Luke Butcher, Oliver Tucker and Joshua Young
Pervasive mobile games (PMG) expand the game context into the real world, spatially, temporally and socially. The most prominent example to date is Pokémon Go (PGo), which in the…
Abstract
Purpose
Pervasive mobile games (PMG) expand the game context into the real world, spatially, temporally and socially. The most prominent example to date is Pokémon Go (PGo), which in the first 12 months of its launch achieved over 800 million downloads and huge revenues for Pokémon, its majority owner Nintendo, and its developer Niantic. Like many mobile apps and innovative services, PGo's revenue structure requires continual usage (through in-app purchases and sponsorships) as it is free to download. Thus, as many players discontinued after initial adoption, substantial drops in Nintendo's share price occurred alongside the damage to brand equity. Such a case highlights the need to extend scholarship beyond traditional ‘adoption’ and begin to truly illustrate and explain the consumer behaviour phenomenon of ‘discontinuance’, particularly in the emerging and lucrative domain of PMGs.
Design/methodology/approach
Like many emerging marketing channels before it, large-scale discontinuance of PGo occurred and still remains unexplained in the academic literature. Herein, we address this shortcoming through a consumer case study methodology analysing a variety of data sources pertaining to PGo in Australia.
Findings
The development of the P2D_PMG model provides a new conceptual framework to illustrate the distinct forms discontinuance manifests in, for the first time. Scholarly rigour of the P2D_PMGs is achieved through validating and extending Soliman and Rinta-Kahila's (2020) framework for ‘discontinuance’ through its five forms. These forms are revealed as access and on-boarding (rejection), disconfirmation and hedonic adaptation (regressive discontinuance), technological, social, third parties, and personal issues (quitting), re-occurrences of hedonic adaptation (temporary), and alternatives and iterations (replacement).
Originality/value
Conceptual contributions are made in developing a model to explain what drives PMG discontinuance and when it occurs. This is particularly crucial for products with revenue structures built on continual usage, instead of initial adoption. In deriving data from actual players and aggregate user behaviour over an extended time period, the innovative case study methodology validates new discontinuance research in a manner other methods cannot. Managerial implications highlight the importance of CX, alpha/beta testing, promotion and research, gameplay design and collaboration/community engagement.
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If you knew one of your child’s friends smoked pot with her mom, would that worry you? If you knew another one of your child’s friends spoke in tongues, would that worry you more…
Abstract
If you knew one of your child’s friends smoked pot with her mom, would that worry you? If you knew another one of your child’s friends spoke in tongues, would that worry you more or less?
Gad Yair and Orit Gazit
Studies of families and inequality in education have focused on the family as a preparatory institution for school. However, researchers have ignored the dynamic process of…
Abstract
Studies of families and inequality in education have focused on the family as a preparatory institution for school. However, researchers have ignored the dynamic process of engaging with academic learning at home on a daily basis and minimized the importance of homework and instruction in this setting. Home observations of Ethiopian families who immigrated to Israel are used here as a case to describe three distracting factors which alienate children from learning at home in lower-class, poor immigrant households: deprived physical settings, sensory bombardment, and emotional stress. By looking at learning at home, this study points at root causes of alienation from learning and thereby adds another perspective on reproduction in education. Our study casts doubt on the ability of home intervention programs to curb social inequalities in education.
Jungsun (Sunny) Kim, SungJun Joe and Mehmet Erdem
This study examined the antecedents of technostressors as well as how customers' perceived convenience and technostressors of using a check-in/out kiosk influence their behavioral…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examined the antecedents of technostressors as well as how customers' perceived convenience and technostressors of using a check-in/out kiosk influence their behavioral intention in a full-service hotel setting.
Design/methodology/approach
Using survey data collected from 630 hotel customers, hypotheses were tested via structural equation modeling and multi-group analysis.
Findings
The results showed that perceived usefulness of a check-in/out kiosk had direct effects on both technostressors (i.e. work overload and role ambiguity), and that perceived ease-of-use had indirect effects on the technostressors, via perceived usefulness. The findings showed that both role ambiguity and perceived convenience significantly influenced intention to use a check-in/out kiosk. Intention to use was positively associated with intention to revisit a hotel providing the kiosk. These findings were equivalent across the younger and older groups.
Practical implications
Based on the findings, hotels can implement effective strategies to reduce technostressors associated with a check-in/out kiosk and focus on enhancing the factors that influence customer acceptance of the system. This is especially important given the increased emphasis on self-service technology since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Originality/value
This research contributed to the relevant literature by developing a check-in/out kiosk acceptance model using a multi-theoretical approach, and empirically testing it within the full-service hotel domain. It fills the knowledge gap regarding the antecedents and outcomes of technostressors in the hospitality research literature by providing empirical evidence.
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This paper aims to examine whether a customer’s perceptions of hotel tablet apps serve as determinants of customers’ behavioral intention in terms of the app’s ease of use…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine whether a customer’s perceptions of hotel tablet apps serve as determinants of customers’ behavioral intention in terms of the app’s ease of use, usefulness, credibility and subjective norm. It also explored age and gender as moderators of the relationships between these determinants and customers’ behavioral intention as well as customers’ likelihood of using specific app functions across age and gender.
Design/methodology/approach
A research model, grounded in the technology acceptance model (TAM), used data collected from 751 hotel customers in the USA. The model was tested using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling.
Findings
The results showed that three of the four proposed determinants positively influenced customers’ behavioral intention toward hotel tablet apps. Neither gender nor age played significant moderating roles in the relationships between the four determinants and the behavioral intention. The study also revealed age- and gender-related differences in preferences for specific hotel tablet app functions.
Practical implications
This study helps operators successfully plan for investing in and implementing hotel apps. It assists operators in developing effective marketing strategies by understanding factors influencing customers’ app adoption and between group differences in their preferences on app functions.
Originality/value
This is the first tablet app adoption study that extends TAM to the hotel industry. Thus, it extends the literature on technology adoption by exploring both existing and new variables and testing them in a new context.
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The purpose of this paper is to debate the complexities of intervening with adults with learning disabilities and support staff in the natural environment and challenges of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to debate the complexities of intervening with adults with learning disabilities and support staff in the natural environment and challenges of evaluating change.
Design/methodology/approach
A critical review of the relevance and amenability of communication partnerships for interventions that promote communication growth in context was carried out. Particular consideration was given to the mechanism for change and implications for research design.
Findings
The communication partnership is a reasonable focus for interventions aiming to promote the communication of adults with learning disabilities. Combining instructional training with in situ coaching appears to provide the most effective approach. Bringing about change within the dynamic context of communication is challenging and may benefit from an open, investigative design.
Originality/value
This paper synthesises the available evidence on intervening in the communication environment and debates the potential of realist evaluation as a context-focused research design.
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Joshua J.S. Chang and Mark David Chong
Internet fraud is an epidemic that costs US$7.1 billion as of 2007. The advent of the internet and proliferation of its use makes it an attractive medium for communicating the…
Abstract
Purpose
Internet fraud is an epidemic that costs US$7.1 billion as of 2007. The advent of the internet and proliferation of its use makes it an attractive medium for communicating the fraud, particularly through the use of e‐mail. This paper aims to explain how victims of online fraud can be influenced by judgmental heuristics and cognition when they make nonnormative or sub‐optimal decisions.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper will analyse the content of 14 recent fraud e‐mails to explain how victims of online fraud can be influenced from a psychological perspective, using theories of bounded rationality, judgmental heuristics and cognition.
Findings
The paper suggests that e‐mail fraudsters, whether intentionally or not, employ specific methods that correspond closely to how the human mind works within a context of bounded rationality. These methods have a propensity to exploit psychological blind spots in victims caused by selective perception and post‐decisional dissonance, as well as sub‐optimal or nonnormative responses in automatic behaviour due to the common use of heuristics (for example, representativeness, availability and affect) when making decisions in complex task environments.
Originality/value
Considering the current and widespread problem of online fraud, this paper is expected to inform and prepare internet users against such deception by offering a better understanding of how fraudsters can psychologically influence the way victims and potential victims make their decisions.
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A September court decision allowed Joshua’s widow, Evelyn, finally to succeed him as senior pastor. SCOAN and other mega-churches play key political roles in Nigeria and their…
This chapter begins with the historical background to current educational provisions for students with disabilities and the significant role that parents have played. The focus…
Abstract
This chapter begins with the historical background to current educational provisions for students with disabilities and the significant role that parents have played. The focus then turns to the concept of transition to adulthood for these young people. The chapter addresses such topics as:
What are the experiences of students together with their parents, about leaving school and moving to the next stage in their lives?
What are the components of this transition?
How do the educators and providers manage their roles in this activity?
How are the parents involved?
What are the experiences of students together with their parents, about leaving school and moving to the next stage in their lives?
What are the components of this transition?
How do the educators and providers manage their roles in this activity?
How are the parents involved?
Enablers and barriers in this process are discussed through Papay and Bambara’s (2014) five practices, together with practical suggestions of how parents and professionals can work together to support young adults with special needs.