This systematic review of reviews aimed to explore the contribution of information and communicat... more This systematic review of reviews aimed to explore the contribution of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for development in developing countries. This systematic review of reviews determines and summarizes ICTD research trends, and methodologies and conceptual frameworks used in ICTD research discuss the findings and evidence and then suggest approaches for further research. We reviewed existing systematic reviews published on ICT and development between January 1990 and July 2017. The review of reviews shows that a growing number of ICTD research works have used qualitative research approaches for data collection and analysis. We note several attempts to develop and apply models/frameworks over explanatory and predictive theories, most notably in the area of social, sociotechnical, and technical. Nevertheless, there is limited evidence on the long‐term contribution of ICT use on livelihoods, patterns of economic inequality, human freedom, and well‐being in developing countries. This review of reviews synthesizes existing systematic reviews on the contribution of ICT for development than was previously available for developing countries. This review has the potential for several stakeholders, including the public and private sector, intermediaries, and nonprofit organizations, to utilize the accumulated evidence from selected systematic reviews to enable/improve the appropriate and sustainable use of ICTs for development.
IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, 2017
Women are still facing exclusion in the use of telecentres, largely because of cultural perceptio... more Women are still facing exclusion in the use of telecentres, largely because of cultural perceptions that they are responsible for the home; telecentres are also widely perceived appropriate for men to find employment. This paper presents an analysis of the benefits women derive from using telecentres. This study explores how telecentres empower women in the rural communities by analysing three telecentres in the rural setting of Western Cape, South Africa. A qualitative approach involving semi-structured interviews was used to gather in-depth details on individual empowerment of the rural women. The results obtained show that some rural women used the telecentres to enhance economic standards, which resulted in individual empowerment in social, psychological, information and economic dimensions. This study highlights the potential of telecentres in empowering women and proposes that the government and NGOs consider the telecentre as a means of addressing gender digital divide issues.
Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, 2017
This paper investigates the effects of user-centric, security, and system characteristics and the... more This paper investigates the effects of user-centric, security, and system characteristics and the moderating effects of gender on behavioural intention to use mobile payments (m-payment) services in Tanzania. The study extended the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to better explain and predict the users' intentions to use m-payment services. A questionnaire survey was conducted with 292 m-payment users in Morogoro and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The study used structural equation modeling and multi-group analysis for data analysis. The study found that compatibility, social influence, and m-payment knowledge determined perceived usefulness, while m-payment knowledge, trust and compatibility predicted perceived ease of use of m-payment services. Moreover, perceived ease of use determined perceived usefulness, and perceived usefulness and personal innovativeness in turn, had positive effects on the behavioural intention to use m-payment. There were gender differences on the behavioural intention to use m-payment. The effect of compatibility and personal innovativeness on perceived ease of use, and the influence of ease of use on behavioural intention were moderated by gender such that it is more significant for men more than women. The effects of social influence on perceived usefulness were stronger for female more than their male counterparts. The paper provides empirical findings for mobile service providers to improve their marketing plans, and development of new applications in the Tanzanian culture or other countries with similar conditions.
Objective: This study examined the availability and persistence of Universal Resource Locators (U... more Objective: This study examined the availability and persistence of Universal Resource Locators (URLs) cited in scholarly articles published in selected health journals based in East Africa. Methods: Four health sciences online journals in East Africa were selected for this study. We extracted all web citations in the selected journal articles covering the 2001 – 2015 period. The study explored the proportion of URLs used as citations, determined the rate of URLs loss, identified error messages associated with inaccessible URLs, identified the top domain levels of decayed URLs, calculated the half-life of the web citations, and determined the proportion of recovered URL citations through the Internet Wayback Machine. Results: A total of 822 articles were published between 2001 and 2015. There was a total of 17,609 citations of which, only 574 (3.3%) were web citations. The findings show that 253 (44.1%) web citations were inaccessible and the 404 File Not Found error message was the most (88.9%) encountered. Top-level domains with country endings had the most (23.7%) missing URLs. The average half-life for the URLs cited in journal articles was 10.5 years. Only 36 (6.3%) web references were recovered through Wayback Machine. Originality: This is a comprehensive study of East African health sciences online journals that provides findings that raises questions as to whether URLs should continue to be included as part of bibliographic details in the lists of references. It also calls for concerted efforts from various actors in overcoming the problem of URL decay.
Journal of Systems and Information Technology, 2017
Purpose: To determine factors that influence people living with HIV to engage in internet-based H... more Purpose: To determine factors that influence people living with HIV to engage in internet-based HIV information seeking behaviour in selected Tanzanian public regional hospitals. Methodology: We conducted a questionnaire-based survey to 221 PLHIV in two regional public hospitals in Mwanza and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. We assessed the validity and reliability of the measurement model by using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA); while we used hierarchical regressions to examine the research hypotheses by using SPSS. Findings: The study found that there is low usage of internet (24.3%) to search online HIV information. Factors related to attitude and information source accessibility predicted usage intentions of Internet, while facilitating conditions, information source accessibility and usage intention of internet determined actual use of internet among PLHIV. Age moderated the effects of information source quality and social influence on usage intention of internet, and the effects of the information source accessibility and social influence on actual use of Internet. The findings imply that younger PLHIV were more likely to use internet to access HIV information than the older respondents due to perceived ease of accessing information and quality of the online content. Further, older PLHIV were more influenced by the views of others when making decisions to use internet. Practical implications: Health care providers and libraries need to conduct regular studies on health needs of patients, and promote benefits of accessing online information; website designers need to design user friendly databases; public libraries need to include a section on health information; hospital and public librarians need to provide catalogues of health information resources on their websites; and health care providers need to improve technological infrastructure. Originality: This is a comprehensive study that provides empirical findings to better understand the HIV information seeking behavior from actual internet users, particularly factors that may influence people living with HIV to seek online information in Tanzania.
International Journal of Library and Information Science, 2017
A scientometric analysis was conducted to map the research growth and citation impact of Tanzania... more A scientometric analysis was conducted to map the research growth and citation impact of Tanzania scholars over a period of 24 years starting from 1991 to 2015. We analyzed data for research publications of all Tanzania scholars obtained from the SCOPUS database. The study analyzed the year-wise distribution of publications, subject-wise distribution of publications, the authorship pattern, degree of collaboration, and the citation impact. A total of 12,379 articles were published from 34 academic and research institutions. The top three universities with high cumulative number of publications were Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, University of Dar es salaam and Sokoine University of Agriculture. The top subject was medicine. The maximum number of citations received in a single publication was 1914. Publications metrics scores varied a lot based on indices chosen to rank the Tanzanian scholars. The study findings call for a need for scholars to collaborate with external partners within and outside the country, and publish in journals with a higher impact.
Purpose This paper aims to assess the usage behaviour of electronic resources (e-resources) among... more Purpose This paper aims to assess the usage behaviour of electronic resources (e-resources) among health sciences faculty and their level information literacy (IL) practices, and whether individual characteristics and IL skills can influence faculty member’s usage of e-resources at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS). Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted questionnaire surveys using a stratified random sampling technique to 135 faculty members at MUHAS between August and October 2016. The study used regression analysis to determine factors associated with the use of e-resources among faculty members at MUHAS. Findings In addition to Google search engine, Wikipedia and four scholarly databases and search engines, the level of awareness of other 19 scholarly databases and search engines which are either subscribed or open access resources was less than 50 per cent. In addition to Google search engine, Wikipedia and five scholarly databases and search engines, the self-reported usage of other 18 scholarly databases and search engines was less than 50 per cent on the on “daily” and “weekly” categories. In total, 18 of the 32 IL competencies were rated below 50 per cent in the “good” grade by the faculty members. These IL competencies included information search techniques, reference management, critical appraisal and Web 2.0 technologies. The IL competencies (ß = 0.223), an experience of using e-resources (ß = 0.222) and some research disciplines [nursing (ß = 0.191) and pharmacy (ß = 0.186)] positively predicted self-reported usage of e-resources among faculty members. Originality/value This is a comprehensive study that assesses the use patterns of e-resources across different health sciences disciplines in a university setting, and the influence of demographic characteristics and IL skills on the usage of e-resources in Tanzania. The results of this study will be useful to academic libraries to inform and review their policies and practices in relation to the IL training programmes and information services in a university setting.
Purpose – This study assessed whether quality antecedents and individual characteristics can infl... more Purpose – This study assessed whether quality antecedents and individual characteristics can influence faculty members' continued usage intention of electronic resources in selected public universities in Tanzania. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 204 faculty members participated in the study from three public Universities in Tanzania. The study used structural equation modelling (SEM), ANOVA, and t-tests to perform analyses. Findings – Better educated and middle aged faculty members with a wide experience of using e-resources are more likely to continue using e-resources. Information quality had positive relationship with continued usage intention of e-resources while service quality had indirect impact to continued usage intention through information quality and system quality. Originality/value – Based on the DeLone and McLean Information Systems Success Model, this study integrates quality factors (information, service, and system quality) and individual characteristics as antecedents to the continued usage intention of e-resources. The study comprehensively documents empirical findings on impacts of quality factors and individual characteristics on e-resources in a developing country. The study reveals results that are useful for enhancing usage of e-resources by faculty in other institutions with similar conditions.
Journal of Information Communication and Ethics in Society, 2018
Purpose–This paper aims to assess the usage pattern of telecentres, how rural women frame telecen... more Purpose–This paper aims to assess the usage pattern of telecentres, how rural women frame telecentres and barriers that limit use of telecentres. Further, the study examined the effects of demographic characteristics and location on telecentre usage. Design/methodology/approach–The study used a sequential mixed research design in three rural districts surrounding telecentres: Kongwa, Sengerema and Kilosa districts. The study population comprised rural women who were users and non-users of telecentres. The study conducted six focus group discussions (FGDs) with 37 users and six FGDs with 36 non-users in thefirst phase of the study in 2014; questionnaires were administered to 90 users and 90 non-users in the second phase of the study in 2015. Findings–The primary use of telecentres among users was to access internet (71.4 per cent,n=60), followed by information and communication technology (ICT) training courses (63.1 per cent, n= 53) and secretarial purposes (63.1 per cent,n= 53). Rural women used internet for educational purposes, followed by news, information on health issues, job opportunities, social and entertainment issues. Rural women currently using internet were more likely to be better educated (ß= 1.926,p= 0.001) and have higher incomes (ß= 5.318, p= 0.021) at both bivariate and multivariate analysis. Users indicated that they faced the following barriers towards using telecentre: short duration of ICT training, frequent power outages, low speed of internet and few computers at the telecentres. Non-users were not using telecentres because of lack of ICT skills and language barriers. Originality/value–This study provides empirical evidence to telecentres, libraries and other rural ICT initiatives to design rural ICT services that are gender-sensitive and demand-driven.
Résumé/Abstract Approximately 1.2 billion people in the world live in extreme poverty. In that li... more Résumé/Abstract Approximately 1.2 billion people in the world live in extreme poverty. In that light, the first United Nations-Millennium Development Goal (UN-MDG) targeted eradicating extreme poverty and halving hunger by the year 2015. In support of the UN ...
Purpose: The study sought to investigate factors that affect the adoption and use of open access ... more Purpose: The study sought to investigate factors that affect the adoption and use of open access in Tanzanian health sciences universities. Design/methodology/approach: Based on a cross-sectional questionnaire survey, 415 faculty members were selected through a stratified random sampling from a population of 679 in all eight health sciences universities in Tanzania. The response rate was 71.1%. Findings: Based on the social exchange theory (SET), and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), the study developed a model suitable for assessing open access adoption and usage in academic institutions. The study found that facilitating conditions, extrinsic benefits (professional recognition), behavioural intention and individual characteristics (professional rank, technical skills and number of publications) predicted actual usage of open access. Other factors related to contextual factors (attitude, and open access culture), and extrinsic benefits (academic reward, accessibility and preservation) determined behavioural intention to use open access. Fear to violate publisher's copyright policies and effort expectancy however de-motivated faculty to adopt open access, while copyright concerns inhibited faculty's actual usage of open access. Originality/value: This is a first comprehensive study focusing on the health sciences faculty's open access adoption and usage behaviour in Africa, and Tanzania in particular, and reveals findings that are useful for planning and implementing open access initiatives in other institutions with similar conditions.
International Journal of Innovative Healthcare Research, 2016
Evidence based practice (EBP) has continuously been considered vital in health research, teaching... more Evidence based practice (EBP) has continuously been considered vital in health research, teaching and patients' care. The main objective of the paper was to describe benefits of EBP training and challenges of implementation in selected Universities and hospitals in Tanzania. We conducted three focus group discussions (FGDs) with 26 participants who had attended EBP training that included academic members of staff in universities, physicians, nurses and librarians. Data were analyzed using thematic content analysis. Participants reported that they benefitted from EBP training in terms of acquiring new knowledge as well as attainment of advanced professional skills. The training was also revealed to have been useful in areas of research, teaching and care of patients. Various challenges including; inadequate financial and material resources, technical and technological obstacles as well as negative attitude and disapproving mind-set were reported to hinder implementation of EBP. Overall, participants perceived EBP training to be a revelation in enhancing their use of information technology in teaching, research and care of patients. Besides, hospital and institutional administrations need to devise ways of mitigating challenges facing implementation of EBP.
International Research: Journal of Library & Information Science, 2015
The study assessed the information needs and information seeking patterns of citizens in Tanzania... more The study assessed the information needs and information seeking patterns of citizens in Tanzania with a particular focus to three districts: Morogoro town, Njombe and Kinondoni districts. Questionnaire survey was self-administered to 450 citizens in selected districts, with a rate of return of 99.6 per cent. Findings revealed that citizens mainly required information on national examination results, which was followed by information on birth, death and marriage certificates, land, and health. Citizens relied on electronic sources and interpersonal communication with neighbours and friends more than explicit sources of information. Certain demographic factors related to education level and respondent's age determined use of various types information sources. Common barriers of citizens' information seeking behaviour were related to poor ICT infrastructure, difficulty in retrieving information, distant location and high costs of information sources. This is a comprehensive study that provides findings which might help the government in Tanzania and other countries with similar conditions to provide effective government information and services to their citizens.
Purpose: The purpose of the paper was to examine factors that predict students' continued usage i... more Purpose: The purpose of the paper was to examine factors that predict students' continued usage intention of web-based learning management systems (LMS) in Tanzania, with a specific focus at the School of Business of Mzumbe University (MU). Specifically, the study investigated major predictors of actual usage and continued usage intentions of e-learning system, and challenges of using the e-learning system. Design/methodology/approach: Data was collected through a questionnaire survey to 300 third year undergraduate students, with a rate of return of 77%. A total of 20 faculty members were also interviewed. The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) was utilized in the study. Findings-The results show that actual usage was determined by self-efficacy, while continued usage intentions of web-based learning system was predicted by performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, self-efficacy and actual usage. Challenges for using web-based LMS were related to ICT infrastructure barrier, LMS user interface was not user friendly, weak ICT policies, management and technical support, limited skills, lack of awareness, resistance to change, and lack of time to prepare e-content and use the e-learning system. Practical implications-The study findings are useful to e-learning managers and university management to identify important factors and develop appropriate policies and strategies to encourage long-term usage of e-learning systems for future studies and lifelong learning. Originality/value – By using UTAUT in the context of continued usage intentions and the integration of an additional construct (" self-efficacy "), the extended UTAUT model fits very well in the web-based learning systems in Tanzania, in particular where such studies are scant. The findings can be used in other institutions with similar conditions in investigating the continued usage intentions of e-learning systems.
Telecentres in rural communities are mostly conceptualised by development agencies and government... more Telecentres in rural communities are mostly conceptualised by development agencies and governments as spaces that all community members can go to and access infoarmation and communication technologies. While for the technocrats the goals of establishing the telecentres might be clear, the same cannot always be said about the people who live in the communities these telecentres were set up and are meant to use and benefit from the facilities. Grounded in the frame theory, this article uses textual analysis to understand the ways in which women in rural communities in South Africa and Tanzania represented the telecentres in their locales. The paper also discusses the possible implications of framing the telecentres in the manner that the women do. A key finding is that most women interviewed in this study viewed the telecentres as places for 'Other' people; mostly students and educated people. Few of the respondents thought the telecentres were meant for everyone. This paper argues that referring to the telecentres as spaces for 'Other' people worked to limit the women from actually using and benefiting from the telecentres. We recommend that the telecentres management could consider re-branding the telecentres as inclusive spaces. We also suggest that researchers and technocrats need to revisit and rethink the assumptions that informed the setting up of the telecentres in the first place. It might be worthwhile having conversations with community members regarding their present needs are and how the telecentres can meet them.
The purpose of this study was to determine the information needs and information-seeking patterns... more The purpose of this study was to determine the information needs and information-seeking patterns of users and non-users of internet among rural women in Tanzania. The study used mixed research sequential design, wherein the initial qualitative phase informed the design of the cross-sectional questionnaire surveys. In 2014, the study conducted FGDs in three rural districts in Tanzania that have telecentres: Sengerema, Kongwa and Kilosa districts. Six FGDs were conducted to 37 internet users, and the remaining six FGDs were carried out to 36 non-users. In 2015, questionnaires surveys were administered to 90 users and 90 non-users of internet from telecenters. The study findings showed that there were similarities on the major information needs and information seeking patterns of both users and non-users of internet, although some variations were noted. Demographic characteristics related to education level, income and number of information sources played a key role in discriminating between internet users and non-users. This study provides empirical findings telecenters, libraries and other rural information providers to develop and offer relevant user-centered information services that are gender sensitive to facilitate equitable access to relevant information for rational decision-making.
he 14th International Conference on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries, May 22 – 24 May 2017, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 2017
Abstract. Women are still facing exclusion in the use of telecentres, largely because of cultural... more Abstract. Women are still facing exclusion in the use of telecentres, largely because of cultural perceptions that they are responsible for the home; telecentres are also widely perceived appropriate for men to find employment. This paper presents an analysis of the benefits women derive from using telecentres. This study explores how telecentres empower women in the rural communities by analysing three telecentres in the rural setting of Western Cape, South Africa. A qualitative approach involving semi-structured interviews was used to gather in- depth details on individual empowerment of the rural women. The results obtained show that some rural women used the telecentres to enhance economic standards, which resulted in individual empowerment in social, psychological, information and economic dimensions. This study highlights the potential of telecentres in empowering women and proposes that the government and NGOs consider the telecentre as a means of addressing gender digital divide issue
Objective: This study examined the availability and persistence of Universal Resource Locators (U... more Objective: This study examined the availability and persistence of Universal Resource Locators (URLs) cited in scholarly articles published in selected health journals based in East Africa. Methods: Four health sciences online journals in East Africa were selected for this study. We extracted all web citations in the selected journal articles covering the 2001 – 2015 period. The study explored the proportion of URLs used as citations, determined the rate of URLs loss, identified error messages associated with inaccessible URLs, identified the top domain levels of decayed URLs, calculated the half-life of the web citations, and determined the proportion of recovered URL citations through the Internet Wayback Machine. Results: A total of 822 articles were published between 2001 and 2015. There was a total of 17,609 citations of which, only 574 (3.3%) were web citations. The findings show that 253 (44.1%) web citations were inaccessible and the 404 File Not Found error message was the most (88.9%) encountered. Top-level domains with country endings had the most (23.7%) missing URLs. The average half-life for the URLs cited in journal articles was 10.5 years. Only 36 (6.3%) web references were recovered through Wayback Machine. Originality: This is a comprehensive study of East African health sciences online journals that provides findings that raises questions as to whether URLs should continue to be included as part of bibliographic details in the lists of references. It also calls for concerted efforts from various actors in overcoming the problem of URL decay.
Journal of Systems and Information Technology, 2017
Purpose: To determine factors that influence people living with HIV to engage in internet-based H... more Purpose: To determine factors that influence people living with HIV to engage in internet-based HIV information seeking behaviour in selected Tanzanian public regional hospitals. Methodology: We conducted a questionnaire-based survey to 221 PLHIV in two regional public hospitals in Mwanza and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. We assessed the validity and reliability of the measurement model by using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA); while we used hierarchical regressions to examine the research hypotheses by using SPSS. Findings: The study found that there is low usage of internet (24.3%) to search online HIV information. Factors related to attitude and information source accessibility predicted usage intentions of Internet, while facilitating conditions, information source accessibility and usage intention of internet determined actual use of internet among PLHIV. Age moderated the effects of information source quality and social influence on usage intention of internet, and the effects of the information source accessibility and social influence on actual use of Internet. The findings imply that younger PLHIV were more likely to use internet to access HIV information than the older respondents due to perceived ease of accessing information and quality of the online content. Further, older PLHIV were more influenced by the views of others when making decisions to use internet. Practical implications: Health care providers and libraries need to conduct regular studies on health needs of patients, and promote benefits of accessing online information; website designers need to design user friendly databases; public libraries need to include a section on health information; hospital and public librarians need to provide catalogues of health information resources on their websites; and health care providers need to improve technological infrastructure. Originality: This is a comprehensive study that provides empirical findings to better understand the HIV information seeking behavior from actual internet users, particularly factors that may influence people living with HIV to seek online information in Tanzania.
International Journal of Library and Information Science, 2017
A scientometric analysis was conducted to map the research growth and citation impact of Tanzania... more A scientometric analysis was conducted to map the research growth and citation impact of Tanzania scholars over a period of 24 years starting from 1991 to 2015. We analyzed data for research publications of all Tanzania scholars obtained from the SCOPUS database. The study analyzed the year-wise distribution of publications, subject-wise distribution of publications, the authorship pattern, degree of collaboration, and the citation impact. A total of 12,379 articles were published from 34 academic and research institutions. The top three universities with high cumulative number of publications were Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, University of Dar es salaam and Sokoine University of Agriculture. The top subject was medicine. The maximum number of citations received in a single publication was 1914. Publications metrics scores varied a lot based on indices chosen to rank the Tanzanian scholars. The study findings call for a need for scholars to collaborate with external partners within and outside the country, and publish in journals with a higher impact.
This systematic review of reviews aimed to explore the contribution of information and communicat... more This systematic review of reviews aimed to explore the contribution of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for development in developing countries. This systematic review of reviews determines and summarizes ICTD research trends, and methodologies and conceptual frameworks used in ICTD research discuss the findings and evidence and then suggest approaches for further research. We reviewed existing systematic reviews published on ICT and development between January 1990 and July 2017. The review of reviews shows that a growing number of ICTD research works have used qualitative research approaches for data collection and analysis. We note several attempts to develop and apply models/frameworks over explanatory and predictive theories, most notably in the area of social, sociotechnical, and technical. Nevertheless, there is limited evidence on the long‐term contribution of ICT use on livelihoods, patterns of economic inequality, human freedom, and well‐being in developing countries. This review of reviews synthesizes existing systematic reviews on the contribution of ICT for development than was previously available for developing countries. This review has the potential for several stakeholders, including the public and private sector, intermediaries, and nonprofit organizations, to utilize the accumulated evidence from selected systematic reviews to enable/improve the appropriate and sustainable use of ICTs for development.
IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, 2017
Women are still facing exclusion in the use of telecentres, largely because of cultural perceptio... more Women are still facing exclusion in the use of telecentres, largely because of cultural perceptions that they are responsible for the home; telecentres are also widely perceived appropriate for men to find employment. This paper presents an analysis of the benefits women derive from using telecentres. This study explores how telecentres empower women in the rural communities by analysing three telecentres in the rural setting of Western Cape, South Africa. A qualitative approach involving semi-structured interviews was used to gather in-depth details on individual empowerment of the rural women. The results obtained show that some rural women used the telecentres to enhance economic standards, which resulted in individual empowerment in social, psychological, information and economic dimensions. This study highlights the potential of telecentres in empowering women and proposes that the government and NGOs consider the telecentre as a means of addressing gender digital divide issues.
Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, 2017
This paper investigates the effects of user-centric, security, and system characteristics and the... more This paper investigates the effects of user-centric, security, and system characteristics and the moderating effects of gender on behavioural intention to use mobile payments (m-payment) services in Tanzania. The study extended the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to better explain and predict the users' intentions to use m-payment services. A questionnaire survey was conducted with 292 m-payment users in Morogoro and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The study used structural equation modeling and multi-group analysis for data analysis. The study found that compatibility, social influence, and m-payment knowledge determined perceived usefulness, while m-payment knowledge, trust and compatibility predicted perceived ease of use of m-payment services. Moreover, perceived ease of use determined perceived usefulness, and perceived usefulness and personal innovativeness in turn, had positive effects on the behavioural intention to use m-payment. There were gender differences on the behavioural intention to use m-payment. The effect of compatibility and personal innovativeness on perceived ease of use, and the influence of ease of use on behavioural intention were moderated by gender such that it is more significant for men more than women. The effects of social influence on perceived usefulness were stronger for female more than their male counterparts. The paper provides empirical findings for mobile service providers to improve their marketing plans, and development of new applications in the Tanzanian culture or other countries with similar conditions.
Objective: This study examined the availability and persistence of Universal Resource Locators (U... more Objective: This study examined the availability and persistence of Universal Resource Locators (URLs) cited in scholarly articles published in selected health journals based in East Africa. Methods: Four health sciences online journals in East Africa were selected for this study. We extracted all web citations in the selected journal articles covering the 2001 – 2015 period. The study explored the proportion of URLs used as citations, determined the rate of URLs loss, identified error messages associated with inaccessible URLs, identified the top domain levels of decayed URLs, calculated the half-life of the web citations, and determined the proportion of recovered URL citations through the Internet Wayback Machine. Results: A total of 822 articles were published between 2001 and 2015. There was a total of 17,609 citations of which, only 574 (3.3%) were web citations. The findings show that 253 (44.1%) web citations were inaccessible and the 404 File Not Found error message was the most (88.9%) encountered. Top-level domains with country endings had the most (23.7%) missing URLs. The average half-life for the URLs cited in journal articles was 10.5 years. Only 36 (6.3%) web references were recovered through Wayback Machine. Originality: This is a comprehensive study of East African health sciences online journals that provides findings that raises questions as to whether URLs should continue to be included as part of bibliographic details in the lists of references. It also calls for concerted efforts from various actors in overcoming the problem of URL decay.
Journal of Systems and Information Technology, 2017
Purpose: To determine factors that influence people living with HIV to engage in internet-based H... more Purpose: To determine factors that influence people living with HIV to engage in internet-based HIV information seeking behaviour in selected Tanzanian public regional hospitals. Methodology: We conducted a questionnaire-based survey to 221 PLHIV in two regional public hospitals in Mwanza and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. We assessed the validity and reliability of the measurement model by using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA); while we used hierarchical regressions to examine the research hypotheses by using SPSS. Findings: The study found that there is low usage of internet (24.3%) to search online HIV information. Factors related to attitude and information source accessibility predicted usage intentions of Internet, while facilitating conditions, information source accessibility and usage intention of internet determined actual use of internet among PLHIV. Age moderated the effects of information source quality and social influence on usage intention of internet, and the effects of the information source accessibility and social influence on actual use of Internet. The findings imply that younger PLHIV were more likely to use internet to access HIV information than the older respondents due to perceived ease of accessing information and quality of the online content. Further, older PLHIV were more influenced by the views of others when making decisions to use internet. Practical implications: Health care providers and libraries need to conduct regular studies on health needs of patients, and promote benefits of accessing online information; website designers need to design user friendly databases; public libraries need to include a section on health information; hospital and public librarians need to provide catalogues of health information resources on their websites; and health care providers need to improve technological infrastructure. Originality: This is a comprehensive study that provides empirical findings to better understand the HIV information seeking behavior from actual internet users, particularly factors that may influence people living with HIV to seek online information in Tanzania.
International Journal of Library and Information Science, 2017
A scientometric analysis was conducted to map the research growth and citation impact of Tanzania... more A scientometric analysis was conducted to map the research growth and citation impact of Tanzania scholars over a period of 24 years starting from 1991 to 2015. We analyzed data for research publications of all Tanzania scholars obtained from the SCOPUS database. The study analyzed the year-wise distribution of publications, subject-wise distribution of publications, the authorship pattern, degree of collaboration, and the citation impact. A total of 12,379 articles were published from 34 academic and research institutions. The top three universities with high cumulative number of publications were Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, University of Dar es salaam and Sokoine University of Agriculture. The top subject was medicine. The maximum number of citations received in a single publication was 1914. Publications metrics scores varied a lot based on indices chosen to rank the Tanzanian scholars. The study findings call for a need for scholars to collaborate with external partners within and outside the country, and publish in journals with a higher impact.
Purpose This paper aims to assess the usage behaviour of electronic resources (e-resources) among... more Purpose This paper aims to assess the usage behaviour of electronic resources (e-resources) among health sciences faculty and their level information literacy (IL) practices, and whether individual characteristics and IL skills can influence faculty member’s usage of e-resources at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS). Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted questionnaire surveys using a stratified random sampling technique to 135 faculty members at MUHAS between August and October 2016. The study used regression analysis to determine factors associated with the use of e-resources among faculty members at MUHAS. Findings In addition to Google search engine, Wikipedia and four scholarly databases and search engines, the level of awareness of other 19 scholarly databases and search engines which are either subscribed or open access resources was less than 50 per cent. In addition to Google search engine, Wikipedia and five scholarly databases and search engines, the self-reported usage of other 18 scholarly databases and search engines was less than 50 per cent on the on “daily” and “weekly” categories. In total, 18 of the 32 IL competencies were rated below 50 per cent in the “good” grade by the faculty members. These IL competencies included information search techniques, reference management, critical appraisal and Web 2.0 technologies. The IL competencies (ß = 0.223), an experience of using e-resources (ß = 0.222) and some research disciplines [nursing (ß = 0.191) and pharmacy (ß = 0.186)] positively predicted self-reported usage of e-resources among faculty members. Originality/value This is a comprehensive study that assesses the use patterns of e-resources across different health sciences disciplines in a university setting, and the influence of demographic characteristics and IL skills on the usage of e-resources in Tanzania. The results of this study will be useful to academic libraries to inform and review their policies and practices in relation to the IL training programmes and information services in a university setting.
Purpose – This study assessed whether quality antecedents and individual characteristics can infl... more Purpose – This study assessed whether quality antecedents and individual characteristics can influence faculty members' continued usage intention of electronic resources in selected public universities in Tanzania. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 204 faculty members participated in the study from three public Universities in Tanzania. The study used structural equation modelling (SEM), ANOVA, and t-tests to perform analyses. Findings – Better educated and middle aged faculty members with a wide experience of using e-resources are more likely to continue using e-resources. Information quality had positive relationship with continued usage intention of e-resources while service quality had indirect impact to continued usage intention through information quality and system quality. Originality/value – Based on the DeLone and McLean Information Systems Success Model, this study integrates quality factors (information, service, and system quality) and individual characteristics as antecedents to the continued usage intention of e-resources. The study comprehensively documents empirical findings on impacts of quality factors and individual characteristics on e-resources in a developing country. The study reveals results that are useful for enhancing usage of e-resources by faculty in other institutions with similar conditions.
Journal of Information Communication and Ethics in Society, 2018
Purpose–This paper aims to assess the usage pattern of telecentres, how rural women frame telecen... more Purpose–This paper aims to assess the usage pattern of telecentres, how rural women frame telecentres and barriers that limit use of telecentres. Further, the study examined the effects of demographic characteristics and location on telecentre usage. Design/methodology/approach–The study used a sequential mixed research design in three rural districts surrounding telecentres: Kongwa, Sengerema and Kilosa districts. The study population comprised rural women who were users and non-users of telecentres. The study conducted six focus group discussions (FGDs) with 37 users and six FGDs with 36 non-users in thefirst phase of the study in 2014; questionnaires were administered to 90 users and 90 non-users in the second phase of the study in 2015. Findings–The primary use of telecentres among users was to access internet (71.4 per cent,n=60), followed by information and communication technology (ICT) training courses (63.1 per cent, n= 53) and secretarial purposes (63.1 per cent,n= 53). Rural women used internet for educational purposes, followed by news, information on health issues, job opportunities, social and entertainment issues. Rural women currently using internet were more likely to be better educated (ß= 1.926,p= 0.001) and have higher incomes (ß= 5.318, p= 0.021) at both bivariate and multivariate analysis. Users indicated that they faced the following barriers towards using telecentre: short duration of ICT training, frequent power outages, low speed of internet and few computers at the telecentres. Non-users were not using telecentres because of lack of ICT skills and language barriers. Originality/value–This study provides empirical evidence to telecentres, libraries and other rural ICT initiatives to design rural ICT services that are gender-sensitive and demand-driven.
Résumé/Abstract Approximately 1.2 billion people in the world live in extreme poverty. In that li... more Résumé/Abstract Approximately 1.2 billion people in the world live in extreme poverty. In that light, the first United Nations-Millennium Development Goal (UN-MDG) targeted eradicating extreme poverty and halving hunger by the year 2015. In support of the UN ...
Purpose: The study sought to investigate factors that affect the adoption and use of open access ... more Purpose: The study sought to investigate factors that affect the adoption and use of open access in Tanzanian health sciences universities. Design/methodology/approach: Based on a cross-sectional questionnaire survey, 415 faculty members were selected through a stratified random sampling from a population of 679 in all eight health sciences universities in Tanzania. The response rate was 71.1%. Findings: Based on the social exchange theory (SET), and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), the study developed a model suitable for assessing open access adoption and usage in academic institutions. The study found that facilitating conditions, extrinsic benefits (professional recognition), behavioural intention and individual characteristics (professional rank, technical skills and number of publications) predicted actual usage of open access. Other factors related to contextual factors (attitude, and open access culture), and extrinsic benefits (academic reward, accessibility and preservation) determined behavioural intention to use open access. Fear to violate publisher's copyright policies and effort expectancy however de-motivated faculty to adopt open access, while copyright concerns inhibited faculty's actual usage of open access. Originality/value: This is a first comprehensive study focusing on the health sciences faculty's open access adoption and usage behaviour in Africa, and Tanzania in particular, and reveals findings that are useful for planning and implementing open access initiatives in other institutions with similar conditions.
International Journal of Innovative Healthcare Research, 2016
Evidence based practice (EBP) has continuously been considered vital in health research, teaching... more Evidence based practice (EBP) has continuously been considered vital in health research, teaching and patients' care. The main objective of the paper was to describe benefits of EBP training and challenges of implementation in selected Universities and hospitals in Tanzania. We conducted three focus group discussions (FGDs) with 26 participants who had attended EBP training that included academic members of staff in universities, physicians, nurses and librarians. Data were analyzed using thematic content analysis. Participants reported that they benefitted from EBP training in terms of acquiring new knowledge as well as attainment of advanced professional skills. The training was also revealed to have been useful in areas of research, teaching and care of patients. Various challenges including; inadequate financial and material resources, technical and technological obstacles as well as negative attitude and disapproving mind-set were reported to hinder implementation of EBP. Overall, participants perceived EBP training to be a revelation in enhancing their use of information technology in teaching, research and care of patients. Besides, hospital and institutional administrations need to devise ways of mitigating challenges facing implementation of EBP.
International Research: Journal of Library & Information Science, 2015
The study assessed the information needs and information seeking patterns of citizens in Tanzania... more The study assessed the information needs and information seeking patterns of citizens in Tanzania with a particular focus to three districts: Morogoro town, Njombe and Kinondoni districts. Questionnaire survey was self-administered to 450 citizens in selected districts, with a rate of return of 99.6 per cent. Findings revealed that citizens mainly required information on national examination results, which was followed by information on birth, death and marriage certificates, land, and health. Citizens relied on electronic sources and interpersonal communication with neighbours and friends more than explicit sources of information. Certain demographic factors related to education level and respondent's age determined use of various types information sources. Common barriers of citizens' information seeking behaviour were related to poor ICT infrastructure, difficulty in retrieving information, distant location and high costs of information sources. This is a comprehensive study that provides findings which might help the government in Tanzania and other countries with similar conditions to provide effective government information and services to their citizens.
Purpose: The purpose of the paper was to examine factors that predict students' continued usage i... more Purpose: The purpose of the paper was to examine factors that predict students' continued usage intention of web-based learning management systems (LMS) in Tanzania, with a specific focus at the School of Business of Mzumbe University (MU). Specifically, the study investigated major predictors of actual usage and continued usage intentions of e-learning system, and challenges of using the e-learning system. Design/methodology/approach: Data was collected through a questionnaire survey to 300 third year undergraduate students, with a rate of return of 77%. A total of 20 faculty members were also interviewed. The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) was utilized in the study. Findings-The results show that actual usage was determined by self-efficacy, while continued usage intentions of web-based learning system was predicted by performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, self-efficacy and actual usage. Challenges for using web-based LMS were related to ICT infrastructure barrier, LMS user interface was not user friendly, weak ICT policies, management and technical support, limited skills, lack of awareness, resistance to change, and lack of time to prepare e-content and use the e-learning system. Practical implications-The study findings are useful to e-learning managers and university management to identify important factors and develop appropriate policies and strategies to encourage long-term usage of e-learning systems for future studies and lifelong learning. Originality/value – By using UTAUT in the context of continued usage intentions and the integration of an additional construct (" self-efficacy "), the extended UTAUT model fits very well in the web-based learning systems in Tanzania, in particular where such studies are scant. The findings can be used in other institutions with similar conditions in investigating the continued usage intentions of e-learning systems.
Telecentres in rural communities are mostly conceptualised by development agencies and government... more Telecentres in rural communities are mostly conceptualised by development agencies and governments as spaces that all community members can go to and access infoarmation and communication technologies. While for the technocrats the goals of establishing the telecentres might be clear, the same cannot always be said about the people who live in the communities these telecentres were set up and are meant to use and benefit from the facilities. Grounded in the frame theory, this article uses textual analysis to understand the ways in which women in rural communities in South Africa and Tanzania represented the telecentres in their locales. The paper also discusses the possible implications of framing the telecentres in the manner that the women do. A key finding is that most women interviewed in this study viewed the telecentres as places for 'Other' people; mostly students and educated people. Few of the respondents thought the telecentres were meant for everyone. This paper argues that referring to the telecentres as spaces for 'Other' people worked to limit the women from actually using and benefiting from the telecentres. We recommend that the telecentres management could consider re-branding the telecentres as inclusive spaces. We also suggest that researchers and technocrats need to revisit and rethink the assumptions that informed the setting up of the telecentres in the first place. It might be worthwhile having conversations with community members regarding their present needs are and how the telecentres can meet them.
The purpose of this study was to determine the information needs and information-seeking patterns... more The purpose of this study was to determine the information needs and information-seeking patterns of users and non-users of internet among rural women in Tanzania. The study used mixed research sequential design, wherein the initial qualitative phase informed the design of the cross-sectional questionnaire surveys. In 2014, the study conducted FGDs in three rural districts in Tanzania that have telecentres: Sengerema, Kongwa and Kilosa districts. Six FGDs were conducted to 37 internet users, and the remaining six FGDs were carried out to 36 non-users. In 2015, questionnaires surveys were administered to 90 users and 90 non-users of internet from telecenters. The study findings showed that there were similarities on the major information needs and information seeking patterns of both users and non-users of internet, although some variations were noted. Demographic characteristics related to education level, income and number of information sources played a key role in discriminating between internet users and non-users. This study provides empirical findings telecenters, libraries and other rural information providers to develop and offer relevant user-centered information services that are gender sensitive to facilitate equitable access to relevant information for rational decision-making.
he 14th International Conference on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries, May 22 – 24 May 2017, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 2017
Abstract. Women are still facing exclusion in the use of telecentres, largely because of cultural... more Abstract. Women are still facing exclusion in the use of telecentres, largely because of cultural perceptions that they are responsible for the home; telecentres are also widely perceived appropriate for men to find employment. This paper presents an analysis of the benefits women derive from using telecentres. This study explores how telecentres empower women in the rural communities by analysing three telecentres in the rural setting of Western Cape, South Africa. A qualitative approach involving semi-structured interviews was used to gather in- depth details on individual empowerment of the rural women. The results obtained show that some rural women used the telecentres to enhance economic standards, which resulted in individual empowerment in social, psychological, information and economic dimensions. This study highlights the potential of telecentres in empowering women and proposes that the government and NGOs consider the telecentre as a means of addressing gender digital divide issue
Objective: This study examined the availability and persistence of Universal Resource Locators (U... more Objective: This study examined the availability and persistence of Universal Resource Locators (URLs) cited in scholarly articles published in selected health journals based in East Africa. Methods: Four health sciences online journals in East Africa were selected for this study. We extracted all web citations in the selected journal articles covering the 2001 – 2015 period. The study explored the proportion of URLs used as citations, determined the rate of URLs loss, identified error messages associated with inaccessible URLs, identified the top domain levels of decayed URLs, calculated the half-life of the web citations, and determined the proportion of recovered URL citations through the Internet Wayback Machine. Results: A total of 822 articles were published between 2001 and 2015. There was a total of 17,609 citations of which, only 574 (3.3%) were web citations. The findings show that 253 (44.1%) web citations were inaccessible and the 404 File Not Found error message was the most (88.9%) encountered. Top-level domains with country endings had the most (23.7%) missing URLs. The average half-life for the URLs cited in journal articles was 10.5 years. Only 36 (6.3%) web references were recovered through Wayback Machine. Originality: This is a comprehensive study of East African health sciences online journals that provides findings that raises questions as to whether URLs should continue to be included as part of bibliographic details in the lists of references. It also calls for concerted efforts from various actors in overcoming the problem of URL decay.
Journal of Systems and Information Technology, 2017
Purpose: To determine factors that influence people living with HIV to engage in internet-based H... more Purpose: To determine factors that influence people living with HIV to engage in internet-based HIV information seeking behaviour in selected Tanzanian public regional hospitals. Methodology: We conducted a questionnaire-based survey to 221 PLHIV in two regional public hospitals in Mwanza and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. We assessed the validity and reliability of the measurement model by using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA); while we used hierarchical regressions to examine the research hypotheses by using SPSS. Findings: The study found that there is low usage of internet (24.3%) to search online HIV information. Factors related to attitude and information source accessibility predicted usage intentions of Internet, while facilitating conditions, information source accessibility and usage intention of internet determined actual use of internet among PLHIV. Age moderated the effects of information source quality and social influence on usage intention of internet, and the effects of the information source accessibility and social influence on actual use of Internet. The findings imply that younger PLHIV were more likely to use internet to access HIV information than the older respondents due to perceived ease of accessing information and quality of the online content. Further, older PLHIV were more influenced by the views of others when making decisions to use internet. Practical implications: Health care providers and libraries need to conduct regular studies on health needs of patients, and promote benefits of accessing online information; website designers need to design user friendly databases; public libraries need to include a section on health information; hospital and public librarians need to provide catalogues of health information resources on their websites; and health care providers need to improve technological infrastructure. Originality: This is a comprehensive study that provides empirical findings to better understand the HIV information seeking behavior from actual internet users, particularly factors that may influence people living with HIV to seek online information in Tanzania.
International Journal of Library and Information Science, 2017
A scientometric analysis was conducted to map the research growth and citation impact of Tanzania... more A scientometric analysis was conducted to map the research growth and citation impact of Tanzania scholars over a period of 24 years starting from 1991 to 2015. We analyzed data for research publications of all Tanzania scholars obtained from the SCOPUS database. The study analyzed the year-wise distribution of publications, subject-wise distribution of publications, the authorship pattern, degree of collaboration, and the citation impact. A total of 12,379 articles were published from 34 academic and research institutions. The top three universities with high cumulative number of publications were Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, University of Dar es salaam and Sokoine University of Agriculture. The top subject was medicine. The maximum number of citations received in a single publication was 1914. Publications metrics scores varied a lot based on indices chosen to rank the Tanzanian scholars. The study findings call for a need for scholars to collaborate with external partners within and outside the country, and publish in journals with a higher impact.
In book: Handbook of Research on Knowledge Management: adaptation and context., Chapter: 17, Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing., Editors: A. Ortenblad, pp.263-281., 2014
Edda Tandi Lwoga, Christine Stilwell and Patrick Ngulube look at and compare knowledge management... more Edda Tandi Lwoga, Christine Stilwell and Patrick Ngulube look at and compare knowledge management in two national cultures and draw some conclusions for indigenous organizations in general.
In book: Handbook of Research on Knowledge Management: adaptation and context., Chapter: 17, Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing., Editors: A. Ortenblad, pp.263-281.
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Papers by Edda T Lwoga
In book: Handbook of Research on Knowledge Management: adaptation and context., Chapter: 17, Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing., Editors: A. Ortenblad, pp.263-281.