Search results

Vulnerability is understood as susceptibility to hazards born out of the complex interaction within the system scales. The current global economic system focuses on persistent growth and a top-down approach to wealth distribution, which not only puts a strain on the Earth's resources but also on communities by increasing vulnerability. Localised economy, on the other hand, uses a bottom-up approach to wealth distribution, whereby local resources are harnessed for sustainability of the local economy. Localising economies facilitate degrowth by shifting our focus to the quality of economies and the redefinition of growth and prosperity. The purpose of this study is to highlight the potentials of localisation and degrowth for vulnerability reduction.

In this study, the authors conducted a case study of the Lyttelton community in New Zealand, their local initiatives and how these efforts have been used to build capacities and reduce vulnerabilities in the community. Data were sourced from both primary and secondary sources. Primary data were sourced through observation of the day-to-day running of the community and interviews with community members, while secondary data were sourced from existing literature on the community and related concepts.

Lyttelton community provides a good example of a community where bottom-up initiatives are particularly felt, and there is very limited dependence on the conventional economic system to solve their problems. The study shows that degrowth initiatives within the community have gained momentum because initiators see the value in their coming together as a community and doing what is right for themselves and the environment. Furthermore, localisation fosters innovation, personal growth and development and care for the environment.

This paper contributes to the existing knowledge by discussing some local initiatives that serve an underlying purpose for degrowth based on a study carried out in Lyttelton, New Zealand. The study findings established that there is need for more focus on sensitisation about the risks of growth mania and the potential for degrowth in bringing about actual prosperity, for saving the environment and disaster risk reduction. Also, the encouragement of local production and existing institutions like the timebank, which give members access to the needed resources and skills contribute to vulnerability reduction.

The aim of this descriptive study is to identify Arab tertiary students’ perceptions of the qualities and practices of teachers whom they judge to be effective. The data was collected from 136 Arab freshman students attending the intensive English program in the University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to prepare them for their career programs. A content analysis of the data revealed a set of perceived characteristics and practices that were ranked according to their frequency rate. These results show that although teachers’ ability to teach and help students understand are seen to be essential, certain human aspects of teachers and their attitudes toward their students are seen as crucial for judging their effectiveness. These Arab students considered the human element of their teachers as a very important component of their effectiveness.

The authors aim to examine how the construal level, either as an individual temporal orientation or temporal distance of promotion, moderates the effects of emojis' emotional intensity on consumers' purchase intentions in social media advertising.

Two experiments are used to test four hypotheses.

The results of two experimental studies show that present-oriented participants reveal greater purchase intentions when low (vs high) emotionally intense emojis are embedded in a social media ad; but future-oriented consumers showed no difference when viewing ads with the two different emojis. In Study 2, participants indicate greater purchase intentions when a social media ad includes a distant-future promocode and high (vs low) emotionally intense emojis and an ad with a near-future promocode and low (vs high) emotionally intense emojis.

The current study advances our understanding how emojis with different emotional intensities can be effectively used in social media ads. This study also provides theoretical implications to construal level theory (CLT) by examining how emojis interact with construal level, either as a chronic tendency or simulated by psychological distance, can influence consumer response.

Health apps offer a potential approach to support healthier food behaviours but a lack of sufficient engagement may limit effectiveness. This study aims to use a user engagement theoretical lens to examine the factors that influence app engagement over time and may prompt disengagement.

A phenomenological exploration of the lived experience was used. Women from a lower socioeconomic background (based on the occupation and employment status of the household’s primary income earner) were randomly assigned to use one of two apps for a minimum of eight weeks. Multiple data collection methods, including accompanied shops, researcher observations, interviews, participant reflective accounts and questionnaires, were used at different time-points to examine engagement. Theoretical thematic analysis was conducted to explore the engagement experience and relevant social, personal and environmental influences.

Healthy food involvement appears to drive app engagement. Changes in situational involvement may contribute to fluctuation in engagement intensity over time as the saliency of personal goals change. Negatively valenced engagement dimensions may contribute to the overall expression of engagement. A lack of congruency with personal goals or an imbalance between perceived personal investment and value was expressed as the primary reasons for disengagement.

Situational involvement may act as a trigger of different engagement phases. There is a need to better distinguish between enduring and situational involvement in engagement research.

Individual characteristics may shape engagement and propensity for disengagement, which highlights the practical importance of incorporating tailored features into app design.

Findings broaden the current conceptualisation of engagement within the digital space and prompt a reconsideration of the role of situational involvement and negatively valenced dimensions throughout the engagement process.

Social media addiction has been an ongoing topic of debate for platform developers, well-being and mental health experts. There is a limited understanding of the factors leading to the addiction of young social media users, the consequences of experiencing addiction, and the measures/mechanisms used by parents and platform providers to limit/prevent problematic social media use amongst young users. This systematic review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the literature concerning these issues.

The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews (PRISMA) protocol was used to evaluate and present the results. A total of 45 studies were screened and independently reviewed against predetermined criteria for eligibility.

The results revealed four categories of young users' addiction to social media networks (social, technological, behavioural and mental). Several prevention approaches directed at parents and platform providers were discussed.

This study offers important insights for health policy makers, platform providers, parents and researchers on designing interventions addressing social media addiction amongst young users. It also provides an in-depth understanding of the conceptualization of social media addiction and suggestions on possible actions to prevent it.

Opportunity recognition and opportunity exploitation are two central concepts in the entrepreneurial process. However, there is a lack of both a clear specification of the content domains of the constructs and valid and reliable multi-item scales for their measurement. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This paper first reveals existing issues around the definitions and measures relating to the concepts, then defines their content domains, and also proposes scale items to measure the concepts. Four samples are used to develop the measurement instruments.

Two scales are suggested, one to measure opportunity recognition, and other to measure opportunity exploitation. The scales demonstrate reliability and construct, discriminant, and nomological validity.

The resulting instruments provide tools for research and practice that could prove valuable when examining the antecedents and consequences of both opportunity recognition and opportunity exploitation.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how the emergent 3D interactive media technologies are used as a viable tool for enhancing visitors’ overall experiences at an exhibition entitled, 300 Years of Hakka Kungfu – Digital Vision of Its Legacy and Future (Hakka Kungfu Exhibition) – presented and co-organized by the Intangible Cultural Heritage Office of Hong Kong, International Guoshu Association and the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong.

A questionnaire survey in both online and paper-based formats was used for identifying visitors’ experiences in the interactions with the multimedia technologies. For this research study, a questionnaire, consisting of 26 items, was set out to measure the visitors’ experiences at the Exhibition. Since the Exhibition was about presenting a centuries-old Chinese cultural heritage, Hakka Kungfu via the use multimedia technologies, in the context of establishing a dialogue between the past and present, the researchers included questionnaire items that were devoted to enquire about the level of understanding, knowledge and enjoyment, and visitors’ new knowledge about Hong Kong history and culture was successfully disseminated to the respondents at the end of the questionnaire.

A total of 209 completed questionnaires were collected at this Hakka Kungfu Exhibition. The findings reveal that the exhibits did attract people at all ages. This Exhibition gave the visitors a sense of interest and wonder in the object and information presented in the Exhibition. Findings of this study also reveal that this Exhibition has successfully attracted a large number of female visitors, as well as visitors who have never taken any martial arts training. In addition, visitors’ Exhibition experience was found to be memorable, as well as enjoyable. Furthermore, visitors’ experience within the Exhibition suggested that it was entertaining, as well as educational. By creating a long-lasting impact on the minds of these Exhibition visitors about the connections between and relevance of traditional Chinese Kungfu, their collective cultural identity, as well as the contemporary society we live in. The Exhibition exemplified the successful integration of the presentation of Kungfu as a form of cultural heritage with engagement-creating technology, in which technology is unobtrusive but effective.

Although it is already a global trend for the museums to integrate multimedia technologies into their exhibitions, research on the situation and feedback of multimedia technology used in the museum exhibitions in Hong Kong is scarce as well as scattered. Findings of this study could help identify various factors involved in audience participation, thereby exploring the possibility of building a contact point/space for traditional Chinese Kungfu as an intangible cultural heritage, via the integration of the latest media technologies. In particular, the development of multimedia technologies has become increasingly important to museums, and museum professionals have been exploring how digital and communication technologies can be developed to offer visitors a more interactive, personalized museum experience. In general, despite the growing interest in deploying digital technology as interpretation devices in museums and galleries, there are relatively few studies that examine how visitors, both alone and with others, use new technologies when exploring the museum contents.

The purpose of this paper is to provide first-hand reflective narratives from participants of their involvement in the overall process, with particular reference to the benefits and challenges of engagement.

Five participants agreed to write a reflective piece of approximately 500 words on their involvement in the PhotoVoice project.

The reflective narratives in this paper demonstrate the personal and professional benefits of sustained and meaningful engagement, while challenges such as power imbalances, identity management, time and cost commitments are discussed.

PhotoVoice is a methodology that has the potential to democratise knowledge production and dissemination.

There are scant examples in the PhotoVoice literature of the inclusion of participants involvement in dissemination activities. The reflective narratives in this paper demonstrate the personal and professional benefits of sustained and meaningful engagement, while challenges such as power imbalances, identity management, time and cost commitments are discussed.

University students are the future driving forces in and leaders of the architectural, engineering and construction (AEC) industry advancement. Although BIM pedagogical studies have been performed in different institutions, there has not been sufficient research providing a global perspective of BIM education and students’ perceptions toward BIM practice and application following their learning progress. The purpose of this paper is to adopt student samples from Swinburne University of Technology (SUT, Australia), Wenzhou University (WZU, China) and University of Brighton (UK) as three case studies to investigate the BIM practice and application-related perceptions and motivations.

Based on the thorough understanding of the BIM pedagogical delivery including teaching contents and assessment methods among the three institutions, a questionnaire survey approach was adopted to collect AEC students’ perceptions of BIM. Within each selected case, statistical analysis was conducted to investigate both the overall sample and subgroup differences regarding students’ opinions on BIM’s functions (e.g. as a 3D visualization tool) and BIM usefulness in various industry professions, their motivation in BIM-related jobs and their perceptions of challenges encountered in BIM practice and application. Multiple factors influencing BIM learners’ perceptions were discussed, such as pedagogical assessment approach, and individual factors (e.g. disciplines).

The results showed that students were able to discern the latest industry practices and critical thinking in BIM movements. For example, SUT students perceived more challenges from the government legislation or incentive policies, which was consistent with Australia’s BIM policy movement. WZU students tended to have less positive views on BIM usefulness. The results also indicated fewer differences regarding perceived challenges among students from these three institutions.

This study contributed to the body of knowledge in managerial BIM by focusing on learners’ perceptions from the perspective of students’ understanding, motivation and individual views of BIM, which were insightful to both BIM educators and employers. By initiating the framework of BIM learning process and its influence factors, the current study serves as a point of reference to continue the future work in strengthening the connection between institutional BIM education and industry practical needs worldwide.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating influence of organizational climate in the relationship between job stress and intent to stay.

This study has used a non-probability sampling design for data collection. A semi-structured questionnaire has been prepared and a street survey has been carried out at popular public places in Macau.

This study shows that stressful employees working in organizations characterized by unsupportive organizational climate had far less desire to stay with the organization than those working in organizations with supportive organizational climate.

Street intercept survey is a technique of convenience sampling. This makes it difficult to generalize the study’s findings to the entire population.

Few studies to date have paid attention to the influence of organizational climate between job stress and intent to stay. The multi-industry context from which the data are collected suggests that the results and findings are useful to managers and practitioners from across a broad range of business sectors.