title: Investigating boredom in social commerce: Definition, function, and consequences

authors: Ali, Rebecca

abstract: Boredom, a ubiquitous emotion, has garnered extensive research attention in digital communication and business, yet remains underexamined in the context of social commerce (s-commerce). This dissertation, comprising three studies (with studies 2 and 3 extending the first), aimed at comprehensively understanding the role of boredom in s-commerce and its implications for consumer behavior. The first study employs grounded theory, reviewing 103 studies to construct an inductive framework identifying five key building blocks. It highlights boredom as stemming from individual, situational, and mismatch factors, influencing individuals to seek stimulation from s-commerce, yielding both positive and negative outcomes. The study suggests constructive intervention strategies for positive development and market performance in s-commerce.
The second study investigates the interaction between boredom and impulse buying behavior, considering the influence of consumer personality and external s-commerce stimuli. Analyzing data from New Zealand consumers (n=243) with SmartPLS, findings reveal that boredom, influenced by personality, triggers impulse buying. Among s-commerce stimuli social value positively moderates the boredom-impulse buying relationship, while atmosphere shows a negative moderation effect, and price offering is found to be insignificant.
The third study explores the potential link between boredom and consumer brand-cyberbullying (CBCB) in s-commerce. Analyzing data from New Zealand consumers (n=253) with SmartPLS, it establishes that boredom, influenced by personality factors, motivates CBCB behavior. Also, this relationship is positively moderated by s-commerce stimuli. This research provides valuable insights for academics, policymakers, and marketers seeking to understand and address the complexities of bored consumers in the evolving landscape of s-commerce.

text: Investigating boredom in social commerce: Definition, function, and consequences Boredom, a ubiquitous emotion, has garnered extensive research attention in digital communication and business, yet remains underexamined in the context of social commerce (s-commerce). This dissertation, comprising three studies (with studies 2 and 3 extending the first), aimed at comprehensively understanding the role of boredom in s-commerce and its implications for consumer behavior. The first study employs grounded theory, reviewing 103 studies to construct an inductive framework identifying five key building blocks. It highlights boredom as stemming from individual, situational, and mismatch factors, influencing individuals to seek stimulation from s-commerce, yielding both positive and negative outcomes. The study suggests constructive intervention strategies for positive development and market performance in s-commerce.
The second study investigates the interaction between boredom and impulse buying behavior, considering the influence of consumer personality and external s-commerce stimuli. Analyzing data from New Zealand consumers (n=243) with SmartPLS, findings reveal that boredom, influenced by personality, triggers impulse buying. Among s-commerce stimuli social value positively moderates the boredom-impulse buying relationship, while atmosphere shows a negative moderation effect, and price offering is found to be insignificant.
The third study explores the potential link between boredom and consumer brand-cyberbullying (CBCB) in s-commerce. Analyzing data from New Zealand consumers (n=253) with SmartPLS, it establishes that boredom, influenced by personality factors, motivates CBCB behavior. Also, this relationship is positively moderated by s-commerce stimuli. This research provides valuable insights for academics, policymakers, and marketers seeking to understand and address the complexities of bored consumers in the evolving landscape of s-commerce.

year: 2024-09-18

title: Scott Base Redevelopment CEE environmental monitoring report: Year one (January 2019)

authors: O'Neill, Tanya Ann

abstract: An understanding of the soils and the underlying permafrost surrounding Scott Base is important to detect impacts of environmental change or human activities, such as the redevelopment of Scott Base, on the unique soil communities and on geomorphological processes. The Scott Base Redevelopment (SBR) is the largest project ever undertaken by New Zealand in Antarctica. It is a requirement of the Environmental Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty and New Zealand's Antarctica (Environmental Protection) Act (1994) that an environmental impact assessment be completed prior to any activity taking place in Antarctica. A Comprehensive Environmental Evaluation (CEE) of the project is being completed in order to support decision-making with an assessment of predicted environmental impacts linked with the redevelopment. A comprehensive monitoring programme was set up to verify the accuracy of the environmental impact assessment presented in the CEE and to detect unforeseen impacts or impacts that are more significant than expected.
The soil monitoring sites were established in January 2019 to assess current levels of biodiversity and abundance of invertebrates and microbial communities, along with soil chemical characteristics, and visual characteristics within the wider Scott Base redevelopment area. These 25 soil monitoring plots establish a baseline against which future changes can be detected. My role in the project was to determine the chemical characteristics of soil from the monitoring plots, undertake visual site assessments around each monitoring plot, measure depth to ice-cement, and install 12 passive dust samplers adjacent to the monitoring plots.
This report will give background information on the general characteristics of Scott Base soils, including information on active layer, permafrost, soil moisture, soil organisms, and evidence of natural and human induced changes to the soil-permafrost environment. This will be followed by an explanation of the methodology, results and discussion, on my aspect of this multidisciplinary project.

text: Scott Base Redevelopment CEE environmental monitoring report: Year one (January 2019) An understanding of the soils and the underlying permafrost surrounding Scott Base is important to detect impacts of environmental change or human activities, such as the redevelopment of Scott Base, on the unique soil communities and on geomorphological processes. The Scott Base Redevelopment (SBR) is the largest project ever undertaken by New Zealand in Antarctica. It is a requirement of the Environmental Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty and New Zealand's Antarctica (Environmental Protection) Act (1994) that an environmental impact assessment be completed prior to any activity taking place in Antarctica. A Comprehensive Environmental Evaluation (CEE) of the project is being completed in order to support decision-making with an assessment of predicted environmental impacts linked with the redevelopment. A comprehensive monitoring programme was set up to verify the accuracy of the environmental impact assessment presented in the CEE and to detect unforeseen impacts or impacts that are more significant than expected.
The soil monitoring sites were established in January 2019 to assess current levels of biodiversity and abundance of invertebrates and microbial communities, along with soil chemical characteristics, and visual characteristics within the wider Scott Base redevelopment area. These 25 soil monitoring plots establish a baseline against which future changes can be detected. My role in the project was to determine the chemical characteristics of soil from the monitoring plots, undertake visual site assessments around each monitoring plot, measure depth to ice-cement, and install 12 passive dust samplers adjacent to the monitoring plots.
This report will give background information on the general characteristics of Scott Base soils, including information on active layer, permafrost, soil moisture, soil organisms, and evidence of natural and human induced changes to the soil-permafrost environment. This will be followed by an explanation of the methodology, results and discussion, on my aspect of this multidisciplinary project.

year: 2019

title: No explanation required: Entrenchment and perception of Māori loanwords in a diachronic newspaper corpus of New Zealand English

authors: Levendis, Katharine Joy

subjects: New Zealand English

abstract: Māori loanwords are uncontestably the most notable feature of New Zealand English (Gordon, 2005; Macalister, 2006b). Although frequencies of Māori loanwords are reported to be increasing in recent years (Macalister, 2006b), and analyses strongly indicate a skew in loanwords across certain topics (Davies & Maclagan, 2006; de Bres, 2006), no studies have yet addressed whether Māori loanword behaviour differs in a corpus restricted to a single topic (with the exception of Calude, Miller, Harper, & Whaanga, Forthcoming). Nor has a thorough diachronic analysis been made on the subject since Davies and Maclagan (2006) and Macalister (2006b). This thesis is concerned with frequency of use and perception of Māori loanwords in a diachronic corpus restricted to a singular theme: te Wiki o te Reo Māori, Māori Language Week. Using a quantitative methodology in a corpus constructed from New Zealand regional and national newspaper articles spanning 2008-2017, average Māori loanword frequencies are found to be almost 5 times that of the most recent comparable diachronic study (Macalister, 2006b), and demonstrate a statistically significant diachronic increase in use. In contrast, the markedness (or translation) of Māori loanwords shows a statistically significant decreasing diachronic trend over the 10-year period. However, practice of marking appears to be affected by user perceptions and intention to educate, and therefore cannot be relied upon as a gauge of loanword entrenchment. Other conventional measures of loanword entrenchment such as frequency, listedness and morphological assimilation are also shown to be unreliable when considered independently from one another, and in cases such as that of New Zealand English where a change from above influenced by social and cultural factors (Māori loanwords functioning as an expression of political attitude and stance) appears to be interfering in loanword use. Measurement of Māori loanword entrenchment cannot be made using the same criteria as loanwords from non-threatened languages, and suggestions are made for the revised criteria for studying loanword entrenchment which takes into account the sociolinguistic context in which the loanwords are used.

text: No explanation required: Entrenchment and perception of Māori loanwords in a diachronic newspaper corpus of New Zealand English Māori loanwords are uncontestably the most notable feature of New Zealand English (Gordon, 2005; Macalister, 2006b). Although frequencies of Māori loanwords are reported to be increasing in recent years (Macalister, 2006b), and analyses strongly indicate a skew in loanwords across certain topics (Davies & Maclagan, 2006; de Bres, 2006), no studies have yet addressed whether Māori loanword behaviour differs in a corpus restricted to a single topic (with the exception of Calude, Miller, Harper, & Whaanga, Forthcoming). Nor has a thorough diachronic analysis been made on the subject since Davies and Maclagan (2006) and Macalister (2006b). This thesis is concerned with frequency of use and perception of Māori loanwords in a diachronic corpus restricted to a singular theme: te Wiki o te Reo Māori, Māori Language Week. Using a quantitative methodology in a corpus constructed from New Zealand regional and national newspaper articles spanning 2008-2017, average Māori loanword frequencies are found to be almost 5 times that of the most recent comparable diachronic study (Macalister, 2006b), and demonstrate a statistically significant diachronic increase in use. In contrast, the markedness (or translation) of Māori loanwords shows a statistically significant decreasing diachronic trend over the 10-year period. However, practice of marking appears to be affected by user perceptions and intention to educate, and therefore cannot be relied upon as a gauge of loanword entrenchment. Other conventional measures of loanword entrenchment such as frequency, listedness and morphological assimilation are also shown to be unreliable when considered independently from one another, and in cases such as that of New Zealand English where a change from above influenced by social and cultural factors (Māori loanwords functioning as an expression of political attitude and stance) appears to be interfering in loanword use. Measurement of Māori loanword entrenchment cannot be made using the same criteria as loanwords from non-threatened languages, and suggestions are made for the revised criteria for studying loanword entrenchment which takes into account the sociolinguistic context in which the loanwords are used.

year: 2018