Cultural heritage virtual tourism offers users a novel digital heritage experience, becoming an essential channel for cultural dissemination and preservation. However, how to stimulate users’ continuous behavioral intention remains unresolved. This study integrates the Stimulus–Organism–Response theory (SOR) and experience economy theories to construct a comprehensive model, exploring factors influencing users’ continuous intentions in cultural heritage virtual tourism. By analyzing data from 451 valid questionnaires through structural equation modeling (SEM) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) methods, several key findings emerged. The SEM results show that (1) esthetics, entertainment, escapism, education, and connection experiences all positively affect perceived value and satisfaction; (2) except for escapism, other experiences positively influence cultural identity; and (3) perceived value, satisfaction, and cultural identity significantly impact continuous intention. The FsQCA results show that (1) in high continuous intention scenarios, perceived value, satisfaction, and cultural identity are core conditions, while esthetics, entertainment, escapism, education, and connection act as supporting conditions, enhancing users’ willingness to continue engaging under different configurations; (2) in low continuous intention cases, the absence of escapism, satisfaction, cultural identity, education, esthetics, and connection weakens users’ virtual tourism experiences, leading to a decline in continuous usage intentions. This study provides theoretical and practical insights for promoting users’ continuous intentions in cultural heritage virtual tourism.

Advances in Internet of Things (IoT) technologies have had a profound impact on the experiential tasks of the smart home, particularly automated tasks supported by sensors, embedded systems, and communication devices that are capable of autonomously performing a range of tasks previously performed by humans. However, the improvement in the level of smart home automation has not necessarily promoted more meaningful, relaxing, and positive experiences for users. This is largely due to the fact that it often overlooks the meaningful involvement of humans in the process. This paper proposes a conceptual design model for a smart home through two studies that aim to maintain the benefits of automation while ensuring positive experiences with user engagement tasks. Study 1 involved qualitative data using semi-structured interviews to understand what tasks lead to positive user experiences (P-UX) during the use of the smart home and what kind of factors influence these positive experiences. Study 2, using an online questionnaire, quantitatively investigated the varying impact of these factors on positive experiences in both automation and human–machine interactions. The results of both studies show that there are nine factors that influence positive user experience in the smart home, with instrumentality, convenience, and flexibility playing an important role in the positive experience of automation, aesthetics, immersion, association, and memory, having a greater effect on the positive experience of user engagement in interactions, and customization and emotion contributing to both paradigms. In future smart home design, this model will help designers rationally allocate tasks between automation and human–machine interaction as a way to enhance the overall positive user experience.

KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems TIIS Paper Details

Customer loyalty is critical for organizations to gain market share and maintain a sustained competitive advantage. However, no study has yet explored customer loyalty in online dating platforms. Perceived value theory suggests that perceived value is a key predictor of customer loyalty. Accordingly, this research constructed a conceptual model drawing on a multidimensional perspective of perceived value to explore customer loyalty in online dating platforms and investigated the mediating role of satisfaction. By quantitatively analyzing 352 customers who had experienced online dating platforms and utilizing structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine the relationships among propositions, the research demonstrated a strong positive correlation between perceived value, satisfaction, and loyalty, and a notable indirect impact on loyalty through satisfaction. In addition, the experiential value dimension of perceived benefits had the most positive and substantial influence on perceived value, while the perceived risk dimension of perceived sacrifice had the most negative and notable impact on perceived value. The results of the study provide designers, managers, and vendors of online dating platforms with valuable insights into customer behavior and practical recommendations for improvement, helping them to develop more effective strategies to enhance market competitiveness and ensure the sustainability of their platforms.

Although the advent of the Internet of Things (IoT) technology has benefited the progress of social life, the relentless pursuit of technological advancement cannot definitely lead to a sustainable increase in customer pleasure and happiness. During the design phase, happiness is often overlooked. Therefore, the objectives of this study are as follows: (1) to provide a comprehensive overview of the importance of sustainable happiness for the IoT product design and to propose 15 positive experience design strategies that can improve user happiness; and (2) to apply the 15 design strategies to the IoT product design practice and validate whether they can effectively guide the designers’ work. The research procedure consisted of four steps. First, qualitative data for developing the design strategies was collected through bibliometrics and expert interviews. Second, the propositions of the design strategies were reviewed, analyzed, and constructed using the qualitative research software program NVivo 20. Third, two researchers categorized the 15 strategy concepts into the four directions of positive experience design approaches for the IoT products. Fourth, we conducted a two-week design workshop to validate the feasibility of the design strategies. The results indicate that the 15 design strategies can effectively guide designers to create ideas that prioritize user well-being and allow for creative exploration in various directions. This paper enriches the IoT product design methodology, which can enhance the users’ sustainable pleasure, future goal achievement fulfillment, and social relationship well-being in the IoT era.