Abstract NFTs, or non‐fungible tokens (NFTs), are a new form of ownership registration based on blockchain technology that allows digital assets to be exchanged with guarantees of ownership and originality of the artwork involved. This has boosted the trade of these assets and companies have been quick to incorporate NFTs into their marketing strategy, either with their own tokens or by collaborating with established companies in the metaverse. Building on the frameworks of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology 2 (UTAUT2), this study contributes to the literature by analysing the determinants of individuals' adoption of NFTs through two studies. Study 1 relies on qualitative interviews with technology insiders to provide initial insights into these determinants. Study 2 tests the hypotheses developed and compares the results between non‐buyers and buyers in order to analyse the intention to purchase and repurchase NFTs. This study contributes to the UTAUT2 with two new individual‐specific variables of interest for the adoption of this type of product: social capital, and the fear of missing out. Finally, this study concludes with guidelines for companies on how they can use NFTs in their marketing campaigns.
Open access
Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts
Digital Marketing and Social Media
Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification
Abstract Although blockchain has often been perceived as a game-changer that can revolutionize the music industry, it also retains possible challenges regarding the practicality of such innovative adoption. This study seeks to construe the realistic thoughts raised by artists regarding the new revenue opportunities arising from the adoption of blockchain in the Korean music industry. This involves the disintermediation of the obsolete music royalty distribution system and a new revenue channel from the Non-fungible Token market. Based on social representation theory and interviews with Korean artists, this study found ambivalent perceptions towards the adoption of blockchain in the music industry - hoping for new possibilities while also perceiving the impracticality of such innovation. Indeed, it may be too good to be true for artists who have observed the local domain with little change regardless of their continuous cries for help. After thorough discussion, the study provides key implications to induce sound settlement of an innovative technology.
Open access
Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification
The purpose of the article is a theoretical review of the formation and development of the latest marketing technologies and their practical adaptation to the entrepreneurial activity of Ukrainian business entities. The main marketing technologies developed by different markets and used by business structures of medium-sized businesses are considered. It is detailed that when conducting office research, marketers use Big Data technology as a technology for processing large volumes of structured and unstructured data for their further use in order to solve various tasks. It is specified that effective marketing technologies such as SMM (Social Media Markitang), SEO (Search Engine Optimization), Tableau technologies, Google Data Studio, Microsoft Power BI, TRI*M, digital advertising and CRM technology are in the arsenal of marketers for conducting field research. . The main new marketing technologies are separated, namely: NFT technology (Non-Fungible Tokens), AR/VR (augmented reality/virtual reality) technology and artificial intelligence technology. According to the conducted studies, it was established that CRM technology is currently used by all business structures, digital advertising technology - 95%, SMM technology - 85%, TRI*M and SEO technologies - 75%. It is detailed that artificial intelligence technology is used by large and medium-sized business companies in the following areas: personalized automation, omnichannel, omnichannel marketing, the field of brand community formation and creation of texts, images for its promotion, etc.
Purpose This paper examines the factors which impact the behavioral intentions toward cryptocurrency based on signaling theory. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected through online questionnaire, and responses from 223 individuals in Lebanon were analyzed through SEM technique using Amos 24. Findings The outcomes portrayed the positive effect of perceived benefits and trust in cryptocurrency on behavioral intentions toward cryptocurrency; while not supporting the hypothesized influence of herd behavior and regulatory support. Originality/value This paper is among the first studies to adopt Signaling Theory (ST) in the cryptocurrency behavioral intentions research. Moreover, it is of the initial efforts in Lebanon and Middle East in evaluating behavioral intentions to use cryptocurrency, and it provide insights for future researchers, crypto project owners, crypto investors and crypto trading platforms.
This paper investigates the relationship between national culture and the early adoption of Bitcoin. Utilizing a dataset comprised of Google Trends data on Bitcoin search interest for 64 countries, we construct measures of early Bitcoin adoption and examine their correlation with Hofstede's cultural dimension scores. Our findings reveal that in developed countries, lower Masculinity and Long-Term Orientation are associated with earlier Bitcoin adoption. In contrast, developing countries with lower Indulgence are found to adopt Bitcoin early. This paper contributes to the literature by highlighting how different cultural traits, moderated by a country's development status, can influence the Bitcoin early adoption.
The use cases of blockchain as an innovative technology have increasingly captured the attention of tourism enterprises. To date, the literature tends to discuss blockchain's advantages rather than how early enterprise adopters and innovators experience and perceive the technology. As such, the extent of technology diffusion is not well understood. This study critically explores the factors influencing blockchain diffusion in tourism and how blockchain innovation is diffused in tourism. We conducted semistructured interviews with founders and senior executives of tourism enterprises in the United States and Europe who are early adopters and innovators of blockchain in tourism. From the thematic analysis, our empirical findings indicate that blockchain has much to offer despite the nascent link between blockchain's business value to an enterprise's strategic plans and the limited success of use cases in tourism. We summarize the findings in a conceptual framework and offer propositions based on the antecedents (motivators and drivers and challenges and barriers) of blockchain diffusion of innovation for enterprises to achieve competitive advantage. The propositions provide a research agenda to guide the strategic implementation of blockchain.
Understanding public sentiment is vital in the dynamic realm of digital currencies. This study analyses sentiments surrounding cryptocurrencies by examining a large dataset of X posts using Python-based methodologies. The research explores correlations between public opinions and market dynamics, uncovering the emotions and attitudes influencing cryptocurrency trends. By identifying drivers of sentiment on social media platforms, the findings offer insights into how public discourse impacts market fluctuations. The study's outcomes are valuable for investors, analysts, and policymakers, supporting strategy development, informed investment decisions, and effective policy creation. This research advances the growing field of cryptocurrency studies, highlighting the critical role of sentiment analysis in understanding and navigating the complexities of digital currency markets.
Jan 1, 2024·Proceedings of the ... Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences/Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
Famous worldwide corporations have used the meta-universe marketing technique in recent years: Givenchy built a virtual beauty salon, Givenchy Beauty House, and Mac linked virtual idols. AYAYI, Estee Lauder launched the world's most famous paintings of digital collections, L'Oreal created Reds of Worth Non-Fungible Token (NFT) art, and so on, leading to the research question: how does the meta-universe empower beauty businesses to achieve greater marketing and sales? The study concluded that: First, the quality of the consumer environment is strongly tied to sales via the employment of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies to enhance the realism of the consumer environment in the meta-universe scene. Second, as the meta-universe community is built to suit customers' social requirements, social demands are becoming increasingly prominent in consumer demand. Third, the added value of the brand is to increase market competitiveness through the integration of IP and NFT promotions to increase the added value of the brand. The main contribution of this article is to propose new ideas for beauty brands to boost brand creation and consumption using meta-universe marketing.
Open access
Digital Marketing and Social Media
Consumer Retail Behavior Studies
Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification
This study aims to investigate consumer intention to pay for services in the travel and tourism industry using cryptocurrencies. This research investigates the impact of technology awareness, motivational factors and consumer attitudes on the intention to pay for tourism services using cryptocurrency by analyzing data collected from 794 respondents in the Baltic countries (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia). The empirical findings support the extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and confirm that technology awareness, motivational factors and attitudes towards cryptocurrencies have a statistically significant impact on the intention to use cryptocurrencies to pay for tourism services. The results also suggest that technology awareness has an indirect effect on intention through the mediators of motivational factors and attitude, with motivation indirectly affecting intention through the mediator of attitude towards cryptocurrencies.
This study has explored and analyzed a new Web3 social media for innovative development and built a theoretical framework for future counterparts. The researcher took the Taiwan Web3 social media platform, Potato Media, as a case study with the walkthrough method for both data gathering and analyzing. The present study shows that Potato Media has reformed, reconstructed and renewed their out-of-date Web2 online service using blockchain technology and cryptocurrency for governing and promoted user-led marketing actions. At the same time, Potato Media facilitated all users to build a marketing vision based on Web3 discourse in an advanced manner. The study concludes that new innovative social media with Web3 technology could initiate innovative development and marketing for three reasons: First, they could do it to enhance the inclusion of all users and creators and sustain core value of creativity; second, they could do it by creating the cryptocurrency as the governing tool for managing organizations and fulfilling token/ sharing economy; third, they could do it to represent their innovative social media marketing visions. This study finally suggests that all the social media platforms could have Web3 reforming plans for pursuing future business goals.
With the emergence of the metaverse, countries’ digital efforts to create tourism opportunities have given rise to the possibility of capitalising on digital content which, along with physical tourism experiences, can generate further income and enhance a country’s reputation. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs), a unique application of blockchain technology, offer an enabling technology in several sectors, including tourism. Therefore, this study aims to explore the official tourism websites of Croatia and Slovenia and analyse current NFT applications in tourism economics. The methodology focuses explicitly on sentiment analysis, blockchain and machine learning. The paper introduces various applications currently in place, including Slovenia’s “I Feel Nft” project. The research shows that the main benefits of using NFT and sentiment analysis in the tourism economy are the promotion and presentation of major tourist destinations, exhibitions, works of art, and companies’ products in tokens, digital content and souvenirs. The adoption of sentiment analysis and NFTs in the tourism economy is still open to proposals for implementing public quantitative data metrics. Therefore, the scientific contribution of this research is essential in terms of operational recommendations and defining metrics for measuring the effectiveness of those methodologies and their applications in the tourism economy. On top of that, the practical contribution lies in monitoring the influx of tourists, and highlighting their increase over time and the significance of new technology in time series tourism research.
Open access
Diverse Aspects of Tourism Research
Digital Marketing and Social Media
Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification
To facilitate the sustained development of non-fungible token (NFT) platforms and enhance user stickiness, it is imperative to study the factors that affect users’ continuous usage intentions. This research is grounded in the Expectation Confirmation Model and the Information Systems Success Model, and extends these approaches by introducing three elements—economic benefits, perceived trustworthiness, and technological pressure—thereby constructing the research model. Structural equation modeling was employed to analyze data from 304 respondents with experience in using NFT trading platforms. The findings indicate that: (1) technological pressure is positively correlated with perceived ease of use; (2) both service quality and information quality are positively correlated with perceived ease of use and usefulness; (3) perceived ease of use, usefulness, economic benefits, and their impact on individuals and organizations are all positively correlated with continuous usage intention; and (4) system quality is not significantly related to perceived ease of use or usefulness, nor is perceived trustworthiness significantly related to continuous usage intention. Based on these findings, we provide practical recommendations for optimizing NFT platforms and offer guidance for platform developers and operators.
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of social media on perceptions and investment intentions regarding cryptocurrency, using the Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM) and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Theoretical Reference: The theoretical framework for this study is based on the Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM) for gathering expert feedback and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) for understanding the acceptance of technology. Method: The method involved collecting responses using a 7-point Likert scale and a panel of eight experts who reviewed and approved the survey items. The data were analyzed using triangular fuzzy numbering and defuzzification to determine the ranking of each variable. Results and Conclusion: The study found a high level of consensus among experts, with defuzzification values exceeding the α-cut >.5, and the overall threshold value (d) was less than .2, which is within the required threshold for percent consensus of over 75%. All 60 recommended items were deemed suitable for inclusion in a large-scale survey. Implications of Research: The research implies that there is a strong agreement among experts on the factors influencing the perceptions and investment intentions towards cryptocurrency as mediated by social media. This consensus can be used to inform a larger-scale survey and potentially guide investment and marketing strategies in the cryptocurrency domain. Originality/Value: The originality of this research lies in its application of the Fuzzy Delphi Method to the field of cryptocurrency and its combination with the Technology Acceptance Model to understand investment intentions influenced by social media. The value is in providing a methodologically sound basis for further large-scale research and offering insights into expert consensus on the topic.
Open access
Digital Marketing and Social Media
Technology Adoption and User Behaviour
Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification