Examining users′ intention to continue using social network games: A flow experience perspective

Psychological Changes in Green Food Consumption in the Digital Context: Exploring the Role of Green Online Interactions from a Comprehensive Perspective

The advent of the digital economy has brought new opportunities to food marketing. In China, many food businesses have begun to use interactions under specific social media topics to open up new sales channels. Green food, as a representative of environmentally related topics, is increasingly influencing consumer choices through online interactions. In light of this, this study collected data from a large group of participants engaged in online green interactions to explore the psychological mechanisms behind consumers' choices of green food in an online context. The findings indicate that online green interactions positively influence the willingness to purchase green food, with environmental self-efficacy and flow experience serving as mediators in this relationship. Information trust and consumer traits act as boundary conditions. This study not only deepens the understanding of food consumer behavior in the digital context, but also provides important references for food companies on how to more effectively utilize online interaction to promote the market expansion of green food.

Exploring perceived learning effectiveness in virtual reality health communication through the lens of construal level theory

BACKGROUND

Virtual reality is increasingly being used for health communication. This study aimed to propose and test an integrated model of the determinants of perceived learning effectiveness in virtual reality (VR) within health communication. It proposes that psychological distance negatively affects immersion, flow, and presence, positively affecting perceived learning effectiveness.

METHODS

The Fuzzy Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory Method (F-DEMATEL) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to test the proposed model. Data for the F-DEMATEL study were collected from 20 participants, whereas data for the SEM study were collected from 1104 participants, with 775 included in the final analysis.

RESULTS

The results of the F-DEMATEL study revealed that the three dimensions of psychological distance, emotional distance, spatial distance, and social distance are causal factors. In contrast, temporal, technical, and hypothetical distance are effect factors. The SEM results confirmed the negative effects of psychological distance on flow and presence and the positive effects of immersion and presence on perceived learning effectiveness. In addition, the mediating role of presence was confirmed.

CONCLUSIONS

The results suggest that interrelationships among the factors can enhance the perceived learning effectiveness of health communication from VR. The crucial role of ensuring low psychological distance and high engagement in VR communication is also confirmed, providing crucial implications for VR communication practitioners.

Antecedents and outcomes of cyberbullying among Chinese university students: verification of a behavioral pathway model

Introduction

Cyberbullying is a commonly-seen and hotly-debated social topic around the globe. This negative behavior is the source of many disastrous events, and so leading government bodies, organizations, schools and social communities attach great importance to addressing this topic. However, there is still much work to do in order to be clear about the causes of cyberbullying.

Methods

The previous research cases were mostly viewed from the victims' perspectives; however, there is no comprehensive understanding of the perpetrators' viewpoints. Therefore, based on Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) and analysis of discussion in the literature, the following six variables were chosen as the focus of this study: overconfidence, excessive moral sense, cyberbullying, perceived value, happiness, and continued cyberbullying intention. This study established a research model of continued cyberbullying intention, which was verified by Structural Equation Modeling. In order to achieve the aims of the study, Chinese university students with an average age of 20.29 (SD = 1.43) were recruited as participants, from whom 1,048 valid questionnaires were collected.

Results

The research results are as follows: 1. Overconfidence and excessive moral sense positively predicted cyberbullying behaviors; 2. Overconfidence positively predicted excessive moral sense; 3. Cyberbullying positively predicted perceived value and sense of happiness; and 4. Perceived value and sense of happiness positively predicted continued cyberbullying intentions.

Conclusion

Students' biased self-perception significantly predicts their cyberbullying behaviors and continued cyberbullying intention. What is more, it is interesting to learn that perpetrators will continue to exhibit cyberbullying behaviors when they believe that what they do (cyberbullying) is valuable or allows them to experience positive feelings; this requires our attention.

Evaluating Influencing Factors of Audiences' Attitudes toward Virtual Concerts: Evidence from China

The purpose of this study is to investigate and validate the influencing factors of audiences' attitudes toward virtual concerts. In order to address this issue, the current study proposes a conceptual model integrating player experience factors (autonomy, relatedness, and engagement) and the technology acceptance model (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and perceived enjoyment). An online questionnaire on virtual concert experiences was conducted among Chinese audiences who had attended virtual concerts previously. Structural equation modeling was then used to establish the relationships between variables. The results suggested that autonomy, relatedness, and engagement positively impacted perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and perceived enjoyment. Furthermore, the perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and perceived enjoyment were significant predictors of audiences' attitudes. The findings of this study could provide a reference for relevant virtual entertainment providers and could also serve as a point of development and exploration for the technology acceptance model and player experience in the field of virtual concerts.

Research on the flow experience and social influences of users of short online videos. A case study of DouYin

Recently, short online videos have been highly recognized by video market users and have developed rapidly. This study aims to explore why users enjoy watching and sharing short online videos by applying the theory of flow experience. Previous research has extensively examined traditional video arts such as TV and movies and text or image based, while research on short online videos has increased only in recent years. To improve the precision and comprehensiveness of the research, social influence is also used as a variable. This study takes the short video representative platform DouYin as a case study and the Chinese user market as the background. Through questionnaires, 406 users' data about short online video experiences were collected. After statistical analysis, the study finds that flow experience has a significant impact on participative behaviour and sharing behaviour for short online videos. According to further analyses, the flow experience, social norms, perceived critical mass and participative and sharing behaviour constitute three groups of mediating relationships. Finally, the discussion of the research results provides help to broaden the academic scope of the flow experience and video art, improve the short online video platform environment, and upgrade short online video services.

Effective Online Engagement Strategies Through Gamification

Gamification has recently been discovered as an excellent user engagement strategy that has the potential to improve online education, online brand engagement, and information system engagement. Even though the number of studies on gamification has expanded, there is currently no systematic literature review approach for categorizing its online engagement strategies. Therefore, the main purpose of this systematic literature review is to find effective online engagement strategies based on gamification. The literature, as published in top management, information systems, and education journals, was reviewed using preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and authors categorized the studies published during the period 2016 to 2021. This study can be considered as among the first to include a systematic literature review with a potential future research agenda on effective online engagement strategies through gamification. The findings indicate several effective online engagement strategies through gamification for three major aspects.

Fight or Flight? Curvilinear Relations between Previous Cyberbullying Victimization Experiences and Continuous Use of Social Media: Social Media Rumination and Distress as Chain Mediators

Recently, the number of active users of social media platforms is declining, posing a challenge to the sustainability of interest in social media and related industries. Therefore, it is of great significance to examine the environmental and psychological factors that influence the continuous use of social media. Until recently, little research has examined this topic from the perspective of the relationship between previous cyberbullying victimization experiences (PCVE) and the continuous use of social media (CUOSM), not to mention the psychological mechanisms that lead to this relationship. In addition, there are paradoxes in existing studies: one side believes that PCVE causes users to become addicted to using social media, while the other side argues that PCVE drives users to escape from using social media. In order to respond to this controversy and clarify the relationship between PCVE and CUOSM, this study introduces two psychological variables, namely “social media rumination (SMR)” and “distress”, in order to construct a chain mediation model. Researchers surveyed 692 people who had experienced social media cyberbullying, and analyzed the data through SPSS and Mplus. The findings were as follows: 1. There is an inverted U-shaped curve relationship between PCVE and CUOSM. Specifically, the relationship initially exhibits a positive correlation (the period named fight), which then becomes negative (the period named flight). 2. When PCVE and CUOSM are positively correlated, SMR is the main factor that contributes to an increase in CUOSM. 3. When PCVE and CUOSM are negatively correlated, distress is the major factor that causes a decline in CUOSM. This study provides an explanation for the controversy in previous research, expands the scope of social media research, and provides a practical reference for social media platforms to enhance their existing users’ continuous use.

What influences user participation in an online health community? The stimulus-organism-response model perspective

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to understand the effect of platform characteristics (i.e. media richness and interactivity) on individual perception (i.e. outcome expectations) and consequent behavioral response (i.e. user participation in online health communities (OHCs)) based on the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model.

Design/methodology/approach

This study developed a research model to test the proposed hypotheses, and the proposed model was tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) for which data were collected from 321 users with OHC experience using an online survey.

Findings

The empirical results show the following: (1) the three dimensions of media richness significantly affect the three outcome expectations, except that richness of expression has no significant effect on the outcome expectation of health self-management competence. (2) Human-to-human interaction significantly affects the three outcome expectations. Moreover, compared with human-to-human interaction, human-to-system interaction has a stronger impact on the outcome expectation of health self-management competence. (3) The three outcome expectations have a significant influence on user participation in OHCs.

Originality/value

This study extends the understanding about how platform characteristics (i.e. media richness and interactivity) motivate user participation in the context of OHCs. Drawing on the S-O-R model, this study reveals the underlying mechanisms by which media richness and interactivity are associated with outcome expectations and by which outcome expectations is associated with user participation in OHCs. This study enriches the literature on media richness, interactivity, outcome expectations and user participation in OHCs, providing insights for developers and administrators of OHCs.

Effects of Helicopter Parenting on Tutoring Engagement and Continued Attendance at Cram Schools

Attending cram school has long been a trend in ethnic Chinese culture areas, including Taiwan. Despite the fact that school reform policies have been implemented in Taiwan, cram schools have continued to prosper. Therefore, in this educational culture, how to achieve a good educational effect is also a topic worthy of discussion. However, whether students really engage in those tutoring programs provided by cram schools has seldom been studied. To address this gap, this study explored how parents’ hovering attitude toward life and coursework influences their children’s engagement in cram schools. This study targeted those students who attend English cram schools to test the correlates between two types of helicopter parenting, tutoring engagement and continued attendance at cram schools. A total of 320 questionnaires were sent out, and 300 were returned, giving an overall response rate of 93.75%. Excluding seven incomplete or invalid questionnaires, 293 valid questionnaires were received. The results of this study show that hovering behavior awareness is negatively related to cram school engagement, whereas cram school engagement is positively related to the intention to continue attending cram school. Moreover, the results imply that parents should alleviate their helicoptering behavior to enhance their children’s engagement in cram school tutoring programs.

Adolescents' Algorithmic Resistance to Short Video APP's Recommendation: The Dual Mediating Role of Resistance Willingness and Resistance Intention

Adolescents have gradually become a vital group of interacting with social media recommendation algorithms. Although numerous studies have been conducted to investigate negative reactions (both psychological and behavioral reactance) that the dark side of recommendation algorithms brings to social media users, little is known about the resistance intention and behavior based on their agency in the daily process of encountering algorithms. Focusing on the concept of algorithm resistance, this study used a two-path model (distinguishing resistance willingness and resistance intention) to investigate the algorithmic resistance of rural Chinese adolescents (N = 905) in their daily use of short video apps. The findings revealed that the perceived threat to freedom, algorithmic literacy, and peer influence were positively associated with the resistance willingness and intention; while the independent psychology on algorithmic recommendations significantly weakened resistance willingness and intention. Furthermore, this study verified the mediating role of resistance willingness and intention between the above independent variables and resistance behavior. Additionally, the positive impact of resistance willingness on resistance intention was confirmed. In conclusion, this study offers a comprehensive approach to further understanding adolescents' algorithmic resistance awareness and behavior by combining psychological factors, personal competency, and interpersonal influences, as well as two types of resistance reactions (rational and irrational).

Why Nursing Home Residents Use Social Network Systems: An Attachment Perspective

Most long-term care facilities can offer residents’ with sufficiently material and physical care, but psychological support may not be always provided due to the tight financial budget or labor resources. Residents’ isolation and loneliness then become a big issue, especially for the residents. Social network systems (SNS) have been proved to be a more effective information transmission channel for thoughts, perspectives, and information sharing than traditional channels such as microblogging, e-mails, or telephones. This study conducted a quasi-experiment to identify factors that influence residents’ intention of using SNS and the impacts of SNS on them in a long-term care facility. The results showed that residents’ attached motivation of personal interacting is a significant factor that influences their intention to use the social network platform. Meanwhile, both the loneliness and depression scales of the participants were decreased significantly.

The Antecedents of Search Performance

Searching and evaluating information are two core information processes of an individual's information behavior. Thus, this research aims to examine search performance to complete tasks regarding experiences, knowledge, and intention in both views. Based on literature studies, this study considered experiences as drivers of knowledge; experiences and knowledge as determinants of intention; and intentions as predictors of search performance. The proposed model was empirically tested using structural equation modeling. The results supported all relationships except the influence of experiences on intention. This work contributes to a theoretical model of antecedents driving search performance for task fulfillment. The findings help educational institutions/ enterprises to enhance students/ workers' search performance. Suggestions to improve the decision guidance of a KMS are also described.

Exploring player behavior and motivations to continue playing Pokémon GO

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify the determinants of players’ continuance intentions to play Pokémon GO (PG) and ultimately make in-app purchases, mainly from the perspectives of psychological, social and gaming motivational factors.

Design/methodology/approach

The research model was empirically assessed based on 362 validated responses from current players of PG in Malaysia. Analysis was carried out using the partial least squares path modeling method.

Findings

The results indicated that enjoyment, network externalities, community involvement and the need-to-collect significantly influence players’ continuance intention. Furthermore, the findings reveal that flow and nostalgia have indirect effects on players’ continuance intention, which in turn significantly influences their purchase intention.

Originality/value

This study provides empirical support for an integrated model for understanding the antecedents of the players’ behavioral intentions that incorporates psychological, social and gaming motivational factors in the context of an augmented reality mobile game.

Predicting the success of Twitter in healthcare

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to predict Twitter satisfaction by healthcare professionals through integrating constructs of Csikszentmihalyi’s flow theory, quality dimensions and usefulness.

Design/methodology/approach

Survey responses of 108 physicians from a variety of specialisations in the United Arab Emirates have been validated and analysed by means of partial least squares-based structural equation modelling method using smartPLS software.

Findings

Service quality has emerged as the most influential quality dimension that positively impact flow state and perceived usefulness of Twitter, while information quality, surprisingly, does not show any effect. The findings also indicate that flow state plays a significant role in shaping physicians’ satisfaction with Twitter. The study also enhances our understanding concerning the effects of perceived usefulness on flow state and satisfaction.

Research limitations/implications

Understanding factors that influence Twitter satisfaction can help healthcare managers construct appropriate intervention strategies for maximising professional benefits of social media and minimising user resistance. This is important because top managers usually ratify traditional practices that are only of limited effect. Also, the findings help vendors to accentuate user’s concerns in addition to system functionalities in social media applications.

Originality/value

The paper is an early attempt to propose a model for social media success in a professional context in general and healthcare in particular. It also one of first studies that examine social media satisfaction through integrating contemporary information system success and acceptance models with flow theory.

Exploring stickiness intention of B2C online shopping malls

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the roles of flow experience and e-trust in online consumers’ stickiness intentions from a perspective of information quality and discuss how to retain these consumers.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors proposed a research model by integrating three dimensions of information quality, flow experience and e-trust. These factors were analyzed to explore the direct and indirect effects on consumers’ stickiness intention. Online questionnaires were adopted to collect data and 259 valid samples were analyzed by structural equation modeling approach.

Findings

The findings show that information quality provided by B2C online shopping malls can indirectly affect consumers’ stickiness intention through the mediation effects of flow experience and e-trust. Besides, flow experience can also significantly affect e-trust and then indirectly influence stickiness intention.

Research limitations/implications

The findings suggest that information quality can trigger the effects of flow experience and e-trust to keep stickiness of online consumers. Besides, in the context of online shopping, flow experience would promote consumers’ trust toward e-retailers. Some other theoretical and practical implications are also provided.

Originality/value

This study indicates the effects of flow experience and e-trust on stickiness intention from an information quality perspective. Meanwhile, the authors also intend to discuss the relationship between consumers’ flow experience and e-trust in the context of B2C online shopping.

Purchase intention in social commerce

Purpose

With the advent of the digital era, the internet has gradually become an essential factor in people’s lives. Its increasing popularity has also caused e-commerce to thrive, and has increased the power of online marketing. In recent years, social commerce has emerged as a new mode of operation which can be distinguished from traditional e-commerce. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

The main purpose of this study is to determine which factors influence a consumer’s behavioral intention in the context of social commerce websites, and to explore overall purchase intentions based on the consumer’s cognitive evaluation. The examination reveals that consumers’ multidimensional perceptions influence both their perceptions of value and their purchase intentions. Other related social awareness factors explored by this study are also shown to influence customers’ purchase intentions.

Findings

In summary, the results show that perceived value and social awareness factors influence customers’ purchasing decisions and behavioral intentions for different gender. These findings have significant theoretical and managerial implications.

Originality/value

Social commerce is a subset of e-commerce brought about by the development of social networking. Activities conducted on social networking websites can be considered as a form of social commerce. In Taiwan, social commerce is still in the early stages of development.

Video Game Acceptance: A Meta-Analysis of the Extended Technology Acceptance Model

The current study systematically reviews and summarizes the existing literature of game acceptance, identifies the core determinants, and evaluates the strength of the relationships in the extended technology acceptance model. Moreover, this study segments video games into two categories: hedonic and utilitarian and examines player acceptance of these two types separately. Through a meta-analysis of 50 articles, we find that perceived ease of use (PEOU), perceived usefulness (PU), and perceived enjoyment (PE) significantly associate with attitude and behavioral intention. PE is the dominant predictor of hedonic game acceptance, while PEOU and PU are the main determinants of utilitarian game acceptance. Furthermore, we find that respondent type and game platform are significant moderators. Findings of this study provide critical insights into the phenomenon of game acceptance and suggest directions for future research.

From sPassion to sWOM: the role of flow

Purpose

Social commerce websites entail a completely new scenario for sharing experiences and opinions due to its richness in terms of social interactions. Nowadays, users can interact with the company and with other users; hence, it seems important to study how social stimuli affect users. Drawing on the stimulus-organism-response framework and flow theory, the purpose of this paper is to propose that the social stimulus (named social passion (sPassion)) has a positive effect on the organism (state of flow), which leads to a users’ positive response (via social word of mouth (sWOM)).

Design/methodology/approach

The data were collected through an online survey in 2015. The sample consists of 771 users of social commerce websites, of which 51 percent are male and 49 percent female, aged between 16 and 80 years old. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data with the statistical software SPSS version 22 and EQS 6.

Findings

The empirical results confirm that passionate users are prone to experience a state of flow and, as a consequence, share positive sWOM.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the literature on customers’ online participation, and the findings are hoped to help companies in developing social commerce websites that boost users’ exchange of information.

Dividing network externality into the number of peers and users

Purpose

Even though network externality plays an important role in users’ motivations to use services or products, the implications of this are not clear because previous studies did not distinguish between the number of peers and the number of total users. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that there is a difference between the two network externalities, i.e., the number of peers and the total number of users. To accomplish this, the perception of quality of life is considered to have an impact on the effects of the two different network externalities.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from a survey that covered 508 online game players in South Korea, and the two hypotheses of “player experience of need satisfaction” from self-determination theory as well as user gratification theory (UGT) were assessed using structural equation modeling.

Findings

The results indicate that people consider the total number of users and the number of peers differently. In addition, the effects of the total number of users and the number of peers vary according to respondents’ perceived life quality in four dimensions: loneliness, happiness, satisfaction with life (SWL), and escapism. In particular, people’s offline tendencies are reflected online in terms of loneliness, whereas online life compensates for a lack of enjoyment offline.

Originality/value

The authors verify that UGT can affect the network externality by considering perceived quality of life (loneliness, SWL, happiness, and escapism) as a moderating effect.