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Using a sample of 9,898 firm-year observations from 1,821 unique Chinese listed firms over the period from 2004 to 2019, this study aims to investigate whether the market rewards meeting or beating analyst earnings expectations (MBE).

The authors use an event study methodology to capture market reactions to MBE.

The authors document a stock return premium for beating analyst forecasts by a wide margin. However, there is no stock return premium for firms that meet or just beat analyst forecasts, suggesting that the market is skeptical of earnings management by these firms. This market underreaction is more pronounced for firms with weak external monitoring. Further analysis shows that meeting or just beating analyst forecasts is indicative of superior future financial performance. The authors do not find firms using earnings management to meet or just beat analyst forecasts.

The authors provide evidence of market underreaction to meeting or just beating analyst forecasts, with the market's over-skepticism of earnings management being a plausible mechanism for this phenomenon.

The findings of this study are informative to researchers, market participants and regulators concerned about the impact of analysts and earnings management and interested in detecting and constraining managers' earnings management.

The authors provide new insights into how the market reacts to MBE by showing that the market appears to focus on using meeting or just beating analyst forecasts as an indicator of earnings management, while it does not detect managed MBE. Meeting or just beating analyst forecasts is commonly used as a proxy for earnings management in the literature. However, the findings suggest that it is a noisy proxy for earnings management.

The purpose of this paper is to study the problem of a routing problem with uncertain try-on service time (VRPUS) for apparel distribution, and to devise solution strategies coping with the uncertainty by an evolutionary algorithm. VRPUS belongs to the category of practical routing models integrated with uncertain service times. However, in the background of apparel distribution, it has distinct features. The try-on service will improve the customer satisfaction by providing experiences to customers; the return cost is saved; the customer loyalty is improved for experiencing face-to-face try-on services. However, the uncertainty of try-on service time makes the apparel distribution process uncertain and incurs additional risk management cost, such that the logistics companies should optimally make decisions on the choice of the service and the service processes.

This paper devised a mixed-integer programming (MIP) model for the base vehicle routing problem (VRP) and then it is extended to support the solution strategies for uncertain try-on times. A try-on time estimation parameter and a time reservation parameter are used to cope with the uncertain try-on time, and the try-on rejection strategy is applied when the uncertain try-on time is realized at customer and no surplus time can be used for try-on service besides distributing to remainder customers. Due to the computational complexity of VRPUS, an evolutionary algorithm is designed for solving it. These parameters and strategy options are designed for the operational decisions by logistics companies. Finally, a decision support system (DSS) is designed.

Five experimental scenarios are performed to reveal the impacts of parameters and solution strategies coping with uncertain try-on time on the distribution cost, return cost, and the try-on service failure. The tuning methods are designed to assist the decisions by logistics companies.

A new routing problem is addressed for apparel distribution in fashion industry especially in the context of booming apparel e-commerce, which is a VRP with uncertain try-on service time for apparel distribution; three strategies are developed to cope with the try-on time uncertainty. The proposed method is also a theoretical base for designing a practical DSS for logistics companies to provide try-on service to customers.

Hypocrisy often observed in the social responsibility practices of commercial enterprises is more likely to occur in social enterprises. However, this issue has received little research attention. This study explores, from a consumer perspective, the formation of perceived hypocrisy and its impact on the cognitive legitimacy of social enterprises.

This research conducted two experiments, and data were collected from 515 subjects in China to test the proposed hypotheses.

Behavioral inconsistency in social enterprises leads to consumers' perceived hypocrisy. The higher the perceived hypocrisy towards social enterprises, the weaker their cognitive legitimacy of social enterprises. At a lower level of inconsistency, the perceived hypocrisy of social enterprises was lower than that of commercial enterprises. Egoistic attribution to prosocial behavior moderated the negative effect of perceived hypocrisy on cognitive legitimacy. The stronger the egoistic attribution, the greater is the negative effect of perceived hypocrisy on the cognitive legitimacy of social enterprises.

Social entrepreneurs should be acutely aware of the harmful effects of hypocrisy on social enterprises. Social enterprises should not exaggerate their propaganda or be consistent with their words and actions.

This study innovatively analyzes the damage to the cognitive legitimacy of social enterprises caused by the hypocrisy that tends to occur in commercial enterprises and argues from the consumer viewpoint. These findings enrich the perspective on exploring social enterprise legitimacy.

This chapter reviews three main issues in the interactions between air transport and high-speed rail (HSR) in China, namely the interaction between low-cost carriers (LCCs) and HSR, HSR speed effect on airlines, and airline–HSR integration. Studies on these three aspects of airline–HSR interactions have yet been well reviewed, and our chapter aims to fill in this gap. In this chapter, we comprehensively survey literature on the topics, especially studies on Chinese markets that have recently witnessed major HSR developments (and have planned further large-scale HSR expansion in the coming years). Our review shows that, first, compared to full-service carriers, LCCs face fiercer competition from HSR. However, the expansion of HSR network in China can be better coordinated with LCC development. Second, HSR speed exerts two countervailing effects on airline demand and price (the “travel-time” effect and “safety” effect, respectively). Specifically, an HSR speed reduction can have a positive effect on airlines due to longer HSR travel time, but a negative effect on airlines due to improved perception on HSR safety. Third, airline–HSR integration can be implemented through cooperation between airlines and HSR operators and through co-location of airports and HSR stations and can have important implications for intermodal transport and social welfare.

This study explores the influence of parasocial interaction (PSI), brand credibility and product involvement on celebrity endorsement, and how PSI interacts with brand and product factors and affects celebrity endorsement synthetically.

This study employs a 2 (high/low product involvement) by 2 (high/low brand credibility) between-subjects factorial design experiment to test the hypotheses.

Brand credibility has a positive effect on followers' attitudes toward advertising and products, and product involvement influences its moderation. PSI has salient positive effects on followers' attitudes and behavioral intention, regardless of high/low product involvement. Brand credibility mediates PSI's influence on celebrity endorsement.

The results reinforce the significant effect of PSI on endorsement effectiveness and brand credibility, show the influence of brand credibility and product involvement and show how their influence conditionally interacts with others.

The corporate advertiser should prefer a high PSI celebrity as their endorser. The advertising message design on the microblog also deserves the attention of advertisers.

This study is the primary attempt to construct an integral model to demonstrate the synthetic effect and interaction process of consumers' perception of the endorser, brand and product category factors on celebrity endorsement within the social media context.

Drawing on the political theory of leadership and the input‐process‐output model the purpose of this paper is to examine the link between leader political skill and team performance by focusing on the mediating role of team communication and the moderating role of team task interdependence.

The authors collected three waves of data from 80 teams across four business units and employed hierarchical regression modeling and the moderated path analysis approach suggested by Edwards and Lambert to test the moderated mediation model.

Leader political skill was found to positively influence team performance via promoting the quality of team communication. Moreover, team task interdependence moderates the relationship between leader political skill and team communication, such that the relationship is stronger when team task interdependence is high rather than low.

First, the paper adopts the measuring scales developed in the western organizational context to investigate the relations and phenomena existing in the Chinese organizational context. Future research should adopt the indigenous measuring scales to investigate the relations and phenomena existing in the Chinese organizational context. Second, both political skill and team performance were reported by the team leader, which might lead to common source bias. Future research should allow team members to rate leaders' political skill and the team leaders' supervisors to provide evaluation of team performance.

Owing to its importance to team performance, political skill is one of the critical skills that leaders should make efforts to develop. When companies recruit leaders for work teams, they should put more attention on the political skills of the candidates. Moreover, companies should cultivate a cooperative team climate to facilitate team communication.

Although Ahearn et al. suggested that leader political skill has positive effect on team performance, they did not empirically examine the specific process and mechanism through which the positive effect occurs. This study argues team communication is a critical mechanism that bridges leader political skill and team operations and outcomes as well. The study adopts longitudinal research design and collects multi‐source data to test the authors' model. The study also complements past research by investigating both the mediating and moderating mechanisms in the leader political‐team performance linkage.

COVID-19 halted global tourism, prompting stakeholders to use virtual reality (VR) tourism to maintain interest. Due to technological advancements and wider internet access globally, VR tourism has become increasingly popular. Guided by the attention-interest-desire-action (AIDA) model and the technology acceptance model (TAM) frameworks, and with the inclusion of personal innovativeness, this study aims to clarify consumer intentions toward engaging with VR tourism by investigating factors such as personal innovativeness, interest, perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEOU), attitude and desire.

Data was gathered from 252 participants using a cross-sectional approach, with partial least squares structural equation modeling used to assess the research model.

The findings indicate consumers' personal innovativeness strongly influences VR tourism intention, mediated by PU, attitude and desire. VR tourism intention is also significantly impacted by interest in VR tourism and is mediated by PU and PEOU, attitude and desire. PEOU and PU are significantly linked to interest and determine attitude. Attitude, both directly and indirectly, significantly influences VR tourism intention through users' desire, which mediates the relationship. Through multiple group analysis, the path from desire to intention is found to be moderated by age, education and marital status.

Theoretically, this study pioneers a framework that merges AIDA, TAM and personal innovativeness to advance the understanding of VR tourism adoption dynamics and enrich tourism research. Managerially, it provides valuable guidance on targeting communications and technology toward increasing VR tourism engagement and presents a roadmap for industry practitioners.

This research addresses the identified gaps in extant literature by combining TAM and AIDA with personal innovativeness to investigate the process of consumers' VR tourism intention, triggered by consumers' personal innovativeness and interest in VR tourism. The study highlights significant managerial insights for both tourism industry practitioners and academic researchers, which can assist with decision-making to promote VR tourism development.

COVID-19 使全球旅游业停滞不前, 促使利益相关者使用虚拟现实 (VR) 旅游来保持兴趣。由于技术进步和全球互联网接入的增长, VR 旅游变得越来越受欢迎。基于注意-兴趣-渴望-行动模型 (AIDA) 和技术接受模型 (TAM) 框架, 并纳入个人创新性, 本研究旨在通过调查个人创新性、兴趣、感知有用性、感知易用性、态度和渴望等因素, 澄清消费者对参与 VR 旅游的意图。

使用横截面方法收集了252名参与者的数据, 并使用偏最小二乘结构方程建模来评估研究模型。

研究结果表明, 消费者的个人创新性通过感知有用性、态度和渴望显著影响 VR 旅游意图。VR 旅游意图也受到对 VR 旅游兴趣的显著影响, 并通过感知有用性、感知易用性、态度和渴望进行调节。感知易用性和感知有用性显著与兴趣相关, 并决定态度。态度通过用户的渴望直接和间接地显著影响 VR 旅游意图, 这些渴望调节了这种关系。通过多群组分析, 发现年龄、教育和婚姻状况对渴望与意图之间的路径具有调节作用。

本研究通过结合 TAM 和 AIDA 与个人创新性来研究消费者的 VR 旅游意图过程, 填补了现有文献中的空白。本研究强调了对旅游业从业者和学术研究人员的重大管理见解, 这些见解可以帮助决策者推动 VR 旅游的发展。

从理论上讲, 本研究开创了一个结合 AIDA、TAM 和个人创新性的框架, 以提升对 VR 旅游采用动态的理解, 并丰富旅游研究。从管理角度来看, 它提供了有价值的指南, 帮助定位通信和技术, 以增加 VR 旅游参与度, 并为行业从业者提供了发展路线图。

El COVID-19 detuvo el turismo global, lo que indujo a las partes implicadas a utilizar el turismo de realidad virtual para mantener el nivel de interés. Debido a los avances tecnológicos y al acceso más amplio a Internet a nivel mundial, el turismo de realidad virtual se ha vuelto cada vez más común. Basándose en el modelo de Atención-Interés-Deseo-Acción (AIDA) y en el modelo de aceptación tecnológica (TAM), y con la inclusión de la innovación personal, este estudio tiene como objetivo comprender las intenciones de los consumidores hacia el compromiso con el turismo de realidad virtual investigando factores como la innovación personal, el interés, la utilidad percibida, la facilidad de uso percibida, la actitud y el deseo.

Se recopilaron datos de 252 participantes utilizando un enfoque transversal, y se utilizó la modelización de ecuaciones estructurales de mínimos cuadrados parciales para evaluar el modelo de investigación.

Los resultados indican que la innovación personal de los consumidores influye fuertemente en la intención de turismo de realidad virtual mediada por la utilidad percibida, la actitud y el deseo. La intención de turismo de realidad virtual también se ve significativamente afectada por el interés en el turismo de realidad virtual y está mediada por la utilidad percibida y la facilidad de uso percibida, la actitud y el deseo. La facilidad de uso percibida y la utilidad percibida están significativamente relacionadas con el interés y determinan la actitud. La actitud influye tanto directa como indirectamente de manera significativa en la intención de turismo de realidad virtual a través del deseo de los usuarios, que media en la relación. A través del análisis de múltiples grupos, se encontró que la edad, la educación y el estado civil moderan la relación entre el deseo y la intención.

Desde el punto de vista teórico, este estudio es pionero en la creación de un marco que aúna AIDA, TAM e innovación personal para avanzar en la comprensión de la dinámica de adopción del turismo de realidad virtual y enriquecer la investigación turística. Desde el punto de vista de la gestión, ofrece una valiosa orientación sobre cómo orientar las comunicaciones y la tecnología para aumentar la participación del turismo de realidad virtual y presenta una hoja de ruta para los profesionales del sector.

Esta investigación aborda las lagunas identificadas en la literatura existente mediante la integración de TAM y AIDA con la innovación personal para analizar el proceso de la intención de los consumidores de turismo de realidad virtual, provocada por la innovación personal de los consumidores y el interés en el turismo de realidad virtual. El estudio pone de relieve importantes perspectivas de gestión tanto para los profesionales del sector turístico como para los investigadores académicos, que pueden ayudar en la toma de decisiones para promover el desarrollo del turismo de realidad virtual.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the antecedents and consequences of insurer trust and salesperson trust, as well as the relationships between insurer, salesperson, and customer loyalty in order to build a conceptual model which investigates the relationships of insurer trust and salesperson trust, and finds ways to build trust and customer loyalty in the non-life insurance industry in Taiwan.

The data for this study were collected from the customers of non-life insurers’ policyholder service centres and were analysed using in-depth interviews and questionnaires. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was to assess the proposed research model empirically.

This study finds that firm size did not have a significant effect on insurer trust. Customer trust in the insurer was negatively but not significantly related to customer trust in the salesperson. Additionally, when relatives or friends are insurance salespersons; it is easy to build trust with them.

This study provides non-life insurers with new avenues for promoting and marketing their insurance.

The purpose of this paper is to establish a model that identifies the causal relationship among relationship marketing types, service quality and relationship quality on customer loyalty.

Data for this study were collected using in‐depth interviews and surveys from the clients of policyholder service centres of life insurers in Taiwan. A structural equation modelling approach is employed to examine the relationship posited in this study.

The findings are generally consistent with the literature. This study supports all hypotheses. Finally, the article concludes with theoretical and managerial implications of the research findings.

This study attempts to focus on policyholder service centres in the life insurance industry, which have been increasingly emphasized in Taiwan, to examine the impacts that different relationship marketing methods have on service quality, relationship quality and customer loyalty. Based on the results of in‐depth interviews and surveys, this study also attempts to propose a set of references to aid the development and implementation of relationship marketing campaigns and to make further contributions to both the academic and empirical literature.

The purpose of this paper is to present a preliminary work on extracting band gap information of materials from academic papers. With increasing demand for renewable energy, band gap information will help material scientists design and implement novel photovoltaic (PV) cells.

The authors collected 1.44 million titles and abstracts of scholarly articles related to materials science, and then filtered the collection to 11,939 articles that potentially contain relevant information about materials and their band gap values. ChemDataExtractor was extended to extract information about PV materials and their band gap information. Evaluation was performed on randomly sampled information records of 415 papers.

The findings of this study show that the current system is able to correctly extract information for 51.32% articles, with partially correct extraction for 36.62% articles and incorrect for 12.04%. The authors have also identified the errors belonging to three main categories pertaining to chemical entity identification, band gap information and interdependency resolution. Future work will focus on addressing these errors to improve the performance of the system.

The authors did not find any literature to date on band gap information extraction from academic text using automated methods. This work is unique and original. Band gap information is of importance to materials scientists in applications such as solar cells, light emitting diodes and laser diodes.