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Digital-free tourism is an emerging trend that limits tourists’ access to information and communication technologies during vacations. However, how to motivate tourists to engage in digital-free tourism is not yet understood. Anchoring on Construal Level Theory and educational intervention, this study examines the effects of message concreteness and intervention type on tourists’ intention to take digital-free tourism. Experimental data from 249 respondents showed that when factual intervention was provided, tourists were more likely to engage in digital-free tourism when they received abstract messages instead of concrete messages. Our findings can contribute to the design of promotional messages for digital-free tourism.

This study evaluates the effects of social media advertisements of e-cigarettes on consumer perceptions. We first use netnographic data to explore e-cigarette comments (n = 1900) and next conduct an experimental study on a randomized sample of cigarette consumers (n = 525) to assess the effects of e-cigarette features (i.e., flavor) and social influence (i.e., social tie and popularity of the advertisement) on consumer beliefs. Our findings show that the influence of e-cigarette flavor on perceived relative risk and negative beliefs has an opposite pattern for generation X consumers versus millennials. Millennials perceive cherry-flavored e-cigarettes as less risky, and perceive tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes as less risky when they are associated with close social ties. Our mixed methods study contributes to the marketing and public health disciplines by uncovering health-related perceptions and beliefs as outcomes of e-cigarette flavor and social influence. It also contributes empirically by showing the differential influences of close and far social ties.

Public awareness of water quality concerns has increased since the Flint, MI crisis, but knowledge about water resources management remains low. Consequently, acceptance of potable reuse also remains low. A mixed methods approach is utilized in three phases to determine if direct messaging (information about de facto water reuse aimed at increasing knowledge about wastewater reuse) increases acceptance of planned potable reuse, and if indirect messaging (local public notifications about health-based drinking water violations) affects the effectiveness of the direct messaging. In Phase 1, a spatial analysis was conducted to validate the use of local water quality violations as an indirect message. In Phase 2, a within-subjects comparison was employed to test whether consumers change their potable reuse perceptions, intentions, and attitudes after reading a knowledge-based message regarding water reuse. In Phase 3, the effect of indirect messaging, as well as the interaction of direct and indirect messaging were further analyzed. Phase 1 results match previous findings that suggest that drinking water violations tend to occur and reoccur in spatially specific patterns. Phase 2 confirms the utility of direct messaging to improve potable reuse acceptance. Phase 3 shows that indirect messaging interacts with consumers’ education level and actual knowledge to impact potable reuse acceptance.

This study focuses on consumers' processing of online reviews as an empowering experience. We investigate how decision support information (i.e., online reviews) can lead to information overload and decision difficulty, and ultimately affect decision satisfaction. A series of three experimental studies with subjects from a professional marketing agency examine the influence of self-determined review quantity and perceived review quality on satisfaction, as well as the mediating effects of information overload and decision difficulty. Our results show that the effect of perceived review quality on information overload is enhanced when the consumer chooses to read more reviews. Individual characteristics are also relevant; consumers' product knowledge moderates the mediating effect of decision difficulty on satisfaction. This study contributes to the literature by (1) investigating how the characteristics of decision support information affect decision process and outcome, and (2) exploring the boundary conditions wherein online reviews can empower but also overload consumers under various decision contexts.

Purpose Consumers’ evaluation of online review helpfulness has been widely examined. The extant literature suggests that the attributes of review content (e.g. review length and extremity) influence review helpfulness. However, review length cannot fully reflect the richness of the review content. Anchoring on information diagnosticity and extremity bias, this study aims to explore the effect of review comprehensiveness on its helpfulness. Design/methodology/approach Field observations were obtained from 11,812 online restaurant reviews on a popular restaurant review platform. A controlled experiment was conducted to further delineate the effect of review comprehensiveness. Findings Review comprehensiveness moderates the effects of review length and an extremely negative review on helpfulness. It also confirms that for reviews of the same length, one covering more aspects is perceived by consumers as more helpful. Practical implications Different aspects of information in a review can efficiently assist decision-making. The results suggest that review platforms can better design their interface by providing separate areas for different product aspects. The platform can then receive more comprehensive and helpful reviews and increase the diagnosticity of these. Originality/value The study enriches the literature by introducing review comprehensiveness and examining the joint effects of review length and comprehensiveness on helpfulness. It also contributes to the literature by indicating how to reduce the effect of review extremity.

This study examines key drivers of firms’ green information technology (IT) practices. A hierarchical view, premised in institutional theory and competitive dynamics, leads to a model that explains firms’ practices. This model includes factors that pertain to the environment (environmental awareness and government regulations), industry (industry norms and competitors’ green practices), and firm (customers’ and equity holders’ attitudes and internal readiness) levels. Survey data collected from 304 major firms in Taiwan are used to test the model and hypotheses. In particular, attitudes of a firm’s customers and equity holders, as well as its internal readiness, directly influence its green IT practices, while also channeling the effects of important contextual factors. Among the contextual factors considered herein, environmental awareness and industry norms influence firms’ practices both directly and indirectly. The overall results highlight the significance of contextual factors and underscore...

By enabling more efficient information and knowledge sharing and reinforcing the shared goals for participating members, inter-organizational information technology (IT) becomes instrumental to both accomplishing coopetitive outcomes and avoiding the pitfalls of partner opportunism. We posit that as network social capital is accumulated in technology-enabled coopetition networks, collaboration will enhance the strategic value of outcomes and positively affect goal convergence among network users. Our findings illustrate that the role of technology in coopetition extends beyond facilitating knowledge exchange and may play a vital role in the strategic development of firms pursuing coopetitive options.

Electronic Health Record (EHR) implementation in healthcare facilities is intended to assist with clinicians’ activities, such as evidence based decision making, streamlining providers’ workflow vi...

User acceptance of computer technology in work environments could differ from that of general consumer contexts. Toward that end, cultural considerations could affect individuals' behaviors, including their technology acceptance. This study analyzes the acceptance of computer technology by 1,088 workers in an Arabian country to reexamine and compare established models and theories to prior studies in the Western, developed countries. The explanatory power of each theory or model seems lower among Arabian workers. The innovation diffusion theory (IDT) appears capable of explaining workers' technology acceptance better than the theory of planned behavior (TPB) or technology acceptance model (TAM) does. Perceived behavioral control and subjective norms constitute more important acceptance determinants than attitude does. Both perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use remain significant determinants of attitude and intention; however, considering findings reported by previous research, their total effects are comparable in magnitude and statistical significance. The findings are incongruent with the results of several representative prior studies that examine the same theories and models. The results can be partially explained by the unique socio-cultural characteristics and overall technology development status of the country. In turn, these results offer several implications for studying worker's technology acceptance in developing countries with a unique cultural context.

Cultural considerations could affect individuals' behaviors, including their technology acceptance. This study analyzes the acceptance of computer technology by 1,088 workers in 56 Arabian organizations to reexamine and compare the theory of planned behavior (TPB), technology acceptance model (TAM), and innovation diffusion theory (IDT). The explanatory power of each theory or model seems lower among Arabian workers, as compared with users in Western, developed countries. The IDT appears capable of explaining workers' technology acceptance better than does TPB or TAM. Perceived behavioral control and subjective norms constitute more important acceptance determinants than does attitude. Both perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use remain significant determinants of attitude and intention; however, considering findings reported by previous research, their total effects are comparable in magnitude and statistical significance. The findings are incongruent with the results of several representative prior studies that examine the same theories and models, which in turn offer several implications from a sociocultural perspective.

Web site navigability refers to the degree to which a visitor can follow a Web site's hyperlink structure to successfully find information with efficiency and ease. In this study, we take a data-driven approach to measure Web site navigability using Web data readily available in organizations. Guided by information foraging and information-processing theories, we identify fundamental navigability dimensions that should be emphasized in metric development. Accordingly, we propose three data-driven metrics-namely, power, efficiency, and directness-that consider Web structure, usage, and content data to measure a Web site's navigability. We also develop a Web mining-based method that processes Web data to enable the calculation of the proposed metrics. We further implement a prototype system based on the Web mining-based method and use it to assess the navigability of two sizable, real-world Web sites with the metrics. To examine the analysis results by the metrics, we perform an evaluation study that involves these two sites and 248 voluntary participants. The evaluation results show that user performance and assessments are consistent with the analysis results revealed by our metrics. Our study demonstrates the viability and practical value of data-driven metrics for measuring Web site navigability, which can be used for evaluative, diagnostic, or predictive purposes.

As the business world becomes less company driven and more customer-oriented, increasing loyalty becomes a critical factor to building a successful company (Zahay et al. 2012). Such loyalty is not easy to earn, but in the increasingly socially connected world, customers who are brand advocates serve as a key marketing tool (Sen and Lerman 2007). In effect, as a free resource that consumers can avail of at any time and from multiple sources, word of mouth (WOM) not only allows customers to tell their consumption stories and share their opinions, but it also allows them to research a seemingly independent view of a business (Moore 2012). As such, research abounds on the motivations driving WOM, whether positive or negative, such as self-enhancement, anger and retaliation, altruism, brand love, and many others (De Angelis et al. 2012).

Timely information access and knowledge support is critical for law enforcement, because officers require convenient and timely access to accurate data, relevant information, and integrated knowledge in their crime investigation and fighting activities. As an integrated system that provides such support, COPLINK can improve collaboration within and across agency boundaries. This study examines field officers' acceptance and actual use of COPLINK Mobile, a critical technology that offers COPLINK core query functionalities through a lightweight, handheld device or mobile applications running on a small bandwidth. We propose and empirically test a factor model explaining the focal technology acceptance with survey data collected from 40 field officers. The data support our model and most of the hypotheses, which can reasonably explain an officer's acceptance and actual use of COPLINK Mobile. Among the determinants investigated, perceived usefulness has the greatest impact and depends on both efficiency gain and social influence. Our findings have important implications for both research and practice.

Timely information access and effective knowledge support is crucial to law enforcement officers' crime fighting and investigations. An expanding array of e-government initiatives target the development of advanced information technologies and their deployment in law enforcement agencies. Abase in point is COPLINK, an integrated system that provides law enforcement officers with timely data access, effective information support, integrated knowledge sharing, and improved collaboration within or beyond the agency boundaries. In this study, we examine law enforcement officers' acceptance of COPLONK Mobile by proposing and testing a factor model premised in established theoretical foundations. According to our results, the model is capable of explaining or predicting officers' intentions to use the technology. Our survey data support the proposed model and the hypotheses it suggests. Among the acceptance determinants we investigated, perceived usefulness appears to have the most significant influence on individual officers' intention to use COPLONK Mobile.

While e-government is propelling and maturing steadily, advanced technological capabilities alone cannot guarantee agencies’ realizing the full benefits of the enabling computer-based systems. This study analyzes information systems in e-government settings by examining agencies’ satisfaction with an electronic record management system (ERMS). Specifically, we investigate key satisfaction determinants that include regulatory compliance, job relevance, and satisfaction with support services for using the ERMS. We test our model and the hypotheses in it, using a large-scale survey that involves a total of 1,652 government agencies in Taiwan. Our results show significant effects of regulatory compliance on job relevance and satisfaction with support services, which in turn determine government agencies’ satisfaction with an ERMS. Our data exhibit a reasonably good fit to our model, which can explain a significant portion of the variance in agencies’ satisfaction with an ERMS. Our findings have several important implications to research and practice, which are also discussed.