Internet Use in a Central African Country: An Evidence of Cameroon

The objective of this study is to identify the different activities that motivate individuals to use the Internet in Cameroon Specifically this is to show that activities related to the search for information online academic activities online activities on digital social media listening and downloading music online online watching and movie download online purchases and sales online administrative services and online sports activities motivate the use of the Internet by individuals in Cameroon The methodology implemented uses data from the survey of the practice of new digital media in Cameroon PRANOME carried out in 2021 in the cities of Yaound Douala Mfou and Soa under the supervision of the Center of Research in Economic and Management CEREG of the University of Yaound 2-Soa in Cameroon The results of the estimates made on the basis of the binary Logit model show that Internet use has a positive and significant effect at the 1 level on the activities of listening and downloading online music watching and for downloading movies online searching for information online and on digital social media This Internet use also has a positive and significant effect at the 5 level on online academic activities and a positive and significant effect at the 10 level on activities related to online administrative services purchasing and online sales and online sports activitie

Towards Consumer 4.0 Insights and Opportunities under the Marketing 4.0 Scenario

This Research Topic is a sequel to our previous Research Topic “From Consumer Experience to Affective Loyalty: Challenges and Prospects in the Psychology of Consumer Behavior 3.0”. This first article collection was devoted to analyze the changes that appeared in different industries and companies, fostered by factors mainly related to the development of technologies. The evolution from consumer 3.0 to consumer 4.0 represents an opportunity to feature the changes that have been occurring lately as well as to gain an insight into the future of consumer behavior. Nowadays, the markets are experiencing several transformations in consumer behavior. These changes have been fueled by several trends: processes of globalization that produced an extraordinary assortment of diverse products and brand alternatives, new business models based on the intensive use of technology advances in communication and mobile technologies that allow customers’ capacity to easily participating in co-creation processes with companies; and big data developments. In this scenario, customers acquired more power than ever before due to their availability of information required to choose among the better priced alternatives product-brand options, as well as the technological means to access to such alternatives. Thus, customers evolved from a position to simply receiving the offer proposed by companies, to a position of power where they had the last word in the decision process, that is, the position of consumer 3.0. These consumers were characterized by their ability to adopt and use new technologies to meet their individual needs. What is more, these types of consumers did not longer easily respond to traditional mass marketing techniques. Instead, this generation of consumers demanded a highly customized approach across all facets of businesses including new product development, communication and customer service, among others. Nevertheless, in the advent of Marketing 4.0, a new type of consumer is observed, namely the customer 4.0. The transition from consumer 3.0 to consumer 4.0 is becoming evident, not only in consumers’ behavior but also in companies’ behavior. Related to the first one, consumers 4.0 are hyper-connected through different technologies, including not only the well-known mobile or digital technologies, but also other type of technologies, such as IoT, nanotech or artificial intelligence. Hence, their behavior is characterized by the demand of technology that have integrated the facets of Marketing 4.0 such as geolocation, marketing virtual and augmented reality facets. Regarding the second one, companies should face a digital transformation affecting not only value areas, but also, the way business interact with the environment. In particular, companies need to incorporate systems and applications that allow them to collect and analyze information, while helping decision making, since in the long run these issues constitute the cornerstone on which to start building a successful marketing strategy 4.0. This Research Topic welcomes scientific papers that covers the following topics (but not limited exclusively): - Consumers’ 4.0. behavior in different countries, industries, products, brands, etc.; - Digital transformations of industries and companies due to new consumption patterns; - New devices launched by companies work to meet the demands of consumer 4.0 (e.g., IoT), as well as the use consumers make of such devices; - The latest technology trends in business areas that make easier the consumer-companies relationships (processing, communication or any other digital technologies)

Internet and Smartphone Use-Related Addiction Health Problems: Treatment, Education and Research

This Special Issue presents some of the main emerging research on technological topics of health and education approaches to Internet use-related problems, before and during the beginning of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The objective is to provide an overview to facilitate a comprehensive and practical approach to these new trends to promote research, interventions, education, and prevention. It contains 40 papers, four reviews and thirty-five empirical papers and an editorial introducing everything in a rapid review format. Overall, the empirical ones are of a relational type, associating specific behavioral addictive problems with individual factors, and a few with contextual factors, generally in adult populations. Many have adapted scales to measure these problems, and a few cover experiments and mixed methods studies. The reviews tend to be about the concepts and measures of these problems, intervention options, and prevention. In summary, it seems that these are a global culture trend impacting health and educational domains. Internet use-related addiction problems have emerged in almost all societies, and strategies to cope with them are under development to offer solutions to these contemporary challenges, especially during the pandemic situation that has highlighted the global health problems that we have, and how to holistically tackle them

Exploring organisational dissent in the online setting : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Organizational Communication at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand

Online organisational dissent is an emerging phenomenon in our digital world. It occurs when employees express disagreement or contradictory opinions about organisational practices, policies, and operations via the internet. Organisational dissent research has investigated face-to-face dissent, but online employee dissent is at an early stage. However, online organisational dissent can improve effective digital and cross-cultural communication. Miss Chen explored the digital communication issue and built the scholarship of conceptualizing online dissent. The main findings and implications include: a) illustrated face is an explanatory mechanism for organisational dissent; b) organisational assimilation serves as a conflict-ridden process for dissent c) virtual organisational dissent relates more confidence in technology than fear of approaching communication; d) employees used the online platform to negotiate face in organisational dissent. This project contributes to our understanding of how online dissent is influenced by different psychological and cultural factors such as face concerns and anxiety in computer-mediated communication

Facebook and depression in late adolescence: Intensity of use, quality of interactions, and the role of self-definition and identity

In contemporary society, online Social Networking Sites (SNS) such as Facebook provide increasingly popular contexts within which late adolescent peer interactions and accompanying identity experiments can occur. Consequently, of increasing interest is exploring the impact of SNS use on psychological functioning in this age group. There is some evidence suggestive of a relationship between greater SNS use and increased depressive symptoms. However, findings are inconsistent, with a large body of literature also indicative of possible beneficial effects of SNS use on adolescent social and emotional adjustment. Therefore, as a means to address this divergence, the present study aims to investigate whether it is the quantity of use, including use of the site to connect with existing or new contacts, or the quality of Facebook interactions that might relate to depressive symptoms. Moreover, the present research attempts to identify for which late adolescents these associations are more likely to be a risk, drawing on constructs implicated in offline self-definition and identity development. One hundred and sixty-nine late adolescents (mean age 18.6 years) participated in this quantitative, cross-sectional study. Participants completed an online survey comprising self-report questionnaires validated by previous research assessing depressive symptoms, the intensity of Facebook use, strategy used to connect with peers on Facebook, self-reported quality of interactions on Facebook, and self-definition and identity variables; self-concept clarity (SCC), separation-individuation, and ego-identity commitment. Consistent with previous research, no relationship was found between the intensity of Facebook use, including number of Facebook friends, time spent on the site each day, perceived integration of the platform into daily life, and connection strategy and depressive symptoms. There was, however, evidence suggestive of a relationship between reports of feeling down following interactions on Facebook and increased depressive symptoms. Self-definition and identity variables were not found to moderate this relationship

COVID-19 Outbreak and Beyond

The COVID-19 pandemic drastically changed our lifestyle when, on 30 January 2020, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus disease outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. Since then, many governments have introduced unprecedented containment measures, hoping to slow the spread of the virus. International research suggests that both the pandemic and the related protective measures, such as lockdown, curfews, and social distancing, are having a profound impact on the mental health of the population. Among the most commonly observed psychological effects, there are high levels of stress, anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic symptoms, along with boredom and frustration. At the same time, the behavioral response of the population is of paramount importance to successfully contain the outbreak, creating a vicious circle in which the psychological distress impacts the willingness to comply with the protective measures, which, in turn, if prolonged, could exacerbate the population’s distress. This book includes: i) original studies on the worldwide psychological and behavioral impact of COVID-19 on targeted individuals (e.g., parents, social workers, patients affected by physical and mental disorders); ii) studies exploring the effect of COVID-19 using advanced statistical and methodological techniques (e.g., machine learning technologies); iii) research on practical applications that could help identify persons at risk, mitigate the negative effects of this situation, and offer insights to policymakers to manage the pandemic are also highly welcomed

Exploring user behaviours on mobile technologies combined with payment functions during the COVID-19 pandemic

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor in Information Management, specialization in Information TechnologiesWith the extensive spread of smart mobile devices, mobile technologies and services have revolutionised and pervaded significantly in most aspects of human life, such as social communication, commerce, entertainment, etc. Various industries have integrated services and products with mobile financial transaction technologies, facilitating the payment services combined with various mobile applications. The wide adoption of mobile transactions has increased the efficiency of transaction processes, met the expectations of customers and the requirements of enterprises, and supported the social-economic development in different scenarios, especially under the pandemic situation. Understanding mobile device users’ perceptions and behaviours on mobile technologies combining payment functions under the COVID-19 pandemic situation has reinforced the need to embark on a deeper investigation of customer behaviours during the pandemic. For these reasons, this study contributes to the advancement of knowledge and implementation methods for a better understanding of the determinants of customers’ behavioural intentions of using mobile technologies combined with payment functions in a total of seven separate studies. The investigation begins with a systematic literature review on mobile payment studies presented in chapter two. This research is augmented by investigating users’ continuance usage intention of mobile payments under the COVID-19 pandemic in chapter three. The fourth chapter analyses the determinants of continuance usage intention of food delivery apps during the pandemic. Chapters five and six present two theoretical development studies about the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and UTAUT2, respectively. The seventh chapter investigates customers’ psychological shopping processes via live-streaming shopping apps during the pandemic lockdown period. In epistemological terms, this study involved conjoint positivist and interpretivist research in behavioural information systems research. A qualitative research method was applied in chapters two, five and six, and a quantitative research method was implemented in the third, fourth and seventh chapters. The main theoretical foundations applied and validated in three empirical studies were UTAUT and UTAUT2. Specifically, chapter three integrates UTAUT with Mental Accounting Theory, the fourth chapter combines UTAUT with the Expectancy Confirmation Model, and chapter seven integrates UTAUT2 with the Stimulus-Organism-Response framework and Flow theory. This study found that performance expectancy, social influence, and trust significantly affect users’ behavioural intentions in all three empirical studies. Customers’ mental cognitions, such as perceived benefits, satisfaction, flow and perceived value, positively formulate users’ behavioural intention in the three studies, respectively. Hedonic motivation and flow significantly influence users' behavioural intention when mobile technologies contain payment and entertainment features. Moreover, this study contributes several theoretical and practical implications. This study facilitates the advancement of knowledge of mobile technologies adoption through three verified theoretical frameworks and two proposed developed theoretical models and appropriate measurement methods. Meanwhile, this study supports relevant stakeholders in mobile technologies, enterprises, policymakers, service providers, and marketing departments with valuable findings and discussions for comprehensively understanding the determinants of customers’ behaviours on mobile technologies combined payment function

A social media model for public participation in a South African municipality

Social media have become the preferred method of communication for individuals, organisations and even governments. These technologies have become ingrained in our everyday lives and have changed the way we communicate, collaborate are informed of recent happenings around the world. Social media websites are reported to be the most popular around the world. In the government sphere, social media is purported as a technology that will revolutionise citizen participation, service delivery and government-citizen interactions. Accordingly, governments around the world are steadily implementing social media in a bid to meet citizens’ demand for immediate and constant access to information, as well as increased opportunities to participate in government. Public participation has become an important focus area for government which could be used to effectively engage citizens and foster citizen trust. The United Nation’s E-government survey reports the presence of 125 countries on social media platforms. Despite the increased use of social media by governments, consensus among researchers is that governments need guidance on how to use social media effectively to achieve the potential benefits proposed by these technologies. Many social media adoptions by governments have been deemed as experimental; no formal action plan was designed, and many government employees are expected to learn social media use on-the-job. The aim of this research was to investigate and propose a social media model for public participation to leverage the opportunities provided by social media and present an effective and structured approach towards public participation. The research was designed as a mixed methods research using a case study based in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The research involved a survey of citizens in the selected municipality based on the Uses and Gratifications Theory, interviews with employees responsible for social media in said municipality and a contents analysis of the existing social media pages of the municipality. The model was developed from the findings of the survey, interviews and existing literature. The implementation of the model was done in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. The municipality appointed a social media champion responsible for obtaining support from top management and politicians within the municipality. Additional staff were added to the social media team and formal social media training was provided to the team. An official social media strategy was drafted and at the time of writing, needed to be approved by top management. The proposed model was operationalised within the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. This research makes several contributions to the E-government and social media fields in South Africa. The major contribution is the provision of guidance for South African municipalities to implement and use social media in an effective manner to achieve public participation. The research provided a phased approach to social media implementation that eliminates ad hoc experimentation and ensures the municipality’s social media activities are effective. The development of the model was based on the characteristics of the municipality and its citizens derived from the interviews and survey carried out. There are five phases in the model; Initialisation, Setup, Organisation, Institutionalisation and Maintenance. The model can be thought of as a guideline, and as such municipalities should adapt the implementation of the model to fit their organisational characteristics. The social media model will assist municipalities to determine the resources, tools and tactics to enable them to implement social media effectively, which will result in an improved engagement and participation process with citizens, and thereby foster trust

Social Public Health System and Sustainability

This edited volume contains 18 articles published in Sustainability from late 2018 to early 2021. During that time, the world faced the fatal and widespread health crisis, COVID-19, which had threatened the social and public health systems at every corner for quite some time.As the Guest-Editors and also a contributing authors, we are glad that the academic contents from the Special Issue will now be put together in this volume, making the authors' hard work and efforts accessible to the larger audience