Effect of penitence on social media trust and privacy concerns: The case of Facebook

Abuse of information entrusted to organizations can result in a variety of privacy violations and trust concerns for consumers. In the event of violations, a social media brand or organization renders an apology – a form of social account – to alleviate users’ concerns and maintain user membership and engagement with the platform. To explore the link between apology offered by a social media brand or organization and the users’ trust dynamics in the brand’s services, we study how organizational integrity can contribute to reducing individuals’ privacy concerns whiles increasing or repairing their trust. Drawing on organizational behavioral integrity literature, our proposed research model suggests that the persuasiveness of an apology following a data breach affects users’ trust or spillover trust through their perceptions of the degree of alignment between the words in the apology and the actions of the violating entity. Based on a survey of Facebook users, our findings show that persuasiveness of an apology has a significant impact on users’ perceptions of the alignment between the social media brand’s (i.e. Facebook) words and subsequent actions. These perceptions impact social media brand trust (i.e. users’ trust in Facebook and allied services such as Instagram). We also find that, post data breach incidence, while integrity of the social media organization partially mediates the relationship between persuasive apology and users’ trust, it fully mediates the relationship between the persuasive apology and the privacy concerns expressed by the users. However, users’ privacy concerns do not contribute much to the repair of trust needed to maintain their membership.     

Exploring individuals’ subjective well-being and loyalty towards social network sites from the perspective of network externalities: The Facebook case

This study aims to investigate users’ subjective well-being and loyalty towards social network sites (SNSs). Despite the growing role of network externalities in SNS continuance decisions, the SNS usage literature has paid scant attention to the relationship between network externalities, SNS identification, and users’ subjective well-being. In this study, we identify four components of network externalities: perceived network size, external prestige, compatibility, and complementarity. In the research model, both network size and external prestige are hypothesized positively to affect SNS identification. Perceived compatibility and perceived complementarity are hypothesized positively to affect user satisfaction. Satisfaction and SNS identification are hypothesized positively to affect user subjective well-being and loyalty towards the SNS. Users’ subjective well-being is hypothesized positively to affect their loyalty towards the SNS. Data collected from 615 valid users of Facebook provide strong support for most of these hypotheses. The findings indicate that perceived network size negatively affects users’ SNS identifications. Other components of network externalities have positive effects on SNS identification and satisfaction, which in turn have positive effects on users’ subjective well-being and loyalty towards SNS. Implications for theory and practice and suggestions for future research are also discussed.     

Applying uses and gratifications theory and social influence processes to understand students' pervasive adoption of social networking sites: Perspectives from the Americas

This study provides nascent information on university students' needs to adopt social networking sites (SNSs) pervasively. The study drew from the uses and gratifications theory (UGT) and social influence (SI) processes framework. Relevant hypotheses were formulated to test the proposed research model. Data was collected in a survey of university undergraduates in four countries in the Americas (i.e., United States, Canada, Mexico, and Argentina). Data analysis using partial least squares (PLS) supported 8 out of the 10 hypotheses formulated. The SI process of internalization and identification, as well as UGT categories of self-discovery, entertainment value, social enhancement, and the need to maintain interpersonal connectivity through the construct of behavioral intentions, were found to have positive impacts on students' pervasive adoption of SNSs. The results also revealed that the cultural factor of individualism–collectivism had a positive impact on the pervasive adoption of SNSs, such that greater levels of engagement were observed for students from more individualistic cultures.     

Privacy in social networks: An analysis of Facebook

The only way to be aware of the risks and threats of Facebook, the most commonly used social networking site in the world and Turkey, is to be a careful user changing the default settings or simply not to have a Facebook account. In Turkey, there is still no study in which personal information shared though social networking sites has been evaluated in terms of privacy. For this reason, the findings obtained of this study have a great importance in the general picture of the current situation and drawing attention to the risks of the issue in Turkey where there are no legal arrangements effectively protecting the users from such sites. This study aims to investigate the Facebook privacy of information professionals who are members of KUTUP-L, and to determine the sensitivity and level of awareness of information professionals in Turkey. Facebook user profiles of 400 information professionals, all KUTUP-L members, have been analyzed in a study examining 32 different privacy settings. A privacy score has been calculated for each user, and the relations between privacy results have been analyzed. The findings at the end of the study show that information professionals in Turkey do pay attention to privacy, and most of the users change the default settings in order to protect their personal information.     

Exploring the adoption process of personal technologies: A cognitive-affective approach

The impact of cognitive and emotional factors on the customer's decision to adopt a new technology has long been at the core of innovation and marketing literature. Today, the proliferation of personal technologies makes the understanding of the adoption process of such innovations a vital issue. This article, moving from long-established technology adoption theories, integrates affective factors to propose a comprehensive framework to interpret and orient innovation and marketing approaches of companies. To do this, we review a rich literature from the domains of management, information systems, marketing and cognitive psychology, identifying six possible sources of perceived value for personal technologies, hence attitude to adopt them: functional value, monetary value, social value, entertainment value, epistemic value and aesthetic value. After defining and framing them in the extant literature, we discuss how the framework may be adopted in practice to support Companies' strategies in the surprisingly under-explored industry of personal technologies.     

Exploring decisive factors affecting an organization's SaaS adoption: A case study

Software as a Service (SaaS) is regarded as a favorable solution to enhance a modern organization's IT performance and competitiveness; however, many organizations may still be reluctant to introduce SaaS solutions mainly because of the trust concern—they may perceive more risks than benefits. This paper presumes that an organization will augment the trust of adopting SaaS solutions when perceived risks decrease and/or perceived benefits increase. To gain insights into this issue, a solution framework using a modified Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) approach is proposed. The core logic is to treat perceived benefits and perceived risks as two distinct themes so that a visible cause–effect diagram can be developed to facilitate the decision makers. A case study is conducted on a Taiwanese company—one of the world's leading manufacturers in the niche and specialized resistor markets. The findings suggest that the case company concern more about strategic-oriented benefits than economic-oriented benefits and more about subjective risks than technical risks. Some implications are addressed accordingly.     

Antecedents and trajectories of AMT adoption: The case of Greek manufacturing SMEs

This study examines antecedents and trajectories of advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) adoption in three categories: stand-alone, intermediate, and integrated technologies. Antecedents of adoption include prior investments in AMT, developments in firms’ manufacturing capabilities, technology strategy, absorptive capacity, and environmental pressures. Based on a sample of 87 Greek manufacturing SMEs, we find that AMT adoption follows an incremental, piecemeal progression from the least complicated through intermediate to integrated technologies. It is found that an increase in the firms’ quality and flexibility capabilities induces them to adopt further AMT, whereas advances in low-cost, innovation, and delivery capabilities appear negatively related to further AMT adoption. Absorptive capacity, technology strategy and environmental pressures play a central role in decisions for additional investments in AMT. In the context of a catching-up economy, these results support the notion of a ‘stepwise’ technology accumulation process as well as ‘satisficing’ technological change.     

Determinants of Internet standards adoption: The case of South Korea

We develop an adoption model of infrastructure technologies and test it with survey data collected from companies in six industries in South Korea (hereafter: Korea). The implementation of a new Internet standard such as Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) depends on the usefulness of the technology to the adopting organizations and the environment in which they operate. The adoption of IPv6 in Korea is mostly driven by a governmental strategy that created user demand, and normative pressure. IPv6 adoption in Korea is also driven by perceived resource concentration and power due to the uneven allocation of IPv4 addresses. Conversely, killer applications, technical sponsorship and financial factors had no influence on the adoption decision by Korean companies. Taken together, the findings of our explorative study suggest the need to consider technical as well as social and policy factors to understand the adoption dynamics of infrastructure technologies.     

The non-monetary benefits of mobile commerce: Extending UTAUT2 with perceived value

Consumers can conduct mobile commerce via their smartphones. They can search for products and when ready, they pay and have the products delivered to their homes. By sharing personal information, they receive faster and more customized service. Because of the risk of loss of privacy, consumers need to balance their privacy concerns against the perceived value of enhanced mobile commerce. In this empirical study, the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2) is modified where perceived value replaces price value to represent the value of an IT artifact that has no direct costs attributable to it. The framework is extended to include constructs from the privacy calculus. In addition, the construct of personal innovativeness is added as a moderator with the anticipation that owners of smartphones who are more personally innovative will be more willing to share information. From an empirical study of Canadian smartphone owners, the results show that perceived privacy concerns influence perceived value and that intention to use is significantly influenced by hedonic motivation and perceived value.     

An empirical investigation of information sharing behavior on social commerce sites

Social commerce sites (SCSs), a new model of social media, provide fertile ground for customers to communicate their opinions and exchange product- or service- related information. Given the significant opportunities related to the use of social media data for customers’ insight, we explore the factors driving information sharing behavior on SCSs. In this paper, we propose and empirically test a comprehensive theoretical model for customer information sharing behavior through analysis of online survey data as well as network and behavioral usage data of over four months from 1177 customers in a SCS. The research model was empirically validated with the use of both subjective and objective data in a longitudinal setting. Our results show that customer information sharing is influenced by both individual (i.e., reputation and the enjoyment of helping others) and social capital (i.e., out-degrees’ post, in-degrees’ feedback, customer expertise and reciprocity) factors. This study contributes to the existing literature by highlighting the role of directed social network in customer information sharing behavior on SCSs. We believe that the results of our study offer important insights to the IS research and practice.     

Fulfillment of higher-order psychological needs through technology: The case of smart thermostats

Smart home technologies (SHTs), such as smart thermostats, are a growing commercial opportunity. SHTs can offer a broad spectrum of potential functional, experiential and esthetic benefits, yet much of the prior research on the adoption of SHTs has been limited by a narrow TAM-based functional view. Relatively little is known about the salient user beliefs related to the experiential and esthetic benefits of SHTs that may affect SHT adoption. To address this gap in research, we conduct a mixed-methods study, wherein we inductively develop a set of factors that reflect salient user considerations associated with smart thermostats and we examine the effects of the elicited factors on the smart thermostat adoption intention. We find that performance expectancy, emphasized by TAM, has a relatively minor effect on the smart thermostat adoption intention and effort expectancy has no effect at all. We identify a novel factor, which we term techno-coolness, as the key predictor of the adoption intention in this context. Techno-coolness is a multidimensional construct that encompasses the perceptions that the technology can make a home look modern and futuristic, can make the user feel technologically advanced, and can be fun to use. Techno-coolness reveals that the technology capacity to fulfill higher-order psychological needs can dominate purely functional considerations in innovative technology adoption decisions.     

Role of authenticity and perceived benefits of online courses on technology based career choice in India: A modified technology adoption model based on career theory

In this digital era, it is important to make a wise course choice since the building blocks of a career starts from choosing the career-specific course. With the number of online courses available, it is tough to differentiate a relevant career-focused course from a mediocre one. Hence, the authenticity and validity of a particular course influence the career choice of individuals. The other important factor is perceived benefits. Additionally, an increasing number of educational businesses has already integrated or plans to integrate social media applications into their marketing plans to reach and attract future students, thus showing a shift from traditional ways of marketing. As the nature of this study is both purposive as well as probabilistic, a mixed method approach has been chosen. The study consists of two phases: the exploratory research process consisting of the literature review, the semi-structured interviews with information technology professionals to form the questionnaire and hypotheses. The researchers found that through personal inputs strongly influence the learning experiences, authenticity and perceived benefits of a course plays the most important role in the individual’s decision to adopt a technical course. The practical and research implications have also been discussed.     

Information avoidance behavior on social network sites: Information irrelevance,overload, and the moderating role of time pressure

Drawing on the stressor-strain-outcome framework, this study investigates how information irrelevance and overload induce social network fatigue, and the relationship of these variables to users’ information avoidance behavior. It also examines the conditions under which social network fatigue is more likely to be translated into information avoidance behavior. The analysis of data collected from 341 users of WeChat Moments suggests that information irrelevance directly leads to information avoidance behavior, and social media fatigue as a mediator partially mediates the impact of information overload on information avoidance behavior and fully mediates the impact of social overload on information avoidance behavior. Furthermore, time pressure strengthens the effect of social network fatigue on information avoidance behavior. This study fulfills the identified need for an in-depth investigation of actual discontinuous behavior in social network services (SNSs) by investigating information avoidance behavior and its antecedents. The findings provide SNSs providers with guidelines on how to manage users’ behavior so that they remain active users of the SNSs.     

社会网络对蕉农采纳资源节约型技术的影响机制——以水肥一体化技术为例

新的资源节约型技术在农户群体中的扩散是中国农业转向可持续性发展的关键,具备有限知识的农户在采纳资源节约型技术过程中势必受到其社会网络的重要影响。本文基于有限知识农户的假设,从理论上探讨了社会网络在不同维度对农户采用新的资源节约型技术的影响,以及农户技术认知在社会网络与农户技术采纳决策两者关联之间可能的中介作用;然后,以水肥一体化技术（DFS）为例,利用2019年广东、海南和云南3省632户香蕉种植农户调查数据,构建中介效应检验模型,实证分析农户社会网络、技术认知与DFS技术采纳决策之间的作用逻辑。研究表明：农户社会网络与技术认知可以显著促进农户在生产过程采纳资源节约型技术;且农户的社会网络可以弱化农户在新型技术上的认知差异,从而可能形成新的关于技术的群体认知,加强农户对资源节约型技术的采纳。具体地,社会网络的“倾向”和“互惠”可以改善农户关于技术转换梯度和技术认知嵌入度的感知,从而影响农户对资源节约型技术的采纳决策,而社会网络“范畴”会直接影响农户资源节约型技术的采纳决策,且这种影响在不同地区存在一定程度的异质性。     

Vertical alliance networks: The case of university-biotechnology-pharmaceutical alliance chains

Many young biotechnology firms act as intermediaries in tripartite alliance chains. They enter upstream partnerships with public sector research institutions, and later form commercialization alliances with established, downstream firms. We examine the alliance activity in a large sample of biotechnology firms and find: (i) firms with multiple in-licensing agreements are more likely to attract revenue-generating alliances with downstream partners; however, (ii) the positive relationship between in-licenses and downstream alliances attenuates as firms mature, and (iii) the diversity and the quality of the academic connections of firms’ principals influences their chances of successfully acquiring commercialization rights to scientific discoveries in universities.     

Opening the black box: The adoption of innovations in the voluntary sector—The case of Indonesian civil society organisations

Despite the considerable attention paid to research into the adoption of technological innovations in the public and private sectors, little attention has been paid to such research in organisations within the voluntary or third sector. As a result, many things remain unknown: the patterns of uptake and adoption in the voluntary sector; the process of the transformation, both within the organisations and in the implementation of the innovation; and the implications of such uptake. This paper attempts to address these problems by focusing on civil society organisations (CSOs) as a subset of groups within the voluntary sector. At a theoretical level, this research is concerned with the diffusion of innovation and its effects on the practice of social movements in general, and of CSOs in particular. Using the experiences of CSOs in Indonesia, as a latecomer economy, these concerns are explored through the analysis of two related empirical issues: (i) the links between innovation and organisational performance and (ii) the construction of innovation diffusion and impacts in organisations that define those links.     

Social interaction-based consumer decision-making model in social commerce: The role of word of mouth and observational learning

Social commerce mediated by social media and social network platforms has led to the development of new business models in e-commerce and digitized the consumer decision journey. Social interaction is considered as a prerequisite for successful social commerce since consumers now expect an interactive and social experience while making purchase decisions. Drawing on word of mouth (WOM) and observational learning theories, we conceptualize social interactions in social commerce environments into two forms: WOM communication and observing other consumers’ purchases, and examine their impact on consumer purchase intention and actual purchase behavior. Analyzing primary data (n = 217) collected from surveyed active consumers within social commerce sites at two stages (pre-purchase and post-purchase), we found that positive and negative valence WOM, WOM content, and observing other consumers’ purchases significantly affect consumers’ intention to buy a product, thereby increasing the likelihood of actual buying and sharing product information with others on social commerce sites.     

基于社交网络的同行评议新模式——基于Peerage of Science与Frontiers平台的案例研究

【目的】研究Web3.0快速发展背景下,科技期刊同行评议改进与发展的新平台、新模式。【方法】 以Peerage of Science和Frontier为案例,针对最新的基于社交网络平台的同行评议模式进行了分析,介绍了该同行评议模式的改进、特点、流程、工作方式等。【结果】在社交网络平台下,同行评议从静态变为动态,从"一对一"变成"一对多",从封闭式评议变成开放式评价。【结论】基于社交网络的同行评议模式是同行评议发展的最新趋势,可为我国的同行评议发展提供参考。     

The spill-over theory reversed: The impact of regional economies on the commercialization of university science

The concept of regional technology spill-overs created by university research is one of the most enduring theories within the economic geography and innovation management fields. This article introduces an alternative perspective on academic commercialization, arguing that the quality of a university's regional environment can significantly impact a university's success in commercializing science. Recent research on university technology transfer stresses the importance of personal contacts between academic and industry scientists in driving commercialization. The social structure of the regional economy in which a university is embedded will strongly influence the density of contacts linking university scientists with individuals in industry, and through doing so, impact the density of networks through which university knowledge can be commercialized. Social network analysis is used to examine the quality of social ties linking industry and university scientists within the San Francisco and Los Angeles California biotechnology industries over the 1980–2005 period. Results support the theory that the existence of strong social networks linking inventors heightens university commercialization output. Despite similar university research endowments, universities in San Francisco have dramatically commercialization outputs than San Francisco, which is correlated with the existence of cohesive inventor networks linking industry and university scientists in this region, but not Los Angeles. Moreover, longitudinal analysis shows that the commercialization output of San Francisco universities increased substantially starting in the early 1990s, the time period in which cohesive inventor networks emerged in the region.     

Providing industry 4.0 technologies: The case of a production technology cluster

The concept of industry 4.0 (i4.0) encompasses the integration of different technologies into an autonomous, knowledge- and sensor-based, self-regulating production system. Our objective is to synthesize which are the challenges and opportunities of adopting i4.0 from the perspective of technology provider companies. A single-case research was conducted with ten companies at the Portuguese Production Technologies Cluster. Based on i4.0 technologies – Augmented reality; Additive Manufacturing; Big Data; Cloud Computing; Cyber-Physical Systems; Cybersecurity; Smart Robotics; Simulation; and System Integration – interviewees mentioned that the main adoption challenges are the analysis of data generated, integration of new technologies with available equipment and workforce, and computational limitations. The main opportunities are improvements in: efficiency; flexibility; productivity; cybersecurity; quality of products and services; and decision process due to data analysis. Interviewees have also foreseen changes in company's business model through the integration of internal resources with complementary activities of their partners and other cluster companies.