The Role of Social Capital on Social Commerce: An Empirical Study of Facebook Users

This study proposes an integrated research model to validate the effects of social capital (e.g., cognitive, relational and structural) on social commerce among Facebook users’ from the perspective of the uses and gratifications (U&G) theory. This study collects 525 valid samples and indicates that social capital significantly and positively influences on social commerce. This study contributes to the research on uses and gratifications (U&G) theory in two different ways. Firstly, it indicates that social capital influences social commerce  activities. Secondly, it validates the roles of social capital in the relationship between social interaction and commerce in Facebook. Keywords: social capital, social commerce, uses and gratification theor

Service Failure and Recovery: The Role of Customer Forgiveness and Perceived Justice in Customers’ Coping Behaviors

This research investigated the role of customer forgiveness as the underlying mechanism of the effect of service failure severity on customers’ coping behaviors. It also investigated the moderating role of customers’ justice perceptions in the proposed model. The findings showed that customer forgiveness is essential in mending the relationships and lowering customer avoidance. Customer forgiveness was less negatively affected by service failure severity when customer perceived service providers’ recovery efforts with higher levels of justice. Additionally, this research explored the moderating effects of three dimensions of justice on the relationship between service failure severity and customer forgiveness. The findings demonstrated that the higher levels of distributive justice weakened the negative effect of service failure severity on customer forgiveness, especially when customer perceived lower levels of interactional justice. However, such effect was lessened when customer perceived higher levels of interactional justice

The Dual-mediation Effect of Perceived Accuracy and Perceived Connectedness on Consumer Attitude Toward Social Network Advertising

Despite the importance of social media advertising, few studies have investigated the factors that influence its effectiveness (Jung, Shim, Jin, and Khang 2016). Because advertising on social media is a relatively new phenomenon (Okazaki and Taylor 2013), several studies are exploratory in nature and lack a solid theoretical framework (e.g., Campbell, Pitt, Parent, and Berthon 2011; Pehlivan, Sarican, and Berthon 2011; Sashittal, Sriramachandramurthy, and Hodis 2012; Waters and Jones 2011). For this reason, the present study examines the factors affecting consumers’ attitudes toward advertisements they view on social media. This paper draws on the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model to investigate the dual mediation effect of perceived accuracy and perceived connectedness between endorsement from satisfied customers/review credibility/social influence and consumers’ attitudes toward social network advertising. Analysis of 1,031 valid responses to a survey show that endorsement from satisfied customers, review credibility, and social influence are antecedents of perceived accuracy and perceived connectedness. These variables are also antecedents of consumers’ attitudes toward social network advertising. In turn, perceived accuracy and connectedness partially mediate the relationships between endorsement from satisfied customers/review credibility/social influence and consumers’ attitudes toward social network advertising

The Dual-mediation Effect of Perceived Accuracy and Perceived Connectedness on Consumer Attitude Toward Social Network Advertising

Drawing on the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model, this paper investigates the dual mediation effect of perceived accuracy and perceived connectedness in the effect of endorsement from satisfied customers, review credibility, and social influence on consumers’ social media advertising attitudes. A study was conducted and received 1597 returned surveys with 1031 valid surveys. The results show that endorsement from satisfied customers, review credibility, and social influence are antecedents of perceived accuracy and perceived connectedness. These five variables are also antecedents of consumer attitude toward social network advertising. Furthermore, perceived accuracy and connectedness are partially mediating these relationships between endorsement from satisfied customers/review credibility/social influence and consumer attitude toward social network advertising

The Study on Antecedents of Consumer Buying Impulsiveness in an Online Context

The global recession caused by the financial tsunami has seriously impacted numerous industries. Although the market scale of global e-commerce market has declined, global online shopping continues to grow. Many previous researches focused on the effect of website design characteristics on online impulsive buying behavior, and few have explored such behavior from consumer individual internal factor perspectives. This paper aims to explore and integrate individual internal factors influencing consumer online buying impulsiveness, and further to recognize the relationships among these factors. The results showed as follows: (1) hedonic consumption needs, impulsive buying tendency, positive affect and normative evaluations positively influence buying impulsiveness, respectively; (2) hedonic consumption needs positively influence positive affect; (3) impulsive buying tendency positively influences normative evaluations; (4) normative evaluations positively influence positive affect

Genetic copy number variants in sib pairs both affected with schizophrenia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Schizophrenia is a complex disorder with involvement of multiple genes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this study, genome-wide screening for DNA copy-number variations (CNVs) was conducted for ten pairs, a total of 20 cases, of affected siblings using oligonucleotide array-based CGH.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found negative symptoms were significantly more severe (p < 0.05) in the subgroup that harbored more genetic imbalance (n ≧ 13, n = number of CNV-disrupted genes) as compared with the subgroup with fewer CNVs (n ≦ 6), indicating that the degree of genetic imbalance may influence the severity of the negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Four central nervous system (CNS) related genes including CCAAT/enhancer binding protein, delta (<it>CEBPD</it>, 8q11.21), retinoid × receptor, alpha (<it>RXRA</it>, 9q34.2), LIM homeobox protein 5 (<it>LHX5</it>, 12q24.13) and serine/threonine kinase 11 (<it>STK11</it>, 19p13.3) are recurrently (incidence ≧ 16.7%) disrupted by CNVs. Two genes, <it>PVR </it>(poliovirus receptor) and <it>BU678720</it>, are concordantly deleted in one and two, respectively, pairs of co-affected siblings. However, we did not find a significant association of this <it>BU678720 </it>deletion and schizophrenia in a large case-control sample.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We conclude that the high genetic loading of CNVs may be the underlying cause of negative symptoms of schizophrenia, and the CNS-related genes revealed by this study warrant further investigation.</p

Innovation Management in Services Industries: The Impacts of Innovative Capacity and Transformative Learning

This study highlights the innovation management and learning perspective of a firm’s innovative capability. The model proposed in this study examines the relationships among competence exploitation, competence exploration, transformative learning, innovation, and performance. This study presents empirical results from 225 service industry in Taiwan. First, the innovative capability factors positively affect transformative learning include competence exploitation and competence exploration. Transformative learning in turn has positive effects both on innovation and performance. Secondly, the rank order effects on innovation are competence exploitation, competence exploration, and transformative learning, respectively. The rank order effects on performance are competence exploration, competence exploitation, and transformative learning, respectively. Finally, transformative learning is the mediating effect of competence exploitation and competence exploration on innovation and performance

Attenuated Cardiac Mitochondrial-Dependent Apoptotic Effects by Li-Fu Formula in Hamsters Fed with a Hypercholesterol Diet

Apoptosis involves in the pathogenesis of various cardiac abnormalities. This study intends to evaluate the effects of Li-Fu formula on cardiac apoptosis induced by hyper-cholesterol diet. Twenty-four male Golden Syrian hamsters were randomly divided into Control, Cholesterol and Li-Fu formula groups. Histopathological analysis, western blotting and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assays were performed to measure the effects of Li-Fu formula on left ventricle. Significantly reduced TUNEL-positive cells and mitochondria- dependent apoptosis were observed in the left ventricle of hamsters from Li-Fu formula group compared to the Cholesterol group. Additionally, induced cardiac insulin like growth factor I receptor (IGFIR)-dependent survival pathway was detected in the Li-Fu formula group compared to the Cholesterol group. Besides, minor fibrosis, increased collagen deposition, and myofibril disarray was detected in the Cholesterol group, whereas the reductions of collagen deposition and myofibril disarray were observed in the Li-Fu formula group. This study demonstrated that Li-Fu formula not only reduced the mitochondria-dependent apoptosis and fibrosis, but also enhanced the IGF-I survival pathway in the left ventricle from high cholesterol-fed hamsters. We suggest the protective effects of Li-Fu formula on cardiac apoptosis and therapeutic potentials against cardiovascular disease

Schwann Cell Migration Induced by Earthworm Extract via Activation of PAs and MMP2/9 Mediated through ERK1/2 and p38

The earthworm, which has stasis removal and wound-healing functions, is a widely used Chinese herbal medicine in China. Schwann cell migration is critical for the regeneration of injured nerves. Schwann cells provide an essentially supportive activity for neuron regeneration. However, the molecular migration mechanisms induced by earthworms in Schwann cells remain unclear. Here, we investigate the roles of MAPK (ERK1/2, JNK and p38) pathways for earthworm-induced matrix-degrading proteolytic enzyme (PAs and MMP2/9) production in Schwann cells. Moreover, earthworm induced phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and p38, but not JNK, activate the downstream signaling expression of PAs and MMPs in a time-dependent manner. Earthworm-stimulated ERK1/2 and p38 phosphorylation was attenuated by pretreatment with U0126 and SB203580, resulting in migration and uPA-related signal pathway inhibition. The results were confirmed using small interfering ERK1/2 and p38 RNA. These results demonstrated that earthworms can stimulate Schwann cell migration and up-regulate PAs and MMP2/9 expression mediated through the MAPK pathways, ERK1/2 and p38. Taken together, our data suggests the MAPKs (ERK1/2, p38)-, PAs (uPA, tPA)-, MMP (MMP2, MMP9) signaling pathway of Schwann cells regulated by earthworms might play a major role in Schwann cell migration and nerve regeneration