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1 – 10 of over 3000
Article
Publication date: 22 November 2019

Ge Zhang, Liang Ma, Xin Zhang, Xiao Yan Ding and Yi Ping Yang

An increasing number of users join and become immersed in WeChat official accounts, but many users quit using these services as well. Nevertheless, most of the previous studies…

1046

Abstract

Purpose

An increasing number of users join and become immersed in WeChat official accounts, but many users quit using these services as well. Nevertheless, most of the previous studies mainly focussed on the usage behavior. The purpose of this paper is to fill the gap by examining factors affecting users’ unfollow intentions for WeChat subscriptions in a Chinese context.

Design/methodology/approach

Structural equation modeling is used in our study. A field survey with 260 WeChat users is conducted to test the research model and hypotheses.

Findings

The results show the following interesting key findings: first, the effect of actual cost on users’ unfollow intentions is larger than the effect of opportunity cost; second, users’ unfollow intentions will decrease with the increase of users’ perceptions of information usefulness; third, the results of the control variables showed that only landing frequency has a negative effect on users’ unfollow intentions; and fourth, users’ demographic differences are also examined in regard to how they may affect users’ unfollow intentions.

Originality/value

First, this paper studies factors influencing users’ unfollow intentions for WeChat subscriptions from a social exchange theory perspective; the authors considered both extraneous factors and users’ internal perception factors potentially affecting users’ unfollow intentions, which has rarely been researched. Furthermore, the authors examined significant differences among users’ demographic characteristics in affecting users’ unfollow intentions. The results of the study provide a more comprehensive understanding of the influencing factors of users’ unfollow intentions.

Details

Online Information Review, vol. 43 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1468-4527

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 April 2021

Liang Ma, Xin Zhang, Gaoshan Wang and Ge Zhang

The purpose of the present study is to build a research model to study how the use of different enterprise social media platforms affects employees' relationship capital, and the…

1464

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of the present study is to build a research model to study how the use of different enterprise social media platforms affects employees' relationship capital, and the moderating role of innovation culture is also examined.

Design/methodology/approach

Structural equation modeling was performed to test the research model and hypotheses. Surveys were conducted in an electronic commerce company in China that uses different social media platforms, generating 301 valid responses for analysis.

Findings

First, private social media used for work-related purposes can contribute to employees' relationship capital, and public social media QQ used for work-related purposes can contribute to employees' communication quality. WeChat used for social-related purposes has a positive effect on employees' information exchange. Second, innovation culture acts as a positive moderator between work-related media use and employees' information exchange, while innovation culture acts as a negative moderator between social-related WeChat use and employees' information exchange. Third, innovation culture acts as a positive moderator between work-related QQ use and employees' trust, while innovation culture acts as a negative moderator between social-related QQ use and employees' trust.

Originality/value

First, this paper contributes to the information system (IS) social media literature by studying the effect of the use of different enterprise social media platforms used for different purposes on employees' relationship capital. Second, the authors contribute to relationship capital theory by clarifying that use of public and private social media platforms for social- and work-related purposes is an important driver of the formation of employees' relational capital. Third, the present study also contributes to enterprise social media literature by confirming that innovation culture acts as a different moderator between use of different enterprise social media platforms and employees' relationship capital.

Article
Publication date: 12 August 2024

Ge Zhang, Pengfei Chen and Si Xu

Given that the current sustainability assessment in higher education institutions primarily relies on qualitative methods with relatively limited quantitative tools, the purpose…

Abstract

Purpose

Given that the current sustainability assessment in higher education institutions primarily relies on qualitative methods with relatively limited quantitative tools, the purpose of this study is to design a tool that could be used to comprehensively assess the overall state of higher education institutions’ sustainability.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors based the “Model to Assess the Sustainability of Higher Education Institutions” on the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) framework of economic, environmental and social factors, and established its primary dimensions as educational level, research capacity, community outreach, campus operations, campus experience and assessment reports. They designed the College Organisational Sustainability Scale (CO-SS) based on this research model, drawing their inspiration from the qualitative research tool, the Sustainability Assessment Questionnaire, and taking the following validation steps: expert review (n = 10), pilot testing (n = 150) and formal experiments (n = 1108). These steps were taken to optimise the scale items, test the model’s validity and assess its reliability.

Findings

After undergoing rigorous scientific validation, CO-SS was unequivocally confirmed as an effective and reliable tool, demonstrating its accurate reflection of the level of sustainability in higher education institutions.

Originality/value

The authors took an industry-specific approach by relying on the TBL and the Sustainability Assessment Questionnaire to construct and validate the CO-SS. Furthermore, the CO-SS has the potential to evolve into a self-assessment tool for higher education institutions, and a reliable foundation for data-driven decision-making in the realm of organisational sustainability at universities.

Details

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 August 2018

Maogen Ge, Jing Hu, Mingzhou Liu and Yuan Zhang

As the last link of product remanufacturing, reassembly process is of great importance in increasing the utilization of remanufactured parts as well as decreasing the production…

Abstract

Purpose

As the last link of product remanufacturing, reassembly process is of great importance in increasing the utilization of remanufactured parts as well as decreasing the production cost for remanufacturing enterprises. It is a common problem that a large amount of remanufactured part/reused part which past the dimension standard have been scrapped, which have increased the production cost of remanufacturing enterprises to a large extent. With the aim to improve the utilization of remanufacturing parts with qualified quality attributes but exceed dimension, the purpose of this paper is to put forward a reassembly classification selection method based on the Markov Chain.

Design/methodology/approach

To begin with, a classification standard of reassembly parts is proposed. With the thinking of traditional ABC analysis, a classification management method of reassembly parts for remanufactured engine is proposed. Then, a homogeneous Markov Chain of reassembly process is built after grading the matching dimension of reassembly parts with different variety. And the reassembly parts selection model is constructed based on the Markov Chain. Besides, the reassembly classification selection model and its flow chart are proposed by combining the researches above. Finally, the assembly process of remanufactured crankshaft is adopted as a representative example for illustrating the feasibility and the effectiveness of the method proposed.

Findings

The reassembly classification selection method based on the Markov Chain is an effective method in improving the utilization of remanufacturing parts/reused parts. The average utilization of remanufactured crankcase has increased from 35.7 to 80.1 per cent and the average utilization of reused crankcase has increased from 4.2 to 14 per cent as shown in the representative example.

Originality/value

The reassembly classification selection method based on the Markov Chain is of great importance in enhancing the economic benefit for remanufacturing enterprises by improving the utilization of remanufactured parts/reused parts.

Details

Assembly Automation, vol. 38 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-5154

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 9 June 2020

Michelle Priscilla and Sylvia Veronica Siregar

This study aims to analyze the effect of top management team (TMT) expertise on real earnings management (REM) and accrual earnings management (AEM) activities in companies in…

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the effect of top management team (TMT) expertise on real earnings management (REM) and accrual earnings management (AEM) activities in companies in Indonesia by examining a hand-collected secondary data from non-financial publicly listed companies in Indonesia in 2016 and 2017. The expertise of TMT members is measured by possession of a master’s degree, understanding and experience of managed core functional areas, and possession of accounting certifications such as CA or CPA. The results of the study show that the expertise of the members of the TMT has no influence on the activity of AEM in companies in Indonesia. Meanwhile, understanding and experience on the managed core functional areas have a positive influence on REM activities through abnormal cash flows. Possession of accounting certification has a positive influence on REM activities in companies that are in accordance with managerial entrenchment effects, as well as a negative influence on REM activities in companies through abnormal discretionary expenses that are in line with incentive-reduction effects.

Article
Publication date: 24 December 2021

Mingming Ge, Xin-Lei Zhang, Kaleb Brookshire and Olivier Coutier-Delgosha

The openings on aircraft structures can be modeled from an aerodynamical point of view as lid-driven cavities (LDC). This paper aims to show the primary verification and…

Abstract

Purpose

The openings on aircraft structures can be modeled from an aerodynamical point of view as lid-driven cavities (LDC). This paper aims to show the primary verification and validation (V&V) process in computational fluid dynamics (CFD, and to investigate the influences of numerical settings on the efficiency and accuracy for solving the LDC problem.

Design/methodology/approach

To dig into the details of CFD approaches, this paper outlines the design, implementation, V&V and results of an efficient explicit algorithm. The parametric study is performed thoroughly focusing on various iteration methods, grid density discretization terms and Reynolds number effects.

Findings

This study parameterized the numerical implementation which provides empirical insights into how computational accuracy and efficiency are affected by changing numerical settings. At a low Reynolds number (not over 1,000), the time-derivative preconditioning is necessary, and k = 0.1 can be the optimal value to guarantee the efficiency, as well as the stability. A larger artificial viscosity (c = 1/16) would relieve the calculating oscillation issue but proportionally increase the discretization error. Furthermore, the iteration method and the mesh quality are two key factors that affect the convergence efficiency, thus need to be selected “wisely”.

Practical implications

The study shows how numerical implementation can enhance an accurate and efficient solution. This workflow can be used to determine the best parameter settings whenever CFD researchers applying this LDC problem as a complementary design tool for testing newly developed solvers.

Originality/value

The studied LDC problem is representative of CFD analysis in real aircraft structures. These numerical simulations provide a cost-effective and convenient tool to understand the parameter sensitivity, solution receptivity and physics of the CFD process.

Details

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, vol. 94 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1748-8842

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 18 January 2023

Kelsey Kay Dworkis and S. Mark Young

This study examines the effects of narcissism and bonus-based incentive plans on managerial decision-making performance. Using an experiment, the authors first examine decision…

Abstract

This study examines the effects of narcissism and bonus-based incentive plans on managerial decision-making performance. Using an experiment, the authors first examine decision choices under two levels of an incentive threshold (high and low). Narcissism is measured using the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI). Typically, the NPI is used as a single monolithic construct in analyses; however, in this study, the authors subdivide it in two ways to gain more nuanced information about its impact on decision making. First, the authors split the NPI into three levels – high, medium, and low (Hascalovitz & Obhi, 2015), and then decompose it into its adaptive and maladaptive components (Campbell, Hoffman, Campbell, & Marchisio, 2011) to examine how these subdivisions affect performance. Results show that the different levels of incentive thresholds affect performance among narcissistic individuals. Results indicate that individuals higher in narcissism and higher in levels of adaptive and maladaptive narcissism outperform their low-trait counterparts in a lower-threshold environment, but not in a high threshold environment.

Article
Publication date: 4 September 2017

R.D. Zhu, Y.H. Wang, N.G. Wang, L.N. Zhang, A. Lu, M.J. Wang and X. Liu

This paper aims to introduce a novel approach to the fabrication of photoluminescent materials by coating rare earth aluminate luminescent materials on metallic substrates and a…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to introduce a novel approach to the fabrication of photoluminescent materials by coating rare earth aluminate luminescent materials on metallic substrates and a readily manufacturable light source with robust structure in the form of photoluminescent sphere (APS).

Design/methodology/approach

The clean and dried stainless steel sphere was sprayed with UH 2593, a white undercoat, the luminescent coating and the weather resistance coating in chronological order.

Findings

After adhered onto the stainless steel sphere, the peaks corresponding to the N-H stretching vibrations were changed. The intensity of free N-H stretching at 3,536 cm−1 dramatically decreased and the peak of hydrogen-bonded N-H stretching of PU moved to lower wavenumbers. The red shift of the infrared bands of functional groups was attributed to the strengthened hydrogen bonding. The hydrogen bonding interactions between the stainless steel substrates and the polyurethane coating endowed the APS with excellent adhesive property and also promoted the evenly distribution of the photoluminescent particles in the polymer coating matrix.

Practical implications

This approach can be applicable in the fabrication of the photoluminescent materials. The APS can be used as signs and guiding post in remote areas without sufficient electricity supply and in the seas and rivers with complicated hydrological conditions.

Originality/value

This approach has provided a method to produce tough and durable luminescent signs for remote areas and dangerous seas and explained the functional mechanism of the combined application of metallic materials and non-metallic materials.

Details

Pigment & Resin Technology, vol. 46 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0369-9420

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 June 2024

Ka Leong Chong and Ge Zhang

This study aims to explore the attitudes and perceptions of Chinese coffee consumers towards robot baristas, considering the proliferation of automated entities within China's…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to explore the attitudes and perceptions of Chinese coffee consumers towards robot baristas, considering the proliferation of automated entities within China's coffee sector.

Design/methodology/approach

Employing the extended Technology Acceptance Model 2 as its theoretical framework, this research conducts in-depth interviews with 30 Chinese coffee consumers. The laddering technique is utilized, supplemented by video simulation. Thematic analysis is subsequently employed to scrutinize the data.

Findings

The findings delineate six pivotal themes encapsulating Chinese coffee consumers' perceptions of robot baristas – Perceived Introvert Friendliness, Perceived Novelty, Perceived Intellectual Discrepancies, Perceived Efficiency and Reliability, Perceived Emotional Disconnection, and Perceived Labour Market Disruption. Moreover, six motivational themes are identified - Social Status Boosting, Openness to Experience, Ease of Use, Tech-Driven Affordability, Reliable and Uncompromising Quality, and Resistance to Overbearing Service.

Research limitations/implications

The study is limited by its focus on a specific cultural context. Future research could explore cross-cultural perspectives.

Practical implications

The findings of this study offer guidance on how to market and position robotic barista services to appeal to consumer preferences and drive adoption.

Social implications

Understanding consumer perceptions of robotic baristas has broader social implications, particularly in terms of labour market disruption and the potential impact on traditional coffee professions. Businesses can navigate the social implications of automation more effectively and foster greater acceptance of technological innovations within society.

Originality/value

This study offers insights into the inclinations of Chinese coffee consumers, thereby facilitating informed decision-making and the formulation of effective strategies to expedite the adoption of robotic service.

Details

Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2514-9792

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 June 2019

Cuixia Zhang, Conghu Liu, Jianqing Chen, Qiang Li, Kang He, Mengdi Gao and Wei Cai

The uncertainty of remanufacturing parts is a key factor affecting the quality of remanufactured products. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to measure the uncertainty of…

Abstract

Purpose

The uncertainty of remanufacturing parts is a key factor affecting the quality of remanufactured products. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to measure the uncertainty of remanufactured parts and study the coupling mechanism of reassembly quality.

Design/methodology/approach

First, uncertainty of remanufactured parts is analyzed, and the uncertainty measure model for remanufacturing parts based on entropy is constructed. Second, the nonlinear mapping model between the uncertainty and reassembly quality were studied using Gauss-Newton iterative method to reveal the coupling mechanism between uncertainty of remanufacturing parts and reassembly quality. Finally, the model is verified in the reassembly process of remanufacturing cylinder head.

Findings

The method can guide reassembly operations to improve the reassembly quality with uncertainty of remanufactured parts.

Originality/value

This study provides practical implications by developing a multivariate nonlinear mapping model for reassembly quality based on entropy to determine the uncertainty factors that affect the reassembly quality significantly and then correct the reassembly operation to better optimize the allocation of remanufacturing production resources. The study also theoretically contributes to reveal the coupling mechanism of reassembly quality with the uncertainty of remanufactured parts.

Details

Assembly Automation, vol. 39 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-5154

Keywords

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