Digitally Distracted: Development and Examination of Conflicted Technology Use

With smartphones allowing billions of users to engage in a plethora of activities anytime and anywhere, many people are increasingly concerned with digital distraction, where technology is used in conflict with goals or intentions. To address it, we require a conceptualization and an understanding of its prevalence, its factors, and its mechanisms. Based on a literature review, we use the theories of self-control and dual process to develop the construct Conflicted Technology Use. We then develop and deploy an instrument to examine where and when it takes place, who is susceptible, how it is triggered, and which activities are involved. We further aim to examine the structure of the phenomenon through cluster analysis. We report on four studies from two countries, with a total of 690 participants. By discussing these findings in relation to theories we set out how it can inform specific studies into the combatting Conflicted Technology Use

An examination of students’ moderate drinking in two different drinking cultures: implications for alcohol social marketing

Excessive alcohol consumption is a public health concern worldwide because of numerous negative consequences associated with it. As a discipline of behavioural change for social good, social marketing acquires knowledge on drinking behaviours and then creates solutions with the aim of benefiting individual drinkers and society. Literature shows that alcohol research has disproportionately focussed on studying heavy drinking. This practice results in the dominant avoidance approach of alcohol control, whereby interventions and policies have been developed and implemented to reduce or prevent heavy drinking. Given that alcohol problems persist to date, this thesis argues for an under-studied promotion approach (i.e., encouragement of drinking moderation) as a pragmatic and sensible approach, and a complement to current alcohol control efforts. Moreover, the thesis adopts a cultural comparison approach between a wet and dry drinking culture, which arguably provides important implications for alcohol social marketing to enhance understanding of moderate drinking. The thesis has three main objectives which are addressed by three papers around the moderate drinking phenomenon amongst university students in two different drinking cultures. Given differences in drinking characteristics, New Zealand and Vietnam are chosen as representatives for wet and dry drinking cultures, respectively. In particular, Paper 1 aims to explore the barriers that prevent students from moderating their drinking by comparing attitudes towards moderation in New Zealand and Vietnam. Paper 2 aims to explore how students’ perceptions of facilitators of moderate drinking vary between these two countries. In Paper 1 and 2, a qualitative survey involving a written vignette was conducted with a relatively large sample of undergraduates from New Zealand and Vietnam (n > 220). The vignette was designed for eliciting students’ perceptions on the factors impeding and/or stimulating moderate drinking from a third-person perspective. Since drinking characteristics of drinkers in a dry drinking culture offer a great opportunity for an in-depth investigation of moderate drinking phenomenon, and building on Paper 1 and 2, Paper 3 aims to quantitatively examine the factors associated with students’ intention to drink moderately in Vietnam, using a quantitative survey on 660 Vietnamese students. Findings from the three papers reveal that students perceive several barriers to, and facilitators of, moderate drinking. These factors are positioned at the intrapersonal level (e.g., controllability), interpersonal level (e.g., peer influence) and environmental level (e.g., alternatives), suggesting that an ecological framework is useful for understanding drinking behaviours and drinking cultures. Adopting such a holistic perspective of the ecological framework can help identify the most necessary targets to bring about the desired change. The response variations between the countries under study provide novel insights into cultural differences in students’ moderate drinking, with external factors being more important and influential in New Zealand, and internal influences being of more concern and prominence in Vietnam. It implies that students in a wet drinking culture like New Zealand do not take personal responsibility for their drinking and suggests that social marketing should move beyond individualistic approaches, and towards the disruption of drinking cultures/practices, in pursuit of a healthier drinking culture. Moreover, there exist gender differences in how the factors affect moderate drinking intention amongst Vietnamese students. Females appear to moderate their drinking through both internal and external control mechanisms, while males tend to moderate their drinking mainly through internal control. Therefore, interventions should be tailored to different gender needs. In conclusion, this thesis addresses the dearth of literature into young people’s decision-making processes towards moderate drinking by demonstrating the value of an ecological theoretical perspective to examine factors influencing students’ moderate drinking, and highlighting the cultural and gender differences with respect to this complex phenomenon. Based on the findings, this thesis helps to inform nonprofit and social marketing to develop interventions aimed at encouraging safe and sensible drinking cultures

Consumer vulnerability: understanding transparency and control in the online environment

Purpose – In the online environment, consumers increasingly feel vulnerable due to firms’ expanding capabilities of collecting and using their data in an unsanctioned manner. Drawing from gossip theory, this research focuses on two key suppressors of consumer vulnerability: transparency and control. Previous studies conceptualize transparency and control from rationalistic approaches that overlook individual experiences and present a unidimensional conceptualization. This research aims to understand how individuals interpret transparency and control concerning privacy vulnerability in the online environment. Additionally, it explores strategic approaches to communicating the value of transparency and control. Design/methodology/approach – An interpretivism paradigm and phenomenology were adopted in the research design. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 41 participants, including consumers and experts, and analyzed through thematic analysis. Findings – The findings identify key conceptual dimensions of transparency and control by adapting justice theory. They also reveal that firms can communicate assurance, functional, technical, and social values of transparency and control to address consumer vulnerability. Originality – This research makes the following contributions to the data privacy literature. The findings exhibit multidimensional and comprehensive conceptualizations of transparency and control, including user, firm, and information perspectives. Additionally, the conceptual framework combines empirical insights from both experiencers and observers to offer an understanding of how transparency and control serve as justice mechanisms to effectively tackle the issue of unsanctioned transmission of personal information and subsequently address vulnerability. Lastly, the findings provide strategic approaches to communicating the value of transparency and control

An examination of students’ moderate drinking in two different drinking cultures: implications for alcohol social marketing

Excessive alcohol consumption is a public health concern worldwide because of numerous negative consequences associated with it. As a discipline of behavioural change for social good, social marketing acquires knowledge on drinking behaviours and then creates solutions with the aim of benefiting individual drinkers and society. Literature shows that alcohol research has disproportionately focussed on studying heavy drinking. This practice results in the dominant avoidance approach of alcohol control, whereby interventions and policies have been developed and implemented to reduce or prevent heavy drinking. Given that alcohol problems persist to date, this thesis argues for an under-studied promotion approach (i.e., encouragement of drinking moderation) as a pragmatic and sensible approach, and a complement to current alcohol control efforts. Moreover, the thesis adopts a cultural comparison approach between a wet and dry drinking culture, which arguably provides important implications for alcohol social marketing to enhance understanding of moderate drinking. The thesis has three main objectives which are addressed by three papers around the moderate drinking phenomenon amongst university students in two different drinking cultures. Given differences in drinking characteristics, New Zealand and Vietnam are chosen as representatives for wet and dry drinking cultures, respectively. In particular, Paper 1 aims to explore the barriers that prevent students from moderating their drinking by comparing attitudes towards moderation in New Zealand and Vietnam. Paper 2 aims to explore how students’ perceptions of facilitators of moderate drinking vary between these two countries. In Paper 1 and 2, a qualitative survey involving a written vignette was conducted with a relatively large sample of undergraduates from New Zealand and Vietnam (n > 220). The vignette was designed for eliciting students’ perceptions on the factors impeding and/or stimulating moderate drinking from a third-person perspective. Since drinking characteristics of drinkers in a dry drinking culture offer a great opportunity for an in-depth investigation of moderate drinking phenomenon, and building on Paper 1 and 2, Paper 3 aims to quantitatively examine the factors associated with students’ intention to drink moderately in Vietnam, using a quantitative survey on 660 Vietnamese students. Findings from the three papers reveal that students perceive several barriers to, and facilitators of, moderate drinking. These factors are positioned at the intrapersonal level (e.g., controllability), interpersonal level (e.g., peer influence) and environmental level (e.g., alternatives), suggesting that an ecological framework is useful for understanding drinking behaviours and drinking cultures. Adopting such a holistic perspective of the ecological framework can help identify the most necessary targets to bring about the desired change. The response variations between the countries under study provide novel insights into cultural differences in students’ moderate drinking, with external factors being more important and influential in New Zealand, and internal influences being of more concern and prominence in Vietnam. It implies that students in a wet drinking culture like New Zealand do not take personal responsibility for their drinking and suggests that social marketing should move beyond individualistic approaches, and towards the disruption of drinking cultures/practices, in pursuit of a healthier drinking culture. Moreover, there exist gender differences in how the factors affect moderate drinking intention amongst Vietnamese students. Females appear to moderate their drinking through both internal and external control mechanisms, while males tend to moderate their drinking mainly through internal control. Therefore, interventions should be tailored to different gender needs. In conclusion, this thesis addresses the dearth of literature into young people’s decision-making processes towards moderate drinking by demonstrating the value of an ecological theoretical perspective to examine factors influencing students’ moderate drinking, and highlighting the cultural and gender differences with respect to this complex phenomenon. Based on the findings, this thesis helps to inform nonprofit and social marketing to develop interventions aimed at encouraging safe and sensible drinking cultures