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The purpose of this paper is to solve the shortage of the existing methods for the prediction of network security situations (NSS). Because the conventional methods for the prediction of NSS, such as support vector machine, particle swarm optimization, etc., lack accuracy, robustness and efficiency, in this study, the authors propose a new method for the prediction of NSS based on recurrent neural network (RNN) with gated recurrent unit.

This method extracts internal and external information features from the original time-series network data for the first time. Then, the extracted features are applied to the deep RNN model for training and validation. After iteration and optimization, the accuracy of predictions of NSS will be obtained by the well-trained model, and the model is robust for the unstable network data.

Experiments on bench marked data set show that the proposed method obtains more accurate and robust prediction results than conventional models. Although the deep RNN models need more time consumption for training, they guarantee the accuracy and robustness of prediction in return for validation.

In the prediction of NSS time-series data, the proposed internal and external information features are well described the original data, and the employment of deep RNN model will outperform the state-of-the-arts models.

The purpose of this paper is to test the factor structure of the multifactor leadership questionnaire (MLQ) in the Chinese context and determine whether leader-member exchange (LMX) mediates the effects of active constructive leadership (ACL) and passive corrective leadership (PCL) on subordinates’ organizational commitment at the group level.

Questionnaires were completed by two employee samples. The first sample consisted of 615 employees from five pharmaceutical companies. The second sample consisted of 676 employees from 144 teams. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to test the hypotheses.

The factor analysis results showed two types of leadership in the data: ACL and PCL. The structural equation modeling showed that LMX mediated the effect of leadership on collective organizational commitment.

The data were cross-sectional in nature. Furthermore, leadership and LMX were both measured from the perspective of followers.

Managers must realize that leadership is an art that requires not only the self-cultivation of individual behavior, but also appropriate and intelligent conduct when interacting with followers. Team leaders also must pay attention to both their high quality relationships with subordinates and the mutual influence within their groups.

The current study makes an empirical contribution to the psychometric properties of the MLQ, suggesting a higher two-factor structure appropriate for Chinese employees. It also clarifies the relationships between leadership, LMX and organizational commitment at multiple levels.

This paper takes listed companies in the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets from 1998 to 2013 as a research sample, investigating the role played by corruption and financial development, along with the interactions between the two, in determining the factors of a company’s capital structure in China’s legal environment. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Using data of listed companies and the regional level of China during 1998-2013 and the STATA process (xtabond2 command) developed by Roodman (2006) to implement the two-step GMM estimation, empirically investigate the effect of interactions between corruption and financial development on a company’s capital structure in Chinese legal environment.

After both controlling for China’s legal environment, a company’s internal factors, and industry factors and considering endogeneity problems, the results show that corruption and financial development have significant positive influences on a company’s bank loans. However, when investigating the interactions between corruption and financial development, the authors find that financial development does not increase a company’s bank loans in areas with a higher level of corruption. However, corruption and financial development have insignificant influences on a company’s long-term bank loans.

The findings in this study suggest that a company’s capital structure was affected not only by the company’s internal factors and industry factors, but also by the company’s external factors, and the interactions between these factors.

To improve the financing circumstances of company credit, the next point of reform should be to improve their procedures for administrative examination and approval of bank creditors and strengthen the punishment and prevention of credit and judicial corruption to weaken the negative effects of corruption on firms’ capital structure decisions.

This study uses only Chinese listed companies, and considers the influence of the interaction of corruption and financial development on a company’s capital structure decisions.

This study examined the link between abusive supervision and subordinates’ turnover intentions via job dissatisfaction. In addition, this study examined the moderating effect of continuance commitment in this process.

The authors collected three-wave time lagged data (N = 190) from the hospitality industry in China.

The analysis showed that abusive supervision predicts subordinates’ turnover intentions both directly and indirectly via job dissatisfaction. Moreover, continuance commitment was considered to be a boundary condition such that the mediated link was weaker when higher levels of continuance commitment were present.

This study explains how and when abusive supervision leads to turnover intentions in the hospitality industry. This study also helps hospitality managers to understand the abusive supervision prevalence and provide interventions that can reduce detrimental effects of abusive supervision in hospitality organizations.

Prior research examining the influence of supervisor abuse in hospitality organizations was scant. To bridge this noteworthy gap, this study examined the influence of abusive supervision in Chinese hospitality organizations. This study also discussed the theoretical and practical implications for the hospitality industry.

This study aims to investigate the dual effects of commitment-based governance on the relationship between formal control and public–private partnership (PPP) project performance. Formal control and relationship governance are two primary forms of inter-organizational governance that affect project performance. However, little is known about the interplay between formal control and commitment and its effect on PPP projects. More specifically, previous studies have failed to distinguish the function routes of relationship governance resulting from different types of formal control (process and outcome control).

This study adopts a questionnaire survey to empirically investigate the mechanism that commitment-based governance influences the relationship between formal control and PPP performance. After collecting data from public and private sector professionals involved in 101 Chinese PPP projects, the theoretical framework proposed in this paper is verified by the empirical results of the hierarchical multiple regression analysis.

The results show that process control has an inverted U-shaped effect and outcome control has a significant positive influence on PPP project performance. Furthermore, commitment moderates the effect of formal control on PPP project performance by increasing the relevance of outcome control and mediates the inverted U-shaped relationship between process control and PPP project performance.

Managers should recognize that process control is a double-edged sword and prevent the overuse of process control. Managers should direct their attention toward efforts to improve the commitment, which allows for the effectiveness of outcome control strategies. Additionally, this study new measurement method for relationship governance suggests that managers should be aware of the difference in parties' perceptions of the relationship.

This study allows for a comprehensive understanding of the relationship governance-control nexus from a commitment perspective. The authors bring into light the dual role of commitment-based governance in the relationship between the two types of formal control and PPP project performance. Moreover, the new approach to measure relationship governance offers valuable insight into the measurement of variables about individual's perception.

Drawing upon the feedback intervention theory, this study aims to focus on the concept of negative feedback change (increase or decrease) to analyze the dynamics of performance feedback and its relationships with goal orientation, feedback utility and task performance.

The authors conducted a two-wave survey by tracking 195 employees and their supervisors from two representative semiconductor-related equipment companies in China for one month.

Results showed that learning goal orientation positively moderates, and performance-approach goal orientation negatively moderates the indirect relationship between negative feedback change and employees’ task performance through employees’ perceptions of feedback utility.

This study provides new directions for performance feedback research by treating negative feedback from a dynamic perspective and addressing the mediating and moderating mechanisms. Furthermore, the findings also remind managers to not only consider feedback actions at a single moment but also manage it as a series of actions in the ongoing stream of time.

Social robot, a subtype of robots that is designed for the various interactive services for human, which must deliver superior user experience (UX) by expressing human-like social behavior or service and emotional sensitivity. This study develops a social robot app called the “Music Buddy” in ASUS Zenbo that provides a situational music based on the users' electroencephalogram (EEG) data. The research uses this app to explore its UX criteria and the prioritization of human robot interaction (HRI).

The research methodologies include the both system development and decision analysis for the social robot. The first part is to design and develop a social robot app. The second part is to investigate the criteria of HRI through the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) from UX aspects.

In view of the results of the AHP, the first-layer criteria consist of personalized function, easy-to-use the system and intelligent process. In terms of prioritization of multi-criteria, the overall ranking discloses the nine criteria in order including autonomy for robot, easy-to-use EEG device, accurate music preference, simple operations for brainwave device and easy-to-use applications, active music recommendation, automatic updates of music and easy-to-use robot as well as fast detection for emotion.

This research includes a self-developed social robot app and its UX research using AHP. This paper contributes to the improvement and innovation of the social robot design according to the results of UX research on HRI of social robot.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of short-term loan (STL) vs long-term loan (LTL) on wheat productivity of small farms in Sindh, Pakistan.

The econometric estimation is based on cross-sectional data collected in 2016 from 18 villages in three districts, i.e. Shikarpur, Sukkur and Shaheed Benazirabad, Sindh, Pakistan. The sample data set consist of 180 wheat farmers. The collected data were analyzed through different econometric techniques like Cobb–Douglas production function and Instrumental variables (two-stage least squares) approach.

This study reconfirmed that agricultural credit has a positive and highly significant effect on wheat productivity, while the short-term loan has a stronger effect on wheat productivity than the long-term loan. The reasons behind the phenomenon may be the significantly higher usage of agricultural inputs like seeds of improved variety and fertilizers which can be transformed into the wheat yield in the same year. However, the LTL users have significantly higher investments in land preparation, irrigation and plant protection, which may lead to higher wheat production in the coming years.

In the present study, only those wheat farmers were considered who obtained agricultural loans from formal financial institutions like Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited and Khushhali Bank. However, in the rural areas of Sindh, Pakistan, a considerable proportion of small-scale farmers take credit from informal financial channels. Therefore future researchers should consider the informal credits as well.

This is the first paper to examine the effects of agricultural credit on wheat productivity of small farms in Sindh, Pakistan. This paper will be an important addition to the emerging literature regarding effects of credit studies.

First, this paper aims to explore how CEO humility and relationship conflict in entrepreneurial teams affect the firm-level performance of new ventures. Second, it investigates the moderating effect of CEO political skills on the indirect association between CEO humility and entrepreneurial performance through relationship conflict in entrepreneurial teams.

A questionnaire survey was administered to CEOs and their entrepreneurial team members in 171 start-ups in Shanghai, China. The data obtained from the survey were subjected to multiple regression analysis using the SPSS PROCESS macro and confirmatory factor analysis using Mplus.

The findings are as follows. First, CEO humility can reduce relationship conflict in entrepreneurial teams. Second, CEO political skills moderate the link between CEO humility and relationship conflict in entrepreneurial teams. The weaker the CEO political skills, the stronger the effect of CEO humility on relationship conflict, and the stronger the CEO political skills, the weaker the effect of CEO humility on relationship conflict. Third, relationship conflict in entrepreneurial teams is negatively related to entrepreneurial performance. Finally, CEO political skills moderate the mediating effect of entrepreneurial team relationship conflict on the CEO humility – entrepreneurial performance link.

The findings of this study offer guidance for entrepreneurs seeking to improve firm performance. The findings suggest that entrepreneurs should adopt a humble leadership style that cultivates their strengths and minimizes their weaknesses. To improve the centripetal force and cohesion of the entrepreneurial team, they should focus on the team, affirm the contribution of subordinates and accept subordinates’ advice.

The study reveals that CEO humility has a positive effect on entrepreneurial performance, which enriches research on the effectiveness of humble leadership at the firm level. From the perspective of team relationship conflict, the study also explores the mechanism underlying the effect of CEO humility on entrepreneurial performance, opening the “black box” of CEO humility and entrepreneurial effectiveness. In addition, the study reveals the boundary conditions of the influence of CEO humility, enriching the theoretical literature on humble leadership, political skills and resource conservation.

This paper aims to explore the possibility of converting the nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) water-lubricated bearing material into a self-lubricating bearing material by the action of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) particles and water lubrication.

A group of experimental studies was carried out on a ring-on-block friction test. The physical properties, tribological properties and interface structure of PTFE-NBR self-lubricating composites filled with different percentages of PTFE particles were investigated.

The experimental results indicated that the reduction in friction and wear is a result of the formation of the lubricating film on the surface of the composites. The lubricating film was formed of a large amount of PTFE particles continuously supplied under water lubrication conditions and the PTFE particles here can greatly enhance the load capacity and lubrication performance.

In this study, the tribological properties of PTFE particles added to the NBR water-lubricated bearing materials under water lubrication were investigated experimentally, and the research was carried out by a ring-on-block friction test. It is believed that this study can provide some guidance for the application of PTFE-NBR self-lubricating.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-05-2020-0187/