Understanding Consumers\u27 Acceptance of Online Purchasing

This paper examines previous Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)-related studies in order to provide an expanded model that explains consumers’ acceptance of online purchasing. Our model provides extensions to the original TAM by including constructs such as social influence and voluntariness; it also examines the impact of external variables including trust, privacy, risk, and e-loyalty. We surveyed consumers in the United States and Australia. Our findings suggest that our expanded model serves as a very good predictor of consumers’ online purchasing behaviors. The linear regression model shows a respectable amount of variance for Behavioral Intention (R2 = .627). Suggestions are provided for the practitioner and ideas are presented for future research

Two Birds, One Stone? Positive Mood Makes Products Seem Less Useful for Multiple-Goal Pursuit

Negotiating the pursuit of multiple goals often requires making difficult trade-offs between goals. In these situations, consumers can benefit from using products that help them pursue several goals at the same time. But do consumers always prefer these multipurpose products? We propose that consumers' incidental mood state alters perceptions of products in a multiple-goals context. Four studies demonstrate that being in a positive mood amplifies perceptions of differences between multiple conflicting goals. As a consequence, consumers are less likely to evaluate multipurpose products as being able to serve multiple distinct goals simultaneously. We conclude by discussing implications of these findings for marketers of multipurpose products

Model for Understanding Consumer Adoption of Online Technologies

This research reviews studies using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to create a modified model and instrument to study the acceptance of Internet technology by consumers. We developed a modified TAM for the acceptance of Internet-based technologies by consumers. We retained the original constructs from the TAM and included additional constructs from previous literature including gender, experience, complexity, and voluntariness. We developed a survey instrument using existing scales from prior TAM instruments and modified them where appropriate. The instrument yielded respectable reliability and construct validity. The findings suggest that the modified TAM is a good predictor of consumer behavior in using the Internet. We found that attitude toward using the Internet acts as a strong predictor of behavioral intention to use, and actual usage of Internet technologies. Future researchers can use the resultant instrument to test how consumers adopt and accept Internet-based applications

Barth on Baptism

Karl Barth on the doctrine of baptism

User-Generated Video Gaming. Little big planet and participatory cultures in Italy

Digital technology users are growingly involved in what has been described as convergence culture or participatory cultures. In this context, a major role is played by user-generated content. This article focuses on the participatory practices related to Little Big Planet (LBP) 1, a PlayStation platform video game that encourages users to create and share their own gaming levels. Our theoretical framework refers both to convergence culture and to a specific perspective of game studies that focuses on the cultural and social dimensions that are to be found in gaming and modding practices. A total of 8,829 Italian PlayStation Network (PSN) users were surveyed regarding their gaming practices, their attitude toward digital technology, and their LBP usage experiences. The results show that familiarity with digital technology and a socially oriented attitude to digital technology are clearly related to ‘‘active LBP engagement.’’ Moreover, PSN users are more likely than other digital platforms users to create their own content

Ecclesiology and ethnography with humility

Drawing on the notion that future Ecclesiologies would be wise to go through Karl Barth rather than to attempt to go around him. This article proposes a cautious humility for ethnographic approaches to ecclesiology. The article builds on the move towards ethnographic forms of ecclesiology in a Scandinavian context. From this starting point it argues that Barth’s ecclesiology suggests a series of theological checks and balances in ecclesiology and ethnography. These are explored through the notion of humility in method and approach