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Defines terrorism and the problems of agreeing on a definition, citing the Finance of Terrorism Convention, which essentially equates terrorism with politically motivated violence. Extends the emphasis on semantics to describing what it means to “finance” terrorism, again citing the Finance of Terrorism Convention ‐ and domestic legislation in the Canada, the UK and the USA, which is broader in scope than the Convention. Outlines the advantages and problems of proscribing financing of terrorism rather the terrorist activities. Assesses the prospects for international cooperation against terrorist financing, noting that the scope for this is limited to countries which regard the same acts as criminal and place the same importance on preventing them.

Graduate students of the University of New England (U.N.E.) during the period 1970–1984 wrote one hundred dissertations on morale in a wide variety of educational institutions. The Staff Morale Questionnaire (S.M.Q.) developed and progressively refined at U.N.E. was extensively used in these and other studies in Australia. The project's greatest value lay in the way it enabled external (i.e. off‐campus) students to develop their academic critical abilities in a guided research effort, and in the ripple effect which has enabled numerous administrators in Australian schools to gain some sensitisation to and understanding of the importance of organisational morale.

This paper reviews experience with credit union demutualisation to date in the light of increasing discussion about whether demutualisation is a likely (or inevitable) future stage in the evolutionary process. It is argued that the credit union industry faces an inherent demutualisation bias which emerges as the sector develops maturity. Contributing factors include the emergence of professional management pursuing personal objectives, together with the economic realities of technological change, financial liberalisation, increased competition, and prudential regulation based on minimum capital requirements. Demutualisation incentives may partially reflect the unsuitability of the mutual form of governance in larger, more sophisticated financial institutions, but there is also a significant risk of demutualisation based on wealth expropriation motives. Alternative policies and strategies which might avoid this demutualisation bias are examined.

Although humanoid robots are increasingly adopted in many business settings, the dynamic effects of anthropomorphism and the functional perceptions of service robots on consumers’ responses remain unclear. This paper aims to examine the impacts of robot anthropomorphism on consumers’ trust, receptivity and the downstream effect on satisfaction. Furthermore, it examines the mediating effects of perceived ease of use (PEOU) and perceived usefulness (PU) in the relationship between anthropomorphism and consumer responses.

After conducting two separate pilot studies to help design the research materials, this research involves three sequential studies. In studies 1A and 1B, the authors used two distinct humanoid robots (i.e. Connie and Pepper) to test the direct effects of anthropomorphism on trust and receptivity and the mediated effects via PEOU and PU. Study 2 conducted a 2 (robot appearance: machine-like vs. human-like) × 2 (task complexity: low vs. high) between-subjects experimental design to further explore the boundary effects of task complexity on trust and customer satisfaction.

This research theorizes and empirically examines the mediating effects of PEOU and PU in the relationship between anthropomorphism and consumers’ responses (i.e. trust and receptivity) to service robots. Results also demonstrate a moderating role of task complexity, whereby only when the task was complex did anthropomorphism affect consumer responses and customer satisfaction. The parallel mediations of PEOU and PU were also confirmed. However, when task complexity was low, the authors observed no differences between human- and machine-like robots.

First, this research used a scenario-based method by exposing participants to different pictures or videos of service robots and measuring individuals’ responses. Consumers may respond differently upon interacting with robots in actual service contexts. Second, future research could investigate the effects of other aspects of anthropomorphism, such as robots’ voice characteristics (gender, high/low pitch), verbal communication styles and emotional expression. Finally, future research could explore other service contexts to test the generalizability of the findings.

Findings of this study also provide useful insight for companies interested in adopting service robots. First, the authors unearthed several positive outcomes of using human-like versus machine-like robots in service settings. Despite concerns about the perceived creepiness and discomfort associated with human-like robots, managers should not worry about these service agents’ potential negative effects. Second, it shows that human-like robots’ competitive advantage over machine-like robots stands out when task complexity is high. Managers should therefore carefully consider relevant service characteristics and task requirements when deciding whether to adopt robots.

This study provides original and valuable contributions to the growing literature on service robots by addressing scholarly incongruencies regarding the impact of anthropomorphism and disentangling its positive influence on consumers’ perceptions and acceptance of service robots. This study also contributes to research on technology acceptance and service robot receptivity by empirically demonstrating the mediating role of PEOU and PU. Furthermore, this research enriches the body of knowledge on task-technology fit by providing evidence that task complexity is a crucial factor to consider in service robot design.

The purpose of this study was to identify existing users' acceptance of the multidimensional health and fitness features of wrist-worn wearable devices (WWDs) required for each stage of physical activity (i.e. before, during and after) and examine the relationship between its acceptance (i.e. knowledge acquisition, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use) and the actual use of its health and fitness attributes.

Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were taken to analyze the relationships. A focus group interview was conducted (N = 9) to design the research model, including the operationalized definition of the study constructs. A questionnaire survey was conducted with respondents in South Korea (N = 480). Partial least squares structural equation modeling via Smart PLS 3.0 was employed to test the hypotheses.

When users learned to use fitness functions and perceived them as useful for physical activity without causing any difficulty, they tended to use those functions more, which provided enhanced health benefits in the digitalized interactive environment of WWDs.

This research is one of the first to examine the relationship between the perceived user value of WWDs and their actual usage within a digitalized and interactive environment. The results are expected to offer theoretical insights into how well users accept the health and fitness components of WWDs. Practically, it will build awareness of what makes users adopt and use WWDs, helping practitioners design better health promotions and campaigns associated with WWDs.

The purpose of this study is to examine students' perception of mobile technology adoption for library service apps as a lens to explore the factors affecting mobile learning in higher education.

With the data collected from university students from Hong Kong and Japan, the authors conducted a comparative study for gaining a better understanding of students' perceptions toward adopting mobile apps as learning tools and other socio-cultural factors affecting such adoption. In particular, the authors derive alternative models from our analysis (benchmarked on technology acceptance model and unified theory of acceptance and use of technology) for a better explanation of the formation of the intentions, and, more importantly, cultural factors would affect such formation, as informed by the Hofstede Cultural Dimensions.

The findings are valuable for enhancing the effectiveness and adoption of mobile services for teaching and learning purposes in the context of higher education, as the focus of promotion of services should be tailored to the different student expectations in different regions, e.g. mainly performance expectancy in Japan versus in Hong Kong facilitating condition, performance expectancy and perceived usefulness altogether.

Defined as contributing to the development of learning assistance, mobile technology for library use and information access have become a significant issue raised in many higher educational institutions over the world, as the characteristics of mobile technology, such as portability and mobility, strengthen its possible use in education. However, scant research has been done in understanding the perception of mobile library use and factors affecting the behavioral intentions through the use of mobile technologies in Hong Kong and most Asian countries have not been sufficiently studied.

There is strong consensus that the Internet has the potential to positively impact firms, and SMEs in particular; however, not all firms have realized benefits from adoption. The present study extends research in the area by addressing the need to examine the “chain” of variables explaining Internet adoption. We do this by exploring SME owner/manager Internet-related usefulness and ease-of-use cognitions and intention to use the Internet for supplier information management. We also explore the influence of behavioral norms and two broader strategic perspectives, market and learning orientation, on the Internet-related cognitions. Findings have implications for researchers and practitioners by identifying factors that contribute to effectively leveraging the Internet in an important area for SMEs.

This paper aims to investigate what motivates consumers to adopt one of the emerging mobile applications of the sharing economy, ridesharing application. Using social cognitive theory as the theoretical framework, this study develops a value adoption model to illustrate important factors that influence adoption of ridesharing applications.

Based on prior literature, a quantitative methodology was adopted using a survey questionnaire that allows for the measurement of the nine constructs contained in the hypothesized theoretical model. Data collected from a sample of 314 respondents in Beijing, China provided the foundation for the examination of the proposed relationships in the model.

First, the results indicate that self-efficacy is a fundamental factor that has a direct effect on consumers’ perceptions of value and an indirect effect on behavioral intentions. Second, the study demonstrates that functional value, emotional value and social value are critical antecedents of overall perceived value of ridesharing applications. On the other hand, learning effort and risk perception are not significant perceived costs for consumers in adopting ridesharing applications.

Although typical adopters of internet applications constitute a significant portion of younger consumers, the use of a college student sample in this study may affect the generalizability of the results.

The findings provide critical insight into consumer motivations behind adoption of ridesharing applications specifically, and for sharing economy platforms in general.

This study provides important theoretical implications for innovation adoption research through an empirical examination of the relationship between personal, environmental and behavioral factors in a framework of social cognitive theory.

This article examines the new phenomenon of the convergence of platform and pipeline business models. It examines the potential synergies and challenges for platforms to add pipeline components and vice versa for pipeline businesses.

This paper uses a conceptual approach that synthesizes and integrates the literature from service, hospitality, and strategy, and supplements them with two illustrative mini-case studies.

While the extant literature typically focuses on the dichotomy between incumbent pipeline businesses that create value by controlling a linear series of activities and network effects-driven platforms, we differentiate between two types of platform business models (i.e. platforms with asset control and platforms with peer-provided assets). Further, we identify three common pathways of convergence; that is, pipelines moving towards (1) platforms with asset control and (2) those with peer-provided assets, and (3) platforms with peer-provided assets adopting defining business characteristics of pipelines. Furthermore, we contrast key characteristics of the three business models and examine potential synergies and challenges for business model convergence. Our findings suggest that convergence from pipelines to platforms with asset control seems to be a natural extension that offers many potential synergies and relatively minor challenges. In contrast, convergence from pipelines to platforms with peer-provided assets is likely to encounter more serious challenges and few synergies. Finally, the synergies and challenges of convergence from platforms with peer-provided assets to pipelines seem to be in between the other two in terms of synergies and challenges.

This article helps managers think through key considerations regarding potential synergies to develop and challenges to mitigate for embarking on convergence strategies between pipeline and platform business models.

This article is the first in the service, business model and strategy literature to identify, define, and conceptualize business model convergence between platforms with asset control, those with peer-provided assets and pipeline businesses. It is also the first to examine potential synergies and challenges these different paths of business model convergence may entail.