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The purpose of this paper is to develop an integrated research model that can explain current users' continuance intention regarding the adoption of virtual reality (VR).

This study builds a new research model based on the perceived value theory. The model and the hypotheses formulated are tested using partial least squares analysis with 295 respondents.

Both utilitarian value and hedonic value have positive impacts on VR users' continuance intention. Among the four constructs reflecting VR device and service-related attributes, content quality and ease of use have significant impacts on the utilitarian value and hedonic value. Visual attractiveness is positively associated with hedonic value while portability affected only utilitarian value.

To increase users' retention of VR, VR service providers should focus developing high-quality VR content, and VR device manufacturers should consider both ease of use and visual attractiveness of VR devices.

This study is the first empirical study to investigate user adoption of VR devices and services synthetically, as most of prior studies related to VR adoption mainly focused on VR devices or specific services.

The luxury segment of the hospitality industry has experienced substantial growth in the past decade. Unfortunately, the notion of perceived luxury values has received scant attention, and there is a lack of valid framework to capture consumers’ value perceptions in the context of luxury hospitality services. Using luxury restaurant as an example of luxury hospitality services, this paper aims to establish the structure of luxury hospitality values and their measures and to investigate the relationship between luxury hospitality values and purchase intentions.

A survey questionnaire was developed to test the proposed luxury value framework. Confirmatory factor analysis and hierarchical linear regression were used to test the hypotheses.

Four luxury restaurant value dimensions including functional value, hedonic value, symbolic/expressive value and financial value were identified. The study results further reveal that a consumer’s purchase intention is influenced primarily by hedonic value, followed by functional value and financial value. Interestingly, unlike in the context of luxury goods, the purchase of luxury restaurant services is not substantially influenced by symbolic/expressive value.

Hospitality firms catering to the affluent might use the luxury value framework to better understand what drives their customers’ purchase intentions, and use such knowledge to create new services or to improve current product offerings. In addition, luxury hospitality companies can use this luxury value framework to position their brands/products.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first that empirically tests a luxury value framework in the luxury hospitality context and investigates the relationship between luxury hospitality values and purchase intentions.

Due to the increasing size and complexity of construction projects, construction engineering and management involves the coordination of many complex and dynamic processes and relies on the analysis of uncertain, imprecise and incomplete information, including subjective and linguistically expressed information. Various modelling and computing techniques have been used by construction researchers and applied to practical construction problems in order to overcome these challenges, including fuzzy hybrid techniques. Fuzzy hybrid techniques combine the human-like reasoning capabilities of fuzzy logic with the capabilities of other techniques, such as optimization, machine learning, multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) and simulation, to capitalise on their strengths and overcome their limitations. Based on a review of construction literature, this chapter identifies the most common types of fuzzy hybrid techniques applied to construction problems and reviews selected papers in each category of fuzzy hybrid technique to illustrate their capabilities for addressing construction challenges. Finally, this chapter discusses areas for future development of fuzzy hybrid techniques that will increase their capabilities for solving construction-related problems. The contributions of this chapter are threefold: (1) the limitations of some standard techniques for solving construction problems are discussed, as are the ways that fuzzy methods have been hybridized with these techniques in order to address their limitations; (2) a review of existing applications of fuzzy hybrid techniques in construction is provided in order to illustrate the capabilities of these techniques for solving a variety of construction problems and (3) potential improvements in each category of fuzzy hybrid technique in construction are provided, as areas for future research.

Mergers and acquisitions are frequent occurrences in the world of business. While a merged firm may convert an acquired asset to other brands, the restaurant industry tends to acquire the same brand name and does not change the name of the acquired assets. Acquisitions can prove to be a risky proposition in any industry. This study attempts to determine if a product-diversified acquisition in the restaurant industry is a value-creating decision. By comparing focused and diversified acquisitions, we try to find if focused acquisitions create value and that diversified acquisitions do not. Our initial expectation was that focused acquisitions create more shareholder value. We find that both focused and diversified acquisitions make significant positive abnormal returns for acquirers.

When a pure titanium component is fabricated in a selective laser melting (SLM) process using titanium powder, the oxygen concentration of the SLM sample increases compared to the initial powder. The purpose of this paper is to study the reason for increasing oxygen concentration after SLM.

To understand this phenomenon, the authors analyzed the oxidation behavior during the SLM process thermodynamically.

Based on the laser parameters used in this study, the temperature of the Ti melt during the SLM process was expected to rise to 2,150°C. Based on the thermodynamic analysis, the equilibrium oxygen partial pressure for oxidation was 2.32 × 10⁻¹⁹ atm at 2,150°C when the dissolved oxygen concentration in the titanium is 0.2 wt.%. However, the oxygen partial pressure inside the SLM chamber was 1 × 10⁻³ atm, which is much higher than the equilibrium oxygen partial pressure. Therefore, oxidation occurred during the SLM process, and the oxygen concentration of the SLM sample increased compared to the initial powder.

Most studies on fabricating Ti components using additive manufacturing (AM) have been focused on how the changes in the microstructures and mechanical properties depend on the process parameters. However, there are a few studies that analyzed the oxygen concentration change of Ti during the AM process and its causes. In this study, the authors analyzed the oxidation behavior during the SLM process thermodynamically.

The literature reports inconsistent findings about the effects of social media usage (SMU). Researchers distinguish between active and passive social media usage (ASMU and PSMU), which can generate different effects on users by social support and social comparison mechanisms, respectively. Drawing on social presence theory (SPT), this study integrates an implicit social presence mechanism with the above two mechanisms to explicate the links between SMU and seniors' loneliness.

Data were collected from a field study by interviewing seniors living in eight aging care communities in China. Loneliness, social media activities and experiences with social media in terms of online social support (OSS), upward social comparison (USC) and social presence (SP) were assessed. Factor-based structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data.

OSS can mediate the relationship between ASMU and seniors' loneliness. Moreover, SP mediates between ASMU, PSMU, and seniors' loneliness, and between OSS, USC and seniors' loneliness. OSS mediates the relationship between ASMU and SP, and USC mediates the relationship between PSMU and SP.

This study shows that social media can alleviate seniors' loneliness, which could help relieve the pressures faced by health and social care systems. Social presence features are suggested to help older users interact with social health technologies in socially meaningful ways.

This study not only demonstrates that SP can play a crucial role in the relationship between both ASMU and PSMU and loneliness, but also unravels the links between SP and OSS, as well as USC.

Service excellence has been recognized as a crucial means of achieving customer delight. Several recent studies have argued that redundant services may be perceived as unnecessary by customers; however, few studies have explored the construct of service redundancy. This study aims to identify and classify service redundancy in the foodservice industry.

This qualitative study conducted in-depth interviews with 72 participants, namely, 36 customers and 36 managers of fine dining restaurants in Taiwan. Content analysis of the data yielded the classification of service redundancy.

This study determined 16 categories of service redundancy categorized under three themes: service behavior, service regulations and environmental factors. Furthermore, six causes and four consequences of service redundancy were identified.

Customers and managers of fine dining restaurants were interviewed; thus, the findings may not be fully generalizable to service redundancy in other restaurant types.

The contribution of this research is the construction of a model of service redundancy, which could serve as a theoretical foundation for further examination of service redundancy and the relationships between the related constructs.

This paper aims to evaluate the early effects of the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and accompanying stay-at-home orders on restaurant demand in US counties.

The following two sets of daily restaurant demand data were collected for each US county: foot traffic data and card transaction data. A two-way fixed-effects panel data model was used to estimate daily restaurant demand from February 1 to April 30, 2020.

Results show that a 1% increase in daily new COVID-19 cases led to a 0.0556% decrease in daily restaurant demand, while stay-at-home orders were collectively associated with a 3.25% drop in demand. The extent of these declines varied across counties; ethnicity, political ideology, eat-in habits and restaurant diversity were found to moderate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and stay-at-home orders.

These results characterize the regional restaurant industry’s resilience to COVID-19 and identify particularly vulnerable areas that may require pubic policies and managerial strategies for intervention.

This study represents a pioneering attempt to investigate the economic impact of COVID-19 on restaurant businesses.

Some luxury restaurants might be hesitant to adopt new environmentally friendly initiatives due to worries that consumers might have concerns about how these changes might affect them. The purpose of this study is to investigate consumers’ intentions to dine at luxury restaurants when new environmentally friendly practices are implemented, considering the influence of trust and perceived risks.

Building on information integration theory and protection motivation theory, this research proposes its model and hypotheses. To test the proposed hypotheses, 441 participants were recruited through a non-probability purposive sampling method.

The results show that perceived risks (i.e. perceived functional risk, perceived financial risk, perceived hedonic risk and perceived self-image risk) significantly affect consumers’ consumption intentions. Furthermore, consumers’ trust in luxury restaurants will partially moderate the effects of perceived risks on consumption intentions.

This study offers empirical support for the proposition that implementing new environmentally friendly practices can affect consumers’ dining intentions in a negative way. Suggestions on how to mitigate the effect of perceived risks are discussed.

The results of this research contribute to the hospitality literature in three ways. First, this study is one of the few to report that luxury restaurants should take consumers’ perceptions of risk into account before initiating new environmentally friendly procedures. Second, it confirms that perceived risks will lower consumers’ luxury restaurant consumption intentions. Third, consumers’ trust in luxury restaurants can partially moderate the influences of perceived risks on consumption intentions.