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This paper explores the effect of chatbot empathy and identity disclosure on willingness to donate (WTD) to a fundraising project and the psychological mechanism in the relationship. In a 3 (information-only vs. cognitive empathy vs. affective empathy) × 2 (chatbot vs. human identity) experiment, 496 US adults had a conversation about a fundraising event with one of six artificial intelligence-powered chatbots. The results revealed that neither chatbot empathy nor identity disclosure has a significant effect on WTD, rejecting the hypotheses. However, the data supported a significant interaction effect between chatbot empathy and identity disclosure on WTD. Moreover, the results suggested that the interaction effect between chatbot empathy and identity disclosure on WTD would be mediated through human likeness and social presence. This study suggests how empathy and human identity of chatbots should be applied with care to avoid the uncanny valley effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assistive technologies have allowed people with disabilities to perform daily tasks with greater independence and autonomy, especially for visually impaired people. Using smart home solutions allows these users to control their homes with less cognitive and physical demand. However, making such applications accessible to meet the needs of visually impaired users, especially in developing countries, remains a challenge. This paper investigates the perceptions of these users about home automation technologies through semi-structured interviews. A total of 20 visually impaired people participated in the interviews. A thematic analysis revealed results concerning the following themes: (1) how people go about their lives at home and around, how people interact with current appliances, objects and environments, (3) how people perceive their attitude to technologies, (4) the Brazilian context of smart homes, (5) what people think smart homes should do and (6) envisaging ways of interacting with smart home systems. The results obtained provide significant insight into the needs of visually-impaired people in Brazil, with analysis of issues that are common with previous studies in more developed countries and specific issues that have important particularities and implications in Brazil and other developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern speech-language pathology practices (SLPPs) have adopted tablet games in recent years. Research is needed to take advantage of the potential benefits tablets can offer and to explore the factors that influence its introduction. This paper discusses a survey that was conducted to investigate the factors that influence speech-language pathologists’ (SLPs) beliefs and the actual use of tablets in SLPPs. The results of the survey, conducted among Slovenian SLPs, indicated that their most positive beliefs concerning tablets relate to social influence. Specifically, the beliefs relate to children’s interest and practice with tablets and have a significant impact on the decision-making of SLPs concerning introducing tablets in therapy. Conversely, SLPs’ most negative beliefs relate to the conditions for facilitating tablet use, particularly the lack of Slovenian applications. This paper discusses a separate case study that was conducted in which tablet game-supported therapy was introduced to a group of 44 children. The case study results indicated that the children accepted the use of tablet games for therapy purposes and the games had a positive impact on the children’s motivation and satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As artificial intelligence (AI) became a part of daily life, it has become important to determine user competence in using AI technology. Here, we propose the concept of AI literacy and develop a quantitative scale for obtaining accurate data regarding the AI literacy of ordinary users. We first identified the primary core constructs of AI literacy, including awareness, use, evaluation, and ethics. Next, we generated 65 items to capture these four constructs; only 31 items were retained after a three-step content validation process. Then, we conducted a survey, and collected two samples of data. By reducing the number of items using the first sample and performing reliability and validity tests on the second sample, we obtained a 12-item instrument for the quantitative measurement of AI literacy. The results confirmed that the proposed four-construct model is an adequate representation of AI literacy. Further, AI literacy is significantly related to digital literacy, attitude towards robots, and users' daily usage of AI. This study will not only aid researchers in understanding how user competence in using AI technology affects human–AI interactions but will also help designers develop AI applications that are aligned with the AI literacy levels of the target users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Saudi universities have suspended the traditional face-to-face classes and moved to online learning to ensure the continuation of the educational process during the COVID-19 pandemic. The speed at which the move to online learning has happened was unprecedented and staggering. Academics, had to improvise and try different e-learning solutions in less-than-ideal circumstances. No matter how powerful and easy-to-use e-learning solutions might be, many academics understandably found the transition to e-learning stressful. This research project looks at the transition experience to online learning from the viewpoint of academics in Saudi universities. It investigates how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the adoption of e-learning solutions and how this forced experience would affect the long-term adoption of e-learning solutions. The study employed an online survey administered to academics from all the 24 public universities. The results were quantitatively analysed by using structural equation modelling (SEM). It was found that attitudes toward e-learning, self-efficacy and perceived reliability have significant positive effects on behavioural intention to adopt e-learning. It was also found that COVID-19 has positively affected the long-term adoption of e-learning. Therefore, it is recommended that universities take immediate actions and capitalise on the e-learning experience that academics have gained during COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of blue-collar work, digital technologies and robotic systems are introduced at a rapid speed. However, employees are not always motivated to adopt such new technologies. Thus, it is essential to understand the drivers of employees' attitudes towards new technology at work (e.g. their enthusiasm about new technology or their insecurity or resistance to change). The present study examines (actual and desired) work characteristics as a predictor of attitudes towards new technology in blue-collar work. Results from a correlational study among blue-collar workers (N = 127) showed that work characteristics among blue-collar workers could be divided into three dimensions, namely, work enrichment, work demands, and task identity. These correlated with attitudes towards a to-be-implemented new technology (here, robotic system): As expected, desired work demands correlated with greater technology enthusiasm, whereas a lack of actual work enrichment predicted technology-based job insecurity. Work characteristics were unrelated to user resistance to change. The findings suggest that how workers evaluate their current work, and how much they are (dis)satisfied with it, predicts attitudes towards new technology. This research adds to the knowledge about attitudes towards new technology in blue-collar work. Practical implications for the implementation of technologies in blue-collar work are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trusted online identities in social media are viable sources of information in the digital world. Among different types of social media, blog continues to play important roles in promoting social commerce and social interactions through the development and maintenance of trusted online identities. This study examines factors that influence bloggers' intentions to continue blogging. From the social identity perspective, we suggest that identity confirmation, reflecting the congruence between identity expectation and perceived identity performance in blogging, is a primary driver of blogging continuance intention. Integrating the social identity theory, the expectation-confirmation theory, and the literature on habit, we develop a model to show that identity confirmation influences satisfaction with blogging and habit of blogging, and the latter two factors influence continuance intention. An empirical test of 165 Taiwanese bloggers confirmed the expectations. A post hoc analysis further shows that the effect of identity confirmation on blogging continuance intention is mediated by satisfaction and habit, highlighting the critical role of bloggers' ex-post experience in the linkage between their ex-ante motivation of identity construction and blogging continuance intention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interactions among citizens have been declining in America for more than 50 years. Generalised trust has also declined starkly, as a measure that depends upon social contact. The present study investigates whether social networking sites can host interactions that feel similar enough to interpersonal life to still contribute to generalised trust. A nationally representative sample of U.S. adults was drawn. Results indicate that social motivations for Facebook use contribute to social presence. Presence is related to trusting in turn. The size of the association between presence and trust also diminishes with age. Younger users are more willing to convert presence into trust in people, despite trusting less in general. Those 18–29 surpassed older generations in terms of how strongly they trusted, but only at the highest levels of social presence. Heightening this sense of presence could facilitate trust for future generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With online-learning becoming the new mode of learning, providers need to understand the barriers that learners face. The objective of this study is to utilise a multi-method approach to examine the barriers that affect learner's intention to use e-Learning services. The multi-method approach consists of qualitative semi-structured interviews of 8 participants, topic-modelling on 3227 reviews from Coursera dataset and 463 responses from an online survey for quantitative analysis. The interviews revealed themes like 'rigid-course-structure', 'complexity', 'quality-of-facilitator', and 'value-addition'. The topic-modelling approach extracted themes like, 'technique-of-teaching', 'language-of-speaker', 'course-content', 'privacy', 'payment-issues', etc. The empirical study revealed that value [course-content ('course-content', 'value-addition') and facilitator-issues ('quality-of-facilitator', 'handling-of-queries')], tradition [trust ('privacy concerns', 'authenticity', 'reliability')] and risk [payment issues ('payment-failures', 'refund issues')] barriers have a notable negative impact on usage-intention. The originality of this works lies in the fact that it explores payment-failure, facilitator-quality, and course-value affecting the acceptance of e-Learning services from the innovation-resistance-theory stance utilising data from various sources (qualitative data from interviews and online reviews and quantitative survey-based data). This work has also discussed different limitations in this study and scope for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social media have become an important place for individuals with similar interests to exchange opinions and share resources. Ubiquitous collaborative learning environments in SNS have great educational and organisational potential and offer a platform for sharing knowledge. Rising interest in personal factors in knowledge management research calls for a better understanding of how knowledge is shared in SNS-based collaborative learning. Grounded on the theories of planned behaviour and social identity, this study investigates individual characteristics that affect the sharing of knowledge in SNS learning communities. The study also examines whether intent to share knowledge mediates those personal characteristics and sharing of knowledge. Eighty individuals from five active Facebook groups participated in this study. The findings indicate that individual characteristics, such as online personal identity, web-specific self-efficacy, and knowledge-creation self-efficacy significantly predict sharing of knowledge. In addition, intent to share knowledge mediates between the sharing of knowledge and online identity, web-specific self-efficacy, or knowledge-creation self-efficacy. The results reveal a need for customised support and environmental design focusing on online personal identity, web-specific self-efficacy, knowledge-creation self-efficacy, and intent to share knowledge in a knowledge-sharing community on SNS. Implications for the SNS communities and suggestions for further research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We drew on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2) model, and perceived risk construct to propose an integrated model to explain continuance usage of mobile shopping applications. Espoused national cultural values of individualism/collectivism, masculinity/femininity, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term/short-term orientation act as moderators to examine the influence of within-culture variation on app usage. Findings reveal habit as the strongest predictor of both continuance intention and use behaviour, but interestingly perceived risk did not influence the post-acceptance behaviour of users significantly. Individualism/collectivism, masculinity/femininity, and long-term/short-term orientation espoused cultural values significantly moderated the relationships in the model. Noteworthy theoretical and managerial implications of the research are discussed further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identity and the different roles identities play in social question-answering communities have long been discussed from both a theoretical and empirical standpoint. Identity is usually analysed in ways that emphasise a transaction, and many studies use third-party raters to assign value judgements to these factors, which may not be relevant to a community. In this article, we examine identity in Stack Overflow, a question and answer site dedicated to solving computer-programming problems, which has a competitive community run reputation system. Profiles on Stack Overflow are highly customizable, allowing users to choose the level of personal information they want to share: from extensive to none. We develop a categorisation scheme using grounded theory to develop definitions of identity, and analyse behaviour based on these definitions. We find that the choice of identity is diverse within the community and that there is a correlation with identifiers and increased reputation earning among the general population. An analysis of elite users, however, indicates that identity is closely tied to membership length, but not to performance. The results indicate that allowing identity choices does affect system efficacy or user outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nearly ubiquitous use of online social networks generally entails substantial personal disclosure and elicits significant privacy concerns. This research uses Social Exchange Theory and the impression management (IM) literature to examine how privacy concerns can be counterbalanced by the perceived social benefits afforded by a social network’s ability to support IM. We frame social network use as an attempt to engage in IM, and we highlight the importance of a social network’s IM affordances in predicting social benefits from, and disclosure through, a social network. We test our model with a sample of 244 Facebook users, finding support for the proposed relationships and yielding the following contributions. First, this research provides a novel positioning of perceived IM affordances as a primary driver of both perceived social benefits and IM disclosure propensity. Second, this research illuminates that trust in both the social network provider and social network peers influences privacy concerns, social benefits, and perceived IM affordances. Our theory has important implications for researchers and practitioners interested in privacy issues within social networks. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]