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What are the performance implications of peer monitoring in a multiple-supplier context? Grounded in agency and social exchange theories, this study aims to examine how, when, and why peer monitoring works as a crucial control mechanism to reduce opportunism among suppliers.

A conceptual model and research hypotheses are tested using survey data from 246 respondents in 82 supplier groups.

Results suggest that peer monitoring is related positively to perceived deterrence (as mediator) and negatively to opportunism, whereas the mediated relationship is moderated negatively by generalized reciprocity and positively by balanced reciprocity and negative reciprocity.

This study introduces the application of peer monitoring into business-to-business research and shows how it reduces opportunism. Its findings have implications for manufacturers on how to use peer monitoring to control opportunism among multiple suppliers.

The purpose of this study is to find out how electronic word of mouth (eWOM) may affect evaluations of products with different brand images. In particular, the study explores differential eWOM impacts across several brand types and extension categories.

An experiment with 2 (brand image: prestige/function) × 2 (category similarity: low/high) × 2 (eWOM message type: positive/negative) between-subjects design was used to examine the impacts of eWOM on different types of brand extensions. A total of 268 subjects from a public university in the Southwest participated in the study. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used in analyzing the data.

The findings highlight the differential impact of eWOM on brand extension evaluations with different brand images. First, eWOM is more effective in influencing evaluations of functional brand extensions than prestige brand extensions. Second, whereas negative eWOM does equally bad on both high- and low-similarity brand extensions, positive eWOM is more effective in improving evaluations of high-similarity extensions than low-similarity extensions.

This study is the first to examine the impact of eWOM on products with different brand images. This is a critical issue for brand managers who allocate limited marketing resources to monitoring and managing vast amounts of eWOM activities. The findings provide important guidance for managing social media marketing communications.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of the feeling awe on individuals' endorsement of conformist attitudes in consumption choices and the mediating role of social connectedness in generating this effect.

We test our hypotheses across three studies. Study 1 used an online survey. Study 2 and 3 conducted two laboratory experiments to induce awe and measured consumer conformity in two consumption choice tasks.

This research shows that both dispositional awe and induced awe can increase individuals' preferences for majority-endorsed vs. minority-endorsed choice alternatives in subsequently unrelated consumption situations, and this effect is mediated by perceptions of social connectedness with other decision-makers.

Marketers can promote the sales of mass-market products through inducing awe.

Public regulators could utilize people's incidental awe as an effective policy intervention to nudge individual cooperation in some cases.

The research is the first to demonstrate a novel consequence of awe on consumer decision-making. It also highlights the significance of desire for social connectedness that explains why the feeling of awe develops conformity to the opinions of unknown people.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The optimal control on reassembly (remanufacturing assembly) error is one of the key technologies to guarantee the assembly precision of remanufactured product. However, because of the uncertainty existing in remanufactured parts, it is difficult to control assembly error during reassembly process. Based on the state space model, this paper aims to propose the optimal control method on reassembly precision to solve this problem.

Initially, to ensure the assembly precision of a remanufactured car engine, this paper puts forward an optimal control method on assembly precision for a remanufactured car engine based on the state space model. This method takes assembly workstation operation and remanufactured part attribute as the input vector reassembly status as the state vector and assembly precision as the output vector. Then, the compensation function of reassembly workstation operation input vector is calculated to direct the optimization of the reassembly process. Finally, a case study of a certain remanufactured car engine crankshaft is constructed to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the method proposed.

The optimal control method on reassembly precision is an effective technology in improving the quality of the remanufactured crankshaft. The average qualified rate of the remanufactured crankshaft increased from 83.05 to 90.97 per cent as shown in the case study.

The optimal control method on the reassembly precision based on the state space model is available to control the assembly precision, thus enhancing the core competitiveness of the remanufacturing enterprises.

This paper aims to present ball bearings with a composite structure based on the bionics principle and shows the comparison between five types of different structures.

By means of the finite element method, the stress and other parameters between different structures are compared and verified. Finally, the comprehensive parameters of different structures are evaluated by the analytic hierarchy process method.

The evaluation of the comprehensive parameters of five types of structures is shown here.

The value of this paper is calculated and compared to the parameters of five types of different structures, and the parameter score evaluation of each structure is given. Different structures can be selected according to different parameter requirements, which to provide a theoretical basis for the design of ball bearings.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon10.1108/ILT-10-2019-0413

This paper attempts to explore why adult progeny initiate progeny–parents family travel, how two generations interact and deal with intergenerational conflicts during travel and how they evaluate their travel experiences from the perspective of filial piety.

Based on in-depth interviews with both parents and their adult progeny, it is found that “repayment” or “compensation” of filial piety is the most important driving force to family travel with parents, and in many cases an adult child exhibits “overspending” by showing filial obedience. On the other hand, parents occasionally utilize filial piety as cultural resources to fulfill their personal goals and to evaluate their interactions with adult children. Finally, the authors offer an exploratory explanation to why filial generation has a relatively low evaluation while parent generation has a higher evaluation of family trip.

The authors suggest that future study in this particular area should attach much more importance to the “filial piety tool boxes” paradigm, which is in parallel with the paradigm of “concept (values) affecting behavior”.

The contribution of this study is to investigate the family travel process of “taking the elderly people to travel” from the perspective of interaction and filial piety.

The purpose of this paper was to clarify the influence of H2PO4-, HCO3-, pH increase and phosphate coating on corrosion rate and localized corrosion tendency of AZ31 magnesium alloy.

The corrosion behavior of AZ31 magnesium alloy in physiological environments was investigated by hydrogen evolution collection measurements, electrochemical techniques and by use of a three-dimensional digital microscope.

H2PO4- and HCO3- have corrosion inhibition effects on AZ31 magnesium alloy in normal saline solutions. After immersing for 54 h, the surface undulations decrease from 100 to about 60 μm and 45 μm. The average corrosion rate decreased with increasing pH value. The localized corrosion tendency, however, increased significantly. CaHPO4·2H2O [dicalcium phosphate dehydrate (DCPD)] coating could decrease the initial i_corr of AZ31 substrate in Hank’s solution. With partial dissolution of the coating, localized corrosion was readily evident on the AZ31 substrate surface, and a large corrosion pit with depth of over 350 μm appeared. The combined effect of the presence of inhibited ions, the increase in pH during corrosion process and the DCPD coating caused the decrease in the average corrosion rate while enhancing the localized corrosion tendency, resulting in the observed localized attack.

The paper provides an essential insight into the localized corrosion mechanism of AZ31 magnesium alloy in physiological environments.

This study aims to examine the role of functional and symbolic image congruity in Chinese consumers' brand preferences in the auto market, and the role of brand familiarity in moderating the relationship between brand image congruity and consumers' preferences.

A one‐on‐one survey was administered to 1,440 consumers by market research specialists on two popular auto brands in China.

While confirming existing findings concerning functional image congruity, the results revealed that symbolic image congruity had a negative impact on Chinese consumers' brand preference when a brand's perceived symbolic image is higher than consumers' ideal expectations (i.e. upward incongruity), and brand familiarity does not moderate the role of symbolic image congruity in Chinese consumers' brand preference.

The paper's findings could help managers to improve their brand management and enhance consumer satisfaction.

The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of land rights and tenure types on farmers' investment behavior in Chinese collective forests, using household survey data from Fujian Province.

In this study, the authors conducted a household survey in Fujian province of 520 randomly selected forest farmers. The authors used a random‐effects Tobit model to estimate the impact of land rights and other components on, for example, tenure security and harvest quota, and the impact of tenure types on farmers' investment incentives.

This study produced three main findings: perceived tenure security in the context of frequent agricultural land redistribution negatively affects input intensity; farmers still perceive some tenure arrangements to be more uncertain than others, which discourages them from undertaking investments on such plots; and the harvest quota regulation, introduced to conserve forest stock, has in fact acted as a disincentive in forestry management.

Almost all previous studies are based on national or regional data, which have primarily focused on the links between tenure types and investment incentives. In this study, based on the plot‐level data, the authors are able to assess not only the impacts of tenure types but also how specific land rights and their components affect farmers' investment behavior.