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1 – 10 of 12Peter Gangl, Stefan Köthe, Christiane Mellak, Alessio Cesarano and Annette Mütze
This paper aims to deal with the design optimization of a synchronous reluctance machine to be used in an X-ray tube, where the goal is to maximize the torque while keeping low…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to deal with the design optimization of a synchronous reluctance machine to be used in an X-ray tube, where the goal is to maximize the torque while keeping low the amount of material used, by means of gradient-based free-form shape optimization.
Design/methodology/approach
The presented approach is based on the mathematical concept of shape derivatives and allows to obtain new motor designs without the need to introduce a geometric parametrization. This paper presents an extension of a standard gradient-based free-form shape optimization algorithm to the case of multiple objective functions by determining updates, which represent a descent of all involved criteria. Moreover, this paper illustrates a way to obtain an approximate Pareto front.
Findings
The presented method allows to obtain optimal designs of arbitrary, non-parametric shape with very low computational cost. This paper validates the results by comparing them to a parametric geometry optimization in JMAG by means of a stochastic optimization algorithm. While the obtained designs are of similar shape, the computational time used by the gradient-based algorithm is in the order of minutes, compared to several hours taken by the stochastic optimization algorithm.
Originality/value
This paper applies the presented gradient-based multi-objective optimization algorithm in the context of free-form shape optimization using the mathematical concept of shape derivatives. The authors obtain a set of Pareto-optimal designs, each of which is a shape that is not represented by a fixed set of parameters. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this approach to multi-objective free-form shape optimization is novel in the context of electric machines.
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Muhammad Shehryar Shahid, Peter Rodgers, Natalia Vershinina, Mashal E. Zehra and Colin C. Williams
Informal entrepreneurship is seen as a direct outcome of either the failure of formal institutions or the asymmetry between formal and informal institutions. These two viewpoints…
Abstract
Purpose
Informal entrepreneurship is seen as a direct outcome of either the failure of formal institutions or the asymmetry between formal and informal institutions. These two viewpoints are so far debated as alternative theoretical explanations for the prevalence of informal entrepreneurship. In this paper, the authors offer a theoretically integrative approach to further advance the institutional perspective of informal entrepreneurship. The purpose of this paper is to address these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Using face-to-face surveys of 322 street entrepreneurs from Lahore, Pakistan, the authors deploy the hitherto unused partial least square approach (PLS) to structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze data within the field of informal entrepreneurship.
Findings
The empirical findings strongly support the theoretical propositions of the new institutional perspective that the authors present in their paper. The authors find no direct impact of factors like procedural justice, redistributive justice and public sector corruption (i.e. formal institutional failings) on the formalization intentions of street entrepreneurs. Their findings demonstrate that the relationship between formal institutional failings and formalization intentions can only be explained through the mediating role of institutional asymmetry (i.e. tax morality).
Research limitations/implications
From a policy perspective, the authors find that if they can encourage street entrepreneurs to obtain a local-level registration as the first step toward formalization, it will significantly increase their chances to opt for higher national-level registrations.
Originality/value
This paper presents a unique attempt to further understand the context of street entrepreneurship through the theoretical lens of the institutional theory. In doing so, it synthesizes the arguments of existing institutional perspectives and further develops the institutional theory of informal entrepreneurship. Moreover, the paper develops the concept of “formalization intentions”.
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The purpose of this paper is to investigate vertical and horizontal mismatch between education and current occupation for graduates in four post-communist societies: Hungary…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate vertical and horizontal mismatch between education and current occupation for graduates in four post-communist societies: Hungary, Poland, Lithuania and Slovenia. In this way it contributes to the field by exploring how mechanisms, known from previous studies on western societies, affect job mismatch in emerging market economies.
Design/methodology/approach
Two dependent variables are constructed: working in a non-graduate occupation as defined by the ISCO job title depicts vertical mismatch; assessment of the job from the perspective of the fields of study describes horizontal mismatch. Since the dependent variables are dichotomous ones, binary logistic regression models are fitted to the data predicting the incidence of mismatch. Explanatory variables cover mechanisms affecting job mismatch: variation by fields of studies, accumulated work experience during studies, labour market uncertainties during early career, trade off between job safety and job mismatch, persistence of “bad” labour market entry during early career, influence of parental background on school-to-work transition.
Findings
The analysis reveals significant differences for study fields in association with occupational specificity of the disciplines. Only study-related work experience seems to be advantageous to find a matching job. Labour market uncertainties increase the probability of job mismatch. Job safety is more important than a matching job.
Originality/value
Mismatch in first occupation has strong and long-lasting effect on the job match even five years after the graduation. The effect of parental background on job mismatch is curvilinear.
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Language may be a treasured heritage of small comunities, all that is left to bind them together. It is often a matter of national or regional pride, keeping alive a tongue dead…
Abstract
Language may be a treasured heritage of small comunities, all that is left to bind them together. It is often a matter of national or regional pride, keeping alive a tongue dead centuries past everywhere else; in an area of the Grisons forty thousand Swiss speak the Latin Romansch, the tongue spoken by the citizens of ancient Rome, and nowhere else in the world is it heard. There are so‐called official languages; in the councils of Europe, it has always been French, which is the official language of the European Economic Community; this means, of course, that all EEC Directives and in due course, judgments of its courts, will be first delivered in French.
By challenging the typical antagonistic view of the informal institutions power and trust, this paper aims to explore the interrelatedness of the two through the Yin–Yang lens.
Abstract
Purpose
By challenging the typical antagonistic view of the informal institutions power and trust, this paper aims to explore the interrelatedness of the two through the Yin–Yang lens.
Design/methodology/approach
The data for this research stem from extensive group and one-to-one interviews with Toyota and its domestic and international suppliers.
Findings
Contrary to the conventional antagonistic view of power and trust, the study finds a different relationship between power and trust in Japan, namely, a rather natural, mutually integrative and dependent one. The paper assumes that Taoist ideals, in particular the forces of Yin–Yang, explain this apparent contradiction.
Practical implications
Guided by the Yin–Yang perspective on power and trust balancing, the study proposes six management paradigms regarding how power and trust relationships can be developed and managed to increase collaboration performance.
Originality/value
While this research contributes to the research stream considering power and trust as complements rather than substitutes, it introduces the Yin–Yang view of business collaboration into the field of supply chain management in the automotive industry. Furthermore, it proposes practical measurements for the management of collaborative business relationships in a supply chain by taking advantage of the Yin–Yang view of putative contradictions.
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Xiaofei Tang, Yong (Eddie) Luo, Pan Zhou and Ben Lowe
This paper aims to examine different types of sharing platforms based on risk perceptions of product/service providers and users, and to illustrate appropriate platform regulation…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine different types of sharing platforms based on risk perceptions of product/service providers and users, and to illustrate appropriate platform regulation preferences.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was used (N = 540) to collect data on platform participants’ risk perceptions and regulation preferences in the Chinese (N = 263) and the US markets (N = 277). Cluster analysis and multiple correspondence analysis were used to categorise platforms and match their regulation preferences with the risk characteristics.
Findings
The results show that i) four types of sharing platforms are categorised in terms of the risk perceived by the supply and demand side, and ii) four types of regulation preferences are clustered, drawing on the power and trust elements proposed from the slippery slope framework. Furthermore, coercive power regulation is favoured by participants of platforms with high supply risk and low demand risk, legitimate power regulation is preferred by actors of platforms with low supply risk and high demand risk, reason-based trust regulation is preferred by actors of platforms with high supply and demand risk, and implicit trust regulation is favoured by participants of platforms with low supply and demand risk.
Research limitations/implications
This paper develops an empirical typology of platforms based on risk perceptions of providers and users, and advances our understanding about lateral exchange markets from a consumer perspective.
Practical implications
This paper provides implications for platforms to regulate transactions through two mechanisms – the power of platforms and trust in platform participants.
Originality/value
Regulating by power ensures transaction security while regulating by trust enhances transaction efficiency, so it is important to configure the power and trust elements in platform regulation in an appropriate manner. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is one of the first attempts at addressing platform regulation and shows how consumers’ risk perception of platforms can lead to important implications for theory and practice in marketing and better regulation of platform transactions.
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Prianto Budi Saptono and Ismail Khozen
Even as governments worldwide take extraordinary measures and spend unprecedented amounts of their state budgets to combat COVID-19, tax compliance remains challenging. Therefore…
Abstract
Purpose
Even as governments worldwide take extraordinary measures and spend unprecedented amounts of their state budgets to combat COVID-19, tax compliance remains challenging. Therefore, this study employs previously identified predictors to investigate the factors that persuade individual taxpayers to comply with the law.
Design/methodology/approach
Individual taxpayers in Indonesia (N = 699) who had experienced COVID-19-related benefits were asked to assess the provided evaluation regarding the tax compliance intention and its determinants. The bootstrapping analysis was employed using smart partial least squares (SmartPLS) to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The results suggest that the perceived fiscal exchange, tax morality, tax fairness, tax complexity and the power of authority are significant determinants of tax compliance intention. This study also supports the indirect effects of numerous factors on tax compliance intention through the perceived fiscal exchange and tax morality. In practice, reminding taxpayers of how tax payments fund public services, improving taxpayer morale, increasing the perceived fairness of the tax system, streamlining the tax code and managing the effectiveness of tax administration could all lead to a greater intention to comply with the law.
Originality/value
In addition to highlighting the dynamics of tax compliance amid the unprecedented pandemic crisis, our findings also provide insight into the importance of perceived fiscal exchange and tax morality for achieving and sustaining planned behavior to comply with tax rules.
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Ruibin Geng, Xi Chen and Shichao Wang
Endorsement marketing has been widely used to generate consumer attention, interest and purchase decisions among targeted audiences. Internet celebrities who become famous on the…
Abstract
Purpose
Endorsement marketing has been widely used to generate consumer attention, interest and purchase decisions among targeted audiences. Internet celebrities who become famous on the Internet are dependent on strategic intimacy to appeal to their followers. Our study aims to examine how multiple exposures to Internet celebrity endorsements influence consumers’ click and purchase decisions in the context of influencer marketing.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a unique and representative dataset, the authors first model consumers’ choices for clicks and purchases with two panel fixed-effect logit models linking clicks and purchases with the frequency of exposure to Internet celebrity endorsement. To further control the endogeneity produced by the intercorrelation between the click and purchase models, the authors also adopt the two-stage Heckman probit structure to jointly estimate the two models using Maximum Likelihood Estimation. Robustness checks confirm the effectiveness of the models.
Findings
The results suggest that Internet celebrity endorsement plays a significant role in bringing referral traffic to e-commerce sites but is less helpful in affecting conversion to sales. The impact of repetitive Internet celebrity endorsements on consumers’ click decisions is U-shaped, but the role of Internet celebrities as online retailers will “shape-flip” this relationship to a negative linear relation.
Originality/value
Our study is the first to investigate the repetitive exposure effect of Internet celebrity endorsement. The results show a contradictory pattern with a wear-out effect of repetition in the advertising literature. This is the first study to show how the endorsing self, which is a common business model in influencer marketing, moderates the effectiveness of influencer marketing.
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Günter Hefler and Jörg Markowitsch
The purpose of this paper is to show how a typology of participating patterns is developed to deepen understanding of participation in formal adult education and the relationship…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to show how a typology of participating patterns is developed to deepen understanding of participation in formal adult education and the relationship between current workplace and educational programmes.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach takes the form of conceptual work based on a qualitative analysis of 89 cases studies covering 113 participating employees in small and medium‐sized enterprises in 12 European countries.
Findings
Five main types of participation patterns in formal adult education are identified. When employed participants focus on their education, they may complete their formal programme (“Completing”), overrule an earlier decision to leave the educational system (“Returning”) or look for a starting‐point to change their professional career (“Transforming”). When focusing on employment, employees may use formal adult education for “Reinforcing” their earlier career decisions. Here, four subtypes are proposed. Finally, employees may enjoy their studies for features not available at work (“Compensation”).
Research limitations/implications
The typology was based on qualitative data; the sample does not claim to be representative. However, it could become the basis for a quantitative survey design.
Practical implications
The typology is likely to be of value in a wide array of fields such as whether the employer organisation should offer support, or whether there should be an economic return to education.
Originality/value
The typology builds on a life‐cycle model and combines it with the relationship between the educational programme and the workplace. It is not restricted to certain groups of learners or formal programmes.
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