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The purpose of this study is to determine the dimensions of cultural differences, which are theoretically most relevant to contract functions in international marketing. Moreover, the contradiction between contract governance and opportunism is reconciled by exploring the boundary conditions of specific cultural differences.

The authors obtained 235 bilateral data provided by Chinese exporters and overseas distributors. The authors matched a secondary data set with the questionnaire data, which were analyzed by confirmatory factor analysis and a hierarchical moderation model.

The results demonstrate that while contract specificity is less successful in this area, contingency adaptability is useful in reducing opportunism. Moreover, as the national cultural differences regarding uncertainty avoidance, power distance or individualism-collectivism become more pronounced. One contractual dimension will be more effective at curbing opportunism, while the other will be less effective.

Despite sample limitations, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to theoretically identify the effect of cultural difference dimensions in contract governance, unlike past studies taking cultural differences as an aggregated variable. Furthermore, by exploring the boundary conditions of cultural differences, this paper effectively reconciles the conflicting findings on the relationship between contract governance and opportunism in various cultural context.

Exporters’ managers can design contingency adaptability to complement the limitations of contract specificity and consider cultural differences’ contingency effects.

First, the authors identify cultural differences dimensions related to contract governance, refining and emphasizing the research context. Second, comparing the efficacy of contract specificity and contingency adaptability in specific cultural context can show which contract is better at preventing opportunism.

During the construction process of the China Railway Track System (CRTS) I type filling layer, the nonwoven fabric bags have been used as grouting templates for cement asphalt (CA) emulsified mortar. The porous structure of nonwoven fabrics endowed the templates with breathability and water permeability. The standard requires that the volume expansion rate of CA mortar must be controlled within 1%–3%, which can generate expansion pressure to ensure that the cavities under track slabs are filled fully. However, the expansion pressure caused some of the water to seep out from the periphery of the filling bag, and it would affect the actual mix proportion of CA mortar. The differences in physical and mechanical properties between the CA mortar under track slabs and the CA mortar formed in the laboratory were studied in this paper. The relevant results could provide important methods for the research of filling layer materials for CRTS I type and other types of ballastless tracks in China.

During the inspection of filling layer, the samples of CA mortar from different working conditions and raw materials were taken by uncovering the track slabs and drilling cores. The physical and mechanical properties of CA mortar under the filling layer of the slab were systematically analyzed by testing the electrical flux, compressive strength and density of mortar in different parts of the filling layer.

In this paper, the electric flux, the physical properties and mechanical properties of different parts of CA mortar under the track slab were investigated. The results showed that the density, electric flux and compressive strength of CA mortar were affected by the composition of raw materials for dry powders and different parts of the filling layer. In addition, the electrical flux of CA mortar gradually decreased within 90 days’ age. The electrical flux of samples with the thickness of 54 mm was lower than 500 C. Therefore, the impermeability and durability of CA mortar could be improved by increasing the thickness of filling layer. Besides, the results showed that the compressive strength of CA mortar increased, while the density and electric flux decreased gradually, with the prolongation of hardening time.

During 90 days' age, the electrical flux of the CA mortar gradually decreased with the increase of specimen thickness and the electrical flux of the specimens with the thickness of 54 mm was lower than 500 C. The impermeability and durability of the CA mortar could be improved by increasing the thickness of filling layer. The proposed method can provide reference for the further development and improvement of CRTS I and CRTS II type ballastless track in China.

In this study the authors examined the impact of employees' collaborative behaviours with colleagues and customers (i.e. employee–employee collaboration and employee–customer collaboration) on their creative self-efficacy and service innovation from the perspective of service-dominant logic. The authors also examined the differences between frontline and non-frontline fitness service employees in our research model. This study aims to discuss the aforementioned objectives.

Participants were fitness-centre employees in Taiwan recruited via convenience sampling. A total of 410 participants completed our online survey, and the authors analysed the data using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).

The authors found that collaboration with both colleagues and customers had a positive impact on employees' creative self-efficacy. Collaboration with colleagues directly affected service innovation, while collaboration with customers indirectly affected service innovation via creative self-efficacy. In addition, there was a significant difference between frontline and non-frontline employees in our research model. Specifically, the path from collaboration with customers to creative self-efficacy was stronger for frontline employees, and the path from creative self-efficacy to service innovation was stronger for non-frontline employees.

This study improves the understanding of the way in which different collaborative behaviours promote employees' creative self-efficacy and service innovation. Further, it is the first to identify the difference between frontline and non-frontline employees and it shows how the effects of collaborative behaviours differ between them in the context of fitness services.

Drawing on the theories of social capital and leader–member exchange (LMX), the authors examined the moderated mediation relationships of psychological ownership and perceived supervisory support on social capital and organizational knowledge.

To test the proposed model, the authors collected data from 522 employees working in large corporations in South Korea.

The authors found that (a) social capital was positively related to organizational knowledge sharing, (b) perceived supervisor support mediated the linkage between social capital and knowledge sharing and (c) psychological ownership moderated the indirect effect of social capital on knowledge sharing through perceived supervisor support, such that the indirect effect was stronger for employees with low rather than high psychological ownership.

This study sheds new light on how the nature of relationship between the leader and followers as well as individual's psychological ownership play a crucial role in knowledge sharing.

As a powerful mathematical analysis tool, the local fractional calculus has attracted wide attention in the field of fractal circuits. The purpose of this paper is to derive a new ℑ-order non-differentiable (ND) R-C zero state-response circuit (ZSRC) by using the local fractional derivative on the Cantor set for the first time.

A new ℑ-order ND R-C ZSRC within the local fractional derivative on the Cantor set is derived for the first time in this work. By defining the ND lumped elements via the local fractional derivative, the ℑ-order Kirchhoff voltage laws equation is established, and the corresponding solutions in the form of the Mittag-Leffler decay defined on the Cantor sets are derived by applying the local fractional Laplace transform and inverse local fractional Laplace transform.

The characteristics of the ℑ-order R-C ZSRC on the Cantor sets are analyzed and presented through the 2-D curves. It is found that the ℑ-order R-C ZSRC becomes the classic one when ℑ = 1. The comparative results between the ℑ-order R-C ZSRC and the classic one show that the proposed method is correct and effective and is expected to shed light on the theory study of the fractal electrical systems.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper, for the first time ever, proposes the ℑ-order ND R-C ZSRC within the local fractional derivative on the Cantor sets. The results of this paper are expected to give some new enlightenment to the development of the fractal circuits.

The fractal and fractional calculus have obtained considerable attention in the electrical and electronic engineering since they can model many complex phenomena that the traditional integer-order calculus cannot. The purpose of this paper is to develop a new fractional pulse narrowing nonlinear transmission lines model within the local fractional calculus for the first time and derive a novel method, namely, the direct mapping method, to seek for the nondifferentiable (ND) exact solutions.

By defining some special functions via the Mittag–Leffler function on the Cantor sets, a novel approach, namely, the direct mapping method is derived via constructing a group of the nonlinear local fractional ordinary differential equations. With the aid of the direct mapping method, four groups of the ND exact solutions are obtained in just one step. The dynamic behaviors of the ND exact solutions on the Cantor sets are also described through the 3D graphical illustration.

It is found that the proposed method is simple but effective and can construct four sets of the ND exact solutions in just one step. In addition, one of the ND exact solutions becomes the exact solution of the classic pulse narrowing nonlinear transmission lines model for the special case 9 = 1, which strongly proves the correctness and effectiveness of the method. The ideas in the paper can be used to study the other fractal partial differential equations (PDEs) within the local fractional derivative (LFD) arising in electrical and electronic engineering.

The fractional pulse narrowing nonlinear transmission lines model within the LFD is proposed for the first time in this paper. The proposed method in the work can be used to study the other fractal PDEs arising in electrical and electronic engineering. The findings in this work are expected to shed a light on the study of the fractal PDEs arising in electrical and electronic engineering.

The purpose of this paper is to derive a new fractal active low-pass filter (LPF) within the local fractional derivative (LFD) calculus on the Cantor set (CS).

To the best of the author’s knowledge, a new fractal active LPF within the LFD on the CS is proposed for the first time in this work. By defining the nondifferentiable (ND) lumped elements on the fractal set, the author successfully extracted its ND transfer function by applying the local fractional Laplace transform. The properties of the ND transfer function on the CS are elaborated in detail.

The comparative results between the fractal active LPF (for γ = ln2/ln3) and the classic one (for γ = 1) on the amplitude–frequency and phase–frequency characteristics show that the proposed method is correct and effective, and is expected to shed light on the theory study of the fractal electrical systems.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, the fractal active LPF within the LFD calculus on the CS is proposed for the first time in this study. The proposed method can be used to study the other problems in the fractal electrical systems, and is expected to shed a light on the theory study of the fractal electrical systems.

The purpose of this study is to achieve multi-variety and small-batch assembly through direct cooperation between equipment and people and to improve assembly efficiency as well as flexibility.

Firstly, the concept of the human–computer interaction is designed. Secondly, the machine vision technology is studied theoretically. Skin color filter based on hue, saturation and value color model is put forward to screen out images that meet the skin color characteristics of the worker, and a multi-Gaussian weighted model is built to separate moving objects from its background. Both of them are combined to obtain the final images of the target objects. Then, the key technology is applied to the smart assembly workbench. Finally, experiments are conducted to evaluate the role of the human–computer interaction features in improving productivity for the smart assembly workbench.

The result shows that multi-variety and small-batch considerable increases assembly time and the developed human–computer interaction features, including prompting and introduction, effectively decrease assembly time.

This study proves that the machine vision technology studied in this paper can effectively eliminate the interferences of the environment to obtain the target image. By adopting the human–computer interaction features, including prompting and introduction, the efficiency of manual operation is improved greatly, especially for multi-variety and small-batch assembly.

Active interaction and knowledge contribution are vital yet challenging elements of the sustainable development of online health communities (OHCs). To investigate the cognitive mechanisms underlying these behaviours in doctors' and patients' use of OHCs, this study develops a theoretical model to examine the relationships among cognitive modes, patterns of interaction, perceived usefulness, and contribution behaviour and the impact of user identity on these relationships.

To test the research hypotheses, structural equation modelling and multiple-group analysis were used to analyse survey data from 207 doctors and 213 patients.

The results indicate that dual processes and perceived usefulness are the key cognitive antecedents of interaction and knowledge contribution, respectively. However, the correlation of the rational mode and instrumental interaction is significantly stronger in the doctors' group than in the patients' group, while a stronger correlation between the experiential mode and instrumental interaction is observed in the patients' group.

These findings support the development of information and system strategies to support the operation of dual processes underlying doctors' and patients' instrumental and affective interactions, facilitate evaluation and sense-making of interaction activities, and motivate knowledge contribution.

This study uncovers the invariance and variability in the relationships between salient cognitive activities and behavioural responses in doctors' and patients' use of OHCs and the impact of user identity on variability.

The purpose of this paper is to study the new (3 + 1)-dimensional integrable fourth-order nonlinear equation which is used to model the shallow water waves.

By means of the Cole–Hopf transform, the bilinear form of the studied equation is extracted. Then the ansatz function method combined with the symbolic computation is implemented to construct the breather, multiwave and the interaction wave solutions. In addition, the subequation method tis also used to search for the diverse travelling wave solutions.

The breather, multiwave and the interaction wave solutions and other wave solutions like the singular periodic wave structure and dark wave structure are obtained. To the author’s knowledge, the solutions obtained are all new and have never been reported before.

The solutions obtained in this work have never appeared in other literature and can be regarded as an extension of the solutions for the new (3 + 1)-dimensional integrable fourth-order nonlinear equation.