Atieno Amadi

In this paper, we present a study on gendered perspectives of the digital divide, IT education and workforce participation. Using an interpretive approach, a team of four Kenya- and USbased researchers interviewed thirty-two women and thirty-one men matriculating in an IT program offered by a university in Kenya. Our findings indicate significant similarities in male and female response. Both groups described the digital divide as a complex phenomenon that occurs at individual, national and global levels. However, men were more likely than women to see the divide as bridged as a growing number of Kenyans gain IT access and skills. Both sexes perceived significant opportunities for well paying careers in the IT workforce, and this served as a primary motivator for enrolling in the IT education program. However, women tended to reflect on significant structural barriers, such public policies that failed to facilitate the development of the IT sector, gender discrimination by employers...

While Sub-Saharan African women have historically assumed the roles of both housewives and subsistence farmers, they have had few opportunities to participate in the modern economies of the re-gion. However, this trend is changing with the exponential growth of information and communications technologies (ICT), giving many Sub-Sahara African women access to computers, the Internet, and other related technologies. Based on the work of a four-member research team from Kenya and the United States, this article exam-ines the integration of female college students into the formal ICT work sector in Kenya. We do so by examining major bottlenecks and enablers to such integration from historical and contemporary perspectives. Using an interpretive approach, we conducted 32 in-terviews with women in an ICT program offered by a university in Kenya. Our findings indicate that women were highly optimistic, embracing ICT as a practical mechanism for achieving entry into the labor market. However...

The objective of this study was to determine the time and level of Information Systems (IS) awareness among Kenyan university students and the choice of IS as a field of specialization. The study posited that the choice of a field of specialization is dependent upon a student’s awareness of its existence, its utilization in the real world, its career opportunities, and its strategic importance to the country’s economic development agenda. It posited further that early IS awareness could have a positive impact on the choice of IS as a field of specialization. The underlying assumptions were that the time of IS awareness as a field of specialization among Kenyan university business students was late and levels low, leading to possible low levels of choice of IS as a field of specialization. Using the survey method, the case study found late and low levels of IS awareness as a field of specialization among university business students. Future studies linking time and levels of IS aware...

Traditional cost/benefit analysis is used extensively by organizations to compare alternatives and to make IT investment decisions. The objective is to select the project that maximizes the net present value of all benefits minus all costs. A major contribution of this study is expected to be the discovery of intangible benefits that IT investment decision-makers fail to include in their decision processes. The impact of the intangible benefit of process redesign is examined in the context of certain benefit factors. Organizations that pay close attention to the identification and measurement of value derived from IT investments (both tangible and intangible) are expected to obtain greater productivity from those IT investments that lead to business success. Process Redesign Process redesign is defined for the purpose of the current study as the deliberate and systematic adjustment of business processes to achieve alignment between business process objectives and organizational obje...

The study examined the influence of Introductory Accounting Course teaching methodology on students’ choice of Accounting Major in Kenyan Universities.  This was based on the fact that most students in the bachelors of commerce program had developed a negative attitude towards Introductory Accounting Course. The study sought to establish an association between Introductory Accounting Course teaching methodology and students’ choice of Accounting Major in Kenyan Universities. Teaching methodology was used as an independent variable and the students’ choice of Accounting Major as a dependent variable.  The study applied the theory of Wearing Two Hats since Introductory Accounting Course comprise of the process of accounting cycle that requires a lot of illustrations by the accounting Instructor. The study assumed that teaching methodology of Introductory Accounting Course .was the only variable influencing students’ choice of Accounting Major. The study employed the use of a null hypo...

This case study uses the Business System analysis framework (an adaptation of Alter's (1999) Work Centered Analysis)to look at factors that possibly contributed to the collapse of a giant supermarket chain store in Kenya, the Uchumi Supermarket. In its final analysis, the study draws the conclusion that when a business collapses, it is often for several different reasons rather than for a single cause but that customer service is often a major factor. Uchumi makes a particularly rich case study because of its long history of success in the regional economic arena. Among lessons learned, the case study conveys the message that there is no impunity in the game of business management where even giants will come stumbling down in the wake of new vulnerabilities brought about by competition from the savvier, younger, new IT-aware organizations. It posits that an organization needs to continually adjust itself to changes within it and in its environment, thereby abating failure. By re...

Nurses, the primary promoters of Exclusive Breast Feeding (EBF) to mothers, find it challenging to practice it themselves because of their work situations and environments. They care for patients with infections and work in infectious environments. They don’t wish to expose their babies to these environments because the babies' immunities are still very low, making them prone to acquiring nosocomial infections, which are costly to treat. Besides, all children, including those of nurses, are prohibited by law from visiting their sick relatives in hospital wards, a factor that preludes the presence of all children from the hospital environment, including those of nurses. The relatively low EBF practice among nurses can be attributed to this fact. Some studies have confirmed that the practice of EBF is low among nurses (e.g. 35.9% in Ethiopia; 11.1% in Nigeria; and 21.3% in Kenya [at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH)]). The objective of this study was to demonstrate that indirect co...

... If a company does not have its supply chain linked, it will never reduce costs ... factor of change is because it is perceived as an opportunity to enhance control and ... to the identification of redesigned business processes as the critical elements of organizational strategic planning to ...

One potential obstacle to effective information systems development involves the con-flict between users and developers. It has been argued that information systems devel-opment personnel have different perceptions of what constitutes systems effectiveness than do users. ...