Joo Yeon Park

The emergence of the metaverse as a virtual environment enabling interaction with digital spaces and other users has attracted growing attention. In tourism, metaverse-based virtual experiences offer potential for hybrid and immersive destination engagement. This study empirically examines how social interactions within the metaverse influence visitors' experiential and emotional responses, and how these responses shape real-world tourism intentions and decision-making. Using data from a historic museum metaverse operated by a local government, the findings indicate that social interaction and visitor experience positively affect emotional value and loyalty, which in turn encourage visit intention and decision-making behaviour. These results highlight the role of emotional responses in influencing tourist behaviour and provide insights for stakeholders seeking to design and manage effective metaverse-based tourism experiences.

Gamification plays a pivotal role in enhancing user engagement in the Metaverse, particularly among Generation Z users who value autonomy, immersion, and identity expression. However, current research lacks a cohesive framework tailored to designing gamified social experiences in immersive virtual environments. This study presents a framework-oriented systematic literature review, guided by PRISMA 2020 and SPIDER, to investigate how gamification is applied in the Metaverse and how it aligns with the behavioral needs of Gen Z. From 792 screened studies, seventeen high-quality papers were synthesized to identify core gamification mechanics, including avatars, XR affordances, and identity-driven engagement strategies. Building on these insights, we propose the Affordance-Driven Gamification Framework (ADGF), a conceptual model for designing socially immersive experiences, along with a five-step design process to support its real-world application. Our contributions include a critical synthesis of existing strategies, Gen Z-specific design considerations, and a dual-framework approach to guide researchers and practitioners in developing emotionally engaging and socially dynamic Metaverse experiences.

Blockchain can change digital payments through improved transaction speed and security. Trust remains a huge hurdle to adoption in developing countries like Bhutan, where conventional banks dominate and technology acceptability is influenced by culture. The aim of this paper is to investigate the role of four main trust factors, which are security, privacy, regulation, and transparency, in creating trust among consumers in the use of blockchain technology in Bhutan's digital payment system. We employ a quantitative research approach to examine 302 respondents using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). These observations highlight the need for an overall plan with privacy-enhancing features, safe infrastructure, clear regulations, and open processes to build consumer trust. The findings confirm that privacy is the most critical factor influencing trust, followed by security, regulation, and transparency, underscoring the need for strong privacy protections and robust security measures. It provides practical recommendations to stakeholders who want to align Bhutan's digital payments with the international scene, while still adapting to its own culture and regulation. By creating trust, blockchain adoption can be a key component in Bhutan's financial revolution.

Blockchain is a secure, digital ledger that enables faster transactions, reduces fraud, lowers costs, and enhances transparency. The blockchain is capable of changing the face of digital payments by providing greater opportunities for transformation. Consumer acceptance in emerging markets such as Bhutan depends on a number of key factors. This paper explores the impact of performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions on consumer acceptance of blockchain-based digital payment systems in Bhutan. Sustained by the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), the study uses PLS-SEM to analyze survey data from 302 respondents. The results show that performance expectancy, the expectation of blockchain’s usefulness, is the most influential factor determining customer acceptance. Effort expectancy and facilitating conditions are equally important. Social influences, although rather marginal, play an important role in Bhutan’s collectivist culture. The paper sheds light on factors for consumer acceptance of blockchain adoption. The findings add to the literature on blockchain adoption in burgeoning economies and provide the foundation for further research on blockchain adoption in multi-cultural contexts.

As the security threat and crime rate have been increased all over the globe, the video surveillance system using closed-circuit television (CCTV) has become an essential tool for many security-related applications and is widely used in many areas as a monitoring system. However, most of the data collected by the video surveillance system is used as evidence of objective data after crime and disaster have occurred. And, often time, video surveillance systems tend to be used in a passive manner due to the high cost and human resources. The video surveillance system should actively respond to detect crime and accidents in advance through real-time monitoring and immediately transmit data in case of an accident. This study proposes developing an intelligent video surveillance system that can actively monitor in real-time without human input. In solving the problems of the existing video surveillance system, deep learning technology will be carried through the data processing model design to visualize data for crime detection after building an artificial intelligence server and video surveillance camera. In addition, this design proposes an intelligent surveillance system to quickly and effectively detect crimes by sending a video image and notification message to the web through real-time processing.

Purpose

This study aims to understand the benefits and challenges associated with the adoption of a blockchain-based identity management system in public services by conducting an academic literature review, and to explore the design of such a system that can be applied to the Korean government.

Design/methodology/approach

This study explores the adoption of a blockchain-based identity management system using a literature review and an actual design case intended for use by the government sector.

Findings

Blockchain-based identity management systems can significantly improve transparency, accountability, and reliability in the user control of one's own data while reducing the time and cost needed to deliver public services, as well as increasing administrative efficiency. However, it is not always easy to implement such systems, and introducing new technologies in the government field requires a complicated, time-consuming process. There is currently an appetite for research extending beyond the typical technology-driven approach to elucidate the government adoption of new technologies and explore its implications.

Practical implications

The idea behind this system is that by storing and managing personal information on the blockchain and providing mobile apps to customers, users can log in or retrieve previously authenticated personal information without having to go through an authentication process. Since users do not need to go through the verification process every time, it is expected that they will be able to access only the necessary personal information more quickly and conveniently without having to deal with unnecessary details. In addition, the blockchain-based operation of a public service effectively increases the transparency and reliability of that service and reduces the social costs caused by personal information leakage.

Originality/value

This study introduces the design of a blockchain-based identity management system that can be used in public services, specifically in the Korean government sector for the first time. Along with a literature review, the implications that this study gleans from these real-world use cases can contribute to this field of research.

Mixed metal oxide (MMO) is one of the widely utilized ceramic materials in various industries. In order to obtain high performance, the specific surface area of MMO should be controlled. Calcination of layered double hydroxide (LDH) is a versatile way to prepare MMO with homogeneous metal distribution and well-developed porosity. Although researchers found that the specific surface area of LDH-originated MMO was relatively high, it had not been systematically investigated how the surface area is controlled under a certain parameter. In this review, we summarized LDH-originated MMO with various starting composition, calcination temperature, and pore developing agent in terms of specific surface area and porosity. Briefly, it was represented that MMOs with Mg-Al components generally had higher specific surface area than Mg-Fe or Zn-Al components. Calcination temperature in the range 300–600 °C resulted in the high specific surface area, while upper or lower temperature reduced the values. Pore developing agent did not result in dramatic increase in MMO; however, the pore size distribution became narrower in the presence of pore developing agents.

Blockchain is drawing attention as rising technology with the advantages of security, transparency, and immutability by a decentralized network structure. However, blockchain technology is still an immature technology and lacks common standards. The researches on blockchain technology have been mainly focused on the financial sector but rarely applied to the supply chain in industry sectors. Especially, the blockchain technologies developed by technology entrepreneurs are still challenging to apply to an actual business due to a lack of understanding of the possibility of creating value. Therefore, it is necessary to provide technological entrepreneurs with an understanding of the business model and the feasibility of creating value with the new technology like blockchain. To address the issue, this study investigates how blockchain technology is effectively applicable and what value can be achieved from it. The purpose of this study is to analyze a livestock traceability system using blockchain technology and investigate its business model in terms of the value proposition, value delivery, and value creation. This study would provide insights into the business value creation of blockchain technology.

As the fourth industrial revolution has been emerging, there are concerns of labor forces being replaced by technology, recent interest on the work-life balance, and the quality of employment has received attention. This study investigates the role of technology startups on employment and innovative performance. Using empirical data from workplace panel data provided by the Korea Labor Institute, this study reveals that technology startups impact the employment quality and innovative performance by the action of technological innovation. The results highlight the quality of employment as a driver for innovative performance in technology startups. The results of this study will provide practical implications for enhancing technology entrepreneurship.