Asad Hassan Butt, Hassan Ahmad, Asif Muzaffar, Waseem Irshad, Muhammad Usman Mumtaz and Talha Zubair Ahmad Khan
This study aims to investigate how gamification, namely, WeChat’s cultural gifting function, improves emotional involvement among three generations (Y, X and silver) in mobile…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate how gamification, namely, WeChat’s cultural gifting function, improves emotional involvement among three generations (Y, X and silver) in mobile payments. It draws attention to the beneficial effects of cultural components and digital intimacy on gamified mobile payment systems.
Design/methodology/approach
The data were collected from Y, X and silver generation in Dalian, China. The users were well equipped with the WeChat pay features and had experience. The PLS-SEM software was used to assess the data.
Findings
The findings show that consumer word of mouth and loyalty are positively impacted by perceived utility, fun, and enjoyment. Besides, gamification components like fun and playfulness have a favourable effect on how useful mobile payments are judged to be. It demonstrates how delighted and ecstatic users are with WeChat Hongbao. In addition, the positive moderation effect of intimacy on the hypothesised connections shows that all three generations are likely to accept gamified money features. These results provide a substantial contribution to our comprehension of gamification in the context of mobile payment services for all three generations.
Originality/value
The study is distinctive because it focuses on how China’s three generations use WeChat Pay for routine transactions. The framework confirms that the gamification elements improve user performance and encourage continued usage of mobile payment systems.
Objetivo
Este estudio investiga cómo la gamificación, específicamente la función de regalos culturales de WeChat, mejora la participación emocional entre tres generaciones (Y, X y plata) en los pagos móviles. Se presta atención a los efectos beneficiosos de los componentes culturales y la intimidad digital en los sistemas de pago móvil gamificados.
Diseño/metodología/enfoque/Metodología/Enfoque
Los datos fueron recopilados de las generaciones Y, X y plata en Dalian, China. Los usuarios estaban familiarizados con las características de pago de WeChat y tenían experiencia. Se utilizó el software PLS-SEM para evaluar los datos.
Resultados
Los resultados muestran que la reputación y la lealtad del consumidor son positivamente influenciadas por la utilidad percibida, la diversión y el disfrute. Los componentes de gamificación, como la diversión y la jugabilidad, tienen un efecto favorable en cómo se juzga la utilidad de los pagos móviles. Se demuestra cuán encantados están los usuarios con WeChat Hongbao. Además, la moderación positiva de la intimidad en las relaciones supuestas muestra que las tres generaciones tienen probabilidades de aceptar las características de dinero gamificado. Estos resultados contribuyen sustancialmente a nuestra comprensión de la gamificación en el contexto de los servicios de pago móvil para las tres generaciones.
Originalidad
El estudio es novedoso ya que se centra en cómo las tres generaciones de China utilizan WeChat Pay para transacciones rutinarias. El marco confirma que los elementos de gamificación mejoran el rendimiento del usuario y fomentan el uso continuado de los sistemas de pago móvil.
目的
本研究探讨了游戏化, 即微信的文化赠送功能, 如何提高三代人(Y、X和银发族)在移动支付中的情感投入。它引起了人们对文化成分和数字亲密关系对游戏化移动支付系统的有益影响的注意。
设计/方法/途径
数据来自中国大连市的Y、X和银发族用户。用户对微信支付功能非常熟悉, 并具有使用经验。采用PLS-SEM软件对数据进行评估。
研究结果
结果表明, 消费者的口碑和忠诚度受到了感知效用、乐趣和享受的积极影响。乐趣和趣味等游戏化组件对移动支付的有用性评估产生了积极影响, 展示了用户对微信红包的喜悦和兴奋程度。此外, 亲密关系对假设连接的正向调节效应表明, 三代人都可能接受游戏化货币功能。这些结果为我们理解移动支付服务背景下游戏化对三代人的贡献提供了实质性的帮助。
创新性
该研究独特之处在于它着眼于中国三代人如何将微信支付用于日常交易。该框架证实了游戏化元素如何提高用户绩效并鼓励继续使用移动支付系统。
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The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of e-service quality and e-trust on customer e-satisfaction and, subsequently, on customer e-loyalty towards a website in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of e-service quality and e-trust on customer e-satisfaction and, subsequently, on customer e-loyalty towards a website in the online shopping environment of Pakistan.
Design/methodology/approach
The research employed a quantitative approach and utilised structural equation modelling to investigate the relationship between e-service quality and e-trust on consumers’ e-satisfaction and e-loyalty. The data were collected from 250 individuals who actively use online shopping websites to purchase products in Pakistan.
Findings
The findings revealed that e-service quality and e-trust offered on e-commerce websites significantly impacted customer e-loyalty. However, it was found that both e-service quality and e-trust do not have a significant impact on customer e-satisfaction. In addition, the findings showed that customer e-satisfaction positively impacts e-loyalty.
Research limitations/implications
Overall, these findings emphasise the importance of e-service quality, e-trust and customer e-satisfaction and their role in cultivating customer loyalty within the context of the online shopping environment in Pakistan.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the existing literature on online shopping in Pakistan by exploring the factors influencing consumer behaviour in this context. The findings add to the academic understanding of consumer behaviour and provide valuable insights for e-commerce businesses in Pakistan.
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Afreen Khan, Swaleha Zubair and Samreen Khan
This study aimed to assess the potential of the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) Scale in the prognosis of dementia in elderly subjects.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aimed to assess the potential of the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) Scale in the prognosis of dementia in elderly subjects.
Design/methodology/approach
Dementia staging severity is clinically an essential task, so the authors used machine learning (ML) on the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features to locate and study the impact of various MR readings onto the classification of demented and nondemented patients. The authors used cross-sectional MRI data in this study. The designed ML approach established the role of CDR in the prognosis of inflicted and normal patients. Moreover, the pattern analysis indicated CDR as a strong cohort amongst the various attributes, with CDR to have a significant value of p < 0.01. The authors employed 20 ML classifiers.
Findings
The mean prediction accuracy varied with the various ML classifier used, with the bagging classifier (random forest as a base estimator) achieving the highest (93.67%). A series of ML analyses demonstrated that the model including the CDR score had better prediction accuracy and other related performance metrics.
Originality/value
The results suggest that the CDR score, a simple clinical measure, can be used in real community settings. It can be used to predict dementia progression with ML modeling.
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Agnishwar Girigoswami, Poornima Govindharaj, Mahashweta Mitra Ghosh and Koyeli Girigoswami
Abstract
Purpose
In addition to agriculture, energy production, and industries, potable water plays a significant role in many fields, further increasing the demand for potable water. Purification and desalination play a major role in meeting the need for clean drinking water. Clean water is necessary in different areas, such as agriculture, industry, food industries, energy generation and in everyday chores.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors have used the different search engines like Google Scholar, Web of Science, Scopus and PubMed to find the relevant articles and prepared this mini review.
Findings
The various stages of water purification include coagulation and flocculation, coagulation, sedimentation and disinfection, which have been discussed in this mini review. Using nanotechnology in wastewater purification plants can minimize the cost of wastewater treatment plants by combining several conventional procedures into a single package.
Social implications
In society, we need to avail clean water to meet our everyday, industrial and agricultural needs. Purification of grey water can meet the clean water scarcity and make the environment sustainable.
Originality/value
This mini review will encourage the researchers to find out ways in water remediation to meet the need of pure water in our planet and maintain sustainability.
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Bijoylaxmi Sarmah, Shampy Kamboj and Ravi Chatterjee
The present study examines the antecedents of learned helplessness, i.e. intrinsic and environmental constraints and consequences, i.e. intention to travel and expectation in the…
Abstract
Purpose
The present study examines the antecedents of learned helplessness, i.e. intrinsic and environmental constraints and consequences, i.e. intention to travel and expectation in the context of people with disability (PwD) tourism context by applying the “Theory of Learned Helplessness”.
Design/methodology/approach
The survey method was used to gather data from 209 physically disabled people who had visited/traveled to any tourist destination in the past twelve months. Structural equation modeling technique was used to analyze data.
Findings
The findings reveal that intrinsic and environmental constraints positively influence learned helplessness. Consequently, learned helplessness negatively effects intention to travel and positively affects expectation of PWD tourist' toward a travel destination. Furthermore, learned helplessness contributed as a mediator between intrinsic constraints and intention to travel toward a tourist destination.
Originality/value
Even though the body of literature on associations studied pertaining the conceptual lens of learned helplessness is widely recognized, there is dearth of literature investigating the connections between travel constraints, learned helplessness, PwDs intention and their expectation in travel destination context.
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Kanza Abid, Zafar Iqbal Shams, Muhammad Suleman Tahir and Arif Zubair
The presence of heavy metals in milk causes many acute and chronic physiological dysfunctions in human organs. The present study aims to investigate the heavy metals in cow's and…
Abstract
Purpose
The presence of heavy metals in milk causes many acute and chronic physiological dysfunctions in human organs. The present study aims to investigate the heavy metals in cow's and buffalo's milk of two major cities, Karachi and Gujranwala, Pakistan to estimate metal intake by humans from this source.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 48 milk samples from 2 cities were drawn from animals' udder to avoid contamination. Each sample was digested with nitric acid at 105 oC (degree Celsius) on a pre-heated electric hot plate to investigate the metals by atomic absorption spectroscopy (flame type). Air-acetylene technique analyzed chromium, cadmium and lead, and the hydride method analyzed arsenic in the milk samples.
Findings
The results revealed the highest mean lead concentration (19.65 ± 43.86 ppb) in the milk samples, followed by chromium (2.10 ± 2.33 ppb) and arsenic (0.48 ± 0.73 ppb). Cadmium was not detected in any sample, assuming cadmium's occurrence was below the detection level. The concentrations of all the metals in the samples of the two cities do not differ statistically. Lead concentrations in the buffalo's milk were higher than in cow's milk (p < 0.05). However, the concentrations of arsenic and chromium between buffalo's and cow's milk do not differ statistically. The present study reveals a lower level of metals in the milk than those conducted elsewhere. The mean concentrations of all the metals met the World Health Organization's (WHO) safety guidelines (1993).
Research limitations/implications
Although cadmium causes toxicity in the human body, cadmium could not be measured because cadmium's concentration was below the detection level, which is 1 ppb.
Practical implications
This study will help reduce the toxic metals in our environment, and the sources of heavy metals, particularly from the industrial sector could be identified. The feed and water consumed by the milking animals could be carefully used for feeding them.
Social implications
This study will help reduce the diseases and malfunction of human organs and organ systems since these heavy metals cause toxicity and carcinogenicity in humans. Arsenic and chromium cause cancer while lead causes encephalopathy (a brain disease).
Originality/value
The study reports heavy metal concentrations in the two attributes of four independent variables of raw milk samples that were scarcely reported from Pakistan.
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Sherali Zeadally, Farhan Siddiqui, Zubair Baig and Ahmed Ibrahim
The aim of this paper is to identify some of the challenges that need to be addressed to accelerate the deployment and adoption of smart health technologies for ubiquitous…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to identify some of the challenges that need to be addressed to accelerate the deployment and adoption of smart health technologies for ubiquitous healthcare access. The paper also explores how internet of things (IoT) and big data technologies can be combined with smart health to provide better healthcare solutions.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors reviewed the literature to identify the challenges which have slowed down the deployment and adoption of smart health.
Findings
The authors discussed how IoT and big data technologies can be integrated with smart health to address some of the challenges to improve health-care availability, access and costs.
Originality/value
The results of this paper will help health-care designers, professionals and researchers design better health-care information systems.
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Muhammad Haroon Shoukat, Kareem M. Selem, Mukaram Ali Khan and Ali Elsayed Shehata
This paper investigates the focal role of close co-worker friendship in reducing incivility. Furthermore, this paper examines negative workplace gossip as a mediator and gender…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper investigates the focal role of close co-worker friendship in reducing incivility. Furthermore, this paper examines negative workplace gossip as a mediator and gender and promotion focus as moderators.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a time-lagged approach, 553 full-service restaurant front-line co-workers in Greater Cairo responded. Further, the data were analyzed using SmartPLS v.4.
Findings
Promotion focus weakened close co-workers’ friendships, causing them to speak negatively about each other with other co-workers. Multi-group analysis showed that males were more likely to spread negative gossip about their close co-workers and thus were subjected to incivility-related behaviors by their co-workers.
Originality/value
This paper is an early attempt to explore the focal role of promotion focus in the full-service restaurant context. This paper adds to affective events theory (AET) with a limited understanding of explaining and predicting co-worker incivility.
研究目的
本文擬探討同僚間緊密的友好關係在減少不文明行為方面所扮演的重要角色。此外、本文擬把職場的流言蜚語看作是調解員而對其加以探索; 本文亦把性別和對晉升的關注看作是仲裁人而進行探究。
研究設計/方法/理念
研究人員使用時間差距法進行研究和探討。數據來自553名於大開羅提供整套服務的餐館內工作的一線員工所給予的回應。研究人員以SmartPLS 結構方程建模軟體第四版 (SmartPLS v.4) 對數據進行分析。
研究結果
研究人員發現,僱員對晉升的關注削弱了同僚間緊密的友好關係,並驅使他們在其他同事中對同僚作負面的評價。另外,多組分析顯示了男性員工更有可能散播關於其要好同僚的閒言閒語,因此,他們會遭受同僚不文明的待遇。
研究的原創性
本研究是早期的嘗試,去探索在提供整套服務餐館的背景下,僱員對晉升的關注所扮演的重要角色。另外,本研究的結果將會添加至情感事件理論 - 該理論就解釋和預測同僚不文明行為所提供的闡釋似有點不足。
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The purpose of this paper is to explore the causes and impact of predatory online publishing on Islamic economics and finance.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the causes and impact of predatory online publishing on Islamic economics and finance.
Design/methodology/approach
The method adopted involves a library literature scan to identify the origin and expansion of predatory publishing, as references listed in the paper show. The personal experience and observation of the author over the decades of teaching at various universities endorses the evidence.
Findings
The focus on “publish or perish” has led to division of Islamic scholars into conservative and modern economists, and it led to the overuse of mathematical and parametric modeling to the disadvantage of the discipline essentially imbued with unquantifiable ethical norms and values.
Practical implications
The study seeks to induce fruitful and purposive change in the research designs and direction of Islamic economics and finance.
Originality/value
This research initiates discussion on predatory publishing, an issue so far untouched in Islamic economics. It explores its impact on the discipline and suggests ways to curb the malady.