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The development of modern society is intricately linked to data, which is regarded as a crucial resource for social and economic progress. The global push for government data transparency has garnered significant attention, with numerous countries actively promoting its utilization. In line with this trend, the Korean government has sought to improve public services through enhanced data accessibility. However, few companies are utilizing open government data (OGD). Thus, this study investigates the factors contributing to OGD adoption hesitancy by examining the perspectives of two primary stakeholder groups: the government and companies. Using social representation theory, we analyze news articles to reveal company perspectives and identify their reluctance to use OGD. The findings reveal 15 key thematic categories, highlighting significant differences in stakeholder perceptions. By exploring and comparing government and company perspectives, this study provides insights into the underutilization of OGD and proposes practical strategies to enhance its adoption. These recommendations are essential for effectively formulating and implementing policies, fostering greater business engagement, and driving economic innovation and growth.

With the consideration of moderating role of trust disposition, this study aims to examine how autonomy affects consumers’ functional attachment and emotional attachment to voice assistant (VA), which in turn affect their continuance intention. An online questionnaire survey was conducted and 215 valid questionnaires were collected in China. Partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data. The results prove that autonomy is positively associated with consumers’ functional attachment and emotional attachment to VA. Emotional attachment not only has a positive effect on consumers’ continuance intention, but also works as a mediator between functional attachment and continuance intention. Besides, a negative moderating role of trust disposition is found between autonomy and emotional attachment. This paper is the early attempt to investigate the significance of autonomy on consumers’ continuance intention of VA from the perspective of functional attachment and emotional attachment, with the consideration of moderating role of trust disposition. The research findings offer valuable insights for both scholars and practitioners in VA industry.

Despite the growing importance of avatars in reshaping consumer interactions, there remains a discernible gap in the literature necessitating a comprehensive synthesis of existing knowledge. In response, this study conducts a systematic-literature-review employing the Theory-Context-Characteristics-Methodology (TCCM) framework. Study aims to delineate the current state of the field by addressing key research foci and conducting a meticulous TCCM analysis. Drawing from the TCCM-framework, our investigation encompasses an exploration of (1) dominant theories guiding research endeavours, (2) contexts within which avatar marketing is situated, (3) key characteristics characterizing the studies, (4) diverse study methodologies employed, and (5) the overall trajectory of research in this domain. Study unfolds a panoramic view of avatar marketing in the metaverse, synthesizing existing knowledge, and illuminating the key dimensions that shape this dynamic field. Insights gained from systematic-literature-review contribute to a deeper understanding of the theories, contexts, characteristics, and methodologies that have underpinned research endeavours thus far.

The overall feeling of security decreases depression negatively and increases subjective well-being positively. As artificial intelligence (AI) advances, significant changes in information technology (IT) give rise to various health-related concerns among individuals, such as the overall feeling of security, due to the radical impact. To address this concern, the Protection Motivation Theory is applied. Data from 185 valid respondents were gathered and analyzed using PLS analysis. The results indicate that job stability, optimism towards AI, and innovativeness of AI significantly and positively influence individuals’ overall feeling of security. However, the impact of job displacement by AI, fear of AI, and self-efficacy of AI on this sense of security was found insignificant. Notably, having a background in information technology negatively impacted individuals’ overall feeling of security. Finally, the protection motivation and psychological health present partially different patterns across genders. The results show that people tend to feel secure when they perceive job stability. However, the impact of being optimistic and innovative of AI differs across genders. These findings underscore the vital importance of AI implementation in the transformation of gender-technology relations. This offers valuable insights for governments’ managing people's psychological health and balancing gender-technology relations amidst profound changes driven by AI.

Online product (or service) review platforms are increasingly incorporating receipt-based consumer verification as a means of filtering out fake reviews. In this method, consumers are required to upload a photocopy of their receipt before they can write a review. This study aims to examine how this additional step before writing a review impacts the length and ratings of the online review. We analyze a large-scale database of reviews obtained from a prominent Korean portal that initially featured a platform-verified review system only but later introduced a receipt-based consumer-verified review system. The unique contextual setting, where a single platform offers both platform-verified and consumer-verified review systems, enables us to compare review elements between the two different systems without being concerned about potential effects arising from differences in platform characteristics. We found that receipt-based consumer verification leads to shorter and more negative reviews compared to platform verification. We also found that the introduction of a consumer-verified review system reduced the average review duration in the platform-verified review system. We discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of the study.

As South Korea increasingly relies on foreign workers to address workforce shortages in its aging society, this study investigates occupational safety challenges foreign workers face, especially in labor-intensive industries. Despite their critical role in sectors such as manufacturing, foreign workers remain highly vulnerable to workplace hazards, primarily due to language barriers and cultural gaps that obstruct effective risk communication and safety instruction. Although multilingual policies have been introduced to address these limitations, they often fail to reflect the linguistic and cultural diversity of the foreign workforce. Existing research has underscored the necessity of culturally adaptive safety education; however, previous studies have predominantly relied on static survey data, limiting their responsiveness to rapidly evolving industrial risks. To bridge this gap, this study aims to analyze a substantial corpus of unstructured news articles related to industrial safety using text mining techniques and BERTopic-based modelling. This study identified seven key themes related to safety education. However, the current safety training were found to inadequately address the linguistic and cultural needs of foreign workers. Network analysis revealed structural links among policy, education, and integration, with foreign workers and safety education as central terms. The findings suggest the importance of developing safety training strategies that are culturally and linguistically responsive to the needs of foreign workers. By offering a data-driven exploration of overlooked safety issues, this study provides practical implications for improving occupational safety policy and fostering inclusive safety practices in South Korea’s high-risk industries.

Online reviews, as a notable form of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), have demonstrated a significant association with a broad range of consumers, particularly in shaping their impressions of products or services and influencing their purchasing intentions. Both review ratings and sentiment reflect the reviewer’s satisfaction and attitude after using a product or service. Additionally, reviewers with greater relevant experience are often able to provide more insightful evaluations. Based on this, our study analyzes the relationship between review ratings and textual sentiment and their link to review helpfulness, using movie reviews collected from IMDb.com, while also considering the moderating role of the reviewer’s relevant experience. Our findings indicate that extreme ratings are more strongly related to review helpfulness. Moreover, regardless of the sentiment expressed in the review title and text, reviews with more negative sentiment are generally perceived as more helpful. Reviewer experience, especially when relevant to the movie genre being reviewed, amplifies the connection between rating, title sentiment, and text sentiment and review helpfulness. This study confirms the relationship between three key factors and review helpfulness, further clarifying the moderating role of reviewer relevant experience. These results contribute to eWOM research and enrich the literature on review helpfulness.

Digital learning platforms enable global knowledge sharing, yet cultural and linguistic diversity presents ongoing engagement challenges. This study examines how language and cultural diversity influence learner engagement and academic performance in massive open online courses (MOOCs). Drawing on cognitive dissonance and adaptive learning theories, we investigate whether learners who initially encounter cultural or linguistic barriers ultimately achieve superior outcomes. We analyze observational data from a 10-week edX course on baseball analytics, chosen due to the varying cultural familiarity with baseball. Results indicate that while in-group learners (English speakers from countries where baseball is culturally familiar) initially exhibit higher engagement and performance, persistent out-group learners demonstrate deeper social engagement, increased forum persistence, and superior long-term academic performance. Their sustained engagement significantly improves the discussions quality, benefiting other learners in the course. These findings contribute to cognitive dissonance theory by showing that initial discomfort can improve learners’ cognitive engagement and learning outcomes. From a practical perspective, this study provides managerial implications for learner support, adaptive assessment design, and diversity management in MOOC setting.

Digital Transformation (DX) is the primary innovation strategy to enhance organizational flexibility and productivity in the workplace. Each company promotes DX within its unique organizational direction and situations, and employee competency becomes a critical factor for successful transformation. However, existing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have limited resources to hire AI experts or develop appropriate DX implementation strategies compared to large enterprises. As a result, many SMEs adopt a more practical and efficient approach by implementing internal AI reskilling programs for their employees. In this paper, we aim to examine whether such reskilling programs effectively drive DX adaptation within SMEs. For our investigation, we designed AI-based reskilling programs that were implemented across 39 SMEs from diverse industries, alongside Proof of Concept (PoC) projects that were aligned with each company’s DX goals. We extracted key terms from the reskilling program reports and categorized the companies by industry type and organizational scale. We also conducted text analysis to identify strategic directions and transformation intents regarding DX. Our findings demonstrated that AI reskilling programs could effectively support SMEs in achieving DX. Our analysis results also highlight how industry-specific characteristics, and the availability of internal resources influence DX implementation. In particular, the number of employees and the ratio of R&D investment emerged as key factors. Furthermore, this study provides a practical roadmap for AI adoption and strategy tailored to similar types of SMEs, serving as a foundational reference for inclusive and sustainable digital transformation.

With the growing adoption of electronic financial payment services across both wired and wireless environments, the importance of managing personal information in FinTech has become increasingly critical. Incidents such as hacking and phishing within the FinTech ecosystem have caused significant harm to users, making personal information protection a paramount concern. This study presents a research framework based on Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) to analyze the psychological responses of FinTech payment services users. Specifically, it examines the impact how prior experiences of privacy invasion influence users’ emotional concerns (i.e., threat appraisals), perceived security (i.e., coping appraisals), and compliance intentions regarding personal information protection. Data were collected through an online survey of FinTech users with relevant experience. The empirical results show that privacy invasion experiences increase emotional concerns and reduce perceived security, although they do not affect FinTech-related knowledge. Additionally, while FinTech knowledge does not influence emotional concerns, it has a positive effect on perceived security and compliance intentions. Perceived security was found to alleviate emotional concerns and enhance compliance intentions. These findings provide valuable insights for FinTech services providers seeking to strengthen user behavior concerning personal information protection.