A study of knowledge use effectiveness in IS department–A human agency perspective

PurposeInformation technology changes rapidly, and the market trend flow changes even faster. The information systems (IS) department in a technological oriented environment has to ensure that the plans or solutions made by the IS department can align with organizational strategy to avoid resources waste, and adaptability is a crucial issue for an IS department too. This study believes that adaptability and alignment of the IS department are ambidexterity. The concept of knowledge use effectiveness (KUE), based on the human agency theory, proposed a research model mainly founded on intellectual capital, human agency theory, and contextual ambidexterity, and used intellectual capital (including human, structure and relational capital) as a framework to find the antecedents of knowledge usage.Design/methodology/approachThis study conducts an empirical research method and collects 150 valid cases from the IS department employees in Taiwan.FindingsThe results of this study are: (1) KUE in an IS department significantly improves the ambidexterity; (2) intellectual capital has a positive influence on KUE; (3) despite human capital having no influence on iteration, iterational KUE has no influence on adaptability.Originality/valueFor academics, this study has developed KUE through a novel perspective and uses the concept of the human agency to articulate the characteristic of KUE, and thus has combined the intellectual capital, human agency and contextual ambidexterity into a research model. For managers, they should learn that KUE has a positive effect on the IS department ambidexterity, composed of alignment and adaptability. By knowing that, they can understand the concrete elaboration of KUE much better. Therefore, enhancing the process of knowledge usage can be a practical and useful way of improving an IS department performance.

An Overview Knowledge and Usage of Herbal Medicines during The COVID-19 Pandemic by Students of Poltekkes Kemenkes Jakarta II

COVID-19 has now become a global health problem. In Indonesia, there are 828.026 confirmed cases as of January 10, 2021.(1) To deal with this current situation, prevention efforts are needed. One of them increases endurance by using herbal remedies. In addition to having been used for generations, several studies have shown that herbal medicines have the potential to increase endurance.The purpose of this study was to describe the knowledge and usage of herbal medicines during the COVID-19 pandemic.This study using the purposive sampling method with one hundred respondents. Data were collected based on primary data using a google form questionnaire with univariate analysis. On Preliminary results are Most of respondents had pretty good knowledge in forty eight point eight percent, and jamu on sixty nine point five percent as the herbal medicine of choice, when pharmacies to get herbal medicines. Moreover, the implications are the knowledge of using herbal medicine during the COVID-19 pandemic is good and Jamu is the most used herbal medicine based of the types. This research will be continued with more samples to better represent the conclusions. Keywords: Knowledge, Usage, Herbal Medicines

Using of licensed and unlicensed anti-obesity medications among the university students

Background: Obesity is one of the most serious problems worldwide. Using anti-obesity medications have gained growing interest among adults as a shortcut for bodyweight management practice. This study aimed to determine the prevalence, knowledge, usage determinants, intake pattern and experienced effects of anti-obesity medications, licensed and unlicensed, among university students in Jordan. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using a structured web-based questionnaire. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used. Results: 418 students with a mean age of 21.5 responded to the questionnaire. The prevalence of anti-obesity medication intake was 11%. The majority (67.2%) had scored poor knowledge regarding these medications. The intake patterns indicated that 78.3% of the consumers were self-administrated without prescription and 76.1% of the consumers used licensed type. Despite being perceived as useful in weight reduction, vomiting, and nausea, were very common adverse events (65.2%). Besides being obese, students with excellent knowledge demonstrated higher odds (OR=24.38 (95%CI: 8.12-73.19) and 10.48 (95%CI: 4.03-27.26), respectively) for medication consumption compared with other, p < 0.0005. Conclusion: Using anti-obesity medications among university students is of concern, particularly due to using unlicensed types and the lack of clinical prescription. With the reported poor knowledge, it becomes crucial to launching awareness campaigns and tailored programs for this age group and the general population.

Where are the higher education institutions from knowledge protection: a systematic review

Purpose Knowledge protection (KP) is one of the main knowledge management (KM) processes that aim to protect the organization’s knowledge from any inside and outside force leakage. In higher education institutions (HEIs), KP is rarely being discussed and covered in contrast to knowledge sharing (KS) in terms of its determinants. The purpose of this paper is to provide a deep analysis of previous research articles from 1980 to 2019 and examine the associated institutional factors on KP determinants within HEIs as a research objective. Design/methodology/approach The preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis was a well-established approach for analyzing the systematic literature review methodology. Several articles were published over the past decades collected from 5 different databases, but after the screening, 101 articles were reviewed and only 22 articles were relevant to the research objective. Findings The findings indicated that KP is under academic research topic in KM and has received minimal attention in HEIs compared to KS, which has been frequently studied in HEIs. The literature categorized KP determinants into four areas: technological, organizational structure, behavioral and ethics and organizational culture. It will open the door for academics to investigate further into the factors, theories and models of KP in general and HEIs from a particular perspective. Practical implications As evident from the paper finds, with few pieces of literature covered in this topic, HEIs have to protect the knowledge from any illegal usage or any expert’s knowledge loss after leaving the institutions. This study can help university leaders to understand how the different KP determinants can maximize KP without affecting the KS and develop the KP phenomenon for a strategic fit to enhance their institutions’ safe knowledge usage. Originality/value This is the first research of its type which has extensively examined the literature on KP related to HEIs. Also, this paper provides theoretical and practical insights through understanding the determinants that affect KP practices among academic staff.

What Are the 21st-Century Skills for Pre-service Science and Mathematics Teachers: Discussion in the Context of Defined 21st-Century Skills, Self-skills and Education Curricula

The study aimed to determine the characteristics of pre-service teachers’ 21st-century skill concepts and their compatibility with the contemporary 21st-century skill lists, 21st-century self-skills and to compare and discuss, in terms of curricula and their fields. 71 pre-service science and 59 pre-service mathematics teachers were participated this phenomenological study. The statements by the participants were transformed into codes. These codes were categorized based on the framework for the 21st century skills. 21st-century skills codes with contemporary concepts relating to subcategories like “cognitive skills”, “process skills”, “communication and collaboration skills”, “initiative and self-direction skills”, “career skills”, and “technology knowledge/usage/production skills” indicate that teacher candidates are knowledgeable about 21st-century skills. Also the study found out that the greatest effects on the 21st-century skills of pre-service science and mathematics teachers are the curricula and the education they are taught. In this context, this research was based on the belief that determining the influence of pre-service teachers’ out-of-school and in-school trainings, their curricula, branches, etc. on their 21st-century skills will be guiding in terms of organizing curricula and environments of education.

Psycho-Situational Path Model of Ambidextrous Preparation for Quality Aging in College Students

During the period of old age, everyone wishes to have good quality of living. However, only the ones who have been well-prepared at the younger age could make this wish comes true. This study aims at investigating the psychosocial antecedents of the preparation of quality aging based on ambidextrous approach. Samples were 489 undergraduate students. Path analysis with latent model revealed a good fit. The findings revealed that psychological latent trait (future orientation and self-control, need for achievement, mental health, and core self-evaluation) and situational latent variable (perceived modeling, social support, and social norm) directly affected the preparation for quality aging (present quality of life, knowledge acquisition, and knowledge usage) via the psychological latent state R2 of 0.606 latent (attitude towards preparation, and locus of control of preparation) with the. Discussion and implications are offered.