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Concrete workers perform physically demanding work in awkward postures, exposing their backs to musculoskeletal disorders. Back-support exoskeletons are promising ergonomic interventions designed to reduce the risks of back disorders. However, the suitability of exoskeletons for enhancing performance of concrete workers has not been largely explored. This study aims to assess a passive back-support exoskeleton for concrete work in terms of the impact on the body, usability and benefits of the exoskeleton, and potential design modifications.

Concrete workers performed work with a passive back-support exoskeleton. Subjective and qualitative measures were employed to capture their perception of the exoskeleton, at the middle and end of the work, in terms of discomfort to their body parts, ease of use, comfort, performance and safety of the exoskeleton, and their experience using the exoskeleton. These were analyzed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis.

The exoskeleton reduced stress on the lower back but caused discomfort to other body parts. Significant correlations were observed between perceived discomfort and usability measures. Design modifications are needed to improve the compatibility of the exoskeleton with the existing safety gears, reduce discomfort at chest and thigh, and improve ease of use of the exoskeleton.

The study was conducted with eight concrete workers who used the exoskeleton for four hours.

This study contributes to existing knowledge on human-wearable robot interaction and provides suggestions for adapting exoskeleton designs for construction work.

This paper aims to use a negative perspective to investigate the effects of perceived deceptiveness and pressure on consumer donation and their underlying mechanisms in the context of asking for donations.

Study 1 used a qualitative approach to clarify the categories and dimensions of the research variables and explore their relationships. Study 2 empirically tested the hypotheses by combining a fictitious context and a real context related to asking for donations.

In the qualitative study, the data provided sufficient evidence to support the relationships in the theoretical model. The results of the empirical study showed that perceived deceptiveness negatively influences consumer donation, while perceived pressure positively affects donation amount. Notably, the discomfort of potential donors plays an important role in mediating these relationships.

This paper suggests a way for charities to raise more money, i.e. by cooperating with companies with good reputations, limited scandals and transparent supervisory mechanisms. Meanwhile, solicitors should pay attention to the adverse effects of discomfort to avoid generating resentment among consumers.

First, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to use a negative perspective to examine the effects of perceived deceptiveness and pressure on consumer donation. Second, the use of cognitive dissonance theory to highlight the role of discomfort represents a novel contribution to the literature. Third, using a mixed-methods approach to achieve a robust conclusion provides valuable insights and extends the existing literature.

This study aims to investigate the adoption and use of electronic voting (e-voting) system as an option to credible elections in Nigeria, as well as the factors that could influence the readiness of Oyo state citizens in Nigeria to use the system.

The study adopts the survey research design, while the Technology Readiness Acceptance Model provides the theoretical framework. A two-stage sampling procedure (random and convenience) was used to select 500 Nigerian citizens, who are of voting age, while data were collected with a structured questionnaire.

Findings reveal that the citizens are ready to use the e-voting system if adopted by the Nigerian Government. Optimism and innovativeness are positively correlated, and perceived discomfort and perceived insecurity are negatively correlated, with readiness to use e-voting system by Oyo state citizens. The Technology Acceptance Model constructs (perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use), as well as computer self-efficacy also have positive correlations with readiness to use of e-voting.

The population of the study was limited to only citizens in one state of the federation; hence, the results cannot be generalised to all citizens in Nigeria.

The study contributes to existing knowledge on adoption and use of technology and confirms that optimism and innovativeness are motivators and discomfort and insecurity are inhibitors of intention to use and actual usage of technology. Hence, these constructs should be taken into account and promoted when Nigeria is planning to adopt the e-voting system.

This paper could assist the Nigerian Government on the factors to consider when implementing the e-voting system.

This paper is one of the first pieces of empirical research that attempted to investigate the factors that could promote acceptance and use of the e-voting system in Nigeria.

Low back disorders are more predominant among construction trade workers than their counterparts in other industry sectors. Floor layers are among the top artisans that are severely affected by low back disorders. Exoskeletons are increasingly being perceived as ergonomic solutions. This study aims to compare the efficacy of passive and active back-support exoskeletons by measuring range of motion, perceived discomfort, usability, perceived rate of exertion and cognitive load during a simulated flooring task experiment.

In this study eight participants were engaged in a repetitive timber flooring task performed with passive and active back-support exoskeletons. Subjective and objective data were collected to assess the risks associated with using both exoskeletons. Descriptive statistics were used for analysis. Scheirer-Ray-Hare test and Wilcoxon signed-rank test were adopted to compare the exoskeleton conditions.

The results show no significant differences in the range of motion (except for a lifting cycle), perceived level of discomfort and perceived level of exertion between the two exoskeletons. Significant difference in overall cognitive load was observed. The usability results show that the active back-support exoskeleton made task execution easier with less restriction on movement.

The flooring task is simulated in a laboratory environment with only eight male participants.

This study contributes to the scarce body of knowledge on the usage comparison of passive and active exoskeletons for construction work.

The purpose of the current research is to present an explanatory framework for how people selectively attend to privacy-related news information about LBA depending on the extent to which they know about LBA already as well as their appraisals of privacy threats and efficacy.

The proposed model was tested using structural equation modeling based on a total of 522 useable responses obtained from an online survey.

The results revealed two different approaches to information exposure: (1) people choose to seek out privacy-related news articles when their persuasion knowledge and perceived threat level are high, whereas (2) they tend to avoid such information when perceived threats accompany fear as well as psychological discomfort, or when they believe that they are knowledgeable about LBA practices and highly capable of protecting their privacy.

With the development of real-time location-tracking technologies, the practice of LBA is becoming increasingly popular. As such, however, concerns about data collection and privacy are also on the rise, garnering a great deal of media attention. Despite the importance and constant stream of news reports on the subject, a comprehensive understanding of consumers' privacy assessments and information consumption remains underexamined. By incorporating the persuasion knowledge model and extended parallel process model, the current research presents an explanatory framework for consumers' privacy perceptions and information choice.

The technology readiness and acceptance model were mostly employed as theoretical bases to analyze tourist behaviors of adoption of innovative technologies that are part of the smart tourism offer. This study attention now turns to the field of smart tourism human resource management and tries to establish a model to explain the relationship between general dimensions of personality with systematic specific dimensions toward ICT acceptance.

The authors adopted the TRAM model as a way to better understand and evaluate the causal relationships between the personality dimensions, factors of perception, attitudes and behavior of users regarding the acceptance and use of innovative technologies. Based on the empirical data of 478 employees operating in tourist organizations, travel agencies and hotels, the authors employed regression analysis as the basic method for examining the research hypotheses and causal relationships between variables in the presented model.

The analysis revealed that employees in the tourism sector are inclined to adopt new technology, and that technological readiness has an impact on attitudes and intentions toward the use of technologies. Moreover, the results show that the path between the dimensions of technological readiness and intention to use technologies is to a certain extent mediated through perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness.

This research is among the first empirical studies that examine technology readiness and adoption in the context of smart tourism development. Besides the findings extend the literature on the mediating effect of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use between technology readiness index and technology acceptance behavior.

The purpose of this paper is to extend the technology readiness and acceptance model (TRAM) to consider an individual’s health consciousness (HC), thereby improving the capability of the model to predict an individual’s attitude toward and intention to download and use dietary and fitness apps.

A total of 994 participants completed a self-reported online questionnaire. Structural equation modeling and χ² difference testing were conducted to compare the predictive capability of the proposed health consciousness TRAM (HC-TRAM) and the TRAM. The comparison of the proposed HC-TRAM in terms of potential and actual users of dietary and fitness apps was also discussed.

The results obtained from the HC-TRAM and the TRAM indicate that in addition to technology readiness, HC exerts a positive effect on the perceived ease of use and usefulness of dietary and fitness apps. χ² difference test results indicated that the predictive capability of the proposed HC-TRAM is higher than that of the TRAM.

The drivers and inhibitors of a person’s readiness to embrace modern information technology play roles when predicting his or her intention to download and use dietary and fitness apps. HC should be promoted by encouraging people to eat right and regularly perform appropriate exercise to prevent obesity and overweight, thereby maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

This study incorporated individual cognitive factors and HC into the TRAM to fill the literature gap and deepen and broaden existing theoretical frameworks of the TRAM in the public health sector.

Antecedents and influences of workplace incivility have recently been studied in many areas of research but there is still a lack of consideration for the impact of culture. Theoretical considerations for the present research are based on the cultural dimensions of power distance and tightness/looseness because the collective levels of power distance are similar between Korea and Spain, but the collective levels of tightness/looseness are different between the two countries. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether individuals’ occupational position affects their normative reactions to incivility differently.

Participant (victim)’s (those who react to uncivil behaviors) social power (low vs high) and perpetrator’s (those who exhibit uncivil behaviors) social power (low vs high) were experimentally manipulated; all participants were randomly assigned to one of four perpetrator × victim conditions in relation to hierarchical positions (Ntot = 467).

The results suggest that the level of social and personal acceptability was greater either among Koreans than Spanish at a collective level or among people who endorsed higher power distance and tightness values. All in all, the findings highlight cultural influences on the importance of social hierarchy as a factor that can impact the people’s normative reactions to incivility.

The findings broaden our understanding of the psychology of employees in relation to incivility, by simultaneously considering the influences of culture (power distance and tightness/looseness) and social power.

The study aims to validate a mobile learning readiness scale through the technology readiness and acceptance model (TRAM), thereby assessing students' readiness to adopt m-learning in teaching and learning, including its acceptance.

A structured questionnaire was administered to open and distance learning (ODL) students in Odisha, India, to assess their readiness and acceptance of m-learning. 665 valid responses were collected, and collected data was analysed using statistical packages for social sciences (SPSS) and SmartPLS.

The findings of the study reveal that optimism contributes positively to perceived ease of use (PEOU) and perceived usefulness (PU) of m-learning (β = 7.921, p < 0.001; β = 2.123, p < 0.05), whereas innovativeness positively contributes to PEOU of m-learning (β = 2.227, p < 0.05), but not PU of m-learning. ODL student's optimism improves his/her PEOU and PU of m-learning, but innovativeness improves only his/her PEOU. Further, the impact of innovativeness is higher than that of optimism in the TRAM and innovativeness is the strong predictor to adopt m-learning. It also shows that the PU of m-learning positively influences behavioural intention to use m-learning (β = 4.757, p < 0.001). Integrating technology readiness (TR) with technology acceptance model (TAM) to predict students' acceptance of m-learning is very useful.

The paper will help decision-makers to adopt and use m-learning in higher educational institutions.

This paper is the first to explore the readiness and acceptance of m-learning in higher education in India.

The automation of services is rapidly growing, led by sectors such as banking and financial investment. The growing number of investments managed by artificial intelligence (AI) suggests that this technology-based service will become increasingly popular. This study examines how customers' technology readiness and service awareness affect their intention to use analytical AI investment services.

Hypotheses were tested with a data set of 404 North American-based potential customers of robo-advisors. In addition to technology readiness dimensions, the potential customers' characteristics were included in the framework as moderating factors (age, gender and previous experience with financial investment services). A post-hoc analysis examined the roles of service awareness and the financial advisor's name (i.e., robo-advisor vs. AI-advisor).

The results indicated that customers' technological optimism increases, and insecurity decreases, their intention to use robo-advisors. Surprisingly, feelings of technological discomfort positively influenced robo-advisor adoption. This interesting finding challenges previous insights into technology adoption and value co-creation as analytical AI puts customers into a very passive role and reduces barriers to technology adoption. The research also analyzes how consumers become aware of robo-advisors, and how this influences their acceptance.

This is the first study to analyze the role of customers' technology readiness in the adoption of analytical AI. The authors link the findings to previous technology adoption and automated services' literature and provide specific managerial implications and avenues for further research.