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The hosts' third-party certifications in the sharing accommodation platforms have largely overlooked how the provision of such certification information could facilitate the trust-building process and subsequently influence consumers' purchase intention. Adopting an institution-based trust perspective, the authors differentiate various types of hosts' certification information (i.e. financial certification and social certification) and examine their role in the trust-building process between the hosts and the customers on sharing accommodation platforms.

This study uses the property-month level data of Airbnb Beijing from January 2019 to June 2020. Econometric analyses are adopted to evaluate the impact of institution-based trust on consumers' purchase intention. Specifically, the ordinary least square is used to testify the relationship between institution-based trust and purchase intention.

The empirical results show that the information on institution-based trust increases the likelihood that customers would reach purchase decisions. More importantly, results show that both financial certification and social certification affect consumers' purchase intention. The results further show that listings' attributes moderate the relationship between institution-based trust and customer purchase intention. Moreover, the authors find that “Superhost” and “Experience” positively moderate such relationships.

This paper confirms that the host certification fosters institution-based trust and reveals the impact of hosts' certification on consumers' purchase intentions. This study is among one of the first studies to incorporate institution-based trust into the trust formation on the sharing economy platform, which can improve the understanding of trust in the sharing economy context. The authors emphasize the importance of trust types on sharing economy platforms.

Flood season in our country is characterized by frequent heavy rains, and flood problems are becoming increasingly serious. The uneven distribution of water resources causes conflicts in the occurrence of floods and droughts. Implementing effective flood control planning and solving drought and flood disasters are the research highlights of relevant institutions both domestic and abroad. This study develops a multiscale method of urban flood control planning based on microcirculation. A microcirculation water ecosystem, which consists of six elements, namely, collecting, interacting, precipitating, reserving, storing, and purifying, is introduced. This study investigates precipitation; peak shaving; recycle mode of filtration at the macro level in different regions; “hierarchy” in rainwater ecosystems in rain parks, heavy rain garden parks, and wetland parks at the meso level; and the concept of zero-emission rain in residential areas and roads at the micro level. Finally, this study analyzes a rain garden and its domestic application. A conclusion is drawn that the flood control planning model based on microcirculation can effectively reduce rain runoff. Empirical measurement proves that the proposed multiscale model for city flood control planning based on microcirculation promotes flood control and effectively reduces the occurrence of droughts and floods.

This study aims to explore the different effects of inter-community group networks and intra-community group networks on group innovation.

The authors used a pooled panel dataset of 12,111 self-organizing innovation groups in 463 game product creative workshop communities from Steam support to test the hypothesis. The pooled ordinary least squares (OLS) model is used for analyzing the data.

The results show that network constraint is negatively associated with the innovation performance of online groups. The average path length of the inter-community group network negatively moderates the relationship between network constraint and group innovation, while the average path length of the intra-community group network positively moderates the relationship between network constraint and group innovation. In addition, both the network density of inter-community group networks and intra-community group networks can negatively moderate the negative relationship between network constraint and group innovation.

The findings of this study suggest that network structural characteristics of inter-community networks and intra-community networks have different effects on online groups’ product innovation, and therefore, group members should consider their inter- and intra-community connections when choosing other groups to form a collaborative innovation relationship.

This study aims to empirically investigate how green transparency and green competence enhancement can promote consumer behavioral outcomes (i.e. green brand loyalty and resistance to negative information regarding green brands) through green brand attachment (i.e., self–green brand connection and green brand prominence). It further explores these hypothesized relationships across brands of physical products and services.

Data were collected using an online survey from 826 Chinese consumers. Structural equation modeling is used to test the proposed conceptual model.

Our results demonstrate that green transparency and green competence enhancement positively affect consumer green brand attachment (i.e. self–green brand connection and green brand prominence) which subsequently influence consumers’ loyalty toward green brands and their resistance to negative information. Finally, the development of green brand attachment across brands of products and services is found to be different.

Extending the conceptual model to other cultural contexts is suggested. Using the experimental design to examine other boundary conditions is recommended.

This study provides recommendations for marketers, especially brand managers, to facilitate green brand communications to strengthen consumer–brand relationships.

This study extends past research by examining two types of green brand attachment via a cognitive schema lens. Also, it shows the internal cognitive process by which green brand communications potentially promote consumer behavioral outcomes through green brand attachment. Lastly, it highlights differences in the development of green brand loyalty and consumer resistance to negative information across brands of products and services.

The purpose of this paper is to enhance the compatibility of titanium dioxide in epoxy resins and thus the corrosion resistance of the coatings.

In this work, TiO₂ was modified by the mechanochemistry method where mechanical energy was combined with thermal energy to complete the modification. The stability of modified TiO₂ in epoxy was analyzed by sedimentation experiment. The modified TiO₂-epoxy coating was prepared, and the corrosion resistance of the coating was analyzed by open circuit potential, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and neutral salt spray test.

High-temperature mechanical modification can improve the compatibility of TiO₂ in epoxy resin. At the same time, the modified TiO₂-epoxy coating showed better corrosion resistance. Compared to the unmodified TiO₂-epoxy coating, the coating improved the dry adhesion force by 61.7% and the adhesion drop by 33.3%. After 2,300 h of immersion in 3.5 Wt.% NaCl solution, the coating resistance of the modified TiO₂ coating was enhanced by nearly two orders of magnitude compared to the unmodified coating.

The authors have grafted epoxy molecules onto TiO₂ surfaces using a high-temperature mechanical force modification method. The compatibility of TiO₂ with epoxy resin is enhanced, resulting in improved adhesion of the coating to the substrate and corrosion resistance of the coating.

Purpose – The net increase in China's urban population in the last 50 years equals the current total population of the European Union. The scale and speed of urbanization in China requires a sustainable solution to unprecedented energy demands and elevated carbon emissions. As low-carbon development emerges in urban China, it offers a unique vantage point to examine some fundamental theoretical questions of the environmental state. How do structural socioeconomic changes affect the environmental state? Does the rise of the environmental state offer a basis for regulatory reform on a broader scale?

Methodology/approach – Case study of five low-carbon cities in China provides the empirical evidence for the analysis. The five cities represent a continuum in their levels of postindustrialization. I compare low-carbon development strategies in postindustrial cities with those strategies in industrial cities. Evidence is collected primarily by way of interviews with planning bureau officials, urban design professionals, involved NGOs, academics, and private sector individuals familiar with the matter.

Findings – First, in cities where the level of postindustrialization is high, state resources support innovative low-carbon development strategies that attempt to achieve emission reductions in a variety of sectors. In industrial cities, however, the environmental state's regulative power is limited to one or two (sub)sectors. Second, and more importantly, a new pattern of governance is emerging in postindustrial cities. Low-carbon development in postindustrial cities is a much less centralized process, having local levels of governments as key players of low-carbon policy making. When the environmental state intersects with the postindustrial city, it gives birth to a new urbanism that has profound implications for political structuring in China.

Research limitations – The analysis in this chapter is based on evidence from a purposefully selected set of Chinese cities, which may render the results biased. Future studies should aim for a more systematic analysis of cities in order to establish more generalizable conclusions. In addition, given the increasing availability of quantitative data at the city level in China, future studies should also seek to incorporate quantitative analyses to better substantiate existing knowledge derived from qualitative sources of evidence.

Originality/value of chapter – First, this chapter challenges the Western bias in the existing literature on the environmental state. The role of the civil society is far from salient in the Chinese context, and yet the environmental state demonstrates a robust level of activity despite the weak civil society. It therefore seems that a general theory of the environmental state can be built from existing literature, but needs to be sensitive to non-Western social conditions that might falsify parts of the theoretical claims. Second, the environmental state literature can be consolidated and further developed when examined in conjunction with other literatures in the modernity tradition. I have demonstrated the connection between the environmental state and the postindustrial city. More studies are needed to examine other facets of the environmental state, as it intersects with a multitude of (post)modern conditions.

Waverider has high lift to drag ratio and will be an idea aerodynamic configuration for hypersonic vehicles. But a structure permitting aerodynamic like waverider is still difficult to generate under airframe’s geometric constrains using traditional waverider design methods. And furthermore, traditional waverider’s aerodynamic compression ability cannot be easily adjusted to satisfy the inlet entrance requirements for hypersonic air-breathing vehicles. The purpose of this paper is to present a new method named osculating general curved cone (OCC) method aimed to improve the shortcomings of traditional waveriders.

A basic curved cone is, first, designed by the method of characteristics. Then the waverider’s inlet captured curve and front captured tube are defined in the waverider’s exit plane. Osculating planes are generated along the inlet captured curve and the designed curved cone is transformed to the osculating planes. Streamlines are traced in the transformed curved cone flow field. Combining all streamlines which have been obtained, OCC waverider’s compression surface is generated. Waverider’s upper surface uses the free stream surface.

It is found that OCC waverider has good volumetric characteristics and good flow compression abilities compared with the traditional osculating cone (OC) waverider. The volume of OCC waverider is 25 per cent larger than OC waverider at the same design condition. Furthermore, OCC waverider can compress incoming flow to required flow conditions with high total pressure recovery in the waverider’s exit plane. The flow uniformity in the waverider exit plane is quite well.

The analyzed results show that the OCC waverider can be a practical high performance airframe/forebody for hypersonic vehicles. Furthermore, this novel waverider design method can be used to design a structure permitting aerodynamic like waverider for a practical hypersonic vehicle.

The paper puts forward a novel waverider design method which can improve the waverider’s volumetric characteristics and compression abilities compared with the traditional waverider design methods. This novel design approach can extend the waverider’s applications for designing hypersonic vehicles.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumers' purchase intention of wild freshwater fish. Facing the endangering ecology in the Yangtze River Basin, the Chinese government has implemented a ten-year fishing ban policy to protect the wild freshwater fishery resources from 2020. In this context, such questions are raised as how do consumers react to this and are they willing to reduce or even refuse to purchase wild freshwater fish to protect the aquatic biological resources in the Yangtze River Basin?

A total of 1,235 consumers from eight provinces (including two province-level municipalities) in the Yangtze River Basin filled out the online questionnaires. The data (n = 1,096) are analyzed by structural equation model (SEM) to verify the relationships between the variables.

The results show that subjective norm is the strongest direct determinant of purchase intention, followed by personal norm, attitude, environmental concern and perceived behavioral control. It is also found that attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control and environmental concern have significant effects on personal norm which plays a significant mediating role in forming purchase intention. On this basis, specific policy recommendations are proposed.

This paper investigates consumers' purchase intention from the perspective of ecological protection and obtains a more comprehensive explanation of the purchase intention by combining the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and theory of norm activation.

The purposes of this paper is twofold: first, to assess the risks associated with the international construction joint ventures (ICJVs) between Singapore and developing countries and second, to investigate the risk allocation preferences in these ICJVs.

A questionnaire survey was conducted and responses were received from 38 firms that had participated in ICJVs with developing countries. A risk criticality (RC) index was adopted to evaluate the criticality of each risk.

The survey results reported “political instability” as the most critical risk and market-level risks were less critical than country and project-level risks. Additionally, the results showed agreement on the risk ranking between building and infrastructure ICJVs, despite significant differences in the criticalities of five risks. Furthermore, five risks were preferably allocated to host and foreign partners, respectively, while 13 risks could be shared among partners.

First, due to the sample size, one should be cautious when interpreting and generalizing the results. Second, the RC index proposed in this study was subjective as it was influenced by the individual experience and risk attitude of the respondents. Also, the RC values were calculated without considering the weights of the respondents. Lastly, the questionnaire survey, which has been widely used in identifying risk allocation preferences, may not identify the insights of practitioners into the risk allocation practices.

This study provides a clear understanding of the risks associated with forming ICJVs with developing countries and the preferred risk allocation. Although, this study is focused on the risks faced by the Singapore-developing country ICJVs, the identification of the potential risks allows companies from other countries to customize their risk profile and assess the risks before they form ICJVs with developing countries.

As few studies have explored the risk allocation preferences in ICJVs, this study expands the literature and provides practitioners with important information for preparing joint venture contracts or agreements. Thus, this study can contribute to the literature relating to ICJVs.