Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies

As the food delivery sector grows in importance, new delivery modes to address service issues, such as costs, swift delivery, and environmental concerns, are being researched. However, research on drone-based food delivery services is still lacking, especially in the Indian context, which the current study aims to address. The study furthered the UTAUT2 model with additional perceived risk and price sensitivity constructs. Quantitative, cross-sectional data was collected nationwide using convenience sampling through online survey questionnaires. The 323 responses were analyzed using the partial least square-structural equation modeling method. The results identified effort expectancy, social influence, and hedonic motivation as significant predictors of attitude and behavioral intention. In an emerging economy with a vast consumer base, this study may offer a preliminary standpoint for understanding the consumer perspective on drone food deliveries. The findings of this study might be necessary for businesses that deal with food delivery logistics as a point of view to formulate successful strategies.

Sharing experiences with others is an important part of everyday life. Immersive virtual reality (IVR) promises to simulate these experiences. However, whether IVR elicits a similar level of social presence as measured in the real world is unclear. It is also uncertain whether AI-driven virtual humans (agents) can elicit a similar level of meaningful social copresence as people-driven virtual-humans (avatars). The current study demonstrates that both virtual human types can elicit a cognitive impact on a social partner. The current experiment tested participants’ cognitive performance changes in the presence of virtual social partners by measuring the social facilitation effect (SFE). The SFE-related performance change can occur through either vigilance-based mechanisms related to other people’s copresence (known as the mere presence effect (MPE)) or reputation management mechanisms related to other people’s monitoring (the audience effect (AE)). In this study, we hypothesised AE and MPE as distinct mechanisms of eliciting SFE. Firstly, we predicted that, if head-mounted IVR can simulate sufficient copresence, any social companion’s visual presence would elicit SFE through MPE. The results demonstrated that companion presence decreased participants’ performance irrespective of whether AI or human-driven. Secondly, we predicted that monitoring by a human-driven, but not an AI-driven, companion would elicit SFE through AE. The results demonstrated that monitoring by a human-driven companion affected participant performance more than AI-driven, worsening performance marginally in accuracy and significantly in reaction times. We discuss how the current results explain the findings in prior SFE in virtual-world literature and map out future considerations for social-IVR testing, such as participants’ virtual self-presence and affordances of physical and IVR testing environments.

While previous studies have investigated the factors influencing Internet adoption, the findings may not be transferable to explain blockchain technology (BCT) adoption, despite its similarities to the Internet. This study addresses this gap by developing an extended technology acceptance model (TAM) to investigate the factors influencing BCT adoption. The model consists of four key factors, including strategic management and social influence at the firm level, and individual innovation and self-efficacy at the individual level. Data were collected from 384 employees at Taiwan Stock Exchange companies, and structural equation modeling was utilized to test the hypotheses. Results reveal that strategic management and social influence at the firm level have a direct impact on BCT adoption, which is indirectly influenced by perceived usefulness. Subsequently, training and support provided by the firm can enhance individual innovation and self-efficacy, which has direct effects on BCT adoption at the individual level and is partially mediated by perceived ease of use.

Phubbing affects an individual’s social life and well-being. It has been found to affect romantic relationships, communication and social skills, and emotional and behavioral problems. Some relationships that phubbing has with, for example, smartphone addiction, Internet addiction, social media addiction, FoMO, and neuroticism are well known and established in the literature. However, phubbing is not exclusively reducible to addiction or personality-driven dynamics. For this reason, this study is aimed at exploring the motivations behind phubbing behavior. Firstly, the research is aimed at confirming the relationships between phubbing and technology-related addictions (e.g., social media addiction and mobile phone addiction) and personality traits (e.g., neuroticism and conscientiousness). In addition, the study is aimed at examining the relationship between phubbing and three potential individual-level factors for possible phubbing modeling: intrinsic motivation, boredom state, and online vigilance. A total of 551 participants took part in the study (mean years; ). After confirming the relationships that phubbing has with the abovementioned variables, a hierarchical regression model was produced in order to model the phubbing phenomenon as comprehensively as possible. The final model explained approximately 72% of the variance in phubbing. The primary contributors to the explained variance were variables related to the dependent use of new technologies, dimensions of online vigilance, boredom, and intrinsic motivation for using new technologies. Sociodemographic factors and personality traits accounted for a smaller portion of the variance (3.4% and 9.1%, respectively). These findings suggest that the individual-level factors driving phubbing behavior are related to intrinsic motivation, online vigilance, and boredom, rather than sociodemographic factors or personality traits. The study encourages further research to explore and expand upon the range of motivations underlying phubbing behavior, while considering factors related to dysfunctional or addictive technology use.

The fast development of the Internet has raised the number of government-related websites and the variety of e-services available. Despite tourism’s critical significance in supporting the national economy, relatively few researches have been conducted on the influence of tourism website quality dimensions on electronic loyalty among citizens (e-loyalty), particularly in the Jordanian domestic tourism context. The objective of this research is to identify the factors that impact the e-loyalty of citizens toward the e-government services offered by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in Jordan, considering the mediating influence of citizens’ e-satisfaction and e-trust, primarily following Oliver’s (1999) e-loyalty model. The survey questionnaire was adopted as a main strategy to collect and analyze primary data and to investigate the relationships between variables. Statistical processing was applied using IBM SPSS version 22 package and Amos version 25 for path analysis as the main statistical software package. The results indicated that citizens’ e-loyalty toward the governmental tourism-related website in Jordan is moderate, demonstrating that citizens are generally comfortable with the e-services provided. Furthermore, the results suggest that e-satisfaction and e-trust both play a mediating role in the connection between dimensions of website quality (specifically, information quality and personalization) and the e-loyalty of citizens. This study contributes to the theory by combining the relationships among website quality dimensions, citizen e-trust, e-satisfaction, and e-loyalty, particularly in the unique setting of Jordan’s domestic tourism sector. The results provide valuable insights for policymakers and tourism sector managers, aiding them in the implementation of information and communication technology (ICT) strategies that facilitate citizens’ transactions and encourage them to participate effectively in e-government activities, thereby boosting the kingdom’s economy and gross domestic product (GDP). The government also recommended enhancing awareness programs and employee training in order to enhance the e-services offered to citizens.

The importance of online learning for delivering academic content in distance education cannot be an understatement. Online learning is not only associated with benefits, but it also comes with some challenges among course facilitators in distance education. This study, therefore, examined course facilitators’ perspectives on online facilitation in distance education within the context of a less developed economy. The study adopted the quantitative approach based on descriptive research design with a sample of 529 course facilitators out of a population of 2,768 using multiple sampling techniques such as stratified and simple random sampling. Data were gathered using a structured questionnaire, and partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was utilized to analyze the results. Findings from the study revealed that course facilitators had online tools and content knowledge but lacked online lesson presentation skills. Availability of online gadgets significantly predicted functionality and online teaching presentation method. Challenges with online learning, availability and functionality of online gadgets, and online presentation methods significantly predicted online use intention and subsequently influenced online usage for teaching among course facilitators. It was recommended that managers of distance education train and provide technical support as well as online gadgets for course facilitators to effectively implement online education. This study provides new insights into how online gadgets, their functionality, and online presentation methods by course facilitators intricately relate among themselves and finally influence online usage intentions and actual usage of online instruction in the distance education milieu.