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Virtual tourism has become popular in recent years. However, there is still a research gap on virtual tourist motivation. This study aims to identify virtual tourist motivation and explore the relationship between virtual tourism and on-site tourism.

This research identifies virtual tourist motivation based on Means-end chain (MEC) theory. Laddering interviews with 32 respondents were conducted to construct a hierarchical value map. Additionally, a motivation analysis of virtual tourism and on-site tourism was developed based on a review of the relevant literature.

This exploratory study revealed 12 attributes, 9 results and 4 values that virtual tourists wish to achieve and identified 5 means-end chains where self-satisfaction is the most important value-led motivation. Compared with on-site tourism motivations, virtual tourism shows possibilities of replacing, complementing and extending on-site tourism under certain circumstances. However, it significantly depends on whether tourists are attracted by the technical characteristics, security and experience conditions of virtual tourism.

This study contributes to understanding virtual tourist motivation and offers motivation-based insights into the relationship between virtual and on-site tourism. Managerial implications on how to attract potential online tourists are also provided.

虚拟旅游在近些年逐渐受到欢迎。然而, 关于虚拟旅游动机的研究仍存在不足。本研究旨在识别虚拟旅游动机, 并探讨虚拟旅游与现实旅游之间的关系。

本研究基于方法-目的链（MEC）理论识别虚拟游客动机。通过对32名受访者进行阶梯式访谈, 以构建一个价值阶层图。此外, 本研究在回顾相关文献基础上, 对虚拟旅游和现实旅游的动机进行差异化比较分析。

这项探索性研究揭示了虚拟旅游游客希望实现的12个属性、9个结果和4个价值, 并确定了5条MEC, 其中自我满足是最重要的价值导向动机。通过与现实旅游动机比较, 研究发现虚拟旅游在一定条件下具有替代、补充和延伸现实旅游的可能性。然而, 这在很大程度上取决于游客是否被虚拟旅游的技术特点、安全性和体验等条件所吸引。

研究结果有助于进一步理解虚拟旅游动机, 并为虚拟旅游和现实旅游之间的关系提供基于动机的见解。重要的是, 研究还为如何吸引潜在虚拟游客提供管理启示。

El turismo virtual se ha popularizado en los últimos años. Sin embargo, aún existe un vacío en la investigación sobre la motivación del turista virtual. El estudio pretende identificar la motivación del turista virtual y explorar la relación entre el turismo virtual y el turismo in situ (real).

Esta investigación identifica la motivación del turista virtual basándose en la teoría de la cadena medio-fin (MEC). Se realizaron entrevistas escalonadas a 32 encuestados para construir un mapa jerárquico de valores. Además, se elaboró un análisis de la motivación del turismo virtual y del turismo presencial basado en una revisión de la bibliografía pertinente.

El estudio exploratorio reveló 12 atributos, 9 resultados y 4 valores que los turistas virtuales desean alcanzar e identificó 5 MEC en los que la autosatisfacción es la motivación basada en valores más importante. En comparación con las motivaciones del turismo in situ (real), el turismo virtual muestra posibilidades de sustituir, complementar y ampliar el turismo in situ (real) en determinadas circunstancias. Sin embargo, depende en gran medida de si los turistas se sienten atraídos por las características técnicas, la seguridad y las condiciones de experiencia del turismo virtual.

Este estudio contribuye a comprender la motivación del turista virtual y ofrece perspectivas basadas en la motivación sobre la relación entre el turismo virtual y el turismo in situ (real). También se ofrecen implicaciones para la gestión sobre cómo atraer a los turistas potenciales en línea.

This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of a digital medical library, including department-based electronic journal access, library training course participation and scholarly publications.

The data on full-text electronic journal access, participants of library training courses and scholarly publications were exported from a digital medical library database during 2017–2021. In addition, electronic journal access and library training courses were divided into high-level and low-level groups, while scholarly publications were divided into physician and non-physician groups.

The scholarly publications had a positive correlation to library training courses and electronic journal access. Furthermore, scholarly publications showed a significant difference between the high-level and low-level electronic journal access groups but not between the high-level and low-level library training course groups. Scholarly publications and electronic journal access had positive correlations for both the physician and non-physician groups. Scholarly publications and library training courses, and electronic journal access and library training courses had positive correlations only in the non-physician group.

The importance of electronic journal access for scholarly publications is suggested based on the findings of the present study. The training courses held by the medical library had a positive effect on scholarly publications for the non-physician group.

The current study provides insights relevant to the electronic journal access of library-supported scholarly publications among medical departments. These results can serve as a reference for medical library development planning and decision-making in the future.

Both governments and the food industry are interested in plant-based products. New products are advertised as climate-friendly, with plant-based materials increasingly replacing animal-based content. In Finland, oat milk dominates the plant-based milk market. The authors studied what features young and urban users of plant-based and cow's milk value in oat milk for coffee and how the preferences of the users relate to ethical food-choice motives.

In total, 308 students filled in an e-questionnaire. The survey used best-worst scaling (BWS), a discrete choice approach, to measure the perceived values related to oat milk characteristics. The ethical motives were measured by a version of the Lindeman and Väänänen scale. Also the respondents' diets were asked. Preference clusters were identified and viewed with the ethical food-choice motives and diets.

The respondent group that exclusively used cow's milk attached more value to taste, added nutritional elements, discounts and recommendations by friends. The rest of the respondents attached more value to origin and sustainability-related features of oat milk. In the six-cluster solution, one extreme cluster was valuing taste and the other was valuing sustainability-related issues. All the ethical food-choice motives: ecological welfare, political values and religion were (roughly) the higher the cluster valued sustainability-related items. The respondents eating meat were more likely to belong to the clusters valuing taste than non-meat eaters that belong more likely to clusters valuing sustainability-related features.

Very few earlier studies have explored the heterogeneity of valuations of plant-based products and the products' relationship with ethical food-choice motives.

The purpose of this study is to understand the current trends and development of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting in emerging and developing economies and analyze 106 Chinese central enterprises (CEs) that disclose CSR reports from 2004 to 2015.

This study analyzes all the CSR reports available to the public from CEs between 2004 and 2015 in China. This paper carefully examines the reporting patterns and standards in those CSR reports. CEs in China are focused on because state-owned companies account for a large proportion of the Chinese stock market because of their social and economic institutional characteristics.

The results in this paper confirm a growth trend in the numbers of CSR reports, as predicted. The results also suggest that the number of CSR reports from the CEs containing some assurance has dramatically increased. However, the findings indicate that the current content of the CSR reports may not fully meet the needs of users of information from different industries, regions and interests, as more than 20 CEs have formulated their own CSR framework. The lack of unified, sustainable reporting and assurance may reduce the comparability and effectiveness of CSR reporting.

This study provides evidence of the trends and development of CSR reporting in China.

The findings extend the understanding of CSR reporting by analyzing Chinese CE data. The results also provide decision-useful information for the government and other policymakers when considering CSR reporting and assurance standards.

This study aims to evaluate the impact of board characteristics on bank performance at the commercial bank in Vietnam.

By running the pool OLS, fixed-effect and random-effect models with a panel data set of 294 observations from 2008 to 2021, the authors have examined determinants of bank performance.

The research results show that bank size, governance efficiency, capital adequacy ratio and economic growth have a positive effect while credit risk has a negative relationship with the commercial bank’s performance.

In particular, the result shows the relationship between chief executive officers’ (CEOs) gender and bank performance. Commercial banks led by female CEOs have lower bank performance than that led by male CEOs. However, this impact magnitude is not significant. The research results are the basis to propose recommendations to improve the Vietnamese commercial bank’s performance.

More people share their tourism experiences on social media today than in the past, and as a result, more people follow these posts in their trip planning. However, studies into tourists' intention to follow such posts are scarce. Therefore, this study investigates the antecedents influencing social media users' intentions to follow tourism-related posts (TRPs) when planning their trips.

Questionnaires were collected from 402 social media users who had followed TRPs for their trip planning. Data were then analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and artificial neural networks.

The authors found that blogger–user fit and users' involvement with TRPs influenced behavior components (attitudes toward TRPs and intention to follow TRPs) via assessment components (bloggers' credibility and content quality), and the authors developed a framework to explain this relationship.

The findings advance prior studies by investigating (1) the antecedents of intention to follow TRPs when trip planning, (2) the two main social media elements – bloggers and posts – to understanding the role of social media on travel behavior and (3) involvement with TRPs and their impacts on travel behavior. This study contributes to the research on social media and tourism marketing and proposes practical indications for bloggers, social media platforms and destination marketing organizations.

“Idol pilgrimage tour” is a popular trend among young Chinese fans who travel for idol-related purposes, engage in interactive events and have co-created experiences at destinations. With the growing market size of fan economy, fan tourists generate significant revenue for the local. However, many destinations have not fully utilised this opportunity, and there is a lack of research on this niche form of tourism. This research was undertaken to address this research gap.

This study adopted an idol worship–motivation–co-created experience–tour satisfaction–destination loyalty framework in the context of idol pilgrimage tours. In addition, this study investigated the direct influence of idol worship on the other four constructs. Data were collected from 354 Chinese fans who had such experience through online questionnaires. The partial least squares–structural equation modelling technique was used to examine the research model.

It was demonstrated that idol worship has a direct influence on motivation, co-created experience, satisfaction and loyalty and that there is a positive relationship between motivation, co-created experience, satisfaction and loyalty. The results advance the brand sacralisation literature by studying worship in a tourism context and contribute to interactive marketing literature by clarifying the interactive mechanism between relationships among the idol, fans and destinations. The study suggests some practical implications for destination management organisations attempting to target tourist fans.

This is the first study introducing the concept of the idol pilgrimage tour. Empirical results of this study reveal the underlying mechanism of how idols influence fans' travel-related psychology and behaviour.

Which venture capital is more beneficial in the product innovation of entrepreneurial ventures? The authors study the drawbacks and different effects of corporate venture capital (CVC) and independent venture capital (IVC) on the effectiveness and efficiency of product innovation in entrepreneurial ventures to answer this question.

This study uses a panel dataset of 502 high-tech ventures and runs the Heckman model to correct potential endogeneity issues.

The authors find that CVC increases the product innovation effectiveness of entrepreneurial ventures, but decreases their efficiency. IVC reduces innovation effectiveness and enhances efficiency. However, CVC performs less positively, while IVC performs more positively in terms of innovation effectiveness and efficiency in the B2B market than in the B2C market.

This study provides insights into how to leverage venture capital to develop new products effectively and efficiently.

This study moves beyond the current understanding of the finance-marketing interface. It delineates the two faces of venture capital and reveals the joint effects of equity stakes and market stakes between different types of venture capital and transaction markets in product innovation.

In an ever-interconnected world dominated by discourses on the internationalization and marketization of higher education, concerns related to language and employability have been the focus of recent debates. There is, however, a dearth of research investigating how these dimensions relate to one another in recent comparative and international higher education research. By focusing on how issues related to language and employability have been presented in recent higher education research worldwide, this chapter aims to contribute to our understanding of this concern. To achieve this goal, we conducted a scoping literature review using the Web of Science, Scopus, and the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) databases, considering the years 2011–2020. The findings, perhaps not surprisingly, suggested that language skills are perceived to be valued by both graduates and employers though the discussions predominantly focused on one language, English. The research focus on English for employability in Anglophone contexts is understandable. However, the fact that the trend is observed in contexts where the language is not the primary or official language seems to indicate the influence of internationalization of higher education and global labor markets primarily dominated by English. The literature also suggested that (English) language training in higher education programs needs to move from solely linguistic and qualification-related content areas to a broader sphere of English for communication purposes that cover both specialized disciplinary content and broader generic employability skills. Considering this finding, we suggest that higher education systems and institutions incorporate recent developments in English for occupational purposes in their curriculum. We also recommend that there needs to be a shift from the overwhelmingly English language-dominated discussions to more inclusive research that assesses the impact of other dominant languages on employability-related concerns.

The purpose of this study is to scrutinize the influence of individual learning styles on the effectiveness of augmented reality (AR)-based learning in structural engineering. There has been a lack of research examining the correlation between learning efficiency and learning style, particularly in the context of quantitatively assessing the efficacy of AR in structural engineering education.

Using Kolb’s experiential learning theory (ELT), a model that emphasizes learning through experience, students from the construction management department are assigned four learning styles (converging, assimilating, diverging and accommodating). Performance data were gathered, appraised, and compared through the three dimensions from the Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP) survey model across four categories of Kolb’s learning styles in both text-graph (TG)-based and AR-based learning settings.

The findings indicate that AR-based materials positively impact structural engineering education by enhancing overall learning performance more than TG-based materials. It is also found that the learning style has a profound influence on learning effectiveness, with AR technology markedly improving the information retrieval processes, particularly for converging and assimilating learners, then diverging learners, with a less significant impact on accommodating learners.

These results corroborate prior research analyzing learners' outcomes with hypermedia and informational learning systems. It was found that learners with an “abstract” approach (convergers and assimilators) outperform those with a “concrete” approach (divergers and accommodators). This research emphasizes the importance of considering learning styles before integrating technologies into civil engineering education, thereby assisting software developers and educational institutions in creating more effective teaching materials tailored to specific learning styles.