Colin F. Mang’s research while affiliated with Lancaster University and other places

This article discusses the use of Common Book and Tablet programs in post-secondary business education. We highlight methods by which each program enhances information literacy and integrative learning. We demonstrate how these programs can enhance students' communication and collaboration skills and enhance employability. We discuss classroom activities that both a Common Book and a Tablet can be used for as well as ways in which the programs offer mutual reinforcement to provide additional benefits during implementation. The article concludes with a discussion of obstacles to implementing either a Common Book or a Tablet program and methods to overcome those obstacles.

We explore smartphone utilization by tourists from 24 countries visiting either Rome, Italy or Athens, Greece. By extending a standard technology acceptance model, we identify common travel uses for smartphones, which include taking photos, social networking, viewing maps, finding transportation and searching for shops and restaurants. Younger cohorts utilize their phones more than older cohorts, but there is no difference in utilization between females and males. The most important factors affecting behaviour are how often the tourist normally utilizes their smartphone when at home, and whether or not the tourist has non-WiFi data access. We conclude with recommendations for future research.

This paper explores the growing trend of using mobile technology in university classrooms, exploring the use of tablets in particular, to identify learning benefits faced by students. Students, acting on their efficacy beliefs, make decisions regarding technology’s influence in improving their education. We construct a theoretical model in which internal and external factors affect a student’s self-efficacy which in turn affects the extent of adoption of a device for educational purposes. Through qualitative survey responses of university students who were given an Apple iPad to keep for the duration of a university course we find high levels of self-efficacy leading to positive views of the technology’s learning enhancement capabilities. Student observations on the practicality of the technology, off-topic use and its effects, communication, content, and perceived market advantage of using a tablet are also explored.

This paper assesses students’ attitudes towards using tablets, such as the Apple iPad, in university classes. Tablets are found to be a substitute for laptop computers. Students initially expressed a great deal of optimism regarding the technology, and, although their views diminished slightly as they gained experience with using a tablet, their attitude towards the technology remained overwhelmingly positive. Most students experienced an easy transition from using a laptop to using a tablet. Furthermore, once students adopted the tablets in place of their laptops for in-class use, the types of tasks they performed with the tablets differed from the types of tasks they had previously performed with the laptop. Overall, the tablets reduced the incidence of off-task behaviour during lectures such as using chat and social networking applications. Cet article évalue les attitudes des étudiants quant à l’utilisation de tablettes électroniques telles que le iPad d’Apple dans les classes universitaires. Les tablettes sont considérées comme des substituts aux ordinateurs portables. Les étudiants ont d’abord exprimé beaucoup d’optimisme à l’égard de cette technologie, et bien que leur perception se soit légèrement dégradée avec l’expérience de la tablette, leur attitude envers la technologie est restée très positive. La plupart des étudiants ont effectué une transition facile entre l’utilisation d’un ordinateur portable et celle d’une tablette. En outre, une fois que les étudiants ont adopté en classe les tablettes à la place de leurs ordinateurs portables, les types de tâches qu’ils accomplissaient avec les tablettes ont différé des celles qu’ils effectuaient précédemment avec l’ordinateur portable. Dans l’ensemble, les tablettes ont réduit les cas de comportements hors tâche durant les cours, comme l’utilisation du tchat et des réseaux sociaux.

The authors analyzed curricula from all 61 Canadian undergraduate business programs and found that business schools that contain economics departments, business schools with higher mathematics and statistics requirements, and business schools that have received Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business accreditation are more likely to require additional economics courses beyond the standard introductory level microeconomics and macroeconomics. Among those schools that require one or more additional economics courses, managerial economics is the preferred requirement. The authors also found that many specialized business programs, such as human resources, finance, and international management, include either required or optional economics courses beyond those already required in the school's general business degree program. Based on the findings, the authors make recommendations for business school curriculum development.

The millennial generation, those born after 1980, already comprises nearly one-quarter of the Canadian workforce and, over the next few decades, will become a significant proportion of both managers and employees. The attitudes of the millennial generation towards social responsibility, environmental responsibility, and profit maximization will have a profound impact on corporate behaviour in Canada over the coming decades. Among millennials, we find that females are, in general, more socially and environmentally responsible than males, while males exhibit more positive views towards profit maximization. Higher levels of educational attainment among millennials positively impacts their attitudes towards social responsibility, but does not affect their views towards environmental responsibility. Age and full-time work experience interact to affect millennials’ views with younger millennials with low work experience exhibiting higher preferences for environmental responsibility compared to younger millennials with much work experience, but older millennials with much work experience exhibiting higher preferences for environmental responsibility than older millennials with little work experience; furthermore, millennials who acquire a large amount of full-time work experience at a younger age exhibit a stronger preference for socially responsible behaviour compared to millennials who do not acquire full-time work experience at a younger age.