Browsing by Issue Date, starting with "2021-04-26"
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- Winning isn´t everything : push and pull factors of casinos in coastal EuropePublication . Carvalho, Nuno Humberto Rocha Pires; Rodrigues, Helena Maria Correia Neves CordeiroGambling tourism is a subject that has been gaining a lot of interest and notoriety as of the last two decades. Push and pull factors have for long been the backbone of tourism studies and this thesis seeks to expound on this concept within the area of casinos. In this study, 1383 google reviews were extracted and analysed with Leximancer. These reviews were from 5 casinos in 5 different coastal cities in Europe: Algarve (Portugal), Cannes (France), Monte-Carlo, Malta, and Thessaloniki (Greece). Leximancer processes these reviews, through a process that transforms data into semantic patterns. The objective of this study was to extract concepts in the review and then pinpoint what category this concept belonged to and how relevant this factor was when it came to the tourist going to a destination. Leximancer generated a concept map and a dashboard that revealed the push and pull factor for casino goers at these 5 locations. Leximancer generated a concept map and a dashboard that revealed the push and pull factor for casino goers at these 5 locations. The dashboard gave a much more detailed analysis, where a hierarchy of strength, relative frequency, and prominence for these concepts in each category was given. Push factors consisted of tables, slot, play, machines, casino, games, atmosphere and beautiful. Pull factors consisted of win, money, fun, time, place and staff. These are considered the critical factors for success when it comes to these 5 casinos in coastal areas of Europe.
- The impact of extreme levels of electronic word-of-mouth volume on suspicion and choice intentionPublication . Dickmänken, Inna; Almeida, Ana Filipa Martinho deOnline product reviews have become a relevant information source and sales driver in the online purchase decision process. Being aware of the positive effects, many online sellers engage in measures to increase their amount of highly-rated reviews. Consequently, the instrument of reviews itself and fake reviews in particular became highly relevant for researchers, who put effort into understanding the effects of electronic word of mouth (eWOM) – especially its metrics of valence, the review’s star rating, and volume, the number of reviews – on variables such as purchase intention, perceived and suspicion. The author elaborates on existing research and uncovers that until now no attention has been devoted to the possible effects of extreme values of review volume, although prevailing, e.g., on Amazon. This thesis attempts to fill the identified research gap by proposing consumers use a heuristic approach to interpret the meaning of these metrics. By means of an experiment, the author analyses whether extreme values of review volume in the beginning of the purchase decision process, namely consideration set formation, work as a suspicious cue that implies suspicion and deters consumers from adding a product to their consideration set. The results reveal that an extreme volume does not lead to consumer suspicion, only valence does. Further, it was shown that this resulting feeling of suspicion weakens choice intention while an extreme volume has no impact on choice intention. This thesis is a first contribution to fill the research gap of extreme values of volume.
- Information asymmetry in public goods gamesPublication . Schmidt, Max-Philipp; Almeida, Ana Filipa Martinho deIn this study, the concept of basic income is treated as an information advantage lowering environmental uncertainty of future income. Decision-making is analyzed in the context of linear public goods games, following a novel theoretical setup that allows for the isolation of information asymmetry. Furthermore, a formula to quantify the information asymmetry is deduced. Research findings from two simulated public goods games indicate that exposing participants to less environmental uncertainty, in form of granting a basic income each period, leads to significantly lower voluntary contributions to the group account promoting opportunistic behavior. Also, evidence is found suggesting that the type of uncertainty and perceptions of fairness can influence this effect.
- Revisiting electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) : a systematic reviewPublication . Cunha, Inês Maria Sérvulo Correia Ribeiro da; Rodrigues, Helena Maria Correia Neves CordeiroElectronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) is a concept originating from traditional communication of marketing messages from person-to-person word-of-mouth. Research over time, points out to a digital shift in forms of communication. In the modern age consumers are connected 24/7 to the internet, putting products and services under their stringent vigil. Thereby, e-WOM arises with the emergence of online communication amongst consumers relatable to their products and services experience. The topic of e-WOM has been receiving great attention worldwide due to its power in affecting consumer’ purchase behaviour and business performance. Nonetheless as an evolving phenomenon in the market, literature has grown very rapidly and in multiple ways, becoming fragmented. Recognising the importance of e-WOM as a research topic, this systematic review was developed with the purpose of mapping the key themes of e-WOM pertaining to literature for the past ten years. By doing Given this, we used Leximancer qualitative software to extract input from a pool of 64 articles from 2010 to 2020 with the keyword: e-WOM. The results endorse e-WOM relation with other four other themes such as “media”, “influence”, “hotel” and “relationship”. The content analysis of the themes not only contributed to theory by offering directions for future researchers but combining an overall reflection on the state-of-the-art of e-WOM phenomenon.
- Risk perception and the effect of artificial intelligence on startup investment opportunities by different investor categoriesPublication . Bolay, Hans Peter Ludwig Theodor; Almeida, Ana Filipa Martinho deDecision-making is getting more complicated, as more information is available for consideration. It means that the Analyst/Investor's first gut feeling will often lead to an investment or divestment. Therefore, tools to make rational decisions will have a positive impact on the decision-making process of investors. These tools more often use artificial intelligence which influence in the area of investing has been rising considerably, especially in the sourcing and proposal of deals. These tools may prove particularly important in which motivated reasoning might be exceptionally high, hindering decision making. We hypothesize that to be the case of social finance investors. Social finance investors have both self-oriented and other-oriented motivations as such, opportunities which appeal in both fronts, at first sight, maybe particularly appealing, leading to a quicker appraisal of the risk involved and, consequently, worse decisions. In the following paper, we examine the risk perception and decision-making process of social finance investors (vs a control group of regular investors) and provide them with advice from an AI application highlighting different decision rules to explore if an AI Application can be a powerful help for these decision-makers and what rules it should follow to improve decision making.
- Wildlife voluntourism : the rise with Generation ZPublication . Bank, Marie-Louise; Rodrigues, Helena Maria Correia Neves CordeiroVoluntourism is an alternative form of tourism that involves volunteering to contribute to a community or wildlife cause. Understanding why Generation Z volunteer for wildlife projects is essential for planning and implementing strategies that take advantage of the increasingly valuable expertise and resources that volunteers bring to conservation programs. This thesis is hence essential to providing a more complete image of the factors that influence Gen Z voluntourists' attitudes and perceptions. A qualitative method including semi-structured interviews was chosen to understand the depth of the subject in its entirety. To gather sufficient and diverse perspectives on the topic, interviews were conducted with Gen Z voluntourism participants, Gen Z voluntourism non-participants, and voluntourism operators. The Leximancer program identified the primary motivators of Voluntourism as 1) volunteer-ing with 2) animals and a close interaction with them, 3) an experience that includes travel, 4) a project that benefits volunteers, tourists, and locals, and 5) a positive impact on the volunteers' lives after the project. As well as 6) the desire to contribute to the local community. As a result, the functional and theoretical consequences relate to the literature on identifying Gen Z voluntourists' key motivations.
- Overcoming algorithmic bias : the role of bias awareness, knowledge, and minority status on human decision-makingPublication . Marques, Tiago José Freitas; Almeida, Ana Filipa Martinho deAlgorithms, whether augmenting or automating human decisions, are used by an increasing number of organizations to execute several tasks. Algorithms create value because they can analyse massive volumes of data, explore, and identify nonlinear and counterintuitive relationships, being more consistent with their decisions than humans. However, this decision-making process also has the potential to perpetuate and exacerbate historical and societal biases, since the algorithms are trained on data that reflect human biases. This dissertation reviews the limitations and associated challenges of human and algorithmic decision-making and explores how human decision-making can be leveraged to address and mitigate the harmful effects of algorithmic bias. Particularly, this dissertation explores the effects of being aware of biased decision-making, being knowledgeable in Artificial Intelligence (AI), and belonging to a minority, on human’s ability to perceive and include potentially biasing variables that lead to unfair and discriminatory algorithmic decisions. The results suggest that a simple intervention of bias awareness can be an effective debiasing strategy; being AI knowledgeable can help to perceive the potential for bias, yet it does not necessarily translate to exclude potential sources of algorithmic bias; belonging to a minority may not be an advantageous factor to improve decision-making. Therefore, the solution proposed by this dissertation to overcome algorithmic bias lies in promoting bias awareness as a viable strategy to improve human decision-making.
- Perceived financial threats and prosocial behavior in the light of the COVID-19 pandemicPublication . Nießler, Florian Clemens; Almeida, Ana Filipa Martinho deThe coronavirus pandemic caused many deaths and sick people, affected day-to-day life, slowed down the global economy, and is responsible for a myriad of other consequences. Therefore, the pandemic resulted in added pressures to both personal and work life for everybody. Given these uncertain times, individuals can perceive economic strains as threats, mostly depending on the individual financial situation. Assuming that, this dissertation intends to investigate the impact of perceived financial threats on individuals’ prosocial behavior. It is proposed that individuals perceiving financial threats act more prosocially. Moreover, it is suggested that individuals with higher empathic concern act in a more prosocial manner, being empathic concern a mediator between perceived financial threats and prosocial behavior. Further, it is proposed that individuals with higher empathic concern tend to act more prosocially. Using data from an independently conducted online survey, results supported that individuals perceiving financial threats act more prosocially. Further, results revealed that individuals with higher empathic concern act more prosocially in comparison to those with lower empathic concern. However, the study did not confirm that empathic concern acts as a mediator. Thereby, this dissertation makes a contribution to a more profound understanding of individuals’ prosocial behavior during a pandemic.
- Integral use of Isabel grapes to elaborate new products with nutritional value and functional potentialPublication . Silva, Francyeli Araújo; Borges, Graciele da Silva Campelo; Lima, Marcos dos Santos; Queiroga, Rita de Cássia Ramos do Egypto; Pintado, Maria Manuela Estevez; Vasconcelos, Margarida Angélica da SilvaThe benefits of grape consumption are widely recognized and mostly due to phenolic compounds. These beneficial effects will depend on the bioaccessibility of these compounds on grape and its derivatives. This study elaborated two formulations of Isabel grape preparation: PAX (with agave and xylitol) and PS (with sucrose); and two formulations of Isabel grape flour: FAX (from the PAX process residues) and the FS (from the PS process residues). The products were analyzed regarding their nutritional and antioxidant properties; their phenolic compounds’ bioaccessibility was also verified through a simulated digestion model. The preparation and flour exhibited relevant sugars levels (10.83-49.71 g 100 g-1). Those produced with natural sweeteners had a reduction in sugar concentration of 51% and 29% for preparation and flour, respectively, compared to formulations with sucrose, with the high fiber content in the flour is being further highlighted (20.14-21.95 g 100 g-1). The catechin (2.37-28.11 mg 100 g-1) was the most bioaccessible compound (22% to 168%), which together with the caftaric acid (2.31-69.43 mg 100 g-1) and malvidin 3-glucoside (8.65-16.47 mg 100 g-1) represent the compounds observed in greater quantity. The preparations showed higher bioaccessibility regarding grapes and flours for most of the phenolic compounds. Furthermore, the products elaborated presented higher values of anthocyanins and antioxidant activity than the in natura grape, highlighting the beneficial effect of grape processing.
- The impacton academy : a social marketing approach for the promotion of sustainable development in the educational contextPublication . Olivieri, Anabel; Bicho, Marta Liliana NunesOur world is facing a time of tremendous social, economic, and environmental challenges. Addressing these requires action of the people, who need to be equipped with the right knowledge and skills to contribute to sustainable development. Education therefore plays a crucial role in this undertaking. Especially the tertiary education sector and therewith the group of tertiary students promise high potential to promote societal change. Due to the difficulty to transform education systems, other ways of providing education in sustainable development need to be investigated. By means of a social marketing approach, the aim of this dissertation is to introduce the Impacton Academy as an add-on learning solution to the existing curriculum to promote sustainable development through education. To control for its viability, the right customer segment profiles by means of a qualitative survey are defined and the competition examined through a benchmark analysis to elaborate the right marketing mix and identify the market position for the Impacton Academy. Results revealed the optimal customer segment for the Impacton Academy that promises the highest potential to promote sustainable development are students in the age between 19-25 years who want to take action in sustainable development. Deriving from the needs of this target group and considering given competitive threats, the Impacton Academy should position itself in the market as a mobile learning and community platform that delivers educational content in micro-learning format and connects students with sustainable development practitioners, such as NGOs, social businesses and entrepreneurs.