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1 – 10 of 207Ishaan Sengupta, Kokil Jain, Arpan Kumar Kar and Isha Sharma
Influencer transgressions can disappoint their followers. However, there is a lack of clarity about the effects of a false allegation on an influencer–follower relationship…
Abstract
Purpose
Influencer transgressions can disappoint their followers. However, there is a lack of clarity about the effects of a false allegation on an influencer–follower relationship. Drawing from cognitive dissonance and moral reasoning theory, the current study aims to examine how this relationship is shaped across three time periods (before the allegation is leveled, after the allegation is leveled, and when the allegation is found to be baseless).
Design/methodology/approach
We study comments posted by followers of two falsely alleged social media influencers (SMI) on their YouTube and Instagram channels. Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) followed by netnography is used for thematic analysis. LDA is a social media topic modeling method that processes a statistically representative set of words to explain the tone and tenor of qualitative conversations. A sentiment analysis of the comments is done using SentiStrength.
Findings
When an allegation is leveled initially, the response from followers is overwhelmingly negative toward the influencer owing to moral coupling. However, when the allegations are proven to be false, the followers return to a positive opinion of the influencer, owing to feelings of dissonance and guilt.
Practical implications
The study contributes to the fields of influencer marketing, cognitive dissonance and moral reasoning. It highlights how endorsers can take advantage of the positive sentiment that arises once an accused SMI’s transgression is proven false.
Originality/value
This study introduces the concept of “Sentiment Reversal,” which is exhibited in the social media space. In this phenomenon, sentiments move from negative to positive toward the falsely accused SMI as they are vindicated of the previous charge.
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Based on the theoretical predictions of media equation theory and the computers-are-social-actors (CASA) perspective, this study aims to examine the effects of performance error…
Abstract
Purpose
Based on the theoretical predictions of media equation theory and the computers-are-social-actors (CASA) perspective, this study aims to examine the effects of performance error type (i.e. logical, semantic or syntactic), task type and personality presentation (i.e. dominant/submissive and/or friendly/unfriendly) on users’ level of trust in their personal digital assistant (PDA), Siri.
Design/methodology/approach
An experimental study of human–PDA interactions was performed with two types of tasks (social vs functional) randomly assigned to participants (N = 163). While interacting with Siri in 15 task inquiries, the participants recorded Siri’s answers for each inquiry and self-rated their trust in the PDA. The answers were coded and rated by the researchers for personality presentation and error type.
Findings
Logical errors were the most detrimental to user trust. Users’ trust of Siri was significantly higher after functional tasks compared to social tasks when the effects of general usage (e.g. proficiency, length and frequency of usage) were controlled for. The perception of a friendly personality from Siri had an opposite effect on social and functional tasks in the perceived reliability dimension of trust and increased intensity of the presented personality reduced perceived reliability in functional tasks.
Originality/value
The research findings contradict predictions from media equation theory and the CASA perspective while contributing to a theoretical refinement of machine errors and their impact on user trust.
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Elena Carvajal-Trujillo, Jesús Claudio Pérez-Gálvez and Jaime Jose Orts-Cardador
The main objective of this article is to visualize the structure and trends of pro-environmental behavior (PEB) between 1999 and 2023 through mapping and in-depth analysis. The…
Abstract
Purpose
The main objective of this article is to visualize the structure and trends of pro-environmental behavior (PEB) between 1999 and 2023 through mapping and in-depth analysis. The aim is to analyze PEB, which has received considerable academic attention in recent years due to its key role in the conservation of the environment and the protection of local communities in tourist destinations. This paper provides an important summary of the recent research that has explored the role that tourists have in protecting the environment through PEB.
Design/methodology/approach
This study presents a visual analysis of 2005 scholarly articles between the years 1999 and 2023 related to PEB. Using the knowledge mapping based on VOSviewer it presents the current status of research, which includes the analysis of citation analysis, co-citation analysis, co-citation network and longitudinal analysis.
Findings
PEB is an emerging topic due to its relevance to protecting the environment in the context of travel. The citation and co-citation analysis show the relevance of the behavior of tourists with regard to protecting the environment. The co-word analysis highlights the current significance of research concerning green hotels and the destination image of environmentally responsible destinations.
Originality/value
This study sheds light on the current research progress of PEB in the context of tourism through a comprehensive analysis (citation, co-citation and co-word). In addition, we provide theories and factors that have been previously used to study PEB in the context of tourism. The findings contribute to a broad and diverse understanding of the concept of PEB, which can provide important insights for policymakers in formulating management strategies and policies aimed at reducing environmental impacts in destinations.
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Artificial Intelligence (AI) has revolutionized teaching and learning methods in higher education, especially in English language teaching and learning. This chapter contributes…
Abstract
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has revolutionized teaching and learning methods in higher education, especially in English language teaching and learning. This chapter contributes to the existing knowledge by exploring how AI has developed within the framework of teaching and learning of English, highlighting the challenges, dangers, and moral issues associated with its application. The typical classroom environment has significantly changed because of the integration of AI-powered tools and platforms in English instruction. Chatbots, automated grading systems, and language learning apps driven by AI have streamlined language education, increasing its effectiveness and accessibility. But these benefits accompany a variety of challenges and worries. Ethical concerns about data privacy, algorithmic biases, and the depersonalization of education arise as AI becomes more deeply ingrained in educational methods. Reliance on AI may inadvertently exacerbate educational disparities as long as learners' access to technology and its advantages remain unequal. In addition, significant thought must be given to the ethical ramifications of AI-generated content as well as the possible loss of human connection in language learning settings. This chapter examines these dangers and challenges and makes the case for a well-rounded strategy that maximizes AI's benefits while minimizing any potential downsides. Together, educators and legislators need to create moral guidelines that balance the potential of AI with human-centered learning experiences. To ensure responsible and fair AI integration and promote an inclusive learning environment that prioritizes students' holistic development while exploiting technology breakthroughs, comprehensive assessment of the associated obstacles, risks, and ethical issues is necessary.
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Dorothy Ai-wan Yen, Benedetta Cappellini, Jane Denise Hendy and Ming-Yao Jen
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused severe challenges to ethnic minorities in the UK. While the experiences of migrants are both complex and varied depending on individuals' social…
Abstract
Purpose
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused severe challenges to ethnic minorities in the UK. While the experiences of migrants are both complex and varied depending on individuals' social class, race, cultural proximity to the host country and acculturation levels, more in-depth studies are necessary to fully understand how COVID-19 affects specific migrant groups and their health. Taiwanese migrants were selected because they are an understudied group. Also, there were widespread differences in pandemic management between the UK and Taiwan, making this group an ideal case for understanding how their acculturation journey can be disrupted by a crisis.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative data were collected at two different time points, at the start of the UK pandemic (March/April 2020) and six months on (October/November 2020), to explore migrant coping experiences over time. Theoretically, the authors apply acculturation theory through the lens of coping, while discussing health-consumption practices, as empirical evidence.
Findings
Before the outbreak of the pandemic, participants worked hard to achieve high levels of integration in the UK. The pandemic changed this; participants faced unexpected changes in the UK’s sociocultural structures. They were forced to exercise the layered and complex “coping with coping” in a hostile host environment that signalled their new marginalised status. They faced impossible choices, from catching a life-threatening disease to being seen as overly cautious. Such experience, over time, challenged their integration to the host country, resulting in a loss of faith in the UK’s health system, consequently increasing separation from the host culture and society.
Research limitations/implications
It is important to note that the Taiwanese sample recruited through Facebook community groups is biased and has a high level of homogeneity. These participants were well-integrated, middle-class migrants who were highly educated, relatively resourceful and active on social media. More studies are needed to fully understand the impact on well-being and acculturation of migrants from different cultural, contextual and social backgrounds. This being the case, the authors can speculate that migrants with less resource are likely to have found the pandemic experience even more challenging. More studies are needed to fully understand migrant experience from different backgrounds.
Practical implications
Public health policymakers are advised to dedicate more resources to understand migrants' experiences in the host country. In particular, this paper has shown how separation, especially if embraced temporarily, is not necessarily a negative outcome to be corrected with specific policies. It can be strategically adopted by migrants as a way of defending their health and well-being from an increasingly hostile environment. Migrants' home country experience provides vicarious learning opportunities to acquire good practices. Their voices should be encouraged rather than in favour of a surprising orthodox and rather singular approach in the discussion of public health management.
Social implications
The paper has clear public health policy implications. Firstly, public health policymakers are advised to dedicate more resources to understand migrants' experiences in the host country. Acknowledging migrants' voice is a critical first step to contribute to the development of a fair and inclusive society. Secondly, to retain skilful migrants and avoid a future brain-drain, policymakers are advised to advance existing infrastructure to provide more incentives to support and retain migrant talents in the post-pandemic recovery phase.
Originality/value
This paper reveals how a group of previously well-integrated migrants had to exercise “coping with coping” during the COVID crisis. This experience, over time, challenged their integration to the host country, resulting in a loss of faith in the UK’s health system, consequently increasing separation from the host culture and society. It contributes to the understanding of acculturation by showing how a such crisis can significantly disrupt migrants' acculturation journey, challenging them to re-acculturate and reconsider their identity stance. It shows how separation was indeed a good option for migrants for protecting their well-being from a newly hostile host environment.
This paper explores the information needs and behaviors of undergraduate engineers.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper explores the information needs and behaviors of undergraduate engineers.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reports on a qualitative study employing semi-structured interviews with 18 students.
Findings
The study identified the types of information needs undergraduate engineers encounter while working on problem solving tasks and the strategies they use to resolve these needs. The findings reveal that students often encounter difficulties due to a lack of procedural knowledge rather than conceptual gaps or misunderstandings. Students look for step-by-step solutions to address their information needs and become more efficient problem-solvers. However, most instructors do not provide answers or solutions, leaving students uncertain about their progress and unable to correct their mistakes. Consequently, students seek information from their peers, including step-by-step solutions and access to previous course materials. They use file-sharing and instant messaging platforms like Google Drive and Facebook Messenger as covert means of seeking help, sharing solutions and engaging in coursework-related discussions.
Originality/value
The findings enrich the theory of information needs by delineating between conceptual and procedural information needs. These findings also underscore the significant role that classmates and friends play as sources of information. The study offers implications for conceptual development of information needs, and for instructors to provide solutions and support sharing between peers on official platforms.
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Aysha A-Zayani and Muneer Al Mubarak
This chapter explains the phenomenon of artificial intelligence (AI) powered by big data in technology and its contribution in knowledge-based marketing in B2B and its impact on…
Abstract
This chapter explains the phenomenon of artificial intelligence (AI) powered by big data in technology and its contribution in knowledge-based marketing in B2B and its impact on rational decision-making in B2B marketing that affects business performance. This chapter is literature review prepared by compiling and reviewing previous literature, studies, articles, books and other sources related to the contribution of big data-enabled AI to B2B marketing. According to the information analysed, the findings show that big data supported by AI plays a significant role in creating user knowledge, external knowledge and customer knowledge, all of which are factors that significantly influence the ability of business-to-business marketers to make rational decisions that affect the performance of their companies. This chapter explains to them the phenomena of AI powered by big data and its effect on B2B marketing rational decision that will enhance company performance and its contribution on knowledge-based marketing in B2B. This chapter contributes to understanding main functions and interactions of AI system powered by big data and how such a system helps in B2B marketing by generating knowledge about customers, users and markets.
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Arwa Al-Twal, Leen Adel Gammoh and Maya Zureikat
Considering mental health in organizations is crucial for several reasons, as it directly impacts the well-being and productivity of employees. This paper aims to delve into the…
Abstract
Purpose
Considering mental health in organizations is crucial for several reasons, as it directly impacts the well-being and productivity of employees. This paper aims to delve into the role of the human resource (HR) department (HRD) in promoting mental health and mitigating associated organizational risks within emerging markets, with a specific focus on organizations in Jordan.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a qualitative research approach, 21 semistructured interviews were conducted with employees from diverse organizations and industries in Jordan.
Findings
The study’s findings illuminate a constrained role of HRD in supporting employees’ mental well-being, attributable to several factors: (i) a perceptual gap between the actual and desired roles of HRD in fostering mental health according to employees; (ii) institutional factors dictating initiatives for mental health support at work; and (iii) societal and cultural norms shaping attitudes toward mental health, both pre- and post-COVID-19.
Research limitations/implications
This study contributes to the ongoing discourse on the intersection of HR practices and mental health support in the workplace in emerging markets, providing valuable insights for both academic and practical considerations. As organizations navigate the evolving landscape of employee well-being, this study’s findings offer a foundation for future research and the development of evidence-based strategies to enhance mental health support within organizational contexts and mitigate organizational risks.
Originality/value
This study illuminates the current landscape of human resources management development in fostering mental health at work in Jordan, serving as a foundation for future research agendas in the country and potentially the wider region.
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Jack Hassell, Joana Kuntz and Sarah Wright
While worker well-being is increasingly recognised as a performance driver and marker of socially responsible organisations, workaholism is ubiquitous and remains poorly…
Abstract
Purpose
While worker well-being is increasingly recognised as a performance driver and marker of socially responsible organisations, workaholism is ubiquitous and remains poorly understood. This study aims to uncover workaholism precursors, dynamics and trajectories, and explains how organisations can manage its emergence and impact.
Design/methodology/approach
Fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with a diverse sample of self-identified workaholics in New Zealand and analysed through interpretivist phenomenological analysis.
Findings
This study contributes to the workaholism literature by elucidating how the work–identity link is formed and maintained, the psychophysiological experiences and worldviews of workaholics and the role families, organisations and culture play in workaholism. The findings also elucidate the relationship between workaholism, work addiction and engagement.
Practical implications
The authors outline how leaders and organisations can detect and manage workaholism risk factors and understand its trajectories to develop healthy workplaces.
Originality/value
The retrospective experiential accounts obtained from a diverse sample of workaholics enabled the identification of workaholism precursors, including some previously undetected in the literature, their complex interrelations with environmental factors and workaholism trajectories.
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The closure of schools and nurseries during the COVID-19 lockdowns triggered the re-insourcing of childcare to the home, sparking extensive public debate and academic research on…
Abstract
The closure of schools and nurseries during the COVID-19 lockdowns triggered the re-insourcing of childcare to the home, sparking extensive public debate and academic research on the pandemic's potential impact on gender equality (see, for example, Burgess and Goldman, 2021; Vandecasteele et al. 2022). My PhD research, which explores parents' decision-making influences when planning care during their child's first year in the UK context, coincided with COVID-19. The coinciding of my data collection with COVID-19 (seven online discussions with a total of 36 participants and 12 follow up interviews, 10 which include partners) created microcosms in which wider public debates were echoed. My research draws on the Capability Approach (CA) (Sen, 2009) to conceptualise parents' capabilities to share leave as they aspire to and employs dialogical narrative analysis (DNA) (Riessman, 2008) to explore how gendered parenting norms are constitutive of parents’ care capabilities. In this chapter, I draw on feminist ethics of care to explore the disruption of gendered parenting norms, in the COVID-19 context, within parents' decision-making and a possible ‘reimagining’ of the value attributed to care (Ozkazanc-Pan and Pullen, 2021; Tronto, 2017). My findings support anticipation of what the promise of greater flexibility could bring as a result of increased visibility of caregiving during COVID-19. However, I also find evidence which supports the caution previously recommended of the need to reflect on work cultures and the predominance of masculine ideal worker norms in the UK (Chung et al. 2021).
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