Dating Apps Are Used for More Than Dating

Use and design of dating apps has evolved in recent years to accommodate other interaction goals beyond dating, prompting some researchers to now refer to these apps as people-nearby applications (PNAs). With this expansion of use comes increased potential for misinterpretation of users' goals for meeting face-to-face, which can pose risks to user safety particularly when disparities in sexual expectations occur. We present a survey study (n=132) with users of several PNAs and with various motivations for PNA-use to understand how interaction goals are disclosed and detected. The study finds such practices to be far from consistent, with some appearing highly susceptible to misinterpretation such as purposely delaying self-presentation of interaction goals until meeting face-to-face, and implying sexual expectations through vague references to "fun." We conclude by suggesting a modified version of the "swiping" feature in PNAs to facilitate consistent and overt self-presentation of interaction goals in ways that accommodate user tendencies discovered in the study.

Cultural Differences in Interaction Goals between Malaysia-China Business Negotiations

As the world is getting more globalized due to digital world, cross-cultural business negotiation is getting more in demand and challenging compared to those days where most business involved mostly in domestic business negotiations. With such situations and environments, cultural intelligence is important to be learned. As many Chinese and Malaysian companies seeking the role as importer-exporter, international business negotiation skills and cultural awareness are much needed skills to meet the interaction goals of both parties. A lack of cultural awareness will lead to miscommunication and rejection from the other party during negotiations. The participants in this studies involve Chinese and Malaysians who are involved in real negotiation world. This paper used GLOBE model to compare the cultural dimensions between Malaysians and Chinese business negotiators. Questionnaires were sent by emails and through WeChat Apps to the participants who are based in China and Malaysia. Based on analysis, we found that between Chinese and Malaysian business negotiators, cultural norms influence the interaction goals between the two groups. As to the future research, we suggest that future research be directed towards developing theories and also focus on the application of GLOBE model in different research fields across different cultures, such as halal business management, digital marketing and business entrepreneurship. This study has contributed in enriching the knowledge on international business negotiations between Malaysia and China business literature context. On practical implication, this study has strengthen the negotiators’ knowledge on cultural norms of both Malaysians and Chinese in order to build better relationships with their business partners

Advisor Interaction Goals and Verbal Messages: Merging a Multiple Goals Approach and the Integrated Model of Advice Giving

Based on the integrated model of advice giving and theorizing about interaction goals, we examined how advisors’ goal intensity and complexity predicted perceptions of advisor harmfulness and helpfulness. We also examined predictors of goal intensity and complexity, such as advisors’ relational satisfaction with recipients, which generally increased goal intensity and complexity. Recipients and advisors rated advisors’ behaviors as more helpful when advisors reported greater intensity of the problem-solving goal but not the other three goals (emotional support, eliciting disclosure, and facilitating reappraisal). However, recipients and advisors rated advisors’ behaviors as more harmful when advisors had low versus moderate or high goal complexity. Qualitative analyses of conversation transcripts revealed patterns of interaction behavior associated with goal intensity and complexity. We discuss how goal intensity and complexity may relate to advisors’ messages and interaction patterns during the conversation, and therefore recipient and advisor perceptions of advisors’ helpfulness and harmfulness.

Agentic and communal interaction goals in conflictual intergroup relations

Members of conflicting groups experience threats to different identity dimensions, resulting in the need to restore the aspect of identity that was threatened. Do these needs translate into specific goals in social interactions? In the present research, we examined the hypotheses that (1) experiencing one’s ingroup as illegitimately disadvantaged or victimized arouses agentic goals (to act and appear assertive and confident) when interacting with the advantaged or victimizing group, while (2) experiencing one’s ingroup as illegitimately advantaged or perpetrating transgressions arouses communal goals (to act and appear warm and trustworthy) when interacting with the disadvantaged or victimized group. Study 1 (N = 391) generally supported both hypotheses across diverse intergroup contexts involving gender, national/ethnic, and consumer identities. Study 2 (N = 122) replicated this pattern in a context of occupational identities. Study 2 further showed that the effect of ingroup role on agentic and communal intergroup goals was not moderated by participants’ general dispositional preferences for agentic and communal goals in interpersonal interactions, thus demonstrating how ingroup role exerts a distinct and robust influence on goals for interactions with other groups. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Defining a notation for usability-oriented interaction and navigation modeling for interactive systems

Modeling the interaction and navigation of an interactive system can assist designers in making decisions about how the users will be able to achieve their interaction goals. However, there is a lack of proposals to: (1) deal with interaction and navigation in an integrated way and (2) deal with usability features in interaction and navigation modeling. In this paper, we propose a usability-oriented interaction and navigation model to improve the quality in use of interactive systems. We evaluate the feasibility of the model through a study with three participants with experience in using models in industry, teaching models and carrying out academic research about models. Our main contributions are: (1) a knowledge base about the existing solutions for the problem, (2) the USINN (Usability-oriented Interaction and Navigation) model, (3) a preliminary evaluation about the feasibility of USINN, (4) the evolution of the USINN notation based on the results of the feasibility study, and (5) the definition of the USINN metamodel.

Getting Smart

Smart technologies are rapidly transforming frontline employee-customer interactions. However, little academic research has tackled urgent, relevant questions regarding such technology-empowered frontline interactions. The current study conceptualizes (1) smart technology use in frontline employee-customer interactions, (2) smart technology–mediated learning mechanisms that elevate service effectiveness and efficiency performance to empower frontline interactions, and (3) stakeholder interaction goals as antecedents of smart technology–mediated learning. We propose that emerging smart technologies, which can substitute for or complement frontline employees’ (FLEs) efforts to deliver customized service over time, may help resolve the long-standing tension between service efficiency and effectiveness because they can learn or enable learning from and across customers, FLEs, and interactions. Drawing from pragmatic and deliberate learning theories, the authors conceptualize stakeholder learning mechanisms that mediate the effects of frontline interaction goals on FLEs’ and customers’ effectiveness and efficiency outcomes. This study concludes with implications for research and practice.

Testing Multiple Goals Theory With Low-Income, Mother-Child Spanish-Speakers: Language Brokering Interaction Goals and Relational Satisfaction

One hundred dyads of low-income, Spanish-speaking mothers and their bilingual children (age = 12-18) who act as language brokers (i.e., culturally/linguistically mediate between their mothers and English-speakers) were surveyed. Multiple goals theory was tested and extended by examining how mother and child perceptions of own and partner interaction goals across language brokering episodes were associated with mother-child relational satisfaction. An actor-partner interdependence model revealed that goals related to face, trust, and ethnic identity were associated with mother and child relational satisfaction. For both mothers and children, perceptions of own and partner goals (i.e., actor effects), and interactions between own reported and partner perceptions of the same goal (i.e., actor-partner effects) linked with mother-child relational satisfaction. Mother and child goal management during language brokering may have broader relational repercussions.

Goal Variability and Perceived Resolvability in Serial Argumentation

A fundamental premise of much interpersonal communication scholarship is that communicators’ goals may change during the course of interaction. Yet, the implications of these changes remain underexplored. This study examines the associations between goal variability and perceived resolvability of serial arguments. Seventy-five heterosexual romantic couples discussed a current serial argument and reported their interaction goals at 1-minute intervals, using a video-recall method. Within-interaction variability in self-focused and relational goals had positive curvilinear (i.e., U-shaped) associations with at least one partner’s perceptions of perceived resolvability in each model tested. This study demonstrates the potential for goal variability to shape global interaction outcomes in the context of relational conflict.