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This research aims to explore the dark side of mobile applications by investigating the role of apps' technicality and app security in the mechanism of user satisfaction, app intention and customers' continuance tendency to make in-app purchases.

Drawing on attitude-behavior-context (ABC) theory, the study proposed a conceptual framework and examined the framework using a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach based on data collected from app users from New Zealand.

The results reveal the correlation between user satisfaction and in-app purchase with a mediator of app continuance intention (ACI). In particular, the results show that app technicality (AT) has a positive correlation with user satisfaction as an antecedent. App security and hedonic value are positively correlated with user satisfaction.

The research has three critical research implications. First, this research advances the understanding of the dark side of mobile apps by showing how app security influences customers' in-app purchases. Secondly, this study reveals and offers empirical evidence for the mechanism between app security and user satisfaction. Finally, the study provides empirical evidence of AT as a distal antecedent for in-app purchases.

Drawing on a strategic agility perspective, the authors develop a theoretical framework and empirically examine how digital platform adoption and capability impact business performance via digital-enabled strategic agility in the context of professional service firms.

The authors propose and examine a conceptual framework based on survey data from 127 professional service firms in New Zealand.

This study reveals the impact of digital platform capability on the business performance of professional service firms that employ digital platform technologies. The results suggest that organizational innovation and managers' creative efficacy will be used as distal antecedents and contribute to digital platform capabilities. In addition, digital strategic agility can mediate the link between digital platform capabilities and business performance.

This study is one of the first to investigate when and how digital platforms empower professional service firms. This study reveals the role of digital strategic agility and digital platform capabilities in knowledge-intensive enterprises. This research advances the development of knowledge-based economy in the information age by applying and extending strategic agility to the uncertain and volatile business environment. The authors' new conceptualization provides a deeper understanding of how and why professional services business and organizations can adapt to the post-COVID era smoothly and successfully.

This paper aims to examine the impact of general elections on the stock returns of the politically connected group affiliated firms of Pakistan.

This study uses the market model to assess the impact of political connections (PCs) on abnormal stock returns, before and after election events. We have used share price data of non-financial firms of Pakistan for the years 2008-2013.

It has been found that behavior of cumulative average abnormal returns (CAAR) is significantly different for standalone and politically connected group affiliated firms. The results reveal that CAARs of politically connected group affiliated firms have experienced less deviation as compared to stand alone firms. Therefore, it is argued that politically connected group firms may reduce the impact of political uncertainty on stock returns in comparison to stand alone firms.

This study is helpful for policy regulators of Pakistan to devise appropriate policies to maintain a level playing field for politically connected and standalone firms.

This study provides a new dimension to understand the role and association of PCs and general elections with stock markets returns.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between the higher moments of returns (realized skewness and kurtosis) and subsequent returns at the industry level, with a focus on both empirical predictability and practical application via trading strategies.

Daily returns for 48 US industries over the period 1970–2019 from Kenneth French’s data library are used to calculate the higher moments and to construct short- and medium-term single-sort trading strategies. The analysis adjusts returns for common risk factors (market, size, value, investment, profitability and illiquidity) to confirm whether conventional asset pricing models can capture these relationships.

Past skewness positively relates to subsequent industry returns and this relationship is unexplained by common risk factors. There is also a time-varying effect in which the predictive role of skewness is much stronger over business cycle expansions than recessions, a result consistent with varying investor optimism. However, there is no significant relationship between kurtosis and subsequent industry returns. The analysis confirms robustness using both value- and equal-weighted returns.

The calculation of realized moments conventionally uses high-frequency intra-day data, regrettably unavailable for industries. In addition, the chosen portfolio-sorting method may omit some information, as it compares only average group returns. Nonetheless, the close relationship between skewness and future returns at the industry level suggests variations in returns unexplained by common risk factors. This enriches knowledge of market anomalies and questions yet again weak-form market efficiency and the validity of conventional asset pricing models. One suggestion is that it is possible to significantly improve the existing multi-factor asset pricing models by including industry skewness as a risk factor.

Given the relationship between skewness and future returns at the industry level, investors may predict subsequent industry returns to select better-performing funds. They may even construct trading strategies based on return distributions that would generate abnormal returns. Further, as the evaluation of individual stocks also contains industry information, and stocks in industries with better performance earn higher returns, risks related to industry return distributions can also shed light on individual stock picking.

While there is abundant evidence of the relationships between higher moments and future returns at the firm level, there is little at the industry level. Further, by testing whether there is time variation in the relationship between industry higher moments and future returns, the paper yields novel evidence concerning the asymmetric effect of stock return predictability over business cycles. Finally, the analysis supplements firm-level results focusing only on the decomposed components of higher moments.

This paper examines the effect of political connections (PCs) on firms' profitability and market value in the Egyptian market after the uprising of 2013.

An empirical study is conducted based on 284 firm-year observations for non-financial listed firms on the EGX100 during the period of 2014–2017. To test the study’s hypothesis, two independent sample t-test, Pearson correlation analysis and ordinary least square (OLS) regressions are conducted.

The results suggest that PCs are common across all industries in Egypt, the PCs through top officers do not improve firm's profitability; however, it has a positive effect on firms' market value. Further, PCs through business owners improve neither profitability nor the market value. Finally, the results suggest that PCs through government ownership have a positive effect on both firms' profitability and market value.

The study’s finding encourages policymakers and regulators in emerging markets, e.g. Egypt, to develop stricter laws, policies and regulatory initiatives to restrain the potential conflict of interest in the politically connected firms.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is one of the first to examine the relationship between PCs and both firms’ profitability and market value in Egypt.

This paper explores the potential competitive advantages from the development of an internal network of subsidiaries and external network of alliances. Given the broad scope and lack of systematic investigation in prior research, clinical field research was conducted in eleven Japanese subsidiaries in China. Our in‐depth interviews revealed that there are benefits and costs associated with the development of both subsidiary networks and alliance networks. While there are exploitation and exploration benefits from subsidiary network development, internationalizing firms (especially smaller firms) are subject to the liability of foreignness. Alliance network development is an effective way to mitigate this liability if internationalizing firms choose the right alliance strategy.

The fused filament fabrication (FFF) process is an additive manufacturing technique used in engineering design. The mechanical properties of parts manufactured by FFF are influenced by the printing parameters. The mechanical properties of rigid thermoplastics for FFF are well defined, while thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) are uncommonly investigated. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of extruder temperature, bed temperature and printing speed on the mechanical properties of a thermoplastic elastomer.

Regression models predicting mechanical properties as a function of extruder temperature, bed temperature and printing speed were developed. Tensile specimens were tested according to ASTM D638. A 3×3 full factorial analysis, consisting of 81 experiments and 27 printing conditions was performed, and models were developed in Minitab. Tensile tests verifying the models were conducted at two selected printing conditions to assess predictive capability.

Each mechanical property was significantly affected by at least two of the investigated FFF parameters, where printing speed and extruder temperature terms influenced all mechanical properties (p < 0.05). Notably, tensile modulus could be increased by 21%, from 200 to 244 MPa. Verification prints exhibited properties within 10% of the predictions. Not all properties could be maximized together, emphasizing the importance of understanding FFF parameter effects on mechanical properties when making design decisions.

This work developed a model to assess FFF parameter influence on mechanical properties of a previously unstudied thermoplastic elastomer and made property predictions within 10% accuracy.

The purpose of this paper is to acquire doubly variable precision‐based knowledge rules from incomplete decision tables (IDTs) in the framework of pansystems methodology. It suggests a new variable precision limited tolerance – a special pansystems relation – rough set model with precision inclusion and a reduct procedure in which it overcomes the non‐monotony in forming tolerance classes when reducing an attribute from attribute set.

Through introducing variable precision and limited tolerance relation in IDT, it constructs symmetric binary relation, dissimilar to non‐symmetric relation proposed by others, and then forms tolerance classes. It proposes a new reduction procedure with absolute value calculation to avoid tolerance classes being non‐monotone. Using variable inclusion, it obtains lower and upper approximations with noises.

Tolerance classes are not monotone with the reduction of attribute from attribute set in the proposed variable precision and limited tolerance relation, but it remains symmetry. Proposed reduction procedure with absolute value calculation is a new approach in adjudging whether a reduct equals to the original whole attribute set within a error range or not.

Using variable precision and limited rough set model with variable inclusion to mine deep knowledge from IDT is a paradise in knowledge discovery in dealing with non‐determinative and vague problems.

The formation of symmetric tolerance relation is natural. The reduction procedure with absolute value calculation is new and not similar to those existed in literatures.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a kind of fuzzy adaptive control method to control non‐linear system that has the characteristic of small time delay and fast respond speed.

The paper analyzes the production process and the actual condition of the preheat process of the plating zinc and painting plastic scribbled of double layer welded pipe that has the small time delay and fast respond speed, and also gives the preheat process mathematical model. Fuzzy adaptive control method with hierarchical structure is used which aims at one non‐linear system that has the characteristic of small time delay and fast responds speed. Through the simulation, it proves the mentioned method is effective to control the temperature system for double layers welded pipe in welding process.

Based on the mathematical model proposed about the production process and the actual condition of the preheat process, the fuzzy adaptive control method is effective to control the temperature system for double layers welded pipe in welding process.

The paper proposes fuzzy adaptive control method with hierarchical structure which has the basic fuzzy control grade, adaptive adjust grade, and process state judgment grade.

A very useful method in welding process for double layers welded pipe.

The new mathematical model is proposed about the production process, and the new control method is used in the temperature system for double layers welded pipe in welding process.

This study examines whether and how the legal origin of foreign institutional investors (FIIs) impacts corporate investment efficiency.

The study employs a large panel dataset of firms from 32 non-USA countries from 2005 to 2018. Financial and institutional ownership data are obtained from the COMPUSTAT Global and Public Ownership databases in S&P Capital IQ, respectively. The study employed ordinary least squares (OLS) regression with year and firm fixed effects. In addition, two-stage least squares with instrumental variable regression (2SLS-IV) and propensity score matching (PSM) approaches were employed to address the potential endogeneity.

The findings of this study suggest that common- and civil-law FIIs differ in their monitoring capabilities to promote investment efficiency. The authors find evidence that increased equity ownership by common-law FIIs, not civil-law investors, strengthens the investment-Q sensitivity, resulting in higher investment efficiency. Consistent with the monitoring and information channel, the results further indicate that the positive impact of common-law FIIs on investment efficiency is stronger in host environments susceptible to agency conflicts and information asymmetry.

This study offers novel evidence on the heterogeneous monitoring role of FIIs with regard to their home countries' legal origins and their impact on investment efficiency in an international context.