Online Profiles Research Articles

Online profiling of volunteers in public health emergencies: insights from COVID-19 in China

BackgroundDuring public health emergencies, the diverse backgrounds of volunteers pose numerous management challenges. This study aims to develop an online profiling model of volunteers using social media data to achieve a more comprehensive and objective understanding of them.MethodsIn the proposed model, the study designed five profiling tags: basic information, sentiment, topic features, interest preferences, and online social engagement. K-Modes clustering was employed to implement the profiling. To validate the feasibility of the model, an empirical study was conducted using Weibo data from 1,070 volunteers during the COVID-19 pandemic in China, resulting in the online profiling of these volunteers.ResultsFour categories of volunteers could be identified: Public Affairs Pioneers (32.4%), Diary Record Lurkers (32.8%), Social Topic Sharers (20.9%), and Fashion and Entertainment Influencers (13.9%). Overall, volunteers were predominantly female, generally interested in entertainment, relatively satisfied with their volunteer work, and possessed a sense of social responsibility. The four categories of volunteers exhibited distinct characteristics in terms of interests, online social behavior, and influence.ConclusionsThe proposed online profiling model objectively captures the characteristics of volunteers during public health emergencies. The four volunteer categories identified through the empirical results provide a multidimensional and comprehensive understanding of volunteers. For different volunteer categories, official agencies can tailor their recruitment, management, and training strategies to better suit the specific needs and strengths of the volunteers, thereby enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of volunteer engagement and ensuring volunteers are well-prepared and supported in their roles.

Formal versus casual: examining the influence of doctors’ profile pictures on patients’ choice in the online health market

PurposeThe online profile picture of a doctor serves as a pivotal source of visual information, playing a key role in shaping the doctor’s professionalism in the online health market. Doctors can strategically curate the elements of their online profile pictures, such as attire and background, to either reinforce a formal image or craft a casual image, thereby influencing patients’ doctor choices. Despite this, the relative effectiveness of formal or casual images in swaying patient choices remains unclear. This study endeavors to bridge this knowledge gap.Design/methodology/approachThis study tested the influence of a doctor’s attire and background in their profile picture on patient decision-making, with a focus on discerning variations in impact among patient groups differentiated by the severity of their illnesses (i.e. high-severity versus low-severity conditions). We formulated four hypotheses and tested them through an econometric analysis and a controlled laboratory experiment.FindingsThe empirical findings reveal that doctors’ formal profile pictures, characterized by formal attire and backgrounds, exert a more pronounced influence on patient choices than casual images. The severity of a patient’s illness positively moderated the relationship between formal images and patient choices.Originality/valueThese insights make a significant contribution to the understanding of patient behavior in selecting doctors within the online health market. Furthermore, they offer valuable guidance for doctors in optimizing their online profile presentation to better align with patient preferences and expectations.

Gender and Geographic Equity in the International Association for Dental Research Awards.

To examine the gender and geographic distribution of the International Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research (IADR) Distinguished Scientist Awards (DSA; data: 2019-2024), group awards (data: 1982-2024), and fellowships (data: 1987-2024). Publicly available data were obtained from the IADR awards website. Information on gender and location of the awardees was gathered from photographs and affiliations if available or otherwise from online profiles or using Genderize, an online gender allocation platform. Of the 99 DSA awardees in 2019 to 2024, 35% were women; 38% were from the United States, 12% were from the United Kingdom, and 11% were from Australia. Of the 35 DSA women awardees, 54% were from the United States and 11% from Finland. Of the 795 group awardees, 45% were women. Data on the location of awardees were readily available for 681 group awards; of these, 39% were from the United States and 87% were from high-income countries. Of the 113 fellowships awarded, 58% were to women. Of the 32 fellowships since 2018, 44% were for awardees from upper-middle income countries. Although women are overrepresented in the dental profession and the IADR has a global membership, women awardees remain underrepresented, and most awards are granted to researchers in high-income countries. These findings call attention to a deeper look at diversity, equity, and inclusion within the IADR. Gender diversity of IADR research awards is moving in the right direction, but geographic diversity lags, with most Distinguished Scientist Awards and group awards to members in high-income countries. There is an urgent need to consider performance relative to opportunities and applications. This change in process could provide a much-needed intersectionality lens for recognizing the research performance of IADR members while increasing diversity and inclusivity.

Cross-sectional analysis reveals increased use of nonspecific terminology in reference to women dermatologists in patient reviews at academic centers.

The use of non-specific language to describe board-certified dermatologists in academic settings obscures the public understanding of their qualifications. This study analyzes online patient reviews nationwide to assess gender differences in the terminology used to describe academic dermatologists. We conducted a cross-sectional study, examining reviews from 62 academic institutions across 39 states, analyzing the use of terms such as "provider," "practitioner," "clinician," "health care professional," "physician," "dermatologist," and "doctor." Gender identification was determined through analysis of photographs, names, and pronouns from online biographies. Statistical analyses were performed using two-sample Z-tests with a significance level of 0.01. The data included 65,316 reviews (26,159 from reviews of men and 39,157 from women). Our findings demonstrated a statistically significant gender disparity in term usage. Women dermatologists were more frequently referred to as "provider" (5.01%) compared to their male counterparts (3.92%; p < 0.001). A smaller, but still statistically significant, disparity was found with the term "dermatologist" (5.61% for women vs. 5.13% for men; p < 0.01). Other professional terms did not show significant gender differences in usage. The results suggest a consistent gender bias in the language used by patients, with women more frequently referred to by the nonspecific term "provider," potentially diminishing their perceived qualifications compared to male dermatologists. This disparity in language use might influence patient perceptions of expertise and professional authority, emphasizing the need for clearer communication and more precise use of professional titles. Limitations of the study include possible underestimations due to misspelled terms and potential misgendering from online profiles. Additionally, data from 11 states were insufficient, likely due to the absence of academic centers in those regions. In conclusion, our study highlights notable gender disparities in the terminology used in patient reviews of dermatologists across academic centers in the U.S. Addressing these language biases is crucial for enhancing gender equity and improving patient understanding of dermatologists' roles and expertise.

Impacts of Racial and Gender Identities on Individuals' Intentions to Seek a Counselor.

To understand the theoretical impact of racial and gender identities on counselor selection, an online experiment was conducted with 527 participants in which both the race and gender of a perspective counselor's online profile were manipulated. Results showed that participants had a higher intention to seek counseling when the counselor was from the same racial and/or gender group. These preferences existed above and beyond other identity-based evaluative metrics, such as those tied to group stereotypes (e.g., warmth and competence). The results advocate for the development and evaluation of culturally tailored digital health interventions and underscore the importance of further formative research in this area to enhance the accessibility and effectiveness of healthcare resources for all.

Voluntary Disclosure of Workforce Gender Diversity

ABSTRACT We examine managerial incentives to disclose the gender diversity of a firm’s workforce. We exploit information from employees’ online profiles to infer the gender diversity of nondisclosing firms. Within industry, we find that firms are more likely to disclose gender diversity when women comprise a higher proportion of their workforce, consistent with managerial incentives to disclose favorable information. However, disclosure is more prevalent in industries with a lower proportion of female employees, consistent with a poor gender diversity environment making a firm’s gender diversity appear relatively more favorable. Regarding the potential benefits of disclosure, disclosing firms enjoy more favorable media coverage of the firm’s diversity and attract a larger number of gender-lens ESG funds. Disclosing firms with a higher proportion of female employees enjoy greater benefits. Overall, our study broadens our understanding of the evolving corporate disclosure landscape by providing evidence on firms’ incentives to disclose workforce gender diversity. Data availability: All data used in this study are publicly available from sources identified in the manuscript. JEL Classifications: G10; G20; M41.

Rewriting the Future of Transplant and Vascular Surgery: Survey Suggests Vascular Surgery Workforce Available to Increase Retention and Recruitment in Transplant.

The specialties of vascular surgery and transplant surgery have had difficulties in recruitment and retention of professionals. We e-mailed a 10-question survey to a distribution list compiled from peerreviewed vascular surgery journals and Professional online profiles associated with the vascular community. Respondents interested in transplant or in a kidney transplant-vascular curricula merger were labeled as "invested" in transplant. The characteristics of respondents invested in transplant versus respondents invested in vascular-only pathway (not invested) were compared with the Fisher exact test and multivariable logistic regression. We used STATA for analyses, with P ≤ .05 as an indication of significance. Of 113 respondents, 56 (50%) reported a current interest in organ transplantation. Within the interested group, most (66%, 38/58) favored renal only training. The invested group (55% 62/113) had higher interest in fellowship than the group not invested (P = .002) and favored a shorter fellowship for kidneyonly and combined kidney-liver training (P = .001 and P = .04,respectively). An additional 21 were interested in transplant training integrated with residency but not a fellowship, totaling a cumulative 73% (83/113) with interestin transplanttraining. Respondents older than aged 50 years and attending vascular surgeons (0+5) had significantly decreased investment in transplant (P = .027 and P = .033), respectively. A robust vascular surgery workforce with an interest in organ transplant training is potentially available. Surgeons trained in vascular transplant would require a vascular transplant pathway to be established, which could diversify skills and may increase diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Global gender representation among presidents of cardiothoracic surgery societies

ObjectiveFemales continue to be underrepresented in academia. An analysis of gender representation among presidents of cardiothoracic surgery societies worldwide was performed. MethodsA comprehensive search was performed to identify cardiothoracic surgical societies present worldwide and divided by regions. Respective Society's official webpage was searched to extract data on past and present presidents. Gender was determined and verified via publicly available online profiles. Proportions and respective 95 ​% confidence interval(CI) were calculated using Binomial exact calculation. ResultsA total of 34 cardiothoracic surgery societies were identified globally, of which only 16 provided information on past presidents in the public domain. A total of 563 past and current society presidents were identified. Women constituted only 16 [2.84 ​%; 95 ​% confidence interval: 1.63 ​%; 4.57 ​%] presidents. The first-ever women president was appointed in the year 2007 by the STSA during the 54th Annual meeting. ConclusionStark lag persists in gender representation of presidential roles among the cardiothoracic societies globally.

Employee demographic diversity and firm performance

AbstractThis article examines the relationship between employee demographic diversity and firm performance measured by future stock returns for a large sample of US public companies. We use novel demographic data extracted from employees' online profiles and resumes and focus on three key aspects of employee demographic diversity: age, gender, and ethnicity. We find no evidence supportive of an outperformance associated with greater employee‐diverse companies, neither using portfolio‐sorting approaches nor cross‐sectional and panel regressions. We also find no significant associations between employee demographic diversity and ROE, gross profit, and labor productivity.

Morality expression drives favorable consumer outcomes for P2P tour guide: The role of elevation, trust, and enjoyment

The emerging peer-to-peer platforms enable individual tour guides to market themselves via online profiles. Given the growing societal interest in responsible tourism, tour guides can utilize online profiles to communicate responsible tourism endeavors that showcase positive moral character. However, how consumers respond to such expressions of responsible conduct is unknown. Through four experiments, we find that a moral self-description (vs. social or control) elicited higher elevation, further enhancing trust and enjoyment, leading to more favorable consumer responses (i.e., booking intention, willingness to pay, and likelihood to recommend). Thus, the underlying mechanisms are explained by elevation, trust, and enjoyment. Moreover, consumers' self-esteem and tour guides' motives are two boundary conditions. Specifically, positive reactions to the tour guide's morality expression are more pronounced among high self-esteem individuals and when the guide is intrinsically motivated. This research contributes to the literature on P2P tourism services and offers practical implications for tourism providers.

Gender and personalized profile information influence online ratings of Canadian academic ophthalmologists

ObjectiveTo determine the characteristics associated with higher online ratings of academic ophthalmologists in Canada. DesignRetrospective cross-sectional study. MethodsAll ophthalmologists affiliated with Canadian ophthalmology departments were queried in March 2023 using WebMDs. Online ratings and physician profile details were extracted and descriptively analyzed using nonparametric tests with significance at p < 0.05. Subgroup analysis was conducted using ≥ 4-star rated profiles. ResultsEight hundred and ninety-nine department faculty from 15 institutions were considered, and 660 ophthalmologists with active, rated profiles were included. A total of 27,823 online ratings with a median of 4.14 stars (out of 5) were observed. Most profiles were of men (74.1%). Women received lower overall ratings compared to men (median = 4.08 vs. 4.20; p = 0.021), and lower number of reviews (median = 23 vs. 34; p < 0.001). Most profiles included office addresses (87.9%), private practice affiliation (79.8%), and contact information (51.1%). There was a positive correlations between higher ratings and profiles that included biographies (rho = 0.13; p = 0.001), languages spoken (rho = 0.15; p < 0.001), educational background (rho = 0.13; p < 0.001), areas of expertise (rho = 0.10; p = 0.010), awards (rho = 0.12; p = 0.002), and among physicians indicating they accept new patients (rho = 0.15; p < 0.001) and accommodate virtual visits (rho = 0.09; p = 0.020). ConclusionsCanadian ophthalmologists having certain personal information on their online profiles tended to have higher ratings, despite weak associations, possibly due to wider public outreach. Women had fewer and lower overall ratings compared to men. Further research about online ratings’ influence on physician selection and physician career satisfaction is needed.

High-Precision Chromatic Confocal Technologies: A Review

Chromatic confocal technology is widely used for precise, steady, and efficient displacement measurement in many industrial fields. It employs the confocal and dispersion principles to encode axial positions with the wavelengths of the reflected broad spectrum. The typical chromatic confocal sensor includes a light source, a dispersion objective, conjugate pinholes, and a spectral detection device. This study offers an overview of the current research on chromatic confocal technology. Because of its good performance in displacement detection, chromatic confocal technology has been widely used in contour measurement, biomedical imaging, and thickness measurements, as part of global and professional research. Due to its structural flexibility, it is also easily integrated into industrial equipment for in-machine and online profile measurements. It holds significant potential for future applications in industrial manufacturing and scientific research. However, there are also some challenges to be explored in terms of the broadband light source, dispersive optics design, and the balance between speed and accuracy in signal processing.

“Complete Strangers Can Get through Your Front Door”: The Carly Ryan Murder, Teen Girls and the Internet in 2000s Australia

ABSTRACT On 21 February 2007, 15-year-old Carly Ryan’s body was found in the waters at Port Elliot in South Australia. A highly public investigation and trial followed, during which it was revealed that 48-year-old Melburnian man Garry Francis Newman had used a false online identity to seduce and lure Ryan to her death. In its coverage, the Australian media scrutinised Ryan’s online profiles and dramatised the dangers that cyberspace posed to young women. Examining these reports reveals wider anxieties over the internet blurring the boundary between public and private—a boundary historically assumed to keep young women safe. Journalists presented the online world as being both entirely public and inappropriately hidden from adult view. Cyberspace was framed as a place where young women could “act out” (self-sexualise) outside parents’ control and invite the “wrong” kind of attention. In this article, I contextualise this coverage within historic fears about stranger danger. I demonstrate how journalists drew from the contemporary debate in Australia surrounding the sexualisation of children in media—and its gendered nature. Further, I argue that the Australian media framed the internet as disrupting the idea of the family home as a safe haven and upsetting traditional parent–child relationships.

Forty Thousand Fake Twitter Profiles: A Computational Framework for the Visual Analysis of Social Media Propaganda

Successful disinformation campaigns depend on the availability of fake social media profiles used for coordinated inauthentic behavior with networks of false accounts including bots, trolls, and sockpuppets. This study presents a scalable and unsupervised framework to identify visual elements in user profiles strategically exploited in nearly 60 influence operations, including camera angle, photo composition, gender, and race, but also more context-dependent categories like sensuality and emotion. We leverage Google’s Teachable Machine and the DeepFace Library to classify fake user accounts in the Twitter Moderation Research Consortium database, a large repository of social media accounts linked to foreign influence operations. We discuss the performance of these classifiers against manually coded data and their applicability in large-scale data analysis. The proposed framework demonstrates promising results for the identification of fake online profiles used in influence operations and by the cottage industry specialized in crafting desirable online personas.

Visual Attention to Evolutionarily Relevant Information by Heterosexual Men and Women While Viewing Mock Online Dating Profiles

The way people create social connections and access information has been altered greatly by technology in recent decades. Online browsing of visual profiles has become a common means for seeking potential partners for both short- and long-term relationships. Little is known, however, about how people prioritize mate quality information while viewing online profiles. Using eye-tracking methods and self-report, this study investigated how people evaluated profile-based facial attractiveness and text-based financial resources information, represented by income and occupation. Heterosexual male and female participants, aged between 18 and 27 years, viewed opposite-sex profiles while their eye-movements were recorded using a remote eye-tracking camera. In line with current theory, resources information had little effect on men’s overall attention to women’s faces, whereas women’s overall attention to men’s faces varied depending on the level of income and occupation. Women evaluated men’s faces more when income and occupation were low, regardless of attractiveness. Unexpectedly, however, men marginally increased their attention toward unattractive women who showed a high-level of income and more esteemed occupation. Men self-reported a higher interest in women for a short-term relationship and women self-reported a higher interest in men for a long-term relationship. This work provides a foundation to further examine how people browse profile-based information and to investigate the mate selection process, with real-world implications for online dating app users, profile design, and content.

THE USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION PROCESSES. EVIDENCE FROM CORPORATE RECRUITERS

Globalization and the evolution of technology have put a lot of pressure on organizations to transform and update themselves, and there is an upward trend in organizations adapting to technology, especially the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in business. Currently, the hiring process is largely handled by recruiters who review resumes, online profiles, and other sources to find suitable candidates for open positions. As employees have limited skills, keeping up with all the necessary tasks is not an easy task and usually time-consuming for each recruiter. In Romania, AI represents an opportunity that will certainly help the country's economic development. Although Romania does not have an official plan to use this technology, its implementation in the public sector has been put on the agenda of a newly established institution: the Authority for the Digitization of Romania. This paper presents the relationship between AI and recruitment and selection processes. It also presents the view of recruiters from a multinational company in Romania, describing their different perspectives on AI adoption, future and risks associated with AI in recruitment. This paper aims to investigate how AI is implemented in the traditional recruitment process and what would be the implications of having AI in the recruitment of many candidates.

Studi Senyawa Perisa pada Online Marketplaces di Indonesia: Jenis Senyawa Perisa dan Legalitasnya

Various flavoring agents purchased by micro small medium enterprises (MSME) could be obtained through online marketplace. Their types and legalities have never been investigated in Indonesia. The objective of this study was to obtain an overview of the availability of the flavoring agents on online marketplace and their legality. The legality is defined as the flavoring agents which are marketed and have its compliance to regulation of Indonesian Food and Drug Agency (BPOM), otherwise is illegal. The profiles of online marketed flavoring agents on marketplace are obtained through online survey of flavorings advertisements documented using a check sheet as the tool. Tokopedia and Shopee were chosen as samples in this study because they both are the most popularly e-commerce sites clicked by consumers. A non-probability sampling and sample screening were carried out to obtain eligible samples until it achieved a predetermined amounts. There were 399 flavoring agents observed, with result of 262 legal flavoring agents (65.7%) and the rests were illegal. Mostly, they were of domestic flavorings (98.5 and 88% respectively). The cases of non-conformities forward the rules were: advertising without packaging, repacking, unregistered brands, and incompatible information in their packaging and/or labels when it was cross-checked with BPOM data. Due to the high number of illegal flavoring agents sold online, monitoring of the online flavoring markets should become a priority program of Indonesian government, while consumers need to be cautious. The traders and producer have an urgent action in taking a moral responsibility for the legality of the flavoring agents being marketed.

Acceptance and rejection of “morally challenging” behaviour in online sperm donation communities: narrative interviews with recipients and donors

IntroductionOnline sperm donation allows those hoping to conceive a baby (“recipients”) to meet prospective sperm donors online, via “connection” websites or social media. These sites offer some advantages to clinical donation (including lower costs and greater choice over donation arrangements) but previous research has suggested that these sites may also pose risks and challenges to those who use them. Therefore, the aim of this exploratory research was to better understand online sperm donation communities and the experiences of both recipients and donors, particularly with respect to situations that could be “morally challenging” or involve harm.MethodsThree prolific donors and five recipients were interviewed using an in-depth narrative approach. Carol Gilligan's Listening Guide was employed to analyse the data.ResultsThe findings demonstrated that the donors sought to find ways to maintain autonomy in their donating practices and were concerned about the character and parenting abilities of recipients, as well as the potential for recipients to make unwarranted complaints. The recipients were concerned about their safety and finding a donor they could trust, discussing issues relating to donor “dishonesty”, online abuse, and a lack of support from connection sites and related authorities. Both donors and recipients identified “morally challenging” behaviour relating to donor anonymity (donor use of fake online profiles or aliases) and the sexual motivations or (mis)conduct of some donors. The participants each discussed the ways in which they managed perceived risks.DiscussionThe degree to which the participants voiced their acceptance or rejection of challenging behaviour in online sperm donation communities varied across and within participants, highlighting the complexity of the way in which people interact in this environment. Further research is required to understand how this form of sperm donation can be as safe and supportive as possible, while also respecting the importance to donors and recipients of autonomy and choice when making donation arrangements.

Use of Digital Technologies: Family Perspectives on Children's Health

The increasing use of digital technologies among children and adolescents prompts concerns about their impact on development and necessitates family mediation. This study explored primary caregivers’ views on the effects of screen exposure on child health through a focus group with 20 caregivers (17 mothers and 3 grandmothers, aged 20 to 40) from an elementary school in Irecê, Bahia. Findings indicate that children’s screen time, including TV and mobile phones, often lacks proper time and content control due to caregivers’ extensive responsibilities such as remote work and household chores. Major concerns were exposure to violent games, deceptive online profiles, and potential interactions with abusers. Notable behavioral issues in children included irritability, aggression, and sleep problems. Caregivers implemented mediation strategies like setting rules, time restrictions, content filters, and discussing digital self-care. The discussion also addressed addiction mechanisms, family screen habits, gender differences in electronic device usage, and their health impacts on children. An agreement was made to limit screen use across the family, especially an hour before bedtime, aiming to enhance children’s sleep quality and thereby improve their mood and academic performance. This condensed study underscores the challenges caregivers face with children’s digital access and stresses the importance of effective mediation strategies. Enhanced parental engagement and school collaboration are crucial for fostering healthier digital habits that benefit children’s health and family well-being.

Avatars and organizational knowledge sharing

We study how organizational knowledge sharing behavior is affected by avatar use during computer-mediated communication (CMC) with an unknown co-worker. Experimental results from two ethnically different samples provide theory-consistent evidence that outgroup discrimination—manifested as refusal to share knowledge—can get magnified in the ‘virtual world’ when avatars are used for self-representation. In supplemental analysis, we use eye-tracking data to provide preliminary evidence for behavioral differences—in terms of gaze fixation—when knowledge sharing requests accompanied by avatar profiles as opposed to photo profiles are processed and further explore how individuals' choice of using avatars vs. photographs for their online profile affects their co-workers' perception. Our study contributes to understanding cooperative organizational behavior in the virtual space. Managing cooperative organizational behavior in the virtual space is becoming increasingly important as digital work further penetrates contemporary work arrangements.