Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are the most important way of getting informed in our society. Unfortunately not all people have access to the internet and ICTs (first order digital divide), and an amazingly large number of people do not have the abilities to use the ICTs in a proper way and, therefore, cannot draw advantages from its usage (second order digital divide). Clearly, whether people can be informed or not depends on access to the new media and the ability to use them. This paper shows that the variable attitude plays an important role in this context. Attitudes can serve as an important dimension when explaining the adoption and diffusion of new technologies. This paper presents data from a 2007 telephone survey in Austria and describes the attitude structure of users and non-users by means of a representative random sample (N=529). The tripartite definition of attitudes serves as a useful heuristic in structuring the analysis. In providing new operationalizations, we found significant differences between users and non-users concerning their attitudes towards the internet and new technologies. Age and education prove to be major determinants of attitude patterns. The influence of the affective component has to be especially emphasized, not only when overcoming the initial obstacle of getting online, but also when it comes to willingness to learn and become a sophisticated user (second order digital divide). Therefore our analysis gives starting points for intervention programs to encourage more people to use the net.
The internet media require the development of new user skills not required by the traditional media. Current European initiatives focus on providing access to a PC with internet and ensuring basic usage skills to address the digital divide, while media competence is of less importance. Although access rates in European countries are quite high, this study finds persistent rates of non-users, because access and basic skills alone do not guarantee usage. The article presents a representative survey carried out in Austria in 2007 ( N = 529) which illustrates the full spectrum of internet usage and its determinants, employing a typology developed by the authors. In addition to the continuing influence of sociodemographics on usage behaviour, location of access is shown to be an important influence on skills development. Furthermore, deficits in digital literacy can often be compensated by social support, given either in the form of emotional support during learning, or in the form of technical support. The authors conclude that to become a sophisticated user, however, requires guidance beyond merely attending computer classes or the assistance of relatives, colleagues, or friends, but is also a societal issue, if the goal of universal participation and integration is to be achieved.
Abstract:This paper is the result of an empirical research project analysing the decision behaviour of Austrian managers in ethical dilemma situations. While neoclassical economic theory would suggest a pure economic rational basis for management decisions, the empirical study conducted by the authors put other concepts to a test, thereby analysing their importance for managerial decision making: specific notions of fairness, reciprocal altruism, and commitment. After reviewing some of the theoretical literature dealing with such notions, the paper shows the results of an online survey working with scenarios depicting ethical dilemma situations. By judging such scenarios the respondents showed their preference for the named concepts, though with different degrees of confirmation.The results (with all limitations of an online survey in mind) support the theoretical work on the named concepts: Fairness elements (including Rawlsian principles of justice and an understanding of fairness as conceived by a reference transaction) play a major part in management decisions in ethical dilemma situations. Also, commitment as a behaviour that sticks to rules even if personal welfare is negatively touched, and reciprocal altruism as a cooperative behaviour that expects a reciprocal beneficial action from other persons have been concepts used by Austrian managers when analysing ethical dilemmas. The article also tries to put the results into a comparative perspective by taking into account other studies on ethical decision factors conducted with e.g. medical doctors or journalists, and by discussing intercultural implications of business ethics.
Society needs information and communication technology (ICT) hardware to produce, process and store highly valuable information. This hardware, of course, affects the environment throughout its whole life cycle, starting with manufacturing, where the necessary scarce and precious resources (e.g. rare earth metals) are often mined under miserable environmental conditions. This leads to pollution of soil, water and air in the present as well as for the future. During the use phase of ICT hardware, energy consumption impacts the environment. At the end of life of ICT hardware, recycling, disposing as e-waste in landfills or disassembling are additional impacts that affect the environment. More and more producers and users, especially companies, want to measure these impacts, which is a complex task. However, approaches to measure the impacts are at hand, either as single indicators, measuring one specific impact, or as composed indicators, combining different single indicators into one 'summarizing' indicator. However, collection of data, measurement, assessment and interpretation are challenging. Unfortunately, guidelines for those who want to measure the impact of ICT hardware are rare. With our research, we aim to shed light on the various approaches to measure impacts of ICT hardware as well as their application in practice. Based on a literature review, we identified different indicators and them to the attention of experts from companies to assess these approaches in terms of practicability, significance and value for practice. The results show that research investigates and proposes a variety of different more or less complex indicators. However, business prefers single indicators, which are easy to measure and understand.
Ethiopia is challenged by a strong development progress. Currently the major issues in Ethiopia, as a least developed country with a rapid urbanisation, include a high level of income inequality, lack of formal employment opportunities, deeply rooted poverty, tenure insecurity, poor infrastructure, and limited access to electricity and energy. The Erasmus+ Project "Social Inclusion and Energy Management for Informal Urban Settlements", enables European and Ethiopian universities to develop new university courses integrating the aspects of sustainability for future professionals in the field of architecture, urban planning but also social sciences. The paper investigates the respective situation in Ethiopia, and demonstrates the interactions of six selected Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations highly linked with this topic. These six Sustainable Development Goals were identified in a participative process, involving different stakeholders like government officials, urban planners or informal settlers by interviews, focus groups, workshops and conferences. The focus is on SDG1 "No Poverty", SDG3 "Good Health and Well-being", SDG7 "Affordable and Clean Energy", SDG11 "Sustainable Cities and Communities", SDG13 "Climate Action" and SDG15 "Life on Land". In the context of Ethiopian cities, energy production and distribution have been highly centralised under state entities and the scope for exploring local/business driven and decentralised energy systems has been limited. Transitions can be implemented towards sustainability and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, if collective identification and structuring of issues along with collective envisioning of the future, and the interactions and trade-offs of different goals are taken into consideration.
Society is challenged by various catastrophes, requiring fast and accurate management of information and communication. Handling these challenges needs clearly-defined and well-accepted processes and -most critically -a huge quantity of data, which has to be collected, processed and submitted. In the context of natural catastrophes and public disaster management, governments are challenged. Beyond government involvement, private companies are also forced to react to disasters, establish appropriate procedures, define responsibilities, and make decisions. In such times of emergency, information systems (IS) are important instruments used to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of disaster-handling activities in companies. Furthermore, information systems support companies in their efforts to regain trust, reestablish reputation, and sustain their ability to operate. In this exploratory work, we have investigated how information systems support disaster management in two companies within the passenger transportation industry. Based on interviews, we identified different IS support for disaster management, especially for coordinating activities, processing information, and communicating with stakeholders. We validated the need for training, harmonisation and standardisation of information, as well as ways to manage false news about accidents that may be transmitted via social media.
The market for electrical devices still continues to increase all over the world and as a consequence the quantity of waste in the category of electronics rises. A huge proportion of the electronic waste is exported from the industrial countries to developing countries, in order to save costs, and also because of too few recycling plants in industrial countries. The significant environmental and social problem in this context is that the electronic devices are mostly recycled in informal plants. Thereby the burden for the people as well as the environment increases because e-waste includes a lot of toxic substances. The negative impacts are already obvious in countries of importation. This paper will illustrate this on the basis of the case study in Ghana in Africa. The problem is evident, and research, business as well as governments aim to counter this development. The paper will investigate the current approaches employed for solving the e-waste problem with respect to legal options and also regarding voluntary agreements and the provision of information about the actual situation to the consumers.
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