Factors influencing COVID-19 vaccine acceptance in Indonesia: an adoption of Technology Acceptance Model

Background: It is critical to understand the factors that could affect the acceptance of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine in the community. The aim of this study was to determine factors that could possibly affect the acceptance of Indonesian citizens of COVID-19 vaccination using a Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), a model how users come to accept and use a technology. Methods: An online survey was conducted between the first and fifth of November, 2020. Participants were asked to respond to questions on acceptance, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived religiosity towards, and amount of information about COVID-19. This study used the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as the framework to decide factors that affect vaccine acceptance. Structural Equation Model was employed to assess the correlation between all explanatory variables and vaccine acceptance. Mann-Whitney test and Kruskal-Wallis rank were employed to assess demographic factors associated with acceptance. Results: In total, 311 responses were included for analysis. Our TAM model suggested that high perceived usefulness significantly increased COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and high perceived ease of use significantly increased the perceived usefulness. Perceived religiosity did not substantially affect vaccine acceptance. The amount of information on COVID-19 also did not significantly affect vaccine acceptance. Our data suggested that vaccine acceptance was associated with age, type of occupation, marital status and monthly income to some degree. Conclusion: Since perceived usefulness affects vaccine acceptance, the government should focus on the usefulness of the vaccine when promoting the COVID-19 vaccine to Indonesian citizens. In addition, since perceived ease of use significantly affects users’ acceptance to COVID-19 vaccine, the easier to acquire the vaccine in the community, the higher chance that the citizens are willing to be vaccinated.

Factors influencing COVID-19 vaccine acceptance in Indonesia: an adoption of Technology Acceptance Model

Background: It is critical to understand the factors that could affect the acceptance of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine in the community. The aim of this study was to determine factors that could possibly affect the acceptance of Indonesian citizens of COVID-19 vaccination. Methods: An online survey was conducted between the first and fifth of November, 2020. Participants were asked to respond to questions on acceptance, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived religiosity towards, and amount of information about COVID-19. This study used the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as the framework to decide factors that affect vaccine acceptance. Structural Equation Model was employed to assess the correlation between all explanatory variables and vaccine acceptance. Mann-Whitney test and Kruskal-Wallis rank were employed to assess demographic factors associated with acceptance. Results: In total, 311 responses were included for analysis. Our TAM model suggested that high perceived usefulness significantly increased COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and high perceived ease of use significantly increased the perceived usefulness. Perceived religiosity did not substantially affect vaccine acceptance. The amount of information on COVID-19 also did not significantly affect vaccine acceptance. Our data suggested that vaccine acceptance was associated with age, type of occupation, marital status and monthly income to some degree. Conclusion: Since perceived usefulness affects vaccine acceptance, the government should focus on the usefulness of the vaccine when promoting the COVID-19 vaccine to Indonesian citizens. In addition, since perceived ease of use significantly affects users’ acceptance to COVID-19 vaccine, the easier to acquire the vaccine in the community, the higher chance that the citizens are willing to be vaccinated.

Medieval Saints and Their Miraculous Songs: Ritual Singing, Funerary Piety, and the Construction of Female Sanctity in Thirteenth-Century Liège

This article explores the conspicuous role of singing in the hagiographical construction of saintly women in the thirteenth-century Diocese of Liège. The constellation of Lives about Liégeois women occupies a prominent place in the “origin story” of the new spirituality in the later Middle Ages. However, one aspect of these women's perceived religiosity—their musical and vocal talent—though omnipresent in the sources, has received only sparse attention from scholarship. This article focuses on two of the most important Lives in this group, those of Mary of Oignies and Christina of Sint-Truiden, and demonstrates that hagiographers, mobilizing liturgical vocabulary and ritual ideas identifiable to a local audience, consistently represented women's singing as magnificent ritual performance. By doing so, the hagiographers highlighted these women's privileged access to the divine and distinct potency as intercessors for the living and the dead. This article also intends to show the highly sophisticated ways in which Latin liturgy and its vernacular appropriation, popular ideas and scholastic theories about music were negotiated, developed, and together contributed to a distinctive religious rhetoric in the articulation of female sanctity in thirteenth-century Europe.

The Sacred Power of Beauty: Examining the Perceptual Effect of Buddhist Symbols on Happiness and Life Satisfaction in China

The theoretical relationship between Buddhism and subjective well-being has gained much academic attention in recent decades. However, the prominent determinants of religiosity remain limited for researchers to understand a holistic picture of religion-informed subjective well-being, particularly in the context of Buddhism. This study has applied a quantitative survey to verify the impact of the aesthetic effects of the Buddhist gesture symbol on Chinese people’s subjective happiness through sequential mediators of life satisfaction and the perceived religiosity. The significance of this study is threefold. Firstly, it aims to enrich the current academic understanding of the religion-informed subjective well-being by introducing a new determinant of the Buddhist symbols. Secondly, the current study investigates the mechanism of how Buddhist symbols could influence happiness by analyzing the sequential mediating roles of religiosity and life satisfaction. Thirdly, this study empirically examines the topic in the context of China to confirm and underpin the theoretical relationship between Buddhism and subjective well-being in relevant research, which has previously focused on Western culture. Our results indicated that the aesthetic perception of the Buddhist gesture symbol positively influenced perceived happiness and life satisfaction. In addition, perceived religiosity and life satisfaction sequentially mediated the perceived happiness after seeing the Buddhist gesture symbol. Our findings contribute to the current academic understanding of religious symbols and their impacts on subjective well-being.

Buddhists Care: Examining the Impact of Religious Elements on Reducing Discriminatory Attitudes toward People Living with HIV/AIDS

Faith-based programs have been long regarded as influential social approaches to form positive attitudes to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) within the last few decades. However, recent scholars argue that religions serve a double role in supporting HIV-infected people. Moreover, relevant evidence is mainly collected from studies among participants of the Western religious traditions, such as Christianity. This study applies the theory of the attitude formation model to examine Buddhist factors impacting discriminatory attitudes towards HIV/AIDS and the causal path to positive behavior intention. To investigate its underlying mechanism, Buddhist elements, as an important antecedent, were introduced in the advertisement against HIV/AIDS-related discrimination to influence people’s attitudinal reaction. Results show that Buddhist advertising could significantly increase perceived religiosity and compassion. Then, both perceived religiosity and compassion jointly increase anti-prejudical attitudes towards HIV-infected people and have a positive impact on interaction intention at the end.

Factors that influence individuals’ intentions to purchase family takaful mediating role of perceived trust

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors that affect one’s attitude and intentions towards family takaful schemes, apart from evaluating the mediating role of perceived trust in the relationship between perceived religiosity and attitude towards family takaful. Most prior studies have considered religiosity as an individual’s tendency to be religious. However, the present study employed perceived religiosity as one’s perception regarding shariah compliance practices of family takaful schemes. Moreover, this study examines the direct relationship between perceived religiosity and attitude and the indirect relationship between perceived religiosity and trust.Design/methodology/approachA sample of 224 salaried individuals was selected with an age range of 24–50. Variance-based partial least squares structural equation modelling was employed for data analysis.FindingsThe results showed that knowledge and perceived usefulness (PU) had significantly positive relationships with attitude towards family takaful schemes. Perceived trust completely mediated the relationship between perceived religiosity and attitude towards family takaful. Attitude was positively related to purchase intention regarding family takaful.Practical implicationsThe findings of the study are important for Islamic financial institutions, especially for takaful companies to revamp their marketing strategies. With enhanced understanding regarding consumer behaviour, takaful companies can sell their products in a more effective manner to increase their market share.Originality/valueBehavioural aspects regarding the purchase of Islamic insurance products have yet to be profoundly explored in the literature. The indirect relationship between perceived religiosity and trust is established in this study. The study contributes to the field of consumer behaviour and marketing of Islamic financial products.

Consumer behaviour of Islamic home financing

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the contributing factors that affect consumer behaviour of Islamic home financing in Malaysia. The effects of perceived religiosity on property, perceived Islamic debt principle and perceived maqasid on homeownership on consumer behaviour are examined. Furthermore, the effects of perceived religiosity and consumer behaviour on religious satisfaction are also investigated. Design/methodology/approach Using the theory of Islamic consumer behaviour (TiCB) as a baseline theory identified from the literature, this study proposes a conceptual model of consumer behaviour of Islamic home financing in Malaysia. Data from the 205 usable questionnaires are analysed using partial least squares (PLS). Findings The PLS results suggest that perceived religiosity on property, perceived Islamic debt principle and perceived maqasid on homeownership are instrumental in determining consumer behaviour, thus revealing these factors as “Islamic factors” that represent the TiCB. Furthermore, the effect of consumer behaviour on religious satisfaction is also significant, implying that good behaviour makes people happier – seeking pleasure for doing well that is blessed and approved by Allah (S.W.T). Research limitations/implications Two limitations are available for future studies. First, this study included only Malaysians in East Malaysia, suggesting that further testing of the proposed model should be conducted across different geographies to determine the generalisability of this study’s findings. Second, this study’s contributions are narrowed down to the factors examined. These limitations, however, provide directions for further future research. Practical implications The results provide directions to bank managers to effectively manage Islamic home financing services for the benefit of their customers. Islamic home financing products tend to be used by consumers if the patronage factors investigated are considered more profoundly. Originality/value This study examines the behaviour of consumers of Islamic home financing using the proposed framework derived from TiCB.

Forecasting patronage factors of Islamic credit card as a new e-commerce banking service

Purpose Understanding the important patronage factors of Islamic credit card as a new e-commerce banking service is essential for bankers and users. Although some previous studies have focused on the factors that influence adoption of Islamic credit card, there are few empirical research studies that use a well-established adoption model that helps bankers and consumers to accept and use the Islamic credit card. This study aims to provide such a model to facilitate the adoption of Islamic credit card. Design/methodology/approach In response, a conceptual model was developed that combines the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) with perceived religiosity (a new developed construct in this study) and trust to explain usage intention of this new banking product. Accordingly, the data were collected from 327 bank customers, and the results supported the applicability of TAM to describe usage behavior of Islamic credit card. Besides, the newly developed construct (perceived religiosity) increased the TAM power regarding explaining adoption of a new e-commerce banking service. Findings Theoretically, the results of this study advocate that perceived religiosity increase the TAM predictive power to clarify intention to use. While, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and attitude explained low level of the variance regarding intention to use, by adding perceived religiosity to TAM, these constructs contributed to an increase in the described variance, therefore offering a better explanatory power. In addition, the proposed joint TAM, perceived religiosity and trust explained 57.1 per cent of usage behavior variance. These results are of prime importance, as, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that proves the applicability of TAM for explaining adoption and usage of the Islamic credit card. Originality/value The findings of the current study showed that perceived usefulness is an important factor effecting people’s intention to use the Islamic credit card. Consequently, managers need to first ensure that the Islamic credit card and its services are technically sound and work in an appropriate manner. The focus should be on promoting speed, efficiency and effectiveness of this new product. In financial part, there is a need to reduce the interest rate in the long run to encourage potential users to consider the usage of the Islamic credit card and its offered services.