A10 - General Economics: GeneralReturn

In recent decades, digitalization has become increasingly important in the construction industry. Building Information Modeling (BIM), a digital planning method, is becoming increasingly important in the infrastructure sector. Infrastructure planning implementation is complex, so engineering firms still use conventional planning. This study sheds light on the influence of Building Information Modelling (BIM) on increasing productivity in the construction industry. Through a combination of qualitative interviews and quantitative data analysis, an in-depth understanding of the implementation processes, challenges and benefits of BIM was developed. Particular focus was placed on identifying components of success for the effective implementation of BIM in infrastructure engineering firms. The results show that BIM contributes significantly to increasing efficiency by improving the accuracy of project planning, facilitating communication between project participants and reducing the error rate in the execution phase. The study emphasises the need for a clear strategy and training to fully exploit the potential of BIM and provides valuable insights for companies planning to implement BIM.

Obesity is a significant public health issue as it seems to be the cause for high blood pressure, diabetes and other health problems. The human body cannot function efficiently if it has high body mass index score. According to the National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS), people with BMI score of ≥ 25 are being categorized as obese. One way to control obesity is to rely on the help of technology such as mobile health applications. In literature, there is a lack in research addressing obese people’s intention of using mobile health applications. Recognising the critical role of their behavioural intention to use mobile health applications, this research investigates the factors affecting behavioural intention to use mobile health applications. Adapting Consumer Acceptance Technology (CAT) model by Kulviwat et al. (2007) and Health Belief Model (HBM) developed by Glanz et al. (2008), this research examines factors of perceived cognition, perceived affection, perceived threat, compatibility, accessibility and attitude towards behavioural intention to use mobile health apps. To test the proposed framework, data were collected using quota sampling, while questionnaires were distributed to 500 obese people in the top 5 percent in the states with the obesity population in Malaysia, namely Malacca, Federal Territory of Putrajaya, Negeri Sembilan, Kedah and Perlis. Data collected were analysed using Partial Least Square (PLS) software. The results show that relationship between perceived cognition and perceived affection towards behavioural intention to use is partially significant, while significant relationship has been found between perceived threat, compatibility and accessibility and behavioural intention to use. Besides, perceived cognition and perceived affection partially support relationship on attitude. On the other hand perceived threat, compatibility and accessibility fully support relationship on attitude. Finally, the results demonstrate attitude partially mediates the relationship between perceived cognition and perceived affection, while attitude fully mediates the effect of perceived threat, compatibility, accessibility on behavioural intention to use. Findings provided empirical evidence on the collective effect of behavioural intention to use mobile health applications as well as independent effect of perceived cognition, perceived affection, perceived threat, compatibility and accessibility. Besides, findings suggested to encourage individual to use mobile health applications, while related takeholders should continually improve user perception on health applications.

In a globalized world, companies are able to sell their products or services abroad or purchase them abroad. This generates advantages due to the expansion of the business area creating a broader market but comes along with currency risks. This paper examines which factors influence German SMEs’ willingness to conduct foreign business, respectively to do transactions in foreign currencies. An empirical study researches how the currency risk in North German SMEs is valued and assessed. The analysis further identifies the differences in the use of foreign currencies of rural and urban SMEs and examines the reasons for the use of foreign currencies and currency management which lead to the use of currency hedging. With a sample size of 73 SMEs the study aims for a better understanding of the foreign activities of German SMEs and investigates the approach to the currency risk management for a better understanding of their needs. In general, the paper shows that the larger a company is, the more likely is the use of a currency management. A comparison of rural and urban SMEs in Northern Germany reveals, that urban ones are larger and therefore more likely to use currency hedging. Based on the research, the paper provides recommendations for SMEs with foreign sales.

One of the important issues for companies is liquidity from domestic and foreign trade. The market is classically defined by the number of available markets. Globalization and free trade zones set up the foreign market, which becomes increasingly important - even for SMEs. This paper analyzed approx. 60,000 bank transactions with foreign reference of Northern German SMEs by using Chi-square test and correlation analysis. The analysis proofs that an increasing number of foreign transfers increases the number of foreign currency accounts per company. The results also show that despite the existence of currency hedging tools, a significant proportion of SMEs continues to expose themselves to currency risk. The willingness to manage currency risks increases with the increase in value per transaction. Transactions with a value of less than EUR 10,000 are often transferred abroad in EUR instead of in foreign currency.

A firm considers various factors when approaching a dividend policy decision. To analyze the determinants of dividend policy in the context of Bangladesh, questionnaire survey has been done from financial decision makers of sample companies. The nonparametric test and factor analysis is used for interpreting results. The research finding exhibits that in the first stage, the economic related factor, legal constraint factor, capital market related factor, residual policy factor, capital source factor and clientele factors are considered in dividend decision making. Then in the second stage, the companies follow the preceding years' pattern of dividend payment. In the next stage, dividend decision is made mainly on the level of earnings and liquidity. The observed result reveals that present earnings and liquidity are the most likely factors for the firm in deciding the payout policy.

Web anonymization tools have been used for a long time, primarily by the users afraid of possible undesirable consequences of their on-line activity on the web. The paper analyzes both historically proven anonymization tools like TOR and newer tools, namely JAP/JonDo and CyberGhost VPN that are based on slightly modified technological principles. The primary focus is given to the measurement and evaluation of the latency increase and the transmission speed decrease in comparison to normal (non-anonymized) web browser operation. Results show that all anonymization tools being subject of the analysis provide relatively moderate latency increase. On the opposite, the transmission speed decrease was more significant, especially for JonDo. This confirms the conclusions of previous studies resulting that no anonymization tool is suitable for daily web browsing. On the other hand, in the case when higher anonymity is required, their use can be reasonably comfortable from the point of view of latency increase. However, their usefulness for downloading larger files is always disputable.