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1 – 10 of 83Bidit Lal Dey, John M.T. Balmer, Ameet Pandit and Mike Saren
The purpose of this paper is to examine how young British South Asian adults’ dual cultural identity is exhibited and reaffirmed through the appropriation of selfies.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how young British South Asian adults’ dual cultural identity is exhibited and reaffirmed through the appropriation of selfies.
Design/methodology/approach
The research adopts a qualitative perspective and utilises a combination of in-depth interviews and netnographic data.
Findings
The appropriation of the selfie phenomenon by young British South Asian adults reifies, endorses and reinforces their dual cultural identity. As such, their dual cultural identity is influenced by four factors: consonance between host and ancestral cultures, situational constraints, contextual requirements and convenience.
Research limitations/implications
In terms of the selfie phenomenon, the study makes two major contributions: first, it analyses young British South Asian adults’ cultural dualism. Second, it explicates how their acculturation and their dual cultural identity are expressed through the appropriation of the selfie phenomenon.
Practical implications
Since young British South Asians represent a significant, and distinct, market, organisations serving this market can marshal insights from this research. As such, managers who apprise themselves of the selfie phenomenon of this group are better placed to meet their consumer needs. Account, therefore, should be taken of their twofold cultural identity and dual British/Asian identification. In particular, consideration should be given to their distinct and demonstrable traits apropos religiosity and social, communal, and familial bonding. The characteristics were clearly evident via their interactions within social media. Consequently, senior marketing managers can utilise the aforementioned in positioning their organisations, their brands and their products and services.
Originality/value
The study details a new quadripartite framework for analysing young British South Asian adults’ acculturation that leads to the formation of their dual cultural identity and presents a dynamic model that explicates how cultural identity is expressed through the use and appropriation of technology.
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Hamed Haddouche and Christine Salomone
The purpose of this paper is to understand Gen Zers’ tourism experiences and more specifically, through their tourist practices and their use of social networks. It also explores…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand Gen Zers’ tourism experiences and more specifically, through their tourist practices and their use of social networks. It also explores how Gen Zers apprehends the concept of sustainable tourism.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used a qualitative research approach. The study protocol was conducted in two phases. First, the authors did six semi-directive interviews of young people born between 1995 and 2002. For the second stage of the research, the authors chose the narrative research technique by asking 34 students born between 1995 and 1997 to write a micro story from their travel experience.
Findings
Although it is often presented as a narcissistic generation, seeking to put forward their “selves”, for example by posting selfies, this study reveals that Generation Z seems to show a great modesty during their tourist experiences. The results also show that sustainable tourism is not a key concept for the young people interviewed.
Research limitations/implications
Thus, it would be useful to carry out more interviews and to extend the fields of analysis. While certain rules have been respected in the selection of young respondents, the sample does not necessarily reflect all the dimensions characterizing this complex young generation.
Social implications
We know that Generation Y has been exposed to social networks, often without a filter. The results show that Generation Z is much more suspicious and vigilant with regard to social networks and their use.
Originality/value
This research used an innovative method. It shows how multidimensional this generation is and opens up many ways of research.
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Outi Sarpila, Iida Kukkonen, Tero Pajunen and Erica Åberg
Camilla Hällgren and Åsa Björk
This conceptual paper takes identity, digital technology, young people and education as a combined starting point and suggests how to research young people’s identity practices in…
Abstract
Purpose
This conceptual paper takes identity, digital technology, young people and education as a combined starting point and suggests how to research young people’s identity practices in and out of school. Today’s young people form their identities in a world that is increasingly imbued by digital technologies. What is evident too is that these technologies and the use of them are not restricted to one single context. Rather, digital technologies mediate multiple contexts simultaneously – to an extent where they collapse. This means that school and leisure time, public and private, digital and analog, virtual and material, time and place, social contexts and audiences, through digital technology, merge in various ways in young people’s identity practices and everyday life.
Design/methodology/approach
Little is known about what identity practices in collapsing contexts means to young people in their lives and how educators and others can support them. Most studies to date investigate digital technology use as a discrete phenomenon and few studies concern young people’s identity practices in contexts, as they occur. In an increasingly digital world, where dependency on digital technologies continues this forms an urgent knowledge gap to bridge. In particular to guide educators, and others, who support young people as they live and learn through interconnected spaces in and out of school. The conceptual approach of this paper is of importance to better understand how to bridge this gap.
Findings
This paper suggests a research approach that extends previous research at the intersection of identity, young people, digital technology by outlining extended ways for thinking about identity in a digital world that can be useful for investigating identity as an existential practice, extending beyond identity representations, in conditions mediated by contemporary digital technologies and in collapsing contexts. What is also included are methodological considerations about researching young people, identity and technology as dynamic research objects, rendering a holistic approach.
Research limitations/implications
It is a conceptual paper that addresses identity, digital technology, young people and education as a combined starting point to outline further research.
Originality/value
The Guided Tour Technique and Social Media Research is suggested as possible methodologies for holistic and ethically sensitive, empirical research on identity, digital technology, young people and education.
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This study investigates human behavior, specifically attitude and anxiety, toward humanoid service robots in a hotel business environment.
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates human behavior, specifically attitude and anxiety, toward humanoid service robots in a hotel business environment.
Design/methodology/approach
The researcher adopted direct observations and interviews to complete the study. Visitors of Henn-na Hotel were observed and their spatial distance from the robots, along with verbal and non-verbal behavior, was recorded. The researcher then invited the observed hotel guests to participate in a short interview.
Findings
Most visitors showed a positive attitude towards the robot. More than half of the visitors offered compliments when they first saw the robot receptionists although they hesitated and maintained a distance from them. Hotel guests were also disappointed with the low human–robot interaction (HRI). As the role of robots in hotels currently remains at the presentation level, a comprehensive assessment of their interactive ability is lacking.
Research limitations/implications
This study contributes to the HRI theory by confirming that people may treat robots as human strangers when they first see them. When a robot's face is more realistic, people expect it to behave like an actual human being. However, as the sample size of this study was small and all visitors were Asian, the researcher cannot generalize the results to the wider population.
Practical implications
Current robot receptionist has limited interaction ability. Hotel practitioners could learn about hotel guests' behavior and expectation towards android robots to enhance satisfaction and reduce disappointment.
Originality/value
Prior robot research has used questionnaires to investigate perceptions and usage intention, but this study collected on-site data and directly observed people's attitude toward robot staff in an actual business environment.
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