The application of virtual reality (VR) in improving users’ learning outcomes, especially in perceived learning effectiveness, is a new area. VR provides visualisation and interaction within a virtual world that closely resembles a real world, bringing an immersive study experience. It also has two special features: representational fidelity and immediacy of control. However, only when the technology fits the tasks that users are performing will it be adopted. In addition, technology itself cannot improve learning outcomes; certain learning behaviours, such as reflective thinking, should be prompted first so that learning outcomes can be improved. The research hypotheses derived from this model have empirically been validated using the responses to a survey among 180 users. These responses have been examined through SmartPLS 2.0. Surprisingly, task–technology fit does not moderate the relationship between VR and technology quality and the relationship between VR and technology accessibility. From this study, we can conclude that VR will influence reflective thinking and further indirectly improve perceived learning effectiveness.

Purpose: Prior studies on virtual product purchase have focused on external technological factor but have paid less attention to internal user factors. Thus, drawing upon the social presence and user engagement theories, the purpose of this paper is to develop a research model considering both technological factors and user factors and empirically examine the validity of the proposed research model.Design/methodology/approach: A survey from 214 World of Warcraft players was conducted to test the proposed research model, and structural equation modelling approach (specifically, PLS) was used to test the proposed hypotheses.Findings: The data analysis results suggest that both social presence and user engagement positively influence the intention to purchase virtual products. Furthermore, two technological factors, interactivity and sociability, are found to affect social presence, and two social factors, social ties and social identity, are found to affect user engagement.Originality/value: This study proposes a dual factor framework (i.e. technological and user factors) to investigate the factors influencing the intention to purchase by integrating the social presence perspective and user engagement perspective. The findings would be beneficial for service provider of massively multiplayer online role-playing games to recognize that triggering user demand is of equal importance with offering better technologies and suggest new ways to promote users’ virtual product purchase intentions.

In recent years, mobile healthcare applications (MHAs) have boomed, providing several new kinds of health services and methods of information transmission. However, MHA vendors face a significant challenge in attracting users to adopt software continuously. Some recent studies recognized users’ perceived e-health literacy (PEHL) as a critical factor in continuance intention, but its influence was still unclear. In this paper, based on the elaboration likelihood model (ELM), we investigated how the users’ PEHL affects their continuance intention when adopting MHAs. We distributed convenience sample questionnaires by Wechat (similar to WhatsApp) in China, where hundreds of MHAs can be downloaded, and 273 valid samples were collected. The result shows that ELM works well in this model, with six of the eight hypotheses supported. The moderating effect of PEHL is largely significant for the peripheral route but not significant for the central route. The most interesting finding is that, with regard to continuance adoption, PEHL has a positive relationship with users’ satisfaction. Possible reasons are discussed, such as there could be a moderator on this relationship. Limitations, future studies and implications for theory, practice and policy are also given.

Purpose: This study aims to explore the complex relationship between leadership and organizational knowledge sharing by investigating the moderating role of exchange ideology on the relation between transformational leadership in attributed charisma and knowledge sharing and the influence of attributed charisma and knowledge sharing on task performance. The influence of leadership in organizational knowledge sharing process has been gradually highlighted. Design/methodology/approach: Based on the review of relevant literature and survey, a structural equation model considering four factors in the model together is now constructed and provides four hypotheses which can be verified. Self-completed questionnaires were collected from 163 students in the context of a graduate class in China. Findings: The findings illustrate the relationship between leadership theory and knowledge sharing from a perspective of social exchange theory. In particular, results show that both transformational leadership and knowledge sharing have positive impacts to task performance and for individuals with low exchange ideology the positive influence from attributed charisma to knowledge sharing is stronger. Originality/value: This research introduces exchange ideology as a moderator and explains the complex relationship between transformational leadership and knowledge sharing with sufficient proof. Transformational leadership in attributed charisma is more effective to those individuals with low exchange ideology in facilitating their knowledge effort. This paper can be theoretically and practically helpful to researchers and enterprise leaders in organizational knowledge management.

Individual creativity (IC) is regarded as the core driver of innovation in higher education. Information and communication technology supports the opportunity to study IC in the online environment. In addition, we believe that the role of transformational leadership (TL) has changed compared to the offline environment. In this research, we employ social exchange theory as our theory foundation and test the moderating effect of TL on knowledge sharing (KS), which is an important antecedent of IC in online circumstances. We designed this study in an eight-week course where teams were required to complete a project online. Two rounds of survey were performed to collect data. The results show that KS has a positive effect on IC, and TL has a significant moderate effect on the relationship between economic reward and KS. Implications for theory and practice, and limitations are also given.

With the wide diffusion of information technology (IT) in our daily life and work, it is clear that product innovation and service innovation have more and more connection with IT, and IT has become an important tool or component in innovation. The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into future studies pertaining to this area by investigating the research development of IT innovation using bibliometric analysis. The status of IT innovation study is analysed through citation analysis with the help of CiteSpace. Influential references, hot topics, top-tier journals and important institutes are all detected, and the intellectual structure of recent studies is also mapped in this study, and we find that research on IT innovation is mainly from two directions, innovation study group and information systems study group. Finally, we follow the logic of Nambisan [2013. “Information Technology and Product/Service Innovation: A Brief Assessment and Some Suggestions for Future Research.” Journal of the Association for Information Systems 14 (4): 215–226] to explore the relationship between IT and innovation through reviewing papers in the top journals in this field. We find that most studies treat IT as an enabler of innovation. Although some recent studies try to pay attention to the role of IT as a trigger for innovation and give some rationale for the IT–innovation relationship, further studies are still required to uncover the trigger effect mechanism.