ERIC Number: EJ1304888
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021-Apr
Pages: 7
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-2146-7242
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Understanding the Effect of Culture on E-Book Popularity during COVID-19 Pandemic
Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology - TOJET, v20 n2 p182-188 Apr 2021
Coronavirus Pandemic has changed the way that people live, interact and communicate with others. Some modifications are transitory, while others seem to be permanent. Seeking for social and human development, many individuals find in educational courses a way to get a better quality of life. During the lockdown periods, reducing human contact, information technology plays an important role to enable the access of books by individuals. Cultural factors at a country level also can expand or decrease the interest in information technologies to access electronic books (e-books). Therefore, considering the lockdown limitations during the COVID-19 pandemic, this paper tests the effect of culture on e-book popularity among different countries. First, we observed a significant increase in the popularity of e-books during the lockdown period, which reinforces the potential that information technology has to generate different values for individuals and firms during lockdown restrictions. Large countries, and countries with better levels of information technology tend to search more for e-books during the lockdown. Moreover, masculinity and power distance are two dimensions of culture that seem to be related to the changes in the interest of e-books during pandemics. These results highlight new questions that can be explored in further research.
Descriptors: COVID-19, Pandemics, Cultural Influences, Influence of Technology, Trend Analysis, Books, Electronic Publishing, Adoption (Ideas), Foreign Countries, Masculinity, Power Structure, Individualism, Risk, Access to Information
Sakarya University. Esentepe Campus, Adapazari 54000, Turkey. Tel: +90-505-2431868; Fax: +90-264-6141034; e-mail: tojet@sakarya.edu.tr; Web site: http://www.tojet.net
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
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Language: English
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