The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the lives of people and services, pushing them toward new technologies that are in step with the development of a “New Normal” way of life. Contactless technologies have been realized as a mechanism to reduce the risks of infection, accelerating the move to touchless behaviors. The purpose of this study is to develop an Integrated Expectation-Confirmation and Health Belief Model (ECHBM) to explain an adoption and continuance intention to use contactless technologies during the COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand. Based on an empirical research survey of 142 samples, the proposed conceptual model was empirically validated using structural equation modelling (SEM). The study found that perceived usefulness, perceived susceptibility, perceived seriousness, and satisfaction significantly influenced continuance usage intention of contactless payment technologies, whereas perceived usefulness and confirmation were found to be significant determinants of consumer satisfaction. The effect of perceived susceptibility was found to be relatively higher than that of satisfaction, and confirmation was found to have an indirect effect on continuance usage intention through perceived usefulness and satisfaction. The integrated ECHBM model has strong explanatory power (56.8%) to predict customers’ continuance usage intention toward use of contactless payment technologies during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study proposes a novel challenge to explain an adoption and continuance intention to use contactless payment technologies as a protective health behavior to mitigate risks of being infected by COVID-19. Doi: 10.28991/esj-2021-01260 Full Text: PDF

Nowadays, the advance of the internet and mobile technologies have changed our daily life, not only in terms of consumption but in how business is done. Social media has been recognized as one of the potential online platforms for entrepreneurs especially in small and medium business establishments to cope with large corporations. This study aims to investigate elements affecting social media adoption for business purposes by adopting a well-known technology acceptance model—the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT). The data of 196 samples were collected via online questionnaires in Thailand using the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique employed to verify the proposed model with empirical data. The outcomes illustrate the performance and effort expectancy and social influence significantly influence behavior prospects to implement social media for business purposes. Facilitating conditions significantly contribute to affecting actual user behavior. Also, the authors investigated the moderating effect of all demographic and behavioral factors such as gender, age, daily spent time on social media, and entrepreneur status. The results of the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) analysis show that there are immense variances in the intention of social media behavior and use behavior due to age. Younger adults tend to be more adept with user behavior and behavioral intention more than older adults.

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed people’s life and the ways businesses implement their social responsibility initiatives. During the COVID-19 pandemic, online and digital platforms have been increasingly realized as important mechanisms for businesses undertaking and implementing socially responsible activities—digital social responsibility (DSR). The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of DSR on brand preference and consumers’ purchase intention comparing between high and low involvement product categories. The quantitative empirical research was conducted by using an online questionnaire instrument, and a Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) technique was used to test the proposed model. Based on 194 samples of Thai respondents collected in November to December 2020, the findings demonstrate that DSR initiatives are significantly and positively associated with brand preference and with consumers’ purchase intention. The moderating result reveals that product involvement plays a significant role in strengthening the association between DSR initiatives and brand preference. The effect of DSR on brand preference is stronger for low product involvement respondents than for high product involvement respondents. The research highlights the significance of DSR and extends the current knowledge about DSR and its potential impact on customers’ perception.

The extant research has investigated the impact of purchase intention by reference groups in different situations. Nonetheless, a few studies have examined the roles of reference groups (private and public) in the purchase intention of distinctive types of shoppers (utilitarian, social value, and hedonic) and the degree of product involvement (high and low). Drawing from social influence theory, using experimental research, and analysing data with ANOVA, the author reveals in Study 1 that private groups may have greater impact on motivation for both high and low product involvement compared to public groups. Studies 2 and 3 reveal that utilitarian shoppers tend to have higher purchase intention when private groups are used for information cues. On the other hand, reference groups do not affect the purchase intention of social value and hedonic shoppers. This research contributes to social influence theory by revealing that reference groups have a diverse impact on purchase intention under different stimuli.

PurposeThis study is to compare the impact of organizational agility and flexibility on performance of each type of product innovation (radical vs incremental innovation). Additionally, the moderating effect of technological turbulence on the relationship between the two types of organization is examined.Design/methodology/approachBased on gaps in the existing literature, the survey data are collected from managers who are in charge of developing new products in three industries: food and beverage, chemical and machinery (N = 431). Confirmatory factory analysis is used to verify measurement items and regression analysis is used to test hypotheses.FindingsThe results show that organizational agility increases performance in radical innovation both in a certain situation and an environment with technological turbulence. In contrast, the impact of organizational flexibility is limited to increasing performance in both radical and incremental innovation performance in a certain situation.Originality/valueOur study extends the knowledge of organizational agility and flexibility in the domain of product innovation. Adaptation of organization to respond the technological turbulence will stimulate creativity of new product development teams to produce new useful ideas and transform these ideas to product innovation. The different types of organizing a new product development team to handle technological turbulence will provide different results in product innovation performance. In addition, the findings provide a recommendation on how the organization of a new product development team can improve performance in each type of product innovation under technological turbulence.

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Viral marketing is one of the most effective and imperative marketing strategies. The prominence of digital technology and social media has elevated the importance of viral marketing campaigns by increasing their cost efficiency and enabling them to reach targeted audiences rapidly. This study aimed to examine the influence of viral marketing strategies on brand recognition and brand preference by developing a framework for the effectiveness of viral marketing (7I’s) in social media contexts and testing the associations among the 7I’s, brand recognition and brand preference. A quantitative research method with a structured questionnaire as the research tool was employed to collect data from a total of 286 respondents in Thailand. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was utilized to test the proposed hypotheses. The results showed that effective viral marketing relates positively to brand recognition (b = 0.440) and preference (b = 0.298). The mediation analysis also revealed that brand recognition partially mediates the relationship between effective viral marketing and brand preference. In terms of the moderating effects, the results indicated a stronger influence for effective viral marketing on brand preference among younger respondents (b = 0.336) than among older respondents (b = 0.278). This research makes a significant contribution to the existing literature by validating a theory-driven framework based on the novel concept of the 7I’s and its potential effect on customers’ brand perceptions. Doi: 10.28991/esj-2021-01315 Full Text: PDF