Kim Normann Andersen, Jeppe Agger Nielsen and Soonhee Kim
The purpose of this paper is to enhance the knowledge about the use of online communication between patients and health-care professionals in public health care. The study…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to enhance the knowledge about the use of online communication between patients and health-care professionals in public health care. The study explores digital divide gaps and the impacts of online communication on the overall costs of health care.
Design/methodology/approach
This study focuses on online health care in Denmark. The authors rely on population data from 3,500 e-visits (e-mail consultations) between patients and general practitioners (GPs) from 2009 to 2015. Additionally, they include survey data on the use of the internet to search for health-related information.
Findings
The analysis of the Danish data reveals a rapid uptake in the use of the internet to search for health-related information and a three-fold increase in e-visits from 2009 to 2015. The results show that the digital divide gaps exist also in the online health-care communication. Further, the study findings suggest that enforced supply of online communication between GPs and patients does not alleviate the costs. Rather, the number of visits to GPs has not been decreased significantly and health-care costs showing a marginal increase.
Research limitations/implications
Further data should be collected and analyzed to explore the impacts of other institutional factors and population cohort on the digital divide and healthcare costs. Also, it is difficult to estimate whether the increased use of online health care in the long run lead to lowering overall health-care costs. While the internal validity of the study is high due to the use of population data, the external validity is lower as the study results are based on the data collected in Denmark only.
Practical implications
The study offers important input for practice. First, leaders in government might reconsider how they can control the health-care costs when opening online channels for communication between patients and doctors. Second, concerns about digital divide issues remains, but the study suggests that the uptake of e-visits does not widen the socio-economic, gender or age gaps. For health policy concern, this is encouraging news to lead to an increasing push of online communication.
Social implications
The dynamics of online health-care communication may lead to mixed results and unexpected impacts on overall health-care costs.
Originality/value
The paper offers new insights in the impacts of mandatory supply of digital services. The Danish push-strategy has led to an enforced supply of e-visits and a rapid growing use of the online health care without widening digital divide but at the risk of potential increasing the overall costs.
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Cheol Liu, David Ready, Alexandru Roman, Montgomery Van Wart, XiaoHu Wang, Alma McCarthy and Soonhee Kim
Even though e-leadership was broadly defined in 2001 (Avolio et al.), there has been surprisingly little progress (Avolio et al., 2014). In order to make a better progress, the…
Abstract
Purpose
Even though e-leadership was broadly defined in 2001 (Avolio et al.), there has been surprisingly little progress (Avolio et al., 2014). In order to make a better progress, the authors recommend dividing the field into four quadrants to facilitate the research focus. It can be divided by e-leadership phases (the adoption of technology phase vs the quality of use of technology phase), as well as the purposes (e-leadership as virtual communication vs e-leadership as management of organizational structures). The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
This study provides a model of e-leadership as communication adoption at the individual level (ECAMi). Structural equation modeling was used to test a previously published model by Van Wart et al. (2017a). The model included select traits and skills (as antecedent conditions), awareness of ICTs, evaluation of ICTs, willingness to expend effort in learning about ICTs, intention to use ICTs, and facilitating conditions.
Findings
The overall model demonstrates a good fit. It can be concluded that the ECAMi represents a valid model for understanding e-leaders’ technological adoption. It is also found that while all select skills and traits are significant – energy, responsibility and analytical skills stand above the others.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this represents the first effort to operationalize e-leadership.
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Government service delivery is undergoing change as a result of innovations in information technology (IT). Scholars and practitioners have paid attention to electronic-government…
Abstract
Government service delivery is undergoing change as a result of innovations in information technology (IT). Scholars and practitioners have paid attention to electronic-government (e-government) as a strategic tool for delivering services through the Internet and thus enhancing service quality, as well as streamlining internal operations (Council for Excellence in Government [CEG], 2000; Center for Technology in Government, 1999; Ho, 2002; Norris & Moon, 2005; West, 2004). Many local governments have also initiated e-government development and taken advantage of internet-based applications to facilitate community development and communication with constituents (Benjamin, 2001; Modesitt, 2002), as well as to provide online application services (Ho, 2002; Norris & Moon, 2005). E-government brings with it the potential for greater cost-efficiency, enhanced citizen involvement, improved service quality, and increased transparency. Although e-government has the potential to provide many benefits, little research has been conducted on e-government performance and the influence of public management on e-government performance in local government.
The paper aims to analyze the influences of organizational context and information technology (IT) applications on employees' perceptions of knowledge acquisition and application…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to analyze the influences of organizational context and information technology (IT) applications on employees' perceptions of knowledge acquisition and application capabilities in five public and five private sector organizations in South Korea.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper analyzes how employees' perceptions of organizational context and IT affect employee knowledge acquisition and application capabilities in five public and five private sector organizations in South Korea. It discusses the results of regression analyses based on a survey of 322 public and private employees that explored their perceptions of organizational vision and goals, social networks, centralization, performance‐based reward systems, the usage of IT applications, and knowledge acquisition and application capabilities.
Findings
The results of a survey of public and private employees show that clear organizational vision and goals, social networks, and employee usage of IT applications are all positively associated with high levels of employee knowledge acquisition and application capabilities. Centralization, however, was negatively associated with employee knowledge acquisition and application capabilities. Social network and IT application utilization were both positively associated with public employees' knowledge acquisition and application capabilities. Performance‐based reward systems were positively associated with private employees' knowledge application capabilities only.
Originality/value
In 2000, the South Korean Government established a special task committee to develop knowledge management systems (KMS) in the public sector and to initiate KM strategies. Since 1997, major South Korean corporations have been developing KM information systems to allow employees to quickly respond to complex and evolving domestic and international market environments. Some of the knowledge management practices effectively implemented in these corporations have been selected as benchmarks for developing the government KMS in the South Korean Government. However, there is limited research on comparative studies of the factors affecting employee KM capabilities in public organizations and private in South Korea.
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L.R. Jones, Clay Wescott and Bidhya Bowornwathana
During the last decade, globalization and democratization have been the major forces that helped transform the structures, functions and processes of Asian public sectors. These…
Abstract
During the last decade, globalization and democratization have been the major forces that helped transform the structures, functions and processes of Asian public sectors. These transformation efforts of Asian countries vary considerably depending on local context, and have met with different degrees of success. Some countries experienced smooth transformations. For others, the reform process has been more volatile. These issues were explored at a conference 7–9 July 2008 in Bangkok, Thailand, hosted by the Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, and co-sponsored by the International Public Management Network, the Asia-Pacific Governance Institute, and Thailand Democracy Watch. This book presents some of the works contributed by participating scholars and practitioners at the conference. The contents fall into three categories: corruption and anti-corruption initiatives, public financial management (PFM) and public management reforms with emphasis on performance and results.
Shalini Garg and Punam Agrawal
The objective of the study is to identify the themes of “family friendly practices” and to perform a literature review. The research aims to identify the emerging trends in the…
Abstract
Purpose
The objective of the study is to identify the themes of “family friendly practices” and to perform a literature review. The research aims to identify the emerging trends in the area of “family friendly practices” by carrying out an exhaustive literature review.
Design/methodology/approach
The study synthesizes the literature between the years 2010 and 2019. First of all, 150 research articles were identified by keyword search, bibliography and citation search, out of which 57 research articles were selected on the basis of the most sound theoretical background and maximum literature contribution. The citation analysis method was performed on these studies in order to study the journals, authors by using Google Scholar, ResearchGate, the international database Science Citation Index and SCImago Journal Ranking.
Findings
The author citation count shows that the research topic is still getting recognition and the research in this area is increasing. The finding of the research is that the current research in family-friendly practices has focused mainly on seven topics: availability and usability of family-friendly policy, job satisfaction, organizational performance, supervisor or manager support, work–life conflict, employee turnover employee retention and women’s employment.
Originality/value
The study may provide valuable inputs to the HRD practitioners, managers, research scholars, to understand the recent trends in the field of family-friendly policy. As per the best knowledge of the author, this is the first study on family-friendly practices using citation analysis.
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Shilpee A. Dasgupta, Damodar Suar and Seema Singh
Through the lens of social exchange theory and organisation support theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine the passive, aggressive, and assertive styles of…
Abstract
Purpose
Through the lens of social exchange theory and organisation support theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine the passive, aggressive, and assertive styles of managers/supervisors that influence perceived supervisory support and to test whether the support increases employees’ satisfaction with the communication of supervisors and their organisation‐based self‐esteem. It also assesses whether employees’ communication satisfaction and their self‐esteem influence employees’ performance, commitment and absenteeism.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 400 employees from ten manufacturing firms in India were studied through questionnaire survey. Standard instruments were used to assess the constructs. A scale was developed to measure the communication style of managers and a single item to assess absenteeism.
Findings
Results revealed that assertive style of communication lends maximum support to employees. Perceived supervisory support at the workplace enhances employees’ satisfaction with communication of supervisors and organisation‐based self‐esteem. Satisfaction with communication fosters a strong emotional bond with organisations and the emotional bond with organisations reduces employees’ absenteeism.
Originality/value
The paper shows that employees’ organisation‐based self‐esteem increases their job performance. Organisations can conduct training programs to develop an assertive communication style in their managers/supervisors to increase the support to subordinates; thereby its positive consequences will follow in increasing employees’ performance and commitment and reducing absenteeism.
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The author investigates realized comoments that overcome the drawback of conventional ones and derive the following findings. First, the author proves that (even generalized…
Abstract
The author investigates realized comoments that overcome the drawback of conventional ones and derive the following findings. First, the author proves that (even generalized) geometric implied lower-order comoments yield neither geometric realized third comoment nor fourth moment. This is in contrast to previous studies that produce geometric realized third moment and arithmetic realized higher-order moments through lower-order implied moments. Second, arithmetic realized joint cumulants are obtained through complete Bell polynomials of lower-order joint cumulants. This study’s realized measures are unbiased estimators and they can, therefore, overcome the drawbacks of conventional realized measures.