Search results

Owing to the high cost of data acquisition (DAQ) card in the market, the purpose of this paper is to develop a high speed, low‐cost microprocessor and ethernet controller‐based DAQ in optical tomography system.

Microprocessor is the main core to control the sensor circuitry while ethernet controller has the responsibility of transmitting data to PC and thus insuring the reliability of data.

The data transfer rate will be up to megabytes per seconds. In this optical tomography system, projection geometry combining two orthogonal and two rectilinear in one layer is modeled.

This paper presents a new application in optical tomography.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of the Big Five Model (BFM), the urge to purchase (UP) and urgency (UR) on impulse purchase (IP) in Facebook commerce (F-commerce), with the F-commerce purchase as control variable. It also investigates the influence of BFM and UR on UP and the effects of BFM on UR.

The survey instrument was rigorously validated via content validity index by expert panel, Q-sort procedure for construct validity by practitioners in pre-test, followed by evaluation of construct reliability in the pilot test. Data gathered from 808 usable questionnaires were analyzed using SmartPLS 3.

The study showed that BFM, UP, UR and F-commerce purchase are significant predictors of the F-commerce IP. UP is influenced by BFM and UR. BFM has a significant positive relationship with UR. F-commerce experience has insignificant moderating effect.

This study provides some useful practical implications for the F-commerce administrators, advertisers, dealers and promoters.

Existing studies focus on the antecedents of IP in conventional stores and online businesses; however, IP in F-commerce has been largely overlooked. The study investigates the impacts of personality traits on IP and its effects on UR and UP. The mediating effects of UR and UP were also examined. The study is able to predict 64.4, 68.0 and 49.0 percent variance in IP, UP and UR, respectively.

In the literature of industrial management, the focus is normally given on examining the factors that contribute to product innovation acceptance. The advocates of “pro-innovation bias” assume that consumers are open to new products and are willing to accept an innovative product. However, there is a high failure rate of technological innovations and most of the technological innovations were rejected due to users' resistance. Since the inception of innovation resistance theory (IRT), the number of studies that used IRT has gained much attention from scholars. However, the findings from these studies from various contexts are inconsistent, lack universality, and a clear understanding of technological innovation barriers. The study aims to determine whether the IRT theory is indeed valid and whether IRT is culturally invariant from the Eastern and Western cultures.

A meta-analysis based on a random-effects model and studies drawn from 24 countries and/or regions with a consolidated sample size of 10,463 was conducted. Cultural invariance was identified based on subgroup analysis. Moderator analysis was performed by applying the weighted linear regression.

The results reveal that tradition is the strongest barrier followed by the value, risk, image and usage barrier. Interestingly, there is a cultural invariance in IRT from the Eastern and Western cultures. Besides, there are significant moderating effects due to the temporal factor.

The study has contributed useful theoretical and managerial implications in advancing the product innovation literature.

This study incorporates two Chinese cultural variables guanxi (personal relationship) and xinyong (personal trust) with other relational variables that are well defined in the west, i.e. supplier competence, commitment, conflict handling and satisfaction to see how they generate partnership relationship in a sino‐western relationship marketing context.

Research objectives are achieved through a combination of model building, quantitative design, testing of hypotheses using AMOS and analysis of findings. The subject scope is imbedded within cultural impact on relationship marketing in a sino‐western context.

This study finds that Western suppliers must be competent in product knowledge, market development, and adaptation to buyers' requirements to resolve conflicts in order to establish their xinyong with the buyers. Competence allows suppliers to show psychological commitment and establish guanxi with the buyers. It also shows that guanxi has a stronger influence on xinyong than on satisfaction. Suppliers should use guanxi to generate buyer's perception on xinyong whilst maintaining a reasonable level of buyer satisfaction with their products and services. Also, relationship between xinyong and satisfaction is not significant. A buyer's satisfaction on the supplier's product and services does not necessarily mean that this buyer perceives the supplier having xinyong because Chinese mix (up) business with personal relationships together and sometimes they make trade‐off between them!

This relationship study was conducted in a single‐product relationship context within the clothing industry in the PRC environment and therefore, its findings may not be generalised to other industry. Future Chinese relationship study should increase the sample size so as to cover more industries to allow comparison across industries. This is especially valid between a manufacturing and a service‐based industry. A service‐based industry may even emphasize more on guanxi and xinyong because of its intangible aspects! Future research should include the xinyong constructs, the concepts of face and reciprocity. To what extent these important Chinese cultural values affect satisfaction and xinyong have not been determined.

Effective conflict handling skills and guanxi are vital to formulate a xinyong positioning strategy. A supplier must be competent in product knowledge, market development skills, and adapt to a buyer's requirements to resolve conflicts with the buyer to establish xinyong.

This research is an initial attempt to establish the relationship between guanxi, xinyong and partnership relationship and generates a new research area in Chinese relationship marketing.

Drawing from theories of modernization and socioemotional selectivity, this study investigates the effect of familial support on the relationship between immigrant generation and mental health service use for Asian American and Latinx older adults.

Using the data from the National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS) 2002–2003, nested logistic regressions (N = 810) were used to test the effects of familial support (parent–child relationship quality) on the relationship between immigrant generation and the use of mental health services. Differences in familial support between older adults and their younger counterparts were also accounted for.

The results indicate that familial support partially attenuates the relationship between immigrant generation and mental health service use, but only for Latinx groups. Familial support was not significantly different for older adults than that of those younger in age.

Findings suggest the need for a better understanding of familial support as it relates to mental health service use for these groups. Approaches to improving the access to, and the overall use of, mental health services should be sensitive to ethnic variation. Immigrant groups may also endure stressors associated with legal and citizenship status. Future research should consider the effect of these political identities on mental health. Studies on parent–child relationship quality should also be longitudinal in order to better understand the dynamic nature of familial support across the life course.

This chapter addresses gaps in the literature as Asian Americans are relatively understudied group with regard to mental health. Previous studies showed that US-born Asian American and Latinx populations are more likely to use mental health services than their foreign-born counterparts, but the effects of generation status and familial support for older adults are unclear.

The literature suggests that developing countries must use foreign construction enterprises to undertake much of the building and infrastructure projects which they require for their economic development. Authors suggest that foreign firms can have various impacts, both positive and negative, on the construction industries of the host countries. This study examines the effect of the operations of foreign contractors in Singapore on their local counterparts and on the nation's construction industry. The study assesses the extent to which Singaporean construction companies have grown during the past two decades, and investigates the influence of foreign firms in this growth process. It is based on interviews of prominent construction practitioners and administrators. It was found that Singapore firms grew considerably during the period under review, and that foreign firms contributed to this growth. It is concluded that there is scope for mutually beneficial co‐operation among foreign and local contractors.

Growing evidence asserts that individuals are inclined to buy impulsively in the social commerce environment due to interactive elements. However, extant literature does not reveal the influence of emerging digital celebrities and their communities on impulse buying, although users may encounter them synchronously. Hence, this study explores the impact of parasocial relationships and social climate on impulse buying following the stimulus–organism–response framework with the incorporation of the urge to buy. Besides, this research investigates the role of hedonic and utility gratification-seeking behavior in parasocial relationships following uses and gratifications theory (UGT).

An empirical research study was conducted on Facebook, and data were collected from Pakistani users who followed digital celebrities. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach was employed to analyze the valid data of 231 respondents.

The results indicate that integrated constructs significantly influence impulse buying with complementary partial mediation of urge to buy. Besides, social climate significantly interacts the relationship of parasocial relationships and impulse buying. Further, passing time, enjoyment and information seeking has a significant impact on parasocial relationships, except for self-presentation.

This research provides key knowledge to comprehend the overall phenomenon of emerging digital celebrities through the integration of their parasocial relationships and the social climate of their communities, with potential intervening and interaction effects. This study also unveils the role of gratifications in building digital celebrities' parasocial relationships.

Young consumers have increasingly adopted wearable health-care technology to improve their well-being. Drawing on generation cohort theory (GCT) and the technology acceptance model (TAM), this study aims to illuminate the major factors that drive the adoption of health-care wearable technology products by Generation Z (Gen-Z) consumers in Hong Kong.

A self-administrated online survey was used to collect data from a sample of Gen-Z consumers in Hong Kong with experience in using health-care wearable technology. Data analysis was performed using partial least-squares-structural equation modeling to verify four hypotheses.

The results reveal that consumer innovativeness (CI) and electronic word-of-mouth referral (EWOM) are significant predictors of perceived credibility, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness, which subsequently drive online engagement intention and adoption intention (AI).

This research provides practical guidance for marketers of health-care wearable technology products. In particular, CI and EWOM hold the key to young consumers’ product perceptions (and thereby their online engagement and AIs).

This research leverages the insights of GCT to enrich the TAM, specifically by including CI and EWOM as antecedents and online engagement as a consequence in the context of health-care wearable technology. The results of an empirical study enhance theoretical understanding of Gen-Z consumers’ perceptions and behavioral intentions toward health-care wearable technology. They also point to actionable recommendations for marketing this new technology to young consumers.

This study looks to understand the opposing forces that would influence continuance intention. This is significant as users will take into account the positive and negative use experiences in determining their continuance intention. Therefore, this study looks to highlight the opposing forces of users’ continuance intention by proposing the Expectation-Confirmation-Resistance Model (ECRM).

Through an online survey, 411 responses were obtained from mobile payment users. Subsequently, a hybrid approach comprised of the Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) was utilized to analyze the data.

The results revealed that all hypotheses proposed in the ECRM are supported. More precisely, the facilitating and inhibiting variables were found to significantly affect continuance intention. In addition, the ECRM was revealed to possess superior explanatory power over the original model in predicting continuance intention.

This study successfully developed and validated the ECRM which captures both facilitators and inhibitors of continuance intention. Besides, the relevance and significance of users’ innovative resistance to continuance intention have been highlighted. Following this, effective business and research strategies can be developed by taking into account the opposing forces that affect users’ continuance intention.