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With a growing ageing population and the advent of interactive TV (iTV), understanding how older people use iTV services is a timely and important task. Working towards this end, this paper reports on in situ conversations of, and observations with, almost 400 older people, with different levels of educational attainment and experience with ICTs, while talking about and using online video portals and similar interactive systems in Spain, Brazil and Denmark. The results show more similarities than differences in their reasons for adopting online video portals and patterns of use. All our participants used these portals for keeping or remaining in touch with people they trusted. The results also show that privacy online was a common concern to all the participants. Differences in the acceptance of e-government services and the type of content that drove most of their interactions were also found. Implications for designing more accessible and meaningful iTV services are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of loyalty has remained a central theme in business for over 50 years. This concept has gained additional attention with the growth of online retailing due to rapidly changing retail environments. Numerous studies have focused on the antecedents of online store loyalty; however, unlike previous works, the present study explores a conceptual perception of loyalty. This study provides insights into behavioral and attitudinal perspectives and concentrates on the importance of the affective dimension of attitudinal loyalty. Additionally, this study analyzes differences in attitudinal loyalty toward online stores between loyal and disloyal respondents. The study was based on a survey performed in four countries--the USA, China, Spain, and Lithuania. The results highlight the importance of the affective aspect of loyalty and differences in its evaluation among the surveyed countries. The findings reveal significant and stable differences in perception of the three dimensions of attitudinal loyalty between loyal and disloyal respondents; however, in contrast to expectations, the disloyal respondents exhibited very high levels of attitudinal loyalty. These findings contribute to better measurement and interpretation of loyalty for both scientific studies and business practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enhancing individuals' preparedness to work across borders is of growing importance. This study explores the role of Cultural Intelligence and Psychological Empowerment in enhancing Task Performance among students engaged in an international experiential game-based learning project: The Global Game Challenge (GGC). Data collected from the delivery of the project in the USA and Spain identifies empirical support for a relationship between Cultural Intelligence and Psychological Empowerment for the first time. The results suggest that CQ and Empowerment are important factors impacting task-related performance. They also suggest that it is the motivational dimension of CQ that is the most important in virtual educational settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]