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The buyer-seller relationship in live streaming commerce is crucial especially in service failure situations, yet it has been underexplored. In this paper, we reconceptualized the relationship between consumers and sellers in live streaming commerce as "parasocial guanxi", which consists of ganqing (emotional attachment), xinren (trust) and reciprocal value. The effects of parasocial guanxi on consumer dissatisfaction and complaint intention in service failure situations were further investigated based on the expectation confirmation theory. Our study involved 425 valid questionnaires and employed the partial least squares structural equation method (PLS-SEM). The findings are mixed: on one side, parasocial guanxi acts as a buffer, mitigating dissatisfaction and complaint intention in the face of product or service problems and reducing the impact of disconfirmation on consumer dissatisfaction. On the other side, it may also increase the likelihood of dissatisfied consumers complaining. Furthermore, the buffering effect weakens as consumers make more frequent purchases. The findings have important theoretical and practical implications for understanding the buyer-seller relationship in live streaming commerce. • This paper reconceptualized the buyer-seller relationship in live streaming commerce as "parasocial guanxi". • The effects of parasocial guanxi in service failure situations were investigated. • Parasocial guanxi has a buffering effect in alleviating consumers' dissatisfaction and complaint intention. • Meanwhile, parasocial guanxi can increase the likelihood of dissatisfied consumers to complain. • The effects of parasocial guanxi vary across different demographic groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modeling reading comprehension processes is a critical task for Learning Analytics, as accurate models of the reading process can be used to match students to texts, identify appropriate interventions, and predict learning outcomes. This paper introduces an improved version of the Automated Model of Comprehension, namely version 4.0. AMoC has its roots in two theoretical models of the comprehension process (i.e., the Construction-Integration model and the Landscape model), and the new version leverages state-of-the-art Large Language models, more specifically ChatGPT, to have a better contextualization of the text and a simplified construction of the underlying graph model. Besides showcasing the usage of the model, the study introduces three in-depth psychological validations that argue for the model's adequacy in modeling reading comprehension. In these studies, we demonstrated that AMoC is in line with the theoretical background proposed by the Construction-Integration and Landscape models, and it is better at replicating results from previous human psychological experiments than its predecessor. Thus, AMoC v4.0 can be further used as an educational tool to, for example, help teachers design better learning materials personalized for student profiles. Additionally, we release the code from AMoC v4.0 as open source in a Google Collab Notebook and a GitHub repository. • Introduce the Automated Model of Comprehension version 4.0 that integrates state-of-the-art Large Language models - ChatGPT. • Perform 3 in-depth psychological validation studies to support the model's adequacy in modeling reading comprehension. • AMoC v4.0 aligns with theoretical frameworks, namely Construction-Integration and Landscape models. • The model outperforms its predecessor and replicates results from human psychological experiments. • AMoC v4.0 can serve as an educational tool for designing personalized learning materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Web personalization has been widely adopted in the mobile shopping context to improve shopping experience and consumer loyalty. Timing is a crucial issue of the implementation of web personalization, a topic not yet adequately investigated in the extant literature. Web personalization could classify into two forms, namely Before-search Web Personalization (BSWP) and After-search Web Personalization (ASWP), in the mobile shopping context. Besides, motivations are the critical factors in mobile shopping, and seldom research has studied the effects of motivation on consumer's use of web personalization in the mobile shopping context. To advance understanding of the timing issue of web personalization, this paper employs the Uses and Gratifications method to investigate how mobile shopping motivations influence consumers' use of BSWP and ASWP, respectively. Furthermore, this paper also investigates the role of an important personal disposition (i.e. need for cognition). Empirical results indicate that shopping motivations could have significant effects on web personalization use; furthermore, BSWP use and ASWP use are predicted by different shopping motivations. Besides, need for cognition is found to positively moderate some effects of mobile shopping motivations on web personalization use. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the folk theory of ELO Hell , which stems from the community of esports players. ELO Hell is a causal explanation for the failure to achieve which is prominent but controversial in esports. Within the community, the belief in the existence of ELO Hell associated with lower skill. We aim to explain the persistence of this folk theory despite the debate within the community using psychological theories. We find this folk theory relevant for investigation because the blame placed on other players could escalate to patterns of harmful behavior, known as toxicity. Given the association with lower-ranked players, we predict this could be an operationalization of the Dunning–Kruger effect, a tendency for lower-skilled performers to overestimate themselves, and its associated motivational biases. Surveying 267 players of the esports League of Legends and triangulating the quantitative, qualitative, and mined data collected, we find evidence of lower-skilled players overestimating their skills more so than higher-skilled players. Further, we find that motivational biases regarding causal attributions for failure and success did explain significant variance in the degree of overestimation. However, we also found some players withdraw their effort from competitive play and we use self-determination theory to categorize their reason for losing motivation. Taken together, we show the psychological mechanisms which lead to the formation of the folk theory of ELO Hell and the motivational biases that uphold the conflict about its existence. [Display omitted] • We investigate the prominent folk theory of ELO Hell within the esports community. • We show lower-skilled players tend to overestimate their skills. • We provide evidence for motivational biases leading to overestimation. • We analyze the given reasons why some players stop engaging in competitive play. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Big Data and Deep Learning algorithms combined with enormous computing power have paved ways for significant technological advancements. Technology is evolving to anticipate, understand and address our unmet needs. However, to fully meet human needs, machines or computers must deeply understand human behavior including emotions. Emotions are physiological states generated in humans as a reaction to internal or external events. They are complex and studied across numerous fields including computer science. As humans, on reading "Why don't you ever text me!" , we can either interpret it as a sad or an angry emotion and the same ambiguity exists for machines as well. Lack of facial expressions and voice modulations make detecting emotions in text a challenging problem. However, in today's online world, humans are increasingly communicating using text messaging applications and digital agents. Hence, it is imperative for machines to understand emotions in textual dialogue to provide emotionally aware responses to users. In this paper, we propose a novel Deep Learning based approach to detect emotions - Happy, Sad and Angry in textual dialogues. The essence of our approach lies in combining both semantic and sentiment based representations for more accurate emotion detection. We use semi-automated techniques to gather large scale training data with diverse ways of expressing emotions to train our model. Evaluation of our approach on real world dialogue datasets reveals that it significantly outperforms traditional Machine Learning baselines as well as other off-the-shelf Deep Learning models. Highlights • Emotion Detection in text finds several practical applications such as modulation of responses for real-world chat-bot. • Combining Sentiment and Semantic information in a text improves emotion detection system. • Our approach learns diverse ways of expressing emotions and significantly outperforms methods described in literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) involves three key behaviors: the non-consensual taking or creation of nude or sexual images; the non-consensual sharing or distribution of nude or sexual images; and threats made to distribute nude or sexual images. IBSA is becoming increasingly criminalized internationally, representing an important and rapidly developing cybercrime issue. This paper presents findings of the first national online survey of self-reported lifetime IBSA perpetration in Australia (n = 4053), with a focus on the extent, nature, and predictors of perpetration. Overall, 11.1% (n = 411) of participants self-reported having engaged in some form of IBSA perpetration during their lifetime, with men significantly more likely to report IBSA perpetration than women. With regard to the nature of perpetration, participants reported targeting men and women at similar rates, and were more likely to report perpetrating against intimate partners or ex-partners, family members and friends than strangers or acquaintances. Logistic regression analyses identified that males, lesbian, gay or bisexual participants, participants with a self-reported disability, participants who accepted sexual image-based abuse myths, participants who engaged in or experienced sexual self-image behaviors, and participants who had a nude or sexual image of themselves taken, distributed, and/or threatened to be distributed without their consent were more likely to have engaged in some form of IBSA perpetration during their lifetime. Highlights • 1 in 10 (11.1%) of Australians aged 16–49 years surveyed, engaged in Image-Based Sexual Abuse (IBSA) perpetration. • Men were significantly more likely than women to report engaging in any IBSA perpetration. • Gender, sexuality and disability demographics were significantly related to IBSA perpetration. • Attitudes, sexual 'selfies', and IBSA victimization, were also significantly related to IBSA perpetration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Girls' uptake of physical science, technology, engineering and mathematics (PSTEM) degrees continues to be poor. Identifying and targeting interventions for girl groups that are likely to go into STEM degrees may be a possible solution. This paper, using a self-determination theory and self-socialisation framework, determines whether one girl group's, "geek girls", video gaming behaviour is associated with their choice of undergraduate degree by using two secondary datasets: a cross-sectional study of the Net Generation (n = 814) and the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE) dataset (n = 7342). Chi-square analysis shows that girls who were currently studying a PSTEM degree were more likely to be gamers and engage in multiplayer gamers. Further, using logistic regressions, girls who were heavy gamers (>9 h/wk) at 13–14 years were found to be more likely to pursue a PSTEM degree but this was influenced by their socio-economic status. Similar associations with boys and PSTEM degrees were not found or were weak. Therefore, girls were self-socialising or self-determining their identity groups through gaming. This research can provide the basis for whether encouraging gaming in adolescent girls can help them onto PSTEM pathways. Highlights • Girls who are heavy gamers are more likely to study a physical STEM degree. • Playing multiplayer games is associated with studying a physical STEM degree. • The studying of physical STEM degrees is dependent on level of social deprivation. • Girls are 58 times less likely to do a physical STEM degree than no degree at all. • Levels of participation in video gaming can change for girls over a year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Despite prevalent privacy and security threats on the cloud, users have put tremendous amounts of their personal information on cloud storage. This present study proposes a comprehensive research framework to investigate cloud storage users' willingness to put personal information on personal cloud-based storage applications. Our research framework is theoretically derived from the Communication Privacy Management Theory and Privacy-Trust-Behavioral Intention Model. To empirically test our research framework, we conducted an online survey of 786 active cloud storage users both in Indonesia and Taiwan. The findings suggest that cloud storage users' willingness to put personal information is highly influenced by trust, perceived costs, perceived benefits, and also the degree of sensitivity of the personal information. Some findings with regard to cultural differences between the two countries are also showed out. The key findings, implications, and limitations are discussed in this paper. Highlights • Trust influences cloud storage users' willingness to put personal information. • Perceived cost is more apparent when users put more sensitive personal information. • Perceived benefit is more apparent when users put less sensitive personal information. • Institutional privacy assurances are not effective in reducing perceived cost. • Culture influences users' perceptions of privacy in context of cloud storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Extant studies predict continuance intention primarily from a hindsight perspective, and most existing theories cannot adequately explain the puzzling phenomenon that users sometimes continue to use an information system despite low satisfaction. To address this gap, this paper argues that it is necessary to incorporate forward-looking considerations into information system continuance models, especially for rapidly evolving technologies such as mobile applications. Based on the appraisal theory of emotions, this study specifically focuses on the role of hope in the formation of continuance intention. Empirical results based on a questionnaire survey of mobile app users show that hope can exert significant influence on continuance intention as well as exploratory use, controlling for the effects of previous usage patterns. Moreover, the positive impact of hope on continuance intention is stronger when the degree of personal innovativeness in IT is low, and vice versa. Further, confirmation and involvement are identified as positive antecedents of hope with the former exhibiting a stronger influence. Theoretical and managerial implications of this study are discussed. Highlights • Hope positively affects continuance, controlling for the effect of past usage behavior. • The impact of hope on continuance is stronger when PIIT is low, and vice versa. • High degree of hope promotes exploratory use of information systems. • Confirmation and involvement positively influence the formation of hope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Although much research has been conducted to explain the stresses related to the use of social networking sites (SNSs), it remains unclear how this stress from SNS-related activities can be alleviated, especially for users who are associated with problematic use of SNS, namely lonely and emotionally unstable users. This paper draws from the field of medicine the buffer effect of social support theory to postulate that receiving social support online is a potential deterrent of exhaustion and a promoter of user satisfaction. The study depicts the role of receiving social support in a context involving social overload, exhaustion, satisfaction, and the intention to discontinue using a SNS. Based on a sample of 1285 Facebook users, it is found that receiving social support in general helps ease the exhaustion users feel from their SNS use and improves their SNS satisfaction. However, despite the positive effect of receiving social support, SNS use does not provide the same level of benefit to everyone and appears to be a greater source of stress for lonely and emotionally unstable users. Highlights • Receiving social support online in general helps ease social networking exhaustion. • Neurotic users receive more social support online than others. • Receiving social support does not reduce exhaustion for neurotic users. • Social networking use is a greater source of stress for lonely and neurotic users. • Lonely users experience higher social overload, higher social networking exhaustion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizations are increasingly flooded with large amounts of data on which they base their business decisions. It is thus crucial to visualize relevant data efficiently so that employees are able to extract relevant information most accurately and quickly. However, at present, information visualization research lacks a coherent and evidence based theoretical framework providing clear guidelines on how to design efficient visualizations. When it comes to the use of redundant elements in charts like commonly used data labels, cognitive fit theory and cognitive load theory make different predictions. Whereas the latter assumes that redundant labels generally reduce visualizations’ efficiency due to increased cognitive load, cognitive fit theory predicts increased efficiency for some task types that shall be solved by means of the visualization. In the online experiment presented in this paper, we investigated the effect of data labels in line and bar charts on users’ accuracy and speed in solving chart-related business tasks dependent on different task types. Our results reveal that users perceive charts with redundant labels as significantly more efficient and answer related questions significantly more accurate and faster, which we explain by the help of cognitive fit theory. We provide valuable insights into cognitive processing of charts and encourage graph designers to consider redundant elements as a possible means to increase efficiency under particular circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addiction-like symptoms in relation to social networking site (SNS) use are prevalent and can adversely affect users. This paper seeks to theorize on and examine the etiology of such symptoms. Relying on the dual system theory (DST) with a specific focus on social aspects, this manuscript develops a research model positing that the momentary experience of SNS addiction symptoms is driven by tug-of-war between social self-regulation (a reflective process) and habit (a reflexive process), the effect of which is mediated via SNS use. It then tests the hypotheses through analyzing survey data from 161 SNS users, using structural equation modeling techniques. Results support the dual system perspective we take. They show that (1) habit (a reflexive system manifestation) drives SNS use and the experience of addiction symptoms, (2) social self-regulation (a reflective system manifestation) inhibits use and the experience of addiction symptoms and, (3) dual system effects on momentary SNS addiction symptoms are mediated through SNS use. This study introduces and validates a model that explains the experience of momentary SNS addiction symptoms. In particular, the proposed model extends prior dual system models by examining an overlooked, yet important, reflective process (social self-regulation) in the context of SNS use; and by focusing on an important, prevalent, yet relatively disregarded outcome (momentary symptoms rather than full-fledged addiction). The findings point to interesting theoretical and practical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lacking the presence of human and social elements is claimed one major weakness that is hindering the growth of e-commerce. The emergence of social commerce might help ameliorate this situation. Social commerce is a new evolution of e-commerce that combines the commercial and social activities by deploying social technologies into e-commerce sites. Social commerce reintroduces the social aspect of shopping to e-commerce, increasing the degree of social presences in online environment. Drawing upon the social presence theory, this study theorizes the nature of social aspect in online SC marketplace by proposing a set of three social presence variables. These variables are then hypothesized to have positive impacts on trusting beliefs which in turn result in online purchase behaviors. The research model is examined via data collected from a typical e-commerce site in China. Our findings suggest that social presence factors grounded in social technologies contribute significantly to the building of the trustworthy online exchanging relationships. In doing so, this paper confirms the positive role of social aspect in shaping online purchase behaviors, providing a theoretical evidence for the fusion of social and commercial activities. Finally, this paper introduces a new perspective of e-commerce and calls more attention to this new phenomenon of social commerce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Respondents of online surveys may exhibit some answering behaviors, which lead to inconsistent survey results between online surveys and traditional paper surveys. Extant research has not yet devoted sufficient effort to the mechanisms of different answering behaviors on the inconsistent results, especially in cross-cultural survey contexts. For this reason, this study examines how shirking behavior (i.e., a form of disengaged behavior that the respondents expend insufficient mental effort on the questionnaire) and socially desirable responding result in incomparable responses between online surveys and paper surveys. We especially investigate how the cultural constructs of individualism and collectivism relate to shirking and social desirability. Our results reveal two different pathways leading to inconsistent results across different survey modes. Respondents from collectivistic cultures are more likely to shirking in online surveys. Consequently, they are more likely to provide varying responses than respondents from individualistic cultures. Collectivists are more likely to engage in impression management in paper surveys than in online surveys, while individualists have a greater tendency to provide inflated assessments of their skills and abilities in both survey modes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobile platform providers, including Apple and Google, have grown quickly to become central players in the mobile ecosystem. They now act as gatekeepers of information among multiple niche players in the mobile ecosystem. Many players from different industry sectors have tried to build their ecosystem centered on their own mobile platform, but only a few have succeeded so far. In the so called ‘ecosystem war’, one of the key issues for platform providers is how to retain a sustainable relationship with other niche players in the ecosystem. This paper investigates the factors influencing application developers’ loyalty to mobile platforms. To do this, this paper develops a model with key variables based on loyalty theory and adds variables that reflect the specific context of mobile platforms. The empirical analysis that was conducted in South Korea shows that satisfaction is a direct antecedent of application developers’ loyalty to a mobile platform. The results also show that the quality of a mobile platform’s software development kit (SDK) is one of the important determinants of application developers’ satisfaction with a particular mobile platform and also of the platform’s credibility. However, there is no significant relationship between the credibility and loyalty, which is not consistent with previous studies in different research settings. This provides us a clue to understand how the mobile platform market works and that mobile platform providers have less incentive to create a fair relationship with developers when they have a large customer base. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decision justification provides assurance and reduces negative post-decision emotions, while simultaneously expends decision costs (i.e., cognitive effort). The current paper investigated the function of justification and cognitive effort related to regret, specifically in the online shopping context in two studies. In Study 1, 112 participants reviewed vignettes in a 2 × 2 within-subjects design involving cognitive effort (high versus low) and justification of action (easy versus difficulty), and reported the regret level when their purchase decision yielded subpar consequences. As expected, high cognitive effort and easy justification reduced regret. However, the effect of justification on regret was moderated by cognitive effort. In Study 2, 178 participants were randomly assigned to conditions in a 2 × 2 between-subjects design involving cognitive effort (high versus low) and decision justification (waste versus control). Participants followed a cover story and shopped for a laptop online; then they rated the regret level had they made an unplanned purchase. Results confirmed the hypothesis; regret was greater when justification was wasted. However, wasted justification only worsened regret when more cognitive effort was exerted. The current studies shed light on understanding an intricate dynamic between information processing and justification in relation to regret when shopping online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of numerous Internet celebrities on social media platforms has created fierce competition among this group of individuals, making the maintenance of enduring involvement among followers a crucial concern. Building upon theories of social exchange and interpersonal attraction, this paper investigates the effects of Internet celebrities' self-disclosure (across the dimensions of amount, relevance, and negativity) on their followers' interpersonal attraction to them (across the dimensions of familiarity, similarity, and expertise), as well as on their followers' enduring involvement with them. A survey was administered to 695 Internet celebrity followers, and structural equation modeling was performed to examine the hypothesized intervariable relationships. The amount of self-disclosure negatively affected followers' perceived similarity but did not significantly affect perceived familiarity or perceived expertise. Relevance positively influenced perceived familiarity, perceived similarity, and perceived expertise. Negativity positively affected perceived familiarity and negatively influenced perceived expertise but did not significantly affect perceived similarity. Enduring involvement was positively influenced by perceived familiarity, perceived similarity, and perceived expertise. The findings have various theoretical and practical implications. • The amount of self-disclosure negatively affected fan-perceived similarity. • Relevance fosters the three dimensions of fan-perceived interpersonal attraction. • Negativity fosters perceived familiarity and declines perceived expertise. • The three dimensions of interpersonal attraction fosters enduring involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Internet addiction research is suffering from a lack of progress and clear results. [•] Paper suggests investigating motivations in conjunction with psychosocial problems. [•] Paper presents a theory of compensatory internet use to further theoretical development. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper, we explore how visual representations of information in 3D virtual environments (3DVEs) supports both individual and shared understanding, and consequently contribute to group decision making in tasks with a strong visual component. We integrate insights from cognitive fit theory and cognitive load theory in order to formulate hypotheses about how 3DVEs can contribute to individual understanding, shared understanding, and group decision making. We discuss the results of an experiment in which 192 participants, in 3-person teams, were asked to select an apartment. As proposed by cognitive fit theory, our results indicate that 3DVEs are indeed more effective in supporting individual understanding than 2D information presentations. Next, in line with cognitive load theory, the static presentation of 3D information turns out to be more effective in supporting shared understanding and group decision making than an immersive 3DVE. Our results suggest that although the 3DVE capabilities of realism, immersion and interactivity contribute to individual understanding, these capabilities combined with the interaction and negotiation processes required for reaching a shared understanding (and group decision), increases cognitive load and makes group processes inefficient. The implications of this paper for research and practice are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The increasing popularity of activity trackers has shown a remarkable shift in human computer interaction; individuals seem willing to wear a device that constantly tracks health related metrics such as movement, exercise, sleep, and calorie burn. Using the insights derived from their activity trackers, individuals are expected to be more empowered to set and stick to personal health goals. Whereas the outcome of using activity trackers is of great importance to both individuals and society at large, there are no empirical studies substantiating this presumption. This study aims to contribute to filling this research gap. Making use of self-regulation theory as theoretical framework, we developed a model that proposes six system specific elements (attractiveness, monitoring, feedback, privacy protection, readability, and gamification) as determinants of health empowerment, and thereof health commitment. Using survey data collected from individuals wearing smart wristbands ( N = 210), the model was validated. Overall, the results provide strong support for the health empowering capabilities of smart wristbands. The paper concludes with implications for theory and practice, and some suggestions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smart TV has been highlighted as a new platform of broadcasting, powered for the last five years by its own application store as well as by internet-based contents. However, recently, smart TV's performance in the pay-TV market has been below expectations. In the socio-technical view, this paper investigates three aspects surrounding smart TV: bundling as a market competition strategy; services using technological features represented by N-screen; and consumer attributes, including personal innovativeness and demographics. The results show that the bundles with IPTV have a lock-in effect, while other pay-TV services do not, indicating that bundling by communications service providers is a more effective strategy to keep market share away from new entrants. Policy makers only consider competition among incumbents, neglecting the entrance of new service providers, like over-the-top service providers. Therefore, bundling should be evaluated in terms of an entry barrier. Smart TV doesn't work as a platform because the adoption of smart TV has no influence on the watching of N-screen broadcasting services on TV. There are implications that the new technology alone cannot encourage lean-forward activity on TV. Managers should focus on what consumers expect from ‘smartness’, and develop contents for the smart TV as a home appliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engineering students, as compared to computing-related majors, are not traditionally introduced to computing in the context of authentic learning experiences, i.e., real-world applications within their discipline. This paper identifies the impact of computation delivered by authentic learning experiences in the form of anchored instruction on students' self-beliefs and their capacity to leverage computation to acquire disciplinary concepts in subsequent computationally-based engineering coursework. This case study included 130 students with different programing preparation (authentic or traditional), who were exposed to computational learning modules. Control-Value Theory of Achievement Emotions is the conceptual framework that guided the evaluation of this investigation. Measures included student self-beliefs such as control and value appraisals, and their relationship with academic performance. Results suggest that programming preparation presented in an authentic engineering context provides an important foundation that goes beyond increasing students' control self-beliefs. This preparation seems to effectively enable students to leverage computational practices for the purpose of acquiring disciplinary concepts. Implications for teaching relate to the integration of computation sooner, more often and within a disciplinary context in the undergraduate engineering curriculum. Implications for learning relate to fostering engineering computational literacy guided by anchored instruction to support disciplinary problem solving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emerging retail culture is characterized by the extensive use of mobile technologies, high connectivity, ubiquitous computing and contactless technologies, which enable consumers to experience shopping differently. In fact, innovative mobile technologies provide new tools (apps) which are able to separate the moment of purchase from the moment of effective consumption, by allowing consumers to make purchases by mobile phone and collect them at home or at a store (a pick-up boutique or collection point), in addition to the traditional in-store service (purchase in the store and collect/consume in the store). The aim of this paper is to understand the extent to which mobile technologies have an impact on consumer behaviour, with emphasis on the drivers motivating consumers to adopt the consumer experience of mobile shopping. To achieve this goal we used a qualitative approach involving 29 consumers in the Italian market, where mobile shopping is still at an early stage. The findings shed a light on the extent to which consumers are moving from e-channels to mobile channels and take into account the effect of these technological innovations in retail settings from a cognitive standpoint, where studies are limited. The implications for researchers and practitioners are then discussed, with emphasis on retailers need to develop new mobile service competences, and integrate and synthetize physical retail settings with mobile opportunities and functionalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: User participation emerged as a critical issue for collaborative and social recommender systems as well as for a range of other systems based on the power of user community. A range of mechanisms to encourage user participation in social systems has been proposed over the last few years; however, the impact of these mechanisms on users behavior in recommender systems has not been studied sufficiently. This paper investigates the impact of encouraging user participation in the context of CourseAgent, a community-based course recommender system. The recommendation power of CourseAgent is based on course ratings provided by a community of students. To increase the number of course ratings, CourseAgent applies an incentive mechanism which turns user feedback into a self-beneficial activity. In this paper, we describe the design and implementation of our course recommendation system and its incentive mechanism. We also report a dual impact of this mechanism on user behavior discovered in two user studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on Uses and Gratifications theory, this paper proposes and empirically tests an integrated model that depicts the factors that have the potential to impact the behavioral intention to adopt online games. The model is tested with data collected from 308 students in an American university. Overall, the results revealed that the effect of enjoyment was very crucial, and those of social interaction and achievement are moderate, but that of flow of experience did not influence behavioral intention. Results also indicated that visual appeal and escapism are important factors that affect and precede enjoyment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The internet is increasingly used in psychological research to solicit participants and collect data. This paper includes two studies examining the quality of data obtained via web-based methods administered either inside or outside the lab. Both studies used item recognition accuracy as a proxy for attention to questions. Study 1 examined the extent to which undergraduate participants ( N = 504) read and attended to questions either inside or outside the lab. Study 2 ( N = 744) replicated Study 1, added a Mechanical Turk sample, and examined attention to non-intuitive survey instructions. Results indicated that participants demonstrated good item recognition, regardless of locale or sample; however, small sex effects on accuracy were found in both studies. Specifically, women were more accurate at identifying previously seen items than men in both Study 1 and Study 2. In Study 2, Mechanical Turk participants were more likely to read instructions than undergraduate participants, regardless of whether they participated inside or outside of the lab. The findings support the use of the internet for sampling purposes as well as survey administration, and suggest that researchers use care when studies include non-intuitive instructions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sentiment analysis techniques are increasingly used to grasp reactions from social media users to unexpected and potentially stressful social events. This paper argues that, alongside assessments of the affective valence of social media content as negative or positive, there is a need for a deeper understanding of the context in which reactions are expressed and the specific functions that users' emotional states may reflect. To demonstrate this, we present a qualitative analysis of affective expressions on Twitter collected in Germany during the 2011 EHEC food contamination incident based on a coding scheme developed from Skinner et al.'s (2003) coping classification framework. Affective expressions of coping were found to be diverse not only in terms of valence but also in the adaptive functions they served: beyond the positive or negative tone, some people perceived the outbreak as a threat while others as a challenge to cope with. We discuss how this qualitative sentiment analysis can allow a better understanding of the way the overall situation is perceived – threat or challenge – and the resources that individuals experience having to cope with emerging demands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobile phone multitasking is widely considered to be a major source of distraction in academic performance. This paper attempts to review the emerging literature by focusing on three questions concerning the influence of mobile phone multitasking on academic performance: (a) How does mobile phone multitasking impair learning? (b) Why does mobile phone use impair learning? (c) How to prevent from mobile phone distraction? We use multiple strategies to locate the existing research literature and identified 132 studies published during 1999–2014. The mobile phone multitasking and distractibility are reviewed in three major aspects: distraction sources (ring of mobile phone, texting, and social application), distraction targets (reading and attending), and distraction subjects (personality, gender, and culture). We also compare the results of these studies with the findings on mobile phone multitasking and driving, the earliest area of mobile phone multitasking research. Both limitations of existing research and future research directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current paper contributes to the study of in-game advertising (IGA) effectiveness by investigating the 24 impact of social setting on brand awareness (i.e. brand recall and recognition) in a digital game context. 25 An experiment ( N = 121) was conducted in which participants played a digital game containing IGA in 26 various social conditions. Results show that a person’s social environment has a significant influence 27 on brand awareness and that this effect can be primarily attributed to two factors: social presence (i.e. 28 the awareness of and interaction with another person) and player interactivity (i.e. the ability to actively 29 control a digital game). Playing in a social setting seems to have a negative influence on the recall and 30 recognition of IGA, with other people serving as a distracting factor. Watching while others play a digital 31 game, however, has a positive impact on brand awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conducted an experiment to examine how people perceive differences between points-based and story-based gamification approaches. We were interested in how these differences impact peoples’ play experiences and perceptions of working on a citizen science task. Our findings show that the story-based game, Forgotten Island, was strongly preferred over the points-based game, Happy Match. Participants indicated that this was because of “diegesis” in Forgotten Island – in other words, a focus on story-motivated activities and rewards made the citizen science task more enjoyable and gave participants various reasons to continue play. This study suggests that story-based games can be a powerful tool for attracting participants to citizen science tasks. In particular, compared to point-based games, story-based games may be more useful for attracting and engaging participants who are ambivalent about scientific inquiry. This paper also discusses some of the challenges and possibilities for both points-based and story-based gamification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On line education is a student centred activity, and most of the research in this field focuses on students; yet the quality of teaching is undoubtedly the basic ingredient for a successful learning. In particular, fostering new forms of collaboration between students and teachers, i.e. pursuing co-learning aspects of e-learning, probably needs giving teachers new means of collaboration, also among themselves. In this paper, we tackle the aim of providing the teacher with social collaboration tools, to support the process of course construction. Such a process comprises several distinct steps, from concept mapping, through selection of suitable learning material, to the final stages of delivery in a Learning Management System. It is an heavy process, through which teachers have to spend a lot of time to build or to retrieve the right learning material from local databases or from specialized repositories on the web. The support we foresee should exploit the knowledge of the whole teaching community, in which the teacher acts, to help her/him in doing the above described job. By “knowledge” we mean basically a representation of the ways of usage of learning materials, by the teachers in the community for their courses. To start on a solid footing, here we address the topic of modeling the teacher. The model we define aims to give teachers a personalized support, encompassing consideration for their own pedagogy, teaching styles, and teaching experience during course creation. It is deemed to consider all those issues in a dynamic way and to guide the teacher towards the best didactic choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More and more online buyers turn to online reviews, while shopping, to get support in their choices. For instance, D’Avanzo and Kuflik (2013) show that more than 80% of buyers, while shopping online, expect user’s or professional reviews services, implemented on the seller’s website, that can be consulted before their purchase could take place. However, the diffusion of information, that buyers deal with during their shopping experience, makes room to the information and cognitive overload an out-and-out curse. All that is causing sellers adding Web decision support services to help buyers with their decision-making processes and there is a growing number of studies focusing on the enhancing of buyers online shopping decisions with the aim to improve their subjective attitudes towards shopping decisions. More and more sellers add on their side web decision support services that implement decision strategies employed by individuals to arrive at decisions and purchases. This paper introduces a cognitively based procedure (Gopnik et al., 2004) that mines users opinions from specific kinds of market, visually summarizing them in order to alleviate buyers overload and speeding up her/his shopping activity. The proposed approach emulates Vygotsky’s theory of zone of proximal development that is well-known in the collaborative learning community (Chiu, 2000). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The availability of customer reviews from smart tourism systems provides an interesting research opportunity to investigate the role of consumer’s perceived quality relative to a reference group on online satisfaction scores. This paper shows a positive relationship between the satisfaction score and the difference between the consumers’ perceived quality and the reference group’s quality level. The findings support comparison-level theory coupled with the product-based norm as a comparison standard, which posits that consumers use the average quality of the product’s reference group as the relevant comparison standard. Furthermore, consumers are found to be more sensitive to negative deviations from the reference group’s quality than from positive deviations, which is consistent with prospect theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How can social network sites (SNS) foster relationships when most status updates on SNS are mainly entertaining and not very intimate? This finding cannot be explained by classical social psychological theories such as social penetration theory which regard disclosure intimacy as the main driver of relational outcomes. By building on literature on the role of capitalization and humor in relationship formation and maintenance, this paper suggests two alternative paths from public self-disclosure to relational outcomes. Respondents judged the content and relational effects of own and friends’ status updates as well as private conversations. In general, all types of messages were mainly positive and entertaining. The more intimate communication took place in private conversations; here, the classical link between disclosure intimacy and feeling connected still held. However, positive and entertaining self-disclosures also increased the feeling of connection, especially when reading friends’ updates. Interestingly, interaction partners’ responsiveness did not play a significant role, indicating that results from dyadic face-to-face interactions do not hold for public communication on social media. The study contributes to the development of a more differentiated model on the role of self-disclosure on SNS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a research model to explicate that the level of consumers’ participation on companies’ brand microblogs is influenced by their brand attachment process. That is, self-congruence and partner quality affect consumers’ trust and commitment toward companies’ brands, which in turn influence participation on brand microblogs. Further, we propose that gender has important moderating effects in our research model. We empirically test the research hypotheses through an online survey. The findings illustrate that self-congruence and partner quality have positive effects on trust and commitment. Trust affects commitment and participation, while participation is also influenced by commitment. More importantly, the effects of self-congruence on trust and commitment are found to be stronger for male consumers than females. In contrast, the effects of partner quality on trust and commitment are stronger for female consumers than males. Trust posits stronger effects on commitment and participation for males, while commitment has a stronger effect on participation for females. We believe that our findings contribute to the literature on consumer participation behavior and gender differences on brand microblogs. Companies can also apply our findings to strengthen their brand building and participation level of different consumers on their microblogs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital voting is used to support group decision-making in a variety of contexts ranging from politics to mundane everyday collaboration, and the rise in popularity of digital voting has provided an opportunity to re-envision voting as a social tool that better serves democracy. A key design goal for any group decision-making system is the promotion of participation, yet there is little research that explores how the features of digital voting systems themselves can be shaped to configure participation appropriately. In this paper we propose a framework that explores the design space of digital voting from the perspective of participation. We ground our discussion in the design of a social media polling tool called BallotShare; a first instantiation of our proposed framework designed to facilitate the study of decision-making practices in a workplace environment. Across five weeks, participants created and took part in non-standard polls relating to events and other spontaneous group decisions. Following interviews with participants we identified significant drivers and limitations of individual and collective participation in the voting process: social visibility, social inclusion, commitment and delegation, accountability, influence and privacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Text learning was found to be less effective on screen than on paper. [•] Screen learning was consistently accompanied by overconfidence. [•] Practice and in-depth processing successfully eliminated screen inferiority. [•] Medium preference was associated with utilization of these methods. [•] Generally, in-depth processing was associated with attenuated overconfidence. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Underpinned by the Stimulus-Organism-Response framework and the anchoring effect, this paper investigates how perceived message properties of online rumor rebuttals are related to perceived utilitarian and hedonic values, which further could determine rebuttal acceptance. Given the possibility that Internet users can confront a rebuttal when they are not even aware of the rumor, this paper takes into account the role of exposure sequence as a moderator. Data were collected from 322 social media users in a between-participants experiment, which manipulated the exposure sequence. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. Perceived message properties were positively associated with perceived utilitarian and hedonic values, both of which were positively related to rebuttal acceptance. Exposure sequence significantly moderated the underlying mechanism of rebuttal acceptance. This paper contributes to the online rebuttal literature by examining how individuals respond to rebuttals in terms of intention to believe and share such messages. It also has implications for practitioners and other Internet users. • Informativeness of rebuttals was positively related to perceived utilitarian value. • Credible source of rebuttals was positively related to perceived utilitarian value. • Persuasiveness of rebuttals was positively related to perceived hedonic value. • Perceived utilitarian and hedonic values determined rebuttal acceptance. • Exposure sequence played a significant role in influencing rebuttal acceptance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has provided psych challenges for many in society. One such challenge is the anxiety that is created in many people faced with the risk of death from the disease. Another issue is understanding how individuals cope psychologically with the threat of death from the disease. In this study we examine the manifestation of death anxiety and various coping mechanisms through the lens of terror management theory (TMT) and online platforms. We take a novel approach to testing the theory using big data analytics and machine learning, focusing on the user-generated content of Twitter users. Based on a sample of all tweets in the UK mentioning COVID-19 terms over a 5-month period, we evaluate dictionary mentions of anxiety and death, and various TMT defense mechanisms, and calculate the pattern of latent death anxiety or 'terror' states of Twitter users via Hidden Markov Models. The research identifies four online 'terror' states, with high death and anxiety mentions during the peak of the pandemic. Further we examine various TMT defense mechanisms that have been proposed in the literature for coping with death anxiety and find that online social connection, achievement and religion all play important roles in improving the model and explaining movement between states. The paper concludes with various implications of the study for future research and practice. • Extends terror management theory in an online social media context during the pandemic. • Examines death anxiety and online coping mechanisms from terror management theory. • Combines text analytics and hidden Markov models using a big data set. • Results support online social connection, achievement and religion coping mechanisms. • Contributes to the understanding of online individual behavior during pandemics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper, in order to deepen our understanding of the role of opinion leadership on Twitter, the world’s largest microblogging service, has investigated the interrelationships between opinion leadership, Twitter use motivations, and political engagement. It finds that Twitter opinion leaders have higher motivations of information seeking, mobilization, and public expression than nonleaders. It has also been found that mobilization and public-expression motivations mediate the association between perceived opinion leadership and Twitter use frequency. Most importantly, this study finds that Twitter opinion leadership makes a significant contribution to individuals’ involvement in political processes, while Twitter use itself or media use motivation does not necessarily help individuals’ political engagement. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Malaysians were reported to have the most number of Facebook friends, spend more time on Facebook and might be addicted to Facebook as well. This paper explored Facebook usage pattern, motivations and psychological/behavioural factors affecting the users. A focus group study was first conducted to explore motives to use Facebook and symptoms related to excessive Facebook usage. The themes emerging from this were then used in addition to Uses and Gratifications theory and Brown’s Addiction framework to further explore Facebook usage pattern, motivations and behavioural issues among a large group of students. Results show that Malaysian students use Facebook actively, similar to other studies done worldwide. Factor analyses yielded five motives to use Facebook: Social Networking, Psychological Benefits, Entertainment, Self Presentation and Skill Enhancement. As for the behavioural symptoms, Salience, Loss of Control, Withdrawal and Relapse and Reinstatement emerged as the four main symptoms. These results show that in general Malaysian students use Facebook for similar motives as reported in literature. However, it is interesting to note that they also exhibited behavioural symptoms, such as Salience, Loss of Control, Withdrawal and Relapse and Reinstatement due to excessive Facebook usage. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper reports on a study which investigated the effects of gesture-based avatar-mediated communication on younger users (12–13years old), in comparison to video-mediated communication. Specifically, we looked at how these technologies were used by school pupils to brainstorm and negotiate ideas in a bullying context. 64 school pupils were divided into two conditions (Skype and AvatarKinect) and were instructed to carry out two tasks (a brainstorming and a negotiation task). Objective task performance, perceived satisfaction and perceived partner’s characteristics were compared. We found no difference in term of perceived satisfaction. AvatarKinect users reported more positive changes in perceptions toward their partner. The results on task performance were ambivalent; Skype users seemed to generate more ideas, whilst AvatarKinect produced better quality ideas. In summary, gesture-based avatar technology appears to be a useful modality to help resolve bullying in schools. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Online services and applications extend the influencing opportunities of traditional word-of mouth (WOM). Unlike traditional word-of-mouth, the online environment allows for special features such as anonymity in user-generated content. Furthermore, the personality of online users affects their motivation when creating this content. The aim of this paper is to link specific online activities, i.e., the posting of product ratings and participation in discussions in online forums, with certain personality traits within an empirical study. The findings, based on an online survey with more than 16,900 completed questionnaires, indicate that opinion leaders in the online environment cannot be compared with traditional opinion leaders in terms of their articulation and personality structure. In regard to online activities with a high influencing potential, the results of moderated regression analyses show that persons with an introverted personality are more active as online opinion leaders due to the lack of social recognition they experience. The results have implications for how marketers should present incentive structures to address and integrate potential online opinion leaders, and how scholars should understand the role of opinion leaders in the online environment. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This study examines the roles of the gratifications sought and of narcissism in content generation in social media and explores the generational differences in motivations and in narcissistic personalities when predicting the usage of Facebook, blogs, and forums. Data were gathered from a probability sample of 596 social media users through a telephone survey in 2010. Factor analysis results showed that content generation using social media was satisfying five socio-psychological needs: showing affection, venting negative feelings, gaining recognition, getting entertainment, and fulfilling cognitive needs. In particular, people who used social media to meet their social needs and their need for affection tended to use Facebook and blogs. In contrast, when users wanted to air out discontent, they often turned to forums. Results also showed that exhibitionists seemed to use social media to show affection, express their negative feelings, and achieve recognition. The study found no generational differences in using Facebook and blogs as a means to satisfy social needs or the need for affection. However, differences in patterns of social media usage were found among Baby Boomers with different narcissistic personalities. The paper includes a discussion of the study’s limitations and suggestions for future research. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A number of studies have examined the relationship between privacy concerns, perceived control over information, trust and online self-disclosure, highlighting different points of view to understand this connection. This paper intends to compare these different models of explanation for self-disclosure behaviors in online social networks. Three different hypotheses are verified, using mediation and moderation analyses. The results allow underling the effect of the interaction between privacy concerns and trust on online self-disclosure, along with the absence of a direct influence of privacy concerns on disclosure itself. The results suggest practical implications for online social network providers, most of all with regard to privacy policies in online environments. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Intelligent tutoring systems often make use of students’ answers to adapt instruction or feedback on a task. In this paper, we explore the alternative possibility of adapting a system based on the perceived affective and cognitive state of a student. A system can potentially better adapt to the needs of each individual student by using non-verbal behavior. We used a new experimental paradigm inspired by ‘brain training’ software to collect primary school children’s answers to easy and difficult arithmetic problems and made audiovisual recordings of their answers. Adult observers rated these films on perceived difficulty level. Results showed that adults were able to correctly interpret children’s perceived level of difficulty, especially if they saw their face (compared to hearing their voice). They paid attention to features such as ‘looking away’, and ‘frowning’. Then we checked whether we could also automatically predict if the posed problem was either easy or difficult based on the first second of their response. This ‘thin-slice analysis’ could correctly predict the difficulty level in 71% of all cases. When trained on sufficiently many recordings, Adaptive Tutoring Systems should be able to detect children’s state and adapt the difficulty level of their learning materials accordingly. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper investigates whether perceived risk online is affected by the language in which a user browses a given website. In order to achieve this objective and test the proposed hypotheses, a 2×2 between-subjects experimental design was chosen, using two independent variables with two levels each, namely: culture (Spanish vs. British) and processing language (Spanish vs. English). The final sample comprised 491 individuals (264 Spanish and 227 British). Half the sample browsed in their mother tongue, and the other half in a second language. The results showed that Spanish users perceive less risk when browsing in English than in Spanish, while for the British there was no difference, in terms of perceived risk, between browsing in Spanish or English. Another interesting finding is the moderating effect of message involvement on the processing of information from the website, and thus its effect on the user’s perception of risk. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The phenomenon of social learning analytics presents a synergy between variety of disciplines, such as business intelligence, educational data mining, cyberlearning, and cyber infrastructure. The main contribution of this research is to combine two types of social learning analytics, social learning network analysis and social learning content analysis in studying the impact of the Social Multimedia Systems (SMSs) on cyberlearners. The research study provided in this paper is based on the survey data collected in spring 2011 at Western Kentucky University. The evidence obtained from the analysis shows that SMS impacts (a) the digital communication between faculty and students; (b) students’ success and grades; (c) the amount of materials covered and learned; (d) the effectiveness of studying; (e) the depth of learning; (f) the ability to focus on the most important learning objectives; (g) the degree of collaboration among students; and (h) the students’ motivation of studying. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper aims to develop an instrument to measure Player–Avatar Identification (PAI) in video game playing. Survey studies were conducted with over 1000 students in Singapore primary and secondary schools. The results of the studies demonstrated that PAI can be conceptualized and reliably measured in terms of four-factors – feelings during play, absorption during play, positive attitudes toward the game avatar and importance of the avatar to one’s self identity. The four-factor model showed acceptable model data fit and satisfactory reliability and validity. The construct validity was supported by the relationship between PAI and identity style. The result suggested that students with diffused identity style reported significant higher scores on absorption and importance to identity. The usefulness of the concept and the scale was discussed in relation to behavioral and developmental implications. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study examines the phenomenon of cyberbullying on Facebook and how it is related to school bullying among secondary school students in Singapore, aged 13–17. We also focus on generic use of Facebook and risky Facebook behaviors as the predictors of cyberbullying and victimization on Facebook. 1676 secondary students, from two secondary schools, participated in a pen and paper survey. The findings show that the intensity of Facebook use and engagement in risky Facebook behaviors were related to Facebook victimization and Facebook bullying, respectively. Moderately strong positive relationships between school bullying and Facebook bullying, as well as between school victimization and Facebook victimization, were also uncovered. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]