice to utilize cutting-edge technology to manage their investment portfolios. This study analyzes and portrays the effects of factors influencing the adoption of financial robo-advisors (FRAs) among retail investors in India. A framework comprising eight constructs is proposed to understand FRA adoption. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze data from 387 respondents among Indian retail investors using the IBM SPSS AMOS version 28 software package. The results indicate that technology readiness and financial literacy are the two strongest predictors of the behavioral intention to adopt FRA. Additionally, this study provides empirical evidence that social influence and investor type are relevant determinants of customers' decisions to adopt FRA. This study provides managers with guidance on the target segment of consumers for FRA and insights into the drivers of adoption. It further highlights the importance of investor profiling beyond just demographics to improve adoption.

This paper is part of a broader study that aims to design and develop a digital platform that addresses the common challenges of smallholder farmers. More specifically, we analyzed stakeholders' opinions on the farmers' digital information system (FDIS) designed for sustainable agriculture in Tanzania. We used a qualitative research approach to interview 74 key agricultural stakeholders, including the Ministry of Agriculture, the government subsidy office, agricultural insurance companies, financial institutions, farmers, extension agents and agro-dealers in 13 regions of Tanzania. The study findings reveal that most stakeholders could adhere to the FDIS design for sustainable agriculture, as it potentially solves common challenges by enabling access to quality farm inputs, credit and insurance services, subsidies, advisory services, and markets for their products. However, the study identified certain factors that could hinder the full potential of the envisaged system, such as digital illiteracy and poor ICT infrastructures in rural areas. By interviewing key agricultural stakeholders, we confirm the potential of FDIS to make agriculture more sustainable in low- and middle-income countries. The FDIS should therefore contribute to food security, environmental protection, job creation and higher incomes, as the agriculture sector becomes more dynamic once it is localized and adapted to the needs of all agricultural stakeholders. In addition, the government is expected to play a key role in setting up the agricultural stakeholders at a national level to help them overcome the challenges involved in exploiting the full potential of the FDIS.

Mobile Health (mHealth) presents the potential to facilitate healthcare and improve the quality of life if successful pilot projects are scaled up and sustainable. However, the persistent termination of mHealth at the pilot phase challenges its potential in developing countries. Existing research suggests an absence of understanding of these phenomena for two reasons. First, literature is scarce in the broad context of armed conflict zones in developing countries, particularly in the IS domain. Second, extant literature emphasizes mHealth implementation, while neglecting the scale-up and sustainability of these technologies. Therefore, this study employs activity theory as a holistic lens to explore how contradictions shape the scale-up and sustainability of mHealth in the armed conflict zone of developing countries. In this study, rather than viewing contradiction as a challenge, it serves as a driver for effecting changes that can foster scale-up and sustainability. The Algorithm for the Management of Acute Childhood Illnesses (ALMANACH), provides an empirical basis for this study. The research employs the interpretivism philosophy and the case study method. In-depth interviews, participatory observations, and document reviews were used to collect data. Purposive and snowball sampling techniques were used to select the study's participants. The study reveals a lack of professional expertise among the CHWs, the non-involvement of the users and beneficiaries in designing ALMANACH, and the lack of financial compensation for using ALMANACH in practice as contradictions. The study further exposes how community volunteer groups and the ALMANACH scientific board were established to steer demand.

The media are core to the successful functioning of democracy. They are responsible for scrutinizing state institutions. The media, thus, must remain independent of political control and power elites seeking to shape public consciousness. Nonetheless, historical precedents of political censorship and the high concentration of media ownership in Latin America have prevented the media from exercising its accountability duties. Information and communication technology (ICT) has recently enabled alternative media outlets to increase their reach in recent years. In contrast to traditional media, alternative media seek to challenge the status quo and engage in causes of social or political change. By analyzing traditional and alternative media coverage of a social tragedy in Guatemala, this study contributes to the ICT for development literature by showing how alternative media can leverage ICT to create accountability through frame diversification. The concept of frame diversification advanced in this study recognizes the possibilities enabled by ICT for disseminating views that break from the “culture of silence” that has historically permeated the media in Latin American countries like Guatemala.

This research explores the relationship between information and communications technology (ICT) development and its impact on a country's economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study has two primary objectives: (1) to understand how ICT development influences a country's economic resilience during a crisis, and (2) to examine the interrelationships between various country-level ICT development measures. We use multi-year, country-level data made available by the United Nations, the World Bank, and World Health Organization to empirically examine our research model. Partial least squares path analysis is the primary research methodology employed in this study. Our results suggest that ICT development has a positive impact on economic resilience in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, our results specify the interrelationships between individual ICT development measures and economic resilience. This research contributes to the extant body of knowledge on the impact of country-level ICT development on economy by empirically validating a research model that explores the relationships between the various measures of ICT development and economic resilience of countries during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The purpose of the study was to test a modified information system success model in the context of a mobile travel application in order to provide a richer explanation of the focal operating system and the psychological factors that leisure travelers regard as important for user engagement with mobile travel apps. The interrelationship among the basic constructs of DeLone and McLean's information system success model were also explored. A sample size of 219 mobile travel application users aged 18 years and older and who reside in South Africa was collected using purposive non-probability convenience sampling. A self-administered online survey was used for data collection. An exploratory factor analysis revealed the information quality and system quality dimensions to be a single dimension, which was named information and system quality. The results established information and system quality as a significant predictor of service quality. Information and system quality, involvement, and enjoyment also emerged as significant predictors of user engagement with mobile travel applications, while service quality is not. Furthermore, engagement significantly influences word-of-mouth. The study suggests that service providers of mobile travel applications should consider both the information and system characteristics of an application and the psychological factors of involvement and enjoyment if they are to have a better understanding of user engagement with mobile travel applications. The findings indicate that the modified DeLone and McLean's information system success model could be more applicable to exploring mobile travel application engagement in emerging economies, and could be applied to future related studies in other contexts in order to expand existing knowledge.