Determining Factors Affecting Behavioral Intention to Organize an Online Event during the COVID-19 Pandemic

An online event, such as an online concert or online graduation, has been widely utilized as one of the solutions to connect people during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study was to determine factors affecting behavioral intention to organize an online event during the COVID-19 pandemic by integrating Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Overall, 366 sets of data were collected from respondents through a convenience sampling approach from several social media platforms. They were asked to fill the online questionnaire which had 40 questions under 8 segments. Structural equation modeling (SEM) showed that hedonic motivation was found to have the strongest effect on attitude, which subsequently led to behavior intention. In addition, online event promotion and perceived usefulness were also found to have significant effects on attitude, which also subsequently led to behavior intention. This study is one of the first studies that explored the behavioral intention to utilize an online event during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings would be beneficial mainly for online event organizers, particularly for enhancing the online event performance based on the contributing factors. Additionally, this study could act as a stepping stone to help future researchers understand online event better. Finally, the technology acceptance model and theory of planned behavior in this study can be extended for exploring the acceptance of an online event worldwide

Factors Influencing the Perceived Effectiveness of COVID-19 Risk Assessment Mobile Application “MorChana” in Thailand: UTAUT2 Approach

COVID-19 contact-tracing mobile applications have been some of the most important tools during the COVID-19 pandemic. One preventive measure that has been incorporated to help reduce the virus spread is the strict implementation of utilizing a COVID-19 tracing application, such as the MorChana mobile application of Thailand. This study aimed to evaluate the factors affecting the actual usage of the MorChana mobile application. Through the integration of Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) and Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2), latent variables such as performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE), social influence (SI), facilitating conditions (FC), hedonic motivation (HM), habit (HB), perceived risk (PCR), self-efficacy (SEF), privacy (PR), trust (TR), and understanding COVID-19 (U) were considered to measure the intention to use MorChana (IU) and the actual usage (AU) of the mobile application. This study considered 907 anonymous participants who voluntarily answered an online self-administered survey collected via convenience sampling. The results show that IU presented the highest significant effect on AU, followed by HB, HM, PR, FC, U, SEF, PE, EE, TR, and SI. This is evident due to the strict implementation of using mobile applications upon entering any area of the vicinity. Moreover, PCR was not seen to be a significant latent factor affecting AU. This study is the first to have evaluated mobile contact tracing in Thailand. The integrated framework can be applied and extended to determine factors affecting COVID-19 tracing applications in other countries. Moreover, the findings of this study could be applied to other health-related mobile applications worldwide

Students’ Preference Analysis on Online Learning Attributes in Industrial Engineering Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Conjoint Analysis Approach for Sustainable Industrial Engineers

The decline of enrollees for industrial engineering during the COVID-19 pandemic and the increasing demand for professional industrial engineers should be explored. The purpose of this study was to determine the preference of industrial engineering students of different educational levels on online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, this study utilized conjoint analysis with orthogonal design considering seven attributes: delivery type, layout, term style, final requirements, Coursera requirements, seatwork and practice sets, and platforms. Among the attributes, 20 stimuli were created through SPSS and were answered voluntarily by 126 respondents utilizing a 7-point Likert Scale. The respondents were comprised of 79 undergraduate, 30 fully online master’s degree, and 17 master’s and doctorate degree students collected through purposive sampling. One university from the two available universities that offer all educational levels of IE in the Philippines was considered. The results showed that undergraduate students considered the final requirements with multiple-choice as the highest preference, followed by non-modular term style, and no seatwork and practice sets. In addition, fully online master’s degree students considered delivery type with the mix as the highest preference, followed by layout, and no seatwork and practice sets. Finally, master’s and doctorate degree students considered final requirements with publication as the highest preference, followed by no seatwork and practice sets, and mix delivery type. The students are technologically inclined, want to learn at their own pace, know where and how to get additional online learning materials, but still need the guidance of teachers/professors. The results would help contribute to the theoretical foundation for further students’ preference segmentation, specifically on online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. Moreover, the design created could be utilized for other courses in measuring students’ preference for online learning even after the COVID-19 pandemic

Predicting Factors Affecting the Intention to Prepare for Mitigation of Man-Made Fire Disasters in Chonburi Province, Thailand: An Integration of Structural Equation Modeling and Artificial Neural Network Hybrid Approach

News regarding different man-made fire disasters has been increasing for the past few years, especially in Thailand. Despite the prominent fire in Chonburi Province, Thailand, the intention to prepare has been widely underexplored. This study aimed to predict factors affecting the intention to prepare for the mitigation of man-made fire disasters in Chonburi Province, Thailand. A total of 366 valid responses through convenience sampling were utilized in this study that produced 20,496 datasets. With the 20,496 datasets, structural equation modeling and artificial neural network hybrid were utilized to analyze several factors under the extended and integrated protection motivation theory and the theory of planned behavior. Factors such as geographic perspective, fire perspective, government response, perceived severity, response cost, perceived vulnerability, perceived behavioral control, subjective norm, and attitude were evaluated simultaneously to measure the intention to prepare for a fire disaster. The results showed that geographic perspective, subjective norm, and fire experience were the most important factors affecting the intention to prepare. Other factors were significant with perceived behavioral control as the least important. In addition, the results showed how the region is prone to man-made fire disasters and that the government should consider mitigation plans to highlight the safety of the people in Chonburi Province, Thailand. This study is considered the first complete study that analyzed behavioral intention to prepare for the mitigation of man-made fire disasters in the Chonburi Province region of Thailand. The results of this study could be utilized by the government as a foundation to create mitigation plans for the citizens of Thailand. Finally, the findings of this study may be applied and extended to measure the intention to prepare for other man-made fire disasters worldwide