Purpose To provide better services to customers, especially immediate responses and 24/7 availability, businesses are implementing text-based automated conversational agents, i.e. chatbots on their social platforms and websites. Chatbots are required to not only provide customers with necessary consultancy and guidance but also communicate friendly and socially. Based on the cognitive fit theory, this

Purpose Smartphone multitasking behavior has become prevalent in our daily lives, yet factors influencing smartphone multitasking behavior have not been fully investigated. This study aimed to examine the roles of a set of demographic, personality and motivational factors on smartphone multitasking behavior, and how these factors were related to general and application-specific types of smartphone

Purpose Despite the extensive academic interest in social media sentiment for financial fields, multimodal data in the stock market has been neglected. The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of multimodal social media data on stock performance, and investigate the underlying mechanism of two forms of social media data, i.e. text and pictures. Design/methodology/approach This research

Purpose Online social networks (OSNs) provide users with mechanisms such as social circles and individual selection to define the audiences (i.e., privacy policy) of the shared information. This privacy decision-making process is a hard and tedious task for users because they have to assess the cost-benefit in a complex environment. Moreover, little is known about how users assess the cost-benefit

Purpose Due to lack of motivation, individuals often fail to perform regular exercise. In view of this, we developed a virtual trainer system (VTS) to encourage users to perform simple exercise routines regularly. Design/methodology/approach A design science approach is adopted to develop a VTS to motivate users to exercise. Study findings are based on a field experiment with 91 participants recruited

Purpose Social distancing is an important strategy to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, so it is imperative to understand the behavioral impact of social distancing on individuals. This research studied social distancing from a cognitive appraisal of voluntary social distancing compliance (CAVSD) point of view and a non-medical perspective, specifically the psychological impact (PI) of social

Purpose This study aims to systematically evaluate the psychological factors of independent versus interdependent self-construal, self-evaluation motives of enhancement versus verification, and the mediating role of bridging and bonding social capital on consumers' positive and negative brand-related electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) sharing with in-group and out-group audiences. Design/methodology/approach

Purpose This study aims to examine how three perceived interactivity attributes of massive open online courses (MOOCs), namely, perceived active control, perceived synchronicity and perceived two-way communication, impact individuals' engagement and continuance intention of MOOCs through the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) lens and how that effect differs between male and female users. Design/methodology/approach

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the key success factors behind Bangtan Boys’ (BTS) popularity, and how they can contribute to sustaining it, along with detailed strategies for the success of global pop. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts a mixed-methods approach that uses text mining and interviews and uses the success of BTS to find the key factors accounting for its sustained

Purpose The low number of women in the information technology (IT) field is a concern. The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors behind the exclusion of girls from the IT field. Design/methodology/approach The present work includes a narrative literature review and an exploratory interview study with ten girls and six study guidance counsellors (GCs) from Finnish senior high schools. Using

Purpose The present study aimed to examine the value creation process in an online forum community of a crowdsourcing company by analyzing members' interactions and network structures. Design/methodology/approach A mixed-method approach was adopted. First, a participation-observation netnographic approach was employed to identify the interactions that lead to the collective creation of three types

Purpose This study examines the effects of employees' personal social media posts on external publics' online engagement and offline word-of-mouth (WOM) intentions about a company. Specifically, it investigates how employee post characteristics including valence and content and employer reputation jointly influence publics' online and offline behaviors. Design/methodology/approach A 2 (post valence:

Purpose Despite the prevalent use of professional status and service feedback in online healthcare markets, the potential interaction relationship between two types of information is still unknown. This study used the signaling theory to examine the substitute relationship between professional status and service feedback in patients' doctor choice, as well as the moderating effect of illness severity

Purpose The domain of monetary donation is evolving with the combination of professional donation platforms and social network sites (SNSs) in the agency process, potentially enhancing information communication and facilitating money transfers between donors and recipients. However, SNS donation avoidance hinders the leveraging of significant economic and social values. To address the limited understanding

Purpose Research on social media advertising reactance (SMAR) is in the early stages. This paper intends to present a full picture of SMAR studies, introduce a comprehensive theoretical model (the social media advertising reactance model, SMARM) and provide insights into research and practice. Design/methodology/approach This review adopts the concept-driven systematic review approach, identifying

Purpose With the rise of social media, online tipping has developed markedly in recent years. Drawing on emotional accounting, this research examined the effects of pride-tagged money (PTM) and surprise-tagged money (STM) on online tipping. It examined the mediating role of self-inflation and the moderating role of the perceived importance of money in the proposed relationship. Design/methodology/approach

Purpose Recently, both practitioners and researchers are beginning to recognize the great potential of social gamification in green information technology (IT) services. This study focuses on the roles of three social gamification affordances (interactivity, cooperation and competition) in gamified green IT services use, from the perspectives of recognition and social overload. Design/methodology/approach

Purpose This study elicits the critical attributes, consequences and values associated with the purchasing process in the context of cross-border e-commerce (CBEC). The purpose is to provide a better understanding of the fundamental factors that determine consumer values in CBEC. Design/methodology/approach The study applies the means-end-chain theory and soft-laddering techniques to interview 60 CBEC consumers

Purpose The purpose of this research is to investigate the usage characteristics and the information propagation patterns of Chinese microblogs in different stages of an epidemic, given that the microblogging in China is different from other parts of the world. In addition, the authors aim to conceptualize the roles of different users and provide insights for using microblogging platforms to disseminate

Purpose Sina Weibo and Twitter are the top microblogging platforms with billions of users. Accordingly, these two platforms could be used to understand the public mood. In this paper, the authors want to discuss how to generate and compare the public mood on Sina Weibo and Twitter. The predictive power of the public mood toward commodity markets is discussed, and the authors want to solve the problem

Purpose The use of consumer credit by Chinese citizens has risen rapidly in the Internet era. The purpose of this paper is to predict a mechanism for credit consumption through Internet usage, with social comparison and materialism as mediators. Four types of Internet usage (social use, entertainment use, informational use, and online shopping) were identified to investigate whether different types

Purpose Drawing on the cognitive-functional model of emotions and emotional contagion, the authors aim to examine the role of negative emotions in the diffusion of cancer tweets. Design/methodology/approach Using an integrated approach of social network and text analytics, the authors analyzed 142,883 cancer tweets from February to March 2018. The roles of negative emotions, emotional contagion, cancer

Purpose This study aims to elicit the preferences of potential travelers for different property listings' attributes (online review number, positive valence rate of reviews and discount strategy) when selecting hotels and peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodation sharing on online booking platforms. Design/methodology/approach A discrete choice experiment (DCE) was conducted with 291 respondents with accommodation

Purpose The purpose of this study is threefold, which is as follows: investigate the mediating effect of brand fan page attractiveness on the relationship between user gratifications and customer engagement with brand fan pages, determine whether fan page agility moderates this effect and examine the influence of fan page engagement on customers' share of wallet and resistance to negative brand information

Purpose The purpose of this research is to examine the effects of congruence between the ideal self-image of a game player and the game character on identification and interaction with the game character, perceived game power and performance, character attachment and willingness to spend money on the game character. Design/methodology/approach A total of 347 online game players participated in an online

Purpose Cyberchondria describes excessive or repeated online health-related information seeking associated with an increased level of health anxiety. Given the nascent nature of the concept of cyberchondria, this systematic review attempts to summarize the current landscape of cyberchondria research. Design/methodology/approach Based on a comprehensive search and systematic filtering process, 40 articles

Purpose Over-the-top (OTT) services, which provide streaming media through all devices in online setting, have surpassed the traditional content providers in the market. However, there is still no clear empirical evidence that indicates what recommendation agent values affect the users' search experience while using the OTT services and how it leads to continuous subscription. To address this gap,

Purpose Crowdfunding allows enterprises or individuals to collect funds from numerous other individuals. This study applies the anchoring effect and range theory in reward-based crowdfunding to explore how different pledge option designs affect the backers' final pledge amount. Moreover, this study examines whether showing the current average amount pledged in the fundraising process has an anchoring

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the structural relationships between a sense of virtual community (SOVC), community satisfaction, community involvement, community commitment and alternative attractiveness in the online fan community context. Design/methodology/approach This study gathered and empirically analyzed data from 277 members of the online Super Junior fan community with

Purpose This paper explores the reasons behind the slow uptake of mobile payment (m-payment) from a switching intention (SI) perspective. The antecedents of SI from cash to m-payment were explored using an integrated conceptual model of the push-pull-mooring (PPM) framework and the status quo bias (SQB) perspective. Design/methodology/approach A self-administered survey was used to collect data, which

Purpose Crowdworkers' sustained participation is critical to the success and sustainability of the online crowdsourcing community. However, this issue has not received adequate attention in the information systems research community. This study seeks to understand the formation of crowdworker sustained participation in the online crowdsourcing community. Design/methodology/approach The research model

Purpose This study examines how individual contributors' evaluation of the two aspects in reward-based crowdfunding—service and community—influences the formation of platform loyalty. It also seeks to determine the conditions under which the evaluation is positive. Design/methodology/approach We collaborated for data collection with two reward-based crowdfunding platforms in South Korea that primarily

Purpose Cyberloafing (employees' non-work-related online activities at work) has become a common workplace problem for many organizations. Research investigating the underlying mechanisms and boundary conditions under which abusive supervision influences cyberloafing remains largely underdeveloped. Drawing from social exchange theory and conservation of resources theory, we developed a moderated-mediation

Purpose Despite the growing use of social media in many organizations, managers face the challenges of how to effectively manage social media usage (SMU) in the workplace to ensure employee creativity. This study combined task-technology fit theory and the interactional perspective of employee creativity to understand the three-way interaction of SMU, perceived task interdependence, and perceived participative

Purpose Social networking services (SNSs) have been praised for their social capital (SC) benefits. However, the time displacement hypothesis in Internet research may challenge such an optimistic view. In response to this challenge, this study aimed to develop a theoretical model that uncovers the transformation, rather than displacement among online and offline SC in terms of bonding and bridging

Purpose This study applies self-determination theory to investigate how motivations to participate in LinkedIn would influence a professional's intention to leave an organization for professional advancement (ILPA). Design/methodology/approach The authors randomly sampled 5810 professionals who are actively participating in LinkedIn for at least six months and collected 379 completed questionnaires

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of learners' satisfaction with a new blended learning method, namely online video presentations. Design/methodology/approach The study tests the proposed model using responses from 353 students who were exposed to the new method. Regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses. Findings The results show that both the perceived social

Purpose The authors investigated how personality traits are associated with workplace technostress (perception of stressors related to the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). Design/methodology/approach The authors collected 95 self-rated and 336 observer-rated questionnaires using the personality audit and a shortened version of the technostress scale. To analyze relationships

Purpose Online dating services have been growing rapidly in recent years. However, adopting these services may involve high risk and trust issues among potential users toward both online dating services and the daters they introduce to users. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how perceived benefits vs risks, and trust vs distrust affect user adoption vs non-adoption intentions toward using

Purpose Inspired by the dynamic changes in our daily lives enabled via quantified-self technologies and the urgent need for more studies on the human-computer interaction design mechanisms adopted by these applications, this study explores the value of user affective experience mirroring and examines the empowerment effect of meaningful gamification in a psychological self-help system (PSS) that aids

Purpose Rather than viewing social network technology (SNT) as a mere tool to access a networked audience, we emphasize its role as both a means and a social actor to help verify people’s self-images in an online social context. Design/methodology/approach Drawing upon self-verification theory, this study investigates a mechanism of how users are willing to use SNTs continuously through the cognitive

Purpose This study aims to investigate how media content consumed through immersive technology may evoke changes in human rights attitudes. It has been proposed that our inability to empathize with others could be overcome by stepping into another's shoes. “Immersive journalism” has been postulated as being able to place us into the shoes of those whose feelings and experiences are distant to us. While

Purpose Grounded on the cognition–affect–conation (C–A–C) framework, this study aims to explore how perceived information overload affects the information avoidance intention of social media users through fatigue, frustration and dissatisfaction. Design/methodology/approach/methodology/approach A quantitative research design is adopted. The data collected from 254 respondents in China are analyzed

Purpose Relational cohesion theory posits that relational cohesion helps build relationships among communication partners, implying that users would expect a growth in relations or making more friends in the future. However, little is known about expectancy of a better future state of relations, i.e. expectancy of relational growth, and its impact on users' continued engagement in online communication

Purpose Social media commerce provides a convenient way for users to share information and interact with each other. Few studies, however, have examined the effect of marketing messages and consumer engagement behaviors on the economic performance of marketing. This study, therefore, explored the economic performance of social media in terms of marketing messages and consumer engagement. Design/methodology/approach

Purpose The spread of rumors on social media has caused increasing concerns about an under-informed or even misinformed public when it comes to scientific issues. However, researchers have rarely investigated their diffusion in non-western contexts. This study aims to systematically examine the content and network structure of rumor-related discussions around genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on

Purpose Individuals can improve their task performance by using information and communications technology (ICT). However, individuals who use ICT may also suffer from negative outcomes, such as burnout and anxiety, which lead to poorer performance and well-being. While researchers have studied the positive outcomes of ICT use in the aggregate, the same has not been done for negative outcomes. Desi

Purpose Previous studies have produced mixed findings regarding the relationship between social networking site (SNS) use and psychological outcomes. To provide new evidence on this relationship, this study investigates the influence of SNS involvement on psychological outcomes. This study also examines the moderating role of information sharing on the link between SNS involvement and relationship

Purpose The intense competitive and dynamic environment in mobile social-media market forces service providers to introduce incremental technological changes to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. The purpose of this paper is to investigate what and how the user attitude to change influences members' behavioral support for incremental technological change in mobile social media service. Des

Purpose This study aims to describe, synthesise and clarify the findings of published studies on individual continuance intention to use an information system (IS), considering the fact that the number of studies in the continuance intention context are growing exponentially and cover several different subjects. Design/methodology/approach The research uses meta- and weight analysis by taking 115 empirical

Purpose This study identifies a new type of advertising, sponsored ad forwarding, in microblog contexts. It tests the effectiveness of designs of a message with an ad with regard to receivers who are purely online friends or offline friends. Design/methodology/approach In the main experiment, a three-by-two experimental design was employed. By random assignment, message senders forwarded an ad with

Purpose Social media greatly enhances public access to health information and thus attracts older adults who tend to attach more importance to their health. This study aims to identify the factors that contribute to the likelihood of older adults' health information sharing on social media. Design/methodology/approach By drawing on health belief (HBM) and elaboration likelihood models (ELM), a novel

Purpose With the explosive growth of the Internet, online travel agents (OTAs) have gained an increasing market share in the online booking market. However, OTAs are facing fierce competition from hotels' direct booking channels, as well as competition among themselves. Therefore, there is a need for an understanding of the evolution of the OTA market from a dynamic perspective. The purpose of this

Purpose Social media platforms are increasingly used by activists to mobilize collective actions online and offline. Social media often provide visible information about group size through system-generated cues. This study is based on social cognitive theory and examines how visible group size on social media influences individuals' self-efficacy, collective efficacy and intentions to participate in

Purpose The problematic use of social media progressively worsens among a large proportion of users. However, the theory-driven investigation into social media addiction behavior remains far from adequate. Among the countable information system studies on the dark side of social media, the focus lies on users' subjective feelings and perceived value. The technical features of the social media platform

Purpose Built upon the push–pull–mooring framework, this study explores the factors that affect user switching from blog to microblogging. Low social presence is posited to form the push effect of blog, whereas larger referent network size and relative ease of use work together to shape the pull effect of newly emerging microblogging. Furthermore, adopting the status quo bias theory and habit literature

Purpose Low response rates in web surveys and the use of different devices in entering web survey responses are the two main challenges to response quality of web surveys. The purpose of this study is to compare the effects of using interviewers to recruit participants in computer-assisted self-administered interviews (CASI) vs computer-assisted personal interviews (CAPI) and smartphones vs computers

Purpose Growing evidence asserts that individuals are inclined to buy impulsively in the social commerce environment due to interactive elements. However, extant literature does not reveal the influence of emerging digital celebrities and their communities on impulse buying, although users may encounter them synchronously. Hence, this study explores the impact of parasocial relationships and social

Purpose This study examines the effect of design quality (i.e. appearance, navigation, information and interactivity) on cognitive and affective involvement leading to continued intention to use the online learning application. Design/methodology/approach We assume that design quality potentially contributes to enhance the individual's involvement and excitement. An experimental prototype is developed

Purpose This study integrates the spiral of silence (SoS) theory and theory of planned behavior (TPB) by examining Facebook users' opinion expression avoidance, the reactions to dissenting views without revealing one's true opinion, in the context of political discussions. The present integrative approach provides a more comprehensive framework that expands our understanding of online opinion expression