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The public's trust in the authorities has a great impact on people's perception and cognition on development of different types of urban transport infrastructure projects (UTIPs). Given the importance of public acceptance for the efficient construction and operation of UTIPs, this study aims at investigating the personal and environmental factors that influence public acceptance behavior from the perspective of stakeholder management.

Based on social cognitive theory (SCT), this study explores the multiple dimensions of social trust on public acceptance in the development of UTIPs by a comparative case study. Two types of UTIPs, a metro railway and a bridge in the Wuhan City, China, were selected as cases, with a questionnaire distributed among the public to collect their sense of trust towards the development of these projects. The data were analyzed through structural equation modeling (SEM).

This study reveals that social trust positively influences public acceptance, directly or indirectly through perceived benefit and -risks and self-efficacy. However, the emphasis on social trust about competence and integrity of the authorities varies with the types of projects. Self-efficacy worked as the “mirror of trust” reflecting people's attitude towards social trust in the authorities on their ability and morality.

The value of the paper lies in discussing social trust from multiple dimensions in the field of urban infrastructures, which provides new insights into specific mechanisms for shaping public acceptance in project management towards the development of UTIPs.

By extending the service robot acceptance model (sRAM), this study aims to explore and enhance the acceptance of chatbots. The study considered functional, relational, social, user and gratification elements in determining the acceptance of chatbots.

By using the purposive sampling technique, data of 321 service customers, gathered from millennials through a questionnaire and subsequent PLS-SEM modeling, was applied for hypotheses testing.

Findings revealed that the functional elements, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use affect acceptance of chatbots. However, in social elements, only perceived social interactivity affects the acceptance of chatbots. Moreover, both user and gratification elements (hedonic motivation and symbolic motivation) significantly influence the acceptance of chatbots. Lastly, trust is the only contributing factor for the acceptance of chatbots in the relational elements.

The study extends the literature related to chatbots and offers several guidelines to the service industry to effectively employ chatbots.

This is one of the first studies that used newly developed sRAM in determining chatbot acceptance. Moreover, the study extended the sRAM by adding user and gratification elements and privacy concerns as originally sRAM model was limited to functional, relational and social elements.

This study aims to employ the Model of Goal-Directed Behaviour (MGB) to examine the consumer acceptance of technology-based self-service (TBSS) for a credence service instrumental to a social goal. Credence services are increasingly delivered via self-service technology and in social marketing, the achievement of social goals can be contingent on consumer acceptance of these services. However, little is known about the determinants of acceptance and extant marketing literature fails to account for emotional and goal influences which are likely to be important.

The authors interviewed 30 young adults with self-reported stress, anxiety or depression as potential users of a self-help mental health service delivered via mobile phone. The data were analysed deductively and inductively with the assistance of NVivo.

The findings generally support using the MGB to enhance understanding of consumers' acceptance of TBSS. The paper also found evidence of the importance of maintenance self-efficacy, the self-evaluation of the ability to continue using the service, and a previously ignored element of consumer level competition that arises between alternatives that achieve the same goal.

This study is the first to examine factors that influence consumers' acceptance of TBSS for credence services aimed at achieving a social goal. It builds on understanding of consumer decision making in social marketing, particularly the influence of self-efficacy and competition. It also contributes to attitudinal research by providing initial evidence for deepening and broadening the MGB in the context of TBSSs.

The purpose of this paper is to present the conceptual model of an innovative methodology (SAT) to assess the social acceptance of technology, especially focusing on artificial intelligence (AI)-based technology.

After a review of the literature, this paper presents the main lines by which SAT stands out from current methods, namely, a four-bubble approach and a mix of qualitative and quantitative techniques that offer assessments that look at technology as a socio-technical system. Each bubble determines the social variability of a cluster of values: User-Experience Acceptance, Social Disruptiveness, Value Impact and Trust.

The methodology is still in development, requiring further developments, specifications and validation. Accordingly, the findings of this paper refer to the realm of the research discussion, that is, highlighting the importance of preventively assessing and forecasting the acceptance of technology and building the best design strategies to boost sustainable and ethical technology adoption.

Once SAT method will be validated, it could constitute a useful tool, with societal implications, for helping users, markets and institutions to appraise and determine the co-implications of technology and socio-cultural contexts.

New AI applications flood today’s users and markets, often without a clear understanding of risks and impacts. In the European context, regulations (EU AI Act) and rules (EU Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy) try to fill this normative gap. The SAT method seeks to integrate the risk-based assessment of AI with an assessment of the perceptive-psychological and socio-behavioural aspects of its social acceptability.

The purpose of this paper is to explore what drives customer acceptance of frontline service robots (FSR), as a result of their interaction experiences with FSR in the context of retail banking services.

Applications of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology and service robot acceptance model frame the exploration of customers’ interaction experiences with physical FSR to explain acceptance. A thematic analysis of information obtained through observations, focus groups and participant interviews was applied to identify themes.

This study identifies 16 dimensions that group into five main themes that influence customer acceptance of FSR in retail banking services: (1) utilitarian aspect, (2) social interaction, (3) customer responses toward FSR, (4) customer perspectives of the company brand and (5) individual and task heterogeneity. Themes 1 and 2 are labeled confirmed themes based on existing theoretical frameworks used; themes 3–5 are additional themes.

This study provides actionable suggestions to allow managers to reflect on their strategy and consider ways to design and improve the delivery of services that involve FSR.

This study adds to our limited knowledge of how human-robot interaction research in robotics translates to a relatively new research area in frontline services and provides a step toward a comprehensive FSR acceptance model.

This study aims to investigate the effect of social influence and value-driven mobile marketing activities on consumers’ acceptance of mobile marketing offers.

The method used is survey questionnaire. A proposed model was tested by using structural model analysis and data gathered from 356 Mexico consumers and 346 US consumers.

The study shows the number of peers and providing information are the main predictor variables of consumer acceptance of mobile marketing offers in both countries. These results suggest that social value factors are important variables for explaining consumers’ responses to mobile marketing offers across two countries characterized by dissimilar macro-environmental conditions.

The study’s overall implication about standardization vs adaptation is that social value messages can be standardized across countries. However, the marketing tools and touch points required to communicate any message appeal must be adapted across countries. One limitation in this study is the use of a convenience sample of undergraduate college students. This study did not control for different types of mobile phones and the screen sizes of mobile phones.

The overall implication of standardization vs adaptation from the study results is that social value messages can be standardized across countries. However, the marketing tools and touch points required to communicate any message appeal must be adapted across countries.

Unlike previous studies where the emphasis is to explicate the effect of value-oriented mobile activity, this study examines the combined effect of social influence and value-driven mobile activities on acceptance of mobile marketing.

The purpose of this paper is to gain a better understanding of the “fashion process” by exploring and comparing fashion‐process networks and friendship networks in small groups of adolescents, and to explore the factors involved in the causation of “clothing leadership” and “popularity” in such groups.

Fashion‐process networks and friendship networks are investigated by sociometric nomination with respect to “clothing acceptance” and “social acceptance” in three age groups of Korean adolescents. The patterns and structures of the networks are analyzed using UCINET 6.0 and Netminer 2.6. Certain factors contributing to “clothing leadership” and “popularity” are measured using Likert‐type scales; these include “clothing interest,” “fashion interest,” and “perceived clothing acceptance.” Other factors of interest (such as “academic grade,” “facial attractiveness,” and “bodily attractiveness”) are rated by peer informants.

Fashion‐process networks are found to be more centralized and polarized than friendship networks. Clothing acceptance is related to peer acceptance and is found to occur within and across friendship links. Clothing leaders are not necessarily the most popular subjects. The most significant factor determining “clothing leadership” is found to be “facial attractiveness.”

Social network analysis is exploratory in nature and the results cannot be statistically verified. However, a better understanding of the characteristics of fashion‐process networks in small groups assists in bridging the gap between individual adoption of fashion at the micro‐level and fashion diffusion in society at the macro‐level.

By illuminating the dynamics of the fashion process in small groups, the study is of assistance in developing marketing strategies that target adolescents.

The study is original in that fashion process in small groups of Korean adolescents is investigated by social network analysis of “clothing acceptance,” and then compared to friendship networks.

The purpose of this paper is to conduct a systematic review of studies that have used the technology acceptance model (TAM) in the context of social network sites (SNS). It describes various studies undertaken to examine user behaviours and attitudes towards SNS.

This paper comprehensively reviews the selected literature associated with applications of TAM in the SNS context. Different studies conducted within the SNS context were evaluated for understanding the changes incorporated into the model.

The findings illustrated that the TAM has been successfully applied via its extension and modification for explaining user adoption and acceptance of SNS.

The study contributes to the theoretical novelty of the body of the existing literature in the domains of TAM and SNS. The study also provides insight on future research directions by helping in identifying gaps in literature in this field.

This paper aims to propose and test a modified technology acceptance model for the social media networks (SMNs) in the luxury hotel context, integrating satisfaction and continued usage intention, using a mixed-method approach. SMNs have revolutionized the way people communicate, search for information and share experiences. The technology acceptance model is the predominant theory for researching technology acceptance; however, there is a gap in identifying and testing context-specific constructs.

This paper uses a mixed-method approach. The researchers conducted 16 interviews and 258 questionnaires with luxury hotel guests. Following the collection of data, interviews and questionnaires were analyzed using thematic and partial least square analysis.

Findings show that accessibility, trust, social influence and perceived benefits influence perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness, which affect attitude and satisfaction and ultimately continued usage intentions. Findings also reveal that enjoyment, although qualitatively proposed, does not influence luxury hotel guests’ SMNs continued usage intention.

This study suggests that hotel managers have to concentrate their marketing efforts in enhancing SMN’s interaction and increasing the number of positive reviews to retain current customers and acquire new ones. Hotels should also develop effective mobile strategies by adopting mobile social network webs and applications, as accessibility becomes more important in today’s marketplace.

Former scholars adopted the approach of proposing external dimensions based on previous research and, thus, did not integrate up-to-date and context-specific variables. Therefore, the present paper uses a new approach by exploring SMN-specific dimensions and testing them in the luxury hotel context.

During the COVID-19 crisis, diversified attitudes and behaviors of structural equation modeling (SME) retailers were observed in using social media marketing that could have helped mitigate the adverse effects of this crisis on businesses. This paper aims to present a thorough investigation of these perceptions and limited acceptance of social media marketing among SME retailers in a developing country during a crisis.

The investigation was designed using a mixed-method design. A qualitative investigation, as the first part, explored SME retailers’ perceptions of the use of social media marketing when they were faced with mandatory lockdown that stifled their business activity. The insights from qualitative study and literature helped devise the second part of the study, a quantitative study using the technology acceptance model (TAM). Analysis of responses from a sample of SME retailers (n = 149) was done using SEM in this study.

In the qualitative study, SME retailers were found to have a varying outlook toward social media marketing. Some ventured into social media marketing while others were impeded by their limited understanding. The second (quantitative) study showed the general applicability of TAM such that perceived ease of use through perceived usefulness influenced SME retailers’ attitudes toward the usage of social media marketing during the COVID-19 crisis. An important finding in both studies was that business owners’ education level influenced their perceptions of social media marketing.

The investigation, albeit a comprehensive one, was conducted in a particular market and for SME retailers. This opens avenues for conducting similar studies in other segments of entrepreneurs to generate insights based on comparative analysis across segments and scenarios.

Limited or no marketing in the physical marketplace amid lockdown meant almost an existential crisis for entrepreneurs, especially SME retailers, in developing countries during the COVID-19 crisis. While technology acceptance by SME retailers has been discussed in the literature, there are limited discourses on technology acceptance among entrepreneurs and SME retailers during a crisis. These findings from the COVID-19 crisis explicate the possibilities and limitations of technology usage as a means to mitigate challenges faced by entrepreneurs during a crisis.