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The purpose of this paper is, based on leisure constraints and means-end theories, to identify the e-leisure constraints of using the video-sharing websites/apps; demonstrate how means-end theory can be used to reveal the differences between high- and low-leisure constraints in an e-leisure environment; and provide designers and marketers with valuable insights for developing e-leisure products and e-marketing strategies.

Both qualitative and quantitative approaches are employed to collect data. By eliminating three participants whose age range did not meet our criterion (15 to 24 years old), 57 one-on-one in-depth interviews were then content analyzed to design the survey questionnaire. A total of 514 valid samples were collected for hierarchical value map (HVM) construction.

By comparing the full HVM vs the e-leisure constraints HVM, the analytical results indicate that the importance of attributes, consequences and values for the young people using video-sharing websites/apps is quite different. “Unable to resume the video after leaving the screen,” “creating playlist,” “providing movies” and “location restrictions” are extremely important features that influence the willingness of such users with high e-leisure constraints to participate in e-leisure activities. By understanding the differences between these two HVMs, it is possible to provide marketers or designers with valuable insights for website/app design and marketing strategies.

This study only focused on young people’s perceptions of video-sharing websites/apps, so the findings are limited to those aged between 15 and 24 years old. Since managers today are challenged to design effective strategies that can meet target users’ demands across different ages with different economic, social and sub-cultural groups, future research may consider gathering a wider age range of respondents in order to obtain more robust results.

This is the first paper integrating leisure constraints theory and means-end theory to understand young people’s cognitive structure of using video-sharing websites/apps, especially when they encounter e-leisure constraints.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive model to illustrate the mediating role of sense of virtual community (SOVC) in virtual communities of practices (VCoPs). The interrelations between social capital and collective action in terms of knowledge contribution in the VCoP context are also examined.

A total of 253 members from the Zclub and Jorsindo, responded to the survey. PLS-SEM path modeling was used to analyze survey data.

Members’ structural capital and cognitive capital both positively and significantly influence members’ SOVC, and, in turn, their SOVC influences relational capital.

The study linked two theories, namely, social capital and theory of collective action, to discuss knowledge contribution in VCoPs. Social capital and SOVC have significant and positive effects on knowledge contribution in VCoPs.

Knowledge contributions in VCoPs are created through interactions among members, as well as the facilitation resulting from shared visions. Administrators can promote the formation of social-interaction ties in VCoPs to reinforce the formation of social capital and a SOVC.

Administrators of knowledge-oriented groups must strive to sustain proper levels of SOVC among members to ensure their continued participation in VCoPs.

The main objectives of this study were to examine the effects of social capital (structural, cognitive, and relational capitals) on the quality and quantity of knowledge contribution. SOVC was proposed as a mediator in the relationship between structural and/or cognitive capital toward relational capital.

By integrating the diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory, technology acceptance model (TAM), and social capital theory, the purpose of this paper is to: develop a model of consumer behavior and trial willingness toward nano-foods from product, consumer, and social perspectives; examine the effects of innovative features, consumer characteristics, and trust in authority on subjective perceptions (perceived trustworthiness and perceived benefit) as well as the social influence on attitudes toward nano-foods and trial willingness; examine the moderating role of product uncertainty on the relationship between these characteristics and subjective perceptions; and examine the effect of perceived benefit on perceived trustworthiness.

The results of the structural equation model (SEM), with nano-food knowledge data collected from 431 respondents, supported the research model and revealed the main effects hypothesized in this study and the moderating effect of product uncertainty. Simple slope analysis was further adopted to test the significant moderating effects.

The SEM results indicated that innovative characteristics (relative advantage, lack of observability, and novelty), consumer characteristics (perceived technology application), and social characteristics (trust in authority) affect perceived trustworthiness or perceived benefit. Social influence also has a direct effect on attitude toward nano-foods and trial willingness. Product uncertainty significantly moderates the relationship between characteristics (relative advantage and perceived technology application) and subjective perceptions (perceived trustworthiness and perceived benefit).

With increasing numbers and kinds of nanotechnology products now being developed and sold, it is important to go further to determine consumer perceptions and attitudes toward these. This study, thus, applied the DOI, TAM, and social capital theory to examine this issue. However, other theories might also be used to carry out research from other perspectives. This study should, thus, be seen as preliminary, and it is hoped that more works will discuss consumer attitudes toward nanotechnology products in the future.

When a new nano-food is introduced, the current study suggests that food manufacturers use the description on the package as a communicative tool. Detailing the advantages of nano-foods on food packages might be a useful way to enhance trial willingness and to reduce the fears and insecurities related to the use of nano-related products. In addition, if food manufacturers could cooperate with organizations or individuals seen as having some authority in this area (e.g. nanotechnology researchers) in order to disseminate accurate information about nanotechnology and related food products, this might be an effective way to increase sales and profits.

This is the first paper integrating the DOI, the social capital theory and the TAM to empirically investigate consumer willingness to try nano-food products.

A new integrated method based on the means‐end chain (MEC) analysis and factor analysis is proposed for developing intangible product‐mix strategies for convenience store (CVS) chains. With variables obtained from a survey on CVS service items, both analyses were used to derive the hierarchical value factor map (HVFM). The new map can handle and develop strategies for product differentiation, advertising and market segmentation. The purpose of this article is two‐fold: to propose improvements for the traditional MEC method of constructing the service hierarchical value map (HVM) and to formulate effective intangible‐product strategies.

The paper, based on the concepts of means‐end chain (MEC) theory and high versus low‐context cultures, aims to understand whether the differentiation of culture connotations is directly reflected in the design of web advertisements and whether the text content of web ads is a reliable indicator of different context cultures (e.g. implicit and explicit).

Changing consumer attitudes toward the use of credit provides huge business opportunities for credit card issuers. Obviously, credit card issuers have continued their efforts to persuade large numbers of people to obtain and use the cards. Credit cards can thus be considered a successful intercultural marketing case of product internationalisation. Therefore, this paper used web ads for credit cards as research subjects. This paper adopts MEC theory and the distinction between high‐ and low‐context cultures to identify whether the cultural context directly affects the design and content of web advertisements.

Through examining the advertising copy of credit card web sites, this study found that the higher the cultural context, the more complicated the cognitive attribute‐consequence‐value structures of web ad design. Thus, web design analysis reveals that marketers living in countries with high‐context cultures normally communicate indirectly with their target audience, leading to highly complex attribute‐consequence‐value linkage structures with many layers.

This is the first study to integrate the concepts of MEC theory and high versus low‐context cultures for understanding the impact of culture on web advertising. By understanding the differentiation of web ad designs across various cultures it is possible to provide marketers with valuable insights for developing advertising strategies in global markets.

Online retailing has attracted a lot of attention in recent years due to its great potential and significant implications for buyers and sellers. This study adopts the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) framework to illustrate how store layout design and atmosphere influence consumers' shopping intention on the website.

The sample for this study comprised 626 respondents from the internet users. A structural equation model was employed to identify the interrelationships of store layout design, atmosphere, emotional arousal, attitude toward the website, and purchase intention.

The analytical results of this study indicate that store layout design has significant impacts on emotional arousal and attitude toward the website, and thus has a positive influence on purchase intention. In addition, atmosphere has a more influential effect on emotional arousal than store layout design.

This study provides new insights into the influences of store layout design and atmosphere on consumer online shopping intentions.

The purpose of this paper is to extend the utilitarian value of the dedication-based relationship maintenance mechanism of social exchange theory and customer perceived relationship investment to investigate the relationship performance of a retailer launching a self-service technology (SST). Computer anxiety and time consciousness are hypothesized to moderate the effects among these relationships.

The results of the structural equation model, with in-store kiosk use experience data collected for 211 respondents, supported the research model. Multiple regression analysis was used for testing the moderating effects.

The utilitarian value of dedication-based relationship maintenance is related to perceived relationship investment. Higher levels of customer-perceived relationship investment impact relationship performance. Computer anxiety and time consciousness act separately as both partial and full moderators.

First, this study did not consider different kinds of products/services to have different effects with regard to customer cognition. Second, most of the respondents were students, and this is a limitation in business research, because of such factors as lower incomes and higher information technology ability as compared to individuals with other occupations. Third, it is difficult to distinguish whether the level of perceived convenience is due to the convenience stores per se or the in-store kiosks that they have. Future research may thus consider analyzing in more detail how perceived convenience is evoked. Finally, future research can consider constraint-based relationship maintenance mechanisms with regard to operating in-store kiosk businesses.

Retailers who are willing to continually launch SSTs should tie such efforts to their relationship marketing strategies. Moreover, retailers who are willing to launch e-businesses should establish strategies designed to enhance customer experience with regard to the use of technology. Finally, launching SSTs should involve the continual development of an effective purchasing process and functional relationship marketing strategies.

This paper can help managers organize relationship maintenance mechanisms, especially with regard to the development of user utilitarian value, in order to obtain improved relationship performance.

This study examines the effect of employees' perceptions of political connections on performance measurement systems (PMS) design choice and firm performance. In addition, this study explores the moderating effect of social networking, a very common and widely used factor by domestic and foreign multinational firms operating in China, and its joint effect with political connections or PMS design choice on firm performance. We collected survey responses from a sample of 110 managers from manufacturing firms in China. Our results reveal that highly politically connected managers use nonfinancial measures, leading to improved firm performance. Our results suggest that social networking interacts significantly with political connections, and nonfinancial and financial measures on firm performance. The theoretical and practical implications of our findings are discussed.

Building social capital between groups of people and developing social enterprises that integrate social goals into commercial business models are rapidly adopted as innovative poverty relief mechanisms across countries. Together, the translation of social relationships into increased accessibility to resources, and the entrepreneurial dynamics resulting in additional services and goods, are thought to meet the survival and developmental needs of poor families and communities. However, the socio-economic contexts, in which new public policies and initiatives have been taken, vary from country to country. In China, its strong Confucian culture, state-led development strategy, weak civil society, and hierarchical social relationships have contributed to a value structure of social capital, but decreased the efficiency of business practice in social enterprise. This chapter presents a case study of Rural Cooperative Program, a poverty relief initiative in China’s southwest Guizhou Province. With the introduction of China’s new policies in welfare and rural development, this chapter presents evaluation results of whether social enterprises and entrepreneurship can improve poor villagers’ socio-economic wellbeing and promote sustainable development of poor rural villages in China, and to what extent social capital has been mobilized to facilitate the Rural Cooperative Program.