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Blended Learning and Higher Education: A Bibliometric Analysis

2023 , Cruz Cárdenas, Jorge , Parra-Domínguez J. , Zabelina E. , Deyneka O. , Ramos-Galarza C.

Blended learning is defined as an educational model or a way of teaching that combines in-person education with online education. In recent years, due to its great potential, this type of teaching applied to higher education has aroused great interest on the part of professionals and academics. This growing interest has been reflected in the rapid growth in the number of publications on blended learning and higher education. This article seeks to contribute to the knowledge base by presenting an integrated overview of this growing body of literature, and to this end the authors use bibliometric techniques. As a basis for the analysis, 2,477 relevant articles in the Scopus database were selected. The descriptive results obtained show rapid growth in the number of articles published over the years, a dominance of publications associated with developing and emerging countries, and the leading role of social sciences. An analysis of the co-occurrence of terms allows us to establish four areas of interest: 1) Covid-19 and the challenges and opportunities it poses, 2) the effectiveness and performance of blended learning, 3) the organization and design of blended learning, and 4) the technological tools and forms of delivery of blended learning. An analysis of the overlay visualization of terms makes it possible to establish the evolution of the topics of interest in the research over the years. Initially, interest focused on issues relating to the organization and design of blended learning. Currently, interest is focused on Covid-19 and the challenges it poses. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

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Interactive Model of Executive Functions to Understand Error Correction

2022 , Ramos Galarza, Carlos , Cruz Cárdenas, Jorge , Ramos V.

This article reports an investigation aimed at analyzing an interactive model of executive functions, which seeks to explain the process followed by human beings to correct their mistakes. The method followed was an analysis based on structural equations, considering the maximum likelihood process around a model that considered six executive functions. We worked with a randomized sample of 771 subjects (mean age = 39.86, SD = 15.47; 50.5%, women, 50.50%). The findings suggest that error correction is a complex executive function as it is the product of the internal language capacity that regulates behavior and cognition, adequate regulation of the limbic system, adequate decision-making, and control of automatic impulses, determining how to act and verify the thoughts and behavior of the subject. The contribution of the proposed theoretical model lies in understanding the process by which human beings manage to correct errors. In addition, how this explanatory model could help neuropsychological intervention processes to work on this cognitive ability in individuals with difficulties in correcting errors. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee ESJ, Italy.

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Consumer expenditures on clothing and footwear: a mixed methods study

2018 , Cruz Cárdenas, Jorge , Arévalo-Chávez P. , Guadalupe J.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to establish the predictors of consumers’ annual monetary expenditures on clothing and footwear in Quito, the capital of Ecuador, a developing Latin American country. Design/methodology/approach: The research followed an exploratory, sequential, mixed methods design. The first phase consisted of in-depth interviews with adult individuals. The second phase involved surveying a similar segment of the population. Findings: The present study supports the importance of demographic and psychological factors as predictors. The study also identifies two new groups of predictors: consumers’ reception of used clothing and physical space at home and its management. Practical implications: In addition to demographic variables, consumer panels that measure expenditures on clothing and footwear should include psychological measures of participants, particularly clothing involvement. Clothing manufacturers and retailers in developing countries should consider the impact of receiving used clothes by consumers. Because clothing buying and disposal behaviors are positively associated, companies should become more involved in their customers’ disposal behavior. Originality/value: The contribution of the present study is twofold. First, it contributes to the understanding of clothing and footwear expenditures by considering the individual consumer as a unit of analysis. Furthermore, it provides insights into this behavior from a little-studied context. © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited.

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Drivers of technology readiness and motivations for consumption in explaining the tendency of consumers to use technology-based services

2021 , Cruz Cárdenas, Jorge , Guadalupe-Lanas, Jorge , Ramos Galarza, Carlos , Palacio-Fierro A.

This study aimed to identify the way in which the optimism and innovativeness of consumers (drivers of technology readiness) affect their tendency to use technology-based services, an area that merits additional research. The study was conducted in two phases in Quito, Ecuador. In the first phase, three services were selected to be studied: online shopping, online banking, and online music streaming. In the second phase, the hypotheses were tested with a random sample of 754 adults. The results were consistent in the three structural equation models (one for each service). Optimism acts indirectly, through the mediation of hedonic and utilitarian motivations. Innovativeness acts through a similar indirect channel, but it also acts directly. One of the marketing implications of this study is that simply concentrating on consumer attitudes towards technology is not enough, since it is necessary to consider their indirect effects on the tendency to use a service. © 2020 Elsevier Inc.

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Temporal Focus as a Mediator between Cultural Values and Subjective Happiness: Evidence from Ecuador and Russia [Временной фокус как медиатор взаимосвязи между культурными ценностями и субъективным счастьем: на материале Эквадора и России]

2022 , Zabelina E.V. , Cruz Cárdenas, Jorge , Guadalupe-Lanas J. , Deyneka O.S.

Though numerous scholars have studied subjective time, its predictors and effects, the general model considering demographic variables, cultural values and level of wellbeing is not presented. This study seeks to bridge this gap by contributing a comparative study of two very different countries: Ecuador (N=745, aged 19—76, 48.7% male), a Latin American developing country, and Russia (N=428, aged 18— 72, 40.2% male), an emerging Eurasian nation. We assumed that temporal focus plays the role of a mediator in the relationship between cultural values and subjective happiness in both countries. To predict the temporal focus (Temporal Focus Scale by Shipp, Edwards, and Lambert, 2009) in both countries, based on the previous literature the study tests the importance of three groups of variables: demographic factors (gender, age, education, income), subjective happiness (Subjective Happiness Scale by Lyubomirsky and Lepper, 1999), and cultural values (Cultural Values Scale by Yoo, Donthu and Lenartowics, 2011). The first stage of analysis involved confirmatory factor analyses and invariance tests for the scales used. Subsequently, multiple regression models made it possible to establish that sociodemographic variables, introduced as covariates, had little influence on the prediction of people's temporal orientation. However, the cultural and psychological variables (long-term orientation, uncertainty avoidance and subjec - tive happiness) introduced as predictors played an important role in the prediction of temporal (current, past and future) focus. Additionally, there are some cultural and psychological predictors of temporal focus specific for each country. Ultimately, structural equation models demonstrated that temporal focus plays the role of the mediator in the relationship between cultural values and subjective happiness in both Ecuador and Russia. © 2022. Cultural-Historical Psychology. All Rights Reserved.

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Clothing Disposal System by Gifting: Characteristics, Processes, and Interactions

2017 , Cruz Cárdenas, Jorge , González R. , Gascó J.

The study of clothing disposal systems, involving the flow of clothing from one household to another, is of great interest because of the positive social and environmental consequences. Based on 35 in-depth interviews with adult men and women in Ecuador, a Latin American country, the authors sought to expand knowledge regarding one of these systems: clothing disposal by gifting to family, friends, and acquaintances. The respondents’ narratives indicated that the clothing disposal system by gifting is noncentric; based on social exchange, it strengthens the links between givers and recipients while allowing for clothes to circulate for a longer time. The data also indicated an intersection between age and gender, offering insight into how the process of clothing disposal by gifting develops within households. In some disposal events reported by participants, the clothing disposal system by gifting demonstrated autonomy, but in other events, it interacted with the clothing marketing system. © 2016, © The Author(s) 2016.

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From Face-to-Face Learning to Virtual Learning: Students’ Perspective

2023 , Cóndor-Herrera, Omar , Bolaños-Pasquel, Mónica , Ramos Galarza, Carlos , Cruz Cárdenas, Jorge

This article reports the results found in an investigation which analyzed the perception that students have regarding the virtual learning process developed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study involved 38 students from a Latin American institution whose age ranged from 13 to 15 years of age, who carried out their academic activities virtually for a school year, once the school period ended, a survey was applied to collect information on the experience in virtual classes, once the results have been analyzed, it is evident that the vast majority of students issued responses in favor of virtual teaching and that virtual classes served to develop their skills in managing technological resources, on the other hand a number of participants They did not indicate the learning experience as positive or negative. This may be related to the fact that a group of participants did not have good quality internet. In the same way, the results reflect that the students consider that not having adequate equipment and good quality internet quality are a limitation in the learning process virtual lift. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

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Consumer value creation through WhatsApp use: A qualitative multimethod approach in a Latin American scenario

2019 , Cruz Cárdenas, Jorge , Guadalupe, J , Zabelina E. , Palacio Fierro, Andrés , Velín-Fárez M. , Staniewski M.W.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand in-depth how consumers create value in their lives using WhatsApp, the leading mobile instant messaging (MIM) application. Design/methodology/approach: The study adopts the perspective of customer-dominant logic (CDL) and uses a qualitative multimethod design involving 3 focus groups and 25 subsequent in-depth interviews. The research setting was Ecuador, a Latin American country. Findings: Analysis and interpretation of the participants’ stories made it possible to identify and understand the creation of four types of value: maintaining and strengthening relationships; improving role performance; emotional support; and entertainment and fun. In addition, the present study proposes a conceptual model of consumer value creation as it applies to MIM. Practical implications: Understanding the way consumers create value in their lives using MIM is important not only for organizations that offer MIM applications, but also for those companies that develop other applications for mobile phones or for those who wish to use MIM as an electronic word-of-mouth vehicle. Originality/value: The current study is one of the first to address the topic of consumer behavior in the use of technologies from the perspective of CDL; this perspective enables an integrated qualitative vision of value creation in which the consumer is the protagonist. © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited.

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Bibliometric Analysis of Existing Knowledge on Digital Transformation in Higher Education

2022 , Cruz Cárdenas, Jorge , Ramos Galarza, Carlos , Guadalupe-Lanas J. , Palacio-Fierro A. , Galarraga Carvajal, Mercedes

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have been feeling great pressure to advance in digital transformation. This pressure has been intensified with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic at the end of 2019. Because the digital transformation of HEIs has been attracting a growing number of publications, the present study sought to carry out a bibliometric analysis of such titles. For this purpose, 643 relevant documents were identified from the Scopus database in January 2022. The descriptive results show an accelerated growth of the relevant literature, with conference papers being the main form of publication, followed by articles, conference reviews, and book chapters. The areas with which the majority of documents were associated were computer science, followed by social science, engineering, and business and management. An analysis of the co-occurrence of terms based on the titles and abstracts enabled the identification of three thematic areas of interest: 1) digital transformation in teaching, particularly under the pressure exerted by COVID-19; 2) environmental influences on the digital transformation of HEIs; and 3) enabling technologies for digital transformation. A longitudinal analysis also based on titles and abstracts allows us to see how the primary focus shifted from the economic issue (in 2019) to the COVID issue (in 2021). This study concludes by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of the findings, demonstrating as a particularly interesting area for future research the study of the digital transformation of HEIs in a future post-COVID scenario. © 2022, The Author(s).

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University Students’ Rejection to Learning Statistics: Research from a Latin American Standpoint

2023 , Ramos Galarza, Carlos , Ramos V. , Cruz Cárdenas, Jorge , Bolaños-Pasquel, Mónica

Introduction: Negative beliefs, fear, avoidance behaviors, and superficial attitudes surrounding the learning of statistics create significant problems for university students in Latin America. Objective: To analyze the impact of fearful behavior, superficial work, and avoidance displayed by university students when it comes to statistics. Method: In this article, we give details about a quantitative research project carried out by two independent studies. The first (N = 310) focused on the development of a scale to assess negative beliefs, fears, and avoidance behaviors towards statistics, in which goodness of fit was determined in a 3-factor model. In the second study (N = 250), it was hypothesized that undergraduates perform superficially due to negative beliefs and avoidance behaviors when learning statistics. Findings: The proposed model explained 42% of the variance. In addition, in the analysis of the proposed mediation model, an adequate adjustment was found. In the discussion of this research project, the need to intervene in the negative beliefs, fears, and avoidance behaviors displayed by university students towards statistics is highlighted. Novelty: This research project explains why college students dislike or avoid learning statistics in depth. The findings will allow for a modification in the way statistics is taught so that Latin American professionals achieve better performance in this field. © 2023 by the authors. Licensee ESJ, Italy.