Negative Incidents Research Articles

Communication skills learning through role models in Nepal; what are medical students really learning? A qualitative study

BackgroundCommunication skills (CS) are important and teachable, however, many Asian medical schools’ curricula do not incorporate them. Patan Academy of Health Sciences in Nepal identifies CS within its’ aims and curriculum. CS are taught from commencement of medical school and re-emphasised throughout preclinical learning (first 2 years). There is no explicit CS teaching in clinical years but placements allow students to learn through observation. These ‘role-modelling’ interactions form part of CS learning and development.MethodsThis study is a qualitative evaluation of CS learning in PAHS, through participants’ experiences. Through purposive sampling, twenty medical students from 2nd, 4th and Intern years were selected for inclusion. Data were collected via audio recorded, semi-structured interviews, employing a piloted schedule. Transcripts were manually coded and analysed thematically. Codes were organised into themes and subthemes. This paper discusses themes related to role-modelling.ResultsThe majority of participants described role-modelling in CS learning, recounting both positive and negative incidents, reflected in the themes of; Positive and Negative experiences. Subthemes of Personal Qualities and Inspiring, emerged from positive experiences, describing students’ desire to imitate or aspire to be like their role models. Learners reported predominantly negative experiences and interns exclusively so. From these emerged subthemes of; Good doctors but.., Contradictory messages, How not to behave, Unprofessional behaviour and Affect-Emotional Distress. Learners received conflicting messages from observing behaviour contradictory to explicit CS teaching. Many identified learning “how not to behave” from such incidents, however, several described feeling distressed.DiscussionRole-modelling is a powerful and important CS learning tool, seen as positively reinforcing or negatively contradicting explicit CS teaching. Negative modelling created internal conflict, confusion and distress amongst learners, despite its’ potential for positive learning. The worldwide problem of negative role-modelling is also prevalent in Nepal.Medical educators need to ensure the explicit curriculum aligns with implicit learning. Clinical tutors must be alerted to their powerful role-model position and supported in developing intentional modelling skills. Learners’ reflections upon their experiences should be facilitated, enabling them to critically evaluate observations and hence consciously adopt or reject role-modelled behaviour and attitudes.

Do News Media Kill? How a Biased News Reality can Overshadow Real Societal Risks, The Case of Aviation and Road Traffic Accidents

Abstract Is irrational risk-avoiding behavior related to news media’s heightened attention for the negative and exceptional? Based on the theoretical approaches of mediatization and cultivation, it is hypothesized how news media can present an overly negative and biased reality that can have a severe impact on society. Focusing on the case of travel accidents, we argue that a disproportional increase in news attention for low-probability high-consequence aviation accidents can distort audiences’ risk perceptions such that driving is inaccurately perceived as a safer transportation alternative to flying, with potentially harmful consequences. This study accordingly documents results from time-series analyses (1996–2017) on US media attention for aviation and road accidents related to real-world data on travel behavior and fatal accidents. The over-time patterns expose how news media follow their own mediatized logic and reality: Negative incidents—i.e., both aviation and road accidents—become more prominent in the news over time, rather than accurately reflecting real-world trends. Next, since air travel is statistically the safest transportation mode, disproportionate attention for aviation accidents is argued to especially create a problematic distorted worldview among audiences. Accordingly, findings show how more media attention for aviation accidents is related to relatively more road traffic and more fatal road accidents in the subsequent months. We conclude that the media’s systematic overrepresentation of rare aviation accidents can overshadow the more substantial risk of (long-distance) driving. This paper illustrates how a distorted media reality can potentially result in severe consequences in light of audiences’ ill-informed fear perceptions and irrational risk-avoiding behavior.

Symbolic or substantive change? How a Malaysian palm oil company managed sustainability issues in words and deeds

PurposeThis paper aims to explore how a Malaysian palm oil company responded to the pressure for change towards sustainability in their sustainability reporting of negative incidents and in actual sustainability practices.Design/methodology/approachThe study used qualitative methodology through an interpretive case study of a palm company. The study gathered primary and secondary data via semi-structured interviews with key organisational members and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), informal conversations, focus groups, document/annual report content analyses and observations. Symbolic and substantive management was used as the theoretical lens to explain the findings.FindingsAfter experiencing a series of negative events regarding their social and environmental performance, the case company responded by using selective disclosure and a symbolic/legitimising strategy to address the majority of recurring negative events. In actual practice, the company changed structurally but policy-implementation gaps remain despite these changes. Strategically, the company changed in terms of its expansion policy but remained unchanged in traceability issues. The increased awareness of sustainability in the company’s culture appeared to suffer in favour of profit and cost/efficiency considerations that remain prominent. Both substantive and symbolic changes were found in both reports and practice but were more inclined to be symbolic.Practical implicationsThe study provides guidelines for companies changing towards sustainability in both practice and reporting, in their effort to contribute to sustainable development goals.Originality/valueThe study provides evidence of symbolic and substantive changes as complementing activities instead of a dichotomy, which was mostly assumed in previous literature and suggests companies adopt a combination of these depending on the severity of sustainability-related issues, level of scrutiny and cost/efficiency considerations.

Developing Healthcare Team Observations for Patient Safety (HTOPS): senior medical students capture everyday clinical moments

BackgroundAviation has used a real-time observation method to advance anonymised feedback to the front-line and improve safe practice. Using an experiential learning method, this pilot study aimed to develop an observation-based real-time learning tool for final-year medical students with potential wider use in clinical practice.MethodsUsing participatory action research, we collected data on medical students’ observations of real-time clinical practice. The observation data was analysed thematically and shared with a steering group of experts to agree a framework for recording observations. A sample of students (observers) and front-line clinical staff (observed) completed one-to-one interviews on their experiences. The interviews were analysed using thematic analysis.ResultsThirty-seven medical students identified 917 issues in wards, theatres and clinics in an acute hospital trust. These issues were grouped into the themes of human influences, work environment and systems. Aviation approaches were adapted to develop an app capable of recording real-time positive and negative clinical incidents. Five students and eleven clinical staff were interviewed and shared their views on the value of a process that helped them learn and has the potential to advance the quality of practice. Concerns were shared about how the observational process is managed.ConclusionThe study developed an app (Healthcare Team Observations for Patient Safety—HTOPS), for recording good and poor clinical individual and team behaviour in acute-care practice. The process advanced medical student learning about patient safety. The tool can identify the totality of patient safety practice and illuminate strength and weakness. HTOPS offers the opportunity for collective ownership of safety concerns without blame and has been positively received by all stakeholders. The next steps will further refine the app for use in all clinical areas for capturing light noise.

A snapshot of the coaching practices in undergraduate nursing education: evaluation of stakeholders’ perceptions and program costs

Abstract Objectives Skills training is carried out with coaching in nursing education and all stakeholders are important. The aim of study was to evaluate the views of different stakeholders on coaching practice and the costs. Methods Data was collected between October 2015 and December 2016. The student dimension was evaluated using the Coaching Process Evaluation Scale with sophomore (n=237) and junior (n=219). Data was collected from the faculty member (n=18) using Critical Incidents Technique and from the educational managers (n=7) through in-depth interviews. The 2015–2016 educational program was analyzed for cost analysis. Results Student evaluations of the Coaching Process Evaluation Scale demonstrated mean scores of 66.68 ± 0.85 for the Observed Coaching Skills subscale. There were four headlines (use of coaching skills, benefiting from the Coaching Process, Emotions, and Reflection) which were also observed in the faculty members data which revealed a total of 60 codes from positive and negative incidents. The educational managers, on the other hand, stressed three categories and the emotions category, which emerged in the students and faculty was not found among the educational managers. The per student cost of practice education increase sixfold from the freshman year to the junior year. Conclusions The perception and views on coaching practices of educational managers, faculty members, and students are positive and support each other. This provides an important opportunity for the placement of coaching practices into education programs in nursing.

Living Through the Lives of Hospitality Students During Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) Internships: An Application of the Critical Incident Technique to Explore Factors Affecting Students’ WIL Experience

ABSTRACT This research examines the positive and negative incidents affecting hotel management students’ experience during their Work Integrated Learning (WIL) internships. The critical incident technique was adopted as the theoretical underpinning approach to elicit the positive and negative experience of hospitality undergraduates (n = 20) who have completed a six-month WIL internship as part of their hospitality program in Australia. Personal interviews were conducted to explore critical incidents faced by students during the internship and how these incidents influenced their overall WIL internship experience. Results of the narrative analysis revealed positive incidents were mainly attributed to encounters with hotel guests and workplace managers who provided positive feedback that made students feel appreciated and motivated them to work harder. With regards to negative incidents, conflicting issues with managers and colleagues was the main issue encountered during their WIL internship. Despite having negative incidents, students were able to focus on leisure activities and find solutions to manage their mental well-being. Overall, majority of students viewed the internship as an integral part of their Bachelor program to acquire industry knowledge, learn new skills, and manage negative tasks.

Daily Creativity: The Role of Personal Resources and Daily Negative Incidents

Being required to be creative during most of their working days is a daily challenge for innovators. Prior research indicated that innovator’s personal resources may help them to be creative in their working environments. This study examines two very different personal resources. Specifically, we examine an innovator’s resilience and sensor-processing sensitivity as potential drivers for their daily creativity. In an aim to also investigate when these two personal resources are most (or least) beneficial, we also include the moderating role of experienced daily negative incidents. As this study examines the effects of more stable personal resources (i.e., resilience and sensor-processing sensitivity) on daily creativity, we applied an experience sampling research design to collect our data. 138 innovators responded to our baseline survey capturing the stable constructs and to at least two daily survey entries., The results indicate that high levels of resilience could help employees to be creative and that this relationship is not moderated by daily negative incidents. We did not find a significant relationship between sensitivity and daily creativity, but when an individual is exposed to negative incidents on a given day, sensitivity is negatively related to creativity.

What is in a student-faculty relationship? A template analysis of students’ positive and negative critical incidents with faculty and staff in higher education

Supportive relationships between students and their educational faculty and staff can foster positive outcomes such as students’ involvement and development. However, research investigating how students perceive the quality of their relationships with educational faculty/staff (i.e., relationship quality) so far remains scarce. This study’s aim was to gain more insight into the construct of relationship quality in higher education using a qualitative approach. Students’ descriptions of their positive (n = 294) and negative relationship experiences (n = 395) were collected using a critical incident technique (final sample N = 513 critical incidents) followed by a template analysis with a priori themes (i.e., relationship quality dimensions: trust in honesty, trust in benevolence, satisfaction, affective commitment, affective conflict). Results indicated that students most often mentioned trust in honesty and trust in benevolence. Affective conflict was not always explicitly mentioned in negative experiences, nor satisfaction in positive experiences. Descriptions of trust in benevolence (n = 355) were equally distributed over positive and negative incidents. However, trust in honesty was more often referred to in negative (n = 145) than in positive incidents (n = 51). The results indicated that students considered timely response to assignments and emails important, and teachers showing interest and attention. The study’s findings provide a new view of how students might positively and negatively perceive the quality of their relationship with educational faculty and staff. This study adds to the theoretical and practical implications of relationship quality research in higher education and how relational aspects are important for students.

Negative customer engagement in emerging markets: cognitive dimension

ABSTRACT Defined as a customer’s unfavourable thoughts, emotions and behaviours towards a brand/firm, negative customer engagement is viewed as a complex construct, particularly its cognitive dimension. This study advances understanding of negative customer engagement through cognitive expression of customers in an emerging market. Critical Incident Technique method was employed to examine negative critical service incidents of 335 Vietnamese customers and identify their cognitive responses to these incidents. The findings reveal a range of unfavourable thoughts engaged in by customers towards the offending service provider, including a sense of injustice, incompetence, irresponsibility, distrust and cynicism. These sub-dimensions do not occur in isolation, but rather interact within a complex system. This is the first study to empirically examine the cognitive dimension of negative customer engagement based on negative critical service incidents experienced by customers in an emerging market and in a commercial service context. Negative customer engagement has adverse effects on customer well-being that may indirectly lead to an unhealthy society and a weak economy. Understanding the underlying cognitive triggers of negative customer engagement will enable managers to design service recovery strategies aimed at preventing or minimising negative customer engagement, especially for firms operating in emerging markets.

The cause-effect relationship between negative food incidents and tourists’ negative emotions

Abstract Tourists often experience negative food incidents at tourism destinations, which can elicit negative emotional reactions. However, this important topic has been examined only in the narrow context of restaurants with a particular focus on customers’ negative restaurant experiences. This study is the first to incorporate three types of food establishments, namely, full-service restaurants, limited-service restaurants, and street stalls, to investigate the effects of negative food incidents on tourists’ negative emotions. Using a qualitative approach to capture the cause-effect relationship between negative food incidents and tourists’ negative emotions, this study found that food-related issues trigger tourists’ sadness and shame; queue management leads to fear; and high prices, unethical business practices and poor service quality result in anger. The three types of food establishments are correlated with different negative food incidents. In addition to providing theoretical contributions, this study also provides practical suggestions for food outlets at any destination.

The costs of urban living: human–wildlife interactions increase parasite risk and self-directed behaviour in urban vervet monkeys

Abstract The urban landscape is a complex mosaic of costs and benefits for urban wildlife. Although many species may adapt and thrive in the urban mosaic, the complexity of this landscape can be stressful and have health implications for urban wildlife, raising concerns for zoonosis and biodiversity. In this study, we assessed how human–primate interactions influenced parasite risk and anxiety-related behaviour of urban vervet monkeys in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Over 1 year, we collected and analysed faecal samples, assessing eggs per gram, species richness, and Shannon’s diversity index. In addition, using behavioural sampling, we recorded self-directed scratching behaviour, as an indicator of anxiety, and human–primate interactions, both positive (human-food consumption) and negative (human–monkey aggression). To assess parasite risk in the urban mosaic, we ran three models with our parasite measures as dependent variables. Results showed that negative human interactions significantly increased with eggs per gram, species richness, and Shannon’s diversity index and positive human interactions increased with both eggs per gram and species richness. Furthermore, eggs per gram significantly increased with higher scratching rate. We also tested the relationship between scratching and human interactions, finding that scratching significantly increased under higher rates of negative human incidents. Overall, results suggest that there are costs to urban living that increase anxiety-related behaviour and parasite risk despite increased food availability. Our findings are important for developing effective management strategies that focus on cohabitation rather than conflict, for the benefit of human and wildlife health.

Disclosure-Driven Social Engagement in Supply Chains

Problem definition: We empirically examine the effect of buying firms' disclosures of their efforts to mitigate forced labor and human trafficking in their supply chains on their supplier's actual labor outcomes. Triggered by several scandals involving well-known firms in 2020, major regulatory actions are ongoing in addressing forced labor in supply chains through increased buyer disclosures. However, many question whether disclosure alone would be effective in generating real outcomes, and there is little empirical research on whether buyer disclosure could translate into supplier-size net improvements. Methodology and Results: We use the passage of the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act (CTSCA) as a regime shift in the intensity of disclosures and compare negative forced-labor incidents in (1) suppliers of the disclosing buyers and (2) otherwise-identical suppliers of matched control firms not subject to the CTSCA. We find that 64% of firms subject to CTSCA make the requisite disclosures, and suppliers of these firms realize a substantial reduction---up to 56%---in actual negative incidents post-CTSCA, despite having nearly identical pre-CTSCA incident levels and trends to suppliers of control firms. We provide countervailing evidence against firms' improving their supply chain profiles irrespective of CTSCA, and evidence consistent with disclosing firms' undertaking more aggressive supply-chain-focused investments to mitigate the increasing reputational risks of inaction. We further find that consumer proximity and institutional equity ownership is predictive of both the disclosure decision itself and the level of detail in the disclosures. Managerial implications: Although disclosure mandates do not automatically result in full compliance, they could serve as an effective way of encouraging firms to more actively shape their supply chains' ESG profiles. Further regulations should be designed with the goal of increasing consumer and investor awareness---and thus the reputational risks of inaction---in mind.

The Effects of Mandatory ESG Disclosure around the World

We examine the effects of mandatory ESG disclosure around the world using a novel dataset. Mandatory ESG disclosure increases the availability and quality of ESG reporting, especially among firms with low ESG performance. Mandatory ESG reporting helps to improve a firm’s financial information environment: analysts’ earnings forecasts become more accurate and less dispersed after ESG disclosure becomes mandatory. On the real side, negative ESG incidents become less likely, and stock price crash risk declines, after mandatory ESG disclosure is enacted. These findings suggest that mandatory ESG disclosure has beneficial informational and real effects.

Comparison between sentiments of people from affected and non-affected regions after the flood

Floods have become the most prevalent natural disaster in the world. Understanding the emotional impact of floods on people helps reduce negative mass incidents and contributes to the implementation of disaster prevention and mitigation. This study collected online discussions related to the great flood in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River basin in China in 2020. Then, we obtained the sentiments of people and the deep thoughts behind their negative sentiment through the dictionary sentiment analysis and the LDA topic modeling, counting them according to the regions. The overall sentiment of Internet users during this flood was neutral, and the posts showing negative sentiment were mostly from the affected areas. People in the affected areas were highly concerned about personal safety and property, whose negative emotions were directed towards the flood prevention work and the relocation of affected people.

The Price of Corporate Social Irresponsibility at Seasoned Equity Offerings: International Evidence

We examine the effect of corporate social responsibility engagements signaled through negative environmental and social (E&S) incidents on equity financing via seasoned equity offerings (SEOs) across 25 countries. The results show that negative E&S incidents significantly aggravate SEO underpricing, increasing cost of equity capital. We assess potential explanations from the perspective of corporate reputation risk and regulatory risk. We find support for both channels. Social reputation acts as a buffer against reputation risk arising from the E&S risk events while strong country-level E&S policies inflict regulatory risk to violating firms following E&S incidents leading to adverse E&S effects at SEOs. Further analysis reveals that the adverse pricing effects of firm E&S risk are driven by the social awareness of institutional and retail investors. We also find that the impact is negligible with the presence of larger blockholders. Managers appear to pre-empt the adverse effects by reducing the likelihood of equity financing in wake of negative incidents. Finally, there are rich cross-country variations in the pricing effects of E&S risk whereby common law countries and those with strong investor protection and individualistic but low power distance cultures suffer most from the adverse E&S incidents around SEOs.

Individual and Structural Challenges in Doctoral Education: An Ethical Perspective

Aim/Purpose: The study set out to understand the challenges doctoral students experience at different systemic levels of doctoral education through the perspective of ethical principles. Background: Doctoral students experience various challenges on their journey to the degree, and as high dropout rates indicate, these challenges become critical for many students. Several individual and structural level aspects, such as student characteristics, supervisory relationship, the academic community as well national policies and international trends, influence doctoral studies, and students’ experiences have been researched quite extensively. Although some of the challenges doctoral students experience may be ethical in nature, few studies have investigated these challenges specifically from an ethics perspective. Methodology: The study drew on qualitative descriptions of significant negative incidents from 90 doctoral students from an online survey. The data were first analyzed using a reflexive thematic analysis, and then the themes were located within different systemic levels of doctoral studies: individual (e.g., doctoral student, the individual relationship with supervisor) and structural (e.g., the institution, faculty, academic community). Finally, the ethical principles at stake were identified, applying the framework of five common ethical principles: respect for autonomy, benefiting others (beneficence), doing no harm (non-maleficence), being just (justice), and being faithful (fidelity). Contribution: Understanding doctoral students’ experiences from an ethical perspective and locating these among the systemic levels of doctoral studies contributes to a better understanding of the doctoral experience’s complexities. Ethical considerations should be integrated when creating and implementing procedures, rules, and policies for doctoral education. Making the ethical aspects visible will also allow universities to develop supervisor and faculty training by concretely targeting doctoral studies aspects highlighted as ethically challenging. Findings: In doctoral students’ experiences, structural level ethical challenges out-weighed breaches of common ethical principles at the individual level of doctoral studies. In the critical experiences, the principle of beneficence was at risk in the form of a lack of support by the academic community, a lack of financial support, and bureaucracy. Here, the system and the community were unsuccessful in contributing positively to doctoral students’ welfare and fostering their growth. At the individual level, supervision abandonment experiences, inadequate supervision, and students’ struggle to keep study-related commitments breached fidelity, which was another frequently compromised principle. Although located at the individual level of studies, these themes are rooted in the structural level. Additionally, the progress review reporting and assessment process was a recurrent topic in experiences in which the principles of non-maleficence, autonomy, and justice were at stake. Recommendations for Practitioners: Going beyond the dyadic student-supervisor relationship and applying the ethics of responsibility, where university, faculty, supervisors, and students share a mutual responsibility, could alleviate ethically problematic experiences. Recommendation for Researchers: We recommend that further research focus on experiences around the ethics in the progress reporting and assessment process through in-depth interviews with doctoral students and assessment committee members. Impact on Society: Dropout rates are high and time to degree completion is long. An ethical perspective may shed light on why doctoral studies fail in efficiency. Ethical aspects should be considered when defining the quality of doctoral education. Future Research: A follow-up study with supervisors and members of the academic community could contribute to developing a conceptual framework combining systemic levels and ethics in doctoral education.

A user-centered evaluation of medication therapy management alerts for community pharmacists: Recommendations to improve usability and usefulness.

Community pharmacists provide comprehensive medication reviews (CMRs) through pharmacy contracts with medication therapy management (MTM) vendors. These CMRs are documented in the vendors' web-based MTM software platforms, which often integrate alerts to assist pharmacists in the detection of medication therapy problems. Understanding pharmacists' experiences with MTM alerts is critical to optimizing alert design for patient care. The objectives of this study were to 1) assess the usability and usefulness of MTM alerts for MTM vendor-contracted community pharmacists and 2) generate recommendations for improving MTM alerts for use by community pharmacists. This was a convergent, parallel mixed-methods evaluation of data collected from 3 sources, with individual pharmacists contributing data to one or more sources: 1) community pharmacists' submissions of observational data about MTM alerts encountered during routine MTM provision, 2) videos of naturalistic usability testing of MTM alerts, and 3) semi-structured interviews to elicit pharmacists' perspectives on MTM alert usefulness and usability. MTM alert data submitted by pharmacists were summarized with descriptive statistics. Usability testing videos were analyzed to determine pharmacists' time spent on MTM alerts and to identify negative usability incidents. Interview transcripts were analyzed using a hybrid approach of deductive and inductive codes to identify emergent themes. Triangulation of data (i.e., determination of convergence/divergence in findings across all data sources) occurred through investigator discussion and identified overarching findings pertaining to key MTM alert challenges. These resulted in actionable recommendations to improve MTM alerts for use by community pharmacists. Collectively, two and four overarching key challenges pertaining to MTM alert usability and usefulness, respectively, were identified, resulting in 15 actionable recommendations for improving the design of MTM alerts from a user-centered perspective. Recommendations are expected to inform enhanced MTM alert designs that can improve pharmacist efficiency, patient and prescriber satisfaction with MTM, and patient outcomes.

ANLAMLANDIRMA ÖLÇEĞİNİN ÇEVİRİSİ, UYARLAMASI, GEÇERLİLİK VE GÜVENİLİRLİĞİ: HİNDİSTAN, MALEZYA, ROMANYA VE TÜRKİYE'DEN KÜLTÜRLERARASI BİR KANIT

The main object of this research is translation, adaptation, validity and reliability of the Sense-Making Scale’s Turkish version to English so as to be used in cross-cultural researches. Even though there are extensive studies which have been carried out on sense-making, any sense-making scale or questionnaire in the existing literature is not consistent and there is a gap that should be filled. The contribution of this research is to redound a sense-making measurement tool in English. Firstly, the related literature is reiterated and a pilot study of translated scale is applied for validity and reliablity. After reliability is assured, the surveys are sent to 600 academicians in India, Malaysia, Romania and Turkey and 466 of the data are valid. The data fit to normal distribution. Cronbach's Alpha value is found reliable (0.763) and the variability of the scale is 61.257%. The first possible explanation for these results is being the first measurement tool about sense-making in English. The second implication of the study is; sense-making of signs such as action, discourse, diagnosis, facts orelse events may let people prevent from adverse, negative and unfavourable incidents such as accidents, chaoses or crises which may occur in times to come.

The effects of negative information-related incidents on social media discontinuance intention: Evidence from SEM and fsQCA

Social media have experienced a decline in their number of users. Understanding the antecedents of users’ discontinuance intention can help social media platforms in mitigating them. It is necessary to enrich the theoretical account of social media discontinuance intention from the aspect of negative information-related incidents. With this realization, underpinned by stimulus–organism–response (SOR) framework, the current study examined the interrelationships of negative information-related incidents, social media fatigue, perceived information overload, and social media discontinuance intention. The proposed hypotheses were verified by analyzing the responses of 328 Weibo users through structural equation modeling (SEM) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). According to the SEM results, all negative-related information incidents can explain perceived information overload and social media fatigue, which in turn lead to discontinuance intention. The fsQCA findings also confirmed the significance of discontinuance intention determinants and provided the configurations that enhanced discontinuance intention. These findings can assist social media managers in developing unique strategies to address the specific needs of social media users.

The Interplay of IT Users’ Coping Strategies: Uncovering Momentary Emotional Load, Routes, and Sequences

Despite the positive aspects of information technology (IT) use, it is common for users to experience negative IT incidents. Examples of negative IT incidents include getting lost in an unfamiliar country due to a dysfunctional map application and missing a monetary insurance benefit due to the failure of an activity tracker application. Such incidents can harm IT providers by giving rise to user dissatisfaction, discontinued use, switching, and negative word-of-mouth. To minimize this harm, it is important to understand how users cope after negative incidents. Specifically, information systems (IS) researchers have called for research that uncovers the complex interplay of IT users’ coping strategies (e.g., users’ coping efforts after employing one strategy and combinations of several consecutive strategies). To address these calls, we conducted a mixed methods study that examined mobile application users’ coping strategies after highly negative incidents. We developed a model that explains how users navigate between problem-focused strategies, emotion-focused strategies, and appraisals. As theoretical contributions, we identify coping sequences and distinct routes from the coping strategies, uncover the role of momentary emotional load, and present IT-specific insights. As practical implications, we identify favorable and unfavorable coping strategies and sequences from both the IT providers’ and the users’ perspectives.