Modelling factors of social media usage by B2B salespersons: an emerging market study

Purpose The purpose of this study is to extend and contribute to the evolving phenomenon of social media usage by business-to-business (B2B) salespersons. It draws on the interactional psychology model and extended technology acceptance model to explore the said phenomenon. Design/methodology/approach A survey-based quantitative study was carried out. Responses were gathered through a self-administered and structured questionnaire, from 218 B2B salespersons who were pooled in using purposive and snowball sampling. The final data set was subjected to partial least squares-based structural equation modelling using WarpPLS 7.0. Findings This study found that individual factors, namely, salesperson’s social media competence and sales capabilities; organizational factors, namely, organizational commitment and organizational competence; and social factors, namely, image, result demonstrability and subjective norms, contribute positively and significantly towards social media usage by B2B salespeople. The study also found that the impact of individual factors on intention to use social media was partially mediated by its perceived usefulness, while in the case of organizational and social factors, the impact was fully mediated by its perceived ease of use. Research limitations/implications This study provides a valuable addition to the existing literature on sales and social media; however, the contextualization cannot be ignored. Practical implications This study enables firms to understand various factors affecting salespeople’ perception of social media and to make them appreciate its usage in improving sales performance and customer satisfaction. Originality/value It is the first study that models the factors of salespeople’s usage of social media in their job at three levels, namely, individual, organizational and social, and establishes the link between B2B salespersons’ perceived usefulness of social media, sales capabilities, social media competence and intention to use social media.

Social factors of procrastination: group work can reduce procrastination among students

Research on procrastination covers a variety of individual factors (e.g., conscientiousness) and this focus is reflected in interventions against procrastination. Less emphasis is put on situational and social factors that may help students reduce procrastination, such as social interdependence. Therefore, this study investigates the relationship between interdependence with academic procrastination and affective variables. Two vignette studies with student samples (N1 = 320, N2 = 193) were conducted and data was analyzed with regression analyses and analyses of covariance. Results of both studies show lower state procrastination in group work with interdependence compared to individual work, especially in participants with high trait procrastination. This difference is more pronounced when interdependence is accompanied by an active commitment to finish the task on time. Further, interdependent group work is related to increased positive affect and decreased negative affect. The results demonstrate the relevance of situational and social factors for academic procrastination, and point toward new approaches for intervention.

Individual Factors Underlying Suicidal Behaviors in Patients with Borderline Personality Disorder: A Qualitative Study

Background: Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is associated with a high risk of suicide. Limited information is available on the individual factors underlying suicidal behaviors, especially suicide attempts (SAs), in Iranian patients with BPD. Objectives: This study aimed to analyze the individual factors underlying suicidal behaviors in patients with BPD. Methods: This was a qualitative descriptive study that was conducted from May 2020 to February 2021 in Tehran and Karaj, Iran, on 23 participants, including 14 patients with BPD and seven mental health professionals, as well as two members of their families. The research environment included psychiatric inpatient wards, psychiatric emergencies, and psychiatric clinics. Participants were selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and were analyzed using conventional content analysis. Results: Data analysis revealed five main themes and 15 sub-themes related to the individual factors underlying the identification and prediction of the risk for suicidal behaviors and SAs. The extracted themes included “psychological pain and loneliness”, “defects in the distinction and integration of emotions”, “unconventional behavior and emotion”, “pervasive incompatibility”, and “breakdown of the self-integrity”. Conclusions: The BPD is a complex and challenging disorder in which patients with BPD usually tend to engage in suicidal behaviors, and with the emergence of individual factors underlying the occurrence of such behaviors, appropriate preventive measures and interventions can be taken to reduce suicide-related behaviors such as suicidal thoughts and planning, as well as SAs.

Integrating Individual Factors to Construct Recognition Models of Consumer Fraud Victimization

Consumer financial fraud has become a serious problem because it often causes victims to suffer economic, physical, mental, social, and legal harm. Identifying which individuals are more likely to be scammed may mitigate the threat posed by consumer financial fraud. Based on a two-stage conceptual framework, this study integrated various individual factors in a nationwide survey (36,202 participants) to construct fraud exposure recognition (FER) and fraud victimhood recognition (FVR) models by utilizing a machine learning method. The FER model performed well (f1 = 0.727), and model interpretation indicated that migration status, financial status, urbanicity, and age have good predictive effects on fraud exposure in the Chinese context, whereas the FVR model shows a low predictive effect (f1 = 0.565), reminding us to consider more psychological factors in future work. This research provides an important reference for the analysis of individual differences among people vulnerable to consumer fraud.

Individual factors that cause professional burnout syndrome in social workers, employed in community rehabilitation centre for addictive diseases

At the theoretical and empirical levels, the article reveals individual factors that cause professional burnout syndrome in social workers, employed in community rehabilitation centre for addictive diseases. Addiction is considered a disease that has aspects of biological, psychological, social, and spiritual nature. Professional burnout syndrome can be understood from different points of view that in total comprise a general concept and consist of the following aspects: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and decrease in self-realization. Research object is individual factors that cause professional burnout syndrome in social workers, employed in community rehabilitation centres for addictive diseases. The aim of the article is to reveal individual factors that cause professional burnout syndrome in social workers, employed in community rehabilitation centre for addictive diseases. Tasks: 1) to provide theoretical assumptions about individual factors that cause professional burnout syndrome; 2) based on experiences of social workers to reveal individual factors that cause professional burnout syndrome in social workers, employed in community rehabilitation centre for addictive diseases. Research methods are academic literature analysis, document analysis, and qualitative research. In the study, semi-structured interviews, quality (content) analysis, summarizing method were used.Empirical research revealed that individual factors that cause the development of professional burnout syndrome in social workers, employed in community rehabilitation centres for addictive diseases, are related to: employees’ feelings of inferiority and imposition of excessive requirements on themselves (timidity, self-devaluation; feeling of guilt; lack of self-evaluation skills and imposition of excessive requirements on oneself); personal qualities (too much empathy, attachment to clients or doubts about the meaning of work); individual factors related to the environment (having nobody to talk to about problems, inability to change the environment, prolonged stress, narrowing of interests outside work, and forced abandonment of activities that previously preventively helped to combat professional burnout syndrome). Individual factors related to clients (collapse of hopes to help the client and excessive responsibility of the social worker for the client’s life). Participants of the research became “inaccessible” to family members, were unable to distance themselves from work stress (worries outside work, obsessive thoughts that hinder dissociation from work, inability to relax, use of free time for work activities); felt a lack of general and professional competencies.

A Path Analysis to Identify Factors Influencing the Provision of Water in Addition to Breast Milk by Mothers of Infants under Six Months of Age in Conakry and Kindia Regions, Republic of Guinea

Water provision to infants under six months of age (IU6M) can hamper exclusive breastfeeding (EBF). Understanding factors and their relationships influencing this practice is needed to tailor EBF promotion programs. Using a validated questionnaire, this study aims to identify pathways in which individual factors and the environment interact to affect the provision of water in addition to breast milk among 300 mothers of IU6M. Our finding shows that 75% of mothers intended to provide water in addition to breast milk to their IU6M and that about 60% reported doing it. Results of the final path show that the subjective norm/SN (β = 0.432, p < 0.001), the attitude (β = 0.349, p < 0.001), and to a lesser extent the perceived control/PC (β = 0.141, p = 0.005) predict the intention of mothers to provide water in addition to breast milk to their IU6M. The environment scores predict the attitude (β = 0.210, p = 0.001) and the SN (β = 0.284, p < 0.001). Having the mother practicing early breastfeeding initiation at birth positively predicted the PC score (β = 0.157, p = 0.017) and predicted an increasing score of SN (β = 0.221, p = 0.003). Even though predicting the final behavior is complex, this research provides directions to nutrition education programs to tailor their content to the context and be more efficient in reducing the proportion of women providing water to their IU6M, hence contributing to the improvement of EBF.