Social Influence Research Articles

Men's peer support for mental health challenges: future directions for research and practice.

Peer support has a long history of helping people navigate mental health challenges and is increasingly utilized within men's mental health promotion initiatives. Despite considerable research conceptualizing and evaluating peer support in various contexts, little is known about the gendered dimensions of men's peer support and mutual help for mental health. This article provides an empirically informed commentary on men's peer support and informal help-seeking preferences to make recommendations for future directions for research and practice. Research examining men's peer support is emergent and the available evidence suggests that there is potential to conceptually align with many men's values and preferences for mental health help-seeking. Peer support offers a non-clinical, strength-based adjunct to professional support that may aid men in navigating a range of mental health challenges. Consideration must be given to the influence of gender socialization and men's diverse experiences with developing and maintaining peer relationships. It should not be assumed that authentic and supportive relationships will naturally form when men congregate together. As a growing number of interventions and programs emerge targeted at boys and men, there are important opportunities to leverage these health promotion efforts to encourage and coach men to engage in mutual help. Opportunities for research and practice are discussed to better understand and harness the health-promoting potential of peer support for men's mental health.

Implications of social network structures on socially influenced decision-making

AbstractIndividuals often make decisions in a social environment where social influence can impact on people’s decision-making domains such as online purchasing, political voting and voluntary vaccine uptake. Social influence can be recognised as the intentional or unintentional change in an individual’s belief, perception, or behaviours caused by an information diffusion process embedded in a social network. However, there is limited research on how this diffusion process is shaped by the topology or structure of the social network. This work provides an exploratory and systematic analysis of how decision-making outcomes in a population can be affected by both the structure of the social network and the starting node of where new information starts to diffuse. Simulation results considering three common network structures highlight how social networks with clear community structures lead to a larger absolute impact on decision-making outcomes and networks where the social connections follow a preferential attachment rule show the largest relative impact than the others. The results also suggest scenarios in which introducing new pieces of information to the social network can facilitate the information diffusion process and produce a more significant impact in terms of the overall population decision-making process.

Psychological factors influencing online booking intentions among resort tourism service users

PurposeThis study examines the psychological factors that directly influence individuals’ intentions to book or arrange reservations through resort hotel websites within the context of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). Specifically, this study focused on identifying and understanding the key drivers of online purchase intentions, including performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions within the UTAUT model.Design/methodology/approachThis study used the UTAUT as a theoretical framework. A quantitative research approach was adopted and data were collected through surveys using a five-point Likert scale. The sample consisted of 270 participants, selected through purposive sampling. Data analysis was performed using Smart PLS software.FindingsThe results indicate that performance and effort expectancy significantly influence online purchase intentions. However, social influence did not significantly affect online purchase intention. By contrast, facilitating conditions significantly and positively influence online purchase intention.Practical implicationsThese findings have practical implications for hotel managers and marketers. Emphasizing performance, effort expectations and facilitating conditions can improve customer perceptions of website usefulness and directly increase their intention to book. The limited impact of social influence suggests the need to focus less on social recommendations or endorsements in online marketing efforts and prioritize individual factors and objective information.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the field of technology and tourism by examining the psychological factors that directly influence users’ intention to purchase from resort hotel websites. This extends the understanding of online purchase intentions in the context of resort tourism and highlights the importance of facilitating conditions. This study also partially confirms the applicability of the UTAUT model in this domain and provides insights for future research on online purchase intentions in resort tourism.

Mapping the prestige and social value of occupations in the digital economy

With the emergence of the digital economy, the occupational landscape in many countries has undergone major transformations. While scholars have started to study the working conditions of digital economy occupations such as app-based food delivery couriers and social media influencers, assessing societal perceptions of these occupations remains uncharted territory. This article provides a substantive contribution through an in-depth analysis of occupational prestige and occupational social value perceptions across 76 UK digital economy occupations. Leveraging two expansive surveys with more than 2400 respondents, the findings show that these nascent occupations tend to have modest prestige, and that their perceived social value is lower than that of analogous non-digital occupations. Socio-economic factors and attitudes foster variability in societal perceptions. The research thus advances a nuanced understanding of the evolving digital economy, providing evidence for fellow researchers, policymakers, and the larger public, for whom the results help contextualize career choices and occupational identities.

Community pharmacists’ awareness, identification, and management of prescribing cascades: A cross-sectional survey

BackgroundPrescribing cascades can lead to unnecessary medication use, healthcare costs, and patient harm. Pharmacists oversee prescriptions from multiple prescribers and are well positioned to identify such cascades, making pharmacists key stakeholders to address them. ObjectivesTo evaluate community pharmacists’ awareness, identification, and management of prescribing cascades and to assess behavioural determinants that may be targeted in future strategies to minimise inappropriate prescribing cascades. MethodsAn online survey was developed using the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) and emailed to all registered community pharmacists in Ireland (n = 3775) in November 2021. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Free-text sections were given to capture reasons for non-resolution of identified prescribing cascades and suggestions to aid prescribing cascade identification and management; this text underwent content analysis. ResultsOf the 220 respondents, 51% were aware of the term ‘prescribing cascade’ before the survey, whilst 69% had identified a potentially inappropriate prescribing cascade in practice. Over one third were either slightly confident (26.4%) or not confident at all (10%) in their ability to identify potentially inappropriate prescribing cascades in patients' prescriptions before the survey, whilst 55.2% were concerned that patients were receiving prescribing cascades they had not identified. Most respondents wanted further information/training to help prescribing cascade identification (88.3%) and management (86.1%). Four predominant TDF domains identified were common to both i) influencing non-resolution of identified prescribing cascades and ii) in the suggestions to help identify and manage prescribing cascades: ‘Environmental Context and Resources’, ‘Social/Professional Role and Identity’, ‘Social Influences’ and ‘Memory, Attention and Decision Processes’. ConclusionsThere is a clear need to provide additional resources to help community pharmacists identify and manage prescribing cascades. These findings will support the development of theory-informed behaviour change strategies to aid the minimisation of inappropriate prescribing cascades and decrease the risk of medication-related harm for patients.

Acceptance of Unified Communications and Collaboration Applications Among Students: A Case Study of University in Sumbawa Island Indonesia

Unified Communications and Collaboration (UCC) is a technology that combines conventional communication with computer technology to provide a more efficient communication platform. During the COVID-19 pandemic, UCC applications, such as Microsoft Team, Zoom Meeting, and Google Meet played major roles to support the teaching and learning process. However, the acceptance of UCC applications and their impacts on the future of teaching and learning process, especially for university students in rural areas, are concerned. Based on this, the current study aims to examine the factors that influence the acceptance of UCC applications at the University in Sumbawa Island, Indonesia using adapted theories of Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model (UTAUT). In light, survey questionnaire was distributed online to 210 undergraduate students at the University in Sumbawa Island, Indonesia, to test seven factors, Facilitating Condition (FC), Performance Expectancy (PE), Effort Expectancy (EE), Social Influence (SI), Motivation (MO), Collaboration (CO), and Behavioural Intention (BI) which were analysed using SPSS software. The findings reveal that PE, EE, SI, FC, MO, CO, and BI are significant factors that influence the acceptance of UCC applications. This finding will be a sound reference to improve the use of UCC applications for teaching and learning as well as help universities strategies their future teaching and learning system.

Transformative User Credibility Assessment on Twitter: A RNN based Heuristic Approach

Objectives: To construct a comprehensive weighted multi-dimensional model to assess the impact of influence score of Twitter users, considering the credibility based on user profile, their tweets and social interactions aiming to empower users in distinguishing fake news or misinformation. Methods: The credibility evaluation is formulated based on text analysis, user account attributes, and user social engagement. We've gathered around 100,000 tweets from 100 users using Tweepy API over a six-month duration for the purpose of evaluating credibility. The collected tweets spanned diverse professions namely politics, entertainment, business, science, sports, and trending topics. We chose to utilize a self-devised deep active learning model to classify and label the unlabelled data instead of engaging in time-consuming human annotation for the tweets we gathered. Findings: The obtained accuracy for influence score evaluation for Recurrent Neural Network, Random Forest, Naïve Bayes, Decision Tree, and Support Vector Machine are 89.03%, 79.10%, 81.59%, 73.06% and 79.45% respectively. Upon reviewing and analysing the outcomes, RNN surpassed all other models achieving an exceptional accuracy of 89.03%. Novelty: Employing a weighted multi-dimensional framework, it systematically evaluates the influence score by considering the credibility of both users and tweets within the context of Twitter. Weighted features are instrumental in capturing the relative importance of different elements, leading to a more refined and context-aware decision-making process. In contrast to earlier research, which predominantly centred on the credibility of individual tweets, our research work shifts the focus to a broader perspective, encompassing the credibility of users, their tweets and their overall social influence. By incorporating user influence score, the framework not only empower users in discerning fake news or mis-information but also elevates their ability to gauge the reliability of information, offering a nuanced approach to news credibility analysis. Keywords: Active Learning, Credibility Score, User Influence, Twitter, Machine Learning, Recurrent Neural Network

Experiences and perspectives of adults on using opioids for pain management in the postoperative period: A scoping review.

Opioids play an important role in peri-operative pain management. However, opioid use is challenging for healthcare practitioners and patients because of concerns related to opioid crises, addiction and side effects. This review aimed to identify and synthesise the existing evidence related to adults' experiences of opioid use in postoperative pain management. Systematic scoping review of qualitative studies. Inductive content analysis and the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) were applied to analyse and report the findings and to identify unexplored gaps in the literature. Ovid MEDLINE, PsycInfo, Embase, CINAHL (EBSCO), Cochrane Library and Google Scholar. All qualitative and mixed-method studies, in English, that not only used a qualitative approach that explored adults' opinions or concerns about opioids and/or opioid reduction, and adults' experience related to opioid use for postoperative pain control, including satisfaction, but also aspects of overall quality of a person's life (physical, mental and social well being). Ten studies were included; nine were qualitative (n = 9) and one used mixed methods. The studies were primarily conducted in Europe and North America. Concerns about opioid dependence, adverse effects, stigmatisation, gender roles, trust and shared decision-making between clinicians and patients appeared repeatedly throughout the studies. The TDF analysis showed that many peri-operative factors formed people's perceptions and experiences of opioids, driven by the following eight domains: Knowledge, Emotion, Beliefs about consequences, Beliefs about capabilities, Self-confidence, Environmental Context and Resources, Social influences and Decision Processes/Goals. Adults have diverse pain management goals, which can be categorised as proactive and positive goals, such as individualised pain management care, as well as avoidance goals, aimed at sidestepping issues such as addiction and opioid-related side effects. It is desirable to understand the complexity of adults' experiences of pain management especially with opioid use and to support adults in achieving their pain management goals by implementing an individualised approach, effective communication and patient-clinician relationships. However, there is a dearth of studies that examine patients' experiences of postoperative opioid use and their involvement in opioid usage decision-making. A summary is provided regarding adults' experiences of peri-operative opioid use, which may inform future researchers, healthcare providers and guideline development by considering these factors when improving patient care and experiences.

Unveiling Complexity: Factors Influencing Women’s Involvement in Crime

This research explores various elements that impact and shape women’s the participation of women in criminal activities. Despite the traditional perception that it is men who mainly commit crimes, in recent years, the active role of women in various legal acts has been increasingly recognized. This paper aims to unfold the complex web of influences that shape women’s pathways to criminal behavior, focusing on both individual and social factors. The study focuses on examining socio-economic factors that have a central influence on women’s involvement in crime. Economic inequalities, limited job opportunities and financial struggles often push women into illegal activities to survive or strengthen their economic influences. Additionally, the paper focusses on the effects of educational background, employment status, and income level on women’s susceptibility to criminal temptations, emphasizing the relationship between economic stability and criminal involvement. Moving towards economic dimensions, this study also examines the psychological factors that contribute to women’s participation in crime. Psychological vulnerabilities resulting from trauma, abuse, mental health disorders and substance abuse create pathways to crime. The research paper also examines the impact of adverse childhood experiences, mental health challenges, and criminal trajectories, shedding light on the co-relation between psychological well-being and criminal propensities. Further, familial and social influences are explored to unfold their role in shaping women’s criminal trajectories. Family dysfunction, exposure to criminal role models, and peer pressure can significantly influence an individual’s likelihood of being engaged in criminal activities. This study explores the complexities of family structures, social networks and community environments and highlights their profound influence on the development of women’s perceptions, choices and behaviors related to crime. Moreover, this study also analyzes legal and systematic factors and emphasizes how institutional biases, discriminatory practices and inadequate support systems influence women’s involvement in crime. The paper critically assesses the role of criminal justice systems, law enforcement practices, and access to legal resources in preventing or promoting women’s criminal behavior. Through a combined analysis of these various factors affecting women’s criminality, the study aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the reasons that affect the women’s involvement in criminal activities. By elucidating these complex factors, policymakers, practitioners, and stakeholders, can develop more targeted interventions, support systems and policies that address the root causes women’s criminal behavior and reduce the risks associated with their involvement in crime.

Motivations Behind Sacrifice in Romantic Relationships

Understanding the motivations behind selfless actions within romantic relationships is a pivotal area of research, intricately intertwined with an individual's character, values, and societal and cultural influences. This article delves into the nuanced interplay of motives driving sacrificial behaviors in romantic partnerships. "Sacrifice" in this context refers to forsaking immediate desires for the betterment of the relationship or a partner's happiness. Through the lenses of social exchange theory, attachment styles, self-determination theory, love, emotional connection, commitment, and cultural influences, this paper explores when, why, and how individuals are inclined to make sacrifices in romantic relationships. It emphasizes the importance of maintaining healthy boundaries in the face of excessive sacrifice, highlighting the delicate balance between dedication and well-being within relationships. This comprehensive analysis offers insights into the intricate dynamics that underlie selflessness in the context of love, devotion, and intimate connections.

Konversi Agama: Proses dan Faktor yang Mempengaruhi

This research aims to investigate the process of religious conversion and the factors that influence it. Religious conversion is a complex phenomenon involving fundamental changes in an individual's beliefs and identity. Through a qualitative approach, a literature review explores the causes, processes and factors that influence religious conversion. Data analysis was carried out using thematic methods. Research findings show that the religious conversion process involves stages such as search, consideration, religious experience, and decision making. Factors influencing religious conversion include social environmental influences, personal experiences, spiritual crises, search for meaning in life, and external factors such as mixed marriages or exposure to new cultures. The implications of this research can help our understanding of the dynamics of religious conversion and provide insight into intervention and guidance efforts in the context of religious diversity in society.

Behavioral Intention of Women to Use E-Learning

Behavioral intention research suggests that it can effectively predicts intention to adopt information technology and emphasizes the importance of examining antecedents of such use. However, the literature also highlights that individual behavioral intentions can be affected by external factors and social influences. Current study examines the impacts of different factors (quality, social, behavioral, and innovative) on behavioral intention to use e-learning system. We designed special instruments to examine female students' behavioral intention to adopt e-learning system by extending the TPB as foundational framework. An extension of TPB is used with McLean & Delone and Innovative Theory to enhance the overall theoretical framework. Survey data collected from 699 female e-learning participants to test the study hypotheses. Findings suggested that subjective norms, self-efficacy, environment quality, and perceived innovativeness presented significant associations to behavioral intention of e-learning. Research implications and limitations are also examined and discussed.

Increasing the Effectiveness of Public Service Announcements Among Gen Z by Using Influencer Advertising

In this study, we aim to explore the effectiveness of influencer advertising in the realm of public policy. More specifically, we will be examining key factors that can potentially increase psychological reactance among individuals belonging to Generation Z when they are processing anti-binge drinking Public Service Announcements. We then discuss how collaboration between federal agencies and social media influencers can overcome the hurdles posed by psychological reactance. By drawing upon the existing research on persuasive messages, psychological reactance, influencer advertising, and parasocial relationships, our findings will hold significant value for policymakers in disseminating impactful Public Service Announcements that resonate with Generation Z.

Cybercriminal Networks and Operational Dynamics of Business Email Compromise (BEC) Scammers: Insights from the “Black Axe” Confraternity

ABSTRACT I explored the relationship between the “Black Axe” Confraternity and cybercrime, with a particular emphasis on the structural dynamics of the Business Email Compromise (BEC) schemes. I investigated whether a conventional hierarchical system governs the membership and remuneration for BEC roles as perpetrators by interviewing an accused “leader” of the “Black Axe” affiliated cybercriminal incarcerated in a prominent Western nation. I supplemented the analysis of interview data with insights from tapped phone records monitored by a law enforcement entity. I merged Actor-network theory and Social Network theory as analytical frameworks and thematically analyzed data to produce six overarching themes: (1) The fluidity of Structure and Adaptive Roles in BEC, (2) Challenges in Visualizing Criminal Networks, (3) Globalization and Transnational Dimensions, (4) Social and Cultural Influences, (5) Internal Cybersecurity Threats and Money Laundering, and (6) Remuneration and Influences of Cryptocurrency, casting a brighter light on the topic. Unlike traditional organized crime, BEC scammers have adopted a nonhierarchical model that is flexible and fluid. I found no evidence of a rigid hierarchy dictating positions and remuneration for BEC roles. Instead, I observed that cybercriminals involved in BEC activities functioned horizontally, promoting fluidity, maneuverability, collaboration, and specialization across various facets of their illicit pursuits. I also highlighted the cross-border links BEC offenders have with other criminal actors facilitated by Black Axe organizational machinery. My research adds value to the existing body of knowledge, utilizing a unique dataset comprising direct testimonies of a high-profile BEC offender affiliated with the ‘hard–to–access,’ Black Axe gang.

Users' continuance intention towards an AI painting application: An extended expectation confirmation model.

With the rapid advancement of technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI) painting has emerged as a leading intelligence service. This study aims to empirically investigate users' continuance intention toward AI painting applications by utilizing and expanding the Expectation Confirmation Model (ECM), Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), and the Flow Theory. A comprehensive research model is proposed. A total of 443 questionnaires were distributed to users with AI painting experiences for data collection. The hypotheses were tested through structural equation modeling. The primary conclusions drawn from this research include: 1) Confirmation plays a crucial role, significantly and positively predicting satisfaction and social impact. 2) Personal innovativeness has a significant effect on confirmation. 3) Satisfaction, flow experience, and social influence directly and positively predict intention, with social influence showing the most significant impact, while perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment, and performance expectancy show no significant impact on intention. 4) Habit plays a negative moderating role in the association between social influence and continued intention to use. These findings offer valuable insights and inspiration for users seeking to understand the appropriate utilization of AI painting and provide actionable directions for the development of AI painting.

Morality in romantic relationships: The role of moral disengagement in relationship satisfaction, definitions of infidelity, and committed cheating

AbstractDespite the moral condemnation of infidelity in romantic relationships, its prevalence remains widespread. This might be partly explained by moral disengagement (MD), the ability to decouple one's actions from internalized moral standards. While social influences are an inherent part of the conceptualization of MD, they have not been studied in romantic couples. We investigated connections between MD and relationship satisfaction, cheating definitions, and cheating in a sample of 236 dating and married couples. Partners' levels of MD were positively correlated. Actor‐Partner‐Interdependence Models (APIMs) revealed negative actor and partner effects of MD on relationship satisfaction. MD was not connected to which behaviors are seen as cheating, but there were positive actor and partner effects on committed self‐defined cheating. Additionally, individuals high in MD suspected their partners to cheat more. These results indicate a gap between moral beliefs and moral actions. Individuals high in MD do not necessarily deny cheating on their partner but rather choose not to follow their inner moral compass.

Barrier-breakers’ influence on full-adoption of digital payment methods

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to empirically examine the relationships between barrier-breakers and customers’ intention to fully adopt digital payment methods (DPMs).Design/methodology/approachSurvey data were analyzed using statistical methods focusing on hypothesis testing with an ordinal regression model and moderation analysis using the PROCESS macro extension. Participants were divided into two groups of customers in Sweden: adopters-accepters, i.e. young bank customers and adopters-resisters, i.e. members of a formally organized group opposed to a cashless society.FindingsThe findings revealed that only the credibility barrier-breaker could increase the adopters-accepters’ intention to fully adopt DPMs. Credibility also seemed to be an important barrier-breaker for the adopters-resisters, as were perceived usefulness and social influence. Additional analyses showed that the impersonalization barrier reduces the impact of the barrier-breakers on DPM adoption.Practical implicationsRetail banks and merchants can use these results as a guide to what barrier-breakers might affect various customers’ intention to fully adopt DPMs, and to act accordingly. The impersonalization barrier also merits attention when creating an emotional connection to customers who use DPMs.Originality/valueThis study provides empirically based knowledge of the influence of barrier-breakers on the intention of customers, categorized as adopters-accepters and adopters-resisters, to fully adopt DPMs, and highlights the importance of maintaining a human touch in the post-COVID-19 digital era.

Circular economy via chat: Evaluation of adoption and use of whatsapp instant messaging platform for trading second-hand products

This research presents a comprehensive evaluation of the adoption and widely-used Instant Messaging Platform (IMP) for buying and selling second-hand products (SHP), framed within the context of the Circular Economy (CE). The findings reveal that effort expectancy, hedonic motivations, initial trust, and habitual use positively and significantly affect the intention to use IMP for second-hand transactions. Conversely, perceived risk negatively impacts this behavioural intention, underscoring the need to mitigate user concerns to encourage participation in second-hand transactions via these platforms. Besides, this research also shows that facilitating conditions, performance expectancy, price sensitivity, and social influence does not directly impact behavioural intention. These findings highlight the unique dynamics of consumer behavior in digital second-hand markets and suggest that these traditional aspects might play a different role in this context. The research adapts the Expanded Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2) by applying it to the second-hand market via IMPs, offering new insights into consumer behavior in a digital marketplace setting. The study's theoretical contributions underscore the importance of adapting existing theories to understand consumer behavior in the digital landscape, providing valuable insights for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. From a practical standpoint, the findings can guide businesses and developers of IMPs in developing user-centric features and marketing strategies tailored to the second-hand market.

Acceptance factors of telemedicine in times of COVID-19: Case Argentina

Acceptance factors of telemedicine in times of COVID-19: Case Argentina

The dynamics of social media influencer-driven CSR advertising: The role of sponsorship disclosure and perceived similarity

ABSTRACT Drawing upon the Persuasion Knowledge Model, this study investigates the boundary conditions and psychological mechanisms aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of corporate social responsibility (CSR) advertising when conveyed by social media influencers (SMI) targeting Generation Z consumers. To this end, two experiments were conducted to examine the interaction impacts of disclosure prominence (implicit vs. explicit), endorsement type (brand vs. CSR), and perceived similarity on online behavioral intentions, mediated by perceptions of manipulativeness. The findings of Study 1 revealed that implicit disclosure played a more significant role in eliciting positive behavioral intentions to SMI-CSR advertising, while the opposite results were found for SMI-brand advertising. The results of Study 2 demonstrated that explicit disclosure was less likely to generate perceived manipulativeness toward SMI-CSR ads endorsed by SMIs with low similarity. However, the level of perceived manipulativeness was similar for SMI-CSR ads by SMIs with high similarity regardless of disclosure prominence. Notably, perceived manipulativeness emerged as a significant mediator underlying these interactions in both studies. The theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.