What Drives the Adoption of Smart Travel Planning Apps? The Relationship between Experiential Consumption and Mobile App Acceptance

The increased use of the smart travel planning apps as a new tool in hospitality and hotel industry has changed the way travelers make their travel plans. The apps users obtained their preferred tour itinerary and subsequently determine the choice of theirs tour destinations. Therefore, the objective of this study is to investigate the effects of itinerary plans developed by smart travel planning apps on the choiceof tour destination. The underpinning theories were unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model and experiential consumption(UTAUT).The study was conducted in Malaysia and the sample consisted of 307 travelers who are familiar with apps usage. Variance-based-PLS technique was used to analyze and test the hypotheses. The resultconfirmedthatUTAUTdimensionshavesignificantrelationshipwiththeintention to use the itinerary. Both hedonic and utilitarian values from personal consumption perspectivesignificantlymotivatetravelers’behavioralintentiontousethesmarttravel apps. This study contributes to the research on the intention and usage behavior of mobile apps technologies by developing an integrative model to explain the intentions and usage behavior of the tour itinerary

Mapping impacts of education for wilderness management planning

Thesis (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 1998Wilderness education is considered a key response to abate physical impacts caused by wilderness recreationists, but education's impacts upon the psychological values of wilderness are unknown. This investigation used a wilderness purism scale to measure how minimum impact instruction affects the intensity and quality of a student's wilderness experience and the relation of these expectations and preferences to appreciation, knowledge, and concern for the environment as a whole, i.e., environmental literacy. A wilderness purism scale, a spatial scale, and wilderness management scale measured how wilderness education affects recreationists' limits of unacceptability in wilderness conditions. Effects of wilderness education on multiple perceptions of wilderness specific to particular groups, are explained. Methods of how these can be collected, organized, and mapped using a GIS approach are demonstrated and techniques to build a wilderness experience typology are outlined. The investigation determined that environmental literacy is correlated with wilderness purism. Student's expectations and ethical perspectives toward wilderness became stronger following wilderness leadership education courses, specifically, their perceptions of wildness, experiential factors, and ethical perspectives of the wilderness experience. Educational programs increased respondents' wilderness perceptions and their desired spatial buffer distances from unacceptable conditions in wilderness. Distances from sights and sounds were found to be critical to wildemess recreationists' wilderness experience relating to sensing unacceptable conditions inside wilderness boundaries and "knowing" that unacceptable (human-made) conditions do not exist. Educators may use the findings to better design and assess their program's effectiveness. Results of the methodology could aid Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC) process for wilderness planning. Wilderness managers may use the protocol to plan for the maintenance of wilderness opportunities to meet increasing demands brought about by education. Management must be prepared to protect suitable conditions for this potentially growing population. If managers zone wilderness accordingly to wilderness purism groups, they can protect vast areas from bio/physical impacts by using the processes described in this study. It is a tool for managing wilderness areas for a range of wilderness experiences which will aid in insuring protection of wildlife, ecosystem integrity, and native biodiversity

Implications of Technological Progress for the Measurement of Technology Acceptance Variables: The Case of Self-efficacy

Despite decades of technological and organizational change our research in the area of technology adoption continues to use measures for constructs that were developed during the late 1980s and early 1990s. In this research-in-progress paper, we examine one such measure, computer-self-efficacy. We consider the implications of changing technologies and context and propose a new direction for conceptualizing and measuring self-efficacy. We present an updated conceptualization and a definition for a new construct called Technology Self-efficacy. We describe our process for developing the item pool for this new construct and outline our plans for testing the new instrument’s validity

Naturalistic Cognition: A Research Paradigm for Human-Centered Design

Naturalistic thinking and knowing, the tacit, experiential, and intuitive reasoning of everyday interaction, have long been regarded as inferior to formal reason and labeled primitive, fallible, subjective, superstitious, and in some cases ineffable. But, naturalistic thinking is more rational and definable than it appears. It is also relevant to design. Inquiry into the mechanisms of naturalistic thinking and knowledge can bring its resources into focus and enable designers to create better, human-centered designs for use in real-world settings. This article makes a case for the explicit, formal study of implicit, naturalistic thinking within the fields of design. It develops a framework for defining and studying naturalistic thinking and knowledge, for integrating them into design research and practice, and for developing a more integrated, consistent theory of knowledge in design. It will (a) outline historical definitions of knowledge, attitudes toward formal and naturalistic thinking, and the difficulties presented by the co-presence of formal and naturalistic thinking in design, (b) define and contrast formal and naturalistic thinking as two distinct human cognitive systems, (c) demonstrate the importance of naturalistic cognition in formal thinking and real-world judgment, (d) demonstrate methods for researching naturalistic thinking that can be of use in design, and (e) briefly discuss the impact on design theory of admitting naturalistic thinking as valid, systematic, and knowable

Making evaluations matter: a practical guide for evaluators

This guide is primarily for evaluators working in the international development sector. It is also useful for commissioner of evaluations, evaluation managers and M&E officers. The guide explains how to make evaluations more useful. It helps to better understand conceptual issues and appreciate how evaluations can contribute to changing mindsets and empowering stakeholders. On a practical level, the guide presents core guiding principles and pointers on how to design and facilitate evaluations that matter. Furthermore, it shows how to get primary intended users and other key stakeholders to contribute effectively to the evaluation proces

The arts of action

The theory and culture of the arts has largely focused on the arts of objects, and neglected the arts of action – the “process arts”. In the process arts, artists create artifacts to engender activity in their audience, for the sake of the audience’s aesthetic appreciation of their own activity. This includes appreciating their own deliberations, choices, reactions, and movements. The process arts include games, urban planning, improvised social dance, cooking, and social food rituals. In the traditional object arts, the central aesthetic properties occur in the artistic artifact itself. It is the painting that is beautiful; the novel that is dramatic. In the process arts, the aesthetic properties occur in the activity of the appreciator. It is the game player’s own decisions that are elegant, the rock climber’s own movement that is graceful, and the tango dancers’ rapport that is beautiful. The artifact’s role is to call forth and shape that activity, guiding it along aesthetic lines. I offer a theory of the process arts. Crucially, we must distinguish between the designed artifact and the prescribed focus of aesthetic appreciation. In the object arts, these are one and the same. The designed artifact is the painting, which is also the prescribed focus of appreciation. In the process arts, they are different. The designed artifact is the game, but the appreciator is prescribed to appreciate their own activity in playing the game. Next, I address the complex question of who the artist really is in a piece of process art — the designer or the active appreciator? Finally, I diagnose the lowly status of the process arts

Beyond (Post)Positivism: The Missed Promises of Systemic Pragmatism

This paper explores Pragmatism's potential for transcending the antagonism between positivism and post-positivism, through the work of Morton Kaplan, who combines a Pragmatist theory of knowledge with a systems theory of world politics. A reconstruction of Kaplan's synoptic philosophy shows how Pragmatism can help us move beyond the dual fallacy of truth as correspondence and truth as self-consciousness, to a non-foundationalist epistemology that acknowledges the historicity of knowing without annihilating the realism of the common world we live in. Moving from the realm of knowledge to the realm of judgment, this paper also reconstructs Kaplan's moral analysis, thereby revealing its significance for IR's renewed concern for the problems of values and reflexivity

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationIn the present era of outcome assessment and accountability, self-efficacy is a popular outcome measure in outdoor and adventure education. Self-efficacy beliefs are context specific perceptions an individual possesses about a likelihood of success in future tasks and are related to well-being confidence, and persistence. However, recent research findings refute the traditional view that more is better, when it comes to selfefficacy beliefs. Specifically, findings indicate that these beliefs can be inaccurate and can easily become inflated resulting in decreases in motivation and performance. Outdoor and adventure-based education is one such context to avoid the inflation of selfefficacy beliefs due to the physical and educational consequences associated with failure (e.g., psychological harm, injury, or death). The following research examined a proposed seven factor structure of outdoor education practice. Exploratory factor analysis results (N = 303) indicated a 23-item, 5- factor structure which included (a) instruction and assessment, (b) outdoor classroom management, (c) technical skill, (d) interpersonal skill, and (e) environmental integration. Confirmatory factor analysis (N = 200) examined the fit of this model. Results indicated an acceptable fit with strong internal consistency and convergent validity for the Teaching Outdoor Education Self-Efficacy Scale with 22 items (TOE-SES 22). Subsequent research examined the effects of a monitoring intervention on the accuracy of teaching outdoor education self-efficacy beliefs. Treatment group participants on National Outdoor Leadership School Instructor Courses predicted their performance (a self-efficacy belief) before teaching a course topic, self-assessed that performance, and compared the accuracy of their predictions and self-assessments to an expert evaluation of their performance. Results indicated outdoor educators-in-training integrated this information and calibrated their TOESE beliefs better than the control group. Attending to the accuracy of teacher self-efficacy beliefs early in an educator's career may help him approach or avoid tasks when appropriate and ultimately, direct him toward developing the skills he is lacking. Teaching outdoor education is a complex task involving several factors, monitoring interventions are a strategy outdoor educator trainers should consider in their efforts to help emerging outdoor educators hone a complex set of skills to effectively and safely teach in the outdoors