In the molecular cloud G33.92+0.11A, massive stars are forming sequentially in dense cores, probably due to interaction with accreted gas. Cold dense gas, which is likely the pristine gas of the cloud, is traced by DCN line and dust continuum emission. Clear chemical differences were observed in different source locations and for different velocity components in the same line of sight. Several distinct gas components coexist in the cloud: the pristine cold gas, the accreted dense gas, and warm turbulent gas, in addition to the star-forming dense clumps. Filaments of accreted gas occur in the northern part of the A1 and A5 clumps, and the velocity gradient along these features suggests that the gas is falling toward the cloud and may have triggered the most recent star formation. The large concentration of turbulent gas in the A2 clump seems to have formed mainly through disturbances from the outside.

The sustainable development of outer space demands the protection of intellectual property in outer space. However, it worth noting that the intellectual property international treaties have not explicitly regulated in their provisions the issue of intellectual property protection in outer space, neither the provisions of the five outer space treaties explicitly address the legal issue. One suspicious rationale resulting in this legal status is the theoretical territoriality paradox between the legal regimes of outer space and intellectual property. This article aims to unveil the theoretical territoriality paradox by comparing the two legal regimes of outer space and intellectual property. It then moves to argue that the paradox is proved to be a theoretical problem since the legal value of Article VIII of the Outer Space Treaty elaborately reconcile the theoretical paradox and practically provides a self-contained mechanism that would permit guaranteed levels of intellectual property rights protection in outer space.

정보 기술의 빠른 발전에 힘입어 기존의 인터랙션 디자인은 사용자의 요구를 더 이상 충족시키지 못하고 있다. 사용자 체험에 대해 사용자들은 더 까다로운 요구를 하고 있다. 사용자 체험의 개념은 이미 디자인의 목적을 벗어나 가용성, 용이성에서 감정, 의미의 의도로 확장되고 있다. 감정 인터랙션 디자인에 대해서 연구자와 디자이너가 함께 관심을 갖게 되었으며, 사용자 체험 디자인의 새로운 경향이 되고 있다. 이런 다양한 상황에서 사용자의 정서적 욕구를 충족시켜야 하는 점이 중요시 되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 기존의 게임 사례를 근거로 게임에 존재하는 감정 인터랙션 설계를 논증적인 방법으로 분석하였다. 또한 분석 결과를 정리하여 Donald Arthur Norman 교수가 제시한 감정화 설계의 세 가지 차원을 근거로 게임에서의 감정 인터랙션 설계의 우열을 어떻게 판단하는지 검증하였다. 플레이어들이 게임을 하면서 얻는 감정의 변화를 통해 감정 인터랙션이 게임 디자인에서 뚜렷한 우열 구분이 있음을 보여준다.

오늘날, 정보 기술은 급속도로 발전하고 있으며 기존의 인터랙션 디자인은 더 이상 사용자의 요구를 충족 시키지 못하며 사용자들은 사용자 체험에 대해 더 까다로운 요구를 하고 있다. 사용자 체험의 개념은 이미 디자인의 목적으로 가용성, 용이성에서 감정, 의미의 의도로 확장하고 있다. 감정 인터랙션 디자인은 정보시대 연구자와 디자이너의 관심의 초점이 되어가고 있으며, 이용자 체험 디자인의 새로운 트렌드가 되고 있다. 이런 상황에서 사용자의 정서적 욕구를 충족시키는 것이 중요하다. 본 연구는 기존 카드게임의 사례를 들어 논증하는 방법으로 트레이딩 카드게임에 존재하는 감정 인터랙션 디자인 및 관련 디자인을 분석하였다. 또한 공통적으로 분석 결과를 정리하여 이를 바탕으로 감정 인터랙션 디자인이 트레이딩 카드게임에서 어떤 역할을 하는지 입증했다. 플레이어가 게임을 하면서 느끼는 감정적인 요소를 통해 감정 인터랙션이 게임 디자인에서 갖는 중요한 가치를 밝히고, 디자이너가 게임 디자인을 하면서 감정 인터랙션 디자인을 얼마나 중요시하는지를 보여준다.

현존하는 한자구조의 분석이론은 그 유형과 명칭이 매우 복잡하고 많을 뿐만 아니라, 글자를 식별하고 쓰고 듣는 교육에 있어 그 효과를 알기 어렵다. 여기에서 필자는 간단하고 쉬운 방법으로 축을 이용하는 법을 제시한다. 한자 구조를 가로축, 세로축 및 십자 축으로 하고, 한자를 서로 다른 원수 및 층 유형의 글자로 구분하였다. 중국어, 일어, 한국어의 한자 및 베트남 한자에 대한 다양한 시험을 통해 이 분석 방법이 중화권에서 사용되는 여러 한자와 간화자, 일본 한자, 한국 한자 및 베트남 한자 연구에 활용될 수 있음을 증명하였다. 제시한 양축분석법은 한자와 자의 자음의 이해 및 학습에 있어 보다 진일보한 효과를 형성하여 한자 학습의 난제를 극복하는 데 도움될 것으로 기대한다.

The purpose of this research is to explore the factors that affect a celebrity’s perceived authenticity on social media sites. In total, 653 Taiwanese consumers were recruited to examine the proposed model. The findings generally support our model. The theoretical and managerial implications of this study are discussed.

Climate friendly technologies contribute to tackling global climate crisis and the dynamic transfer of these technologies is important to achieve universal climate actions. The UNFCCC, and its recent Paris Agreement, have introduced international assistance to promote climate related-technology transfer. They call for collaborative actions from both technology supplier and demander sides in order to enable environments for a meaningful and effective technology transfer. According to the UNFCCC, the international technology assistance is unlikely to work in a desired way with the absence of indigenous enabling environments. Therefore, it is crucial to identify, assess and overcome potential barriers potentially confronted by host countries in their acquisition of climate technologies, which helps prepare these countries for climate resilience economy and sustainable development. This paper attempts to provide a deep and comprehensive analysis on enabling policy/law environments in host countries and uses Asian countries as examples in most occasions.

Plasma-sprayed HA coatings on metallic implants are widely used for clinical applications. However, typical lamellar structure along with plasma-sprayed coatings usually leads to weak inter-splat adhesion and impair their mechanical properties. In this research, graphene nanosheet (GNS) reinforced HA coatings were fabricated using plasma spray; these GNSs retained their original structure and distributed homogeneously in the as-sprayed coatings. On the basis of instrumented microindentation tests with and without multiple partial unloading, as compared with the monolithic HA coating, the inter-splat friction force increased by ~ 8.7% for the 1.0 wt% GNS/HA coating, and it slightly decreased to ~ 6.5% for the 2.0 wt% GNS/ HA coating due to GNS agglomeration. Meanwhile, the added GNSs contributed greatly to the indentation yield strength of the HA coatings. These results illustrated that these embedded GNSs at splat boundaries are potential in splat-boundary strengthening and resisting splat sliding.

Genetically modified food gave rise to several controversies since it came into being. The clash of international GMF legislation is rooted in the divergence of the EU and the US legislation, which leads to the divergence of the WTO and Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and indirectly influences the legislative choice of developing countries. Like other developing countries, China also faces lots of challenges including lag in genetically modified organism technology, disadvantage caused by invisible private standard, technical control of GMO companies in developed countries and low level of involvement of the public. In recent years, China adopts its own policy on GMO by developing GM technology cautiously. The legislative situation in China fall far behind domestic research and commercial production necessity. China has revised several existing legislations. Although there is far from perfect, it makes great progress. In the future, China is expected to be more active, positive and open towards GMO.

China emerges to be one of the largest wine importing and wine consumption countries in the world. With the rapid growth of Chinese wine market, it becomes an essential issue to understand the wine importing and distribution practices in Chinese wine market. This study was designated in the context of Australian wine trading to China to explore the characteristics of wine importing channels and wine retailing models in China. A semi-structured interview approach was adopted in this study to fulfil the research purposes. 15 Chinese wine industry practitioners were recruited through the 1st wine tourism trip fair in Ningxia, China, in May 2017. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using NVivo 11. The results revealed the features of 8 wine importing channels from Australia to China, and 4 distribution models in the wine retailing market in China. Regarding the wine importing channels, the 8 main importing channels were (1) retailers selected wines directly from Australian wineries; (2) retailers adopted the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) mode to produce wines; (3) supply chain businesses imported wines through their business networks; (4) wine business companies invested in overseas wineries; (5) companies purchased wines from wine exhibitions and fairs; (6) companies purchased wines from Hong Kong and other neighbouring SAR districts; (7) companies imported wines from other wine business operators; (8) companies smuggled wines by transiting from Southeast Asian countries. In addition, 4 retailing models were identified through the interviews, including (1) complete control over the distribution channels; (2) brand franchising and wholesaling; (3) enterprise subscription; (4) retailing through e-commerce and supermarkets. The findings suggested that OEM mode represented the most popular importing channel in present Chinese wine market, whilst the vendor group purchasing was the most profitable distribution models in the retailing market. Implications for wineries and wine business companies were also provided in the paper.

This paper studies the impact of retailer dominance on the product line design in a distribution channel. We revisit the elegant framework proposed by Villas-Boas (1998) in which a manufacturer sells his products through an independent retailer to heterogeneous consumers. We show that retailer dominance may completely eliminate the possibility of product line offering, irrespective of whether retailer dominance takes the form of price leadership or quality leadership. In addition, when consumers are sufficiently heterogeneous, product line offering may benefit the manufacturer without sacrificing the retailer’s profit, thereby creating Pareto improvement along the distribution channel. Given this Pareto improvement, retailer dominance may lead to an upward-distorted quality and the possibility of product line extension compared with either the integrated channel or the case with a weak retailer. Retailer competition does not necessarily restore the incen-tive to offer the product line, but may generate either quality degradation or quality enhancement. Our analysis establishes a threshold policy on the consumer composition for the retailer to pursue the price or quality leadership.

An increasing number of Internet users use hotel booking websites and online travel agencies to arrange trips and search for information related to their travels. This study investigates the impact of customer engagement on user perceptions of the quality and value of an online hotel-booking website, as well as whether such perceptions further influence user trust in online websites (eTrust) and result in behavioral intention of eLoyalty. The empirical results of structural equation modeling analysis of 400 questionnaire results collected in Taiwan reveal that customer engagement has a positive impact on perceived website quality (i.e., usability, ease of use, entertainment, and complementarity), which in turn influences perceived value. The results do not show a direct impact from customer engagement on perceived value. Finally, the results verify that eTrust mediates the relationship between consumers’ perceived website quality and behavioral intention of eLoyalty toward an online hotel-booking website; eTrust also mediates the relationship between consumers’ perceived value and behavioral intention of eLoyalty toward an online hotel-booking website. The findings provide both academic researchers and practitioners with a better understanding of customer engagement and facilitate development of more effective customer engagement strategies for online booking platforms.

Introduction Globalization not only increases human mobility, but changes the relationship between international migrants and their country of origin. With improved transportation systems and new technologies, migrants can stay connected to their homeland in multiple ways. In the past, it was costly and time-consuming for migrants to "keep in touch" with their homeland. Thus, the ability to assimilate into the culture and lifestyle of the mainstream society was important (Alba & Nee, 2003; Portes & Zhou, 1993). At the same time, migrants and minority groups also form ethnic enclaves (e.g., Chinatown, Little Italy) where they can maintain the culture and traditions of "home" and preserve a part of their cultural identity (Portes & Manning, 1986). Contemporary migrants, however, live in a transnational social field (Louie, 2006). They can easily communicate with their friends and family back home. Even if they reside in rural areas, most goods from the old country can be found in the new country. Migrants can shop online for the groceries, books, fashion, beauty products, kitchenware, etc. from their homeland. They can listen to hit songs in their native language, keep up with the major news events, follow the newest TV series, cheer for their favorite sports teams, watch live election results, and more—almost as if they have never left. Traveling back to the homeland is one important way for migrants to main transnational ties (Haller & Landolt, 2005). This type of travel is commonly known as diaspora tourism (Coles & Timothy, 2004), VFR tourism (Uriely, 2010), and roots tourism (Maruyama & Stronza, 2010). Migrants may visit the homeland for various reasons, including: leisure, business, local food, culture and heritage, quest, retain ties, finding oneself, roots-seeking, personal identity, connection with place, obligation to ancestors, recovery of social identity, and family togetherness (Kluin & Lehtom, 2012; Li & McKercher, 2016; Murdy, Alexander, & Bryce, 2018; Ray & McCain, 2012). Given that contemporary migrants can engage in transnational practices in the host society, and take part in various types of leisure activities that are related to the culture and lifestyle of "home," the question is: do migrants still feel the need to visit the homeland in person? Or since everything is readily available, they do not need to go back as often as before. On one hand, participating in transnational leisure activities may strengthen their attachment to the homeland and increase their longing to return. On the other hand, the accessibility of homeland goods, services, culture, and relationships through global networks may decrease the desire and frequency of traveling back to the homeland. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between transnational leisure activities and motivation to visit the homeland. Specifically, do migrants‘ transnational leisure participation and involvement influence their diaspora tourism motivation? Literature Review Transnationalism refers to the interconnected lifestyle and social experience of immigrants maintaining multiple ties with their home and host societies (Basch, Glick-Schiller, & Blanc, 1994). Transnationalism could be sustained through different types of activities, including economic, political, social, familial, religious, and cultural activities. Although leisure activities have not been a focus of transnationalism research, some cultural transnational practices overlap with leisure activities. The Immigration and Intergenerational Mobility in Metropolitan Los Angeles study (IIMMLA) found that 8.1% of second-generation immigrants participated in organizations associated with their parents‘ country of birth, and 48.7% watched TV or listened to the radio in their parents‘ language at least once a week or more (Rumbaut et al., 2008). The Immigrant Second Generation in New York study (ISGNY) revealed that ethnic music is very important to West Indian immigrants, and they listened to more ethnic music. Chinese-Americans, however, might listen to some Cantonese pop, but usually not traditional Chinese music (Kasinitz et al., 2008). Within leisure research, most studies on the leisure activities of immigrants employ the theory of acculturation. The focus was not on transnational leisure, but on immigrants‘ leisure participation within the mainstream culture of the host society. Many studies examined the effect of acculturation on immigrant leisure, be it participation, perceived benefits, motivations, or constraints. Floyd and Gramann (1993) compared Mexican- and Anglo-Americans to determine if the former‘s outdoor activity patterns and site visitation would be similar to the latter, based on different levels of structural assimilation. Shaull and Gramann (1998) also examined Hispanic- and Anglo-Americans to determine the impact of cultural assimilation on one‘s perceived benefits of outdoor recreation. They found a strong Anglo-conformity pattern in Hispanic-Americans‘ perception of nature-related benefits, while family-related benefits were less prone to the impact of cultural assimilation. Another study by Walker, Deng, and Dieser (2001) compared the motivations of Chinese-Canadians and Euro-North Americans for outdoor recreation. Their findings indicated that acculturation influenced the recreation motivation of Chinese-Canadians, both directly and indirectly through self-construal. The relationship between acculturation and leisure was also examined in Yu and Berryman‘s study (1996) on immigrant adolescents, which revealed a positive relationship between acculturation and recreational activities, and a negative relationship between acculturation and perceived barriers. A similar relationship was found in Scott, Lee, Lee and Kim‘s (2006) study of Korean migrants. They identified some constraints (i.e., lack of English proficiency and fear of discrimination) that varied by one‘s level of acculturation, while the biggest constraint, time, was not influenced by acculturation. Stodolska and Santos (2006) were the first to propose the concept of "transnational leisure," and they defined it as "leisure that is maintained by transnational migrants to foster their ties with their countries and communities of origin" (p. 162). Huang, Norman, Ramshaw, and Haller (2015) identified different types of transnational leisure activities by second-generation Chinese-Americans, and categorized them into four types: ethnic events and festivals, ethnic social clubs and organizations, ethnic media and pop culture, and Internet-based activities. As these previous studies were qualitative in nature, there is a need for more quantitative research so as to compare and identify different patterns of transnational leisure (e.g., level of involvement, frequency of participation) and examine how transnational leisure relate to other variables. Methods This study aims to examine the transnational leisure involvement and travel motivation of diaspora tourists. Specifically, overseas Chinese residing in North America (i.e., the USA and Canada) was selected as the target population. The service of a reputable and reliable international online survey company was obtained to reach out to this specific population of interest. Data collection took place from December 2016 to January 2017. A total of 808 responses were gathered. A questionnaire was developed based on previous literature. A list of transnational leisure activities with 19 items was developed based on the work of Huang et al. (2015). The transnational leisure involvement scale was adapted from the works of Kyle, Graefe, Manning, and Bacon (2003) and Kyle, Bricker, Graefe, and Wickham (2004). The scale consists of 14 items and three dimensions: Attraction, Centrality, and Self-expression. As there are many types of transnational leisure activities, respondents were first asked to go through the list and indicate their frequency of participation in each activity. Next, they were asked to think about "these activities" as they answered the leisure involvement scale. The measures for diaspora tourism motivation was developed based on Poria and colleagues‘ scale for heritage tourism motivation (2004; 2006a; 2006b), Kluin and Lehto‘s (2012) scale for family reunion travel motivations, and Li and McKercher‘s (2016) qualitative study on diaspora tourists. The last section of the questionnaire will be used to collect demographic information. Findings EFA was conducted to explore if transnational leisure activities can be categorized into different types. Three items were removed due to double loading (i.e., Sing Chinese songs in the karaoke, Online shopping for Chinese/Asian items, and Connect with friends and relatives in China through social media). Factor 1 consisted of 3 items that are basic common activities in migrant life, and was labeled "Basic" transnational leisure (i.e., Eat Chinese food, Shop for Chinese/Asian groceries, and Celebrate Chinese holidays). Factor 2 consisted of 7 items that are related to pop culture and internet-based leisure activities, and was labeled "Media-based" transnational leisure (e.g., Listen to Chinese songs and music, Watch Chinese drama, Visit websites related to Chinese or Chinese-American culture, and Read/watch the news related to China). Contrary to the individualistic nature of the activities in Factor 2, Factor 3 consisted of 6 items that are more likely to be group activities, and related to social clubs events and activities (e.g., Attend events hosted by Chinese ethnic organizations, Participate in Chinese cultural activities, Play Chinese board or card games, Attend Chinese concerts/performances, and Follow Chinese/Chinese-American sports players or teams). Thus, Factor 3 was labeled "Event-based" transnational leisure. Respondents‘ participation in these activities was measured on a 5-point scale of frequency, from 1=Never to 5=Always/Everyday. Overall, "Basic" transnational leisure received the highest mean score (M=3.82), while the means for "Media-based" (M=2.86) and "Event-based" activities (M=2.62) were lower. Although the mean scores in Factor 2 and 3 were not high, it should be noted that the nature of these activities are different. Chinese migrants can "Eat Chinese food" every day, but they cannot "Attending Chinese concerts" every day. Therefore, the mean scores for "Event-based" activities were the lowest. Moreover, ANOVA was conducted to compare five migrant generation groups (e.g., first-generation migrants who were born in the old country and relocated to a new country and second-generation migrants are native-born in the new country). The second generation had the lowest level of participation, while the first generation and 4+ generation had the highest level of participation in most types of transnational leisure activities. Correlation analyses further revealed that the frequency of "Media-based" activities and "Event-based" activities were positively correlated to the number of homeland trips, while the relationship between "Basic" transnational leisure and number of homeland trips was not statistically significant. Lastly, CFA was conducted to confirm the underlying dimensions of Transnational Leisure Involvement: Attraction (6 items), Centrality (4 items), and Self-expression (4 items). EFA was conducted to identify the dimensions of diaspora tourism motivation. The 11 items loaded on one of two factors: Chinese Culture (6 items) and Family Heritage (5 items). Multiple regression analyses were conducted, with the three dimensions of transnational leisure involvement as independent variables, and the two dimensions of diaspora tourism motivation as dependent variables. It was found that Attraction and Centrality would influence respondents‘ motivation for Chinese Culture, while Attraction, Centrality, and Self-expression would influence respondents‘ motivation for Personal Heritage. Discussion Results showed that transnational leisure involvement is useful in understanding the activity patterns of different migrant generations. Specifically, the relationships between transnational involvement and diaspora tourism motivation were consistently positive, which provides an effective means of segmenting diaspora tourists. Transnational leisure activities are good opportunities for homeland destinations to connect with diaspora tourists prior to their travel. Other than direct promotional activities, transnational leisure provides an alternative way to increase diaspora tourists‘ level of engagement and frequency of travel to the homeland.

On the basis of the protection motivation theory (PMT) research model, this study employed perceived moral obligation as a determinant to improve predictions of people’s intention to engage in energy savings and carbon reduction behavior aimed at mitigating the threat of environmental climate change through their protection motivation. The sample comprised 930 participants who completed self-reported questionnaire surveys in Taiwan. The empirical results of structural equation modeling indicated that the extended PMT model was more explanatorily powerful than the original model. The results not only confirmed that people’s perceived moral obligation plays a crucial antecedent role in predicting their intention to engage in energy savings and carbon reduction behavior but also verified the mediation effects of protection motivation in the extended PMT model.

Introduction The social Web is becoming more and more visual. While Facebook remains the leading social networking site (SNS), visual-based platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest have showed a significant increase in the proportion of online users worldwide (Greenwood, Perrin, & Duggan, 2016; Statista, 2017; Pew Research Center, 2017). The trend toward visual communication on SNSs is influenced by the emergence of advanced mobile technologies and the shifting habits of how social media users consume content today. While images displayed on Instagram are past-oriented sharing of memories, or present-oriented displays of creativity, Pinterest presents opportunities for future-oriented inspiration to evolve (Jin, Lin, Gilbreath, & Lee, 2017; Phillips, Miller, & McQuarrie, 2014). Pinterest also serves as a searchable archive of visual content, allowing users to seek and include brand-relevant pins and boards into their own aspirations and inspirations, thus facilitating the sharing of branded content (Phillips et al., 2014). Extant industry reports also suggest that Pinterest users are more likely to image-search for products, interact with sponsored pins, and show favorable attitudes toward advertising, compared with Facebook or Twitter users (McMullen, 2015; Ruscillo, 2017; Williamson, 2015). Considering the benefits of social media for global marketing and the role that imagery plays for developing international brands (Mikhailitchenko, Javalgi, Mikhailitchenko, & Laroche, 2009), this research focuses on the visual aspects of consumer engagement with branded content on Pinterest and investigates how such engagement leads to consumer-brand relationship building and Pinterest-inspired purchase intention. Theoretical Frameworks The extant consumer research has documented the superiority effect of visual content on facilitating persuasion (Childers & Houston, 1984; Miniard, Bhatla, Lord, Dickson, & Rao, 1991). Recent research on social media marketing also suggests that branded content with visual elements help generate favorable consumer responses (De Vries, Gensler, & Leeflang, 2012; Trefzger, Baccarella, & Voigt, 2016). The presentation of branded posts is directly related to the flow construct and trust (Bart, Shankar, Sultan, & Urban, 2005; Hoffman & Novak, 1996). Along this logic, consumer engagement, the degree to which consumers consume, contribute, and create social media content in relation to brands (Schivinski, Christodoulides, & Dabrowski, 2016), is likely to be influenced by brand-related visual cues on Pinterest. While consumption refers to consumers’ acquisition of both brand-created and user-generated content (Muntinga, Moorman, & Smit, 2011), contribution refers to consumers’ inputs to content created by brands or by other consumers (Shao, 2009). Further, creation is the highest level of engagement, which refers to consumers’ generation of brand-related content that could stimulate further consumption and contribution (Muntinga et al., 2011). Therefore, the visually dominant and appealing presentation style, such as appearance, layout, and images, on Pinterest would provide users with high information content, and is likely to increase both active and passive consumer engagement with brands (Bart et al., 2005). Consumer engagement is then expected to encourage social media users’ willingness to actively promote and endorse brand-related content, including organic and sponsored pins. Such volunteer display of their preferred brand-related content is likely to help engender eWOM communication and make such content become more influential in the social Web (Chu & Kim, 2011). As a result, users’ brand-related Pinterest activities are likely to enhance their relationships with brands (Rapp, Beitelspacher, Grewal, & Hughes, 2013) and their intention to purchase from the brands featured in the pins and boards (King, Racherla, & Bush, 2014). All hypothesized relationships are therefore formulated and displayed in Figure 1. Methods To test the proposed conceptual model, an online survey was conducted with participants recruited from a consumer panel administrated by Qualtrics. A total of 467 Pinterest users (58.2% female, Mage = 28.9, SDage = 5.6) comprised the sample, including Caucasian (76%), African American (7.5%), Hispanic (7.4%), Asian (6.9%), multiracial (1.3%), and others (.9%). The participants spent an average of 9.5 hours on Pinterest per week. Smartphones (54.8%) emerged as the most dominant devices for their Pinterest usage, followed by computers (34.9%) and tablets (10.3%). They had an average of 33.7 boards (Range = 1,233), 1,384.1 Pins (Range = 69,000), 930.1 likes (Range = 100,000), 319.0 followers (Range = 44,231), 65.0 following topics (Range = 3,442), 173.0 following people (including brands, Range = 7,000), and 102.0 following boards (Range = 6,000). To note, 78.3% of the participants reported that they made Pinterest-inspired purchases frequently (including 24.8% always, 24.4% usually, and 29.1% often). In addition, the participants were asked to answer questions pertaining to their perceptions of visual cues related to a self-selected brand on Pinterest, engagement with brand-related content, brand endorsing behavior, consumer-brand relationships, and Pinterest-inspired purchase intention (see Table 1). Results To test the proposed hypotheses, a two-step modeling approach following Anderson and Gerbing’s (1988) procedures was employed. The results of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) showed that the measurement model achieved acceptable fit for the data (χ2 = 1178.30, df = 393, χ2/df = 2.99, RMSEA = .065, SRMR = .054, CFI = .930, TLI = .922). The constructs had good composite reliability (>.70). Factor loadings of the construct indicators were all above .70 with significant t values, which indicated good convergent validity for each of the construct items (Nunnally & Bernstein, 1994). Following Fornell and Larcker’s (1981) criteria, the results achieved satisfactory discriminant validity because the average variance extracted (AVE) for each factor was above .50 and greater than the squared correlations between each pair of constructs. The factor scores were then used to perform a path analysis for hypothesis testing which showed satisfactory fit of the conceptual model (see Figure 2). The results indicated that visual cues positively influenced consumer engagement with brand-related content (β = .68, p < .001), which positively led to brand endorsing behavior (β = .86, p < .001). Consequently, brand endorsing behavior positively enhanced the development of consumer-brand relationships (β = .97, p < .001) and increased Pinterest-inspired purchase intention (β = .48, p < .001). In turn, all hypotheses were supported. Discussion and Conclusion In response to the thriving academic interests in understanding how social media users connect and interact with international brands across SNSs (Hennig-Thurau, et al., 2010), this research sheds light on factors that determine social media users’ active discovery, creation, and distribution of visual branded content and the effects of consumer engagement on social media marketing outcomes. By focusing on Pinterest, the research findings showed that users, both men and women, actively seek inspiration from Pinterest across brand-relevant categories. They are highly engaged, open to brand activities, and ready to take Pinterest-inspired actions in the real world. The visual presentation of branded content plays an important role in generating consumer engagement, which is likely to act as a form of perceived relationship investment and subsequently stimulates brand endorsing and advocacy behavior (Simon & Tossan, 2018). Engaged Pinterest users search and select brand-relevant visual content, including sponsored pins, as part of their self-presentation to others (Phillips et al., 2014). Through such interactions with brands and other like-minded users on the platform, their relationships with brands and purchasing behavior are likely to be further enhanced. This research integrates several important literature streams in the conceptual model and employs a representative adult sample to provide theory-driven and generalizable insights into how visually-focused social media marketing works. Marketing managers face opportunities and challenges that social media and the interconnected international business environment present. Therefore, it is crucial to understand how social media users interact with brands on different platforms in order to tailoring brand strategies accordingly for fostering consumer engagement. Specifically, as Pinterest’s popular visual discovery engine continues to attract myriads of global users, managers should harness the power of visual content marketing and engage current as well as potential consumers on the platform, which could have a significant impact on consumer-brand relationship building and business performance in domestic and foreign markets. Building on the findings of this research, future studies should further delve into the psychological underpinnings and motivations that drive consumer engagement with visual branded content on SNSs across cultures and discover how paid, owned and earned brand communication on visual-based SNSs can help strengthen consumer-brand relationships.

Scholars, policymakers, and cultural organizations have studied cultural tourism destinations (e.g., historical, artistic, or lifestyle/heritage offerings) from different perspectives since the late 1990s. However, the current tourism literature contains gaps can be further narrowed by studying cultural tourism destinations from tourists’ perspectives. To narrow the gaps in the literature, this study adapted the M-R model to examine the influence of experimental value variables (i.e., service staff excellence, aesthetic, playfulness, and consumer return on investment) on tourists’ satisfaction. Additionally, it investigates how on-site activity involvement moderates the relationship between tourists’ satisfaction and their sense of belonging. Drawing on a survey of over 500 Taiwanese tourists, our findings reveal that service staff excellence, aesthetics, and playfulness influence tourist’ satisfaction, which in turn, can affect their sense of belonging. Furthermore, sense of belong can positively affect tourists’ behavioral intentions, which is measured by their intentions to revisited and recommend. As for the moderating effect of on-site activity involvement, this research find it can positively moderate the relationship between satisfaction and sense of belonging. Several implications of the study are identified, and avenues for future research are suggested.

Most previous studies exploring the relative effectiveness of superiority and parity claims in comparative advertising were based on the regulatory focus theory. However, the findings of these studies provided limited implications for practice. The current research attempts to examine the relative effectiveness of superiority versus parity claims in comparative advertising from the perspective of construal level theory. Recent research has found that the fitness between message framing and construal level can enhance processing fluency of information. Specifically, loss-framed messages are more impactful when paired with low-level construals, whereas gain-framed messages are more effective when paired with high-level construals. Accordingly, the current study predicts that a superiority claim, which states sponsor brand is better than the competitors, is more effective in enhancing brand attitude than parity claim when the construal level is high. Conversely, a parity claim, which argues sponsor brand asserts parity with the comparison target, lead to more favorable brand attitude than superiority claims in the condition of low-level construal. This study conducted a (superiority claim vs. parity claim) × 2 (high-level construal vs. low-level construal) experimental designs to examine proposed hypotheses. The manipulation of construal level either highlighted a concrete “how” message or an abstract “why” message. The results showed that the superiority (parity) claim leads to more positive brand attitude and purchase intention than the parity (superiority) claim when customers are presented with message highlights an abstract “why” (concrete “how”) construal. Based on the findings, this study suggests that superiority claims combine with the “why”-oriented thoughts can enhance the effectiveness of the comparative advertising. In contrast, when parity claims are used, “how” -oriented, thoughts should be integrated in comparative advertising.

This study focuses on the digital generation in China and their engagement in social media to co-create values with firms. The study employed a qualitative research approach to first develop a social media co-creation value scale. This was followed by motivational analysis of social media engagement to co-create values. A spectrum of utilitarian and hedonic motives related to value co-creation behaviors via social media were then identified. Many theoretical and practical implications are provided based on the study findings.