beSMART

SOCIO – ECONOMIC CHARACHERISTICS AND ACCESS OF RURAL FARMERS TO INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AMONG IFEDORE LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF ONDO STATE, NIGERIA.

Folayan Opeoluwa Florence, Folayan Ifeoluwa Mary, Folayan Joshua Adio

The study examined Socio-Economic characteristics and access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) among rural farmers in Ifedore Local Government Area of Ondo state. It also assessed the factors influencing accessibility of ICTs for sourcing agricultural information in the study area. A total of one hundred and twenty farmers were randomly selected from six towns that were purposively chosen.Data were collected using a well-structured questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentage as well as assessing the factors influencing accessibility of ICTs. About 70% of the respondents are male; 30% of them are 60 years old and above. Eighty six point seven percent (86.7%) were educated up to secondary school level, inheritance was the major mode of farmland acquisition while most of them had family size of 5 and below. The study concluded that ICTs exist in the study area and the farmers were well aware of them but were faced with various challenges in their usage of these technologies. The following recommendations were made: rural farmers, especially old and illiterate ones, should be enlightened/educated on how to use ICTs to achieve maximum benefits; and ICT service centres should be established in rural areas.

A STUDY OF THE TRAVEL INFORMATION RESOURCES, DESTINATION IMAGE, AND BEHAVIORAL INTENTION OF COLLEGE STUDENTS ON GREEN ISLAND

Ching-Hui Lin,Ying-Wan Chuang and Chian-Ying Chang

The purpose of this study is to understand the college students of their tourism destination information sources, cognitive image, as well as the follow-up to want to go to the Green Island of behavioral intentions. In this study, four University students as the research object in Northern Taiwan, non-random method was used, and total of 416 valid questionnaires were collected. After statistical analysis, the study found: 1. TV travel program introduction is the highest source of tourism information for college students. 2. In the aspect of tourism image in Green Island is "pleasant summer climate cognitive for activities in waters" were the highest. 3. The TV & Newspaper report, others recommended and comment, hospitality, marine ecological environment, and entertainment factors have predict power on behavioral intention. This study suggests that tourism and sectors should strengthen the publicity of information in the future, so that people who have never visit have a deep image of the destination, and then have the intention to visit.

THE  PERCEPTIONS OF SUPPORT STAFF ON A UNIVERSITY CLIMATE : THE CASE OF  THE NORTHERN BORDER UNIVERSITY

Dr. Badawi M. Elsiddig

                 The purpose of this study is to identify the perceptions of  support staff on the university climate of the Northern Border University in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia .The population  was all the support staff working in the university  campus of Arar City. 70 self-administered questionnaires specially designed were distributed after being reviewed and piloted, 50 were returned with  response rate (71.4%). The mean and standard deviation were used to summarize the level of agreement .The findings- using the mean- showed that there was agreement with three dimensions: supervision (3.55),work  relationships (3.89), satisfaction and commitment (4.11) indicating satisfaction .  While university policies and facilities (2.93) and chances of promotion   (2,92) were neutral. Salary and incentives dimension (2.59) was the least indicating  dissatisfaction. 50% of the respondents were in favor of drastic change in chances of promotion and development , 35.7%  were in policies and facilities, 26.8%   in  supervision. 26.2% in  salary and incentives and only 9.5% in relationships. The percentages of those who supported improvement in the five mentioned dimensions are ( 35.7%, 64.4%, 48.8%, 73.8%, and 40.5%) successively. The university is recommended to deliver different monetary  and non-monetary incentives to its support staff and tackle the issue of training and development seriously.

CONJOINT ANALYSIS OF CONSUMERS’ PURCHASE BEHAVIOUR OF COMPUTER PRODUCT PORTFOLIOS: A PRACTICAL SIMULATION CASE

Yu-Je Lee

This paper intends to explore consumers’ purchase behaviour of computer product portfolios by using conjoint analysis as the experiment tool for portfolio analysis. The data concerning the product attributes of three leading computer brands was collated. This is followed with a conjoint analysis on utilities, importance and correlations to derive the best mix of computer products in the purchase decision of consumers in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

product portfolio, consumers’ preferences, conjoint analysis