The purpose of this paper is to incorporate an extended technology acceptance model (TAM) and examine how various factors comprehensively influence and determine consumers’…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to incorporate an extended technology acceptance model (TAM) and examine how various factors comprehensively influence and determine consumers’ perceptions, attitude, and usage intention of 3D-printed apparel.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey was designed using established measures and 1,002 participants were recruited.
Findings
All external variables were related. Beyond indirect influences, tech optimism still moderately influenced ease of use, but weakly influenced attitude; aesthetics still strongly influenced usefulness and attitude, but weakly influenced usage intention; performance still strongly influenced ease of use, usefulness, and attitude. In addition, only indirect influences came from tech optimism to usefulness and usage intention, aesthetics to ease of use, and performance to usage intention. The TAM relationships were mostly confirmed, except ease of use to usefulness. Usage intention was mostly determined by attitude, which was largely influenced by design, performance, and usefulness, and limitedly contributed by aesthetics and usefulness.
Research limitations/implications
Participants’ response might be influenced by the provided materials of 3D-printed apparel.
Practical implications
The present study explicitly showed a complete picture about all possible influences among factors. Business managers can make strategies to meet consumers’ needs based on the current study without worrying about overlooking any possible effects.
Originality/value
The current study, for the first time, examined: consumers’ adoption intention of 3D-printed apparel, the relationships among external variables, and how external factors comprehensively influenced consumers’ perceptions, attitude, and usage intention.
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Claudia Lanza, Antonietta Folino, Erika Pasceri and Anna Perri
The aim of this study is a semantic comparative analysis between the current pandemic and the Spanish flu. It is based on a bilingual terminological perspective oriented to…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study is a semantic comparative analysis between the current pandemic and the Spanish flu. It is based on a bilingual terminological perspective oriented to evaluate and compare the terms used to describe and communicate the pandemic's issues both to biomedical experts and to a non-specialist public.
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis carried out is a terminological comparative investigation performed on two corpora, the first containing scientific English articles, the second Italian national newspapers' issues on two pandemics, the Spanish flu and the current Covid-19 disease, towards the detection of semantic similarities and differences among them through the implementation of computational tasks and corpus linguistics methodologies.
Findings
Given the cross-fielding representativeness of terms, and their relevance within specific historical eras, our study is conducted both on a synchronic and on a diachronic level to discover the common lexical usages in the dissemination of the pandemic issues.
Originality/value
The study presents the extraction of the main representative terms about two pandemics and their usages to share news about their trends among the population and the integration of a topic modeling detection procedure to discover some of the main categories representing the lexicon of the pandemics with reference to a list of classes created by external thesauri and ontologies on pandemics. As a result, a detailed overview of the discrepancies, as well as similarities, retrieved in two historical corpora dealing with a common subject, i.e. the pandemics' terminology, is provided.
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– The purpose of this paper is to understand Eco-Apparel consumption behavior in consumers who care about the environment.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand Eco-Apparel consumption behavior in consumers who care about the environment.
Design/methodology/approach
A snowball sampling technique was used to recruit 16 participants for in-depth interviews.
Findings
Two attitude-behavior gaps existed: the gap between environmental attitude and Eco-Apparel purchasing behavior; and the gap between Eco-Apparel attitude and Eco-Apparel purchasing behavior. There were two connections: product and emotional benefits leaded to Eco-Apparel purchasing behavior; and personal cost benefits, emotional benefits, and economic considerations leaded to Eco-Apparel using and disposing behavior. These gaps and connections suggested participants have certain standards regarding Eco-Apparel consumption. First, the standard of purchasing Eco-Apparel was the same as regular apparel. Second, participants did not want to expend much effort. Third, for some participants, emotional benefits (e.g. fun, good feeling, satisfaction) were important.
Research limitations/implications
The small sample size and the snowball sampling technique limit generalization of the study’s findings.
Practical implications
These findings might be of interest to apparel manufacturers and retailers who want to re-enforce consumers’ positive attitudes leading to actual purchase and consumption behaviors.
Originality/value
The current study for the first time examines the attitude-behavior gaps, proposes reasons behind these gaps, as well as connections between benefits and Eco-Apparel usage and disposal behaviors. In addition, the proposed framework is the first attempt to illustrate the relationships among gaps, connections, and consumption standards.
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Perry den Brok, Anna van der Want, Douwe Beijaard and Theo Wubbels
In this chapter, a model to understand teachers’ professional identity, appraisals and behaviours in the classroom is presented and illustrated with empirical data. It is argued…
Abstract
In this chapter, a model to understand teachers’ professional identity, appraisals and behaviours in the classroom is presented and illustrated with empirical data. It is argued that the comparison between interpersonal identity standards and interpersonal appraisals of classroom situations results in two types of emotions experienced by teachers. One type of emotion is the direct result of teachers’ interpretations of, and coping with, specific classroom events whereby their emotions are part of the appraisal process of situations and evaluated in the light of their interpersonal role identity standards. The second type of emotion emerges as a result of tensions or dilemmas of prolonged differences between appraisals and identity standards. It is argued that the Teacher Interpersonal Identity Role and Appraisal model is helpful for both researchers and practitioners to better understand, recognise and support beginning (and experienced) teachers with emotions that occur in the classroom, and to help stimulate both their personal as well as professional development.
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Three types of industrial buyer-seller relational process models are available: joining theory, stage theory, and state theory. However, historically, these models have developed…
Abstract
Three types of industrial buyer-seller relational process models are available: joining theory, stage theory, and state theory. However, historically, these models have developed based on the knowledge and cultural context of the Western world. Several researchers note that national culture may have an impact on international industrial buyer-seller relationships. Including culture in the models is highly important, especially as the business environment is increasingly more global and different countries have different business cultures. The goal of this paper is to define the most suitable industrial buyer-seller relational process models for describing relationships in various contexts. The paper includes a through literature review and a single case study in order to reach this objective. A new state theory model evolved during the research. It consists of two beginning states: searching and starting; four purely middles states: constant/static, decline, growth, and troubled; and a purely end state: termination. The state of dormant/inert is both a middle state and an end state, that is, when the relational actors are not in contact does not mean that the relationship has ended, but instead, for example, new legislation may have been implemented, which requires the actors to evaluate their relationship and its future. A relationship goes through the two beginning states in the order mentioned above, but after that, any state may occur.
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Antonio Crupi, Nicola Del Sarto, Alberto Di Minin, Gian Luca Gregori, Dominique Lepore, Luca Marinelli and Francesca Spigarelli
This study aims to understand if and how European digital innovation hubs (DIHs) filling the role of knowledge brokers (KBs) can support the digital transformation (DX) of small…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to understand if and how European digital innovation hubs (DIHs) filling the role of knowledge brokers (KBs) can support the digital transformation (DX) of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by triggering open innovation (OI) practices.
Design/methodology/approach
After presenting a conceptual model of reference, a survey and a subsequent in-depth interview were conducted to capture evidence from Italian DIHs. These structures were selected for their growing importance, as confirmed by the National Plan for Industry 4.0.
Findings
The findings highlight that Italian DIHs act not only as KBs but also as knowledge sources that give rise to a digital imprinting process that is able to shape the DX of SMEs.
Originality/value
Research on knowledge sharing and OI has mainly focused on large firms. The study covers the gaps identified in the literature by considering the role of KBs in enabling SMEs to embrace DX.
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Lynn Carol Cuddihy and Anna Waugh
The purpose of this paper is to critically examine school teachers’ experiences and beliefs regarding parenting and infant mental health (IMH) promotion, starting with the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to critically examine school teachers’ experiences and beliefs regarding parenting and infant mental health (IMH) promotion, starting with the research question: How do teachers in two secondary schools view their roles regarding parenting and IMH promotion?
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative, exploratory focus groups were used with two groups of teachers that delivered personal social education (PSE) in schools.
Findings
Teachers currently have varying roles in PSE delivery. Interaction within focus groups can generate changes of opinions. Teachers do not promote parenting and IMH but are keen for support and training to do so to enable them to benefit future parents.
Research limitations/implications
This was a small-scale study. There was limited breadth of knowledge and experience of participants. The study highlights the need for further research and support and training for school-based staff in parenting promotion.
Social implications
The significance of parenting and IMH is well evidenced by theory, practice and policies. A potential strategy to prevent child developmental difficulties is to educate young people about parenting and IMH before they become parents.
Originality/value
No similar research was found in this area at the time of the study.
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Friederike Redlbacher, Nale Lehmann-Willenbrock and Jetta Frost
Novel ideas emerge from conversational interaction dynamics in meetings that are organizational practices of interaction. Drawing from meeting science with a focus on multiparty…
Abstract
Novel ideas emerge from conversational interaction dynamics in meetings that are organizational practices of interaction. Drawing from meeting science with a focus on multiparty talk in meetings as communicative events, we refer to interaction dynamics as sequences of verbal statements. We explore patterns of verbal statements in idea generation processes in an explorative, inductive field study of ministerial think tank meetings. These are recurring agile meetings with interactive, free-flowing communication. By utilizing the validated, fine-grained act4teams coding scheme, we differentiate between task-related, procedural, and socio-emotional statements made in these meetings. Our findings show that the interactions within agile meetings are characterized by intensified turn-taking, overlapping speech, and joint heightened involvement. By means of lag sequential analysis, we find that novel ideas emerge from interaction cycles of task and socio-emotional statements. Among the latter, active listening expressed by “mm” or “yeah” is of particular importance for triggering novel ideas. As such, we reveal the micro-level emergence of novel ideas in conversational interaction by highlighting the facilitative function of active listening.
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Poul Houman Andersen, Anna Dubois and Frida Lind
Recent research suggests that the interest in process-based single-case studies is increasing in business-to-business (B2B) marketing. This paper aims to discuss research validity…
Abstract
Purpose
Recent research suggests that the interest in process-based single-case studies is increasing in business-to-business (B2B) marketing. This paper aims to discuss research validity issues and dilemmas encountered by process-based single-case researchers in B2B marketing.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a methodology paper that builds on an integration of experiences, ideas and literature.
Findings
In the paper, three dilemmas are suggested that researchers need to deal with in process-based single-case research. These relate to the casing process: crafting the case, communicating the case and describing the process of the study. Furthermore, process validation is suggested as a research quality concept concerned with how these dilemmas are handled.
Research limitations implications
Based on the notion of process validation, the authors provide suggestions for how casing, as a process-based single-case approach, can be conveyed and advanced in its own right.
Practical implications
This study can be used to convey insights that can help new and experienced researchers in conducting single-case studies in B2B.
Originality/value
Coping with issues of research quality in B2B marketing is of relevance to researchers dealing with process-based single-case research and process validation issues, as well as to journal reviewers evaluating the qualities of process-based single-case research.