Search results

The research aims to understand how smart speakers are perceived by their actual and potential users, their attitude towards smart speakers and consequently their intention to use them.

The authors apply a structural equation modelling (SEM) approach to test the research hypotheses through data coming from a structured questionnaire.

The results show that the higher the importance attributed to usefulness and ease of use, the higher the positive attitude that in turn positively affects the intention to use smart speakers. A significant relationship also emerged between task technology fit and attitude towards smart speakers, as well as between perceived enjoyment and attitude towards smart speakers. Perceived privacy risk, innovativeness and social attraction have been found to not significantly impact attitudes towards smart speakers.

Although several academic studies have focused on various aspects of smart technologies, only a few studies discuss the factors that push consumers to use smart speakers for activities related to commercial transactions. Therefore, looking at the rapid rise of smart speakers for daily tasks and the gradual acceptance of voice interaction with digital tools, the authors proposed a study about Italian users' intention to use smart speakers. Specifically, to fill the gap in the existing literature, the authors applied a SEM approach to identify utilitarian and hedonic benefits that motivate the use of these devices.

This study offers insight into how individuals in non-managerial positions make sense of a strategic change as it unfolds. We explore the dynamic aspects of how these individuals perceive and engage with the evolving process, and how shared strategic understanding is created. The study aimed to bridge the gap between structure and action by highlighting the agency of faculty staff members, during strategic change, in a business school context.

The study utilized a longitudinal, real-time, inductive approach based on a single explanatory case study to describe how phenomena change over time in context, focusing on faculty staff members in non-managerial positions. Qualitative data was collected in three phases involving real-time reflective diaries and observations, interviews, and documentation. A combinatory process-practice ontology, was adopted, complemented by a “temporal lens” to capture the strategic change process as it unfolded.

The authors present a temporal process model of strategic change and identify four enabling factors through which shared sensemaking was achieved during the change process. Additionally, the study explores the role of tensions and dissonance in fostering reflection and progress within the context of organizational change.

Findings contribute to the concept of shared sensemaking, and we illustrate how a change process is enabled through the interplay of dynamic (less visible) practices and static (prescriptive) elements of a change process. We contribute towards theory development through a more comprehensive understanding of contextual dynamics and how change processes unfold and interweave, by considering process, structure, and context.

This scholarly paper explores leadership education across Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) in the Southwest of the United States. We searched for inclusion of social justice, ethics, and community engagement aspects within leadershipprograms.LeadershipeducationprogramsinhighereducationandspecificallyatHSIsmustbeintentional about offering programs, curriculum, and experiences that adopt inclusion of those who are underrepresented within the leadership realm. While scholarship concerning HSIs as complex organizations has grown, consideration of how leadership education programs contribute to truly serving their unique students is still in its infancy. This inquiry found that there are a number of similarities among leadership programs at HSIs in the way of academic location, degree offerings, and class format, but it also details missing characteristics of social justice, ethics, and community engagement within these areas. We propose that through further examination and future research, a framework of leadership education with underpinnings of social justice, ethics, and community engagement can be beneficial in truly serving underserved and underrepresented student populations specifically at HSIs.

The aim of this paper is to share the details of a multidisciplinary approach, which includes occupational therapy, and to review the factors that should be considered in the evaluation and treatment of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) who are excessively selective in their food choices. Issues in this area are complex and often related to several complementary domains (medical, nutritional, psychosocial, sensorimotor, etc.). However, feeding disorders are frequently assessed and treated from a single discipline and important issues are missed or confounded.

A team of experienced clinicians in the field of paediatric feeding disorders gathered the knowledge and experience they acquired from working with individuals with ASD as well as with individuals with other neurodevelopmental diagnosis. A review of current literature in paediatric feeding disorders was used to document and explicate the multifactorial nature of feeding disorders in children with ASD and justify the need for a multidisciplinary approach to issues in this area.

Feeding disorders in children with ASD are linked to multiple sensory, motor, behavioural, nutritional and gastrointestinal comorbidities. A multidisciplinary approach is needed and increasingly recommended. However, multidisciplinary teams, specialised in the care of children with ASD and feeding issues, continue to be difficult to locate and access for families. The authors sought to highlight the signs of feeding problems in children with ASD from different domains and share a model of a multidisciplinary approach that can lead to more successful interventions.

The detailed description of the domains linked to feeding issues and the clinical descriptions provided throughout the paper create a roadmap for other clinicians aiming to set up similar teams.

The influence of technology on marketing communications is rising in both applications and value created. Artificial intelligence (AI) and, as a result, smart speakers are benefiting both brands and customers at many levels. In particular, AI opens up the possibility to establish human-like dialogs with customers and to advertise brands in a new and engaging way. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to understand why and how consumers would accept receiving advertising (ad) via AI-enabled devices such as smart speakers.

A total of 326 individuals participated in a study that explored the factors influencing ad acceptance in smart devices. A partial least squares-structural equation model technique was used to validate the results.

The findings show that customer acceptance of ads via smart assistants is influenced by smart assistant usefulness and hedonic motivations. However, privacy risk moderates the relationship between smart speaker ease of use and smart speaker usefulness.

This paper explores the main drivers of ad acceptance via smart speakers and goes beyond the existing knowledge of smart speaker acceptance to further explore how this can become an important channel for brands to communicate.

La influencia de la tecnología en las comunicaciones de marketing está aumentando tanto en las aplicaciones desarrolladas como en el valor creado. La inteligencia artificial (IA) y, en consecuencia, los altavoces inteligentes están beneficiando tanto a las marcas como a los clientes a muchos niveles. En particular, la IA abre la posibilidad de establecer diálogos similares a los humanos con los clientes y de publicitar las marcas de una manera nueva y atractiva. Por lo tanto, es necesario entender por qué y cómo los consumidores aceptarían recibir publicidad (anuncios) a través de dispositivos con IA, como los altavoces inteligentes.

Un total de 326 personas participaron en un estudio que exploró los factores que influyen en la aceptación de la publicidad en los dispositivos inteligentes. Se utilizó una técnica PLS-SEM para validar los resultados.

Los resultados muestran que la aceptación de los anuncios a través de los asistentes inteligentes por parte de los clientes está influenciada por la utilidad del asistente inteligente y las motivaciones hedónicas. Sin embargo, el riesgo para la privacidad modera la relación entre la facilidad de uso del altavoz inteligente y su utilidad.

El artículo explora los principales impulsores de la aceptación de la publicidad a través de los altavoces inteligentes y va más allá del conocimiento existente sobre la aceptación de los altavoces inteligentes para explorar más a fondo cómo esto puede convertirse en un canal importante para que las marcas se comuniquen.

科技对营销传播的影响在应用和价值创造方面都在上升。人工智能（AI）以及智能音箱在很多层面都对品牌和客户有益。尤其是, 人工智能开辟了与客户建立类似人类对话的可能性, 并以一种新颖的、有吸引力的方式宣传品牌。因此, 了解消费者为什么以及如何接受通过人工智能设备（如智能音箱）接收广告（广告）是有必要的。

本研究的326名参与者探讨了影响智能设备中广告接受度的因素。PLS-SEM技术被采用以对结果进行验证。

研究结果显示, 客户通过智能助手接受广告会受智能助手有用性和享乐动机的影响。然而, 隐私风险调节了智能音箱的易用性和智能音箱的有用性之间的关系。

本文探讨了通过智能音箱接受广告的主要驱动因素, 并超越了现有的关于智能音箱接受度的知识, 进一步探讨了这如何能成为品牌沟通的重要渠道。

Our study focuses on providing empirical evidence regarding the optimization of podcasting in asynchronous learning. This action research aimed to innovate the delivery of asynchronous classes using differentiated podcasts.

We utilized action research as the research design for the study. Participating in action research entails developing practical knowledge to improve educational practices through specific methods and critical perspectives (Sáez Bondía and Cortés Gracia, 2022). According to Burns (2007), action research involves deliberate interventions usually prompted by identified issues, mysteries or inquiries that individuals in the social setting seek to improve or change. Implementing changes to enhance individuals' actions and understanding within their context is the focus of action research (Kemmis, 2010). The study’s approach is ideal for examining new practices and gaining enhanced theoretical insights (Altrichter et al., 2002). Engaging in action research helps enhance understanding and empowers us to impact and enhance practices through continuous reflection, exploration and action. Through this iterative process, we can continuously enhance our comprehension and make substantial strides toward fostering positive transformation.

The study findings showed an apparent rise in student regulation and engagement and remarkable enhancements in learning outcomes, as demonstrated by differences in pre-test and final exam scores. These results highlight the actual effect of specialized podcasts on self-paced inducing students' self-efficacy in learning. Our research provides valuable insights on effectively incorporating podcasts into education, offering innovations and improvement of practice among educators and institutions adapting to the ever-changing landscape of the educational environment while catering to the diverse needs of the learners. This research is pioneering research catering to the various learning styles of asynchronous learning environments.

Although our current sample offered valuable insights, upcoming studies could gain from more extensive and more diverse participant groups to strengthen the reliability of our results and guarantee broader applicability across various demographics and contexts. Moreover, the length of our intervention may have been relatively brief, which could have limited our ability to evaluate the long-term impact of customized podcasts on learning results. Continued investigation into the long-term effects of these interventions could provide valuable insights into their effectiveness over time and help shape the creation of more lasting educational approaches.

Innovation in asynchronous learning differentiated teaching attuned to the diverse learning styles of the students.

The study promotes equitable education, which eventually promotes learning outcomes of the students.

We created differentiated podcasts tailored to the learning styles of the students. This research is pioneering research catering to the various learning styles of asynchronous learning environments.

Industrial robots are of great significance to the long-term development of family firms. Drawing on the lens of the principal–principal conflict, this paper aims to investigate the influence of family non-executive directors on robot adoption in Chinese family firms.

This paper selects the family firms in China from 2011 to 2019 as the sample. Furthermore, the authors manually collected the family non-executive directors and constructed the robot adoption variable utilizing data sourced from the International Federation of Robotics. In brief, this paper constructs a comprehensive framework of the mechanisms and additional tests pertaining to the influence of family non-executive directors on robot adoption.

This paper finds that family non-executive directors can promote robot adoption in family firms. The underlying mechanism analysis shows that family non-executive directors promote robot adoption by exerting financial and human effects. This paper further finds that the characteristics of family non-executive directors, such as kinship, differential shareholding and excessive directors, affect the role of family non-executive directors. Finally, robot adoption can improve future performance, and the promotional effect is more evident when family members are non-executive directors.

This paper contributes to the related literature from the following two aspects. Firstly, this paper decomposes the types of family directors to understand the role of family non-executive directors, which challenges the assumption that family board members are homogeneous in family firms. Second, this paper expands the research on the factors that influence robot adoption in emerging economies from the micro-enterprise level. In addition, the findings in this paper have managerial implications for family firms to optimize their strategic decisions with the help of the mode of board right allocation.

The purpose of this paper is to determine best practices of aid agencies for outsourcing logistics to commercial logistics service providers (LSPs) in disaster relief. Moreover, it evaluates the application of the Delphi method for research in humanitarian logistics.

The paper is based on a two-round Delphi study with 31 experts from aid agencies and a complementary full-day focus group with 12 experts from aid agencies and LSPs.

The study revealed 12 best practices for outsourcing logistics in disaster relief and a compilation of more than 100 activities for putting these practices into action. Experts consider a proper balance between efficiency and compliance, a detailed contract and a detailed service request most important. Additionally, the Delphi method was found to be a promising technique for research on humanitarian logistics.

By critically examining the Delphi method, this study establishes the basis for a wider application of the technique in the field of humanitarian logistics. Furthermore, it can help to prioritize future research as the ranking of practices reflects the priorities of practitioners.

The paper provides guidance to practitioners at aid agencies in charge of outsourcing logistics.

This research is one of the first in the field of humanitarian logistics to apply the Delphi method. Moreover, it addresses the lack of literature dealing with approaches for building successful cross-sectoral partnerships.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of design of e-servicescapes on student engagement in distance education (DE), and examine whether this impact is mediated by student experience quality.

Quantitative research approach based on cross-sectional survey design was adapted where data were collected using a structured questionnaire. Sample consisted of 252 undergraduates registered in the DE platform in Sri Lanka and was drawn using a simple random sampling technique. Collected data were analysed using the structural equation modelling.

Data analysis revealed that there is a direct significant impact of e-servicescapes on student engagement while this impact is partially mediated by student experience quality in the Sri Lankan context. Meantime, the social presence feature of e-servicescapes has the highest impact on student engagement.

Findings of the study provide an empirically validated model to boost up the student engagement and significantly contribute to the designing of the e-servicescapes of the DE institutes in order to offer a superior service to a wide array of stakeholders.

Even though e-servicescapes have been recognised as a driver of customer behaviour, the concept is fairly unexplored in the educational context. Due to its practical applicability in the DE context, this study contributes to the existing knowledge by presenting a novel conceptual model developed based on multiple theories to identify its impact on student behaviour.

The study investigates factors like media, tribal, religious and party politics' influence on Nigerias’ 2023 presidential election choice. It confirms dominant social media platforms and examines their influence on election polls, e-participation and political candidate choice. The main objectives of this study are to: investigate if tribal, religious and party politics affect the respondent’s choice of a presidential candidate, ascertain the respondent's most used social media platform for political engagement and determine how social media platforms influenced the election polls during the 2023 Nigerian presidential election.

A sample size of 384 registered voters was used to survey three states in Southeast Nigeria hinged on the technological acceptance model, the instrumentalist theory of ethnicity and the theory of reasoned action.

The study found that tribal politics did not influence political candidates during the 2023 Nigerian presidential election. However, religious and party politics influenced their choices as well as X (Twitter), found as the most used and most influential social media platform vital for enhancing participatory democracy and informing people at real-time.

The researchers experienced challenges such as ensuring that the respondents filled the questions appropriately to reduce the number of void questionnaires and a funding problem since they had yet to receive any grant to enhance the study.

The study commends improved Internet connectivity and accessibility among the citizens for increased political engagement on social media. It also recommends that the Nigerian government enforce the rule of law in politics to enable diverse tribes and religions to experience democratic e-participation and development without marginalisation or subjugation by incumbent power. The findings affirm that social media is apt in political communication during the 2023 presidential elections in Nigeria. The study is a contribution to knowledge, timely and original.