Value Co-Creation in Ecotourism: Finding Solutions in a Digital Era

This study aims to identify the main actors in the ecotourism online value co-creation ecosystem. With the ever-increasing demand to which the ecotourism sector has been subject in recent years, there is a need for business models featuring interactive tools that allow ecotourists to participate and co-create their own experiences. Not only will ecotourism businesses and ecotourists participate in this process, but so too will several other stakeholders, becoming key actors in the co-creation of value. Ecotourism, being of a hedonic and experiential nature, requires strategies that are geared towards enjoyment of the joint value co-creation experience. With this finality, we present some factors, such as motivation, that are necessary for the ecotourist's value co-creation, as well as various other aspects that influence their behavior. Our expectation is that value co-creation will have a positive effect on the behavior and experiences of tourists when it comes to developing ecotourism products and services. Specifically, we expect that the implementation of a co-creation strategy will lead to greater satisfaction and loyalty. Accordingly, drawing on the existing literature, we present a theoretical proposal of the antecedents and consequents that affect and enable online value co-creation by ecotourists

What Drives Students' Loyalty-Formation in Social Media Learning Within a Personal Learning Environment Approach? The Moderating Role of Need for Cognition

Our study analyzes an educational experience based on the integrated use of social media within a higher education course under a personal learning environment approach and investigates the factors that determine students' loyalty to social media learning. We examined the moderating role of need for cognition (NFC) in students' formation of attitudes, satisfaction, and loyalty toward this learning experience. The results indicate that NFC has an influence on these variables, significantly moderating how loyalty toward social media learning is formed. For high-NFC students, satisfaction with the learning experience is the most important variable to explain loyalty; whereas for low-NFC students, attitudes have a stronger effect. Different strategies are suggested, according to the learners' NFC levels, for increasing the use of social media in personal learning environments. Practical implications for improving the integration of such informal resources into formal education are discussed.Junta de Andalucía – Programa Andaluz de I + D P12 SEJ 259

Key antecedents of brand equity in heritage brand extensions: The moderating role of tourist heritage experience

This study was funded by Campus of International Excellence BioTic Granada (grant number 20F12/43), and Spanish National Research Program (R+D+i Research Project ECO2017-88458-R).This study examines how the degree of fit between the brand extension and the parent brand, in the case of heritage sites, affects the extension's brand equity-formation, considering the mediating role of brand attitude and brand credibility and the moderating role of the tourist's level of experience of the parent heritage brand. An experimental design is applied, in which two different levels of fit between the parent heritage brand and the brand extension are controlled between subjects. Suggestions are provided for effective ways of enhancing heritage brand equity and therefore contributing to destination promotion and competitiveness.Campus of International Excellence BioTic Granada 20F12/43Spanish National Research Program (R+D+i Research Project) ECO2017-88458-

Website design as moderating factor of online user behavior

It is widely assumed that online user behaviour is mainly utilitarian, although hedonic motivations such as enjoyment have also been found by recent research to have a marked influence on such behaviour. The present study explores the influence of website design (utilitarian motivation) on online user behaviour, in the context of a site promoting a tourist destination. The results underline the importance of utilitarian aspects for the effectiveness of online information-processing and the formation of perceived risk online. It is recommended that websites should reflect this type of motivation so as to make browsing useful for the online consumer.The authors appreciate the financial help provided via a research project of group ADEMAR (University of Granada) under the auspices of the Andalusian Program for R&D, number P06-SEJ02170, and Research Program from the Faculty of Education, Economy and Technology of Ceuta

The influence of website design, culture and language on perceived web usability, satisfaction and perceived risk online

The current markets globalization as a result of ICT development in general and the Internet in particular, have enhanced the importance of the websites design, which is a powerful communications medium for companies operating in international markets (Turban and Gehrek, 2000). The website of the company represents its image in the Internet as an intermediary with potential clients (Roy, Dewit and Aubert, 2001). Some researchers have found that much of the success of an e-service depends on website usability (Flavián, Guinalíu and Gurrea, 2006). Usability and appearance are two indicators that represent the utilitarian aspects of a website, together with its appeal. Those websites with a high level of usability in their design enable users to carry out their tasks coherently and achieve the results they expect (Palmer, 2000). In fact, this perception of control during the browsing process is positively related to the sensation of security and satisfaction (Diamantopoulos and Winklhofer, 2001; Casaló, Flavián and Guinalíu, 2008). In this international context, culture plays an increasingly relevant role in the use of information and communication technology. This is likely to affect how usability is understood, thus adding an additional factor to our understanding of culture´s effect on usability (Wallace, Reid, Clinciu and Kang, 2013). The importance of cultural factors in communications has been reinforced since the web can now link diverse regions and communities across the globe that were relatively isolated by time and space. The growth of global communications has increased and intensified the need for leaning to communicate successfully with a multitude of cultures. Regarding to these international situation, the crucial role of language in intercultural relations is widely acknowledged, with the words of a language being ‘symbols’ that acts as the vehicles for cultural transfer (Hofstede, 2001). The literature shows that the way in which a person processes information is conditioned by cultural values (Tavassoli, 2002). Furthermore, recent research has demonstrated that language is associated with cultural frameworks, such that communication in a given language can increase access to the cultural values associated with that language (Wong and Hong, 2005) and how users from the same culture, when processing information in different languages, obtain significantly different results in terms of perceived risk online (Alcántara-Pilar, Del Barrio-García and Porcu, 2013).The authors appreciate the financial help provided via a research project of group ADEMAR (University of Granada) under the auspices of the Andalusian Program for R&D, number P06-SEJ02170, and Research Program from the Faculty of Education and Humanities of Ceuta

Consumer searching information process and Culture Values

The use of Internet as a new market has increased interest in research on Consumer Behaviour Online. Due to its complexity, each investigation has been centred on different aspects. So to continue, a theoretical model will be offered developed from TAM and the State of Flow but adding some new elements related to social pressure and the intention to reduce cognitive effort of the navigator so that he can concentrate more on enjoying himself while navigating and shopping

The effect of culture and the cultural framework of language on online information - processing

The present work examines the effect of the user’s language, as a vehicle for cultural values, on their processing of the information contained within a website. A sample of 491 internet users from two different cultures (British and Spanish) was created. Half the users were asked to browse the experimental website in their mother tongue, while the other half browsed in their second language (British participants browsing in Spanish and the Spanish browsing in English). The key findings of the research demonstrate that information-processing is moderated by the user’s culture and the language in which they process the information

Personal Learning Environments Acceptance Model: The Role of Need for Cognition, e-Learning Satisfaction and Students' Perceptions

As long as students use Web 2.0 tools extensively for social purposes, there is an opportunity to improve students' engagement in Higher Education by using these tools for academic purposes under a Personal Learning Environment approach (PLE 2.0). The success of these attempts depends upon the reactions and acceptance of users towards e-learning using Web 2.0. This paper aims to analyse the factors (e-learning satisfaction and students’ perceptions, among others) that determine the intention of use of a PLE 2.0 initiative. The study in addition analyses the moderating role of the Need for Cognition (NFC) in the model. The results indicate that the model proposed has a high explanatory power of the intention to use a PLE 2.0 and gives support to the moderating role of NFC. The study discusses how this analysis can help to improve course designs by teachers

The effect of culture and language on perceived risk online

The present paper analyzes whether cultural values and language can influence the way in which information on a website is processed, in terms of perceived risk. An online experiment was conducted, using a sample comprising users from the United Kingdom and Spain. Participants were asked to browse a website relating to a fictitious tourist destination, with half the sample accessing the site in their mother tongue and the other half in their second language. The key findings show that Internet users’ perception of risk is moderated by the language used, with the degree of bilingualism being a key factor

Exploring how student motivation relates to acceptance and participation in MOOCs

In recent years, MOOCs have become firmly established as valid e-learning environments and, as such, have been developed by many universities using different types of platform. Given the voluntary nature of MOOC enrolment, motivation is crucial to our understanding of why students register for and complete these courses. The present study explores the motivations that characterize MOOC participants and how they relate to technology acceptance variables (data collected via questionnaires) and participation variables (observational data collected via the platform). Our results indicate that students show exceptionally high levels of intrinsic motivation. However, extrinsic motivation also plays a relevant role, suggesting that the two are not mutually exclusive. Although only intrinsic motivation appears to be systematically associated with differences in technology acceptance, both are associated with differences in participation, but in contrasting ways. Our results provide insights that will enable us to improve MOOC design in order to enhance participant satisfaction, particularly when different sources of motivation are involved. Future research based on the modeling of technology acceptance and participation will also benefit from this study