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The impacts of help-seeking (HS) on purchase decisions associated with social media websites (SMWs) are deemed powerful given the enormous popularity of social media and growth of social commerce. This research explores HS on SMWs and empirically investigates how it influences users' decision performance. Utilizing the heuristic-systematic model (HSM), media system dependency (MSD) theory, and tangibility theory, in addition to HS logics, the research proposes a theoretical model incorporating both a MSD path and tangibility path for gauging purchase decision on SMWs. Two HS logics—dependent and autonomous—moderate the relationships between gratification, perceived diagnosticity, and decision performance. Data collected from 629 users of SMWs supported all of our hypotheses. Practitioners can benefit from the findings by more fully understanding the prospective value of diverse supports afforded by SMWs and constructing new guidelines to design more effective mechanisms that help consumers.

"By concentrating on the topic of school enrolment policy for rural-to-urban migrant children in China, this book analyses the unequal power relations and structural inequalities that can appear in the context of education. The author complements current knowledge by applying theoretical resources of policy sociology, in particular the thinking of Pierre Bourdieu, into analysis of educational policymaking in the Chinese context. He takes a policy trajectory approach to trace the (unequal) power relations and structural inequalities invested and realised in the school enrolment policy. Rooted in rich qualitative data from five metropolises, he examines both external influences of politics, economy and public policy on educational policy agenda setting and discursive practices within the educational policy cycle, inherent in the post-2013 restrictive school enrolment policy. Structural constraints and agency in the local context are also explored, indicating that the intersectional effects of political, economic, and civic logic can result in differentiated modes of policy enactment. The study will be of interest to scholars, students, policymakers and practitioners in helping address policymaking and social justice in education for migrants and other marginalised groups"--

ObjectiveThis study examined whether community attachment leads to population changes through in‐ and out‐migration (such as migration rates), based on the concepts posited by the social capital, linear‐development, and systemic approaches.MethodsUsing the data of the 2014 Iowa Small Towns Project combined with information from the 2016 American Community Survey, we conducted structural equation modeling to examine the associations between community attachment with respect to its predictors (e.g., population size, median age, length of residence, and social capital) and migration.ResultsThe results showed that the model effectively explained community attachment, and in particular, longer length of residence and higher social capital increased the level of community attachment. However, community attachment did not predict migration rates.ConclusionWhile previous studies found that community attachment is a determinant factor of migration intention, and essentially identical to actual migration, the findings implied that using migration intention or actual migration might yield conflicting results and thus yield different conclusions.

This paper examines how a microblogging tool (i.e., Twitter) can be effectively used to strengthen a virtual learning community (VLC) in the two sections of a fully online graduate course. Students in this course were consisted of K-12 teachers, school technology specialists, corporate trainers, and military personnel. The microblogging activities were designed to allow quick peer interaction to build the momentum of social learning in the VLC. In this study, we collected quantitative data on sense of community through a Likert scale survey, and rich qualitative data on students' perception about microblogging activities. It was found that students' sense of community was generally high and students were positive about their microblogging experiences. In addition, microblogging was found to be useful and valuable in sustaining students' learning by doing such as sharing real-world design examples, critiquing design examples with technical knowledge learned in class, and quick and short commenting with peer support in a VLC. Based on the findings, the authors aim to provide design suggestions for educators and instructional designers to incorporate this social web tool in strengthening virtual learning communities in a meaningful and engaging way.