How Consumer Impulsiveness Moderates Online Trustworthiness Evaluations: Neurophysiological Insights

With the emergence of new technologies, in particular the Internet, the opportunity for impulsive purchases have expanded enormously. In this research-in-progress, we report the current status of an fMRI-project in which we investigated differences between neural processes in the brains of impulsive and non-impulsive shoppers during the trustworthiness evaluation of online offers. Both our behavioral and fMRI data provide evidence that the impulsiveness of individuals can exert significant influence on the evaluation of online offers, and can potentially affect subsequent purchase behavior. We show that impulsive individuals evaluate trustworthy and untrustworthy offers differently than do non-impulsive individuals. With respect to brain activation, both experimental groups (i.e., impulsive, non-impulsive) exhibit similar neural activation tendencies, but differences exist in the magnitude of activation patterns in brain regions that are closely related to trust and decision making, such as the DLPFC, the insula cortex, and the caudate nucleus

Smart Homes and Sustainable Cities: The Design of a Low-Cost Solution for Comprehensive Home Automation

The challenge for smart cities is to connect as many of its inhabitants to technology enabling solutions that improve their lives. Smart homes provide all users a means of interacting and impacting their environment. In developing economies this proves challenging and these challenges are daunting and overwhelming since system costs are always a foreboding factor. The chapter addresses these challenges by providing a low-cost solution for a home energy saving measure. It introduces an overview of enabling technologies for a smart home by considering energy management, energy saving, load management and monitoring and control of living spaces. By leveraging the application of the Internet of Things (IoT) and load management strategies, the realisation of a smart home is made possible. This chapter presents a broad overview of the design and development of a web-enabled smart home solution. Web development and control systems together form the backbone of automation for modern home automation technologies such as the Internet of Things and embedded systems. The developed web-enabled home automation incorporates elements of web developed software application and digital control systems. The web-enabled interface energy saving measure is a networked system that uses web-enabled applications for enabling energy efficiency by incorporating load management, remote power consumption, monitoring and control

The role of subjective knowledge and perceived trustworthiness in fair trade consumption for fashion and food products

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine how subjective knowledge about fair trade products and the perceived trustworthiness of information about fair trade goods influence purchase intention and reported purchase behaviour across two product categories, namely, fashion and food. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from an online survey with a sample of 1,616 consumers in four European countries, namely, Germany, Italy, Austria and the UK. Findings: The results show that subjective knowledge moderates the positive relationship between intentions to purchase and reported purchase behaviour of fair trade products, however, the moderating role of perceived information trustworthiness was not significant. Furthermore, both the intention to purchase and reported purchase behaviour are significantly lower for fair trade fashion products than for fair trade food products. Practical implications: This paper shows how fair trade consumption behaviour is mainly influenced by subjective knowledge about fair trade products. It reveals existing differences in both the buying intentions and reported purchase behaviour in different European markets. Originality/value: This research broadens the understanding of consumers’ fair trade consumption behaviour across two different product categories and four different countries, with a focus on the interaction effect of consumers’ subjective knowledge and information trustworthiness

Content is King? The Effectiveness of Message Content, Personalization, and Location in Mobile In-Store Advertising

Smartphones have become a vital part of our lives, a personal assistant helping us as customers mastering everyday tasks. For example, the new stationary supermarket Amazon Go implements customers’ smartphones as an integral part for completing the grocery shopping process (e.g. used to check-in, for payment). As in-store communication over smartphones becomes increasingly important, retailers pay their attention to mobile in-store advertising, which offers them new perspectives to interact with customers at the point of sale. In this study, we therefore investigate the effectiveness of mobile in-store advertising by empirically examining which combination of message content is most effective for different in-store locations. Drawing on Construal Level Theory, we conduct an online choice experiment, using a simulated supermarket shopping task. Results show that personalization in combination with price promotions are most effective regarding the choice of the target product when spatially close to the product. Moreover, personalization strengthens the impact of ad content at the shelf, representing an amplifying effect on product choice

Using Psycho-physiological Interaction Analysis with fMRI Data in IS Research: A Guideline

The integration of neuroscientific methods in Information Systems (IS) research to better understand how the brain interacts with IS-relevant context has gained in importance. Many papers that highlight the potential of neuroIS and that discuss methodological issues associated with using functional brain imaging already exist. However, neuroIS researchers have to keep in mind that the emergence of complex mental processes such as trust in IS contexts is based on activity in a network of brain regions rather than on activity in one area alone. Accordingly, we introduce psycho-physiological interaction (PPI) analysis, a technique that one can use to analyze fMRI data. Specifically, we review how one can conduct PPI analysis, provide a concrete research example, and show how this analysis can inform IS trust research. Thus, we introduce neuroIS researchers working in the domain of functional brain imaging to advanced fMRI analyses methods and show, based on the example of trust, how these methods can enhance our understanding of the nature of IS constructs

Learning robotic pyeloplasty without simulators: an assessment of the learning curve in the early robotic era

OBJECTIVE: To analyze our experience and learning curve for robotic pyeloplasty during this robotic procedure. METHODS: Ninety-nine patients underwent 100 consecutive procedures. Cases were divided into 4 groups of 25 consecutive procedures to analyze the learning curve. RESULTS: The median anastomosis times were 50.0, 36.8, 34.2 and 29.0 minutes (p=0.137) in the sequential groups, respectively. The median operative times were 144.6, 119.2, 114.5 and 94.6 minutes, with a significant difference between groups 1 and 2 (p=0.015), 1 and 3 (p=0.002), 1 and 4 (po0.001) and 2 and 4 (p=0.022). The mean hospital stay was 7.08, 4.76, 4.88 and 4.20 days, with a difference between groups 1 and 2 (po0.001), 1 and 3 (po0.001) and 1 and 4 (po0.001). Clinical and radiological improvements were observed in 98.9% of patients. One patient presented with recurrent obstruction. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate a high success rate with low complication rates. A significant decrease in hospital stay and surgical time was evident after 25 cases

Take it Personally – The Role of Consumers’ Perceived Value of Personalization on Cross-Category Use in a Smart Home Ecosystem

The establishment of a smart home ecosystem – an assemblage of smart technologies across segments in private households – generates value for both companies and customers. However, the complexity of a smart home ecosystem based on data sharing and personalization as a necessity for value perception also generates tensions between the value created by data sharing and the value of privacy. Therefore, this study, based on a survey of 1049 consumers, investigates the acceptance and use of smart home devices and smart home ecosystems by observing drivers of personalization, trust, privacy components and technology acceptance. The empirical analyses show that especially consumers’ perceived value from personalization plays a significant role in smart home ecosystem acceptance. This research offers results for theory development and practical implications by extending existing technology acceptance models to ecosystems and by showing the need for a focus on sophisticated personalized applications within a smart home ecosystem

DISTURBING DISTRACTIONS: INVESTIGATING THE IM-PACT OF DIGITAL AND NON-DIGITAL DISTRACTIONS ON TASK PERFORMANCE

Connection norms have forced individuals to keep their smartphone within arm’s length to be reachable anytime-anywhere. This has led to strong connection habits that, paired with the boundless nature of the smartphone, have increased the possibilities of being exposed to distracting (auditory) cues trigger-ing smartphone related habits. In this study we investigate whether digital (sound) distractions were more distracting compared to non-digital (sound) distractions as a result of smartphones being highly prevalent in our society and how a local distraction effect might impact overall task performance. We found that digital distractions did have a local distraction effect, but these local distractions did not amount to any significant group differences in terms of overall task performance. Although, it was found that individuals exposed to digital distractions reported increased perceived mental effort, -task diffi-culty, -subjective distraction and reduced perceived attention paid to the task compared to the non-digital and control groups