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Article
Publication date: 12 February 2019

Sunday Adewale Olaleye, Dandison Ukpabi, Heikki Karjaluoto and Ioannis Rizomyliotis

The purpose of this paper is to use the consumer-based discrepancy theory to examine consumers’ behavioral motivations for using mobile devices and the factors that influence the…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to use the consumer-based discrepancy theory to examine consumers’ behavioral motivations for using mobile devices and the factors that influence the rapid diffusion of Chinese mobile devices in Nigeria.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected using focus group interviews with samples cutting across users, technicians and experts from Port Harcourt, Nigeria’s industrial capital. This study conducted a thematic analysis of the data with NVivo Pro 11 for deductive coding.

Findings

The authors found that weak regulatory environment opened the Nigerian mobile market to the influx of mobile devices from Chinese local manufacturers. Though largely absent in developed markets, Chinese mobile devices are household names in Africa, particularly Nigeria. Having studied the Nigerian market, Chinese mobile device manufacturers have incorporated features and specifications in their mobile devices that are adapted specifically to this market. Our findings also show that these “China phones and tablets” are significantly inferior to those manufactured by global brands. However, consumer complaints have led to significant improvements in their quality. Consequently, due to their successful diffusion, Nigeria is being used as a launching pad to other African countries.

Research limitations/implications

While the study could not look at the economic, environmental and health implications of the high death rate of the mobile devices, it however provides useful insights on the application of the consumer-based discrepancy theory: expectation vs performance, in the Nigerian mobile market context.

Originality/value

The study is the first to empirically examine the diffusion of Chinese mobile devices in one of the key emerging markets in Africa. The study provides blueprint for the local regulatory authorities on how to strengthen their regulatory oversight and also advances critical understanding on how Chinese mobile device manufacturers can improve their technologies and optimize market opportunity in Africa.

Details

International Journal of Emerging Markets, vol. 14 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-8809

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 23 November 2012

Vincent Tam

Learning Chinese is unquestionably very important and popular worldwide with the fast economic growth of China. To most foreigners and also local students, one of the major…

Abstract

Purpose

Learning Chinese is unquestionably very important and popular worldwide with the fast economic growth of China. To most foreigners and also local students, one of the major challenges in learning Chinese is to write Chinese characters in correct stroke sequences that are considered as significant in the Chinese culture. However, due to the potentially complicated structures of Chinese characters together with their stroke sequences, there are very few character recognition techniques that can effectively tackle the involved training task in an efficient and flexible manner. The purpose of this paper is to propose an intelligent and flexible e‐learning software based on learning objects to facilitate the learning of writing Chinese characters in correct stroke sequences.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper adopts an incremental approach in designing the overall system architecture to emphasize on extendibility of the system. The basic features of the system including the evolution and pronunciation of each Chinese character can be embedded as a part of the learning object metadata to enhance students' understanding of Chinese characters. To demonstrate the feasibility of this proposal, a prototype of the proposed e‐learning software was built on smartphones such that students can learn anytime and anywhere.

Findings

From the empirical evaluation of the e‐learning prototype for learning to write correct Chinese characters on mobile devices, it was found that foreign students can learn and practise the writing more effectively anytime and anywhere on their mobile devices after classes. Some initial positive feedback was collected. Furthermore, a more careful and thorough evaluation is planned to be conducted in relevant courses for foreign students in the upcoming Fall semester.

Originality/value

This proposal represents the first attempt to reduce the complexity while increasing the extendibility of the e‐learning software to learn Chinese through learning objects running on smartphones or mobile devices in general. More importantly, it opens up numerous opportunities for further investigations including possible integrations with other existing Chinese e‐learning systems.

Details

Interactive Technology and Smart Education, vol. 9 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1741-5659

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 May 2020

Matthew Tingchi Liu, Shiying Dong, Sara Kit Peng Chang and Francis Tan

The purpose of this study is to summarize the factors that result in V-shape rebound of Macau gambling industry's from 2014 to 2019. Both internal and external factors are…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to summarize the factors that result in V-shape rebound of Macau gambling industry's from 2014 to 2019. Both internal and external factors are examined and discussed by representatives from academia, industry and government.

Design/methodology/approach

Practitioners from the gambling industry offered their cutting-edged analysis and viewpoints with observation and comments from scholars and government representatives in gambling domain.

Findings

Internally, actions are taken by both the Macau government and Macau casino operators to rebrand Macau with nongambling elements and to adjust the strategies to attract more tourists from a wider range. Externally, global economic upturn and support from the China government also enhance Macau's quick rebound. A total of nine key factors are finally recognized.

Originality/value

This study provides answers and sense-making explanations to why Macau gambling industry can recover in such a short time after a big drop in Gross Gambling Revenue in 2014. This work reveals that Macau, by learning the lessons from the dramatic decline, conducts various self-rescue action plans which contribute to the quick V-shape rebound. This study is also a self-examination of Macau gambling industry from the firsthand perspectives of scholars, government representatives and casino management.

Details

Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, vol. 33 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-5855

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 May 2009

Nir Kshetri

This paper seeks to examine the growth of the Chinese online gaming industry and disentangle the mechanisms behind the emergence of unique online gaming culture in China.

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper seeks to examine the growth of the Chinese online gaming industry and disentangle the mechanisms behind the emergence of unique online gaming culture in China.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a review paper that provides a detailed and state‐of‐the‐art overview of the development of the Chinese online gaming Industry.

Findings

The findings indicate that online gaming is a remarkable example of an industry that is rapidly growing due to innovative business models of Chinese companies. Chinese companies are also working with the government to improve formal institutions to promote the growth of online gaming. Furthermore, we also found that Chinese online gaming industry resembles other technology industries in the country such as those related to handset and PC. Although Chinese companies were traditionally weak in creating new technologies, they have demonstrated success in some modern technologies in recent years. In the early stage of the growth, foreign players dominated the Chinese gaming industry. In recent years, this industry is characterized by the dominance of domestic players in the ecosystem catering to the full value chain of the industry.

Research limitations/implications

A lack of primary data and empirical documentation and a lack of in‐depth treatment of some of the key issues are major limitations here.

Practical implications

The paper examines the implications of China's rapidly growing online gaming industry for high‐technology businesses all over the world. The findings of this paper would help understand the opportunities for foreign multinational companies to enter the Chinese technology market or to intensify their operations in the country as well as the risks associated with China's unique institutions.

Originality/value

This paper's greatest value stems from the fact that it analyzes demand conditions, industry structure and transfer and export conditions from the standpoint of the Chinese online gaming industry and market.

Details

Journal of Technology Management in China, vol. 4 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-8779

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 February 2022

Kun Zhang and Peixin Lu

WeChat official account (WCOA) is an emerging and important platform for academic library services, which greatly accelerates the development of this field. This article aims to…

Abstract

Purpose

WeChat official account (WCOA) is an emerging and important platform for academic library services, which greatly accelerates the development of this field. This article aims to identify key evaluation indicators for users' satisfaction of the Academic Library WeChat Official Account (ALWCOA) as a reference for future improvements.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on the updated DeLone and McLean (D&M)’s model and Delphi method, an evaluation system of ALWCOA satisfaction was constructed. Then 212 university students were recruited to fill out a questionnaire on evaluation indicators. The grey relational analysis (GRA) and Pareto's principle were employed to analyze the questionnaire and select key evaluation indicators.

Findings

An ALWCOA service satisfaction evaluation system with three evaluation dimensions and 15 evaluation indicators was constructed, and three key evaluation indicators were identified, including service responsiveness, information timeliness and system security.

Practical implications

This article provides a strategy for assessing ALWCOA service satisfaction, as well as insights for improving of ALWCOA service. Specifically, academic libraries should pay more attention to improving service responsiveness, information timeliness and system security.

Originality/value

This article innovatively applied the updated D&M model in academic library service. Additionally, it facilitates the development of research fields, such as academic library services, microservices and user service evaluation, and provides a case study to better understand the WCOA.

Article
Publication date: 15 December 2022

Eugene Misa Darko and Kangning Xu

This study empirically investigates the long-run and interactive effect of Chinese foreign direct investment (CFDI) on Africa's industrialization process.

Abstract

Purpose

This study empirically investigates the long-run and interactive effect of Chinese foreign direct investment (CFDI) on Africa's industrialization process.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors employed industry and manufacturing value-added (% GDP) as the dependent variables and applied the two-step GMM and panel-corrected standard errors' (PCSE) techniques involving a panel of 49 African countries from 2003 to 2020.

Findings

The industry value-added (% GDP) results show that the presence of CFDI propels industrial productivity by contributing to value-addition in the short and long run. Moreover, the study shows that the magnitude of the CFDI effect on industrialization is pronounced in the short-run when it is associated with labor and natural resources. This result reveals efficiency-seeking behavior of CFDI and the CFDI-Africa industrialization nexus is not primarily resource-driven. More importantly, the authors found human capital, electricity and political stability, as primary factors that magnify CFDI's effect on industrialization in the short and long run.

Originality/value

This study is the first to use macro-level data to empirically investigate and find the significant effect of CFDI on Africa's industrialization in the long run. More importantly, the authors investigated channels through which CFDI magnifies industrialization in Africa in the short and long run.

Details

International Journal of Emerging Markets, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-8809

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 February 2022

Prasanta Kr Chopdar, Miltiadis D. Lytras and Anna Visvizi

Bicycle sharing offers a novel way to create smart and sustainable mobility solutions for the future. The purpose of this study is to draw on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and…

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Abstract

Purpose

Bicycle sharing offers a novel way to create smart and sustainable mobility solutions for the future. The purpose of this study is to draw on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT 2) framework for identifying the factors necessary to predict bike-sharing intention among users in India.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected through a questionnaire distributed across four major cities in India, and 515 responses were analyzed. A sequential approach was employed to analyze the data using Partial Least Square–Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) and Fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA).

Findings

The findings from PLS analysis revealed that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, hedonic motivation and price value are the salient variables that affect users' intentions to participate in bike sharing. In addition, based on fsQCA, six configurations of causal conditions are presented as intermediate solutions that produce the same results. Although antecedent conditions, such as habit and social influence, had an insignificant effect on individuals' BSI, they create conditions sufficient to encourage users' participation in bike sharing in combination with other variables.

Research limitations/implications

A few limitations of this research and the implications of the findings in terms of theory and policy implications are also discussed.

Originality/value

The reported study is one of the earliest to explain bike-sharing adoption in India using the UTAUT 2 model.

Details

International Journal of Emerging Markets, vol. 18 no. 11
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-8809

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 January 2021

Usman Ali, Yanxi Li, Jian-Jun Wang and Zhen Chen

Prior research demonstrated that China's Outward FDI (OFDI) is aimed at sustaining long-term economic growth by promoting industrialization and technological upgrading in the…

Abstract

Purpose

Prior research demonstrated that China's Outward FDI (OFDI) is aimed at sustaining long-term economic growth by promoting industrialization and technological upgrading in the country. However, empirical evidence on the effectiveness of this strategy remains scarce. This study intends to fill this gap by exploiting endogenous changes in industrial productivity stemming from OFDI to examine if China's new strategy to spur OFDI is economically beneficial for the industries involved.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors employed the two-step system-GMM and pooled mean group approaches on a panel dataset of 18 Chinese industries over the 2004–2017 period. The industrial sectors are further classified into the state dominated and non-state dominated ones to evaluate whether the productivity growth impact of OFDI varies by the level of ownership structure. Besides, the dataset is further decomposed into the ex ante and ex-post BRI era to test if this initiative has altered the underlying relationship.

Findings

The results provide robust evidence that China's OFDI through reverse spillover effects promotes productivity growth in the domestic industries, and such productivity gains are greater for the non-state dominated industries, and the OFDI in the BRI era. The findings suggest that OFDI can act as a catch-up strategy to release excess capacity and acquire technology and smart business practices.

Originality/value

This study is the first attempt to highlight the reverse productivity spillovers associated with OFDI at the industrial level. The study's findings guide the government officials and the practitioners of foreign investment to better understand the implications of their investment projects in terms of technology improvements and to optimize market opportunities.

Details

International Journal of Emerging Markets, vol. 17 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-8809

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 October 2022

Mohamed Bouteraa, Raja Rizal Iskandar Raja Hisham and Zairani Zainol

Sustainability has become a global need for survival in every field since the side effects of financial development have resulted in environmental devastation. Green banking (GB…

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Abstract

Purpose

Sustainability has become a global need for survival in every field since the side effects of financial development have resulted in environmental devastation. Green banking (GB) has been proposed as a way to reduce the carbon footprint caused by banking operations by promoting paperless financial services through the intensive use of technology. However, the adoption level of GB technology remains unsatisfactory among customers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Therefore, using the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT), this study aims to comprehensively investigate the challenges affecting the intention of bank consumers in the UAE to adopt GB technology.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used exploratory sequential mixed-methods research. Preliminary semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten banking professionals using a purposive sampling technique to explore the challenges affecting consumers’ intention to adopt GB technology. Sequentially, the study tested various factors through a quantitative cross-sectional online survey of a sample of 332 bank customers and used the convenience sampling technique to obtain further empirical support for the research framework. Thematic content analysis using NVivo 11 was used for the qualitative data analysis. Meanwhile, partial least square structural equation modelling in Smart PLS 3.3 was used for the quantitative data analysis.

Findings

The qualitative analysis identified six new challenges affecting customers’ intention to adopt GB technology, including customer awareness, personal innovativeness, bank reputation, security and privacy, system quality and government support. The preliminary qualitative findings were confirmed mainly through quantitative data analysis, whereby customer awareness, personal innovativeness, system quality and bank reputation were found to significantly impact customers’ intention to adopt GB technology. However, the effects of security and privacy and government support were insignificant.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to propose a comprehensive model that considers individual, technological, organisational and environmental factors to address the issue of customers’ low GB technology adoption rates in the UAE. Meanwhile, this study extends the UTAUT by integrating new factors. This paper is also among the first to investigate customers’ GB technology adoption intention using a mixed-methods approach, which combines the strengths of quantitative and qualitative methods within the same study to offer better insights than a single-method approach.

Details

Journal of Islamic Marketing, vol. 14 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1759-0833

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 September 2018

Hung-Tai Tsou and Colin C.J. Cheng

Drawing on the resource-based view, this paper aims to extend prior information technology (IT) B2B service research by building and empirically testing a theoretical model in…

Abstract

Purpose

Drawing on the resource-based view, this paper aims to extend prior information technology (IT) B2B service research by building and empirically testing a theoretical model in which organizational agility mediates the relationship between organizational capabilities (IT capability and organizational learning) and service innovation performance, under conditions of entrepreneurial alertness.

Design/methodology/approach

The theoretical hypotheses are confirmed by partial least squares analysis of survey responses collected from 170 IT B2B service firms.

Findings

The results reveal that the effect of either IT capability or organizational learning on service innovation performance is fully mediated by organizational agility, and organizational agility has a greater impact on service innovation performance under a high level of entrepreneurial alertness than under a low level.

Practical implications

The results of this study provide specific managerial guidelines for how to effectively manage organizational mechanisms to enhance IT B2B service innovation performance.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the literature of service innovation, IT B2B (industrial) marketing and dynamic capability by providing theory-driven and empirically proven explanations to help managers better understand the IT capability-service innovation relationship from the perspective of organizational mechanisms (organizational agility, organizational learning and entrepreneurial alertness).

Details

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, vol. 33 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0885-8624

Keywords

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