Browsing by Author "Stander, Adrie"

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    Open Access
    Assessing the quality of airline websites and its impact on user satisfaction and continuance intention
    (2008) Nazeer, Mohammad Nabeel; Stander, Adrie
    The growth of the Internet since the mid-1990s has created a variety of new business opportunities for many industries. The airline industry, one of the world's largest industries, responded to this growth by developing websites both to inform customers about their service offerings and to allow them to conduct e-commerce transactions. With the increasing number of airline companies using the Internet medium as a means of generating revenue, competition is always intense in the airline industry. In order to gain an advantage over their competitors, there is a need for airline companies to offer high quality websites that satisfy online users and entice them to continue using these websites in the future. Numerous studies have investigated the concept of website quality and used various research instruments to assess user-perceived website quality. However, very few of these studies have looked at the airline industry in particular. Furthermore, most of the research instruments used in these studies do not provide a comprehensive set of website quality attributes to assess an airline website. This research aims to investigate the quality of airline websites and its impact on user satisfaction and continuance intention. The literature surrounding these key concepts is reviewed and evaluated, and gaps therein are identified. A conceptual research model that incorporates a very comprehensive set of website quality attributes is then formulated. The model is based on an existing theoretical framework from literature, but is complemented with two additional variables, namely User Satisfaction and Continuance Intention. The study followed a quantitative research approach. A paper-based questionnaire, based on a strongly validated research instrument from literature, namely the WebQual, was administered to a large sample of students at a research university. Different statistical analyses were conducted on the data collected to empirically test the comprehensive conceptual model and validate it within the context of the airline industry. Results of the study indicated that the ease of use, usefulness, response time and entertainment components of an airline website have a significant direct influence on user satisfaction. It was further established that only the entertainment components of an airline website significantly influence an online user's intention to continue using the airline website. To gain a better understanding of trends that emerged within the data collected, a cross-region comparison of website quality was conducted. Results showed that there were significant differences between airline websites from four regions of the world in terms of trust. This is attributed to the ongoing concerns that online users have in terms of conducting monetary transactions on the Internet. A further comparison of website quality between the five most rated airline websites in the study revealed that there were significant differences between them in terms of their relative advantage, visual appeal, response time and intuitiveness. The significance of these results to both the academic arena and practitioners within the airline industry are discussed and avenues for further research suggested.
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    Continued forensic development - investigation into current trends and proposed model for digital forensic practitioners
    (2016) Van Ramesdonk, Paul; Stander, Adrie
    Continuous professional development has been looked at in many professions over the years, most notably in primary and secondary education and in the medical fields. With digital forensics being cast into the limelight due to the rapid advancements in technology, academic institutions have added courses to address the void created by the boom in the industry. Little research has been done to address the issues that have now become apparent concerning continued learning in this field. The purpose of this research was to investigate the kinds of frameworks and methods used in other professions, and how the practitioners themselves see career development, and to create a framework that could be used to keep abreast of developments in the field of digital forensics, be it changes in the law, case law, or changes in software. The data analysis showed quite a number of continued learning approaches that could be employed in the digital/computer forensic fields to achieve the objective of keeping abreast of changes in the field. Some, understandably, are due to the nature of the discipline. As part of practitioners' current approach to continued learning, they rely heavily on knowledge sharing in the form of learning from other professionals, through self-study by reading books, articles and research conducted in the forensic field, the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) for education, and the use of Internet sources such as user forums, Facebook groups, and web-blogs. The majority of the respondents had received formal training in digital forensics, and of the total number of participants, only six percent had not been involved in any form of continued learning activities in the past five years. When looking at the data obtained, and because there are no formal requirements to perform continued learning in the digital/computer forensic field, it becomes clear that individuals themselves need to be self-driven to keep up to date with changes in the field. As seen in studies focused on continued learning activities in other professions, the research shows that digital/computer forensic practitioners experience similar barriers to their own approaches to continued learning.
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    Cybercrime awareness and reporting in the public sector in Botswana
    (2012) Matengu, Sinka; Stander, Adrie
    Different authors have reported on the problem of cybercrime and other concepts that are associated with it. The studies looking at the area of ICT and cybercrime are examined and assessed to identify gaps that exist. Nevertheless, most of these studies focused more on developed countries, and did not emphasise on the public sector. Therefore, their findings might not be appropriately applicable to governments in developing countries especially within the Africa context. This study seeks to investigate factors that are necessary to enable the Botswana public sector to properly report on cybercrime attacks. The ICT environment of Botswana government is explored to determine the extent of ICT utilisation in the public sector. Based on the literature survey, a research framework for reporting cybercrime for the Botswana public sector is formulated.
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    An investigation of the strategic drivers and inhibiting factors affecting electronic commerce in Southern Africa
    (2002) Petkar, Asad; Stander, Adrie
    E-commerce is an area of business that is expanding rapidly, especially in developed countries. Its adoption is based on factors that enable and impede e-commerce growth. Previous research, conducted predominatly in developed countries such as the United States of America (USA,) has highlighted both enablers and obstacles to e-commerce growth. The goal of this study is concerned with determining whether these factors also enable, and inhibit, the advancement of e-commerce in developing countries.