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1 – 10 of over 1000This paper provides selective findings from a broader research project on information behaviours in serious leisure. This paper focuses on the positive feelings of information…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper provides selective findings from a broader research project on information behaviours in serious leisure. This paper focuses on the positive feelings of information seeking and sharing in this context, aiming to capture and contextualise the joy of information embedded in and inspired by leisure activities.
Design/methodology/approach
The required data were obtained using semi-structured interviews with 20 serious leisure participants from Wagga Wagga city in Australia, recruited via a maximum variation sampling technique. The data were fully transcribed and analysed based on a qualitative thematic analysis method.
Findings
The joy of information is embedded within a wide spectrum of information activities in serious leisure ranging from information seeking and browsing to information sharing and information creation. Among all these activities, information sharing with peers and a broader audience is the most joyful experience because it often generates social engagement, a sense of belonging and friendship. Moreover, serious leisure is a productive ground to transform hedonic wellness into eudaimonic well-being, while continuous information seeking and sharing play a significant role in achieving this goal.
Practical implications
Information system designers can use the findings to consider the emotional aspects of information seeking and sharing to improve the usability of their products. At the policy level, cultural policy writers and decision-makers can make more informed decisions to support serious leisure.
Originality/value
This study explores the joyful aspects of information behaviour in a unique context. Exploring the joy of information is an emerging topic in human information behaviour scholarship, and the existing knowledge on this issue is still limited. This paper can contribute to creating new knowledge in this emerging area.
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This paper reports findings from a research project about human information behaviour in the context of serious leisure. Various forms of information activities in this context…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper reports findings from a research project about human information behaviour in the context of serious leisure. Various forms of information activities in this context have been identified and categorised to depict common patterns of information seeking, sharing, using and producing.
Design/methodology/approach
The project adopted a qualitative approach in an interpretive paradigm using a thematic analysis method. Data-collection technique was semi-structured interview and 20 volunteers were recruited via a maximum variation sampling strategy. The collected data was transcribed and thematically analysed to identify the main concepts and categories.
Findings
The participants have been experiencing six qualities of serious leisure during their long-term engagement with their hobbies or voluntary jobs and their experiences can be fully mapped onto the serious leisure perspective. The findings also confirmed serious leisure is a unique context in terms of the diversity of information activities embedded into a wide range of individual and collective actions in this context. Information seeking and sharing in serious leisure is not only a source of personal satisfaction for the participants, it also can provide them with a sense of purpose in a meaningful journey towards self-actualization and social inclusion.
Research limitations/implications
The generalisability of the findings needs to be examined in wider populations. Nonetheless, the existing findings can be useful for follow-up research in the area.
Practical implications
This study will be useful in both policy and practice levels. In the policy level, it will be beneficial for cultural policy makers to gain a better understanding about the nature of leisure activities. In the practice level, it will be helpful for serious leisure participants to understand the value of information seeking and sharing in their leisure endeavours. Also, information professionals can use it to enhance the quality of their services for the serious leisure participants who are usually among devoted patrons of libraries, museums, archives and galleries.
Social implications
Learning about serious leisure can provide new insights on people preferences in terms of choosing different entertaining and recreational pursuits – such as indoor and outdoor hobbies – in their free time.
Originality/value
The informational aspects of serious leisure is an emerging and evolving ground of research. This paper provides empirical evidence on this topic from a specific context in the regional areas in Australia.
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Katie McIntyre, Wayne Graham, Rory Mulcahy and Meredith Lawley
This chapter proposes a conceptualization of joyful leadership as a unique leadership style and identifies a future research agenda to further explore the concept. While the…
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter proposes a conceptualization of joyful leadership as a unique leadership style and identifies a future research agenda to further explore the concept. While the concept of joyful leadership appears repeatedly in the nonacademic literature, including in blogs, vlogs, and podcasts, there is limited reference to joyful leadership in the academic literature highlighting a lack of academic rigor around the concept. Joyful leadership is proposed as a unique leadership style with specific patterns of behavior demonstrated by the leader. This research draws on understandings of emotion, positive affect, and leadership in the academic literature to develop a conceptualization of joyful leadership.
Design
The proposed conceptualization is based on an extensive literature review drawing from both the leadership field and the study of emotions including various theoretical perspectives from these diverse fields.
Findings
Based on discrete emotion theory a conceptualization of joyful leadership as a unique leadership style is presented, identifying key patterns of behavior associated with joyful leadership including discrete autonomic patterns, actions, nonverbal signals, and identified feelings.
Value
This research outlines a conceptual model to provide an understanding of the concept of joyful leadership as a unique leadership style. It draws on the current study of emotion, positive affect, and leadership and more specifically examines the concept of joyful leadership aligned to discrete emotion theory. This particular theory of emotion, when examined in relation to leadership, provides a basis for the concept of joyful leadership as a leadership style and the basis for its proposed characteristics and outcomes.
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This paper offers a conceptual discussion of repetition and joy in the context of information and their relation to the good life.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper offers a conceptual discussion of repetition and joy in the context of information and their relation to the good life.
Design/methodology/approach
Joy is defined as an integrative element of the good life which can be achieved through repetition. This may be surprising, given that our most ready-to-hand associations with “repetition” are negative in tenor rather than positive. Building on the work of repetition theorists Søren Kierkegaard and Gertrude Stein, we can discern three different forms of repetition: that looking backwards (e.g. rereading), that looking forwards (e.g. art-making) and that looking inwards (e.g. chiasmus). Throughout this paper, information-related examples are given and discussed as vignettes that move the conversation forward.
Findings
These examples lead to a nascent theory of why the repetition of information can spark joy and not just tedium. First, its stability and predictability that instill comfort in us. Second, its unifying force that brings us to experience wholeness. Third, its invitation to keep the repetition going through creation, further helping us feel part of the world. And finally, its paradoxicality—as strict repetition is impossible—which requires change, paving the way for satisfying surprises and delights.
Originality/value
Repetition is a ubiquitous and theoretically interesting phenomenon when it comes to information, and though it is implicit in some information science research, it has not yet been theorized directly. Moreover, this paper connects this issue to an emerging “positive” orientation in information studies.
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Vincent Ting Pong Cheng and Chen-Kuo Pai
Online travel agencies (OTAs) have been offering tourists trip planning services (TPS) for more than a decade. However, they are less popular than other online travel services…
Abstract
Purpose
Online travel agencies (OTAs) have been offering tourists trip planning services (TPS) for more than a decade. However, they are less popular than other online travel services such as metasearch with price comparison. This study aims to investigate why TPS on the internet, although important to tourists, are not well accepted by young mainland Chinese tourists.
Design/methodology/approach
A trip planning service acceptance model (TPSAM) was constructed and tested by inviting participants to take part in a trial using the TPS of a China OTA and then participants were asked to complete a questionnaire based on their user experience. Partial least square technique was used to perform a path analysis on the model.
Findings
Social influence and effort expectancy have significant direct influence on reuse intention. Social influence increases the trust level of the tourists on the TPS and effort expectancy’s strong influence on joy suggest that a joyful and effortless experience is critical for tourists to consider reusing the TPS.
Practical implications
The findings could provide some insight to the OTAs on improving their TPS. For instance, OTAs should let tourists feel that the TPS requires little effort and is fun to use and more promotion is needed through social media.
Originality/value
Although trip planning is essential for tourists in achieving a delightful travel experience, few studies have examined the adoption of Web-based TPS. This study contributes to the literature by establishing a TPSAM and extends previous work by showing that a causal relationship exists between social influence and trust in the service acceptance context.
论专属中国大陆年轻游客的旅游计划服务接受模型
研究目的
线上旅游代理(OTA)已经十多年为游客提供旅游计划服务(TPS)。然而, OTA比其他在线旅游服务相较则受欢迎程度下降, 比如价格比对的元搜索服务。本论文旨在研究网络TPS, 即便对游客重要, 但是为什么不受中国大陆年轻游客的欢迎。
研究设计/方法/途径
本论文通过邀请受访者参与中国OTA提供的旅游计划服务试点样品, 并完成针对他们的用户体验的问卷, 来开发和测验这个旅游计划服务接受模型(TPSAM)。本论文采用PLS分析法来测验模型。
研究结果
社会影响和努力预期对再使用意图起到直接影响。社会影响增强了游客对TPS的信任度, 努力预期对愉悦感有强烈影响, 这预示着对于游客而言, 一个愉悦的且不太费劲的体验对于再次使用TPS起到关键作用。
研究实际意义
本论文研究结果对于OTA增强其TPS起到启示作用。比如, OTA应该让游客感受TPS不需要费很多力气来学习使用并且使用过程很有趣, 此外, 通过社交媒体来增强更多宣传是有必要的。
研究原创性/价值
尽管旅游计划对游客而言获得愉快旅游体验是必要的, 然而, 很少文章研究线上TPS使用现象。本论文建立了TPSAM, 对理论做出贡献, 并且本论文对之前的文献做出扩展, 验证了服务接受背景下社会影响和信任之间的直接联系。
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Zahra Nikoo, Neda Torabi Farsani and Mohamadreza Emadi
Trompe l’oeil as a novel art technique can not only promote art tourism but can also transform the landscape of a city into a platform for negotiation. Furthermore, trompe l’oeil…
Abstract
Purpose
Trompe l’oeil as a novel art technique can not only promote art tourism but can also transform the landscape of a city into a platform for negotiation. Furthermore, trompe l’oeil aims to create a joyful, entertaining, new experience and an interactive environment for tourists in the cities. This paper highlights the introduction of trompe l’oeil as a new tourist attraction in Shiraz (Iran). Moreover, the goals of this study are to explore the role of trompe l’oeil (three-dimensional [3D] street painting) in promoting art tourism, to investigate the tendency of tourists toward experiencing art tours and trompe l’oeil and to determine the priority of trompe l’oeil themes from the domestic tourists’ perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative and quantitative methods were used in this research study.
Findings
On the basis of the results of this study, it can be concluded that domestic tourists are eager to experience art tours and trompe l’oeil attractions and activities, except for buying and wearing 3D-printed clothes. In addition, trompe l’oeil on street floors and walls with funny, joyful and cultural-artistic and national-historical themes is more attractive for them.
Originality/value
No significant academic work has been undertaken in the field of art tourism to evaluate the attitude of tourists toward the trompe l’oeil attractions and activities.
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This chapter suggests that welfare management is becoming a matter of being able to use the open space in between formal roles, silos and organisations to actualise a not yet…
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter suggests that welfare management is becoming a matter of being able to use the open space in between formal roles, silos and organisations to actualise a not yet possible, qualitatively better welfare here and now. The discourse about the open-ended and futuristic space in between is challenging practices of welfare education. A growing field of studies is criticising the centres of education, learning and research for being a McDonald’s culture, with an overly linear approach, unable to connect passion, sensitivity and intuition with knowledge. This chapter goes further than criticising existing practices. Building on notions of affective studies, the aim is to experiment on how to shift the focus from thinking about open spaces to intensifying thinking-spaces, able to generate the processual relations increasing the opportunity for a qualitative better welfare to occur here and now.
Design/methodology/approach
The object of the chapter is an experiment entitled The Future Public Leadership Education Now. It is based on non-representational studies and designed to operate on the affective registers.
Findings
The chapter offers a theoretical and pragmatic wandering as wondering. It continues and expands the experiment as an ongoing thinking-spaces moving between the known and the unknown. It aims at gently opening the opportunity for a qualitatively better welfare to occur.
Practical implications
Researchers become welfare artists intensifying affective co-motions as ongoing and form-shifting processes.
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This pilot study explores how queer slash fanfiction writers reorient cis/heteronormative entertainment media (EM) content to create queer information worlds.
Abstract
Purpose
This pilot study explores how queer slash fanfiction writers reorient cis/heteronormative entertainment media (EM) content to create queer information worlds.
Design/methodology/approach
Constructivist grounded theory was employed to explore queer individuals' slash fanfiction reading and creation practices. Slash fanfiction refers to fan-written texts that recast cis/heteronormative content with queer characters, relationships, and themes. Theoretical sampling drove ten semi-structured interviews with queer slash writers and content analysis of both Captain America slash and material features found on two online fanfiction platforms, Archive of Our Own and fanfiction.net. “Queer” serves as a theoretical lens through which to explore non-cis/heteronormative perspectives on gender and sexuality.
Findings
Participants' interactions with and creation of slash fanfiction constitute world-queering practices wherein individuals reorient cis/heteronormative content, design systems, and form community while developing their identities over time. Findings suggest ways that queer creators respond to, challenge, and reorient cis/heteronormative narratives perpetuated by EM and other information sources, as well as ways their practices are constrained by structural power dynamics.
Research limitations/implications
This initial data collection only begins to explore the topic with ten interviews. The participant sample lacks racial diversity while the content sample focuses on one fandom. However, results suggest future directions for theoretical sampling that will continue to advance constructs developed from the data.
Originality/value
This research contributes to evolving perspectives on information creation and queer individuals' information practices. In particular, findings expand theoretical frameworks related to small worlds and ways in which members of marginalized populations grapple with exclusionary normativity.
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Muhammad Zahid Nawaz, Shahid Nawaz and Francisco Guzman
Brand crowdfunding, launched through brands’ social media platforms, can provide a myriad of crowdfunding and branding benefits, such as strengthening brands’ social networks…
Abstract
Purpose
Brand crowdfunding, launched through brands’ social media platforms, can provide a myriad of crowdfunding and branding benefits, such as strengthening brands’ social networks, validating product launches, generating mass exposure and enabling cocreation. Gamification positions brand crowdfunding as an exciting and joyful activity that more deeply engages prosumers. Anchored on resource-based theory, theory of planned behavior and service-dominant logic, this paper aims to develop a brand crowdfunding framework for established brands with insights from two emerging markets: China and India.
Design/methodology/approach
A deductive cross-sectional design is used to gather data from an established brand’s (e.g. Xiaomi) social media followers in China (n = 826) and India (n = 358), which is analyzed through PLSc-SEM.
Findings
The results reveal that social media brand engagement is an antecedent of brand crowdfunding participation, brand crowdfunding intention is a predictor of brand loyalty and gamification is a significant moderator in technology-oriented societies.
Originality/value
The paper develops a brand crowdfunding framework that provides insights on how established brands can leverage crowdfunding to enhance their new product development process. The results contribute to the social media brand engagement, crowdfunding, gamification and emerging markets literature.
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