The Impact of Individuals' Social Environments on Contact Tracing App Use: Survey Study.

BACKGROUND: The German Corona-Warn-App (CWA) is a contact tracing app to mitigate the spread of SARS-CoV-2. As of today, it has been downloaded approximately 45 million times. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to investigate the influence of (non)users' social environments on the usage of the CWA during 2 periods with relatively lower death rates and higher death rates caused by SARS-CoV-2. METHODS: We conducted a longitudinal survey study in Germany with 833 participants in 2 waves to investigate how participants perceive their peer groups' opinion about making use of the German CWA to mitigate the risk of SARS-CoV-2. In addition, we asked whether this perceived opinion, in turn, influences the participants with respect to their own decision to use the CWA. We analyzed these questions with generalized estimating equations. Further, 2 related sample tests were performed to test for differences between users of the CWA and nonusers and between the 2 points in time (wave 1 with the highest death rates observable during the pandemic in Germany versus wave 2 with significantly lower death rates). RESULTS: Participants perceived that peer groups have a positive opinion toward using the CWA, with more positive opinions by the media, family doctors, politicians, and virologists/Robert Koch Institute and a lower, only slightly negative opinion originating from social media. Users of the CWA perceived their peer groups' opinions about using the app as more positive than nonusers do. Furthermore, the perceived positive opinion of the media (P=.001) and politicians (P<.001) was significantly lower in wave 2 compared with that in wave 1. The perceived opinion of friends and family (P<.001) as well as their perceived influence (P=.02) among nonusers toward using the CWA was significantly higher in the latter period compared with that in wave 1. The influence of virologists (in Germany primarily communicated via the Robert Koch Institute) had the highest positive effect on using the CWA (B=0.363, P<.001). We only found 1 decreasing effect of the influence of politicians (B=-0.098, P=.04). CONCLUSIONS: Opinions of peer groups play an important role when it comes to the adoption of the CWA. Our results show that the influence of virologists/Robert Koch Institute and family/friends exerts the strongest effect on participants' decisions to use the CWA while politicians had a slightly negative influence. Our results also indicate that it is crucial to accompany the introduction of such a contact tracing app with explanations and a media campaign to support its adoption that is backed up by political decision makers and subject matter experts.

The Impact of Emissions Reduction Awareness on Moral Self-Concept: Sustaining Climate-Friendly Behaviour in the Aftermath of the Covid-19 Pandemic

Communication campaigns often highlight environmental progress to encourage further pro-environmental behaviour. Consequently, the drop in carbon emissions caused by the COVID-19 restrictions has been framed as a positive environmental outcome of the pandemic. We conducted an experimental study with a US-representative sample (N = 500) to show that raising awareness of emissions reduction has the contrary effect: an increase in moral self-concept facilitated a negative spillover, namely, it reduced climate-friendly behavioural intentions. Normative influence was able to prevent this negative spillover because activating environmental norms inhibited compensatory feelings. Besides, awareness of recent emissions reduction was less likely to increase the moral self-concept of participants with a strong environmental self-identity. Our findings demonstrate that environmental progress increases moral self-concept which, in turn, could cause a negative spillover (i.e., reduce climate-friendly low-carbon behaviour and increase climate-harmful high-carbon behaviour). Normative influences and environmental self-identity can inhibit this negative spillover.

Factors Influencing the Use of Ubiquitous Learning in Higher Education in Sichuan, China in the Aftermath of Covid-19 Pandemic

This research aims to investigate factors for adoption of ubiquitous learning (u-learning) in higher education in China in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Literature and theoretical models for adoption of ubiquitous learning were examined to find the key factors that would influence ubiquitous learning adoption which include performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, intention to use and actual use. The research uses a quantitative, survey-based research design, employing online data collection. The study applied multistage sampling. First, a non-probability sampling method, judgmental sampling was used to draw a population of Chinese higher education students in Sichuan, China at three institutions: – Sichuan Normal University Fine Arts College, Sichuan University of Arts and Sciences Academy of Art and Design, and Dazhou Vocational and Technical College Art Department. Second, stratified random sampling was applied to calculate the number of students to represent each program. Lastly, a sample size of 420 was determined based on the ratio of the number of students in each institution to the total number of populations, were selected through convenience sampling. For analysis of data, Confirmation Factor Analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were utilized. The analysis showed that intention to use has the strongest effect on actual system use. Furthermore, effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, and social influence except performance expectancy were found to positively affect the intention to use u-learning. Hence, policymakers, universities executives, and educators are recommended to consider these factors to ensure technology adoption success.

Adoption of FinTech services amidst COVID-19 pandemic: empirical evidence from Assam

PurposeThe paper intends to comprehend the pattern of usage of FinTech services among bank customers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper also examines the factors influencing the adoption of FinTech services by using the constructs from the technology acceptance model (TAM) together with highlighting the issues faced in using FinTech services in Assam.Design/methodology/approachThe research is empirical in nature. Data have been collected from 1,066 prime earners of the households having a bank account.FindingsThere has been an upsurge in the use of FinTech services in the area of study. Apart from government and private service employees, businessmen, self-employed professionals, many daily-wage earners and agriculturists have also experienced an increase in their frequency of usage of FinTech services thereby making technology-based financial services an indispensable tool in enhancing access, improving inclusivity in the times of crisis and aftermath. Government support, trust, perceived usefulness (PU), attitude and social influence have a positive influence on FinTech adoption;however, perceived risks impact respondents' trust towards FinTech services thereby requiring necessary measures to evaluate organizations' preparedness to deal with cyber threats.Originality/valueThe paper provides insight into the factors impacting the adoption of FinTech services to stimulate superior connectivity infrastructure, robust security measures and maintaining financial stability with adequate supervisory and monitoring regulations to enhance trust towards FinTech services during the crisis and aftermath.

Drivers and Social Effects of the Decision to Turn on One?s Camera During Videoconferencing in Groups

With the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, videoconferencing was rapidly adopted. However, individuals frequently decide to keep their cameras off during videoconferences. Currently, the reasons for this are not well modeled, and neither are the social effects this decision has. The present research addresses the question whether camera use can be conceptualized as prosocial behavior. To this end, two preregistered studies (total N = 437) examined how the decision to turn on one's camera is influenced by established situational determinants (group size, social influence, and social tie strength) and dispositional predictors of prosocial behavior (individual communion, agency, and social value orientation), whether individuals prefer meetings in which others turn on their cameras, and whether camera use impacts social perception (communion and agency) by others. As predicted, people were shown to overall prefer meetings in which others turn on their cameras in Study 1 (a factorial survey). Furthermore, situational determinants of prosocial behavior were demonstrated to influence camera use in the hypothesized directions, while findings regarding dispositional predictors of prosocial behavior were mixed. Study 2 conceptually replicated the effect of social influence on camera use in a correlational survey. As predicted, it was also demonstrated that individuals who have their camera on are perceived as higher in agency, but, in contrast to predictions, not higher in communion. Together, the findings indicate that camera use is prosocial in that it benefits others, but that it is not primarily driven by prosocial intent or commonly interpreted as a prosocial act.

Social Media Acceptance and e-Learning Post-Covid-19: New factors determine the extension of TAM

The key objective of our study involves devising a conceptual model for estimation of social media acceptance by students for effectively accomplishing their educational and academic goals. Factors e.g., perceived social capital, social influence, and perceived mobility that associated with student acceptance of social media were investigated, and integrated into the TAM model using the PLS-SEM. Data were collected through online survey (461 students) at UAE universities. The findings revealed that mentioned factors positively affected students' intention to use social media during their learning process. Respondents' behavioral intention were also linked to both the core and external constructs of the TAM. Important practical insights on technology acceptance in education were provided. © 2022 IEEE.

Testing the Impact of Social Isolation on Students' Acceptance of Learning Management Systems After the COVID-19 Crisis Using a Modified UTAUT Model

After more than two years of the beginning of Covid-19 crisis, this research work investigates the students' acceptance towards utilizing learning management systems (LMSs) as a useful supporting learning medium while most of higher education institutions over the world have adopted these systems to become an indispensable, promising teaching tool and considering the distance learning as compliance to the conditions of social isolation is case of any crisis. This article analyzes the most significant factors effecting the adoption and led to the acceptance of LMSs through the higher education across 423 undergraduate and postgraduate students from several universities in Jordan. By applying the structural equation modelling, the results reveal that all proposed determinants have an impact on the adoption of distance learning, with noted significant impact for social isolation. The infection anxiety and students' level have moderated these effects on the behavioral intentions and actual use of learning management systems and show significant impact on them.

The Influencing Factors of Learning Satisfaction in Blended Learning during Covid-19 in Chinese medical universities

By using a technology acceptance model (TAM) on survey results collected from medical universities of China, this paper aims to uncover the major factors that affect medical students' acceptance of blended learning during the Covid-19 period. 1238 medical students completed the study survey after experiencing 3 months of blended learning. The results show that the social influence (SIN) and perceived ease of use (PEOU) have positive impacts on perceived usefulness (PU);PU has positive impacts on learning motivation (LM);LM can moderately affect learning satisfaction (LS). There is also a positive relationship between SIN and LS. It is worth noting that SIN as an intermediary factor directly affects PEOU, PU and LS. In fact, SIN is considered the key factor that affect student satisfaction of blended learning during Covid-19. © 2022 IEEE.

Wave after wave: unboxing 40 years of auditing ethics research

Purpose - To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that aims to present a comprehensive view of the auditing ethics literature by unboxing 40 years of efforts in the field. Design/methodology/approach - This study combined bibliometric, social network and content analysis by analyzing 114 articles published in accounting and top business ethics journals on the Web of Science database from 1980 to 2021.Findings - The results show a rising interest in this topic and reveal auditors' ethical decision-making and moral reasoning as the most discussed topics in the literature. The work also clusters the literature according to keywords and scopes, identifying literature gaps and suggesting new avenues for future research.Practical implications - The research results assist provide an overarching image of the auditing ethics field. In addition, these results draw possible future avenues to bridge the void in the current auditing ethics literature by presenting indispensable directions for potential research. For example, future research could pay more attention to whistleblowing, fraud, personal auditor characteristics, auditor ethical sensitivity, auditor ethical conflict, ethical climate and underreporting of time. Moreover, the rapidly changing business environment necessitates the auditing ethics research to move to more practical implications to mitigate previous mistakes and avoid any future risks.Originality/value - All crises are an ideal breeding ground to motivate fraud and audit failures. In fact, auditing ethics research has been subordinated to the different economic crises. However, despite increasing awareness of the topic's relevance, no comprehensive study focuses on auditing ethics literature. Now, the devastating effects of the COVID-19 crisis are producing a new wave of financial distresses and avoiding former mistakes is timelier than ever. With this novel and integrated approach, this work goes one step forward, developing a comprehensive picture of the auditing ethics literature.

Revenge buying after the lockdown: Based on the SOR framework and TPB model

With the end of the pandemic and the lifting of the lockdown, the consumer market experienced revenge buying. The purpose of this study is to investigate the causes of revenge buying using the stimulus-organ-response (SOR) framework and the theory of planned behavior (TPB) model. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze data collected from 350 residents of Shanghai, China, after the city's lockdown was lifted. The findings imply that perceived scarcity, perceived susceptibility, and social influence regarding the lockdown can stimulate in-dividuals' anxiety, inducing behavioral intentions and ultimately leading to revenge buying consumer behavior. Theoretically, this study provides a novel explanation of revenge buying behavior. Additionally, conclusions offer ramifications for management and implementation strategies for dealing with revenge buying after sudden disasters.

The Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Mobile Messaging Application Among Millennials in Public Universities in Malaysia

Mobile messaging apps are currently a popular method in Malaysia for communicating while on the go, owing to its convenience, reliability, and contact-free feature of mobile application. Fueled by mobile internet and smartphone growth, mobile messaging apps have become a strong force in the mobile app sector, offering users an alternative to SMS-based texting paired with social media elements and enhanced features, such as group chats and photo sharing. The study was anchored using the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology 2 theory. A survey with 150 respondents and PLS analysis is used to determine the antecedents of mobile application continuance usage during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results revealed that there is an influence in the usage of mobile messaging apps among the younger generation in Malaysian public university students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The main implication shows that mobile application among young generations in public universities has become popular. The convenience usage of the internet has turned the world into a global village.

Drivers and Social Effects of the Decision to Turn on One's Camera During Videoconferencing in Groups

With the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, videoconferencing was rapidly adopted. However, individuals frequently decide to keep their cameras off during videoconferences. Currently, the reasons for this are not well modeled, and neither are the social effects this decision has. The present research addresses the question whether camera use can be conceptualized as prosocial behavior. To this end, two preregistered studies (total N = 437) examined how the decision to turn on one's camera is influenced by established situational determinants (group size, social influence, and social tie strength) and dispositional predictors of prosocial behavior (individual communion, agency, and social value orientation), whether individuals prefer meetings in which others turn on their cameras, and whether camera use impacts social perception (communion and agency) by others. As predicted, people were shown to overall prefer meetings in which others turn on their cameras in Study 1 (a factorial survey). Furthermore, situational determinants of prosocial behavior were demonstrated to influence camera use in the hypothesized directions, while findings regarding dispositional predictors of prosocial behavior were mixed. Study 2 conceptually replicated the effect of social influence on camera use in a correlational survey. As predicted, it was also demonstrated that individuals who have their camera on are perceived as higher in agency, but, in contrast to predictions, not higher in communion. Together, the findings indicate that camera use is prosocial in that it benefits others, but that it is not primarily driven by prosocial intent or commonly interpreted as a prosocial act. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Cyberpsychology is the property of Masarykova Univerzita, Fakulta Socialnich Studii and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Curse or Blessing? Combining Personality Traits and Technology Acceptance to Investigate the Intention to Use of Digital Contact Tracing in Germany

In order to trace the transmission of COVID-19, digital contact tracing (DCT) provides an enormous value for the public health. However, the acceptance of the German contact tracing app, the Corona-Warn-App (CWA), falls short of the expected coverage in the general public. Accordingly, this study focuses on investigating the influencing factors on the CWA's acceptance to demystify the missing puzzle and to face future pandemics. To assess this objective comprehensively, we investigate personality traits (guiding perception and behavior), subjective norm (expressing social influence), and trust in technology on acceptance variables. Our empirical results emphasize that besides the personality traits conscientiousness and agreeableness, perceived usefulness, subjective norm, and trust in technology play a vital role for engagement with the CWA. Our research offers starting points for the use of mobile health solutions, particularly in early epidemic stages. © 2022 IEEE Computer Society. All rights reserved.

E-Learning Acceptance in Higher Education in Response to Outbreak of COVID-19: TAM2 Based Approach

The use of technological tools has robustly come to the forefront in form of e-learning with the onset of COVID-19. In the light of the accelerated shift to online classes by the educational institutions in response to the outbreak of the pandemic, the study aims to apply the technology acceptance model (TAM2) to examine the impact of students' social influence, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use on e-learning intention in higher education during COVID-19. Data collected from students of different universities from the Northern region of India were analysed using structural equation modelling. The results revealed that a significant relationship exists between social influence and perceived usefulness of e-learning behavioural intention. The study also confirms the mediation of perceived usefulness between social influence and e-learning behavioural intention and the mediation of perceived usefulness between perceived ease of use and e-learning behavioural intention. The study revealed that social influence and perceived usefulness are the key factors for the acceptance of e-learning in higher education during COVID-19 pandemic. The main contribution to the study is developing a better understanding of variables that influence the adoption and use of e-learning with special reference to an outbreak of COVID-19. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Antecedents of Intention to Use E-Auction: An Empirical Study

Many public health organizations worldwide have used E-auctions to monitor, curtail, and improve the transmission of new coronavirus illnesses. However, user population size and acceptance of these technologies significantly impact their effectiveness. The current study's goal was to determine what factors influence customers' intent to use COVID-19 E-auctions by employing the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to the Jordanian setting. This study empirically assessed 310 Jordanian respondents using a quantitative approach known as Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The research findings supported the majority of the proposed hypotheses, showing that behavioral intentions to use electronic bidding are highly influenced by perceived usability, perceived usefulness, trust in the government, social influence, and awareness. This research paper eventually contributes to the field of technology acceptance by developing a context-driven approach to the key pandemic components and features that influence different practices of technology acceptance. © 2023 by the authors.

Data Driven Modeling Social Media Influence using Differential Equations

Individuals modify their opinions towards a topic based on their social interactions. Opinion evolution models conceptualize the change of opinion as a uni-dimensional continuum, and the effect of influence is built by the group size, the network structures, or the relations among opinions within the group. However, how to model the personal opinion evolution process under the effect of the online social influence as a function remains unclear. Here, we show that the uni-dimensional continuous user opinions can be represented by compressed high-dimensional word embeddings, and its evolution can be accurately modelled by an ordinary differential equation (ODE) that reflects the social network influencer interactions. We perform our analysis on 87 active users with corresponding influencers on the COVID-19 topic from 2020 to 2022. The regression results demonstrate that 99% of the variation in the quantified opinions can be explained by the way we model the connected opinions from their influencers. Our research on the COVID-19 topic and for the account analysed shows that social media users primarily shift their opinion based on influencers they follow (e.g., model explains for 99% variation) and self-evolution of opinion over a long time scale is limited. © 2022 IEEE.

The Use of Online Flipped Classrooms during Covid-19 by Gifted Students: A Path Analysis Using UTAUT Model

This study used the UTAUT model as the theoretical basis to assess and evaluate the use of online flipped classrooms during covid-19 by gifted students. The Online Flipped Classrooms model is supposed to be an active educational approach due to the interest shown by researchers and teachers in it. It allows learning to take place everywhere. Convenience sampling was employed to collect the required data. This involved gifted primary and middle and secondary school students at Makka schools for gifted students distributing the research instrument to their students. The model of this study is designed based on the UTAUT model. This study investigates the effects of four variables: Performance expectancy, Effort expectancy, social influence, and Facilitating conditions on students' intentions to use Online Flipped Classrooms. BI correlates positively with performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE), social influence (SI) and facilitating conditions (FC). PE, EE, SI and FC together yielded a coefficient of multiple regression (R) of 0. 763 and a multiple correlation square of 0. 760. This shows that 76.0% of the total variance in behavioural intention to use (BI) of those who participated in the study is accounted for by the combination of PE, EE and SI. BI was positively impacted by PE, EE, SI and FC. Further studies with are recommended to examine the effect of OFC using UTAUT Model. © 2023 Eskisehir Osmangazi University. All rights reserved.

A survey of student motivations for enrolling in engineering and technology undergraduate programs

Despite many efforts to attract and retain students in STEM programs in U.S. universities, it has proven to be a significant challenge. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has added to the struggles of students and educational institutions. At the same time, there is significant interest among funding agencies, including the National Science Foundation and philanthropic organizations to encourage enrollment in minority populations. This requires that we need to better understand the student population. Many national surveys and data sources including the Integrated Postsecondary Education System (IPEDS) provide a macro-level view across the entire country. This is insufficient for producing classroom-level changes. We need detailed information at the micro-level such as student surveys across multiple institutions to probe student motivations and ensure that their expectations are met and nurtured. We present the results of conducting a survey among 32 STEMs students enrolled in an introductory engineering course at Fairleigh Dickinson University. This is the first semester after the pandemic that courses were taught in person. We found significant differences along gender and racial lines. For the male students, 38% chose their STEM major due to parental or social influence, whereas for females it was 12.5%. For whites, parental/social influence accounted for 28% of STEM choices, whereas for African Americans, it was 0%. Across all students, 50% chose a STEM major due to an early interest in the field, or due to self-realization that they were good at STEM-related activities such as problem-solving. Our results indicate the importance of hands-on STEM exposure to students at the K-12 level and the role of mentors. Due to the recency of the data collected, we expect our findings to be valuable to the STEM education community. © 2022 IEEE.

Influence of the Big Brother Naija Lockdown 2020 Edition Reality TV Show on Nigerians' Value Orientation During the COVID-19 Lockdown Measures

This chapter investigates how Nigerians consumed the Big Brother Naija Lockdown 2020 edition reality TV show featured on Nigerian television during the period of the COVID-19 lockdown. Understanding whether the reality TV show affected their value orientation was examined using a semi-structured online questionnaire through Google Forms and distributed via WhatsApp and Facebook. Data was obtained from 400 respondents between 7 October and 26 November 2020. Results indicate that more females watched reality TV show than their male counterparts. It was found that Nigerians increased their viewership of the 2020 edition in comparison to previous years, attributing this to the lockdown measures that restricted them to stay at home. The majority of respondents found the show morally offensive. A chi-square test was used to confirm no significant difference in how the moral content of the show was perceived by either gender. Recommendations are offered to better understand why males did not watch the show as much as females as well as why they found the show more acceptable even though they watched it less. This chapter probes into prolonged social isolation and television exposure in light of better understanding of psychological impacts and associated influences during public health crises. The research was anchored on the minimal effects theory. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Predicting students' intention to continue online learning post-COVID-19 pandemic: extension of the unified theory of acceptance and usage technology

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to predict the intention to continue online learning post the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic among students in the two largest universities of higher learning in Botswana. Furthermore, the purposes of this study are to elucidate the nexus between performance expectancy and continuance intention to establish the effects of efforts expectancy on continuance intention to investigate the relationship between social influence and continuance intention to determine the relationship between facilitating conditions and continuance intention and to examine the relationship between satisfaction and continuance intention using the extended unified theory of acceptance and usage technology (UTAUT) model postulated by Venkatesh et al. (2003).Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on the descriptive research design, using a structured questionnaire to collect quantitative data from 509 undergraduate and postgraduate students at Botswana's two major Universities using convenience sampling strategy. An online survey was used to gather primary data due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The study employed correlation and regression analysis in testing the five hypothesized relationships.FindingsUsing the extended theory of UTAUT as a theoretical lens, the study found that: performance expectancy, social influence and satisfaction predict continuance intention of online learning services. These factors have shown to be good predictors of intention in previous research. Expectancy effort had no influence on intention.Research limitations/implicationsThe current study covered on only university students from two tertiary institutions;therefore, results cannot safely be generalized to the student population in the country. Therefore, future research should consider enlisting more universities to be more representative, focusing on lecturers, which is an important group in fostering online teaching that could have a spill-over effect on the students' continued online learning.Practical implicationsImplications for online technology selection: These findings suggest that although most universities temporarily adopted online teaching as an emergency solution, students appear to have felt that the outcomes delivered by the system improved their performance. This implies that academic institutions need to consider adjusting the curriculum to promote online learning in the future, whether there is pandemic or no pandemic. Implications for teaching and learning: First, the concept of social influence suggests that lecturers can make use of online chat discussion boards and rooms to foster student collaboration and a sense of community. Second, and finally online service providers should foster a close relationship with students to understand their expectations and extend the performance of their applications to satisfy their users.Originality/valueThis study contributes to literature on online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic period by including satisfaction and continuance intention to the original UTAUT model thus extending the practical value of the model. This study extends knowledge on the factors that determine continuance intention by incorporating satisfaction in addition to the four factors of the traditional UTAUT. The study provides evidence for the predominance of satisfaction over the four traditional factors in predicting intention to continue online learning among students.