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The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically altered daily life for Gen Z. The purpose of this study was to examine parental perceptions of the pandemic’s effects on their children’s peer relationships. As children sought peer connection during the pandemic, technology usage soared. The second purpose of the current study was to assess how greater time on social media affected adjustment among Gen Z and whether this effect was mediated by experiences of cyber victimization.

In total, 250 U.S. parent-child dyads participated in the study. Parents reported on their children’s social media use and described how they believed the pandemic affected their children’s peer relationships. Child participants were transitioning to middle school and reported on cyber victimization and adjustment.

Thematic analysis of parental reflections revealed three themes: children spent more time online since the onset of the pandemic, there were negative implications of increased time online and there were positive and protective implications of being online. Analysis also indicated significant indirect effects of social media use on internalizing and externalizing problems through victimization.

Parents reported Gen Z continues to use electronic forms of communication and social media at high rates even after pandemic-related restrictions eased with some suggesting that their children prefer digital over face-to-face communication because they have become accustomed to this way of connecting and may find it easier than in-person interaction. Current findings highlight concerns about this increased time online as social media use negatively affected adjustment via cyber victimization.

This study aims to examine adolescents’ social media environment connected to unhealthy food marketing. As social media have become a ubiquitous part of young people’s everyday lives, marketers have also shifted their focus to these channels. Literature on this phenomenon is still scarce and often takes a quite narrow view of the role of marketing in social media. Furthermore, the experiences of the adolescents are seldom considered.

Using a sociocultural approach and netnographic methodology, this study presents findings from a research project conducted in Finland. The data consist of both social media material and focus group interviews with adolescents.

The findings elaborate on unhealthy food marketing to adolescents in social media from two perspectives: sociocultural representations of unhealthy foods in social media marketing and social media influencers connecting with adolescents.

The study broadens and deepens the current understanding of unhealthy food marketing to adolescents taking place in social media. The study introduces a novel perspective to the topic by looking at it as a sociocultural phenomenon.

Previous research demonstrates a consistent association between the media and body and eating related issues in children. Recent research has highlighted a role for “fat talk” to describe discourses around body size and food. One key source of media information is Disney animation films, yet to date no research study has explored the verbal content of this genre.

The present study used a content analysis to examine fat talk in Disney animation films (1937–2021; n = 53) with a focus on the frequency of fat talk, changes over time and differences between the genders and heroic statuses of the givers and receivers of fat talk. Fat talk was defined as relating to both body size and food and could be either positive or negative.

Results revealed that there was more negative than positive fat talk per film; no significant changes over time; males were the givers of significantly more positive and negative fat talk than females and were also the receivers of more negative fat talk; good characters were the givers and receivers of more positive and negative fat talk and more self-directed negative fat talk than bad characters.

The results are discussed in terms of possible legislation and parenting interventions to minimise the harm of this genre on young children.

Disney animation films may not be as benign as often thought.

Many believe that any social media harms kids because of frequent use. This study aims to examine these assumptions. It proposes and tests a model that considers two alternative pathways – one negative and one positive – through which social media affects teens’ self-reported subjective well-being.

This research used Preacher and Hayes process modeling to conduct path analysis on data collected on 585 teenagers from across the USA.

Results showed that along a negative pathway, frequent social media use leads to greater risky social media engagement that ultimately diminishes adolescent’s sense of well-being. Also, and perhaps simultaneously, frequent social media use leads to socially-connected social media use that enhances adolescent’s sense of well-being.

The research recommends ways parents, policymakers and platforms can encourage teens to use social media to connect with friends while guiding them away from pathways exposing them to risky behaviors.

Findings show more social media use is not necessarily harmful, but more of some types is bad, while more of others is good.

The purpose of this study is to examine how the constructs of false self, preference for online social interaction (POSI), compulsive internet use (CIU), and online disinhibition affect social withdrawal in a social media context. The mediating effects of moral disengagement and cyber aggression are also tested.

Data were collected using an online survey (n = 533) from consumers in Japan. This study used structural equation modeling and PROCESS to examine the proposed relationships.

The study revealed that false self positively affects moral disengagement while online disinhibition positively affects cyber aggression and moral disengagement. Preference for online social interaction and compulsive internet use both positively impacts social withdrawal. Cyber aggression and moral disengagement were established mediators between false self/ Preference for online social interaction/ compulsive internet use/ online disinhibition and social withdrawal.

Although restricted to cyberaggression, owing to the reciprocal relationship between cyber victimization and cyberaggression, cyber victimization can be included for further study. This study expands the understanding of social withdrawal within the context of social media.

Based on the findings, policies and programs that address mental health that build self-esteem, self-confidence and reduce anxiety ought to be undertaken. Managing and formulating guidelines on anonymity should also be taken into consideration.

This research demonstrates the crucial constructs that affect social media users negatively from the aspects of cyberaggression, moral disengagement and social withdrawal. It also establishes the importance of mental health in reducing adverse effects from social media.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the process by which the level of immersion in virtual reality-based behavioral simulation (VR-BS) impacts on the non-cognitive and cognitive outcomes. The cognitive outcome is measured using the increase in the level of Sharia financial literacy, while the noncognitive outcome is measured using the behavioral intention to use VR-BS.

The method consists of two parts: First, the development of VR-BS, in the context of sharia financial literacy, using the waterfall model. Second, testing the effectiveness of VR-BS using the theory of interactive media effects framework. The participants were 142 students from three secondary schools (two Islamic religious schools and one public school) in Yogyakarta and Central Java, Indonesia. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used for testing the hypotheses.

VR-BS creates a perceived coolness and vividness, which in turn has an impact on increasing the participants’ engagement. Also, the use of VR has an impact on natural mapping, which increases a user’s engagement through its perceived ease of use. As predicted, the user’s engagement affects VR’s behavior, mediated by the user’s attitude toward VR media. VR’s interactivity, however, does not impact on the cognitive aspect.

The participants were not randomly selected, as the data were collected during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the majority of the participants had never tried VR before this study. The participants, however, were digital natives.

It is implied from the findings that Islamic financial business actors and the relevant government agencies (e.g. the Indonesian Financial Services Authority [OJK], the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology and the Ministry of Religious Affairs) should collaborate to best prepare the future generation of ummah by using VR-BS in their joint promotion and education programs. The results of the current study reveal that the use of VR-BS may attract people to engage in Islamic financial activities. By engaging in such activities, or at least engaging in real-life simulations/classes/workshops, people may gradually acquire more knowledge about Islamic finance.

As predicted, the user’s engagement has an impact on behavior toward VR-BS, which is mediated by attitude toward VR-BS.

This study investigated multiple factors associated with librarians’ intentions to engage in virtual storytimes in public libraries. Based on the theory of planned behavior, the study examined the aspects of attitudes, social norms, behavioral controls and organizational support about librarians’ intentions to engage in virtual storytime practices.

A survey was conducted to investigate the perceptions of public librarians who work in children’s services across the USA. The study collected 365 valid responses to assess the impact of the selected factors on librarians’ intentions. Structural equation modeling was employed for statistical analysis.

The results revealed that attitudes, subjective norms and behavioral controls were significant factors associated with librarians’ intention to engage in virtual storytimes. Among these, attitudinal factors were the most influential; however, organizational support was not a significant factor.

Minimal research has been conducted to explore factors associated with online storytime practices, which served as a primary delivery mode during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study is among the first attempts to investigate various factors related to virtual storytimes in public libraries from the perspectives of librarians.

This paper aims to explore the determinants of maternal and infant health knowledge (M&IHK) adoption and sharing in the short video from an empathy theory perspective. We explore how to transfer users from free health knowledge to health-related product purchase intention, which is vital for platform knowledge management and service.

Focusing on the M&IHK, this study proposes four processes of health knowledge adoption and sharing – knowledge quality persuasion process; source credibility persuasion process; affective empathy emotion process; and cognitive empathy emotion process – to build a framework of M&IHK adoption and sharing. Furthermore, based on adoption and sharing, we explore whether they can promote health-related product purchase intentions. A theoretical model is constructed and tested via Smart PLS in 388 samples.

In a short video context, perceived knowledge quality and perceived source credibility are still two determinants of health knowledge adoption and sharing. On the contrary, perceived affective empathy and perceived cognitive empathy are two new determinants of health knowledge adoption, but not of health knowledge sharing. Adoption of M&IHK is more driven by both rational thinking and emotional thinking than sharing-only driven by emotional thinking. Adoption and sharing both contribute to health-related product purchase intention, but the female’s intention is more related to rational adoption than the male, which is only related to emotional sharing.

This paper is arguably the first study to examine how short videos impact the mechanisms of M&IHK adoption, sharing and health-related products' purchase intention. It’s perhaps the first study to integrate empathy theory into health knowledge management.

Smartphone apps collect users' personal information, which triggers privacy concerns for app users. Consequently, app users restrict apps from accessing their personal information. This may impact the effectiveness of in-app advertising. However, research has not yet demonstrated what factors impact app users' decisions to use apps with restricted permissions. This study is aimed to bridge this gap.

Using a quantitative research method, the authors collected the data from 384 app users via a structured questionnaire. The data were analysed using AMOS and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA).

The findings suggest privacy concerns and risks have a significant positive effect on app usage with restricted permissions, whilst reputation, trust and perceived benefits have significant negative impact on it. Some app-related factors, such as the number of apps installed and type of apps, also impact app usage with restricted permissions.

Based on the findings, the authors provided several implications for app stores, app developers and app marketers.

This study examines the factors that influence smartphone users' decisions to use apps with restricted permission requests. By doing this, the authors' study contributes to the consumer behaviour literature in the context of smartphone app usage. Also, by explaining the underlying mechanisms through which the principles of communication privacy management theory operate in smartphone app context, the authors' research contributes to the communication privacy management theory.

Organizational happiness has received exponential attention in recent years. To offer an over-view for future research gap, this article produces a comprehensive review by combining bibliometric analysis and interviews to key authors in the field. The main objective of this paper is to show the state of research regarding the environment in the management of happiness in organizations: the evolution of scientific activity, current trends in authorship, topics and future setting research agenda.

The methodological process focuses on a mixed method. A systematic review of the relevant literature; bibliometric analysis and network mapping in the Web of Science and Scopus data-bases; bibliometric network analysis of authorship, citation and co-occurrence of key words in scientific publications.

The results reveal that happiness management is gaining importance and, moreover, more than half of the publications about happiness management are related to the environment in which the organizations are immersed. Therefore, the study provides some research directions and insists on role of environment to better understand the theoretical and practical perspectives. Likewise, bibliometric analysis and interviews allow to measure quality, impact, productivity and scientific evolution which are increasingly valued in order to identify the main concepts and topics that are considered key, drivers of research and those gaps that should be addressed in future research work for the conceptual framework of happiness management in organizations.

Conclusions are drawn that promoting corporate social responsibility strategies, aimed at fostering sustainability and care for the environment result in the well-being of organizations and the performance of their workers are highlighted.