Yi-Fen Chen

Who Likes to Meet Blind Dating on the Internet

Due to busy modern lifestyles, the emotional distance between people has widened. Some people are unable to broaden their social circles or meet new people of the opposite sex because of their environment or work, so they seek non-traditional methods to meet new people. One of these methods is the use of the Internet. Match making on online dating sites and getting involved in dating service have become quite popular these days. The study is conducted with online questionnaires; out of those distributed, 302 valid samples were returned. The main research method was putting the samples through stepwise linear regression analysis. By focusing on the reasons people participate in blind dating through the Internet, this study examines theories on the relatedness needs, personality characteristics, sensation-seeking motivation, and self-disclosure of those involved; and develop a framework for research to understand what type of people use dating service as a means of meeting others. Results from the study show that interpersonal needs and self-disclosure play a role in why one would want to participate in blind dating. Furthermore, there is a definite connection between the characteristics of ones personality and the desire to participate in blind dating. The sensation seeking people are therefore more likely than others to participate in blind dating.

Optimal Strategy for the Smartphone Industry in Taiwan: HTC Case Study

Smartphone development has opened the door to many future business opportunities. Many smartphone manufacturers in Taiwan have received orders from large international companies (mainly as OEMs or ODMs), while only few manufacturers have developed their own brands. If the authors can provide these enterprises with an effective decision-making strategy, they will be able to make the best decisions in time. The purpose of this paper is to take critical success factors (CSFs) and the existing internal capabilities of an enterprise in an external environment into account to build an operational model guide that enterprise in its decision making process. This study combined the Delphi method and the analytic network process (ANP) model to construct a decision model, calculate the weighting of every criterion and sub-criterion, and determine the optimal decision-making strategy in the smartphone industry. Then, the authors chose the HTC Corporation as a case study. The results showed that the development trend of the smartphone industry was the integration of mobile phones. The strategy of excellent functions strategy is the optimal strategy for the implementation of the alternatives.

The Implementation of Knowledge Management in Service Businesses

Knowledge management is increasingly being mentioned in practice and research as a mechanism for gaining competitive advantage. Not only the high-tech industry needs to put knowledge management to use, but also the service industry. This article presents a conceptual framework to provide insights for managers to implement knowledge management in service businesses. Especially, we provide a four-stage approach in this study that was adopted from the processes of knowledge management proposed by Alavi and Leidner (2001) and we suggest two to four strategies for each process.

Enabling Organizational Learning to Contribute toward a Learning Organization: An Exploratory Case Study of Knowledge Management Practices in Taiwan’s Electronics Industry

How can practices of knowledge management (KM) enable organizational learning to occur and then lead toward a learning organization? We seek the answer to this question by exploring three cases, Winbond, Worldpeace, and TSMC, chosen respectively from upstream, midstream, and downstream firms in the IC industry in Taiwan. We studied KM practices focusing on aspects of knowledge creation, storage/retrieval, transfer and application. Results showed that KM may play different enabling roles among IC designer, distributor and manufacturer. In this study it was found that IC designers may focus more on knowledge storage, while IC distributors pay more attention to knowledge application, and IC manufacturers emphasize knowledge creation.

Exploring the effects of web-mediated socially-shared regulation of learning and experience-based learning on improving students’ learning

ABSTRACT The application of online learning and educational technologies in higher education has changed teaching methods, the channels of delivering learning materials, and modes of communication between teachers and students. This study is aimed to improve learning effects and investigate, via quasi-experiments, the effects of web-mediated socially-shared regulation of learning (SSRL) and experience-based learning (ExBL) on improving students’ learning results. The experimental design in this study was a 2 (SSRL vs. non-SSRL) × 2 (ExBL vs. non-ExBL) factorial pretest/post-test design. Four classes in a one-semester course titled “Applied Information Technology: Data Processing” at university level were chosen for this study. Based on the analysis carried out in this study, students who received the treatments of web-mediated SSRL and/or ExBL did not have significantly better computing skills in using Excel. The reasons for these insignificances and implications thereof are discussed in this paper. Nevertheless, students in the SSRL and non-ExBL class had significant increases in scores for their learning motivation at the end of semester compared with the beginning.

The Influence of Perceived Risk, Shopping Value and Opinion Leader to Explore Online Consumer Purchase Intention: Using Social Network Analysis

Opinion leadersplay important roles in interpersonalcommunication.Marketerscancontact the opinionleadersandreducecostsandimproveoverallcommunicationefficacybycommunicating effectivelywiththem.Thisstudyinvestigatestheopportunityofconsumersbecomingopinionleaders andalsoinvestigatestheeffectsofperceivedriskandshoppingvalueononlineconsumerpurchase intention. This study surveyed college students in northern Taiwan (59 respondents) to explore collegestudents’onlinenailpolishpurchaseintentions.Thisstudyappliessocialnetworkanalysis (SNA)andregressiontoexaminehypotheseswithinatheoreticalframework.Theresultsshowedthat consumersfeelahigherperceivedriskandpositiveadvicegivenbyanopinionleadercanenhance purchaseintentions.Theresultsfurtherindicatedthathighertheconsumers’shoppingvalue,higher theirpurchaseintention.Thefindingsofthestudyoffersalesandmanagementprofessionalsmethods forcommunicatingwithonlineshoppersmoreeffectively.Thus,inadditiontomarketers’focuson makeupmarketsabove,theycanalsoexpandtheirvisiontowidermarkets. KEywORdS Opinion Leaders, Perceived Risk, Purchase Intention, Shopping Value, Social Network Analysis

Factors Influencing Consumer Adoption for Network Fellowship Auction in Taiwan

The emerging online economy in recent years has facilitated the rapid growth of e-commerce, such as Internet bank, e-wallet, and electronic bidding. Network fellowship auction is a collective effort by people who network and pool their money together by Internet in order to invest in and support efforts initiated by other people or organizations. Network fellowship auction has replaced conventional fellowship auction by offering a new safer and faster financial instrument. This research investigated the determinants of network fellowship auction user acceptance, including consumer perceived risk, perceived value, computer self-efficacy, and product involvement. An online survey was used with a sample of 446 respondents. Structural equation models (SEM) were used to examine hypotheses in the theoretical framework. The results showed that consumer perceived risk substantially negatively influenced perceived ease of use and intention; consumer perceived value positively influenced perceived usefulness; consumer computer self-efficacy positively influenced perceived ease of use. Additionally, consumer perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and product involvement positively influenced consumer intention.

A Study on Consumer Intention in a Web Portal Game from the Perspective of Flow Experience

Providing consumers with a positive and satisfying online shopping experience is the goal of the web operator. Therefore, in this paper, the authors use overhead construction to extend Csikszentmihalyi’s proposed flow theory (1975) to the computer intermediary environment and discuss the web portal game from the perspective of flow experience to identify possible causes and positive and negative results, as well as understand customer utility and hedonic motives in online shopping. In this research, the portal game is in play in the online consumer’s flow experience. This study also explores customer benefit and the effect on consumer behavior brought about by the identification of consumer preference and purchase intention. This study used an internet questionnaire survey to obtain 442 valid responses for data analysis. The results reveal that different Web site characteristics affect the flow experience and indirectly affect customer value; the results also indicate positive preferences and positive expense results. These results may serve as a reference for future Web site industry management policy and marketing strategy.

Forecasting the Imminent Market Shares Pertinent to HTC Corporation Domestically: The Vanguard Regarding Taiwan's Smartphone Industry

The development of the smartphone will intensify in the future. Recently, many Taiwans manufacturers are investing in the smartphone market. The present research used the grey envelope analysis to forecast the smartphone industry market share of High Tech Computer Corporation HTC in Taiwan. The average residual error of up and down envelope is 6.1825% from 2003 to 2007, and the predicted market share in 2012 is 3.334%. The forecasting results showed that the market share of HTC will decrease in the future. The founding of research offers meaningful information for HTC to decide the new strategy. For government, the result could also help to implement adequate policies to support the development of smartphone industry in the future.

Estimating the Global Demand of Photovoltaic System

The purpose of this research is to predict the total market demand of photovoltaic (PV) system of the world. By using the Grey forecasting model, the results were precise and valid. Then, the sensitivity analysis was conducted to select the most appropriate horizontal adjusting factor (HAF) and to determine the growth type of PV industry. The result showed the HAF was 0.4, which indicated the growth speed is in a low speed but very close to normal speed. The average residual error was 10.5% from 1995 to 2007 compared to the actual value in the same period. Then, the forecasted value from 2008 to 2011 showed an increasing shape and would reach 8554.9 MW in 2011. This research found the growth type of PV industry of the world, offering meaningful information for firms to decide the strategy in the future. For government, the result could also help to implement adequate policies to support the development of PV industry in the future.