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1 – 10 of over 7000Hsin Hsin Chang, Ching Ying Huang, Chen Su Fu and Ming Tse Hsu
By integrating the diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory, technology acceptance model (TAM), and social capital theory, the purpose of this paper is to: develop a model of consumer…
Abstract
Purpose
By integrating the diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory, technology acceptance model (TAM), and social capital theory, the purpose of this paper is to: develop a model of consumer behavior and trial willingness toward nano-foods from product, consumer, and social perspectives; examine the effects of innovative features, consumer characteristics, and trust in authority on subjective perceptions (perceived trustworthiness and perceived benefit) as well as the social influence on attitudes toward nano-foods and trial willingness; examine the moderating role of product uncertainty on the relationship between these characteristics and subjective perceptions; and examine the effect of perceived benefit on perceived trustworthiness.
Design/methodology/approach
The results of the structural equation model (SEM), with nano-food knowledge data collected from 431 respondents, supported the research model and revealed the main effects hypothesized in this study and the moderating effect of product uncertainty. Simple slope analysis was further adopted to test the significant moderating effects.
Findings
The SEM results indicated that innovative characteristics (relative advantage, lack of observability, and novelty), consumer characteristics (perceived technology application), and social characteristics (trust in authority) affect perceived trustworthiness or perceived benefit. Social influence also has a direct effect on attitude toward nano-foods and trial willingness. Product uncertainty significantly moderates the relationship between characteristics (relative advantage and perceived technology application) and subjective perceptions (perceived trustworthiness and perceived benefit).
Research limitations/implications
With increasing numbers and kinds of nanotechnology products now being developed and sold, it is important to go further to determine consumer perceptions and attitudes toward these. This study, thus, applied the DOI, TAM, and social capital theory to examine this issue. However, other theories might also be used to carry out research from other perspectives. This study should, thus, be seen as preliminary, and it is hoped that more works will discuss consumer attitudes toward nanotechnology products in the future.
Practical implications
When a new nano-food is introduced, the current study suggests that food manufacturers use the description on the package as a communicative tool. Detailing the advantages of nano-foods on food packages might be a useful way to enhance trial willingness and to reduce the fears and insecurities related to the use of nano-related products. In addition, if food manufacturers could cooperate with organizations or individuals seen as having some authority in this area (e.g. nanotechnology researchers) in order to disseminate accurate information about nanotechnology and related food products, this might be an effective way to increase sales and profits.
Originality/value
This is the first paper integrating the DOI, the social capital theory and the TAM to empirically investigate consumer willingness to try nano-food products.
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Zhaozhao Tang, Wenyan Wu, Po Yang, Jingting Luo, Chen Fu, Jing-Cheng Han, Yang Zhou, Linlin Wang, Yingju Wu and Yuefei Huang
Surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensors have attracted great attention worldwide for a variety of applications in measuring physical, chemical and biological parameters. However…
Abstract
Purpose
Surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensors have attracted great attention worldwide for a variety of applications in measuring physical, chemical and biological parameters. However, stability has been one of the key issues which have limited their effective commercial applications. To fully understand this challenge of operation stability, this paper aims to systematically review mechanisms, stability issues and future challenges of SAW sensors for various applications.
Design/methodology/approach
This review paper starts with different types of SAWs, advantages and disadvantages of different types of SAW sensors and then the stability issues of SAW sensors. Subsequently, recent efforts made by researchers for improving working stability of SAW sensors are reviewed. Finally, it discusses the existing challenges and future prospects of SAW sensors in the rapidly growing Internet of Things-enabled application market.
Findings
A large number of scientific articles related to SAW technologies were found, and a number of opportunities for future researchers were identified. Over the past 20 years, SAW-related research has gained a growing interest of researchers. SAW sensors have attracted more and more researchers worldwide over the years, but the research topics of SAW sensor stability only own an extremely poor percentage in the total researc topics of SAWs or SAW sensors.
Originality/value
Although SAW sensors have been attracting researchers worldwide for decades, researchers mainly focused on the new materials and design strategies for SAW sensors to achieve good sensitivity and selectivity, and little work can be found on the stability issues of SAW sensors, which are so important for SAW sensor industries and one of the key factors to be mature products. Therefore, this paper systematically reviewed the SAW sensors from their fundamental mechanisms to stability issues and indicated their future challenges for various applications.
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Jia Yan, Xiaowen Fu, Tae Hoon Oum and Kun Wang
This chapter reviews the key results obtained in previous studies of airline mergers. It is found that the effect of mergers on airfares is dependent on the network configurations…
Abstract
This chapter reviews the key results obtained in previous studies of airline mergers. It is found that the effect of mergers on airfares is dependent on the network configurations of merging airlines. Fare increases are frequently observed on overlapped routes. However, if the networks of two merging airlines are complementary, the expanded network after the merger leads to cost savings, increase in travel options, and improvement in service quality. Therefore, in a deregulated market, with few entry barriers, relaxing merger regulations is likely to improve welfare. However, most welfare evaluations do not incorporate quality changes or dynamic competition effects. Empirical investigations are primarily ex post analysis of mergers that have already passed antitrust reviews. The relationship between market concentration and welfare might be nonlinear and market specific. Therefore, airline mergers and alliances should be reviewed case by case. Methodological improvements are needed in future studies to control for the effects of complicating factors inherent in ex post evaluations.
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Shu-Chuan Chen and Ching-Fu Chen
Healthcare is recognized as a fertile field for service research, and due to the fact that nurses are stressed physically and emotionally, reducing burnout among frontline…
Abstract
Purpose
Healthcare is recognized as a fertile field for service research, and due to the fact that nurses are stressed physically and emotionally, reducing burnout among frontline healthcare staff is an emerging and important research issue. The purpose of this paper is to explore the possible antecedents and consequences of nurses’ burnout and to examine the moderating effects of personal trait and work-environment issue.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on Bagozzi’s (1992) reformulation of attitude theory (appraisal→emotional response→behavior), data from a survey of 807 nurses working in a major hospital in Taiwan were analyzed using the structural equation modeling technique and hierarchical regression analysis.
Findings
The results reveal the positive causality between job stressors and nurses’ burnout, whereas supervisor support negatively relates to burnout. In addition, the full moderating effects of leadership effectiveness and partly moderating effect of emotional intelligence on the relationships among job demands, job resources, and burnout are confirmed.
Practical implications
The findings provide practical insight regarding how supervisors play an essential role in alleviating nurses’ burnout. The supportive attitude and leadership effectiveness are recommended to be effectual managerial strategies.
Originality/value
The empirical results support the job demands-resources model by applying reformulation of attitude theory. The work-environment issue surpasses the personal trait in moderating the relationships among job demands, job resources, and burnout.
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The purpose of this paper is, based on leisure constraints and means-end theories, to identify the e-leisure constraints of using the video-sharing websites/apps; demonstrate how…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is, based on leisure constraints and means-end theories, to identify the e-leisure constraints of using the video-sharing websites/apps; demonstrate how means-end theory can be used to reveal the differences between high- and low-leisure constraints in an e-leisure environment; and provide designers and marketers with valuable insights for developing e-leisure products and e-marketing strategies.
Design/methodology/approach
Both qualitative and quantitative approaches are employed to collect data. By eliminating three participants whose age range did not meet our criterion (15 to 24 years old), 57 one-on-one in-depth interviews were then content analyzed to design the survey questionnaire. A total of 514 valid samples were collected for hierarchical value map (HVM) construction.
Findings
By comparing the full HVM vs the e-leisure constraints HVM, the analytical results indicate that the importance of attributes, consequences and values for the young people using video-sharing websites/apps is quite different. “Unable to resume the video after leaving the screen,” “creating playlist,” “providing movies” and “location restrictions” are extremely important features that influence the willingness of such users with high e-leisure constraints to participate in e-leisure activities. By understanding the differences between these two HVMs, it is possible to provide marketers or designers with valuable insights for website/app design and marketing strategies.
Research limitations/implications
This study only focused on young people’s perceptions of video-sharing websites/apps, so the findings are limited to those aged between 15 and 24 years old. Since managers today are challenged to design effective strategies that can meet target users’ demands across different ages with different economic, social and sub-cultural groups, future research may consider gathering a wider age range of respondents in order to obtain more robust results.
Originality/value
This is the first paper integrating leisure constraints theory and means-end theory to understand young people’s cognitive structure of using video-sharing websites/apps, especially when they encounter e-leisure constraints.
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Muhammad Riaz, Wu Jie, Mrs Sherani, Sher Ali, Fredrick Ahenkora Boamah and Yan Zhu
Drawing upon social cognitive theory, this study aims to investigate the potential predictors and consequences of social media health-misinformation seeking behavior during the…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing upon social cognitive theory, this study aims to investigate the potential predictors and consequences of social media health-misinformation seeking behavior during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a sample of 230 international students studying at Wuhan University and Beijing Language and Cultural University, China, this study employs structural equation modeling to analyze the collected data.
Findings
The results indicate that personal factors such as lack of health information literacy, environmental factors, information overload and social media peer influence have a significant effect on behavior, namely social media health-misinformation seeking behavior, which further influences outcomes, namely social media users' anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, both lack of health information literacy and social media peer influence have significant and direct effects on social media users' anxiety. However, the direct effect of information overload on social media users' anxiety is insignificant.
Originality/value
First, this study contributes to the literature on the individuals' social media health-misinformation seeking behavior, its precursors and its consequences, specifically on their mental healthcare during a pandemic situation. Second, this research is one of the pioneer studies that extend social cognitive theory to the context of social media health-misinformation seeking behavior and users' anxiety relationship.
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Hanan Alghamdi and Ali Selamat
With the proliferation of terrorist/extremist websites on the World Wide Web, it has become progressively more crucial to detect and analyze the content on these websites…
Abstract
Purpose
With the proliferation of terrorist/extremist websites on the World Wide Web, it has become progressively more crucial to detect and analyze the content on these websites. Accordingly, the volume of previous research focused on identifying the techniques and activities of terrorist/extremist groups, as revealed by their sites on the so-called dark web, has also grown.
Design/methodology/approach
This study presents a review of the techniques used to detect and process the content of terrorist/extremist sites on the dark web. Forty of the most relevant data sources were examined, and various techniques were identified among them.
Findings
Based on this review, it was found that methods of feature selection and feature extraction can be used as topic modeling with content analysis and text clustering.
Originality/value
At the end of the review, present the current state-of-the- art and certain open issues associated with Arabic dark Web content analysis.
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Hsin Hsin Chang, Pei-Hsuan Hsieh and Chen Su Fu
The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive model to illustrate the mediating role of sense of virtual community (SOVC) in virtual communities of practices (VCoPs)…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive model to illustrate the mediating role of sense of virtual community (SOVC) in virtual communities of practices (VCoPs). The interrelations between social capital and collective action in terms of knowledge contribution in the VCoP context are also examined.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 253 members from the Zclub and Jorsindo, responded to the survey. PLS-SEM path modeling was used to analyze survey data.
Findings
Members’ structural capital and cognitive capital both positively and significantly influence members’ SOVC, and, in turn, their SOVC influences relational capital.
Research limitations/implications
The study linked two theories, namely, social capital and theory of collective action, to discuss knowledge contribution in VCoPs. Social capital and SOVC have significant and positive effects on knowledge contribution in VCoPs.
Practical implications
Knowledge contributions in VCoPs are created through interactions among members, as well as the facilitation resulting from shared visions. Administrators can promote the formation of social-interaction ties in VCoPs to reinforce the formation of social capital and a SOVC.
Social implications
Administrators of knowledge-oriented groups must strive to sustain proper levels of SOVC among members to ensure their continued participation in VCoPs.
Originality/value
The main objectives of this study were to examine the effects of social capital (structural, cognitive, and relational capitals) on the quality and quantity of knowledge contribution. SOVC was proposed as a mediator in the relationship between structural and/or cognitive capital toward relational capital.
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Achim I. Czerny, Xiaowen Fu, Guowei Hua, Zheng Lei and Kun Wang
The five countries in Central Asia, namely Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan, are landlocked and therefore rely critically on aviation for passenger…
Abstract
The five countries in Central Asia, namely Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan, are landlocked and therefore rely critically on aviation for passenger travel and express cargo logistics. However, despite substantial growth in the past decade, the aviation market in the region is still not realizing its full potential. This chapter reviews the development status of the international air travel market from Central Asia, with an aim of identifying the key barriers for industrial development and growth, and possible remedies to address these challenges. Overall, our study suggests that international market growth from the region is significantly influenced by historical patterns and political ties with Russia. Whereas markets linking selected countries such as Turkey and the UAE have experienced substantial growth, further liberalization is needed for the region to achieve better connectivity with major trade partners and aviation markets.
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Irene Wei Kiong Ting, Fu-Chiang Chen, Qian Long Kweh, Hai Juan Sui and Hanh Thi My Le
This study aims to investigate the association between intellectual capital (IC) and bank efficiency of Taiwanese bank branches.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the association between intellectual capital (IC) and bank efficiency of Taiwanese bank branches.
Design/methodology/approach
This study manually collects sample data from 107 non-public financial reports of the bank branches of Taiwan Business Bank Company Limited. As this study concerns bank branches, this study uses questionnaires related to IC to measure the implementation of IC at branch level. This study employs data envelopment analysis (DEA) models (BCC, EBM and BootBCC) to identify bank branches' efficiency. This study uses partial least square-based structural equation modeling analysis to assess the impact of IC and bank efficiency.
Findings
Result reveals that relational capital (RC) significantly and negatively impacts bank efficiency. Findings also imply that human capital (HC) and structural capital (SC) do not contribute to bank efficiency in Taiwan.
Practical implications
Spending effort in building relationships with customers diverts banks' resources. More inputs that are used may not be converted to outputs immediately. Bank branches should focus on enhancing their service quality to attract customers to use the facilities provided by branches.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors' knowledge, this empirical study is the first to examine the association between IC and bank branches' efficiency in Taiwan by integrating primary and secondary data. For IC components, this study conducts a survey by designing the questionnaires related to IC to assess the implementation of IC at bank branches in Taiwan. In terms of efficiency, this study uses bank financial data and DEA models to identify bank branches' efficiency.
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