Problematic smartphone use has been associated with negative effects in work and school environments. This study proposes the application of a behavioural economics perspective to establish whether heavy smartphone users show a tendency to devalue the consequences of their behaviour in the long term. To address this proposition, the study sought to establish how an objective measurement of usage time of smartphones and apps might help to predict, firstly, participants' choice behaviour and, secondly, their perceived dependence levels. Design/methodology/approach: An objective measurement of the usage time of smartphones and apps was conducted over four weeks (N ¼ 560 data points), and a computer-based intertemporal choice task and the Spanish version of the Smartphone Addiction Inventory (SPAI) were applied. The participants were twenty undergraduate college students. Findings: Although the usage time of devices and apps failed to predict the choice behaviour, a correlation was found between the total usage time of smartphones and WhatsApp and Facebook apps and users' dependence level. On the other hand, dependence had a positive effect on the average selection of the impulsive choice. Originality/value: This paper proposes the application of a behavioural economics perspective to explore the relationship between objectively measured usage time of smartphone and apps, choice behaviours in an intertemporal task and users' perceived dependence levels. This allows us to consider an alternative to the traditional psychiatric approach in an environment of increasing access to and use of mobile digital platforms.

This paper aims to describe the buying behaviour of people with religious affiliations from the perspective of the symbolic consumption of food products and alcoholic beverages in Bogota. A qualitative methodology, with a non‐experimental and cross‐sectional design was applied. The technique used is an in‐depth interview with a “snowball” sampling technique. Participants, ranging from 20 to 30 years of age, were identified by the criteria from youth groups with a defined and internalized religious affiliation in their everyday lives. The findings include the description of a buying behaviour with significant restrictions, conditioned by the individuals’ religious affiliation or beliefs. Some habits, such as fasting and the importance of health and image regarding both food and alcoholic beverages, are listed as well as the type of symbolic consumption with religious community leaders teaching and recommending customs that are consistent with their doctrine.

Public transport is a relevant issue for cities’ and territories’ development. From the perspective of consumer behavior, citizens’ experience as users and consumers is a topic of interest for public policy, especially at times when people are expected to avoid agglomerations. Given the lack of literature found in the systematic review regarding the future research agenda of consumer behavior in public transport, this research analyses the methodological perspectives, variables, and conceptual approaches relating to citizen experience of public transport. This systematic review takes 1997 to 2020 as a time frame and complies with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines; in addition, the research question follows the Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome, Context (PICOC) strategy. The review of experiences in the public sector leads to a classification of articles that refer to citizens’ experience of public transport. The main findings show four research topics concerning citizen experience of public transport: the individual perspective on factors influencing the experience; the comprehensive design of public transport in different process stages (pre‐core, core, post‐core, and redesign) and its interaction with citizens; the decision‐making process involved in selecting “routes” and “modes” for travel; and responses and reactions to stimuli aimed at evaluating the experience. To conclude, the discussion focuses on the future lines of research in the area.

Social Networking Sites (SNSs) play an increasingly important role in the marketing of products and services. This study aims to explore the relationship between intrinsic motivations and the level of commitment of followers of the brand communities of the media that cover showbusiness. To address this issue, a cross-sectional methodological strategy was adopted in which a questionnaire with a Likert-type scale was administered to 313 users of Facebook fan pages. The main findings show that there are four groups of motivations: community spirit, enthusiasm for the brand, search for entertainment and prize chase. Each of these motivational categories features two variations in the level of commitment, with fans divided into enthusiasts and pragmatists. The findings may allow the establishment of ways to use commitment and motivation more efficiently with regard to marketing actions, something which will also contribute to SNS managers' strategic decisions.

El presente trabajo tuvo como objetivo evaluar las dimensiones del valor percibido por parte de los estudiantes de programas virtuales en Instituciones de Educación Superior, considerando la escala de valor percibido Perval. Método: Esta investigación se enmarcó a partir de un enfoque mixto, a través del cual se buscaba encontrar los aspectos y características particulares del valor percibido en estudiantes de programas virtuales de Instituciones de Educación Superior. El diseño de la investigación fue secuencial exploratorio, con la realización inicial de una entrevista semiestructurada presencial a 15 estudiantes de dos instituciones de Educación Superior colombianas que permitió evaluar las dimensiones del valor percibido y ajustar las afirmaciones o ítems correspondientes. Posteriormente, se diseñó y se aplicó una encuesta virtual con escala Likert, a 1569 estudiantes de programas virtuales. Las 7 dimensiones propuestas en la revisión de literatura del presente trabajo fueron incluidas dentro de la escala a evaluar: Valor Funcional; Valor Emocional, Valor Social, Valor Epistémico, Valor Condicional, Valor Espiritual, y Valor Ético. Resultados: El análisis factorial arrojó la identificación de 10 dimensiones, que incluyen además: Valor Ético-Condicional; Valor Socio-Emocional; Valor Ético-Funcional; Valor Ético-Social y Valor Ético Espiritual. Discusión: Los hallazgos de la presente investigación podrán servir de guía a las áreas que lideran procesos con estudiantes. Marketing, bienestar universitario, servicio y tecnología. Las altas directivas de las IES y las áreas académicas encontrarán información sobre lo que pondera un estudiante de educación virtual al momento de elegir un programa o una institución de educación superior y cuáles son los elementos del valor percibido más relevantes para éste, lo que sin duda ayudará a validar los fundamentos sobre los cuales se han emprendido las acciones dirigidas a la población estudiantil virtual y así desarrollar nuevas acciones con un conocimiento más profundo del valor percibido en estudiantes virtuales.

This paper aims to identify the factors that influence the perceived quality of service for continuing higher education in online learning environments. To that end, a quantitative descriptive study, which was applied to 4,735 students in continuing higher education courses, who were given a self-administered scale online. The instrument was constructed considering the following factors: teaching skills, teachers’ attitudes and behavior, administrative and support team, the navigation platform, curricula, and the organization of courses for continuing education. The results show that the scale of perceived service quality for continuing virtual education from the students’ perspective is a two-dimensional construct. The first factor includes administrative support, content, educational aspects, and the interface, which constitute virtual education facilitators. The second factor involves the teaching skills necessary to guide a online learning course. The findings contribute to decisions in the management and development of continuing online learning, whose growing demand warrants a review of ways to satisfy users, allowing the modality to be viewed with a more positive perception.

Quality assessment of health services is a growing concern of the last decades, since consumer demands in the Colombian scope are not covered by the public sector. Similarly, according to literature review, there is no evidence of perceived quality factors assessment for the case of visual health services. Objective: To identify the perceived quality factors of the visual health service by users in private entities of optometry. Method: From a pragmatic approach, a non-experimental, crosssectional study was performed with an exploratory sequential design. A scale designed for the purposes of this research was applied, since the literature does not report an adequate prior instrument for this area. The definitive sample is of 382 users of the optometry service in Bogota. Results: 6 factors that compose the perceived quality of the visual health service: communication with professional, environment trust, accessibility, monitoring, punctuality, and, notion of time. Conclusion: the six factors explain 58.36% of the variance and the article presents managerial implications that can be applied by private health service providers in Colombia.

El servicio es uno de los ejes fundamentales de toda organización, el cual está siendo evaluado continuamente por el cliente, generando en él vínculos relacionales de corto, mediano o largo tiempo. El sector asegurador no es ajeno a este escenario toda vez que los clientes viven momentos de servicio únicos e irrepetibles, en los que la empatía juega un papel importante para marcar la diferencia; por tanto, este trabajo tiene como propósito evaluar las premisas fundamentales de la lógica dominante del servicio con expertos de seguros de automóviles en Colombia, buscando identificar las premisas de mayor impacto e interpretar los concepto de co-creación y valor percibido para los expertos de  seguros de automóviles en Colombia. El abordaje del problema se realiza desde el método Delphi, una técnica basada en preguntas acerca de la visión del futuro en donde los expertos en seguros brindan su opinión hasta lograr consenso y congruencia de lo que puede prospectarse para el sector asegurador. Los principales hallazgos muestran que el sector puede prestar un mejor servicio invirtiendo en desarrollos tecnológicos en donde los procesos sean agiles, claros respecto a las coberturas adquiridas y que acompañen permanente a sus asegurados.