Search results

1 – 10 of 75
Open Access
Article
Publication date: 9 April 2024

Sampson Asumah, Cosmos Antwi-Boateng and Florence Benneh

To endure and cope in the rapidly changing environment, it is required of firms to gain a deeper acquisition of knowledge on market dynamics and subsequently concentrate on…

Abstract

Purpose

To endure and cope in the rapidly changing environment, it is required of firms to gain a deeper acquisition of knowledge on market dynamics and subsequently concentrate on corporations' capacity to create, restructure and integrate their internal and external competences. Hence, the objective of this study is to investigate the influence of eco-dynamic capability (EDC) on the sustainability performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Design/methodology/approach

Structured questionnaires were used to obtain primary data. The data were solicited from 500 employees and owner-managers of SMEs. The study’s hypotheses were tested using standard multiple regression through IBM SPSS Statistics (version 24).

Findings

The study revealed that EDC has a substantial positive effect on the economic, social and environmental sustainability performance dimensions.

Originality/value

The focus of this study is on EDC. Thus, although dynamic capability has been the subject of substantial study, little is known regarding the effect of EDC on the economic sustainability performance (ESP) (financial), environmental sustainability performance (ENSP) and social sustainability performance (SSP) of SMEs, predominantly amongst SMEs in emerging economies.

Details

IIMBG Journal of Sustainable Business and Innovation, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2976-8500

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 October 2023

WenFeng Qin, Yunsheng Xue, Hao Peng, Gang Li, Wang Chen, Xin Zhao, Jie Pang and Bin Zhou

The purpose of this study is to design a wearable medical device as a human care platform and to introduce the design details, key technologies and practical implementation…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to design a wearable medical device as a human care platform and to introduce the design details, key technologies and practical implementation methods of the system.

Design/methodology/approach

A multi-channel data acquisition scheme based on PCI-E (rapid interconnection of peripheral components) was proposed. The flexible biosensor is integrated with the flexible data acquisition card with monitoring capability, and the embedded (device that can operate independently) chip STM32F103VET6 is used to realize the simultaneous processing of multi-channel human health parameters. The human health parameters were transferred to the upper computer LabVIEW by intelligent clothing through USB or wireless Bluetooth to complete the transmission and processing of clinical data, which facilitates the analysis of medical data.

Findings

The smart clothing provides a mobile medical cloud platform for wearable medical through cloud computing, which can continuously monitor the body's wrist movement, body temperature and perspiration for 24 h. The result shows that each channel is completely accurate to the top computer display, which can meet the expected requirements, and the wearable instant care system can be applied to healthcare.

Originality/value

The smart clothing in this study is based on the monitoring and diagnosis of textiles, and the electronic communication devices can cooperate and interact to form a wearable textile system that provides medical monitoring and prevention services to individuals in the fastest and most accurate way. Each channel of the system is precisely matched to the display screen of the host computer and meets the expected requirements. As a real-time human health protection platform technology, continuous monitoring of human vital signs can complete the application of human motion detection, medical health monitoring and human–computer interaction. Ultimately, such an intelligent garment will become an integral part of our everyday clothing.

Details

International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, vol. 36 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0955-6222

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 February 2024

Jie Wan, Biao Chen, Jianghua Shen, Katsuyoshi Kondoh, Shuiqing Liu and Jinshan Li

The metallic alloys and their components fabricated via laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) suffer from the microvoids formed inevitably due to the extreme solidification rate during…

Abstract

Purpose

The metallic alloys and their components fabricated via laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) suffer from the microvoids formed inevitably due to the extreme solidification rate during fabrication, which are impossible to be removed by heat treatment. This paper aims to remove those microvoids in as-built AlSi10Mg alloys by hot forging and enhance their mechanical properties.

Design/methodology/approach

AlSi10Mg samples were built using prealloyed powder with a set of optimized LPBF parameters, viz. 350 W of laser power, 1,170 mm/s of scan speed, 50 µm of layer thickness and 0.24 mm of hatch spacing. As-built samples were preheated to 430°C followed by immediate pressing with two different thickness reductions of 10% and 35%. The effect of hot forging on the microstructure was analyzed by means of X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, electron backscattered diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. Tensile tests were performed to reveal the effect of hot forging on the mechanical properties.

Findings

By using hot forging, the large number of microvoids in both as-built and post heat-treated samples were mostly healed. Moreover, the Si particles were finer in forged condition (∼150 nm) compared with those in heat-treated condition (∼300 nm). Tensile tests showed that compared with heat treatment, the hot forging process could noticeably increase tensile strength at no expense of ductility. Consequently, the toughness (integration of tensile stress and strain) of forged alloy increased by ∼86% and ∼24% compared with as-built and heat-treated alloys, respectively.

Originality/value

Hot forging can effectively remove the inevitable microvoids in metals fabricated via LPBF, which is beneficial to the mechanical properties. These findings are inspiring for the evolution of the LPBF technique to eliminate the microvoids and boost the mechanical properties of metals fabricated via LPBF.

Details

Rapid Prototyping Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2546

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 August 2022

Jie Zhou, Lingyu Hu, Yubing Yu, Justin Zuopeng Zhang and Leven J. Zheng

Building supply chain resilience is increasingly recognized as an effective strategy to deal with supply chain challenges, risks and disruptions. Nevertheless, it remains unclear…

2160

Abstract

Purpose

Building supply chain resilience is increasingly recognized as an effective strategy to deal with supply chain challenges, risks and disruptions. Nevertheless, it remains unclear how to build supply chain resilience and whether supply chain resilience could achieve a competitive advantage.

Design/methodology/approach

By analyzing the data collected from 216 firms in China, the current study empirically examines how information technology (IT) capability and supply chain collaboration affect different forms of supply chain resilience (external resilience and internal resilience) and examines the performance implications of these two forms of supply chain resilience.

Findings

Results show that IT capability is positively related to external resilience, whereas supply chain collaboration is positively related to internal resilience. The combination of IT capability and supply chain collaboration is positively related to external resilience. In addition, internal resilience is positively related to firm performance.

Research limitations/implications

This study used only cross-sectional data from China for hypothesis testing. Future studies could utilise longitudinal data and research other countries/regions.

Practical implications

The findings systematically assess how IT capability and supply chain collaboration contribute to supply chain resilience and firm performance. The results provide a benchmark of supply chain resilience improvement that can be expected from IT capability and supply chain collaboration.

Originality/value

The study findings advance the understanding of supply chain resilience and provide practical implications for supply chain managers.

Details

Journal of Enterprise Information Management, vol. 37 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1741-0398

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 May 2023

Tong Yang, Jie Wu and Junming Zhang

This study aims to establish a comprehensive satisfaction analysis framework by mining online restaurant reviews, which can not only accurately reveal consumer satisfaction but…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to establish a comprehensive satisfaction analysis framework by mining online restaurant reviews, which can not only accurately reveal consumer satisfaction but also identify factors leading to dissatisfaction and further quantify improvement opportunity levels.

Design/methodology/approach

Adopting deep learning, Cross-Bidirectional Encoder Representations Transformers (BERT) model is developed to measure customer satisfaction. Furthermore, opinion mining technique is used to extract consumers’ opinions and obtain dissatisfaction factors. Furthermore, the opportunity algorithm is introduced to quantify attributes’ improvement opportunity levels. A total of 19,133 online reviews of 31 restaurants in Universal Beijing Resort are crawled to validate the framework.

Findings

Results demonstrate the superiority of Cross-BERT model compared to existing models such as sentiment lexicon-based model and Naïve Bayes. More importantly, after effectively unveiling customer dissatisfaction factors (e.g. long queuing time and taste salty), “Dish taste,” “Waiters’ attitude” and “Decoration” are identified as the three secondary attributes with the greatest improvement opportunities.

Practical implications

The proposed framework helps managers, especially in the restaurant industry, accurately understand customer satisfaction and reasons behind dissatisfaction, thereby generating efficient countermeasures. Especially, the improvement opportunity levels also benefit practitioners in efficiently allocating limited business resources.

Originality/value

This work contributes to hospitality and tourism literature by developing a comprehensive customer satisfaction analysis framework in the big data era. Moreover, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this work is among the first to introduce opportunity algorithm to quantify service improvement benefits. The proposed Cross-BERT model also advances the methodological literature on measuring customer satisfaction.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 36 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-6119

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 February 2023

Lingfeng Dong, Jinghui (Jove) Hou, Liqiang Huang, Yuan Liu and Jie Zhang

This paper aims to explore the effects of normative and hedonic motivations on continuous knowledge contribution, and how past contribution experience moderates the effects of the…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the effects of normative and hedonic motivations on continuous knowledge contribution, and how past contribution experience moderates the effects of the motivations on continuous knowledge contribution.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on goal-framing theory, the present study proposes a comprehensive theoretical model by integrating normative and hedonic motivations, past contribution experience and continuous knowledge contribution. The data for virtual community members' activities were collected using the Python Scrapy crawler. Logit regression was used to validate the integrative model.

Findings

The results show that both normative motivation (reflected by generalized reciprocity and social learning) and hedonic motivation (reflected by peer recognition and online attractiveness) are positively associated with continuous knowledge contribution. Moreover, these effects are found to be significantly influenced by members' past knowledge contribution experience. Specifically, the results suggest that past knowledge contribution experience undermines the influence of generalized reciprocity on continuous knowledge contribution but strengthens the effect of peer recognition and online attractiveness.

Originality/value

Although the emerging literature on continuous knowledge contribution mainly focuses on motivations as antecedents that promote continuous knowledge contribution, most of these studies assume that the relationship between motivating mechanisms and continuous knowledge contribution does not change over time. The study is one of the initial studies to examine whether and how the influence of multiple motivations evolves relative to levels of past contribution experience.

Details

Information Technology & People, vol. 37 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-3845

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 April 2023

Eugene Cheng-Xi Aw, Lai-Ying Leong, Jun-Jie Hew, Nripendra P. Rana, Teck Ming Tan and Teck-Weng Jee

Under the pressure of dynamic business environments, firms in the banking and finance industry are gradually embracing Fintech, such as robo-advisors, as part of their digital…

1091

Abstract

Purpose

Under the pressure of dynamic business environments, firms in the banking and finance industry are gradually embracing Fintech, such as robo-advisors, as part of their digital transformation process. While robo-advisory services are expected to witness lucrative growth, challenges persist in the current landscape where most consumers are unready to adopt and even resist the new service. The study aims to investigate resistance to robo-advisors through the privacy and justice perspective. The human-like attributes are modeled as the antecedents to perceived justice, followed by the subsequent outcomes of privacy concerns, perceived intrusiveness and resistance.

Design/methodology/approach

An online survey was conducted to gather consumer responses about their perceptions of robo-advisors. Two hundred valid questionnaires were collected and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM).

Findings

The results revealed that (1) perceived anthropomorphism and perceived autonomy are the positive determinants of perceived justice, (2) perceived justice negatively impacts privacy concerns and perceived intrusiveness and (3) privacy concerns and perceived intrusiveness positively influence resistance to robo-advisors.

Originality/value

The present study contributes to robo-advisory service research by applying a privacy and justice perspective to explain consumer resistance to robo-advisors, thereby complementing past studies that focused on the technology acceptance paradigm. The study also offers practical implications for mitigating resistance to robo-advisors.

Details

International Journal of Bank Marketing, vol. 42 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-2323

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 April 2024

Ting Zhou, Yingjie Wei, Jian Niu and Yuxin Jie

Metaheuristic algorithms based on biology, evolutionary theory and physical principles, have been widely developed for complex global optimization. This paper aims to present a…

Abstract

Purpose

Metaheuristic algorithms based on biology, evolutionary theory and physical principles, have been widely developed for complex global optimization. This paper aims to present a new hybrid optimization algorithm that combines the characteristics of biogeography-based optimization (BBO), invasive weed optimization (IWO) and genetic algorithms (GAs).

Design/methodology/approach

The significant difference between the new algorithm and original optimizers is a periodic selection scheme for offspring. The selection criterion is a function of cyclic discharge and the fitness of populations. It differs from traditional optimization methods where the elite always gains advantages. With this method, fitter populations may still be rejected, while poorer ones might be likely retained. The selection scheme is applied to help escape from local optima and maintain solution diversity.

Findings

The efficiency of the proposed method is tested on 13 high-dimensional, nonlinear benchmark functions and a homogenous slope stability problem. The results of the benchmark function show that the new method performs well in terms of accuracy and solution diversity. The algorithm converges with a magnitude of 10-4, compared to 102 in BBO and 10-2 in IWO. In the slope stability problem, the safety factor acquired by the analogy of slope erosion (ASE) is closer to the recommended value.

Originality/value

This paper introduces a periodic selection strategy and constructs a hybrid optimizer, which enhances the global exploration capacity of metaheuristic algorithms.

Details

Engineering Computations, vol. 41 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0264-4401

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 October 2023

Zhihao Qin, Menglin Cui, Jiaqi Yan and Jie Niu

This paper aims to examine whether managerial sentiment, extracted from annual reports, is associated with corporate risk-taking in the context of Chinese companies. This study…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine whether managerial sentiment, extracted from annual reports, is associated with corporate risk-taking in the context of Chinese companies. This study expands the vein of literature on overconfidence theory.

Design/methodology/approach

By leveraging textual analysis on Chinese listed companies’ annual reports, the authors construct firm-level managerial sentiment during 2007 and 2021 to examine how managerial sentiment influences corporate risk-taking after control for firm characteristics. Corporate risk-taking is denoted by corporate investment engagements: capital expenditures and net fixed asset investment.

Findings

Results show that incentives for corporate risk-taking are likely to increase with the positive managerial sentiment and decrease with the negative sentiment in companies’ annual reports. Positive managerial sentiment is associated with over-/under-investment and low/high investment efficiency. Further additional tests show that the managerial sentiment effect only holds during low economic uncertain years and samples of private-owned firms. Furthermore, the robust tests indicate that there is no endogenous issue between managerial sentiment and corporate risk-taking.

Research limitations/implications

Annual report textual-based managerial sentiment may not perfectly reflect managers’ lower frequency sentiment (e.g. weekly, monthly and quarterly sentiment). Future studies could attempt to capture managers’ on-time sentiment by using media sources and corporate disclosures.

Practical implications

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first research to provide insights into supervising managers’ corporate decisions by observing their textual information usage in corporate disclosure. Moreover, the approach of measuring managerial sentiment might be a solution to monitoring managerial class.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the literature on accounting and finance studies, adding another piece of empirical evidence on content analysis by examining a unique language and institutional context (i.e. China). Besides, the paper notes that in line with the English version disclosure, based on Chinese semantic words, managerial sentiment in the Chinese-speaking world has magnitude on corporate decisions. The research provides insights into supervising managers’ corporate decisions by observing their textual information usage in corporate disclosure. Moreover, the approach to measuring managerial sentiment may be a practical solution to monitoring managerial class.

Details

Management Research Review, vol. 47 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-8269

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 January 2024

Lin Kang, Jie Wang, Junjie Chen and Di Yang

Since the performance of vehicular users and cellular users (CUE) in Vehicular networks is highly affected by the allocated resources to them. The purpose of this paper is to…

Abstract

Purpose

Since the performance of vehicular users and cellular users (CUE) in Vehicular networks is highly affected by the allocated resources to them. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the resource allocation for vehicular communications when multiple V2V links and a V2I link share spectrum with CUE in uplink communication under different Quality of Service (QoS).

Design/methodology/approach

An optimization model to maximize the V2I capacity is established based on slowly varying large-scale fading channel information. Multiple V2V links are clustered based on sparrow search algorithm (SSA) to reduce interference. Then, a weighted tripartite graph is constructed by jointly optimizing the power of CUE, V2I and V2V clusters. Finally, spectrum resources are allocated based on a weighted 3D matching algorithm.

Findings

The performance of the proposed algorithm is tested. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can maximize the channel capacity of V2I while ensuring the reliability of V2V and the quality of service of CUE.

Originality/value

There is a lack of research on resource allocation algorithms of CUE, V2I and multiple V2V in different QoS. To solve the problem, one new resource allocation algorithm is proposed in this paper. Firstly, multiple V2V links are clustered using SSA to reduce interference. Secondly, the power allocation of CUE, V2I and V2V is jointly optimized. Finally, the weighted 3D matching algorithm is used to allocate spectrum resources.

Details

International Journal of Intelligent Computing and Cybernetics, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-378X

Keywords

1 – 10 of 75