Hyerim Cho, Wan-Chen Lee, Li-Min Huang and Joseph Kohlburn
Readers articulate mood in deeply subjective ways, yet the underlying structure of users' understanding of the media they consume has important implications for retrieval and…
Abstract
Purpose
Readers articulate mood in deeply subjective ways, yet the underlying structure of users' understanding of the media they consume has important implications for retrieval and access. User articulations might at first seem too idiosyncratic, but organizing them meaningfully has considerable potential to provide a better searching experience for all involved. The current study develops mood categories inductively for fiction organization and retrieval in information systems.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors developed and distributed an open-ended survey to 76 fiction readers to understand their preferences with regard to the affective elements in fiction. From the fiction reader responses, the research team identified 161 mood terms and used them for further categorization.
Findings
The inductive approach resulted in 30 categories, including angry, cozy, dark and nostalgic. Results include three overlapping mood families: Emotion, Tone/Narrative, and Atmosphere/Setting, which in turn relate to structures that connect reader-generated data with conceptual frameworks in previous studies.
Originality/value
The inherent complexity of “mood” should not dissuade researchers from carefully investigating users' preferences in this regard. Adding to the existing efforts of classifying moods conducted by experts, the current study presents mood terms provided by actual end-users when describing different moods in fiction. This study offers a useful roadmap for creating taxonomies for retrieval and description, as well as structures derived from user-provided terms that ultimately have the potential to improve user experience.
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The purpose of this paper is to analyze the readability and level of word complexity of search engine results pages (SERPs) snippets and associated web pages between Google and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the readability and level of word complexity of search engine results pages (SERPs) snippets and associated web pages between Google and Bing.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors employed the Readability Test Tool to analyze the readability and word complexity of 3,000 SERPs snippets and 3,000 associated pages in Google and Bing retrieved on 150 search queries issued by middle school children.
Findings
A significant difference was found in the readability of SERPs snippets and associated web pages between Google and Bing. A significant difference was also observed in the number of complex words in snippets between the two engines but not in associated web pages. At the engine level, the readability of Google and Bing snippets was significantly higher than associated web pages. The readability of Google SERPs snippets was at a much higher level than those of Bing. The readability of snippets in both engines mismatched with the reading comprehension of children in grades 6–8.
Research limitations/implications
The data corpus may be small. Analysis relied on quantitative measures.
Practical implications
Practitioners and other mediators should mitigate the readability issue in SERPs snippets. Researchers should consider text readability and word complexity simultaneously with other factors to obtain the nuanced understanding of young users’ web information behaviors. Additional theoretical and methodological implications are discussed.
Originality/value
This study measured the readability and the level of word complexity embedded in SERPs snippets and compared them to respective web pages in Google and Bing. Findings provide further evidence of the readability issue of SERPs snippets and the need to solve this issue through system design improvements.
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Dania Bilal and Li-Min Cassandra Huang
This paper aims to investigate user voice-switching behavior in voice assistants (VAs), embodiments and perceived trust in information accuracy, usefulness and intelligence. The…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate user voice-switching behavior in voice assistants (VAs), embodiments and perceived trust in information accuracy, usefulness and intelligence. The authors addressed four research questions: RQ1. What is the nature of users’ voice-switching behavior in VAs? RQ2: What are user preferences for embodied voice interfaces (EVIs), and do their preferred EVIs influence their decision to switch the voice on their VAs? RQ3: What are the users’ perceptions of their VAs concerning: a. information accuracy, b. usefulness, c. intelligence and d. the most important characteristics they must possess? RQ4: Do users prefer their voice interface to match their characteristics (age, gender, accent and race/ethnicity)?
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used a 52-question survey questionnaire to collect quantitative and qualitative data. The population was undergraduate students (freshmen and sophomores) at a research university in the USA. The students were enrolled in two required courses with a research participation assignment offered for credits. Students must register for research participation credits in the SONA Research Participation System www.sona-systems.com/platform/research-management/ Registered students cannot be invited or sampled to participate in a research study. There were 1,700 students enrolled in both courses. After the survey’s URL was posted in SONA, the authors received (n = 632) responses. Of these, (n = 150) completed the survey and provided valid responses.
Findings
Participants (43%) switched the voice interface in their VAs. They preferred American and British accents but trusted the latter. The British accent with a male voice was more trusted than the American accent with a female voice. Voice-switching decisions varied in the case of most and least preferred EVIs. Participants preferred EVIs that matched their characteristics. Most trusted their VAs’ information accuracy because they used the internet to find information, reflecting inadequate mental models. Lack of trust is attributed to misunderstanding requests and inability to respond accurately. A significant correlation was found between the participants’ perceived intelligence of their VAs and trust in information accuracy.
Research limitations/implications
Due to the wide variability in the data (e.g. 84% White, 6% Asian and 6% Black), the authors did not perform a statistical test to identify the significance between the selected EVIs and participants’ races or ethnicities. The self-reported survey questionnaire may be prone to inaccuracy. The participants’ interest in earning research credit for participation in this study and using SONA is a potential bias. The EVIs the authors used as embodiments are limited in their representation of people from diverse backgrounds, races, ethnicities, ages and genders. However, they could be examples for building prototypes to test in VAs.
Practical implications
Educators and information professionals should lead the way in offering artificial intelligence (AI) literacy programs to enable young adults to form more adequate mental models of VAs and support their learning and interactions. VA designers should address the failures and other issues the participants experienced in VAs to minimize frustrations. They should also train machine learning models on large data sets of complex queries to augment success. Furthermore, they should consider augmenting VAs’ personification with EVIs to enrich voice interactions and enhance personalization. Researchers should use a mixed research method with data triangulation instead of only a survey.
Social implications
There is a dire need to teach young adults AI literacy skills to enable them to build adequate mental models of VAs. Failures in VAs could affect users’ willingness to use them in the future. VAs can be effective teaching and learning tools, supporting students’ autonomous and personalized learning. Integrating EVIs with diverse characteristics could advance inclusivity in designing VAs and support personalization beyond language, accent and gender.
Originality/value
This study advances research on user voice-switching behavior in VAs, which has hardly been investigated in VA research. It brings attention to users’ experiential learning and the need for exposure to AI literacy to enable them to form adequate mental models of VAs. This study contributes to research on personifying VAs through EVIs with diverse characteristics to visualize voice interactions. Reasons for not switching the voice interface due to satisfaction with the current voice or a lack of knowledge of this feature did not support the status quo theory. Incorporating satisfaction and lack of knowledge as new factors could advance this theory. Switching the voice interface to avoid visualizing the least preferred EVIs in VAs is a new theme emerging from this study. Users’ trust in VAs’ information accuracy is intertwined with perceived intelligence and usefulness, but perceived intelligence is the strongest factor influencing trust.
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Wan-Chen Lee, Li-Min Cassandra Huang and Juliana Hirt
This study aims to understand fiction readers’ perspectives on the strengths and concerns of incorporating emojis into information systems for fiction. To solicit readers’…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to understand fiction readers’ perspectives on the strengths and concerns of incorporating emojis into information systems for fiction. To solicit readers’ feedback, the authors adopted Cho et al.’s (2023) model of three families of fiction mood categories as the theoretical framework. Based on this framework, prototypes of interface designs that implemented textual mood descriptors and/or emojis were developed.
Design/methodology/approach
Eighteen adult fiction readers at a US public university were recruited for online interviews. The participants shared their insights into the prototypes and their fiction search and review experiences.
Findings
Most participants preferred designs that support both mood terms and emojis. The findings highlighted the potential of emojis to improve metadata inclusivity and serve diverse users’ needs. Technical challenges and accessibility issues for blind or visually impaired users were noted as limitations of emoji implementation.
Originality/value
Based on established theoretical frameworks and emoji mappings for mood categories, this study advances the progress of implementing emojis into information systems for fiction. The findings will inform user-centered interface designs that support the description, search and review of fiction.
Wan-Chen Lee, Li-Min Cassandra Huang and Juliana Hirt
This study aims to explore the application of emojis to mood descriptions of fiction. The three goals are investigating whether Cho et al.'s model (2023) is a sound conceptual…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the application of emojis to mood descriptions of fiction. The three goals are investigating whether Cho et al.'s model (2023) is a sound conceptual framework for implementing emojis and mood categories in information systems, mapping 30 mood categories to 115 face emojis and exploring and visualizing the relationships between mood categories based on emojis mapping.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey was distributed to a US public university to recruit adult fiction readers. In total, 64 participants completed the survey.
Findings
The results show that the participants distinguished between the three families of fiction mood categories. The three families model is a promising option to improve mood descriptions for fiction. Through mapping emojis to 30 mood categories, the authors identified the most popular emojis for each category, analyzed the relationships between mood categories and examined participants' consensus on mapping.
Originality/value
This study focuses on applying emojis to fiction reading. Emojis were mapped to mood categories by fiction readers. Emoji mapping contributes to the understanding of the relationships between mood categories. Emojis, as graphic mood descriptors, have the potential to complement textual descriptors and enrich mood metadata for fiction.
Yi-Chun Huang, Chih-Hsuan Huang and Min-Li Yang
The purpose of this paper is to explore how internal and external factors simultaneously drive firms to adopt green supply chain (GSC) initiatives and to construct a comprehensive…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how internal and external factors simultaneously drive firms to adopt green supply chain (GSC) initiatives and to construct a comprehensive research model by drawing upon institutional theory, stewardship theory, and view of performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The data collected from 380 manufacturers in the electrical and electronics industries in Taiwan were analyzed via structural equation modeling and bootstrapping.
Findings
First, institutional pressures affect the GSC initiatives of firms. Second, institutional pressures influence the environmental stewardship behaviors (ESBs) of managers. Third, the ESBs of managers affect the GSC initiatives of firms. Fourth, the GSC initiatives of firms influence their environmental performance, economic performance, and competitiveness. Fifth, the bootstrapping results reveal that institutional pressures indirectly affect the GSC initiatives of firms through the ESBs of managers.
Research limitations/implications
Environmental sustainability has intensified the need for firms to develop a corporate culture. Future research can investigate the relationship among the institutional pressures, greening corporate culture, and GSC initiatives of firms.
Practical implications
Those managers facing institutional pressures must continually focus on the effects of external factors on the GSC initiatives of their firms. They must also increase their commitment and support to such initiatives to attain favorable levels of environmental performance, economic performance, and competitiveness.
Originality/value
This study integrates four streams of literature on institutional theory, stewardship theory, GSC initiatives, and view of performance. Apart from analyzing field- and organization-level data simultaneously, this paper is also the first to demonstrate the relationships among institutional pressures, ESBs of managers, GSC initiatives, and firm performance.
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Yi-Chun Huang, Min-Li Yang and Ying-Jiuan Wong
Little research has been conducted on the internal factors that drive green product (GP) innovation and how family influence affects firm adoption of GP innovation. This study…
Abstract
Purpose
Little research has been conducted on the internal factors that drive green product (GP) innovation and how family influence affects firm adoption of GP innovation. This study aims to apply multiple perspectives to bridge this research gap, adopting the resource-based view (RBV) to examine what and how internal factors affect firm adoption of GP innovation, and using the behavioral theory of family firms to investigate whether family influence fosters or hinders firm adoption of GP innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a multichannel approach and adopted content analysis to collect and evaluate data on listed Taiwanese firms and used cross-sectional regression analysis to examine the effect of internal factors and family influence on firm adoption of GP innovation.
Findings
The results showed that the internal factors of green capabilities, R&D intensity and firm size significantly and positively affected firm adoption of GP innovation separately. Furthermore, the study found that family influence (ownership and control) significantly and negatively affects firm adoption of GP innovation separately.
Research limitations/implications
This study contributes to the academic research of innovation management, green management and family firms in several aspects, but also has some limitations. This study examined only the relationship between a firm’s internal factors and GP innovation. Future research might test the relationship between a firm’s internal factors and adoption of green process innovation. In addition, such research can explore how integrated internal and external factors influence firm adoption of GP innovation.
Practical implications
From the RBV, the internal factors of green capabilities, R&D intensity and firm size that can exert crucial effects on firm engage in firm’s adoption of GP innovation. This study suggests that top managers in family-influenced businesses should maintain appropriate commitment and support for fostering and facilitating firm GP innovation.
Social implications
From the RBV, this study examined how internal factors affect firm adoption of GP innovation. Moreover, based on the behavioral theory of family firms, this study further examined how family influence (ownership and control) affects firm adoption of GP innovation. This paper extended both perspectives to examine green issues.
Originality/value
From the RBV, this study examined how internal factors affect firms’ GP innovation. Moreover, based on institutional theory, this study further examines how a family firm moderates the relationship between a firm’s internal factors and GP innovation. The paper extended both perspectives to probe further the green issues.
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Yi-Chun Huang, Min-Li Yang and Ying-Jiuan Wong
This study aims to explore the relationships among institutional pressures, commitment of resources and returns management. Returns management is regarded as a part of supply…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the relationships among institutional pressures, commitment of resources and returns management. Returns management is regarded as a part of supply chain management. However, the research in returns management has received much less attention. To bridge the gap, this study concerns key concepts from two important schools of thought, i.e. institutional theory and the resource-based view, to build up the research model.
Design/methodology/approach
Retailers and maintenance providers in the 3C industry (computers, communication and consumer electronics) in Taiwan were surveyed, and the statistical methods of hierarchical and moderated regression were used to examine the relationships among institutional pressures, commitment of resources and returns management.
Findings
Institutional pressures, comprising non-market and market pressures, affect the implementation of returns management (product return practices and product recovery practices). Commitments of resources positively and significantly moderate the relationship between the pressures imposed by non-market and market actors and product return practices and product recovery practices.
Research limitations/implications
This study investigates only the factors that drive returns management. Future research can examine the relationship between the antecedents and consequences of returns management. Furthermore, returns management may become increasingly critical for firms to develop and perform corporate social responsibility (CSR). Therefore, future research can investigate the relationship between CSR practices and returns management.
Practical implications
This research suggests that managers under institutional pressures should continually pay attention to the effects of external factors on returns management. Additionally, the results reveal that a commitment of resources can reinforce the relationship between the pressures imposed by non-market and market actors and the implementation of returns management. Under significant institutional pressures and resource constraints, managers may increase the effectiveness of returns management while attending to the concerns of non-market and market actors.
Originality/value
This study presents a model that considers three major explicative variables: institutional pressures, resources commitment and returns management. It is the first investigation to integrate three streams of literature on institutional theory, the resource-based view and returns management.
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Min Li, Wenyuan Huang, Chunyang Zhang and Zhengxi Yang
The purpose of this paper is to draw on triadic reciprocal determinism and social exchange theory to examine how “induced-type” and “compulsory-type” union participation influence…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to draw on triadic reciprocal determinism and social exchange theory to examine how “induced-type” and “compulsory-type” union participation influence union commitment and job involvement, and how union participation in the west differs from that in China. It also examines whether the role of both organizational justice and employee participation climate (EPC) functions in the Chinese context.
Design/methodology/approach
Cross-sectional data are collected from 694 employees in 46 non-publicly owned enterprises, both Chinese and foreign, in the Pearl River Delta region of China. A multi-level moderated mediation test is used to examine the model of this research.
Findings
Union participation is positively related to organizational justice, union commitment and job involvement. In addition, organizational justice acts as the mediator among union participation, union commitment and job involvement. Specifically, the mediating role of organizational justice between union participation and union commitment, and between union participation and job involvement, is stronger in high-EPC contexts than low-EPC contexts.
Originality/value
Instead of examining the impacts of attitudes on union participation, as per most studies in the western context, this research examines the impacts of union participation in the Chinese context on attitudes, including union commitment and job involvement. It also reveals the role of both organizational justice and EPC in the process through which union participation influences union commitment and job involvement.
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Wenyuan Huang, Jie Shen, Chuqin Yuan and Min Li
How to foster voice behavior has always been a hot topic in organizational research; however, the mechanism through which performing decent work affects employee voice behavior…
Abstract
Purpose
How to foster voice behavior has always been a hot topic in organizational research; however, the mechanism through which performing decent work affects employee voice behavior remains to be fully understood. To address this deficiency, the current study investigates how basic need satisfaction may relate to perceived decent work and voice behavior and the moderating role of gender. Our research draws upon self-determination theory and social information processing theory.
Design/methodology/approach
The theoretical model was tested using two-wave investigation data collected from a sample of 349 employees and 85 supervisors in Southwest China.
Findings
Decent work perception was positively related to voice behavior, and this relationship was partially mediated by basic need satisfaction. In addition, the relationship between decent work perception and basic need satisfaction as well as the indirect effect of decent work perception on voice behavior via basic need satisfaction was stronger for men than for women.
Originality/value
This study highlights the pivotal roles of basic need satisfaction and gender in the consequences of decent work perception in the workplace. The authors provide new insights into the relationship between decent work perception and voice behavior and inspire scholars to elucidate other explanatory mechanisms in this link.