Big TAM in Oman: Exploring the promise of on-line banking,its adoption by customers and the challenges of banking in Oman

Information and communication technology (ICT) developments and trends in recent years have had great impact on the banking sector worldwide. In many developed and developing countries, the use of disruptive innovation technologies has accelerated change in the way banking business is conducted, consumers being swept along with such change. However, in many countries, such as Oman, there are deep routed cultural and religious factors that cause consumers to question the acceptance of such changes. Through the use of a theoretical framework built on technology acceptance frameworks and models, and empirical evidence from key market segments of the Omani banking market, the research explores the factors that influence Omani consumer acceptance of on-line banking. The findings are significant in that trust, usability and perceived quality are deemed key drivers. This is probably not unexpected, however, what is interesting is that the market profile is skewed to middle aged users, with social standing and “herd” mentality does not affect the adoption of the technology. This, combined with the emerging mobile savvy younger generation poses an interesting challenge for the future of the banking sector in Oman and implies a need for the sector to rethink the strategic use of, and approach to, implementation of on-line banking in a way that is complementary to the cultural and ethological dimension of the market. In effect, the banking sector will need to manage the covert tension between technology driving “fast time”, and the Omani culture, religion and tradition demanding face to face “slow time”.     

Toward a theory of collection development: an activities and attributes approach

This paper presents results of a study of corporate library selection activity performed to support four global corporations. The firms examined are involved in providing communication, knowledge in its different forms, and computing. Using these results, this paper synthesizes literature on selection and collection development to present an approach to developing an eventual theory of collection development. Using this approach, such a theory would predict the performance of selection activity; the operation of its attributes, such as its cost, centralization, and formalization; and the operation of other collection development activities. Concurrently, it would explain these predictions using dynamics such as the need to include specified ideas within selected content, the need to cope with selector's abilities to choose vast amounts of content, the need to contain selection cost, and the need to gather material together so as to support browsing and its resulting impromptu development of ideas.