Search results

Social commerce (SC) is a new genre in electronic commerce (e-commerce) that has great potential. This study proposes a new research framework to address deficiencies in existing social commerce research frameworks (e.g. the information model).

In the era of Industrial Revolution 4.0 technologies and new social commerce (s-commerce) models, the authors believe that there is an immediate need for a new research framework. The authors analysed the progress of the s-commerce paradigm between 2003 and 2023 by applying longitudinal science mapping. The authors then developed a research framework based on the themes in the strategic diagrams and evolution map.

From 2003 to 2010, studies on s-commerce mainly focused on social networking sites, virtual communities, social shopping and analytic approaches. From 2011 to 2015, it shifted to s-commerce, consumer behaviour, Web 2.0, artificial intelligence, social technologies, online shopping, user studies, data gathering methods, applications, service-based social commerce constructs, e-commerce and cognitive factors. Social commerce remained the primary research paradigm from 2017 to 2023.

The SC framework may be analogous to popular research frameworks such as technology-organisation-environment (T-O-E) and stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R). Based on this SC framework, researchers may gain a better understanding by determining the factors of the social, commercial, technological and behavioural dimensions.

The authors redefined s-commerce and developed an SC framework. Practical guidelines for the SC framework and an exemplary research model are presented. Overall, this study offers a new research agenda for the extant understanding of s-commerce, with the SC framework as the next frontier of the theoretical advancements and applications of s-commerce.

This chapter tries to hedge extreme financial risk of entrepreneurs who work with wheat by combining wheat with four stock indices of developed and emerging European markets in a portfolio. Extreme risk of the portfolios is measured by the parametric and historical value-at-risk (VaR) metrics. Portfolios that target maximum return-to-VaR ratio are also constructed because different market participants prefer different goals. Preliminary equicorrelation results indicate that integration between wheat and emerging markets is lower (0.218) vis-á-vis the combination of wheat and developed markets (0.307), which gives preliminary advantage to emerging markets in diversification efforts. The results show that portfolios with emerging stock indices have significantly lower parametric (–0.816) and historical (–0.831) VaR than portfolios with developed indices, –1.080 and –1.295, respectively. As for optimal portfolios, the portfolios with developed indices have a slight upper hand. This chapter shows that parametric VaR is not a good measure of extreme risk, because it neglects the third and fourth moments.

This teaching case aims to encourage reflection on the formulation of the strategic repositioning of an automotive dealership.

Built on the teaching case method, it portrays the situation of the Premium Motors automotive dealership in the face of a strategic repositioning. Management and the board discuss ways to minimize the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on sales figures. The situation presents the possibility of entering a new product segment.

How to make consumers correctly understand the new positioning? The case is structured to enable reflection and teaching of marketing strategies, with each student having the possibility of putting themselves in the role of company managers. The environment and trajectory are also portrayed, broadening the perception of the studied company and providing devices for solving the emerging problems of the case.

The case becomes a tool to promote knowledge, from the implementation to the management of strategic repositioning. Thus, the teaching notes offer directions on how professors can use the teaching case with their undergraduate and graduate students in disciplines related to strategy and marketing.

Based on the organizational learning theory, this study regards market orientation as market-based learning and seeks to advance insight into how proactive and responsive market orientations affect two kinds of open innovation strategies, sourcing and selling. A firm’s information and communication technology (ICT) capability is considered an essential moderator in these relationships.

This study adopted a quantitative design and used the questionnaire survey method to collect data. The authors finally collected data on samples in China. Multiple regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses.

The results show that proactive and responsive market orientations act as antecedents of open innovation, showing linear and curvilinear relationships between them. Specifically, responsive market orientation positively affects selling, and proactive market orientation positively affects sourcing. Responsive market orientation has an inverted U-shaped relationship with sourcing, and proactive market orientation has a U-shaped relationship with selling. In addition, ICT capability strengthens the positive effects of market orientation on open innovation and weakens the negative effects.

Drawing on organizational learning theory, this study provides a novel perspective to explain the complex mechanism between market orientation and open innovation. This study also explores the moderating role of ICT capability in this process, which advances research on how to select open innovation strategies under different conditions.

Social networking sites (SNS) have become popular mediums for individuals to interact with others. However, despite the positive impact of SNS on people’s lives, cyberbullying has become prevalent. Due to this prevalence, substantial research has examined cyberbullying from the perspectives of perpetrators, bystanders, and victims, but little is known about SNS users’ confrontations with cyberbullying. The objectives of this study are to examine confrontation as a victim’s coping response, the effect of blockability affordance on victims’ protection motivation, the impact of a victim’s experiences with cyberbullying perpetration, and social desirability (SD) bias in the context of cyberbullying victimization.

This study examines the effect of blockability affordance on SNS users’ protection motivation. It also investigates the relationships among perceived threat, perceived coping efficacy, and use of confrontation. Furthermore, this investigation analyzes the effect of SNS users’ experiences as perpetrators on their decision to confront cyberbullies. Finally, this study assesses and controls SD bias in SNS users’ confrontation behavior. To test the research model, we used an online vignette study to collect 314 data points.

Blockability affordance, perceived threat, perceived coping efficacy, and cyberbullying perpetration experiences are essential factors in explaining use of confrontation. This study also finds SD bias in the context of cyberbullying victimization.

This is one of the first studies in information systems research to empirically examine the effect of blockability affordance in the context of cyberbullying.

The purpose of this article is to meet Professor Paul T.P. Wong, PhD, CPscyh, who is based at the Department of Psychology, Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. Wong represents an interesting case of how a racial/cultural minority could achieve success in a hostile environment consisting of the systemic biases of injustice, discrimination and marginalization. His life also epitomizes how one can experience the paradoxical truth of healing and flourishing in an upside-down world through the positive suffering mindset (PSM).

This case study is presented in two sections: a positive autoethnography written by Wong, followed by his answers to ten questions. The core methodology of positive autoethnography allows people to understand how Wong’s life experience of being a war baby in China, a constant outsider and a lone voice in Western culture, has shaped a very different vision of meaning, positive mental health and global flourishing.

Wong reveals how to live a life of meaning and happiness for all the suffering people in a difficult world. He has researched the positive psychology of suffering for 60 years, from effective coping with stress and searching for meaning to successful aging and positive death. According to Wong’s suffering hypothesis and the emerging paradigm of existential positive psychology (Wong, 2021), cultivating a PSM is essential for healing and flourishing in all seasons of life.

An expanding literature has been developed to illustrate why the missing link in well-being research is how to transcend and transform suffering into triumph. Wong reveals how this emerging area of research is still not fully embraced by mainstream psychology dominated by the individualistic Euro-American culture, and thus why, in an adversarial milieu, existential positive psychology is limited by its inability to attract more researchers to test out Wong’s suffering hypothesis.

The wisdom and helpful tools presented here may enable people to achieve mature happiness and existential well-being even when they have a very painful past, a very difficult present and a bleak future.

This autoethnographic case study offers new grounds for hope for all those who are injured by life, marginalized by systemic biases or tormented by chronic illnesses and disorders. It also provides a road map for a better world with more decent human beings who dare to stand up for justice, integrity and compassion.

Meaning as reflected in suffering is according to Wong the most powerful force to bring out either the worst or the best in people. The new science of suffering shows us how the authors can achieve positive transformation through cultivating a PSM, no matter how harsh one’s fate may be.

The technology adoption propensity (TAP) index is a parsimonious yet robust tool for measuring an individual’s willingness to accept new technologies. However, further investigation is still needed to evaluate its merits in non-Western countries. With this task in mind, this study assesses the psychometric properties and predictive capabilities of TAP in Turkey.

The researchers utilized an iterative process of forward-backward translation and three rounds of piloting to ensure the cross-cultural, conceptual and linguistic equivalence for the chosen tool. The final survey was conducted online on a convenience sample of 352 academics and in person for 2 other convenience samples that comprised a total of 259 municipal officers and 300 individuals.

TAP’s four-subscale structure was confirmed by a principal component analysis (PCA), and A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) showed an acceptable fit across all samples. The total composition of the optimism, proficiency, dependence and vulnerability subscales was found to have adequate internal consistency and discriminant validity. Measurement invariance testing further demonstrated that TAP’s factorial organization was invariant across gender, age and income at configural, metric, scalar and strict levels. Finally, logistic and ordinary leas squares (OLS) regression analyses revealed that the TAP scores were predictive of prior technology adoption and use frequency.

Although these results are still preliminary, the confirmation and replication of TAP in Turkey clearly suggest that TAP is a dependable tool for assessing technology readiness that can be utilized well across different cultures.

This paper aims to explore the determinants of intention towards the use of agro-advisory mobile applications by extending the technology acceptance model (TAM) with addition of the following constructs: result demonstrability (RD), trust, self-efficacy (SE) and mobile usage proficiency (MUP).

The study employed a survey on farmers (n = 446), which was analysed through structural equation modelling using Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS).

The results show that RD and farmer's trust on agro-advisory mobile apps (AAMA) positively impact their perceptions of usefulness. Also, farmer's SE and MUP positively affect their perceptions of ease of using AAMA. Further, interestingly, farmer's attitude towards the AAMA fully mediates the relationship between perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use on intention to use them.

Understanding the antecedents of agro-advisory mobile application offers a unique contribution to policymakers, private firms, and non-government organizations by proving key insights on the acceptance of agriculture based mobile technologies in context of developing nations.

To the best of author's knowledge, this is one of the first research enquiries on the adoption of agro-advisory mobile applications. The new theoretical framework adds to the original TAM and offers novel insights that are helpful in augmenting the current understanding on AAMA and their acceptance by the beneficiaries.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of a 10-week positive psychology course on college student stress, anxiety, self-compassion, resilience and health behaviors.

This study implemented a 10-week positive psychology program that included ten one-week modules. Each module consisted of a reading on a given positive psychology topic, a guided learning slideshow, a video to reinforce topical understanding and individual reflection or application exercises. Participants completed pre and postintervention measures, including the perceived stress scale, generalized anxiety disorder-7, self-compassion scale, brief resilience scale and wellness behavior inventory.

A total of 48 students consented to participate in the study, of which 35 completed the 10-week positive psychology online intervention as well as the pre and postsurveys (27.1% attrition rate). There were no statistically significant differences between pre and postresponses for any of the outcome scales. However, there was a trend toward a decrease in perceived stress and generalized anxiety, as well as a trend toward an increase in self-compassion and health behaviors from pre to posttest.

The main limitation of this study was design and sample size. Although it was a pilot study, future research should consider a randomized control trial, including pre and postevaluation and blind comparison group. Finally, this intervention was only implemented in the online, asynchronous format. Future research might consider comparing face-to-face, asynchronous online and synchronous online modalities.

Future implementation should include a more rigorous design, such as a comparison group with randomization as well as a larger sample size.

Given the previous effectiveness of positive psychological interventions on health behaviors, continued research may use direct measures of health behavior engagement throughout the intervention (Biber and Ellis, 2019). This study provides other researchers and practitioners with a model for utilization with middle, high and university students.

This study used open-access content that was free of charge to students to promote positive mental health and health behavior change.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a novel optimization method that can improve the convergence of the multi-material topology.

In the proposed method, the optimization procedure is divided into two steps. In the first step, a global search is performed to probabilistically determine the material distribution of multi-segmented magnets. In the second step, the design area is limited and a local search is performed to determine the detailed magnet shape.

Because the first optimization step determines the arrangement of the magnetization vectors according to the rotational position, as in a d-axis flux concentration orientation, the optimal solution can be obtained with a smaller volume of magnets than the conventional method.

Because a few case studies are considered in this paper, additional verification is required, such as application to different types of motors, to clarify scalability.

The solution obtained using the proposed method has a smaller amount of magnet than the solution obtained using the conventional method and can fully satisfy the average torque constraint.

The proposed method differs from the conventional method in that the material distribution is determined according to the probability function in the first optimization step.