PurposeExtended reality (XR) technologies (i.e. augmented reality [AR] and virtual reality [VR]) have changed the digital landscape in recent years and present novel opportunities to marketers for providing innovative, experiential benefits to consumers. Many firms have developed and announced XR experiences (XREs); however, no prior work has assessed how investors react to these offerings and whether firms are rewarded for specific strategic decisions over others. This study aims to address this gap.Design/methodology/approachThe authors collected a comprehensive list of announcements of XREs made by publicly traded US firms. This study's data set consists of 179 announcements made during the period of 2010 through 2022. The authors then conducted an event study to assess the effect of these announcements on firm value (i.e. stock price). In addition, the authors ran a moderation analysis to uncover which strategic decisions lead some firms to witness different financial effects than others.FindingsOn average, firms witness a 0.38% (equivalent to $437m) loss in firm value after announcing XREs. However, this study's moderation analysis reveals that firms that choose to adopt AR rather than VR, focus on the purchase phase of the customer journey (rather than pre-purchase or post-purchase) and/or announced XREs in more recent years, witness an increase in firm value.Research limitations/implicationsOwing to financial data availability constraints, the event study focused on publicly traded firms in the USA. Future work should be expanded to international contexts, as scholars have suggested that XR technologies may face weaker acceptance in countries that are less individualistic and more collectivistic.Practical implicationsThe findings of this work allow firms to understand how to approach XREs in a way that enhances the consumer experience and is ultimately rewarded by investors. This event study suggests that firms should take a cautiously optimistic approach to XREs.Originality/valueThis research applies vividness theory to understand how the consumer experience is affected by heterogeneous decisions that firms make when developing and announcing XREs, which, in turn, can affect investors' responses. It also provides actionable strategic advice for practitioners who are interested in effectively approaching XR technologies. In addition, this study outlines important directions for future research within this domain.
From burnout to social determinants of health, contemporary healthcare challenges require greater integration of the social sciences and humanities to address. Many key healthcare challenges can be conceptualized as forms of epistemic injustice, in which a person’s knowing of lived experience are dismissed or made illegible. Oral history is a longstanding field with methods designed to foster collaborative discussion and support sharing of lived experiences, with great potential for intervening in epistemic harms. Existing applications of oral history to healthcare fields have been beneficial but limited. We call for and sketch expanded possibilities for advancing the use of oral history as a distinct tool in health professions education, research, and practice in ways that humanize responses to, and repair epistemic harm for, patients and clinicians alike. In this article we (1) summarize existing applications, (2) introduce key oral history concepts and methods to guide future applications, and (3) describe three project cases that illustrate these concepts in practice. We use these case studies to sketch three avenues for the development of expanded applications of oral history in health professions: oral history pedagogy for communication skills training; oral history content as part of HPE content curriculum and listening practices; and oral history as method in community engagement and research. We advocate for further exploration of oral history’s potential applications, introducing oral history as the next field joining the vibrant umbrella of the health humanities.
PurposeThis study explores how initial exposure to immersive spatial computing experiences using AR headsets generates lasting inspiration and shapes consumers expected long-term life consequences (i.e., enhancement of reality, perceived substitutability and social impact).Design/methodology/approachThe study uses a time-lagged research design based on 148 first-time users of spatial computing devices (AR headsets). Respondents were interviewed once shortly after being exposed to AR and a few days later. Data is analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).FindingsUsers' immediate "inspired-by" experiences predict increased "inspired-to" intentions days later. Such inspiration translates into anticipated consequences such as virtually customizing their physical environments, substituting physical products with AR content, and influencing social relationships with other users.Research limitations/implicationsThe current research focuses on positive life outcomes for consumers. However, the ubiquitous and pervasive use of AR may also lead to negative, undesired effects.Practical implicationsThe study demonstrates that AR experiences can produce detectable effects long after initial exposure and underscores that AR adoption results from the synergy of hardware and content, providing insights for future research in immersive spatial computing technologies.Originality/valueThe current research is one of the first to study AR users over time. Drawing on inspiration theory, findings show that an initial exposure to spatial computing through AR can have lasting effects when consumers think about how these technologies could impact their lives.
The U.S. Supreme Court's ambiguous institutional position-insulated from external pressures yet retaining important linkages with elected officials-complicates how the public assigns responsibility for its decisions. Using a survey experiment that shows respondents information about Dobbs, we explore how messages that politicize or depoliticize the Court affect responsibility attribution for Court decisions. We find that politicizing the Court increases responsibility attribution towards President Trump, and that this effect is conditioned by party cues. We explore downstream effects on evaluations of political actors, but do not find conclusive evidence. We argue that these findings have important implications for democratic accountability.
Abstract Secondary spinal cord injury (SCI), which includes a cascade of both biophysical and biochemical processes that mitigate neurological recovery, is thought to initiate within minutes of the direct, primary injury. However, previous in vitro and in vivo‐based approaches are incapable of determining how quickly and to what extent these processes occur following injury. In contrast, the perfused bovine ex vivo indentation injury model described here represents a new platform to investigate the short‐term effects of observed phenomena like altered blood flow and blood‐spinal cord barrier disruption following traumatic SCI. The model can assess tissue changes on the scale of minutes to determine how rapidly the spinal cord responds to injury. Indentation tests simultaneously simulate a crush injury and measure the mechanical properties of the tissue using Hertz contact theory. Our results indicate that injured cords exhibit changes to bulk perfusion, as evidenced by laser speckle contrast imaging, in addition to decreased barrier function minutes after injury. Mechanical testing of the cord reveals that the tissue softening observed previously in the days following injury initiates as early as 30 minutes. Moreover, perfusing red blood cells resuspended in saline instead of whole blood mitigates the drop in elastic modulus, highlighting the importance of leukocytes and plasma proteins in mediating the extracellular matrix mechanical response after SCI. Transcriptomic analysis reveals key differences in gene expression within 15 minutes of injury, including those related to inflammation and the immune response. Identifying the timeframe and extent to which biomechanical and biochemical changes occur after injury provides a more complete understanding of secondary injury.
