Science (Universidade Europeia)
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Industrial design education and immersive virtual reality: Perceptions on utility and integration
No full textThe use of Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) in collaborative and co-design contexts has proven valuable to product or industrial design specializations, yet integration has been notoriously slow within Higher Education (HE). This work sheds some light on the “why?” based on primary data sourced from two groups of design educators, through a mixed-methods design. The first group confirms the importance of digital and connected technologies in today’s design-centered learning environment and depict current stances regarding the use IVR as a tool for teaching and learning. The second, composed solely of educators operating in an industrial design HE program, add specificity by offering qualitative insight into aspects concerning IVR utility and integration into this particular specialization. Results foresee the technology furthering learning both on-campus and from afar, with richer virtual interactions, digital re-enactment of experiential learning, or using simulation to create new or replicate existing contexts virtually. However, the envisioned benefits appear to hinge on a series of factors, including critics over an already exceeding amount of technology in the learning environment, personal competence, skepticism over the technology merits, and other more concrete such as time, resources, familiarization or lack of technical support. Overall, participants envisage a more virtually interactive educational experience with IVR, though its reputed complexity or lack of a solid and pressing need seems to be keeping integration at bay
Advertising and social inclusion: Consumer perception and influence on purchase intention
No full textEste estudo analisa a percepção e atitude dos consumidores sobre
a publicidade com mensagens inclusivas, através de quatro dimensões sobre a
percepção dos motivos subjacentes a estas campanhas por parte das marcas, a capacidade
de persuasão das mensagens e a intenção de compra que daí pode advir.
O estudo foi realizado em Portugal e focou na percepção de uma campanha da
marca Dove por parte de respondentes masculinos e femininos nas faixas etárias
18-25, 26-35 e 36-41
The influence of TikTok videos on German Gen Z consumers’ attitude and purchase intention towards sustainable brands
No full textRecently, Gen Z has become the largest group of consumers worldwideand as they are being digitally driven by social media, this is the best way to reachthem. One social media app has become popular for this generation – TikTok.Another characteristic most Gen Z individuals show is their cheerful outlooktowards sustainability. Thus, this study investigates the influence of TikTok videoson Gen Z consumers’ attitude and purchase intentions towards sustainable brands.Primary data were collected using a self-administered online questionnaire with241 valid responses from Gen Z TikTok users in Germany. The research findingsshow that TikTok has an influence on Gen Z consumers’ behavior. Therefore,it is recommended that sustainable brands promote their products on TikTok.This study can help marketers and researchers in comprehending the consumers’attitude towards TikTok videos and understanding how to use it as a base for futurestudies and development of strategies that appeal to Gen Z’s demand
Can you imagine yourself wearing this product? Embodied mental simulation and attractiveness in e-commerce product pictures
No full textmental simulation at two distinct steps of consumers’ shopping journey (choice between options and
purchase intention).
Design/methodology/approach – Two experimental studies were developed. Study 1 (n = 169)
investigated consumers’ purchase intention, and Study 2 (n = 156) investigated consumers’ choice for
a T-shirt displayed in an e-commerce store. The authors manipulated the product picture by considering
pictures with the presence or absence of a human model wearing the product (flat vs. mannequin vs. human
model without a face vs. human model with a face).
Findings – Consumers demonstrated greater choice and purchase intention for the picture that aroused
greater embodied mental simulation. Different pictures aroused greater embodied mental simulation
depending on the consumer journey step (choice between two options or purchase intention). Perceived
product attractiveness influenced this finding.
Research limitations/implications – The data on men and women were analyzed together due to the low
number of male participants in both studies.
Practical implications – The results suggest that mannequin pictures should be used in situations
involving product evaluation (e-commerce categories’ pages) and that pictures with human models should
be used in situations entailing further analysis of the product (e-commerce product page) to encourage
purchase decisions. E-commerce managers also need to use pictures of human models when the product is
viewed as less attractive.
Originality/value – This research investigated embodied mental simulation around product pictures at
two distinct steps of consumers’ shopping journey
A population study on factors associated with unintentional falls among Iranian older adults
No full textIntroduction: Falls among older adults are a significant cause of disability, injury, and death worldwide. The high incidence of falls in older adults, combined with the increased susceptibility to injury of the older adult population, leads to severe global health issues. Further studies are needed to comprehensively evaluate the typical personal and environmental risk factors of falls in the Iranian elderly population. Future preventive strategies and intervention programs will be based on these findings. The study determined the risk factors associated with unintentional falls among a representative sample of older adults living in Tehran, the capital city of Iran. Methods: The study design was cross-sectional. The target population was men/women aged 65 years and over from the general population living in 22 different districts of Tehran who were selected by stratified random sampling. The researchers gathered the data using validated questionnaires and observations. The informed consent was obtained from all participants before starting the interview. Multivariate logistic regression analysis examined the association between falls occurring during the past 12 months with demographics/ socioeconomics and fall-related predictor factors. Results: The risk of falls was higher in women (47.0%) and those aged ≥ 75 years (44.1%). Older adults who were married had their fall risk reduced by 36.4% compared with other types of marital status. Older adults who were illiterate (48.1%), housewives (47.0%), and always had concerns about living expenses (53.9%) tended significantly to have a higher risk of falls. Moreover, participants who live with their family were less likely to fall than those who live alone (36.5% vs. 40.4%). Persons with safe homes were less likely to experience falls than persons with unsafe homes (30.9% vs. 41.4%). The logistic regression analysis showed that the female gender, being worried about living expenses, home safety, functional behavior, and function factors, were independently associated with the risk of falls during the past 12 months. Conclusions: Our findings revealed that a wide range of intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors contributed to injurious falls; based on the literature, some are preventable. The present data may be helpful as a starting point and guide future efforts for health providers and policymakers to allocate additional resources and develop proper falls prevention or intervention programs at the community level
Chronic health conditions and school experience in school-aged children in 19 European countries
No full textThis study investigates chronic conditions (CC) prevalence among children in mainstream schools, their school experience
and life satisfaction in Europe. Data were collected from the 2017/2018 HBSC survey, a cross-national study using self reported questionnaires administered in classrooms. Nationally representative samples of children aged 11, 13, and 15 years in mainstream schools from 19 European countries (n=104,812) were used. School experience was assessed using four variables: low school satisfaction, schoolwork pressure, low teacher support, and peer-victimization, which were related to life satisfaction. Latent class analysis (LCA) was conducted to identify patterns of school experience among students with CC. The prevalence of CC varied from 8.4 (Armenia) to 28.2% (Finland). Children with CC (n=17,514) rated their school experience and life satisfaction lower than children without CC. LCA identifed three school experience patterns: “negative on all items” (37%), “negative on all items, except school pressure” (40%) and “overall positive” (23%). The distribution of
subgroups varied across countries—in countries with a higher proportion of children with CC in mainstream schools, children reported more negative school experiences. Compared to the “overall positive” group, low life satisfaction was highest for students classifed as “negative on all items” (relative risk (RR)=2.9; 95% CI 2.2–3.8) with a lesser efect for “negative on all items, except school pressure” (RR)=1.8; 95% CI 1.4–2.4). These fndings provide cross-national data documenting the diversity in inclusive educational practices regarding school placement and school experiences, and suggest that eforts are still needed to allow a fully inclusive environment
Collective Action in Institutional Entrepreneurship: The Case of a Government Agency
No full textThis paper seeks to analyze how and why divergent institutional changes occurred in a government agency. While there is evidence of research on the concept of collective action and involvement in the literature on institutional entrepreneurship, the focus has been at the macro and field levels, with scarce attention being given to the topic at the micro and organizational levels. This study addresses this gap in the literature, drawing on the institutional entrepreneurship process model of Battilana, Leca, and Boxenbaum (The Academy of Management Annals), in combination with literature on collective action. The methodology involved a longitudinal case study, in which data were collected through extensive interviews and documentation analysis. Based on findings showing that the divergence change process could not be achieved without the support of organizational collective involvement, a refined version of the Battilana et al. entrepreneurial model is proposed
Protecting users’ information and dignity through privacy-enhancing design
No full textThe research presented in this paper discusses the risks that users of messaging services may face due to other user’s misuse of the formers’ personal information. While existing literature about privacy often focuses on the misbehavior of “Big-Tech” and governments, careless users can be as (or even more) dangerous to privacy as these institutions. Through a couple of examples where personal information is compromised in user-to-user conversations on two major messaging services (i.e., WhatsApp and Telegram) this paper analyses the phenomenon and how each platform’s design matches against it. The research here presented shows that both services have in place features that allow users to protect themselves from other users’ carelessness. However, it also shows there are existing loopholes that prevent a satisfactory level of protection and, through an exercise based on speculative design, suggests an alternative scenario were users have total control of their information as well as capacity to protect it against careless and malicious use from other users
Turning an existing design system into a service for the BtoB market (case study)—How?
No full textNowadays, digital product and service development companies have invested heavily in design systems. Design systems eliminate inconsistencies across products, save time, and provide means for all stakeholders to communicate better, thus reducing error and development time, resulting in faster cycles of development and, ultimately, better experiences for end-users. In some cases, the design system might show potential for becoming a tool that could be shared beyond the company and be adopted and repurposed by other companies. Such is the case of Mondrian, a design system that Claro’s DesignOps teams developed. The problem is that Claro’s DesignOps team was unsure how to turn Mondrian into a product-service system, nor which could be the ideal market for it. Through semi-structured interviews with the creators of Mondrian and drawing from current best practices concerning design systems development, we found out that the best customer would be the BtoB market because of the complexity involved in the development, implementation, and maintenance of a design system. In this paper, we describe the case study we performed, the research and the analysis of the information obtained. The process we followed might interest anyone engaging in digital product and service development and design research