Current Social Sciences - Current Issue

This study aims to investigate the factors facilitating social media adoption within the tourism sector of an emerging economy.

Social media has emerged as a transformative agent within the global tourism industry, fundamentally altering the ways in which tourists engage, disseminate information, and make travel-related decisions. However, the integration of social media platforms within emerging economies poses distinctive challenges and opportunities.

The primary objective of this research is to discern the drivers underpinning social media utilization within the tourism sector of an emerging economy, while also comprehending their implications for destination management, sustainable tourism practices, and economic advancement. This study operates within a considered framework to delineate the intricate interplay between social media dynamics and the broader tourism landscape.

Employing a survey methodology, data was collected from local tourists visiting tourist destinations in Ghana, an emerging economy situated in West Africa, to elucidate their patterns of social media usage and associated motivations. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to rigorously analyze the data and discern the key enablers driving social media utilization within the tourism sector.

The findings reveal that factors such as information accessibility, behavioral objectives, tourism satisfaction, and destination perception emerge as pivotal enablers fostering social media adoption within Ghana's tourism sector. Moreover, the study underscores the positive impact of social media usage on tourist satisfaction and loyalty, underscoring its significance in shaping visitor experiences.

This study underscores the imperative of comprehensively understanding the enablers of social media utilization within the tourism sector of emerging economies. Hence, by explaining these dynamics, stakeholders can make informed strategic decisions regarding destination management, foster sustainable tourism practices, and propel economic development within the region.

Institutions of higher learning are critical avenues for addressing issues pertaining to climate stability and environmental sustainability. College students, as future leaders, can play a crucial role in solving the planet’s most pressing problems if they have the right information and a behavioral orientation that promotes positive environmental outcomes.

The current study evaluates pro-environmental behaviors potentially moderated by knowledge, attitudes, motivations, and contextual factors for college students. It also evaluates what categories of environmentally friendly behaviors students elect to engage in.

Quantitative data were collected using an online questionnaire survey. Data were analyzed using SPSS statistical software.

Findings show a weaker influence by most stand-alone factors but a stronger cumulative effect when all the variables are considered together. Data also indicates student’s inclinations to certain environment-friendly behaviors more than others.

Study findings could be used to change university sustainability policies and curricula to enhance environmental consciousness and inspire participation in green initiatives among students. The study contributes to existing literature on sustainability in higher education institutions in the United States.

Building trust in a product, brand, or company is an important part of forming a relationship between a company and consumers. One of the key factors influencing consumer trust is two-way communication. Advertising, as a powerful communication tool capable of attracting attention and evoking emotions, plays a pivotal role in this process. Its characteristic feature is a dynamic increase in importance; in Poland, it currently holds the first place in terms of advertising expenditures. Due to this growth, understanding the perception and effectiveness of online advertising becomes crucial in building trust with consumers.

The study examines opinions concerning internet advertising and trust regarding its content. It explores attitudes, evaluation, purchase motivation, actual purchases made under the influence of online advertising, as well as consumers’ negative opinions about it.

The discussion is based on a 2020 survey conducted among Polish internet users concerning the perception of online advertising and related negative associations. The survey included 402 respondents, selected using the CAWI method, with a quota sample differentiated by gender, age, and place of residence.

The results revealed relatively low trust and effectiveness levels regarding online advertising, with no variation based on respondents' demographic characteristics. Most respondents (more than half of the respondents) indicated the excessive number of online advertisements, limited enthusiasm for advertisements, and low level of purchase incentive or actual motivation (rates below 10%), and strongly agreed with negative statements about online advertising.

The findings confirm the thesis of a general perception of online advertising as a threat to conscious consumption.

Two interests come together in this article, both from the perspectives of teachers and students from the Department of English Studies at Mohamed First University, Morocco. One is the extent to which Task-Based Learning (TBL) can inform educational technology. The other related issue is the need to capitalise on the interactive connectivity of online learning in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic so as to reconsider the teacher-fronted classes that have long dominated higher education. It is noticed that the sudden shift into online learning has been accompanied by a respective perpetuation of the lecturing style; in-class lecture notes were transferred into PDF documents to be downloaded and memorized by students.

After reviewing the relevant literature, we carried out a curriculum observation of the university’s e-learning platform, where professors and students of the English department undertook all their instructional and learning activities. In parallel, two questionnaires were administered. One questionnaire was addressed to (18) professors, and the other one targeted (155) students. In their totality, the contents of the questionnaires aim to investigate the participants’ perceptions of the unexpected move to e-learning, including questions of affordability, usability and methodology of presentation and application. The resultant quantitative data were used to test the major hypothesis that online instruction in the present context lacks a methodological framework that organizes the process of presenting and practising the assigned contents on the university’s e-learning platform.

While results come as a mixture of the encouraging, the discouraging and, occasionally, the puzzling, teacher-centeredness is certainly the unchanged aspect of this online transitioning. With the absence of a methodological framework that informs online instruction, both students and teachers are found to miss the interactive prospects afforded by the existing e-learning platform. Thus, there is an imperative to reconsider the lecturing style and teacher-centredness in post-pandemic higher education in Morocco.

Technology-mediated TBL methodology is proposed as a working alternative to the lecturing style dominant in the e-learning platform in the case under research and in similar universities elsewhere.

There is a growing mental health crisis among youth in the United States. The objective of the current study was to conduct a process evaluation of Strengthening Youth Resilience (SYR), a unique program aimed at decreasing youth anxiety and depression via social work internship placements within after-school programs in three historically underserved communities in a large city in Southern California. The SYR program utilizes the School Social Work Practice Model as a framework for interacting with youth within community settings by providing a tiered system of service delivery.

Focus group discussions and interviews were used to examine the unique perspectives of social work interns, program leaders, and Boys and Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) staff.

Results emphasized the importance of trust, clear communication, and shared decision-making as a foundation for successful program site integration. Additionally, several unanticipated barriers to implementation arose, including difficulty obtaining informed parental consent to work individually with youth, challenges aligning internship schedules with the fluid structure of after-school programs, and the need for a private welcoming space to work.

In conclusion, the SYR program successfully integrated within BGCA sites and was able to provide support to youth. BGCA sites expressed great satisfaction with the program and were eager to continue and expand upon their collaboration with the local university.