Wen-Jiun Yap

Age-group differences in Near Field Communication smartphone

Purpose – The purpose of this paper are twofold: first, develop a novel concept of a mobiquitous home application (Near Field Communication Smartphone Entertainment Systems (NFC SES)) with the use of photo interface and NFC smartphone. Second, examine age-group differences in relation to the influence of intuitive, convenience and perceived usefulness on users’ behavioural intention to use NFC SES. Design/methodology/approach – Using design science research, NFC SES is developed and a survey of 52 users is conducted to evaluate NFC SES. Findings – There are age differences in individual behavioural intention to use NFC technology. Convenience appears to be the primary factor for the youths. The adult cohort, in contrast emphasizes intuitive and perceived usefulness as two significant determinants of their behavioural intention to use NFC SES. Practical implications – This study offers a fresh insight for mobile device manufacturer and application developers to focus their design efforts around three aspec...

Are older adults really that different? Some insights from gerontechnology

Gerontechnology is a promising area of research. This study aims to extend knowledge in the area by providing an effective targeting strategy for gerontechnologies. Using near field communication (NFC)-enabled technology in the form of NFC light system (NLS), the study exposes a sample of older adults to this form of gerontechnology and examines their ease-of-use and usefulness evaluations of NLS and the subsequent impacts of these evaluations on their intentions to use NLS. Given a resulting scenario in which older adults considered NLS easy to use and useful, the study investigates whether demographic, psychographic, and behavioral characteristics produce any differences in their intentions to use NLS. The results reveal that older adults do not differ in their intentions to use NLS when demographics and psychographics are considered. Instead, older adults with positive attitudes toward NLS are more likely to use NLS than those with negative attitudes toward NLS. Thus, these findings suggest that an undifferentiated targeting strategy should be used for gerontechnologies, especially NFC-enabled technology, such as NLS, and that further research should concentrate on eliciting positive attitudes among older adults to persuade desired behaviors, such as greater intention to use and actual use of gerontechnologies.

Teaching Older Adults to Use Gerontechnology Applications Through Instruction Videos: Human-Element Considerations

This paper aims to investigate the effect of human narrator (vis-a-vis an artificially-created cartoon narrator) in designing instruction videos to teach older adults to use gerontechnology applications. Additionally, we assess whether there is a difference if the human narrator is a child, a young adult, or an older adult. A sample of 124 older adults was collected to test the research hypotheses. Our findings suggest that in general instruction videos with human narrators are preferred by the older adults over the one without (i.e., cartoon character). More interestingly, the older adults prefer child as the human narrator (to young adult and older adult), as reflected in the highest perceived effectiveness and social presence of the video garnered among all the video versions. These insights have important implications on teaching and promoting older adults’ use of gerontechnology applications via instruction videos. We conclude this paper with a discussion on the research implications, limitations and future research.

Does power posing affect gerontechnology adoption among older adults

ABSTRACT Recognising the rise of an aging population and independent living among older adults, many governments and organisations have developed and promoted new technologies in the form of gerontechnologies to support the needs and enhance the well-being of older adults. However, the adoption of products using such technology remains modest among the aging population. This study introduces the notion of power in the form of power posing and examines its impact on new technology adoption, particularly gerontechnology, among older adults. Using an experimental approach on a sample of older adults exposed to an in-house near-field communication-enabled light system, the study finds that high-power poses have a greater and more positive impact on older adults’ perceived ease of use of, perceived usefulness of, and intentions to use gerontechnology than low-power poses. Implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed.

Enhancing the sense of power and user adoption in gerontechnology: An experimental investigation of near-field communication lighting systems

Using the notion of power and the technology acceptance model as theoretical lenses, this study investigates the feasibility of developing gerontechnologies that are easy to use as well as useful in enhancing the sense of power among older adults, and in fostering greater intentions to use and recommend these technologies. Through the method of experimentation and multiple rigorous statistical analyses, this study exposes a sample of older adults to a near-field communication (NFC)-enabled gerontechnology in the form of an NFC lighting system (NLS) and examines their ease-of-use and usefulness evaluations of NLS, along with the subsequent impacts of these evaluations on their sense of power and intentions to use and recommend NLS. Findings suggest that gerontechnology that is easy to use and useful enhances the sense of power among older adults. More importantly, the study finds that by having a greater sense of power, older adults will have a higher tendency to use gerontechnology as well as recommend the use of gerontechnology to others. These findings should help gerontechnologists to develop a better understanding of the behavioral and psychological aspects of older adults when using new technologies, and thus develop and promote gerontechnology in ways that encourage greater acceptance among consumers in the ageing population.

Mobile outdoor parking space detection application

Finding a vacant parking space in outdoor parking lots is a daily concern of most vehicle drivers during rush hours, especially in the urban context. In this paper, an outdoor parking space vacancy detection system is proposed, using mobile devices to improve parking space searching experience for vehicle drivers by providing them with the location and occupancy information of parking spaces. The system uses state-of-the-art image recognition algorithm, namely Convolutional Neural Network with a Raspberry Pi to identify vacant parking spaces from a parking lot image retrieved in real time via an IP camera. A university parking lot has been chosen as the test bed to deploy the proposed system for real time parking space vacancy detection. An Android smartphone application called Driver App is developed to enable ubiquitous visualization of real time outdoor parking spaces occupancy information for vehicle drivers. Evaluation outcomes based on the responses to System Usability Scale (SUS) questionnaire revealed high usability of the Driver App as a tool that provides smart parking service to assist vehicle drivers in searching for a vacant parking space.

Encrypted quick response scheme for hotel check-in and access control system:

The unpleasant experience of long queue while waiting to check-in at hotel is a common problem faced by guests especially during holidays. As such, various self-service technologies (SSTs) were introduced over the years by researchers with the aim to increase the avenues of checking-in guests. Self-check-in kiosk is an invention that allows guests to check-in themselves using bar codes that were sent to them in advance. Although bar codes are able to reduce guests’ waiting time, it cannot be used to unlock hotel rooms. This makes mobile device a better medium for hotel check-in and access control system. Despite mobile device is very convenient and easy to operate, guests would have to own the specific type of mobile device such as near-field communication smartphone and its customized application before using the system. This makes the solution not user-friendly to guests. Therefore, a novel encrypted quick response scheme is presented to extend the existing SST to unify the process of check-in and room access control. The proposed scheme uses quick response codes and cryptography techniques to generate secure hotel keys that can be printed or stored inside a smartphone, thus, supporting a wide range of guests.

Does Instructional Video Advertising Influence Behavioral Intention? Comparative Study Between Hong Kong and Malaysia

This study aims to examine the influence of video type (commercial video vs. instructional video) and three cultural/individual difference factors (location: Hong Kong vs. Malaysia; education background: engineering/science vs. non-engineering/science; experience of using touchless technology: yes vs. no) on an individual’s behavioral intention to use the touchless system. This study was conducted with 60 participants (30 males and 30 females) from Hong Kong and 62 participants from Malaysia (31 males and 31 females) to investigate whether the video type and cultural/individual difference factors has an impact on individuals’ behavioral intention. The findings of this study reveal interesting comparative results between Hong Kong and Malaysia as well as provide useful insights for marketing practitioners.