Yun-Shan Cheng, Ping-Yu Hsu and Yu-Chin Liu
To retain consumer attention and increase purchasing rates, many e-commerce vendors have adopted content-based recommender systems. However, apart from text-based documents, there…
Abstract
Purpose
To retain consumer attention and increase purchasing rates, many e-commerce vendors have adopted content-based recommender systems. However, apart from text-based documents, there is little theoretical background guiding element selection, resulting in a limited content analysis problem. Another inherent problem is overspecialization. The purpose of this paper is to establish a value-based recommendation methodology for identifying favorable attributes, benefits, and values on the basis of means-end chain theory. The identified elements and the relationships between them were utilized to construct a recommender system without incurring either problem.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopted soft laddering and content analysis to collect popular elements. The relationships between the elements were established by using a hard laddering online questionnaire. The elements and the relationships were utilized to build a hierarchical value map (HVM). A mathematical model was then devised on the basis of the HVM to predict user preferences of attributes.
Findings
The results of a performance comparison showed that the proposed method outperformed the content-based attribute recommendation method and a hybrid method by 39 and 68 percent, respectively.
Originality/value
Although hybrid methods have been proposed to resolve the problem of overspecialization in content-based recommender systems, such methods have incurred “cold start” and “sparsity” problems. The proposed method can provide recommendations without causing these problems while outperforming the content-based and hybrid approaches.
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Pei-Ju Wu and Yu-Chin Tai
In the reduction of food waste and the provision of food to the hungry, food banks play critical roles. However, as they are generally run by charitable organisations that are…
Abstract
Purpose
In the reduction of food waste and the provision of food to the hungry, food banks play critical roles. However, as they are generally run by charitable organisations that are chronically short of human and other resources, their inbound logistics efforts commonly experience difficulties in two key areas: 1) how to organise stocks of donated food, and 2) how to assess the donated items quality and fitness for purpose. To address both these problems, the authors aimed to develop a novel artificial intelligence (AI)-based approach to food quality and warehousing management in food banks.
Design/methodology/approach
For diagnosing the quality of donated food items, the authors designed a convolutional neural network (CNN); and to ascertain how best to arrange such items within food banks' available space, reinforcement learning was used.
Findings
Testing of the proposed innovative CNN demonstrated its ability to provide consistent, accurate assessments of the quality of five species of donated fruit. The reinforcement-learning approach, as well as being capable of devising effective storage schemes for donated food, required fewer computational resources that some other approaches that have been proposed.
Research limitations/implications
Viewed through the lens of expectation-confirmation theory, which the authors found useful as a framework for research of this kind, the proposed AI-based inbound-logistics techniques exceeded normal expectations and achieved positive disconfirmation.
Practical implications
As well as enabling machines to learn how inbound logistics are handed by human operators, this pioneering study showed that such machines could achieve excellent performance: i.e., that the consistency provided by AI operations could in future dramatically enhance such logistics' quality, in the specific case of food banks.
Originality/value
This paper’s AI-based inbound-logistics approach differs considerably from others, and was found able to effectively manage both food-quality assessments and food-storage decisions more rapidly than its counterparts.
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Yu-Chin Huang, Li-Hsin Chen, Cih-Wei Lu and Jui-Lin Shen
Previous empirical studies have not documented the link between vegetarians’ dietary constraints and travel intentions. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to utilise a…
Abstract
Purpose
Previous empirical studies have not documented the link between vegetarians’ dietary constraints and travel intentions. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to utilise a mixed-methods approach to examine the interrelationships of this group’s travel motivations, travel constraints, constraint negotiations and behavioural intentions, with special reference to how dietary constraints deter its members from travelling, and its extent.
Design/methodology/approach
An online questionnaire was administered to outbound Taiwanese vegetarian travellers (n=418), and this was followed by in-depth, semi-structured interviews (n=9) to complement the quantitative data.
Findings
The results indicated that vegetarians’ dietary constraints significantly deterred them from travelling in certain circumstances: notably, in the company of non-vegetarians. Nevertheless, it was found that some vegetarians efficiently negotiated their constraints and persisted in travelling, in some cases, by compromising their dietary preferences.
Practical implications
Travel agents and planners should explore more strategies to meet the needs of vegetarian travellers to increase this group’s travel satisfaction.
Originality/value
This study established the first theoretical model explaining the relationships among vegetarians’ travel motivations, dietary constraints, constraint negotiations and travel intentions.
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Dek Terrell and Daniel Millimet
The collection of chapters in this 30th volume of Advances in Econometrics provides a well-deserved tribute to Thomas B. Fomby and R. Carter Hill, who have served as editors of…
Abstract
The collection of chapters in this 30th volume of Advances in Econometrics provides a well-deserved tribute to Thomas B. Fomby and R. Carter Hill, who have served as editors of the Advances in Econometrics series for 25 and 21 years, respectively. Volume 30 contains a more varied collection of chapters than previous volumes, in essence mirroring the wide variety of econometric topics covered by the series over 30 years. Volume 30 starts with a chapter discussing the history of this series over the last 30 years. The next five chapters can be broadly categorized as focusing on model specification and testing. Following this section are three contributions that examine instrumental variables models in quite different settings. The next four chapters focus on applied macroeconomics topics. The final chapter offers a practical guide to conducting Monte Carlo simulations.
Subhajit Pahari, Anupam Bandyopadhyay and Atanu Manna
This study investigates advertising avoidance behavior among consumers, specifically in the realm of meta-platforms. It explores the impacts of digital burnout, advertising…
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates advertising avoidance behavior among consumers, specifically in the realm of meta-platforms. It explores the impacts of digital burnout, advertising clutter, perceived advertising risk, and goal impediment on cognitive and behavioral ad avoidance.
Design/methodology/approach
With a sample of 410 respondents, the research employs a comprehensive analysis approach with SEM and CFA, integrating Avoidance Motivation Theory. It examines direct and indirect influences on ad avoidance, mediated by consumer emotions and attitudes. The study highlights the moderating role of content quality in shaping these relationships.
Findings
Significant links were found between digital burnout, clutter, perceived advertising risk, and goal impediment with cognitive and behavioral ad avoidance. The study emphasizes the importance of content quality and suggests strategies that focus on emotional resonance, user alignment, and reduced intrusion.
Practical implications
For advertisers and marketers in digital spaces, the findings recommend strategies promoting healthy technology usage, streamlined advertising content, transparent communication aligned with user goals, and emotionally resonant campaigns to mitigate ad avoidance behaviors.
Social implications
Understanding consumer sentiments aids policymakers in creating conducive advertising models, benefiting both consumers and businesses. This enhances user experiences in digital environments.
Originality/value
The paper distinctively applies the Avoidance Motivation Theory to the context of avoiding social media advertisements, thereby uncovering the causes of negative consumer emotions and attitudes, and highlighting the crucial role of content quality as a means to counteract these adverse reactions.
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Xinyuan (Roy) Zhao, Jiale Wang, Rob Law and Xinping Fan
This study aims to illustrate how organizational support can reduce work-family conflict (WFC) and improve job/life satisfaction by synthesizing the empirical findings among…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to illustrate how organizational support can reduce work-family conflict (WFC) and improve job/life satisfaction by synthesizing the empirical findings among hospitality employees.
Design/methodology/approach
Previous empirical papers were searched through tourism and hospitality journals and 54 studies were ultimately selected. The correlation coefficients were coded and examined through meta-analysis, after which they were used to test the hypothesized model via meta-analytic structural equation modeling.
Findings
Findings demonstrated that organizational support plays a critical role in helping employees release WFC and improve life satisfaction but not job satisfaction. The number of children is a salient factor at the individual level on predicting WFC, whereas gender relates only to life satisfaction. The asymmetric permeable roles of WFC dimensions among work, family and life domains were also shown.
Practical implications
The findings can help hospitality managers be aware of the critical roles of organizational support in assisting employees to handle WFC and improve job and life satisfaction.
Originality/value
The relationships among organizational support, WFC and job/life satisfaction of frontline employees have been examined for the first time via meta-analytic SEM. In this manner, previous consistent and inconsistent findings can be synthesized for future theoretical development.