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With the increasing awareness of health and the widespread adoption of social media advertising, health food advertising has become an important source of information influencing consumer decision-making. However, existing studies have primarily focused on the effects of attitudes or behaviors, with limited attention to the underlying psychological mechanisms. Therefore, this study applies optimal arousal theory to examine how expertise and trustworthiness in health food advertising influence consumers’ purchase intention through perceived information relevance. The findings indicate that both expertise and trustworthiness positively affect perceived information relevance, which in turn significantly enhances purchase intention. These results suggest that individuals tend to pursue an optimal level of stimulation, and when advertising information evokes an appropriate level of psychological arousal and aligns with personal needs, it is more likely to facilitate positive behavioral responses. In addition to confirming the importance of perceived information relevance, this study extends optimal arousal theory from the level of sensory stimulation to the cognitive level, thereby advancing the development of optimal arousal theory research.

This study aims to examine the effects of utilitarian and hedonic browsing on impulse buying tendency and the urge to buy impulsively in online shopping contexts. It further evaluates the mediating role of impulse buying tendency in this relationship. Drawing on Uses and Gratifications (U&G) theory and the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework, a conceptual model is developed. A questionnaire survey was conducted, and 393 valid responses from online consumers were collected. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was employed to analyze the data and test the proposed hypotheses. The findings demonstrate that (i) hedonic browsing has a significant positive effect on impulse buying tendency, which subsequently increases the urge to buy impulsively; (ii) utilitarian browsing has a significant negative effect on impulse buying tendency and does not directly influence impulse buying urges; and (iii) impulse buying tendency plays a critical mediating role in transforming browsing motivations into immediate purchase impulses. These results suggest that impulse buying is not purely an immediate reaction but is shaped through underlying psychological tendencies. This study contributes to consumer behavior literature by extending the application of U&G theory in digital commerce contexts and provides practical implications for online platform design and marketing strategies.

This paper aims to examine the effects of leisure crafting on leisure satisfaction from a self-determination theory perspective. In this paper, it is also aimed to evaluate the mediating role of leisure benefits and the moderating role of work–leisure conflict within an integrated theoretical framework. We employed a quantitative analytical approach using structural equation modeling to test the proposed hypotheses and assess both direct and indirect relationships among the variables. A dataset of 325 hospitality industry newcomers in northern Taiwan was collected through a structured questionnaire and analyzed to examine the relationships among leisure crafting, leisure benefits, leisure satisfaction, and work–leisure conflict. Main findings of the study demonstrate that (i) leisure crafting has a significant positive effect on leisure benefits, indicating that proactive adjustment of leisure activities enhances psychological and social gains; (ii) leisure benefits significantly mediate the relationship between leisure crafting and leisure satisfaction, suggesting that psychological need satisfaction functions as a key explanatory mechanism; and finally (iii) work–leisure conflict negatively moderates the relationship between leisure crafting and leisure benefits, such that higher levels of conflict weaken the positive influence of leisure crafting on perceived benefits. Overall, the results extend the application of self-determination theory to the leisure domain and provide empirical evidence for the motivational mechanisms underlying leisure satisfaction in high work-demand contexts.

The widespread adoption of streaming services and social media has enhanced online spectators’ interactivity and immersion, yet it may also weaken fans’ willingness to attend games in person. Drawing on event system theory, this study examines how social media marketing activities and team identification influence intention to attend professional basketball games, with social presence serving as a mediating mechanism. Survey data were collected from 564 fans who had never attended a professional basketball game, and the proposed model was tested using structural equation modeling. The results show that social media marketing activities influence attendance intention only indirectly through social presence. In contrast, team identification not only directly predicts attendance intention but also exerts an indirect effect via social presence. Overall, the findings underscore social presence as a pivotal mechanism that converts online stimuli into intentions to attend live events and provide practical guidance for teams’ social community management and fan relationship strategies.

Green bonds are typically used for environmental protection projects. This paper explores the differences between general bonds and green bonds in Taiwan, as well as the impact of inflation. The findings are as follows: First, because green bonds support environmentally sustainable development projects, which require a longer time to realize their environmental benefits, they require longer repayment periods. Second, most green bonds have lower coupon rates than general bonds, indicating that investors are willing to accept lower interest income for the sake of environmental sustainability. Third, because green bonds invest in environmental protection projects with lower returns, investors also demand higher risk premiums due to relatively higher recovery risks. Finally, after inflation occurs, the increase in green bond coupon rates is less than that of general bonds. Inflation may have different effects on the dividend yields of individual companies, but there is no significant difference for the overall industry.

This study investigates portfolio optimization within the Mean–Variance framework using alternative estimators for expected returns and risk. Based on daily data of VN30 stocks from March 2021 to December 2025, nine portfolio strategies are constructed by combining three return estimators (historical mean, CAPM, and Exponential Moving Average) with three risk estimators (sample covariance, Ledoit–Wolf shrinkage covariance, and semicovariance). Portfolios are optimized by maximizing the Sharpe ratio under realistic weight constraints and a post-optimization sparsification procedure to improve implementability. Empirical results indicate that portfolios using EMA-based expected returns combined with Ledoit–Wolf or semicovariance estimators deliver more stable and superior out-of-sample performance over 1-, 3-, and 6-month horizons. In contrast, strategies relying on historical mean returns with sample covariance suffer from severe performance degradation, while CAPM-based approaches underperform consistently. These findings underscore the importance of adaptive return estimation and robust risk modeling in emerging equity markets and offer timely implications for portfolio construction in Vietnam as it prepares for a potential upgrade to emerging market status.

This study investigates the effectiveness of integrating simplified English and multiple learning tools in English-Medium Instruction (EMI) general education courses in non-English speaking contexts. As EMI proliferates globally, institutions face persistent challenges related to students' mixed English proficiency and the complexity of academic content. To address these challenges, this research examines a pedagogical approach that combines simplified English with diverse learning tools, including mind maps, group discussions, worksheets, and project work. An 11-item, 5-point Likert scale questionnaire was administered to 327 students enrolled in two EMI general education courses—"Creativity and Innovation” (n=168) and “Service Innovation” (n=159)—at a Taiwanese university of science and technology over five years (2020-2025). Mann-Whitney U tests were conducted to compare student perceptions across the two courses, and cross-table statistics were used to identify patterns in student responses. The findings reveal consistently high levels of student satisfaction across both courses, with no statistically significant differences detected between them (all p >0.05). Students reported strong agreement that the instructional approach enabled them to understand professional knowledge despite the EMI setting (78.9% agreement), stimulated the effectiveness of their English learning (76.8% agreement), and fostered willingness to take additional EMI courses (76.8% agreement). Students also reported high levels of personal effort in learning activities (81.6% agreement). However, the development of good study habits for class preview and review emerged as a relatively weaker area (58.2% agreement), suggesting a need for additional pedagogical scaffolding to support self-directed learning. The study concludes that combining simplified English with multiple learning tools represents an effective and transferable pedagogical strategy for addressing linguistic diversity in EMI contexts. While the approach facilitates content comprehension and student engagement, explicit attention to fostering autonomous learning skills remains essential for comprehensive EMI pedagogy.

Physical activity plays a crucial role in maintaining health and reducing stress, particularly among students in demanding disciplines such as nursing. This study examines how social media and self-efficacy influence exercise behavior and stress relief, drawing on the Social Cognitive Theory and Uses and Gratifications Theory. Data were collected from 295 Vietnamese undergraduate nursing students and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results reveal that both social media use and self-efficacy significantly and positively affect stress relief, with exercise behavior acting as a mediating variable. The proposed model explains 69.2% of the variance in exercise behavior and 57.8% in stress relief. These findings suggest that exposure to fitness-related content and higher confidence in one’s ability to exercise contribute to greater engagement in physical activity and improved stress management. The study highlights the importance of integrating digital media and self-efficacy enhancement strategies into university health promotion programs. Universities should consider using social media platforms to share motivational content, facilitate online exercise communities, and organize student-led fitness initiatives. Policy-makers may also support campaigns promoting physical activity as an effective stress management strategy for health-related professions.

This study investigates the effects of perceived ease of use (PEU), perceived usefulness (PU), and trust (TR) on behavioral intention (BI) toward adopting multimodal explainable artificial intelligence systems in long-term care institutions. Specifically, it examines the mediating role of PU in the relationship between PEU and BI and further analyzes how TR moderates the relationships of PEU and PU with BI. Data were collected through an online questionnaire administered to nurses, care attendants, and administrators working in long-term care facilities in Taiwan. A total of 150 questionnaires were distributed, and 125 valid responses were obtained, yielding an effective response rate of 84%. ncluded a clear, non-technical explanation of what a multimodal explainable AI system is, to help readers who are not AI specialists better understand the core conce. The empirical results indicate that PU, PEU, and TR all have significant positive effects on BI. Moreover, PU partially mediates the relationship between PEU and BI, while the interaction terms TR×PEU and TR×PU significantly moderate BI: when trust is high, the effect of PU on BI is strengthened, whereas the effect of PEU on BI is weakened. These findings suggest that, in high-trust settings, long-term care professionals are more willing to tolerate system complexity if the system is clearly useful. Based on these results, the study offers managerial and policy implications for integrating smart technologies into Taiwan’s long-term care sector, emphasizing the importance of usefulness, usability, and trust in enhancing technology adoption. This research extends the Technology Acceptance Model by integrating trust, providing new insights for digital transformation in long-term care

Artificial intelligence has gradually become an important tool for organizational strategy and research and development activities, with applications involving human–machine collaboration, process transformation, and the dynamic process of technology adoption. However, AI usage behavior of research and development personnel in professional contexts has not yet been thoroughly investigated. Grounded in social cognitive theory, this study examines the mechanisms through which organizational support, social influence, performance expectancy, and personal innovativeness affect AI usage. Using purposive sampling, data were collected from 238 valid responses of technology R&D personnel in Kaohsiung, and structural equation modeling was employed for analysis. The results indicate that the direct effects of organizational support and social influence on AI usage are not significant, but both indirectly influence AI usage through performance expectancy, highlighting performance expectancy as the core driver of AI adoption. In addition, personal innovativeness demonstrates a significant moderating effect, as individuals with higher innovativeness are better able to translate performance beliefs into actual behavior. These findings suggest that in knowledge-intensive environments, external support and social norms must be integrated with employees’ perceptions of AI benefits to facilitate actual adoption. Theoretically, this study extends the application of social cognitive theory to AI usage, addressing the limitations of prior research that focused solely on external factors; practically, it reminds managers to strengthen employees’ performance expectancy and design promotion strategies tailored to individual differences in order to foster organizational digital transformation.

Early childhood is a critical period for developing exercise habits, and parental involvement plays a decisive role in shaping children’s physical activity behaviors. Drawing on Expectancy Value Theory, this study examined parents of kindergarten-aged children across five constructs: Ability Expectation, Required Effort, Psychological Cost of Failure, Cost of Others’ Expectations, and Perceived Value. Results revealed a notable gap between the perceived importance and actual satisfaction of the Psychological Cost of Failure, indicating parents’ concern about potential frustration or pressure their children might face. In contrast, Perceived Value was consistently rated high in both importance and satisfaction, underscoring parents’ recognition of the social and emotional benefits of parent–child physical activities. These findings highlight the need for schools to provide emotional support and positive reinforcement in activity design.

Management often promotes internal competition as a means to enhance employee performance; however, the potential adverse effects are frequently neglected. This study investigates the relationships among competitive psychological climate, organizational deviance, moral disengagement, and felt trust. It explores how a competitive climate is associated with organizational deviance through the mechanism of moral disengagement and examines whether felt trust moderates this relationship. Surveys were administered in two phases to 279 full-time employees in Taiwan. Partial least square structural equation modeling was employed to test the hypothesized relationships. Our findings indicate that moral disengagement mediates the relationship between competitive psychological climate and organizational deviance. Furthermore, felt trust moderated both the direct and indirect relationships involving competitive psychological climate. The implication for management is that when employing internal competition to enhance performance, they should consider the potential for deviant behavior and whether it can be mitigated by moderators such as felt trust.

Shrimp fishing, a unique leisure activity in Taiwan, provides an important recreational option for local residents. Guided by self-determination theory, this study investigates how leisure motivation and leisure involvement affect perceived leisure benefits, with leisure satisfaction as a mediator. A survey from 359 shrimp fishing participants and structural equation modeling, results how that both leisure motivation and involvement positively influence leisure benefits, with leisure satisfaction acting as a partial mediator. Moreover, leisure motivation exerts stronger direct and indirect effects than involvement. These findings contribute to the literature by extending self-determination theory in leisure research and provide practical guidance for venue operators and managers in enhancing consumer engagement, improving service design, and sustaining cultural leisure industries.  

In the wake of the pandemic, countries worldwide have strived to revive their tourism sectors, with Thailand’s industry playing a crucial economic role. Grounded in Protection Motivation Theory (PMT), this study examines key psychological determinants of domestic travel intentions, including threat severity, response efficacy, and psychological resilience. Data from 509 Thai participants were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Results reveal that heightened threat perceptions significantly weaken travel intentions, while confidence in protective measures enhances willingness to travel. Psychological resilience mitigates perceived threats and strengthens the effect of response efficacy on travel intention. Surprisingly, anxiety did not significantly impact travel intentions. This study offers a holistic perspective on travelers' cognitive and emotional responses to health crises. The findings provide valuable insights for policymakers and stakeholders to strengthen public resilience, foster trust in safety measures, and support sustainable recovery in the tourism sector.

The e-commerce experience has been transformed by artificial intelligence, which has also opened new avenues for customer communication through chatbots. This study aims to examine how chatbot characteristics influence continuance intention in e-commerce. Specifically, it explores how interactivity, compatibility, information quality, and service quality affect users' perceptions of chatbot usefulness and enjoyment. A quantitative approach using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed for data analysis. The main findings reveal that (i) information quality and service quality positively influence both perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment of chatbots, which in turn enhance continuance intention; (ii) compatibility positively affects perceived enjoyment but not perceived usefulness; and (iii) interactivity moderates the relationship between information quality and both perceived usefulness and enjoyment. This study extends the Technology Acceptance Model by incorporating service-related and interactive factors, contributing to the growing body of knowledge on consumer behavior and technology adoption in e-commerce. The findings offer valuable insights for chatbot designers, managers, and customer service practitioners.

Interactive technology has increasingly gained attention from both consumers and retailers, reshaping the shopping experience. Among these technologies, augmented reality (AR) has emerged as a powerful tool that enables businesses to engage customers in distinctive and immersive ways. Although several leading companies have developed dedicated AR applications or integrated AR features into existing apps, limited research has explored how AR in mobile shopping apps influences consumer attitudes and shopping intentions. This study examines the effects of utilitarian value (UV), hedonic value (HV), and symbolic value (SV) of AR on customer attitudes and intentions to shop via mobile applications. Based on empirical data from 389 respondents, the results reveal that UV, HV, and SV positively influence attitudes toward mobile app shopping. However, only HV and SV significantly impact shopping intention. Additionally, attitude mediates the relationship between the perceived values of AR and the intention to shop. These findings contribute to the understanding of AR’s role in mobile commerce and offer practical insights for retailers, managers, and AR designers aiming to enhance the customer experience through in-app AR features.

This study probes how mobile health monitoring contributes to health behavior change, with a particular focus on the roles of self-quantification and health consciousness. The findings indicate that mobile health monitoring effectively facilitates positive changes in health behaviors. Moreover, there is a significant interplay between self-quantification, mobile health monitoring, and behavior change—individuals are more likely to adopt healthier lifestyles when they can independently monitor and interpret their health data. Health consciousness further reinforces this relationship, as individuals with higher health awareness are more likely to transform data-driven insights into actionable and sustained health behaviors.

Against the backdrop of rapid advancements in generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), ChatGPT has emerged as a representative application, drawing significant research interest in user behavior patterns. This study applies the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) Model to investigate the key factors influencing the adoption of ChatGPT among users in Taiwan. Using a cross-sectional survey approach, we recruited a sample of 454 Taiwanese ChatGPT users through social media and online forums. The study analyzed the impact of four key constructs—performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions—on behavioral intention and actual usage behavior. The results indicated that performance expectancy and effort expectancy play pivotal roles in shaping behavioral intention, while facilitating conditions significantly affect actual usage behavior. Furthermore, cultural background exerts a critical moderating effect on the influence of social factors. These findings highlight the unique characteristics of user behavior in Taiwan, provide practical insights for optimizing the design and promotion of GenAI tools, and offer valuable implications for technology adoption policies.

Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling has gained considerable attention across diverse academic fields, including business, social sciences, marketing, and management. A key challenge in utilizing PLS-SEM is balancing explanatory and predictive power when selecting the most suitable model from competing alternatives. This paper explores the effectiveness of various quality criteria for evaluating causal-predictive models, with a focus on resistance to change in Vietnamese SMEs. The study emphasizes the importance of both in-sample and out-of-sample predictions, using metrics such as R², BIC, AIC, Q², RMSE, MAE, and CVPAT. The findings reveal that traditional criteria like R² may not be sufficient for identifying the best model, while PLSpredict, CVPAT, BIC, and AIC offer superior performance in determining the optimal balance between explanatory and predictive capabilities. These insights provide practical implications for researchers and practitioners, highlighting the need to tailor model selection to specific objectives, such as theory development or real-world forecasting. For practitioners, the study underscores the benefits of leveraging simpler, more generalizable models for robust decision-making in dynamic or resource-constrained environments.

In recent years, increased understanding has led individuals to prioritize exercise for the purposes of sustaining health, achieving weight loss, preventing various diseases, and alleviating stress. This research aims to deepen our understanding of human exercise behavior by examining the factors that influence this trend. The writers utilize the framework of "Social Learning Theory" to elucidate the correlation among influencing factors, exercise behavior, and stress relief. This study details a survey that involved 323 participants, primarily Vietnamese college students with a focus on tourism. The analysis comprised 151 males and 172 females. This research employed structural equation modeling (SEM) for data analysis. The results showed that enabling circumstances and social impact have a positive impact on stress relief, with exercise activity playing a mediating role. The model accounts for 57.3% of the variance in exercise behavior and 57.1% in stress relief. Moreover, social impact has a direct favorable impact on students' stress relief. In conclusion, both enabling factors and social impact are associated with increased exercise activity. These characteristics increase the likelihood of students participating in exercise and reducing their academic stress. The study also that the institution introduces a course that combines academics with yoga and team sports to the general education curriculum. The institution should offer on-campus fitness or partner with local gyms. Finally, joining clubs and organizations might encourage university students to exercise.