Social-Psychological-Health Predictors of Fondness of Arkenstone among Indonesians

Abstract

IntroductionDuring 2014-2015, Indonesia experienced the fever of arkenstone. This emerging fondness of arkenstone, or agate, ("batuk akik" in Indonesian) among people is indicated by a growing population of stone hunters, stone smiths and mostly, people who accessorize their fingers with colorful arkenstone on rings. This trend hits Indonesian like a tidal wave, as it affects not only ordinary citizens but also government officials; from Minister of Manpower, Hanif Dhakiri-who collects arkenstones and view them as part of national culture [1] to Minister of Social Affairs, Khofifah Indar Parawansa who stated arkenstone craftsmen/stone smiths as one of the new occupation in East Java and considered it to be effective in reducing the number of divorce in the area [2]. The arkenstone itself, known as 'agate' in geological terms, is a mineral structure consisting of various components of hard and colorful silicon layers [3]. As the popularity of the mineral among people raised so is the price. Depending on various aspects such as size, pattern, color, texture and origins, the price may vary from a few hundred thousand to millions of rupiah.However, there are yet any studies conducted to investigate the cause of this 'fever'. All we know from the news, articles and the increasing number of arkenstone trader is that people buy, collect and admire them for many purposes. This sudden trend has also left us puzzled, as this is similar to the flowerhorn fish trend back in the early 2000s where many people started to breed them for good luck and prosperity. This is the first article, to our knowledge, to ever investigate the psychosocial aspects underlying the arkenstone trends among Indonesian by outlining a few possible social-psychological factors that might have caused the trend. We propose that individual's Aesthetic Style, Health Beliefs, Illusory Belief, and Connectedness to Nature play roles in determining the favoring of arkenstone. Aesthetic StyleOne possible reason for attraction towards arkenstone might be its aesthetic value. Its beautiful pattern and design are the qualities that attract people into collecting, hunting and taking care of the arkenstone as collections and accessories. How people perceive a product to be aesthetically beautiful might influence their attitude on the product. As Chen put it in his analysis of web design, aesthetic can influence brand perception and credibility in purchasing decision [4]. According to Louis Kattsoff [5], aesthetic is the knowledge of the beauty and the art of beauty. As John Hospers stated, it is related with the contemplation of art, by analyzing concepts in the deep reflection [5]. This contemplation makes people understand and perceive better towards the art, opening the opportunity to admire and appreciate it as a unique product and thus making the art a valuable possession of luxury.Godey et al. [6] suggested that the consumption of a product or brand depends on the aesthetic perception or 'style' of the customer. Thus the value and luxury perceived may vary ...

An Internet of Things (IoT) Acceptance Model. Assessing Consumer’s Behavior toward IoT Products and Applications

“…In the realm of TAM, intention, or behavioral intention (BI), is the main indicator of acceptance-the higher the BI, the higher the likeliness to accept the technology [27,28]. Understanding individuals' intentions and the reasons that they are willing to use product or service is crucial for marketers and managers, since individuals' attitudes are connected with their perceptions [29].…”

“…Facilitated appropriation (FA) can be seen as a more comprehensive and systematic appropriation. While engaging in facilitated appropriation, individuals are inspired to see and engage with additional features on a device, exclusively dealing with their problems or other personal purposes [27,28]. In this research, it is proposed that if individuals feel they are facilitated to appropriate IoT products and applications, they would be more likely to view the technology as useful.…”

“…Long-term orientation (LTO) is a salient aspect of national culture values and as such influences consumers' decision-making processes [32]. Prayoga and Abraham [27,28] found that among cultural values, only LTO predicts user's tendency to engage in facilitated appropriation. Based on these arguments, the following hypothesis is recommended.…”

“…Trust is evidenced as a good predictor of usefulness, ease of use, behavioral intention, and attitude [34]. It is the gateway to technology acceptance, especially in the IoT arena, where any of your information is at potential risk [27,28].…”

“…Perceived usefulness/perceived ease of use/attitude are three of the mediators and were adopted as being the core functions of TAM [4]. The dimension of facilitated appropriation, as the last mediator, was adopted from Prayoga and Abraham [27,28]. The behavioral belief (antecedent) of trust was taken from the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior (DTPB) [42], the construct of social influence (antecedent) was adopted from UTAUT and TAM2 [3], the construct of cognitive instrumentals (antecedent) was adopted from TAM2, the construct of cyber resilience (antecedent) is an original input in a technology acceptance model and the construct of user character (antecedent) is adapted from the research of Hong in 2016 [15].…”