Browsing by Author "Ahmad, N."

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8

DO NEED BASED MOTIVATION PRACTICES MAKE HAPPY EMPLOYEES? INTEGRATING THE SUPPLY CHAIN OF HAPPINESS WITH EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION
(2010) Wickramasinghe, C.N.; Ahmad, N.; Rashid, S.; Emby, Z.
Even though the work life is one of the significant life domains that contribute to the happiness and satisfaction, it is not the only life domain that make employee happy and satisfied. Human mind is much more complex organism that has many domains that positively or negatively influence to the happiness and satisfaction of life. These life domains integrated within the individual as a chain that supply happy, unhappy, satisfying and unsatisfying feelings and emotions that create the happiness and satisfaction with life in a given time. Unhappy experience of one life domain is negatively influence to the other life domains as well. This is stimulated by the macro level socio, cultural and economic causes. Therefore, the organizational motivational practices should not necessarily focus only on work related motivation but need to think the happiness and satisfaction supply chain of an individual.
How does internet usage influence on social capital, connectedness, success and well-being of grassroots level inventors in Sri Lanka?
(2013) Wickramasinghe, C.N.; Ahmad, N.
The Internet has changed the nature and transference of information and communication. Now called the world's largest knowledge depository and most efficient communication channel, the Internet can increase technology transfer to developing countries, leading to their success in technological and economical development (UNDP, 2001). Apart from the technological and economic influences of information and communication technologies (ICT), an argument is emerging regarding their influence on social and psychological aspects of life. ICTs, led by the Internet, will bring significant technical, economic, and social changes to different types of communities in different parts of the world (Thakur, 2009). Not all of these changes will be positive. According to the recent studies, Internet usage has influenced knowledge development, social thinking, and subjective well-being (Kraut et al 2002; Contarello & Sarrica, 2007; Weiser, 2004). The Internet has redefined the way social relationships are progressing (Kraut et al 2002). A recently concluded World Values Survey found a positive relationship between Internet usage and happiness (Kelly, 2010). The many influences of Internet usage, in other words, will go beyond objective definitions of success in life, and may also influence social and psychological aspects of individual and community life (Pigg & Crank, 2004).
Impact of Subjective Well-Being on Success of Technological Knowledge Creation among Independent Inventors in Developing Countries: A First Look at Sri Lanka
(2011) Wickramasinghe, C.N.; Ahmad, N.; Rashid, S.; Emby, Z.
Technological innovations have become one of the key determinants of the success of knowledge economy. So far, technological development in knowledge economies has been mainly measured based on organizational and explicit objective outcome of knowledge creation capacity of a nation or a region. In the Western knowledge economies, role of the independent inventors has been ignored, discouraged, and organizational innovations have been recognized as driving force in new knowledge creation. However, the continuous involvement of independent inventors in technological inventions in unfavorable conditions is a phenomenon that cannot be explained by existing objective measures. Recently, subjective well-being has emerged as a key aspect of human capital that positively influences the developing nations. However, there were hardly any published studies that examined the possible relationship between subjective well-being and the success of inventors in the developing countries. This paper presents the first look at this relationship among the independent inventors in Sri Lanka: a lower middle-income country in South Asia. The study found that independent inventors in Sri Lanka are not objectively successful, but they are subjectively successful. They feel happy about what they have achieved as inventors, satisfy with what they are planning to do and supposing to achieve in the future. Independent inventors’ subjective success depends on their satisfying assessment of existing objective outcomes, optimism on what they are going do, and what they are hoping to gain in the future. Findings suggest that subjective success or well-being of independent inventors might lead them to be continuously engaged in inventive activities under the unfavorable environments for independent inventing.
Influence of Demographic and Technical Profile on Success of Independent Inventors in Sri Lanka
(2012) Wickramasinghe, C.N.; Ahmad, N.
The remarkable growth of patent applications in Asia has been the central focus of the recent studies on technological knowledge creation. However, all the Asian countries have not shown similar growth and hence, have not gained similar academic attention. Especially, the lower and middle-income countries in South Asia are stagnating in technological knowledge creation. Sri Lanka is one such country that has high proportion of independent inventors in their innovation system. Owing to small number of inventors, there is hardly any attention given to conduct empirical studies on inventors in these countries. Therefore, inherent characteristics of inventors and innovation systems in these countries are underexplored in published academic literature. This pioneering study attempted to explore the inherent characteristics of the independent inventors in Sri Lanka as the representatives of inventors in middle-income South Asian developing countries. The findings of the study suggest that most of the sociodemographic and technical characteristics of Sri Lankan inventors are similar to the independent inventors in industrial countries. It also indicates that demographic factors such as age, income, job mobility, marital status and technical factors such as engagement in inventions, prototype development and commercialization method have significant influence on the overall innovation success of independent inventors in Sri Lanka.
Influence of internet usage on social and subjective well-being of Sri Lankan GLIS
(2013) Wickramasinghe, C.N.; Ahmad, N.
The Internet has significantly contributed to the drastic growth of technological inventions and innovation in the world. The majority of the inventors in developing countries is independent inventors work on inventions by their own interest. The Internet has been one of the leading knowledge repositories for these independent inventors to search clues for their inventions. Owing to the self-driven behavior of the independent inventors, they might gain success and perceive happiness through the inventive activities that involved searching and creation of new knowledge. However, there is hardly any study that explains the influence of the Internet usage on social and psychological aspects of grassroots level inventors (GLIS). Therefore, the existing knowledge on how the Internet usage influence on social capital, connectedness, success and subjective well-being of inventive community in developing countries is not exact. Present study explores the influence of the Internet usage on social capital, community connectedness, inventive achievements and subjective well-being of the grassroots level inventive community of Sri Lanka. Findings suggest that the Internet has significant direct influence on the subjective wellbeing of GLIS in Sri Lanka. Further The Internet usages indirectly influence the subjective well-being through social capital and connectedness. However, The Internet usage has not significantly influenced on the objective inventive achievements of the GLIS in Sri Lanka.
Revolution of digital communication and Asian competitive creativity chasm
(2009) Wickramasinghe, C.N.; Ahmad, N.
This study aims to identify changes that have taken place in the Asian technological creativity after the post-communication revolution of digital technologies. After examining the utility patent applications forwarded to the US Patent Office by 24 Asian countries between 1965 to 2007, the study partially supports the claim that the “digital communication revolution have influenced the competitive creativity development in Asia.” However, the development growth model is shaped like a snail shell, and digital technologies have not been the silver bullet that promoted the leapfrogging of creativity in stagnating countries. Information and communication technologies (ICT) should be considered as a means of technological learning rather than the end of creativity development. The challenge of strengthening stagnating Asian countries to become competitive and innovative nations will continue until the next decade. Unless necessary steps are taken to improve technological learning and local innovations in stagnating countries, their technological dependency will increase and thus deepen the marginalization in the coming eras.
Sociological evaluation of the success of inventive community of Sri Lanka
(2011) Wickramasinghe, C.N.; Abeysinghe, S.; Ahmad, N.
Why Independent Inventors Never Quit? In Search of Contribution of Inventive Outcomes on Subjective Success of Independent Inventors
(University of Kelaniya, 2012) Wickramasinghe, C.N.; Ahmad, N.; Rashid, S.
Modern technological development of the modern society has been evaluated by the number of patents, commercialization and economic gains of technological innovations. Hence, the success of inventors has been purely measured by the objective measures of the invention process outcomes. Even though, this approach agreed with elite organizational inventors, independent inventors of a society are more humanitarian than the organizational inventors. Hence, the pure objective outcome measures were unable to address the question of why independent inventors continue in inventive activities even they are not objectively successful. Previous studies on the independent inventors has not focused on the social and psychological factors. Hence, the understanding of the subjective outcomes of inventive activities have remained unexplained. Along with the traditional objective outcome measures, the present study explains the inventive career satisfaction and sense of inventive community as two subjective outcomes of the inventive activities of independent inventors in Sri Lanka. It explores how the objective outcomes and subjective outcomes of the inventive life relates to the ultimate global happiness and satisfaction of the life of the independent inventors.