The impact of technology on older adults’ social isolation

Research indicates that social isolation and loneliness have a negative effect on health and wellbeing among older people. Various technology-based interventions have been offered to reduce social isolation; however, research demonstrating the role of various types of technologies and their effectiveness in dealing with social isolation among seniors is scarce. This study undertakes a systematic literature review of empirical studies on various types of technologies and their effectiveness in alleviating social isolation among seniors. Relevant electronic databases were searched and through 6886 initial set of studies published from 2000 to 2015 we have found eight different technologies that have been applied to alleviate social isolation, namely, general ICT, video game, robotics, personal reminder information and social management system, asynchronous peer support chat room, social network sites, Telecare and 3D virtual environment. We further evaluated the effectiveness of the technologies with social isolation among seniors. Findings show that technologies can be used to reduce social isolation among seniors. However, more studies are needed to evaluate the effectiveness of new technologies.     

The effect of gratifications derived from use of the social networking site Qzone on Chinese adolescents’ positive mood

Drawing from Uses and Gratifications Theory, this study explores the influence of the gratifications derived from use of the social networking site Qzone on Chinese adolescents’ positive mood. Qzone is the social networking site that is most preferred and used by Chinese adolescents. Hypothesized relationships are analyzed by structural equation analysis in a sample of 220 Chinese adolescents aged 14–19 with an online Qzone profile. Gratifications that Chinese adolescents receive from use of the online social network Qzone, such as socializing, information-seeking, and entertainment are found to have a significantly positive influence on their positive mood. Findings of this study extend the existing theoretical framework on the application of the Uses and Gratifications Theory to social networking sites. In addition, findings are in line with those of a number of authors who suggest that social networking site use may have positive consequences for teenagers. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Social gaming,lonely life? The impact of digital game play on adolescents’ social circles

In recent years, there have been rising concerns about the impact of online video game play on users’ socialization, particularly among adolescent players. The current study addresses one of these concerns and evaluates the potential impact of social displacement on the size and quality of users’ social circles due to video game play. Using a representative sample of adolescent players, the results provide support for the emergence of social displacement effects. Increased social online video game play, but not social offline video game play, was found to correspond with smaller, and lower quality, offline social circles. However, further research is needed to assess the impact of these declines on everyday socialization, such its potential negative influence on the development and maintenance of social skills.     

The extended ‘chilling’ effect of Facebook: The cold reality of ubiquitous social networking

Prior research has established the phenomenon of the ‘Chilling Effect’ where people constrain the self they present online due to peer-to-peer surveillance on Social Network Sites (SNS). However currently uninvestigated is the possibility that the threat of such surveillance on these sites might constrain the self presented offline in ‘reality’, known here as ‘the extended chilling effect’. The purpose of this study is to examine the existence of this ‘extended chilling effect’. Drawing on theories of self-awareness and self-presentation, the impact of surveillance in SNS is theorized to lead to an awareness of online audiences in offline domains, stimulating a self-comparison process that results in impression management. A mixed methods study of semi-structured interviews (n = 28) and a 2 × 2 between-subjects experiment (n = 80), provides support for offline impression management in order to avoid an undesired image being projected to online audiences. The novel finding that the chilling effect has extended highlights the potential dangers of online peer-to-peer surveillance for autonomy and freedom of expression in our offline lives.     

The impact of psychological climate on employees’ innovative use of information systems: The moderating role of goal orientation

The objectives of this study are to investigate climates that could facilitate innovative use of information systems (IS), and to examine how psychological climate and individual goal orientation interact to promote employees’ innovative IS use. A total of 174 questionnaires were collected from enterprise resource planning (ERP) users from nine firms in China. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the research hypotheses. The empirical results suggest that (1) psychological climates (psychological autonomy climate and psychological innovation climate) are positively associated with IS users’ innovative use, (2) avoidance orientation weakens the relationship between psychological autonomy climate and innovative use, (3) learning orientation weakens the relationship between psychological innovation climate and innovative use, and (4) learning orientation strengthens the relationship between psychological autonomy climate and innovative use. This study contributes to IS literature by identifying psychological climate as a critical antecedent of innovative use. The findings also fulfil an identified need for more empirical studies of the combined effect of individual and environmental factors on employees’ innovative behaviour in the workplace, especially in the context of IS innovation.     

The effects of social media on students’ behaviors; Facebook as a case study

Social networks are one of the most used communication methods of today's world. Their use in different fields has been examined in several research studies. This study aims to examine the effects of social media on student's behaviors which will mainly focus on Facebook. Whether there is a positive relationship between confidence, social media participation and social media related behaviors will also be assed with regard to using Facebook. In order to collect the primary data, a general scanning model was used to observe attitudes of high school students. The participants chosen were 362 high school students from level 9 to 12. The findings highlight that Facebook is used for communication entertainment and sharing news, pictures and songs. In addition, their Facebook profile picture is alone and students were aware that swearing is considered a form of misconduct, which is a good sign. The study also indicates that students were aware of protecting their social identity as their Facebook shares are not public. Furthermore, they respect privacy as they do not use their friend's Facebook account.     

Subjective well-being and social media use: Do personality traits moderate the impact of social comparison on Facebook?

The purpose of the study was to explore whether personality traits moderate the association between social comparison on Facebook and subjective well-being, measured as both life satisfaction and eudaimonic well-being. Data were collected via an online questionnaire which measured Facebook use, social comparison behavior and personality traits for 337 respondents. The results showed positive associations between Facebook intensity and both measures of subjective well-being, and negative associations between Facebook social comparison and both measures of subjective well-being. Personality traits were assessed by the Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory personality questionnaire, which revealed that Reward Interest was positively associated with eudaimonic well-being, and Goal-Drive Persistence was positively associated with both measures of subjective well-being. Impulsivity was negatively associated with eudaimonic well-being and the Behavioral Inhibition System was negatively associated with both measures of subjective well-being. Interactions between personality traits and social comparison on Facebook indicated that for respondents with high Goal-Drive Persistence, Facebook social comparison had a positive association with eudaimonic well-being, thus confirming that some personality traits moderate the association between Facebook social comparison and subjective well-being. The results of this study highlight how individual differences in personality may impact how social comparison on Facebook affects individuals’ subjective well-being.     

“I don’t want to miss a thing”: Adolescents’ fear of missing out and its relationship to adolescents’ social needs,Facebook use,and Facebook related stress

This survey study among adolescents (N = 402) investigates an integrative model that examines (1) the mediating role of adolescents’ fear of missing out (FoMO) in the relationships of adolescents’ need to belong and need for popularity with adolescents’ Facebook use and (2) the relationships of adolescents’ FoMO with adolescents’ perceived stress related to the use of Facebook. Structural equation modeling results indicated that an increased need to belong and an increased need for popularity were associated with an increased use of Facebook. These relationships were mediated by FoMO. Increased FoMO was associated with increased stress related to Facebook use. These results emphasize the important role that FoMO plays in adolescents’ media use and well-being.     

The moderating role of enterprise social media functionalities on employees’ social-related use during work time

Enterprise social media (ESM) has blurred employees’ work–life distinction; however, limited research has investigated the impact of social-related ESM use during work time and the management measures. We propose such use consumes employees’ work resources. Our survey of a research and development company in China confirms that such use decreases individuals’ collaboration and increases information overload, harming work performance. To mitigate the negative influence, we focus on ESM functionalities, conceptualize the action possibilities permitted by functionalities as attention regulation affordance, and investigate the moderating role of the affordance actualization. The results revealed that affordance actualization reduces negative ESM use effects.     

The longitudinal impact of enterprise system users’ pre-adoption expectations and organizational support on post-adoption proficient usage

Although enterprise systems (ES) are ubiquitous, many firms report less than stellar payoffs from these costly investments, with underutilization often attributed to failures in the implementation process. Unfortunately, research has not provided sufficient insights into these failures, in part because it has focused on actual usage, as opposed to proficient usage, as the benchmark for successful implementation. Moreover, research has not generally examined how the adoption process unfolds over time, thus overlooking potential underlying mechanisms that may help explain how adopters achieve proficiency. To begin addressing these shortcomings, we study how adopters’ pre-adoption expectations, enacted over time, can influence their post-adoption proficiency, by shaping how and why they spend time using the system during the adoption period. We analyzed time-lagged survey data from 153 financial analysts, required to adopt new ES-based software, at a multinational bank. We found that adopters who hold pre-adoption expectations reflecting greater internal and external motives to adopt the system as well as systematically integrate it into their work routines are more apt to use the system in ways that enhance their cumulative knowledge of it, and subsequently develop higher levels of proficiency post-adoption. Moreover, greater organizational support enhanced the impact of adopters’ expectations on proficiency, except when their actual use is low in which case organizational support had an adverse effect.     

How do people compare themselves with others on social network sites?: The case of Facebook

The social comparison theory and its subsequent studies say that comparing with others can influence an individual in several ways (e.g., evaluation of oneself, influence on self-esteem/self-confidence, and efficient decision making) and people compare with others when they are confronted with information of others. With the popularity of social network sites, many people acquire or are exposed to information of others on social network sites, which implies that people are likely to frequently engage in social comparison behavior on social network sites. The present paper examines social comparison behavior on social network sites (especially on Facebook) using a college students sample. We find that an individual’s personality characteristics (i.e., social comparison orientation, self-esteem, self-uncertainty, and self-consciousness) influence the person’s social comparison frequency on Facebook. A positive relationship between Facebook use intensity and social comparison frequency on Facebook is found. In addition, we find a positive association between social comparison frequency on Facebook and the frequency of having a negative feeling from comparison. Other findings are also reported in the paper.     

The impact of IT–business strategic alignment on firm performance: The evolving role of IT in industries

This study proposes and validates a new industry taxonomy to understand the use of IT that generates superior economic returns based on the specific economic and competitive characteristics of four different industry types and the strategic role of IT in each of these industry environments. Our findings extend the well-established industry taxonomy on the strategic role of IT (Automate, Informate, Transform) by considering how IT is changing the nature of the product/service in industries where transformational logics prevail. We found that in industries where the product/service is digital in nature, the firms that achieve higher economic returns are those where IT is used to support dual strategies based on the integration of cost leadership and differentiation. Conversely, in other industries – with the exception of those producing commodities – the firms that achieve superior returns are those that use IT to support differentiation. The results of this study can help managers make intelligent decisions about competitive strategies and IT investments, depending on the business environment of the sector in which the firm operates and the generative potential of emerging technologies to do new things.     

The benefits and dangers of flow experience in high school students’ internet usage: The role of parental support

Flow has been identified as a desirable phenomenon because it can lead to a favorable attitude toward specific information technologies. In the present study, we argue that it can also result in potential adverse consequences such as Internet addiction. Based on the flow theory, the present study examines the dual effects of flow experience on high school students’ Internet addiction and exploratory behavior. The present study also examines the effects of parental interventions on the dual causal processes. A research model was developed and empirically tested on data collected from 1203 high school students in central China. The structural equation modeling analysis demonstrates that flow experience has positive impacts on both high school students’ Internet addiction and exploratory behavior. In addition, parental support significantly lessens high school students’ Internet addiction and enhances their exploratory behavior. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.     

An open book on Facebook? Examining the interdependence of adolescents’ privacy regulation strategies

Users of social network sites (SNSs) use three main strategies that help to manage the privacy of their profile information: (1) limiting the level of data revealed, (2) using privacy settings to exert control over data and (3) audience/friendship management by being restrictive about whom to accept as a ‘friend’. Extant research does not show whether these strategies operate as independent mechanisms or whether they are interdependent and work as a system. Given what offline privacy theorist Irwin Altman (1977 Altman, Irwin. 1977. “Privacy Regulation: Culturally Universal or Culturally Specific?” Journal of Social Issues 33 (3): 66–84. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-4560.1977.tb01883.x[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) designates as the multi-mechanic nature of privacy protection, we test a model in which we expect to find that the three discerned strategies are related to one another. Structural equation modelling analysis performed on the subsample (n?=?1564) of our study’s data – collected among 1743 adolescents by means of a paper-and-pencil survey – demonstrates that, in line with Altman’s vision of privacy protection, the three discerned strategies effectively operate as an interdependent system. In congruence with the hypotheses derived from extant research, we found that adolescents’ level of disclosure influences adolescents’ involvement in the two other discerned strategies: Adolescents with high levels of personal information disclosure share an increased tendency to have many friends on SNSs and a lower level of using privacy settings.     

Correction to: Probabilistic elderly person’s mood analysis based on its activities of daily living using smart facilities

Pattern Analysis and Applications -     

‘You talking to me?’ The influence of peer communication on adolescents’ persuasion knowledge and attitude towards social advertisements

This article examines how peer communication among adolescents (14–16 years) affects the evaluation of social advertising (i.e. targeted ad that adopts the social proof heuristic by using an individual’s social ties as endorsers for a brand) on social networking sites (SNSs). More precisely, the focus lies on how engaging in online peer chatting on these social platforms alters persuasion knowledge and attitude towards the ad. In order to test this, two between-subjects experiments were conducted in which adolescents chatted with peers on a mock SNS that contained a social ad. In Experiment 1, results reveal that a social ad generates a more positive attitude among adolescents when they have engaged in online peer communication, and at the same time, triggers less persuasion knowledge. In Experiment 2, the depth of the relationship between the chatters (tie strength) plays a significant moderating role as peer communication with strong ties yields greater effects, compared to communication with weak ties. These findings reveal important social influence dynamics that may alter the elaboration of persuasive communication, leading to valuable theoretical and practical implications.     

The effects of social media posts’ characteristics on customer engagement: Evidence from WeChat

Many companies are using social media as emerging marketing channels in hopes of encouraging engagement by customers. This study explored the effect of multiple social media post cues on customer engagement. By distinguishing WeChat posts’ characteristics into outer- and inner-layer features, the findings suggest that outer-layer features (title linguistic vividness and top position) have positive effects on reads, and inner-layer features (post vividness and containing user-generated content) encouraged more likes, shares, and comments. In addition, by assigning post contents into sales and non-sales-related categories, we found the former attracts more comments and the latter is more helpful in promoting likes and shares. Further, within sales-related posts, storytelling category will receive more likes, whereas functional category boosts the number of shares.     

The impact of rotating summarizing roles in online discussions: Effects on learners’ listening behaviors during and subsequent to role assignment

This study investigated whether assigning students summarizing roles in online discussions during specific weeks affects how they attend to the posts of others while playing the role, and in subsequent discussion weeks. Thirty-three students in a large undergraduate course on educational psychology were assigned one of two summarizing roles (Synthesizer, Wrapper) on a rotating basis during six week-long small-group online discussions; demographic and log-file data were collected (N = 198 student-weeks). Multilevel, cross-classification modeling revealed that assigning students summarizing roles increased the breadth of their listening during in-role weeks, but the effect was only weakly sustained after the role was completed. Students taking the Synthesizer role showed some increased depth of listening during in-role weeks but not post-role weeks. Other post-role behavior changes (a reduced number of sessions and review of posts) suggest unintended negative side effects of a role-rotation strategy, possibly due to post-role abdication of responsibility.     

The effect of smartphone use on trends in European adolescents’ excessive Internet use

Despite growing public health concerns data on excessive Internet use (EIU) allowing for comparison between countries and over time are scarce. Our study is the first attempt to evaluate the changes and the impact of mobile access on EIU in Europe. It is based on data from 2 surveys of adolescents implemented in 2010 and 2013 in 7 European countries that used identical methodology; a total of 7663 adolescents were recruited by random stratified sampling. The levels of EIU were compared and a regression model was used to assess the impact of smart devices, the number of activities performed online, and the specific online applications. A small but significant increase of EIU levels was observed in Belgium, Denmark, Romania, the UK, and overall. Although smartphone use is a positive predictor of EIU, it is moderated by the increasing number of activities performed online. The increase in levels of EIU is also associated with the daily use of online games and social networking sites.