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The uncanny valley (UCV) model is an influential human-robot interaction theory that explains the relationship between the resemblance that robots have to humans and attitudes toward robots. Despite its extraordinary worth, this model remains untested in certain respects. One current limitation is that the model has only been examined in general or context-free situations. Given that humanoids function in the world beyond laboratories, investigating the UCV in specific and actual situations is critical. Additionally, few studies have examined the impact of affective responses presented in the UCV to other appraisals of humanoids. To address these issues, this study explored affective and cognitive responses to humanoids in specific service situations. In particular, we examined the effect of affective responses on trust, which is regarded as a critical cognitive factor influencing technology adoption, in two service contexts: hotel reception (low expertise) and tutoring (high expertise). By providing a richer understanding of human both affective and cognitive reactions to humanoids, our findings expand the UCV theory and ultimately contribute to research regarding user adoption of service robots.

Smart speakers, which provide continuous real-time information and convenient services, increasingly permeate into users’ homes. On the other hand, the environments of the smart speaker also cause ...

As the complexity of managing online personal information is increasing and data breach incidents frequently occur, online users feel a loss of control over their privacy. Such a situation leads to their cynical attitudes towards privacy protection, called privacy cynicism. This study aims to examine the role of privacy cynicism in online users’ privacy behaviors. Data were gathered from a survey that 281 people participated in and were analyzed with covariance-based structural equation modeling. The findings of this study reveal that privacy cynicism has not only a direct influence on disclosure intention but also moderates an effect of privacy concerns on the intention. The analytical results also indicate that there is a nonlinear effect of privacy cynicism on the outcome variable. This study developed the concept of privacy cynicism—a phenomenon that significantly affects online privacy behavior but has been rarely examined. The study is an initial research into the nature and implications of privacy cynicism and furthermore clarified its role by the nonlinear relationship between privacy cynicism and the willingness to disclose personal information.

정보통신기술(ICT)의 발전은 기업들과 개인들에게 많은 혜택을 주고 있다. 하지만, 최근 이 혜택이 대기업과 고소득 개인에게만 편중되어 정보통신기술의 발전이 소득불평등을 악화시킨다는 주장이 나오고 있다. 이러한 주장은 첨단 정보통신기술을 도입하고 활용하는데 사용되는 자본이 결과적으로 노동을 대체하면서 노동...

South Korea has been evaluated as a country that is responding well to COVID-19. The Government of the Republic of Korea discloses where, when, and by which means of transportation people confirmed to have the virus have visited. Although disclosure of movement has contributed to flattening the curve and providing timely medical service, concerns about privacy infringement have also been raised. This article determines what factors influence privacy risk tolerance, looking specifically at threat severity, vulnerability, response efficacy, and response cost. We also provide implications for the preparation of better countermeasures for the government to implement.

Advances in information technology (IT) bring about technological innovation in financial businesses, referred to as financial technology (fintech), beyond the traditional financial industry. While fintech implies more convenient and various financial services to customers, it leads to more complexity in the financial sector, as different industry players (e.g., IT firms) can participate in financial businesses. The complexity of fintech causes controversial issues related to policies and the appropriate development direction. In order to provide insight into the current state of fintech, this study explores the fundamental understanding of the fintech phenomenon from the perspective of the major stakeholders (i.e., financial authorities, financial companies, IT firms) in South Korea. This study analyzed news articles, where those stakeholders expressed their arguments, by using a content analysis. The study also conducted an intensive examination of their arguments by using a core–periphery approach of social representations. This study found that while the three beholders had a common opinion on deregulation of the fintech industry, each of them had different knowledge of the phenomenon. By revealing each beholder’s structure of representations of fintech, this study not only provides common knowledge regarding fintech but also explicates the perceptual gaps among stakeholders. Findings of the study offer a big picture of current fintech initiatives, which can be useful knowledge for future research on fintech.

People's privacy concerns about electronic health records (EHRs) have been widely discussed. Given that in principle, patients have the right to control their information in EHRs, the system will not reach its full potential without their support. Although human beings are generally inclined toward privacy, contextual differences play a role in individual decisions to disclose personal information. Likewise, patients exhibit different responses in terms of sharing their health information in diverse scenarios. Empirical work on patients' attitudes towards the secondary use of their health information is scarce. This study aims to investigate individuals' willingness to share their health information based on anonymity, information type (partial vs. whole), and the type of information user (health professionals, health researchers, health-related governmental agencies, and other governmental agencies). Furthermore, this study attempts to examine the effects of interaction between the three factors. A survey was conducted in South Korea, and the data obtained were analyzed by ANOVA. Despite the recent rapid diffusion of EHRs in South Korea, there is little discussion of patients' privacy in society. The results show that, although anonymity and the user type have a significant effect on willingness to share health information, the information type has no significant effect. The results also indicate that the willingness to share was higher for health-related governmental agencies and health professionals than for other governmental agencies. The findings reveal that, although willingness to share anonymous information does not vary significantly, the willingness differs for identified information. The study contributes to research on patients' privacy behavior by analyzing their comprehensive responses to health information-sharing investigations.

We examined the effects of socio-demographics and personality traits on online privacy concern. We investigated this relationship in general and across different Internet functions. Using a large, diverse, population-representative sample (N = 5,242), we found that females, educated, and wealthier individuals tend to be concerned with online privacy to a greater extent. Among personality traits, agreeableness and conscientiousness were generally associated with an increased probability of being concerned with online privacy. These results imply that socio- demographics and personality traits provide explanatory insights into online privacy concern.

Although information privacy has been extensively investigated in the information systems discipline, research heavily focuses on cognitive frameworks and underestimates the influence of affect on users’ privacy behaviors. Psychological literature demonstrates that affect plays a significant role in individuals’ decisions in risky situations. This study aims to explore associations between cognitive factors, affective responses, and coping behaviors in the context of privacy threats. For this purpose, we conducted a laddering interview with 56 users of location-based services. Elements elicited by an emerging coding procedure were mapped by their causal relations as described in interviews. The results revealed idiosyncratic associations among privacy concerns, affects, and coping behaviors, which implies that privacy concerns can result in different coping behaviors according to the affects following the concern. Thus, the result suggests that cognition-affect appraisals can offer a reliable framework for explaining users’ privacy behaviors. This study proposes a new direction for the cognition-affect perspective in information privacy research by providing an alternative approach that reflects both cognition and affects to explain coping behaviors.

The increasing difficulty in managing one's online personal data leads to individuals feeling a loss of control. Additionally, repeated consumer data breaches have given people a sense of futility, ultimately making them weary of having to think about online privacy. This phenomenon is called “privacy fatigue.” Although privacy fatigue is prevalent and has been discussed by scholars, there is little empirical research on the phenomenon. This study aimed not only to conceptualize privacy fatigue but also to examine its role in online privacy behavior. Based on literature on burnout, we developed measurement items for privacy fatigue, which has two key dimensions —emotional exhaustion and cynicism. Data analyzed from a survey of 324 Internet users showed that privacy fatigue has a stronger impact on privacy behavior than privacy concerns do, although the latter is widely regarded as the dominant factor in explaining online privacy behavior.

While mobile social network sites (SNSs) function as a platform for social and self-communication that leads to sense of others and oneself, users may feel irritation derived from social interaction and technical frustration in using mobile SNSs. Because of the ubiquitous nature of mobile devices, sense of presence and irritation are more influential to users' satisfaction of mobile SNSs. This study investigates the influence of a sense of presence and irritation on users' satisfaction with mobile SNSs. Additionally, the study examines a moderating effect of mobile SNS use intensity between sense of presence (social and self-presence) and irritation (social and technological irritation) and their outcomes. The study contributes to knowledge on social media users, particularly in the mobile context, by proposing and demonstrating a presence-irritation model

This study explores digital natives’ consumption of snack contents, which are short-form digital contents that reflects on the emerging trend of snack culture, referring to the participative, multi-tasking, and shortened consumption of digital contents. Specifically, employing goal theory and a means-end chain approach, this study investigates digital natives’ snack content consumption behaviors and the goals they pursue through those behaviors. Data were collected using laddering interviews, a type of semi-structured interview, and the results of the analyses were presented in a hierarchical goal map that identified four attributes and 14 goals associated with snack content consumption. The findings show that information acquisition, sense of accomplishment, fun, and restorative are the main four values users obtain through the usage of snack contents. This empirical study enhances the understanding of digital natives’ goals in consuming snack contents and provides insights into the current trend of digital content consumption.

There is growing interest in chatbots as a leading technology for digital transformation in the financial industry. However, studies have largely investigated chatbots from the perspective of customers and developers, and very few examine chatbot services from the perspective of managers, who play a central role in the organizational adoption of chatbots. This paper aims to explore managers' perception of chatbots to help understand the initiation of financial chatbots and forecast the future of their service in South Korea, which has seen active use of chatbots by financial firms. We conducted semi-structured interviews with managers in charge of chatbot services in Korean financial firms and employed a core–periphery analysis of social representations. Our findings will enhance the understanding of the status of chatbot services in the Korean financial industry and provide theoretical implications and managerial insights.

Clicking the Like is an idiosyncratic and essential activity in Facebook.Users pursuit diverse goals in Facebook.Overall goals in Facebook have significant relations with psychological well-being.Relationships between the goals for SNS use and the dimensions of psychological well-being.Enjoyment in Facebook has a negative relation with psychological well-being. There is scant research on the broader outcomes of IT in users life contexts beyond adoption. This study uses a goal hierarchy approach to deepen our understanding of the relationship between the use of Facebook and psychological well-being (PWB) in young adults. The study applies a mixed-method design that combines means-end analysis and regression analysis to examine data collected from laddering interviews with 161 Facebook users. The means-end chain analysis provided knowledge of the hierarchical goal structure in Facebook (i.e., activitiesmediated goalsultimate goals). Regression analysis was used to identify the relationships between the ultimate goals of Facebook use (e.g., psychological stability, belongingness) and the dimensions of PWB (e.g., self-acceptance, autonomy). The findings explain the significant association of Facebook use with well-being and the dual outcomes of enjoyment (positive in SNS; negative in users lives). Prior research focused on relationships among abstract factors, but this study delivers a more specific and nuanced explanation of user behavior on SNSs by providing knowledge of how specific Facebook activities relate to goals and PWB.

With this study, we explored an emerging type of surveillance, namely, peer-to-peer surveillance, in which individuals with lateral surveillance devices (e.g., smart glasses, wearable cameras) can stealthily observe others. Specifically, we investigated how, compared with centralized surveillance, peer-to-peer surveillance affects group satisfaction with group work and the processes of cognitive and affective appraisals. We developed our research model in the framework of stimulus-organism-response. In our experiment, we randomly assigned 60 three-member groups to one of three conditions (no monitoring, centralized monitoring, peer-to-peer surveillance) and conducted a group task. The results revealed that peer-to-peer surveillance influenced satisfaction with group work through mediators such as perceived surveillance (cognition) and stress (affect). By elucidating the significant roles of cognition and affect in the emerging pervasive surveillance, we contribute to understanding human responses to the risks caused by novel information and communication technologies.

Users’ desire to view additional content while watching TV has increased significantly in recent years. This study investigates the optimal way to show supplementary content and evaluates the types of additional information that should be provided. We conduct two 2 (single screen vs. second screen) × 2 (providing additional content with congruent goals vs. incongruent goals) between-subjects design experiments, one with news information (utilitarian content) and the other with soft drama programming (hedonic content). The results showed that viewing supplemental content with related information on a different screen strengthens user perceptions of both news and drama. However, the interaction effect of second-screen viewing and the goals of additional content differed across the main types of TV content. The results of this study are relevant to both scholars and practitioners who seek ways to enhance the effectiveness of second-screen usage.

Wearable devices indicate objects encompassing both mobile computing and fashion characteristics. Although the combination of the two characteristics is relatively new, consumers' recognition of smartwatches, one type of wearable, is increasing. However, despite the heightened interest in smartwatches, sales are growing more slowly than expected. In order to comprehend this, we should understand potential consumers' perceptions of smartwatches. This study explored how much potential consumers value various smartwatch attributes by examining their preference structure of the wearable. The preference structure was generated from a conjoint analysis including five smartwatch attributes: brand, price, standalone communication, display shape, and display size. We also compared findings by user group (current wristwatch users vs. non-users). Results showed that display shape and standalone communication are more critical factors influencing respondents' smartwatch choices than brand and price for both types of users. Results also revealed that a curved display shape is most preferred. Consumers' recognition of smartwatches, one type of wearable, is increasing.Smartwatch functions are more important to users than brand and price.Display shape and standalone communication are more critical functions.A curved display shape is most preferred.

Mixed methods: qualitative study with interview and quantitative study with survey.Social exchange theory with benefit-cost assessment.Four benefit factors and one cost factor in the qualitative study.Research model testing with six decision factors in the quantitative study.Three main antecedents of posting benevolent comments online in terms of self-interest, altruism, and rationality. Cyberbullying by way of malicious online comments has been identified as a critical social issue. As a way to combat cyberbullying, it is important to promote the posting of benevolent comments, especially in response to malicious comments. In this study, we adopted a mixed methods approach in using social exchange theory to explore what motivates people to post benevolent comments online. We first adopted a qualitative study to explore the decision factors involved. These were then used as the basis for development of a theoretical research model to undertake a quantitative study. The results explain how people decide to post benevolent comments online. The study makes a strong theoretical contribution in demonstrating the decision factors underlying the posting of benevolent comments. It also has practical implications by providing guidance on how to combat cyberbullying through promoting the posting of benevolent online comments.

The widespread diffusion of mobile devices has led to a new method of value transfer that retains the features of mobile devices: mobile payments. Many researchers have investigated consumers’ responses to mobile payment services, which is a key indicator of the success of a service, and have examined determinants of consumer adoption. Although many studies have addressed consumer adoption of mobile payment services, only the general and abstract factors affecting adoption (e.g., perceived usefulness) have been intensively investigated. However, these studies have rarely examined the idiosyncratic and concrete aspects of mobile payment services. To improve our understanding of why consumers adopt certain mobile payment services, this study investigated consumers’ evaluations of the explicit attributes of the services. Three hundred seventy-three consumers of mobile payment services participated in an online conjoint survey. Their preference structure was generated from a conjoint analysis including five service attributes (mobile payment platform, assurance policy, mileage program, authentication method, and affiliated stores), which were identified through a literature review and focus group discussion. The results showed that an assurance policy is the most critical factor influencing consumers’ choices, and a mileage program is considered to be as imperative as the platform. We also compared the findings by two consumer clusters (safety seekers vs. platform adherers), which were classified by preference. Because this study examines concrete and specific attributes of mobile payment services beyond abstract and general adoption factors, it provides insights into consumers’ actual adoption of services.

As information technologies have become embedded in daily life, end-users encounter unexpected dangers from using IT. Electromagnetic field (EMF) risk from mobile phones is an example of those dangers. In this paper, we explore how much users value their tolerance of EMF risk by scrutinizing their preference structure of mobile phone devices. The preference structure was generated from conjoint analysis including three attributes of mobile phone devices: brand, price, and electromagnetic emission. In addition, we examined four groups which were clustered based upon their preference structure. Results show that the risk is differently perceived by user clusters and approximately 80% of respondents are likely to change their mobile phone brands for better protection from EMF risk.

Recently, mass media and researchers have begun to be concerned about excessive dependence on smartphones. Their interest, however, has largely focused on description of the phenomenon (i.e. severity of the addiction, current status of the addiction) or the development of measurement scales to assess the addiction. In this study, we ask a fundamental question about smartphone addiction: what users’ common sense of dependence on smartphones is. More specifically, employing a core–periphery analysis of social representations, this article explores how the younger generation has a different understanding of this addiction from the older generation. Findings of the study can provide a rich knowledge about users’ perceptions of and attitude toward smartphone addiction.

Virtual consumption involves consuming virtual goods in cyberspace. Virtual consumption activities are evolving into an essential activity in social virtual worlds. Despite the growing importance of this activity, little research examines this phenomenon. The current study investigates the fundamental question of how users understand the consumption of virtual goods. Using the theory of social representations and core-periphery analysis, this study elicits and analyzes the social representation of virtual consumption. Study participants are 154 Second Life users. Results identify 32 concepts and relationships representing the collective perceptions of virtual consumption in this social virtual world. Social representation map interpretations point to several key themes that provide a foundation for future investigations of virtual economy consumption behavior.

The objective of this study is twofold. First, it aims to investigate the various values users achieve with smartphones, which is a form of user-empowering information technology IT. The other objective is to introduce a means-end chain approach into IT-user studies. An important attraction of smartphones is their personalized environment, which is mainly provided by varied applications. The user personalization ability implies that users achieve diverse benefits with smartphones; that is, users decide what a smartphone is to them rather than adopt a given product. Thus, investigating what values users pursue with a smartphone i.e. a value-oriented approach will give insights into understanding the users. To investigate user values in using smartphones, we conducted a laddering interview with 54 smartphone users and analyzed the data by using a means-end chain approach to understand consumers' hierarchical value structure. This study contributes to value-oriented research on user-empowering IT by revelling how users benefit from smartphones. Furthermore, the study advances value-oriented research by showing what users actually do with smartphones, from concrete activities to abstract values. In addition, a means-end chain approach introduced in the study can be another angle for the investigation of user adoption of technology, in that it can describe IT use contexts and practices, which become an important object of analysis in the information systems research.

This paper explores how interface environments have an influence on novice users’ performance in social virtual worlds (SVWs), which are emerging user-centric three-dimensional cyberspaces. Despite their early popularity. SVWs have experienced that numerous new users leave the cyberspaces soon before they become long-term users. One possible reason is that unfamiliar interfaces of SVWs can be a barrier to novice users’ adaptation of the technology. To understand a role of interfaces in the users’ assimilation of SVWs. we examine an impact of three interface factors (presence, affordance, and feedback) on performance which is regarded as a yardstick for users’ adaptation of SVWs. Forty participants were recruited and went through one-hour experimental sessions with seven tasks in Second Life: they were also asked to answer a questionnaire. Findings indicate that while affordance and feedback are significant factors influencing novice users’ performance, presence has no impact on their performance.

Virtual worlds are increasing in importance as more multi-national firms are investing heavily in these emerging communities. Although much excitement has surrounded the idea of virtual worlds, a gap exists between those who register and those who engage in virtual worlds. Our analysis of the gap between those who merely register to join a virtual world and those who ultimately engage the community on a regular basis derives from a lack of assimilation. We present the 3C approach, a high-level theoretical framework delineating the relationship between three classes of factors (namely the technology class of factors; the community class of factors; and the user class of factors) that we posit explain virtual world assimilation and employ theories to represent these classes of factors and the interaction between them. After discussing and integrating these three classes of factors, we test our model through a study of 223 new users of Second Life. The results provide empirical support for the 3C fra...

Despite an exponentially increasing number of registered users, social virtual worlds have the problem of a high user attrition rate. It is thus meaningful to explore which factors influence users' continued use of social virtual worlds. The current study attempts to find these factors in unique characteristics (e.g., 3-dimentional environment, avatar interaction, and user empowerment) in the world, which can be sources for retaining users. Specifically, the study employs the sense of presence and perceived autonomy. 194 users of Second Life, which is the largest social virtual world, participated in the survey. The findings support the argument that the sense of presence and autonomy are influential in users' continued use of social virtual worlds.

The purpose of this study is twofold: first, to investigate user goals in social virtual worlds; second, to introduce a methodological alternative (i.e., a means-end chain approach) for analyzing user goals in cyberspaces. The data were acquired from a web survey, and were analyzed by means-end chain analysis (MECA), which produces users' goal structure in reference to a hierarchical system of interrelated goals (Olson & Reynolds, 1983). The results show that people come to social virtual worlds to satisfy their social and hedonic needs, and to escape from real world constraints, as do virtual community members and virtual gamers; they also pursue unique activities, such as creating virtual objects and selling them. On the other hand, by clarifying relations among users' goals, MECA provides a richer explanation for user goals than prior research which only offers separate user goals for cyberspace users without explanation of relationship among goals.

Mobile TV service, which provides television-like content through a mobile device, holds a limelight as the next killer application of wireless technologies and also as a prospective hedonic information technology. However, in a world where other potential wireless technologies and services speedily emerge, vendors and service providers interested in mobile TV hope that it will be diffused over the gulf between early users to general ones prior to competing sprouts. At this point, an investigation of early consumers' adoption of mobile TV may offer precious information for its survival. Based on the theoretical assumptions of the technology acceptance model (TAM), this study examines influences of cognitive concentration (or flow experience) and media content on consumers' acceptance of mobile TV. The results are threefold. First, results suggest that cognitive concentration (or flow experience) and content have a significant role in consumers' intention to use hedonic information technology. Second, results show that content has a critical impact on cognitive concentration. Finally, results support the use of the extended TAM as an explainer in the context of hedonic information technology.