Complexity in forecasting and predictive models

Te challenge of this special issue has been to know the state of the problem related to forecasting modeling and the creation of a model to forecast the future behavior that supports decision making by supporting real-world applications. Tis issue has been highlighted by the quality of its research work on the critical importance of advanced analytical methods, such as neural networks, sof computing, evolutionary algorithms, chaotic models, cellular automata, agent-based models, and fnite mixture minimum squares (FIMIX-PLS).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Drivers and Barriers of the Cloud Computing in SMEs: the Position of the European Union

Cloud computing is one of the technologies that organizations, and especially users, knowthe least about. It is a new Internet-based technology used to store information on servers,and is provided as an on-demand service to clients. Cost savings and simplification of thetechnological infrastructure are two of the most decisive factors in its increasing use.However, the lack of standardization, the need for new professionals and the emergence ofdistrust are some of the barriers to its adoption. The purpose of this paper is, firstly, to present the current situation of this technology from the perspective of businesses byreviewing the existing literature. Secondly, we analyze the situation of this technology froma two-part viewpoint: the European Union, and in particular, the situation in SMEs. Finally,the strategic positions of the European Commission will be reviewed with respect to theconsequences of the adoption of the cloud paradigm

Digital Disconnection as an Opportunity for the Tourism Business: A Bibliometric Analysis

The aim of this study is to carry out a bibliometric review of the existing research on digital disconnection and Digital Free Tourism (DFT) to discover the extent to which this new trend affects technology users and the tourism market. To do this, a systematic literature review and a bibliometric analysis of the research on digital disconnection contained in the Scopus and Web of Science databases were used. This research includes publications from 2012 to December 2021, which included a total of 37 publications about digital disconnection and digital free tourism in scientific journals indexed in the main scientific databases. The analysis concludes that DFT is a growing economic trend in research and that the phenomenon of digital disconnection is beginning to be a peremptory need for more and more users. This work is original and interesting for researchers specialising in technology addictions, as well as academics and professionals in the tourism sector, because the extensive use of smart devices is becoming a type of addiction in many areas and can be a new opportunity for the tourism market. The DFT phenomenon can improve the response to these types of addictions and be a temporary escape and alternative to technological devices. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2022-06-05-013 Full Text: PD

Consumer behavior in the digital age

In recent decades, the Internet, evolving technologies, and social media have led to the evolution of consumer behavior. The changes in customer behavior driven by digital developments provide many opportunities and challenges that businesses also need to deal with online. The better companies know about the behavior of their customers, the easier they can engage with them using strategies such as content marketing, User Experience (UX), influencers marketing, User-Generated Content (UGC), or Electronic Word of Mouth (eWOM). These strategies are essential to get more sales and to develop businesses online, as such strategies increase the engagement with users and influence their behavior. This Special Edition of JOSD focuses on the analysis of consumer behavior in the digital age and, by doing so, contributes to extant knowledge about digital marketing strategies, online consumer behavior, and new digital business models such as mobile applications or shared economy.FCT- Foundation for Science and TechnologyPortuguese Foundation for Science and Technology [UIDB/04020/2020]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

How attitudes, vision and ability to capture opportunities affect startups’ business creativity

This article examines the main factors that affect creativity in startups and how these factors influence entrepreneurial initiative strategies. Fifty individuals from the Extremadura region, Spain, participated in an online questionnaire in 2018 and 2019. SmartPLS was used to create a model of the interactions between variables. The results obtained have important theoretical and practical implications as they add new findings to the current literature on the role played by different factors in the creativity processes used by startups. The model has a strong predictive power (R2 = 42.7%). This work describes internal factors such as the improvement in intellectual and attitudinal skills for identifying business opportunities as a preliminary step to taking creative business decisions, as well as shaping the future by coordinating potential efforts and actions. Santrauka Šiame straipsnyje nagrinėjami pagrindiniai veiksniai, darantys įtaką startuolių kūrybiškumui ir prisidedantys prie antrepreneriškų iniciatyvinių strategijų. Penkiasdešimt žmonių iš Ekstramadūros regiono (Ispanija) 2018–2019 m. dalyvavo internetinėje apklausoje. Kintamųjų sąveikos modeliui sukurti buvo naudojamasi SmartPLS kompiuterine programa. Gauti rezultatai yra svarbūs teoriškai ir praktiškai, nes naujausioje literatūroje jie papildė naujus atradimus apie tai, kokį vaidmenį įvairūs veiksniai atliko startuolių kūrybiškumo procesuose. Modeliui būdinga stipri prognostinė galia (R2 = 42,7 %). Šiame straipsnyje aprašomi vidiniai veiksniai, tokie kaip intelektiniai ir su požiūriu susiję gebėjimai, kuriuos pasitelkiant, verslo galimybės nustatomos kaip parengiamasis žingsnis prieš priimant kūrybinius verslo sprendimus, taip pat sudarant palankias sąlygas ateityje derinant galimas pastangas ir veiksmus. Reikšminiai žodžiai: kūrybiškumas, antreprenerystė, mažiausiųjų dalinių kvadratų struktūrinių lygčių modeliavimas, startuolių verslas

USERS ACCEPTANCE OF LOCATION-BASED MARKETING APPS IN TOURISM SECTOR: AN EXPLORATORY ANALYSIS

Mobile devices are the most used technology tools to access the Internet since they allow access from anywhere. This possibility has prompted companies to focus, to a greater extent, strategies based on geolocation marketing. Geolocation is a tool through which people or places can be located and have very diverse functionalities and applications. Location-Based Services (LBS) allow businesses to incorporate these types of tools into their digital marketing strategies. Social networks based on location services (LBSNS or Location-Based Social Network System) allow businesses to access information on the location of customers in real time. The present study provides more information on LBS and geolocation marketing, also known as geomarketing, analyzing the utility and benefits that this tool has to digital marketing and social networks and the importance of its technological adoption. To achieve this objective, a thorough review of technology adoption literature was carried out and a series of interviews were made with experts and professionals in its two aspects: digital marketing and information technologies. The results show the way in the tourism sector, these tools are managed, the means in which they are active, the LBS systems used, the utility and benefits they perceive from them, as well as the importance and efforts that they dedicate to them. This study reaches relevant conclusions for tourism professionals interested in incorporating LBS and geomarketing strategies into their businesses, as well as researchers interested in the behavior in Location-Based Services

Digitalização do setor de consultoria: impulsionadores e facilitadores internos e externos

Literature has conventionally addressed the concept of Digitalization by focusing on the manufacturing industry, harmonizing and pairing its features with the service industry. This leads us to ask ourselves whether there is a single concept of digitalization or the digital transformation of the firm can vary depending on sales orientation. To answer our problem statement and research questions, we used a systematic literature review (SLR) and bibliometric analysis (BA) of digitalization to identify the most relevant articles on the subject. After analyzing a set of 1316 articles extracted from Scopus, EBSCO, PROQUEST, and the Web of Science databases, we found that the process of digitalization of a company should be studied differently depending on its underlying sector or activity. We also found that digital transformation in the consulting business has been facilitated and boosted by internal and external drivers that resulted in a change in the service digitalization paradigm in this sector, going from cost-saving strategies to value-added chains.La literatura ha abordado convencionalmente el concepto de Digitalización centrándose en la industria manufacturera y equiparando sus características con la industria de servicios. Esto nos lleva a plantearnos la cuestión de si existe un único concepto de digitalización o si la transformación digital de la empresa puede variar en función de la orientación comercial. Para responder al planteamiento del problema de investigación, utilizamos una revisión sistemática de la literatura (SLR) y un análisis bibliométrico (BA) de la digitalización para identificar los artículos más relevantes sobre el tema. Después de analizar un conjunto de 1316 artículos, extraídos de las bases de datos Scopus, EBSCO, PROQUEST y Web of Science, encontramos que el proceso de digitalización de la empresa debe estudiarse de manera diferente según el sector o actividad subyacente. También encontramos que la transformación digital en la consultoría se ha visto facilitada e impulsada por factores internos y externos que han motivado un cambio de paradigma de digitalización de servicios en este sector, caracterizado por pasar de estrategias de ahorro de costos a cadenas de valor agregado.A literatura tem abordado convencionalmente o conceito de digitalização focando na indústria manufatureira e equiparando suas características com a indústria de serviços. Isso leva a perguntar se existe um conceito único de digitalização ou se a transformação digital da empresa pode variar dependendo da orientação comercial. Para responder à abordagem do problema de pesquisa, utilizou-se uma revisão sistemática da literatura (SLR) e uma análise bibliométrica (BA) de digitalização para identificar os artigos mais relevantes sobre o assunto. Após a análise de um conjunto de 1.316 artigos, extraídos das bases de dados Scopus, EBSCO, PROQUEST e Web of Science, constatou-se que o processo de digitalização da empresa deve ser estudado de forma diferenciada dependendo do setor ou atividade subjacente dela. Constatou-se também que a transformação digital no setor empresarial de consultoria tem sido facilitada e impulsionada por fatores internos e externos que levaram a uma mudança de paradigma na digitalização de serviços neste setor, caracterizada por passar de estratégias de redução de custos para cadeias de agregação valor

The collaborative economy based analysis of demand: Study of Airbnb case in Spain and Portugal

The rise of the collaborative economy has just started to become a reality in the economy of the countries in the European Union. The aim of this article is to use Goal - Question - Metric methodology to verify that the rise of Internet searches has an impact on collaborative economy. Specifically, Airbnb was the collaborative economy service analyzed. The demonstration was carried out with a statistical analysis of the Internet searches, looking at their evolution in Spain, Portugal and USA over the past 10 years. A working hypothesis was also defined to test whether the demand for information about Airbnb has a positive influence on the total spending of tourists who booked apartments in Spain during the period between July 2015 and August 2016. The results lead us to make a projection of growth for Airbnb service in the coming years. The case studied is very representative of this economic model, even though there is a large number of lesser-known websites. Finally, the results corroborate previous studies that defend that tools for studying trends and correlations of search terms are techniques that help decision making in studies and market research

Complexity in the Acceptance of Sustainable Search Engines on the Internet: An Analysis of Unobserved Heterogeneity with FIMIX-PLS

This paper analyses the complexity of user behaviour when facing the challenge of using sustainable applications, such as Internet search engines. This paper analyses an acceptance model using extended TAM (Technology Acceptance Model) with Trust as an added external variable. It was suggested that Trust indirectly influences the final Intention to Use with the perceptions of Utility and Ease of Use. To test the proposed model, a survey was carried out with users from different geographical areas of Spain (n=445). The second aim of this study was to understand the complexity of marketing segmentation by separating the application users into different user groups. Users were grouped by their preference of favorite Internet search engine. Unobserved heterogeneity was studied using FIMIX-PLS, and three different user behaviours with search engines were identified. These corresponded to the number of inhabitants who live in the user area. In this way, the impact that the environment has on user choice, acceptance, and use of this type of sustainable applications was shown. The results were checked using PLS-SEM and showed that the model for the adoption of sustainable search engines is explanatory and predictive because confidence and acceptance for this TAM were validated. The conclusions are interesting for developers of environmentally sustainable and responsible applications which want to coincide with current trends to ensure that users prefer them