African governments are spending over 1US$bn per year on digital surveillance technologies which ... more African governments are spending over 1US$bn per year on digital surveillance technologies which are being used without adequate legal protections in ways that regularly violate citizens’ fundamental human rights. This report documents which companies, from which countries, are supplying which types of surveillance technology to African governments. Without this missing detail, it is impossible to adequately design measures to mitigate and overcome illegal surveillance and violations of human rights. Since the turn of the century, we have witnessed a digitalisation of surveillance that has enabled the algorithmic automation of surveillance at a scale not previously imaginable. Surveillance of citizens was once a labour and time-intensive process. This provided a practical limit to the scope and depth of state surveillance. The digitalisation of telephony has made it possible to automate the search for keywords across all mobile and internet communications. For the first time, state ...
33rd Bled eConference – Enabling Technology for a Sustainable Society: June 28 – 29, 2020, Online Conference Proceedings, 2020
This research investigates the role and use of Twitter in business markets and benefits of using ... more This research investigates the role and use of Twitter in business markets and benefits of using open social media channels to crowd source information to support innovation and build relationship in the context of business-to-business (B2B) marketing. This study is based on a combination of methodologies, 52 face-to-face interviews across five countries are compared with a sample of their Tweets using Structural Topic Modelling (STM) which enabled triangulation between stated use of Twitter and respondent’s actual Tweets. The research confirmed that individuals used Twitter as a source of information, ideas and innovation within their industry. Twitter enables the building of relevant business relationships through the exchange of new, expert and high quality information within like-minded communities in real time, between companies and their suppliers, customers and also their peers. This research highlights the business relationship building capacity of Twitter as it enables cust...
This research project aims at examining social media potential in the sector of Dutch aid & devel... more This research project aims at examining social media potential in the sector of Dutch aid & development organisations. With Dutch is meant: operating in the Netherlands and/or founded in The Netherlands. The research question is formulated as: What (major issues) do the major Dutch development agencies encounter when using social media to engage their stakeholders with their projects?
35 th Bled eConference Digital Restructuring and Human (Re)action
This study investigates the Business Process Management (BPM) maturity and process performance of... more This study investigates the Business Process Management (BPM) maturity and process performance of the Dutch Department of Defence (DDoD). Like any other organisation, defence departments use BPM to manage their daily business processes. Despite using BPM, the organisation has never undertaken the initiative to analyse its BPM Maturity level and process performance. This paper presents the first results of such a study and compares this to similar military organisations, non-profit organisations and other organisations in the private sector. The DDoD BPM Maturity index score of 2.66 is similar to that of peer organisations. The study provides some suggestions for research and practical implications for further Business Process Maturity development of the DDoD organisation.
This paper presents views of six Dutch development NGOs on possibilities and threats of social me... more This paper presents views of six Dutch development NGOs on possibilities and threats of social media for their work. A systematic analysis of the literature and the systematic analysis of the interviews yield an interesting theoretical framework in which social media characteristics are cross-referenced with NGO organisational characteristics. The resulting preliminary framework of emerging themes suggests that potential disadvantages associated with social media use may impede the organisational use. Furthermore it is suggested that potential organisational uses of social media may motivate use and adaptation of the social media use to a development context. It is also suggested that disadvantages attributed to social media may influence the use or non-use of social media for particular developmental activities.
The goal of this study is to identify the perspectives that development NGOs attribute to organis... more The goal of this study is to identify the perspectives that development NGOs attribute to organisational social media, and furthermore elaborate on an appropriate categorisation of these perspectives for social media use by development NGOs. How social media is used in the area of development, where the use goes far beyond the private sector purpose of publicity and converting a sale, is a key issue for NGOs. Fourteen development NGOs from the Netherlands that are actively using social media were selected for this study. Interviews were conducted to collect data from the decision makers and practitioners in these organisations. The grounded theory method combined with a multiple case study was applied for data analysis. The resulting preliminary framework presents us with four emerging perspectives, namely Technological, Individual, Collective and Contextual perspectives attributed to organisational social media use. We theorise that there are relationships between these four perspectives. This paper suggests that the understanding of (organisational) social media use among development NGOs can be better understood by identifying these perspectives and their inter-relationships. The implications of these findings for the literature on affordances and organisational social media use in the context of development and NGOs are discussed.
Interest in the notion that there is an untapped market with significant buying power hidden at t... more Interest in the notion that there is an untapped market with significant buying power hidden at the base of the economic pyramid (BOP) has enjoyed increased attention over the last few years. The discourse on this matter is lively and abounds with opposing opinions. Although this discourse is acknowledged in this paper, it is argued that benefits can be derived for all parties if one considers partner cooperation issues (or problems) in a structured way. Partner cooperation in the case of this research refers to the cooperation between multinational information technology companies and local partners in African countries. This area is of interest because of (frequently high) expectations that information and communication technologies (ICTs) can make a contribution toward development goals in BOP markets. However this is not always achieved and, as has been found by several researchers, this unfavorable outcome is, amongst other things caused by cooperation problems between partners...
There have been, generally speaking, for many years high expectations that information and commun... more There have been, generally speaking, for many years high expectations that information and communication technologies (ICTs) can make a contribution toward development. However this is not always achieved and, as has been found by several researchers, this unfavourable outcome is, amongst other things caused by partnership problems between partners. The basic argument of this paper is that successful contributions in developing countries that are made with, and through, ICT are partly dependent on the health of the relationship between partners. It would therefore be necessary to study the factors that may influence the health of the relationship between partners in ICT related projects in developing countries. This could eventually serve as a foundation for some form of framework of partnership issues in such projects. This framework could then serve as the foundation for further research into developing a diagnostic instrument for this purpose. The research was conducted in 10 pro...
In the fast-changing world of IT, relevant competencies are getting more important as these deter... more In the fast-changing world of IT, relevant competencies are getting more important as these determine how successful you can function in practice. As a consequence, organizations are introducing competency frameworks like the European e-Competence Framework (e-CF, 2014) in their IT departments. However, for many organizations it is unclear what good practices and pitfalls are when introducing such a framework. In this paper this topic is studied by analysing 13 interviews with IT- and HR-managers who are (or recently have been) involved in a transition towards the use of competencies with their IT-staff.
Interest in the notion that there is an untapped market with significant buying power hidden at t... more Interest in the notion that there is an untapped market with significant buying power hidden at the base of the economic pyramid (BOP) has enjoyed increased attention over the last few years. The discourse on this matter is lively and abounds with opposing opinions. Although this discourse is acknowledged in this paper, it is argued that benefits can be derived for all parties if one considers partner cooperation issues (or problems) in a structured way. Partner cooperation in the case of this research refers to the cooperation between multinational information technology companies and local partners in African countries. This area is of interest because of (frequently high) expectations that information and communication technology (ICT) can make a contribution toward development goals in BOP markets. However this is not always achieved and, as has been found by several researchers, this unfavorable outcome is, amongst other things caused by cooperation problems between partners. T...
African governments are spending over 1US$bn per year on digital surveillance technologies which ... more African governments are spending over 1US$bn per year on digital surveillance technologies which are being used without adequate legal protections in ways that regularly violate citizens’ fundamental human rights. This report documents which companies, from which countries, are supplying which types of surveillance technology to African governments. Without this missing detail, it is impossible to adequately design measures to mitigate and overcome illegal surveillance and violations of human rights. Since the turn of the century, we have witnessed a digitalisation of surveillance that has enabled the algorithmic automation of surveillance at a scale not previously imaginable. Surveillance of citizens was once a labour and time-intensive process. This provided a practical limit to the scope and depth of state surveillance. The digitalisation of telephony has made it possible to automate the search for keywords across all mobile and internet communications. For the first time, state ...
33rd Bled eConference – Enabling Technology for a Sustainable Society: June 28 – 29, 2020, Online Conference Proceedings, 2020
This research investigates the role and use of Twitter in business markets and benefits of using ... more This research investigates the role and use of Twitter in business markets and benefits of using open social media channels to crowd source information to support innovation and build relationship in the context of business-to-business (B2B) marketing. This study is based on a combination of methodologies, 52 face-to-face interviews across five countries are compared with a sample of their Tweets using Structural Topic Modelling (STM) which enabled triangulation between stated use of Twitter and respondent’s actual Tweets. The research confirmed that individuals used Twitter as a source of information, ideas and innovation within their industry. Twitter enables the building of relevant business relationships through the exchange of new, expert and high quality information within like-minded communities in real time, between companies and their suppliers, customers and also their peers. This research highlights the business relationship building capacity of Twitter as it enables cust...
This research project aims at examining social media potential in the sector of Dutch aid & devel... more This research project aims at examining social media potential in the sector of Dutch aid & development organisations. With Dutch is meant: operating in the Netherlands and/or founded in The Netherlands. The research question is formulated as: What (major issues) do the major Dutch development agencies encounter when using social media to engage their stakeholders with their projects?
35 th Bled eConference Digital Restructuring and Human (Re)action
This study investigates the Business Process Management (BPM) maturity and process performance of... more This study investigates the Business Process Management (BPM) maturity and process performance of the Dutch Department of Defence (DDoD). Like any other organisation, defence departments use BPM to manage their daily business processes. Despite using BPM, the organisation has never undertaken the initiative to analyse its BPM Maturity level and process performance. This paper presents the first results of such a study and compares this to similar military organisations, non-profit organisations and other organisations in the private sector. The DDoD BPM Maturity index score of 2.66 is similar to that of peer organisations. The study provides some suggestions for research and practical implications for further Business Process Maturity development of the DDoD organisation.
This paper presents views of six Dutch development NGOs on possibilities and threats of social me... more This paper presents views of six Dutch development NGOs on possibilities and threats of social media for their work. A systematic analysis of the literature and the systematic analysis of the interviews yield an interesting theoretical framework in which social media characteristics are cross-referenced with NGO organisational characteristics. The resulting preliminary framework of emerging themes suggests that potential disadvantages associated with social media use may impede the organisational use. Furthermore it is suggested that potential organisational uses of social media may motivate use and adaptation of the social media use to a development context. It is also suggested that disadvantages attributed to social media may influence the use or non-use of social media for particular developmental activities.
The goal of this study is to identify the perspectives that development NGOs attribute to organis... more The goal of this study is to identify the perspectives that development NGOs attribute to organisational social media, and furthermore elaborate on an appropriate categorisation of these perspectives for social media use by development NGOs. How social media is used in the area of development, where the use goes far beyond the private sector purpose of publicity and converting a sale, is a key issue for NGOs. Fourteen development NGOs from the Netherlands that are actively using social media were selected for this study. Interviews were conducted to collect data from the decision makers and practitioners in these organisations. The grounded theory method combined with a multiple case study was applied for data analysis. The resulting preliminary framework presents us with four emerging perspectives, namely Technological, Individual, Collective and Contextual perspectives attributed to organisational social media use. We theorise that there are relationships between these four perspectives. This paper suggests that the understanding of (organisational) social media use among development NGOs can be better understood by identifying these perspectives and their inter-relationships. The implications of these findings for the literature on affordances and organisational social media use in the context of development and NGOs are discussed.
Interest in the notion that there is an untapped market with significant buying power hidden at t... more Interest in the notion that there is an untapped market with significant buying power hidden at the base of the economic pyramid (BOP) has enjoyed increased attention over the last few years. The discourse on this matter is lively and abounds with opposing opinions. Although this discourse is acknowledged in this paper, it is argued that benefits can be derived for all parties if one considers partner cooperation issues (or problems) in a structured way. Partner cooperation in the case of this research refers to the cooperation between multinational information technology companies and local partners in African countries. This area is of interest because of (frequently high) expectations that information and communication technologies (ICTs) can make a contribution toward development goals in BOP markets. However this is not always achieved and, as has been found by several researchers, this unfavorable outcome is, amongst other things caused by cooperation problems between partners...
There have been, generally speaking, for many years high expectations that information and commun... more There have been, generally speaking, for many years high expectations that information and communication technologies (ICTs) can make a contribution toward development. However this is not always achieved and, as has been found by several researchers, this unfavourable outcome is, amongst other things caused by partnership problems between partners. The basic argument of this paper is that successful contributions in developing countries that are made with, and through, ICT are partly dependent on the health of the relationship between partners. It would therefore be necessary to study the factors that may influence the health of the relationship between partners in ICT related projects in developing countries. This could eventually serve as a foundation for some form of framework of partnership issues in such projects. This framework could then serve as the foundation for further research into developing a diagnostic instrument for this purpose. The research was conducted in 10 pro...
In the fast-changing world of IT, relevant competencies are getting more important as these deter... more In the fast-changing world of IT, relevant competencies are getting more important as these determine how successful you can function in practice. As a consequence, organizations are introducing competency frameworks like the European e-Competence Framework (e-CF, 2014) in their IT departments. However, for many organizations it is unclear what good practices and pitfalls are when introducing such a framework. In this paper this topic is studied by analysing 13 interviews with IT- and HR-managers who are (or recently have been) involved in a transition towards the use of competencies with their IT-staff.
Interest in the notion that there is an untapped market with significant buying power hidden at t... more Interest in the notion that there is an untapped market with significant buying power hidden at the base of the economic pyramid (BOP) has enjoyed increased attention over the last few years. The discourse on this matter is lively and abounds with opposing opinions. Although this discourse is acknowledged in this paper, it is argued that benefits can be derived for all parties if one considers partner cooperation issues (or problems) in a structured way. Partner cooperation in the case of this research refers to the cooperation between multinational information technology companies and local partners in African countries. This area is of interest because of (frequently high) expectations that information and communication technology (ICT) can make a contribution toward development goals in BOP markets. However this is not always achieved and, as has been found by several researchers, this unfavorable outcome is, amongst other things caused by cooperation problems between partners. T...
How to use social media for research activities and communication. A link is made between the Res... more How to use social media for research activities and communication. A link is made between the Research Life Cycle and various uses of social media. Presentation held at Utrecht University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands, June 2014.
Poster presentation: Impressions of Social Media Use by Dutch International Development Organisat... more Poster presentation: Impressions of Social Media Use by Dutch International Development Organisations. An online survey was conducted among Dutch development organisations active with social media. The results of this survey were analysed revealed interesting patterns of work-related use of various social media tools and target audience and reasons for using social media. Also the use of private accounts for work-related communication was analysed. The results show that most organisations mainly use social media for informing and more one-way communication rather than interaction.
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An online survey was conducted among Dutch development organisations active with social media. The results of this survey were analysed revealed interesting patterns of work-related use of various social media tools and target audience and reasons for using social media. Also the use of private accounts for work-related communication was analysed. The results show that most organisations mainly use social media for informing and more one-way communication rather than interaction.