In 2011 one-third of South African organisations did not intend to adopt cloud computing services because IT decision-maker lacked understanding of the related concepts and benefits (Goldstuck, 2011). This research develops a media-oriented model to examine the adoption of these services in South Africa. The model uses the technology acceptance model (TAM) and innovation diffusion theory (IDT) to develop variables that are considered determinants of adoption including trialability, complexity of understanding, perceived risk, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness.An electronic survey was sent to 107 IT decision-makers. Over 80% of the respondents were C-suite executives. The Partial Least Squares (PLS) method was chosen to depict and test the proposed model. PLS is superior to normal regression models and is a second generation technique. The data analysis included evaluating and modifying the model, assessing the new measurement model, testing the hypotheses of the model structure and presenting the structural model.The research found that media, experts and word of mouth mitigate perceived risks including bandwidth, connectivity and power. Furthermore, trialability and perceived usefulness were affected by social influence, as well as influencing adoption. The results enable service providers and marketers to develop product roadmaps and pinpoint media messages. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Date: 2020-06-09 Level: Master thesis in Business Administration, 15 cr  Institution: School of Business, Society and Engineering, Mälardalen University  Authors: Lisa Eriksson (91/08/31) Lana Rasool (97/02/23)  Title: Keen to be green? Consumer perceptions of green advertising in the skincare industry Tutor: Konstantin Lampou Keywords: Green advertisements, green perceived risk, green trust, green skincare, green marketing, green content.  Research- questions: How do consumers perceive green content in advertisements?  What aspects create perceptions of trust? What aspects create perceptions of risks? Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore how consumers perceive green advertising practices in the skincare industry and what aspects affect perceptions of trust and risks. Method: The study was conducted through a qualitative approach by performing focus groups. Data was analyzed through a thematic analysis. Conclusion: The research indicate that there are several aspects that lead to consumer perception of trust and perceived risk when consumers view green advertisements. Six main themes that included different aspects were identified.

This paper examines the transferability of supermarkets into developing countries by using Saudi Arabia as a case in point. Results of an empirical study comparing the grocery shopping habits of Saudi and Western expatriates are presented. The paper provides insights into the diffusion of supermarkets among the local population in Saudi Arabia and offers strategies to facilitate the diffusion process.

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether consumers’ negative emotions (loss and deterrence emotions) toward new e-banking technology influence their behavioral intention to adopt new emerging e-banking technology. This thesis tries to integrate the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) with emotion as a non-cognitive factor and perceived risk as a well-known influential factor in the banking context. The Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used for analyzing its conceptual model and hypotheses. To test the hypotheses and model of this paper, a sample of 109 students as young consumers of new emerging e-banking technology was collected in Sweden. The findings support the negative relationship between loss emotions and effort expectancy as one of the cognitive factors of the UTAUT. Loss emotions could impact consumers’ behavioral intentions through consumers’ effort expectancy and performance expectancy. Moreover, the results show that perceived risk and performance expectancy are the strongest predictors of consumers' behavioral intention to adopt new emerging e-banking technology respectively while social influence and hedonic motivation do not show a statistically significant impact on consumers’ behavioral intention. The present study contributes to previous research by examining the influence of a broad range of negative emotions on consumers' behavioral intention to adopt new e-banking technology. To the best of the author’s knowledge, there exists no other study referring to this issue neither in the banking industry nor with the Swedishenvironment.

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The environmental issues in the world are critical and sustainability becomes more important. There is a certain lack in the textile industry, where the production of clothes is responsible for water pollution, landfill waste and greenhouse gas emission. A more sustainable way of consumption is required, and one way is to shop for pre-owned and pre-used clothes. The demand for second-hand goods rapidly increases and the market is expected to continue to grow the next coming years. Internet has opened up for a new marketplace and the number of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) platforms increases and become more and more popular to buy and sell second-hand through. Generation Z are the young consumers that were born with technology, and this has led to a change in young people’s behavior, and attitudes and lifestyle which need to be perceived differently from previous generations. However, there is still a lack of research regarding Gen Z as consumers and no previous research has focused on their behavior when it comes to Online Second-hand Shopping Clothes (OSSC) using digital P2P platforms. Hence, this led us to our research question “What are the motives for Generation Z to shop second-hand clothes on digital P2P platforms?”. The aim is to give important insights to managers who are developing marketing strategies in the environment of OSSC, through exploring motivations and dimensions that could impact the behavior of this amongst Gen Z. We also want to give insights of OSSC through not only incorporating theories on shopping motivations, but also include Impulsive Buying Tendency and Perceived Risk. Based on theories of motivations towards Second-Hand shopping such as economical, ideological, fashionability, convenience, ethical and theories of Impulse Buying Tendency and Perceived Risk we constructed a conceptual framework with several hypotheses. To answer our research question and achieve our research purpose we conducted a deductive quantitative study where we through a web survey targeted people born in Gen Z who had experience of OSSC. The findings revealed that as a motive in our baseline regression analysis, ideological and convenience was significant. In our analysis on bivariate correlation, convenience and ethical motives was significant. In the multiple regression with multiple-items measures, convenience was the only significant motivation. Perceived Risk was only significant in our alternative model where it would affect the consumers perception of monetary spending on OSSC. We found no support that fashionability and impulse buying traits are motives for OSSC. Economical motives were not found to be significant as a motivation, but it can be considered a hygiene factor for OSSC. In conclusion, the findings reveal that all motives are important in different aspects, but convenience and ethical motives are strongly supported to be important drivers towards OSSC amongst Gen Z.

The aim of the current study was to reconstruct the sport venue quality dimensionsas an autonomous quality with a utilitarian perspective and examine the impact on spectators’ perceived risk, price perception, and sustained consumption intentions. Venues for National Basketball Association (NBA) and Major League Baseball (MLB) games that mostly represent indoor and outdoor sporting facilities were chosen, and subjects were spectators who have experience of attending professional team sport events in sport venues. The study employed an online survey for data collection, and a total of 595 samples were utilized for data analyses. The data set was randomly split into two halves for a principal component analysis and a confirmatory factor analysis, respectively. Results of the PCA generated 11 factors for venue quality including seating comfort, facility aesthetics, layout accessibility, safety, cleanliness, seating view, space allocation, facility system, electronic device, parking, and signage. The reliability and validity of the measurement model were also confirmed. In the structural model analyses, venue quality was found to be significantly associated with perceived value, perceived risk, and sustained consumption intentions. The relationships among perceived value, perceived risk, and sustained consumption intentions were also positively significant. The mediating effects of perceived value and perceived risk were found in the relationship between venue quality and sustained consumption intentions. The findings of the current research will contribute to the sport management literature by providing meaningful insights on capturing the essence of sport venue quality, based on an autonomous quality, and how it affects spectators’ price perception, alleviates perceived risk, and leads to sustained consumption intentions.

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Many studies have examined the level of risk perceived by cyclists when they are being passed by motor vehicles (e.g., Beck et al., 2021; Rasch et al., 2022) and others have reported that drivers with negative attitudes towards cyclists self-report higher levels of driver aggression towards cyclists (e.g., Delbosc et al., 2019; Fruhen & Flin, 2015; Haworth et al., 2018). However, self-reported behaviours may not reflect a driver's observable behaviour (Fruhen et al., 2019). Lamondia and Duthie (2012) proposed that LPD is an indicator of the driver's degree of respect for a cyclist but other driver factors may also be important. Little is known about how accurately drivers canjudge lateral passing distance (Haworth et al., 2018) or whether some unsafe passes could simply reflect poor driver understanding of cyclist needs when sharing roadways. The general finding that LPDs are lower when there are parked cars or oncoming vehicles (Rubie et al., 2020), suggests that drivers may leave inadequate LPDs if they perceive that moving into the opposite side of the road poses a risk to themselves or their vehicle. Rasch et al. (2022) is one of the few studies to measure drivers' perceptions of the risk to themselves in overtaking cyclists. Some studies have examined how different motor vehicle speeds influence perceived risk of the passing motor vehicle for cyclists (Apasnore et al., 2017; Garcia et al., 2020; Llorca et al., 2017; Rasch et al., 2022) or drivers (Rasch et al., 2022), generally finding that cyclists perceive higher motor vehicle speeds are more hazardous. This paper examines (1) whether negative attitudes towards cyclists influence perceptions ofrisk: to the cyclist in passing events, (2) the factors associated with driver perceptions of the risk to themselves, and (3) if increases in motor vehicle speed are associated with higher levels of perceived risk to the cyclist and driver in the passing event. [From: Introduction]

In the last five years, the world has experienced unexpected tragic events and natural disasters. However, international tourism is expected to grow continually and tourists are therefore becoming more concerned with safety and security during their international travel. This dissertation investigated individuals' risk perception of vacationing at two scenario international destinations, Australia and Japan. While ten dimensions of perceived risk in international leisure travel were identified in the literature and one additional dimension of "Communication Risk" was proposed for this study, only seven dimensions were found in this study: "Health Risk," "Value Risk," "Psychological Risk," "Social Risk," "Terrorism Risk," "Equipment Risk," and "Communication Risk." The other four dimensions — "Financial Risk," "Time Risk," "Satisfaction Risk," and "Political Instability Risk" — were either merged into other dimensions or did not appear as an independent dimension in this study. The "Communication Risk" which was proposed in this study was found to be a valid dimension of perceived risk in vacationing at international destinations. The relationships of perceived risk to other factors were also examined. Individuals' characteristics of novelty seeking were negatively related to their risk perception, as were individuals' proficiency of the destination's native language. Those who have experience visiting the destination tended to perceive less risk in vacationing at the destination; the more familiarity/expertise with the destination, the less risk was perceived. When an individual perceived a higher level of risk towards a destination, s/he was less likely to vacation at the destination. Individuals were more likely to choose a packaged tour than independent travel when they had a higher level of risk perception towards vacationing at a particular international destination. / Ph. D.