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1 – 10 of over 3000Shu Fan, Shengyi Yao and Dan Wu
Culture is considered a critical aspect of social media usage. The purpose of this paper is to explore how cultures and languages influence multilingual users' cross-cultural…
Abstract
Purpose
Culture is considered a critical aspect of social media usage. The purpose of this paper is to explore how cultures and languages influence multilingual users' cross-cultural information sharing patterns.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a crowdsourcing survey with Amazon Mechanical Turk to collect qualitative and quantitative data from 355 multilingual users who utilize two or more languages daily. A mixed-method approach combined statistical, and cluster analysis with thematic analysis was employed to analyze information sharing patterns among multilingual users in the Chinese cultural context.
Findings
It was found that most multilingual users surveyed preferred to share in their first and second language mainly because that is what others around them speak or use. Multilingual users have more diverse sharing characteristics and are more actively engaged in social media. The results also provide insights into what incentives make multilingual users engage in social media to share information related to Chinese culture with the MOA model. Finally, the ten motivation factors include learning, entertainment, empathy, personal gain, social engagement, altruism, self-expression, information, trust and sharing culture. One opportunity factor is identified, which is convenience. Three ability factors are recognized consist of self-efficacy, habit and personality.
Originality/value
The findings are conducive to promoting the active participation of multilingual users in online communities, increasing global resource sharing and information flow and promoting the consumption of digital cultural content.
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Florence Lunkuse, John C. Munene, Joseph M. Ntayi, Arthur Sserwanga and James Kagaari
This study aims to examine the relationship between tool adoption and information literacy within smallholder farmers (SHFs).
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the relationship between tool adoption and information literacy within smallholder farmers (SHFs).
Design/methodology/approach
A structured questionnaire was used to gather data for this quantitative study from 225 SHFs. Structural equation modelling was done to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The findings established that tool adoption dimensions (Information and communication technologies (ICT) acceptance, language use and information culture) positively and significantly influenced information literacy. Information culture had the strongest impact.
Research limitations/implications
The study enriches the situated learning theory (SLT) literature by introducing tool adoption as a predictor of information literacy in a new context of SHFs. Use of tools as independent variables is a positive deviation from previous studies that have used them as mediating variables. Despite the contributions, the cross-sectional design study undermines the ability to solicit more detailed perspectives from the lived in experience of the respondents.
Practical implications
Managers should promote usage of context-specific tools like local radio stations and mobile phones, but also use language tailored to farmer contexts when disseminating information. Policymakers should leverage on social and cultural settings when designing information interventions.
Social implications
The study highlights critical factors that significantly promote information use for improved productivity for SHFs, cumulatively increasing the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). Socially, findings may reduce on their poverty levels of farmers.
Originality/value
This study offers a novel perspective in information literacy domain by using the SLT to delineate contextual tools that are paramount in predicting of information literacy in an under research informal context of SHFs.
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Zixi Li, Curtis J. Bonk and Chen Zhou
This study aims to investigate a unique approach to learning languages through self-directed online learning. Specifically, it explores the self-management abilities and skills…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate a unique approach to learning languages through self-directed online learning. Specifically, it explores the self-management abilities and skills learners need while learning a language outside traditional classroom settings when using mobile-assisted learning technology.
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed-methods approach was used in this study, including an online survey of 84 people and 10 semi-structured interviews.
Findings
Findings reveal the significant role of specific and well-defined learning goals in enhancing learners’ performance. These goals can be either self-initiated by the learners themselves or defined by the technological features of the learning platform. However, the presence of distractions in learners’ daily lives presents challenges to effective time management, affecting learners both physically and psychologically. A key aspect of self-directed language learning lies in the learners’ ability to seek out relevant human and material resources beyond the confines of a single mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) tool. The authenticity of these resources is crucial in ensuring meaningful and effective learning experiences.
Research limitations/implications
Understanding how learners navigate and discover valuable resources is a central focus of this study. This research offers valuable insights into the field of self-directed language learning, revealing the pivotal role of self-management skills with mobile-assisted learning technology. The findings contribute to the broader field of language education and offer practical implications for educators and developers seeking to optimize self-directed language learning experiences through innovative and technologically driven approaches.
Originality/value
MALL is often ideal for individualized informal learning, but the existing literature focuses heavily on formal learning situations, underestimating the importance of MALL practices in various informal settings. Most research reports on MALL-based self-directed learning primarily sample traditional English-learning university students. Therefore, there is a need for research on how nontraditional older adult learners self-direct their language learning with mobile technology outside the classroom.
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This paper aims to examine the relationship between the readability of annual reports and corporate performance in Chinese listed firms.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the relationship between the readability of annual reports and corporate performance in Chinese listed firms.
Design/methodology/approach
This research examined the annual report readability factors of Chinese listed companies by using a textual analysis method using Python to extract the text from the annual reports, convert it into numerical form to facilitate statistical analysis and then merge the results with data from the Chinese stock market to explain the impact on corporate performance and predict future earnings in the Chinese financial markets from 2008 to 2021.
Findings
Study findings indicate that firms with better financial reporting readability are more profitable, incur lower agency costs and have low earnings in the Chinese stock markets when readability is low (i.e. more complexity and length of annual reports). It was also found that when a listed company has a good performance, it prefers to use a short space to explain its operating and financial status. More generally, the means of the report length are short, and accounting terms are used less frequently; in the case of a poor company, the annual report is particularly long and accounting terms are more frequently used. In the context of the COVID-19 crisis, this study served as a proxy measure of returns prior to the announcement of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, an instrumental variable approach is used, which helps results to remain robust and control for fixed effects and potential endogeneity problems.
Research limitations/implications
Although this study’s results cannot be generalised globally because of their limited scope, they can still be generalised across non-English speaking countries. Thus, future cross-country research is encouraged to examine the textual analysis of financial reports across those countries.
Practical implications
This study conveys two messages to investors and policymakers within the Chinese market. First, investors ought to pay greater attention to the nonfinancial information contained in annual reports to improve the accuracy of their predictions regarding future firm performance. Second, Chinese policymakers are encouraged to instate a policy for the use of plain English in annual reports to make them more readable by international investors.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the paucity of research that examines English-written annual reports in non-English speaking countries by examining the readability of annual reports in the Chinese market.
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Manaf Al-Okaily, Helmi Boshnak, Hani Alkayed, Esam Shehadeh and Mohammad Alqam
This study aims to explore the role of eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) adoption in improving financial statements transparency in the Jordanian context.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the role of eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) adoption in improving financial statements transparency in the Jordanian context.
Design/methodology/approach
The partial least squares structural equation modeling approach was used to analyze the obtained data.
Findings
The empirical outcomes indicated that the adoption of XBRL contributes to improving financial statements transparency in listed Jordanian firms in the Amman Stock Exchange, whereas information technology (IT) infrastructure was found to moderate the relationship between XBRL adoption and improving financial statements transparency and hence the related hypotheses were accepted.
Originality/value
This study encouraged the importance of shifting to the adoption of the XBRL which will contribute to improving transparency of financial data and information in listed Jordanian firms and then support the process of decision-making.
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Keywords
Tobignaré Florent Maré, Pam Zahonogo and Kimseyinga Savadogo
In a context where the promotion of a more sustainable agriculture is clearly aimed at, the paradoxical combination of sustainable agricultural practices (SAP) with chemical…
Abstract
Purpose
In a context where the promotion of a more sustainable agriculture is clearly aimed at, the paradoxical combination of sustainable agricultural practices (SAP) with chemical pesticides use instead of biological pest management techniques is recurrent in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries like Burkina Faso. Chemical pesticides are harmful to the environment and health. This paper aims to analyze the role of farmer education on the mode of adoption of SAP.
Design/methodology/approach
An endogenous treatment effect model is used with survey data on 1,898 rural households in Burkina Faso.
Findings
The results show a positive causal effect of farmer education on sustainable and chemical pesticide-free agriculture adoption.
Research limitations/implications
Formal education appears to be general. This research could be extended to consider the role of training or extension services. More detailed results, focusing on spatial effects, could reinforce those of the present research.
Originality/value
Unlike previous studies, this paper addresses for the first time the paradoxical behavior of combining SAP with chemical pesticides use. It shows that farmer education contributes to explain it and is therefore a determining factor for a more sustainable agriculture.
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Spyros Kolyvas, Petros A. Kostagiolas and Konstantina Martzoukou
The aim of this study is to investigate how the information needs satisfaction of visual art teachers affects their creativity. Visual art teachers’ information seeking behaviour…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study is to investigate how the information needs satisfaction of visual art teachers affects their creativity. Visual art teachers’ information seeking behaviour and specifically the association of information needs satisfaction with creativity has been an understudied area, despite competent information seeking being considered essential for high quality practices of art teachers.
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire survey was developed addressing the information seeking behaviour of art teachers, informed by Wilson’s model (1981), including visual art teachers’ information needs, information resources, obstacles faced while seeking information and the perceived impact of information needs satisfaction on visual art teachers’ creativity.
Findings
The study included 298 visual art teachers in Greece. The results demonstrated that the key information needs of art teachers were mainly related to materials’ properties, techniques for creating artwork and artwork promotion methods. Online information sources were the preferred sources of art information, followed by colleagues, personal collections and visits to galleries and museums. Our study identified lack of time, lack of specialized libraries and copyright, as the main barriers to information seeking.
Originality/value
Information about art plays a substantial role in visual art education, while visual art teachers’ information needs satisfaction positively influences their creative endeavours. There is a need to further explore the digital information needs of visual art teachers.
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Paul Joseph-Richard and Kieran M. Conroy
Self-initiated international placements by students have been largely ignored in the literature on outward mobility in higher education. The support given to self-initiated…
Abstract
Purpose
Self-initiated international placements by students have been largely ignored in the literature on outward mobility in higher education. The support given to self-initiated international placement students, if any, has received even less attention. This study aims to address this lacuna.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on insights from global mobility literature, we conducted a survey of UK university students who engaged in self-initiated international placements to various countries such as France, China, Brazil and Ghana. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic content analysis.
Findings
Findings reveal that these “voluntary” placements can improve language fluency, increase self-confidence, renew stress management abilities and enhance cross-cultural competencies and intercultural sensitivity. The study problematises the lack of support given to these students particularly in terms of career development.
Originality/value
Our paper is one of the first to bring this under-studied population to the attention of career guidance scholars. We propose that scholarly attention should be directed toward the agency of self-initiated international placement students and that targeted career guidance must be provided through more inclusive career services.
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Okan Çolak and Halil Ibrahim Karakan
This study aims to determine museum experiences by analyzing the TripAdvisor reviews of the museum visitors in Gaziantep and offer suggestions for improving the visitors'…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to determine museum experiences by analyzing the TripAdvisor reviews of the museum visitors in Gaziantep and offer suggestions for improving the visitors' experiences by taking museum curators' opinions.
Design/methodology/approach
The case study method was used as one of the qualitative approaches in the study. The research comprises two stages. TripAdvisor reviews about five museums in Gaziantep were analyzed in the first stage, and museum curators' opinions on the visitor complaint reasons and solution suggestions were discussed in the second stage.
Findings
The study showed that satisfying or non-satisfying experience factors might differ according to visitors, museum curators and both visitors and museum curators. Therefore, each museum curator should effectively manage every component of visitor experience factors by its target audience.
Research limitations/implications
Although this study has some valuable findings and contributes to the literature, it also has limitations. The study's sample consists of five museums in Gaziantep. Further studies can be carried out on a larger population and sample. The data for determining visitor experiences, the first stage of the research, were obtained only from an online platform (TripAdvisor).
Practical implications
The proposed model provides a holistic perspective on evaluating and managing visitor experience. There may be structural problems (small size of the museum area, lack of parking spaces and elevators, etc.) with the museum beyond the manager's control. Also, the lack of information and communication (limited concept, lack of artifacts, etc.) causes criticisms of the museum.
Social implications
This paper contributes to the museum management literature with a model for enriching the quality of the museum experience and increasing the museum's attractiveness. The study showed that museums contribute to the visitor's experience in all dimensions. While visitors thought museums primarily contribute to object experience, museum curators thought museums contribute more to visitors' cognitive experience and other experience elements.
Originality/value
The present study analyzed the visitor comments and the opinions of museum curators from a holistic perspective, considering the internal and external factors that are effective in the visitor experience, and revealed the reasons for the visitors' negative experience and the solution suggestions toward the improvement of the visitor experience.
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Yuchen Wang and Rui Guo
Based on social cognitive theory, this study aims to explore the psychological mechanism behind consumer verification behavior following tourism e-commerce live-streaming.
Abstract
Purpose
Based on social cognitive theory, this study aims to explore the psychological mechanism behind consumer verification behavior following tourism e-commerce live-streaming.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on grounded theory, data were collected through 20 semi-structured in-depth interviews and analyzed.
Findings
This study identified that companies commonly use reminder messages and secondary promotions to facilitate the verification of tourism live-streaming products. Throughout this process, consumers undergo various psychologies related to verification. Specifically, they experience four positive verification psychologies: fear of missing out, anticipated emotions, status self-esteem and promotional perception. They also encounter two negative verification psychologies: psychological reactance and invasiveness. In addition, environmental factors such as the type of tourism live-streaming products and tourism destinations, along with individual trait factors like cognitive miserliness, tourism experience, autonomy, regulatory mode and impulsiveness, play significant roles in shaping verification behavior. These factors collectively influence the formation of verification behavior.
Originality/value
This study can provide recommendations for tourism companies to conduct marketing events following live-streaming. It is one of the earlier comprehensive studies discussing how to promote verification behavior following tourism e-commerce live-streaming. It helps to understand the psychological mechanism underlying the formation of verification behavior.
Details
Keywords
- Tourism e-commerce live-streaming
- Verification behavior
- Psychological mechanism
- Grounded theory
- Social cognitive theory
- Marketing strategy
- 旅游电商直播
- 核销行为
- 心理机制
- 扎根理论
- 社会认知理论
- 营销策略
- Comercio electrónico del turismo
- Comportamiento de verificación
- Mecanismo psicológico
- Teoría fundamentada
- Teoría social cognitiva
- Estrategia de marketing