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Over the past few years, e‐commerce has become increasingly popular in China. Recent research has shown that it is widely accepted that customer satisfaction and loyalty for online purchases is lower than that for shopping in more traditional ways. How to maintain and increase the satisfaction and loyalty of online customers is a challenging issue for online retailers. The purpose of this paper is to try to understand what affects customer satisfaction and loyalty.

A new conceptual model of customer satisfaction and loyalty in online purchases is developed, where four dimensions of e‐service quality – efficiency, requirement fulfillment, system accessibility, and privacy – are the four predictors from Parasuraman's E‐S‐QUAL. A partial least square estimation algorithm was then applied to analyze data from a sample of 164 online buyers from a range of backgrounds. Goods purchased include furniture, books, clothes, software, and digital products.

The results indicate that efficiency and fulfillment have positive effects on customer satisfaction, and fulfillment and privacy have positive effects on customer loyalty. However, the remaining factors have no significant effect on either customer satisfaction or customer loyalty. In addition, customer loyalty is positively affected by customer satisfaction.

The paper finds that the service quality must be analyzed from different aspects only to find that the requirement fulfillment has relatively great effect on customers' satisfaction and loyalty, the system accessibility has no effect on both, the efficiency has positive effect on customers' satisfaction and the privacy has positive effect on customers' loyalty. As these results are inconsistent with previous research achievements to some extent, this paper tends to provide some explanation.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze and summarize the development of science and technology (S & T) policies in China from a government-driven perspective in chronological order. To develop knowledge-based economy, China enacts a range of S & T policies since “Reform and Open Policy” started in 1978. Furthermore, it investigates the overall effects of these S & T policies on university-industry linkages (UILs).

This paper conducts an analysis framework of S & T policies in historical sequence to explain how government drives UILs to stimulate technological progress and economic growth in China.

More than a site for high-quality workforce education and knowledge spread, universities as an important part of national innovation are required to participate in economic activities. Considering that most Chinese universities are national, S & T policies with particular regard to university technology transfer would be more important and essential. This research finds that S & T policies enacted by government have made critical contributions to UILs in economic transition period, such as improving academic faculty, enhancing university–industry collaborations and supporting university spin-off formation. The experiences of China suggest that government should enact more effective S & T policies in the knowledge-based economy era.

First, universities need to educate high-level human resources that are important for economic growth and social development. Second, universities need to engage in R & D activities and enhance their collaboration with industries, such as consulting services, research contracts with industry, patent licensing and other general knowledge commercial mechanisms. Third, universities also can directly transfer commercial knowledge to start up new businesses by itself or in partnership with industrial sectors. Without doubt, a series of S & T policies or programs enacted by China’s government to drive entrepreneurship continuously played critical role in the UILs over the past 26 years.

This paper is a pioneering work on how S & T policies enacted by government drive UILs to stimulate technological progress in transitional China.

Most articles in the field of management evidence that knowledge transfer enhances firms’ innovation, productivity and employment. Despite of the amount of studies a systematization of dimensions of knowledge transfer and its effects on firms sustainability is still absent. The purpose of this paper is to fill this literature gap.

The author proposes a conceptual paper aimed to provide a framework for classifying knowledge transfer and its effects on firms’ competitiveness.

The paper provides a conceptual paper on the role of innovation for sustainability.

The author’s perspective on knowledge for sustainability is a topic of great interest for managers, practitioners and policy-makers.

This study intends to explore the configuration that affects the active degree of written questions in the Macau Legislative Assembly.

This study takes the members elected by the sixth Legislative Assembly of Macau as samples and uses the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis method. Five conditional factors are discussed, including multiple concurrent factors and complex causal mechanisms, which lead to the difference in the active degree of written questions.

The main conclusions are as follows: (1) Not Serving in the government is a necessary condition for a high active degree of the written question, and (2) The driving mechanism of a high active degree of written question can be divided into two paths. Among them, direct election into the Legislative Assembly is the crucial factor.

Traditional research mainly uses quantitative research methods. This study uses qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), which is a hybrid method designed to bridge the qualitative (case-oriented) and quantitative (variable-oriented) research gap.

The original powder commonly used for laser 3D printing is atomized alloy powder. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of ball milling (BM) on the structure and performances of the alloy powder and its composite products.

BM powder of Ni-Cr-graphite elements was subjected to laser cladding forming and the effect of BM on the powder structure was studied by X-ray diffraction, metallographic microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The laser cladding-formed coatings were also tested by reciprocating friction measures and electrochemical corrosion experiment.

The results showed that the grains of laser cladding-formed Cr3C2-NiCr coating of BM powder were more refined compared to the coating of the atomized powder. Moreover, the abrasion resistance and corrosion resistance were slightly improved.

This work offers guidance for new original powder selection for laser 3D printing/powder bed forming/selective laser melting applications.

This paper explores the driving factors of parasocial relationship (PSR) in the virtual reality (VR) shopping environment, and how this relationship affects brand equity. The study also investigates the moderating role of the celebrity endorser dynamism (CED) in the relationship between PSR and its antecedents.

The primary data collection tool is a survey administered to Chinese consumers (n = 531) who have experienced the products of UNIQLO brand on Taobao Buy + platform, and who had a PSR with the endorser in their VR shopping process. Structural equation modeling is employed to examine the hypothesized relationships among all variables.

The findings show that VR shopping factors (i.e. physical attractiveness, social presence and technology novelty) perceived by consumers to affect PSR, and this relationship and brand equity are positively associated, while CED moderates the relationship between PSR and its antecedents.

This study sheds light on how PSR in the VR shopping environment can improve brand equity. It contributes to the theory of PSR and persuasion as well as marketing strategies. From a managerial perspective, guidelines are provided for firms to implement value communication activities using VR, and to increase their brand equity.

This study aims to conduct an empirical investigation of differing perceptions of nine types of urban space and nine visual elements among tourists in destination using a computer vision (CV) approach.

The data for this study was extracted from YFCC 100 M dataset. Nine types of urban space in Beijing were initially identified using a scene recognition model. Subsequently, a semantic segmentation model was applied, which yielded substantial evidence relating to nine visual elements that were used to elicit differing perceptions among tourists from different continents.

Tourists from three continents had different perceptions about corridors, old buildings, overlooks and traffic spaces, reflecting their cultural convention. Asians, Europeans and North Americans diversely gazed at the landscape element of buildings, foliage, sky and people in urban space. All those provided evidence to contribute to the tourist gaze theory's construction.

This study firstly depicted how tourists perceive the tourism symbol of urban space. The novel approach of employing two CV models offer methodological insights to tourism research relevant to visual perception.

游客对城市空间的感知:计算机视觉途径

本研究采用计算机视觉方法, 探究游客对旅游目的地九种城市空间类型及九种视觉元素的感知差异。

本研究数据提取自YFCC 100M图片数据集。首先, 利用场景识别模型识别了游客图片中的九种城市空间类型。其次, 应用语义分割模型识别了游客图片的九个视觉元素。这些分析结果被用于探究不同大洲游客的视觉感知差异。

来自不同大洲的游客对城市空间有不同的感知偏好。亚洲人更喜欢拍摄自己与著名的城市建筑, 欧洲人和北美人更喜欢自然元素, 如水、树叶和天空。不同大洲游客对视觉元素的偏好佐证了旅游凝视理论。

本研究选取了独特的城市空间为研究对象, 来验证游客凝视理论。此外, 两种计算机视觉模型为旅游研究提供了新的方法论视角。

La percepción de los turistas del espacio urbano: Un enfoque de vision artificial

Resumen

Los datos para este estudio se extrajeron del conjunto de datos YFCC 100 M. Inicialmente se identificaron nueve tipos de espacio urbano en Pekín mediante un modelo de reconocimiento de escenas. Posteriormente, se aplicó un modelo de segmentación semántica, que aportó pruebas sustanciales en relación con nueve elementos visuales que se utilizaron para suscitar percepciones diferentes entre turistas de distintos continentes.

El objetivo de este estudio es llevar a cabo una investigación empírica sobre las diferentes percepciones de nueve tipos de espacio urbano y nueve elementos visuales entre los turistas en destino, utilizando un enfoque de visión artificial (CV).

Los turistas de tres continentes tenían percepciones diferentes sobre los pasillos, los edificios antiguos, los miradores y los espacios de tráfico, lo que refleja su convención cultural. Los asiáticos, los europeos y los norteamericanos observaron de forma diversa el elemento paisajístico de los edificios, el follaje, el cielo y las personas en el espacio urbano. Todos ellos aportaron pruebas para contribuir a la construcción de la teoría de la mirada turística.

Este estudio describe por primera vez cómo los turistas perciben el símbolo turístico del espacio urbano. El novedoso enfoque de emplear dos modelos de vision artificial ofrece conocimientos metodológicos para la investigación del turismo relacionados con la percepción visual.

This paper explores how the blockchain food traceability system (BFTS) affects consumers' affective brand commitment and subsequent willingness to pay premium prices.

From February 11 to May 23, 2023, this study collected data from 236 Chinese customers, who had purchased blockchain-traced food in Jingdong Mall within the past three months. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data.

The main findings were as follows: (1) BFTS information transparency, information immutability and product diagnosticity are significant predictors of consumer-perceived trustworthiness; BFTS information transparency, product diagnosticity and product safety are significant predictors of consumer-perceived informativeness, (2) Perceived trustworthiness and perceived informativeness build consumers' affective brand commitment, (3) Affective brand commitment affects willingness to pay premiums and (4) Health consciousness positively moderates the relationship between consumers' affective brand commitment and willingness to pay premiums.

This paper complements the research on consumer behaviour in the BFTS, and the research results provide important enlightenment for guiding food enterprises to formulate reasonable and perfect marketing strategies of blockchain-traced food.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a robotic system for percutaneous surgery. The key component in the system, a robotic arm that can manipulate a puncture needle is presented. The mechanical design, the motion control and the force control method of the robotic arm are discussed in the paper.

The arm with an arc mechanism placed on a 3D Cartesian stage is developed as a puncture needle manipulator to locate the position of the needle tip, tune the needle’s posture and actuate the puncture motion under the visual guidance of two orthogonal X-ray images of a patient by a surgeon. A focusing method by using two laser spots is proposed to automatically move the needle tip to a surgery entry point on the skin. A dynamics model is developed to control the position of the needle mechanism and an explicit force control strategy is utilized to perform the needle insertion.

With the surgical system, a surgeon can easily perform puncture operation by taking two orthogonal real-time X-ray images as a visual feedback and accurately navigating the needle insertion. The laser-guided focusing method is efficient in placement of the needle tip. The explicit force control strategy is proved to be effective for holding constant and stable puncture force in experiments.

The robotic arm has an advantage in easy redirection of the needle because the rotation and the translation are decoupled in the mechanism. By adopting simple laser pens and a well-developed kinematics model, the system can handle the entry point, locating task automatically. The focusing method and the force control method proposed in the paper are useful for the present system and could be intuitive for similar surgical robots.

Although researchers have long recognized the importance of participating organizations’ (POs) relational behavior for mega construction projects (MCPs) performance, relational behavior may not be executed by POs without effective leadership from project owners. However, little is known about the mechanisms linking owners’ leadership styles to POs’ relational behavior. This study draws on full range leadership theory and role theory to examine the relationships between owners’ leadership styles (i.e. transformational and transactional) and relational behavior. POs’ role orientations (i.e. normative and economic) are considered as potential mediators.

Data were collected from 175 managers deeply involved in MCPs. Hierarchical regression model and bootstrapping methods were performed on the data to examine the direct effects of owners’ leadership on POs’ relational behavior and the mediating effects of POs’ role orientations.

The results revealed that both owners’ transformational and transactional leadership positively affect POs’ relational behavior, despite the former being higher than the latter, and indirectly influence relational behavior via POs’ normative and economic role orientation, respectively.

This study provides a clear picture of how owners’ leadership can motivate POs’ relational behavior to achieve high-quality inter-organizational relationships in MCPs. The findings can guide owners’ top manager selection by prioritizing those with transformational leadership, which is beneficial to achieving high-level relational behavior of POs. The results also imply that owners should pay greater attention to cultivating POs’ normative role orientation by encouraging teamwork and open communication to enhance their implementation of relational behavior.

Unlike previous research focusing more on intra-organizational leader–follower relationship within one PO, this study is one of the first to empirically confirm owners’ leadership as a critical antecedent of POs’ relational behavior, thus enhancing the theoretical understanding of inter-organizational relationship management in MCPs. Based on role theory, this study considers a novel organizational psychology mechanism, i.e. POs’ role orientations, as the mediator to unravel how owners’ leadership affects POs’ relational behavior, which was rarely invoked in MCP leadership literature.