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Over the past decades, many health authorities and public policy experts have traditionally relied on indicators that are dependent on a nation's economy, its health-care infrastructure advancements, and superiority in biomedical sciences and technology to predict potential infection rates should a health pandemic occur. One such commonly relied-upon indicator was that of the Global Health Security (GHS) Index. However, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has shown how such variables prove to be inaccurate in predicting the infection rates during a global health pandemic. Hence, this paper proposes the utilization of socio-cultural behavioral traits to predict a country's COVID-19 infection rates.

This is achieved by proposing a model involving the classification and regression tree (CART) algorithm and a Poisson regression against the six selected cultural behavioral predictors consisting of individualism, power distance, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation, and indulgence.

The results show that all the selected cultural behavioral predictors are significant in impacting COVID-19 infection rates. Furthermore, the model outperforms the conventional GHS Index model based on a means squared error comparison.

The authors hope that this study would continue promoting the use of cultures and behaviors in modeling the spread of health diseases.

The authors hope that their works could prove beneficial to public office holders, as well as health experts working in health facilities, in better predicting potential outcomes during a health pandemic, thus allowing them to plan and allocate resources efficiently.

The results are a testament to the fact that sociocultural behavioral traits are more reliant predictors in modeling cross-national infection rates of global health pandemics, like that of COVID-19, as compared to economic-centric indicators.

TikTok social media app has become one of the most popular forms of leisure and entertainment activities, but how hedonic consumption experiences (comprising fantasy, escapism, enjoyment, role projection, sensory, arousal and emotional involvement) of the TikTok app determine users' intention to use the app and its resulting impact on the actual usage behavior remains limited in the information systems literature, especially featuring the hedonic consumption perspective in entertainment industry.

This study employs uses & gratification theory to answer the “why” via predicting the role of hedonic consumption experiences that serve as gratifications to trigger technology acceptance behavior (especially, in form of users' behavioral intention to use the TikTok app and its further impact on usage behavior). This study utilizes the partial least squares-structural equation modeling approach to perform data analyses on 258 TikTok app users.

Our results provide a strong support such that users' playful consumption experiences (i.e. escapism, role projection, arousal, sensory experience and enjoyment) positively influence their intention to use the TikTok app and its resultant effect on users' actual usage of the app. In contrast, fantasy and emotional involvement fail to influence users' intention to use the TikTok app.

To the best of our knowledge, our investigation is one of the first studies to apply the hedonic consumption experiences as potential gratifications that derive users' intention and its subsequent influence on the actual usage of the TikTok app. Our study results would assist marketing and brand managers to redefine approaches and tactics to create effective strategies that implement essential determinants to increase behavioral intention among entertainment service providers.

Mountaineering and related activities are increasingly becoming popular and are accompanied by an increase in medical incidents. Emergency operations in mountainous terrain are time-critical and often pose major logistical challenges for rescuers. Drones are expected to improve the operational performance of mountain rescuers. However, they are not yet widely used in mountain rescue missions. This paper examines the determinants that drive the behavioral intention of mountain rescuers to adopt drones in rescue missions.

This is a behavioral study that builds upon an extended model of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) and investigates the relationship between individual attitudes, perceptions, and intentions for drone adoption. Original survey data of 146 mountain rescuers were analyzed using moderated ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis.

Results indicate that the behavioral intention to use drones in mountain rescue missions is driven by the expected performance gains and facilitating conditions. Favorable supporting conditions and experience with drones further moderate the relationship between performance expectancy and behavioral intention. The effects for effort expectancy, social influence, and demonstrations were not significant.

Rescue organizations and stakeholders are recommended to consider the identified determinants in the implementation of drones in emergency logistics. Drone manufacturers targeting mountain rescue organizations are advised to focus on operational performance, provide sufficient support and training, and promote the gathering of practical experience.

A tailored-model that provides first empirical results on the relevance of personal and environmental factors for the acceptance of drones in emergency logistics is presented.

This study investigated how behavioral and emotional forms of engagement are associated with faculty support and student-faculty interactions among engineering students.

Quantitative research methods were used to analyze survey data from 781 undergraduates in seven large undergraduate engineering courses. Linear hierarchical regression models were used to evaluate the relationships between demographics (gender, race/ethnicity, family education, US status and transfer status) and student engagement and between faculty behaviors and engagement.

Faculty support was consistently, significantly and positively linked to all forms of student engagement, while student-faculty interactions were significantly and positively linked to effort and positive emotional engagement and negatively linked to attention and (an absence of) negative emotional engagement. Gender, race/ethnicity, international student status and transfer status significantly predicted at least one form of engagement.

Although this was a single institution study and cross-sectional, the findings suggest that faculty support and student-faculty interactions, while important for engagement, have different effects on different types of students. Faculty and teacher professional development efforts should raise awareness of these differences in order to enhance diversity and inclusion in engineering courses and curricula at all levels.

The analysis of behavioral and emotional forms of engagement represents more of a motivational lens on engagement in contrast to the traditional focus on time-on-task or time spent in fruitful educational practices, as is the norm with much of the engagement literature in higher education.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the preferences of potential Japanese cruise ship tourists and identify the factors influencing their participation in cruise ship tourism. In the analysis, preference for cruise ports in East Asia is also examined.

The behavioral model of potential cruiser is developed through a mixed ordered logit approach. The data are collected by means of the stated preference method with the application of a Web-based questionnaire. Multiple answers are collected from each respondent. Hence, panel effects between answers are considered so as to obtain a robust model.

The results show that Nagasaki and Hong Kong ports are preferred, and other domestic ports, namely, Kobe, Kagoshima, and Naha are also relatively popular places to visit. However, potential Japanese cruisers are reluctant to visit two South Korean destinations which are frequently selected as cruise lines by avoiding Cabotage rule. Besides, shorter cruise duration and lower prices increase the possibility of participation in cruise tourism, particularly for working people. Retirees tend to have less interest in cruise tourism. However, Japanese-related services will increase retirees’ intentions to participate in cruise tourism.

This study attempts to analyze potential cruisers’ behavior toward cruise ship tourism in Japan and discusses how to increase the number of cruisers participating in cruise ship tourism. In this vein, repeat behavior should also be analyzed. Repeat behavior contributes to the maintenance and increase in cruisers in Japan.

There is no study on potential cruiser’s behavior analysis in Japan which is the emerging country as cruise market. Thus, the number of potential cruisers is expected to be high. This study reveals that potential cruisers’ preferences on cruise ship services (e.g. duration, price, on board services, etc.), which are separately analysed for working ages and retirees. Besides, preferences on port of calls in East Asian context are revealed. These results are useful for cruise ship industries, especially for cruise lines.

German (corporate-) real estate management departments have been facing the challenge of poor data quality for years. This holds them back from generating efficiency potentials via the use of new methods from the field of digitalisation and from coping with the increasing requirements from the ESG context. The purpose of this paper is to explore why German (corporate-) real estate managements (do not) share data with their real estate service providers to address the data quality challenge and identify possible solutions.

To answer the research question, the reasoned action approach, an established theory from psychology for predicting human behaviour, is used. The relationships between the constructs are determined using linear regression. The study participants are almost exclusively from Germany.

The organisational milieu (perceived behavioural control) has a significant impact on the behaviour of sharing data with real estate service providers. Especially the change of contractual arrangements (data-driven contracts) seems to be crucial for the improvement of information logistics.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, for the first time, the reasoned action approach is used within the German real estate industry to predict organisational behaviour in the context of digitalisation.

The primary purpose of this study is to integrate the stimulus-organism-behavior-accomplishment (S-O-B-A) paradigm to investigate the chain effect of university students' perceived university and family support on their entrepreneurial action (EA) with a serial mediation of their attitude and intention.

This study introduces stratified random sample to choose respondents and a cross-sectional research design. partial least square-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) has applied to thoroughly investigate the behavioral intention concerned with students' entrepreneurship action.

The findings explored that perceived university support and family supports positively impact students' entrepreneurship attitude, where perceived family support creates statistically more powerful implications than university support. Students' attitude toward entrepreneurship positively affects their entrepreneurial intent, and finally, the entrepreneurial pursuit has an affirmative impact on students' EA.

This study incorporates the S-O-B-A paradigm for the very first time to investigate the effects of students' environmental support on their EA with double mediation by their attitude and intention.

Technological advancements in games increased the popularity of online gaming. The rapid expansion of the eSports market may largely be attributed to the ever-increasing popularity amongst Generation Y amateur gamers. The primary objective of this study is to determine the factors influencing Generation Y amateur gamers' ongoing eSports gameplay intentions.

This study used the extended unified theory of acceptance as the theoretical framework. Data analysis included exploratory principal component analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis.

The results of the confirmatory factor analysis suggest that Generation Y amateur gamers' ongoing eSports gameplay intentions is an eight-factor model that is reliable, valid and has acceptable model fit. The results of the path analysis indicate that habit, price-value, flow, effort expectancy and facilitating conditions have a statistically significant positive influence on amateur gamers' ongoing eSports gameplay intentions, whilst social influence and hedonic motivation have a negative but non-significant influence on those intentions.

The sample was formed using only amateur eSports gamers. In this regard, the opportunity exists to research professional eSports gamers. This study only focussed on Generation Y members between 18 and 36 years old. As a result, there is an opportunity for researchers to research the different generations of South African eSports gamers to determine whether there are any differences or similarities between generational segments.

The results of this study clearly indicate that flow, together with habit are salient contributors to ongoing gameplay intentions amongst amateur eSports gamers in South Africa. A reasonable assumption that can be made here is that flow is also instrumental in encouraging habitual gaming, which increases the importance of flow in overall ongoing gameplay intentions. This suggests that R&D expenditure should be directed at enhancing user engagement by building increased levels of flow into eSports games.

eSports game developers can also achieve a desired state of flow by creating daily challenges that reward players when the players achieve specific objectives, which will encourage gamers to enter a state of flow when provided with challenges to complete. However, these in-game challenges should have a variety of levels regarding difficulty, ranging from beginner, intermediate and advanced levels so as not to exceed the effort expectancy of different groups of players. Game developers should provide regularly updated challenges to gamers to ensure that eSports games remain enjoyable and does not become predictable.

Given the nascence of research on eSports behaviour, the results of this study provide a novel addition to the knowledge pool, particularly in terms of amateur eSports behavioural intentions. Interestingly, hedonic motivation and social influence were non-significant negative predictors of Generation Y amateur gamers' ongoing eSports gameplay intentions. The recommendations provide various marketing strategies and opportunities for eSports business expansion.

Vendors’ social cues – physical or behavioural hints – have an impact on the professional buyer. However, little is known about that impact. The purpose of this paper is to place knowledge about the impact of social cues that other disciplines acquired in the context of business-to-business (B2B) marketing to contribute constructively to the research agenda.

By integrating findings on the processing of social cues and the behavioural response from the disciplines of neuroscience, biology and psychology (specifically the behavioural inhibition system [BIS]/behavioural activation system [BAS]-theory), this paper aims to provide an interdisciplinary perspective on the automatic evaluation of vendors by professional buyers.

Social cues are likely to be of substantial value in the (first) encounter between buyer and seller. Positively evaluated social cues create an approach-motivated behavioural intention, whereas negatively evaluated ones create avoidance. This process is probably predominantly mediated by trust and moderated by personality and contextual factors.

This paper stimulates research about the impact of social cues in a B2B context. While such knowledge would add practical value, this paper also explores possibilities for managers to use neuroscientific techniques to assess and train sales agents.

The impact of social cues is hardly covered in the B2B marketing literature, but they have an important impact on B2B decision-making. The conceptual framework combines the BIS/BAS theory (approach/avoidance) with the SOR-model (stimulus-organism-response), which is unique to the B2B marketing field.