Search results

Predicting commodity futures trading volumes represents an important matter to policymakers and a wide spectrum of market participants. The purpose of this study is to concentrate on the energy sector and explore the trading volume prediction issue for the thermal coal futures traded in Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange in China with daily data spanning January 2016–December 2020.

The nonlinear autoregressive neural network is adopted for this purpose and prediction performance is examined based upon a variety of settings over algorithms for model estimations, numbers of hidden neurons and delays and ratios for splitting the trading volume series into training, validation and testing phases.

A relatively simple model setting is arrived at that leads to predictions of good accuracy and stabilities and maintains small prediction errors up to the 99.273th quantile of the observed trading volume.

The results could, on one hand, serve as standalone technical trading volume predictions. They could, on the other hand, be combined with different (fundamental) prediction results for forming perspectives of trading trends and carrying out policy analysis.

The inclusion of esports as an official event in the Hangzhou Asian Games is an important step towards the institutionalisation of esports. The significance of this event marks that Asia once again takes a lead in the global esportisation. This chapter investigates a series of history events in the inclusion process of esports into the comprehensive Games in Asia using process sociology and actor network theory (ANT). This study will analyse the type characteristics of esports events in Hangzhou Asian Games, whilst examining how key stakeholders' interact and balance in the network composed of international sports organisations, host of the event, emerging esports organisations and esports game companies. The chapter also examines the functions of global game industrial economic geography, local cultural politics, esports geopolitics and Olympic values in esports sportization, aiming to reveal the implications of esports inclusion in the Asian Games on the debate of whether esports meets the criteria to be classified as a ‘sport’ and its enlightenment of digital strategy to the inclusion esports in the Olympics.

This study aims to explore how to overcome and address the loss of exploratory innovation, thereby achieving greater success in exploratory innovation. This phenomenon of loss occurs when enterprises decrease their investment in and engagement with exploratory innovation, ultimately leading to an insufficient amount of such innovation efforts. Drawing on dynamic capabilities, this study investigates the relationship between organizational foresight and exploratory innovation and examines the moderating role of breakthrough orientation/financial orientation.

This study used survey data collected from 296 Chinese high-tech companies in multiple industries and sectors.

The evidence produced by this study reveals that three elements of organizational foresight (i.e. environmental scanning capabilities, strategic selection capabilities and integrating capabilities) positively influence exploratory innovation. Furthermore, this positive effect is strengthened in the context of a high-breakthrough orientation. Moreover, the relationships among environmental scanning capabilities, strategic selection capabilities and exploratory innovation become weaker as an enterprise’s financial orientation increases, whereas a strong financial orientation does not affect the relationship between integrating capabilities and exploratory innovation.

Ambidexterity is key to successful enterprise innovation. Compared with exploitative innovation, it is by no means easy to engage in exploratory innovation, which is especially important in high-tech companies. While the loss of exploratory innovation has been observed, few empirical studies have explored ways to promote exploratory innovation more effectively. A key research implication of this study pertains to the role of organizational foresight in the improvement of exploratory innovation in the context of high-tech companies.

This paper contributes to the broader literature on exploratory innovation and organizational foresight and provides practical guidance for high-tech companies regarding ways of avoiding the loss of exploratory innovation and becoming more successful at exploratory innovation.

This study identifies a methodology to explore the issues of enterprise innovation ecosystem health (EIEH).

First, this study constructs the indicator system of EIEH based on the research objective; second, the dynamic vertical projection method (DVPM) and entropy weight method are proposed to analyze the status and influencing factors of EIEH; finally, the future development of EIEH is analyzed using GM (1,1).

In terms of methodology, the DVPM can effectively analyze EIEH, which can not only analyze the development status and potential of EIEH every year but also analyze the comprehensive state of EIEH for many years. In terms of practice, the value and grade of EIEH in China have been gradually increasing from 2016 to 2020, but the overall development is unbalanced, and five key factors affecting EIEH have been identified. The EIEH in China is predicted to steadily grow from 2021 to 2025.

The analytical method employed in this study can effectively analyze EIEH, which provides a new analytical perspective for the evaluation of EIEH and enriches the research content of the enterprise innovation ecosystem (EIE). By analyzing the results, we can gain a comprehensive understanding of the state of different EIEs, enabling each EIE to design tailored remedial measures to enhance EIEH and achieve sustainable development.

The research attempts to estimate how the use of WeChat, the most popular mobile social networking application in contemporary China, affects rural household income.

Our materials are 4,552 rural samples from the Chinese General Social Survey, and a treatment effect (TE) model is employed to address the endogeneity of WeChat usage.

The results prove that WeChat usage has a statistically significant and positive correlation with rural household income. This conclusion remains robust after using alternative variables to replace the explanatory and dependent variables. Our research provides two channels through which WeChat usage boosts rural household income, namely, it can promote their off-farm employment and participation in investment activities.

Theoretically, the study provides several micro-evidences for understanding the impact of mobile social networks on rural household welfare. Further, our findings may shed light on the importance of digital technology applications in rural poverty alleviation for developing countries.

Social live streaming services (SLSS) have infused gamification into interface design and feature applications. Firms adopt gamification mechanisms to win customer loyalty in the live streaming and SLSS markets. Based on the mechanics-dynamics-aesthetics (MDA) framework and uses and gratifications 2.0 theory (UGT 2.0), this study aims to investigate the effects of game mechanics (mechanics) on enjoyment and user retention (aesthetics) through rewards and social interaction (dynamics) in the context of SLSS.

This study used an online survey via Google Forms, SurveyCake and social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Line to collect data from 232 SLSS users in Taiwan. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was adopted to analyze the data.

The results validated the relationships between game mechanics and dynamic elements (rewards and social interaction) that triggered aesthetic elements (enjoyment feelings) among users. In addition, users experienced a sense of enjoyment that led to usage retention when using the gamified SLSS. Further, this study found enjoyment crucial for users to stay interactive with gamified services.

Driven by UGT 2.0, this study closed the gaps by integrating the MDA framework into the SLSS context and better understanding how game mechanics are connected to rewards and social interaction, leading to enjoyment and user retention when using SLSS. This study provides fresh insights into gamification-oriented SLSS practices. It offers significant theoretical and managerial implications and provides guidelines for SLSS platform operators on fostering user retention.

This study aims to identify which types of information quality influence purchase intentions the most in live streaming commerce and to examine the role of network size in this context.

We propose a model to investigate the correlation among the quality of different information in live streaming commerce, consumer trust, network size and purchase intention. An empirical analysis of 505 questionnaires was conducted by constructing a structural equation model.

The empirical findings indicate that information quality can directly enhance purchase intention and exert an indirect influence through the mediating factors of trust in products and streamers. Perceived network size positively moderates the relationship between information quality and trust in products. Of the five types of information, the quality of bullet-screen comments information is most important to consumers.

This study represents the first systematic analysis of how the quality of multiple types of information in live streaming commerce influences consumer trust and purchase intention, integrated within a unified framework. It uniquely introduces network size as a moderating variable, offering both theoretical insights and practical guidance for balancing information quality with network size in live streaming commerce environments.

This study assessed the antecedents and consequences of tourists’ authenticity experience in a new ancient town in China. Based on Chinese cultural background and case study, this paper aims to explore this kind of tourism place making and establishes an empirical model to examine and verify the impact of tourists’ perception, authentic experience and behavioral tendency on such place making, and proposes targeted improvement measures.

Based on a Chinese cultural background and case study, this paper explored a certain kind of tourism place making and established an empirical model to examine and verify the impact of tourists’ perceptions, authentic experiences and behavioral tendencies on such place making; the goals were to try to create a new scale to measure the authenticity of the “new ancient town” in the Chinese context and to propose targeted measures for improvement.

Research shows that Chinese visitors acquire experiences that they perceive to be authentic when visiting a contrived attraction such as a new ancient town. The dimensions of cultural, functional, product, value and unique authenticity were identified as distinct dimensions of tourists’ authenticity experiences in a new ancient town. Although these dimensions have been mentioned at times in the context of traditional Western assessments of authenticity, they do not replicate exactly any category of Western objective authenticity, existential authenticity, constructive authenticity or postmodern authenticity. They instead constitute an authentic experiential dimension in a typical oriental context, which is comprehensively explicated by combining the image of a national cultural theme and the elements of functional construction created by tourist places in a new ancient town.

This study explored the path relationship among perception of place making – authenticity experience – behavioral intention, but it did not analyze relationships among the dimensions of perception of place making or among the authenticity experience variables. Furthermore, advantage was not taken of the availability of socioeconomic information to look for differences among interviewees with different attributes. In addition, there is a profound cultural and complex theoretical connotation to authenticity in the Chinese context, and the study of a single case is insufficient to fully elucidate meaning in this emerging discourse.

By verifying the path of tourists’ authenticity experiences through the perception of place making, the understanding of the effects of different elements of place making on tourists’ experiences is refined. For space producers, different elements of place making promote tourists’ authenticity experiences to different degrees. Strengthening the construction of the physical environment, marketing and scenes can promote tourists’ authenticity experiences: planning and design, marketing and scene enhancements promote tourists’ functional authenticity experiences; planning and design, the physical environment and marketing enhance tourists’ product authenticity experiences; planning and design, marketing, the physical environment and scene enhancement can improve tourists’ perceptions of value; unique authenticity experiences can be created in the marketing and scenes in new ancient towns.

Certain aspects of the space production in new ancient towns can be used to strengthen tourists’ perceptions of value. First, the scene system at scenic spots can be strengthened, catering to tourists’ visual, olfactory and other senses so that they are available in all kinds of weather. Second, the local cultural characteristics of the material environment can be strengthened and the installation of inappropriate cultural symbols can be avoided. Thus, a physical environment that is of local ethnic cultural significance can be created so that both local residents and tourists can perceive the value of the place. Third, the rational layout of the new ancient towns should be established and maintained through the ongoing involvement of professional planning and design teams. Local cultural attributes that are of national significance should be included in the layout and design of the physical environment. Fourth, daily marketing and management actions influence how tourists influence scene value. Therefore, managers of scenic places need to make prudent decisions about and integrate local folk and ethnic characteristics into their marketing, which can promote the sustainable development of tourism effectively (Saarinen, 2018).

First, this study constructed and validated the model and path relationship of the “perception of place making, authentic experience, and behavioral intention,” and it confirmed that the perception of place making had an important impact on tourists’ authentic experiences. Second, the exploratory factor analysis extracted five dimensions of the tourist authenticity experience (i.e. cultural, functional, unique, product and value authenticity) based on China’s context of ming shi, which enriched the connotations of the authenticity experience. Third, this study effectively linked the perception of place making with the real experience and behavioral intention of tourists and expanded the theoretical research boundary of place making to a certain extent.

本文以中国文化背景和案例研究为基础, 对“新古镇”旅游的地方营造进行了探讨, 并建立了实证模型。利用SPSS 23.0和Smart PLS 3.0进行数据分析, 检验和验证游客在类似场所的地方营造感知、真实体验和行为意向的路径关系。

以现代技术手段再造（创造）遗产旅游目的地已经成为一个全球性的现象。本文基于中国的文化背景和案例, 考察和验证了游客对地方营造的感知、真实性体验和行为意向的影响, 尝试创造一种新的尺度来衡量在中国语境下“新古镇”的真实性内涵, 并以此提出了针对性的改善措施。

研究表明, 中国游客在参观新古镇等人造景点时, 会获得他们认为真实的体验。文化真实、功能真实、产品真实、价值真实和独特真实是新古镇游客真实性体验的不同维度。它们构成了一个典型东方语境下的真实性内涵, 全面阐述了一个民族文化主题形象与新古镇旅游地方营造功能建设要素的结合。

本研究探讨了地方营造知觉-真实性体验-行为意向之间的路径关系, 但未分析地方营造感知各维度之间及真实性体验变量之间的关系。此外, 没有利用社会经济信息的可用性来寻找不同属性受访者之间的差异。此外, 在中国语境中, 真实性有着深刻的文化内涵和复杂的理论内涵, 仅对单个案例的研究不足以充分阐明这一新兴话题的意义

对于空间生产者来说, 加强物理环境、营销和场景的建设可以促进游客的真实体验:规划设计、营销和场景的增强可以促进游客的功能真实体验;规划设计、物质环境、营销提升游客的产品真实性体验;规划设计、营销、实体环境和场景提升可以提升游客的价值感知;在新古镇的营销和场景中应创造独特的真实性体验。

新古镇地方营造的某些方面可以提升游客的价值感知。首先, 通过迎合游客的视觉、嗅觉和其他感官, 加强景区的场景系统。其次, 可以创造一个具有当地民族文化意义的物质环境, 使当地居民和游客都能感受到这个地方的价值。第三, 通过专业规划设计团队的持续参与, 建立和维护新古镇的合理布局。第四, 日常营销和管理行为影响游客的价值体验。

首先, 本研究构建并验证了“地方营造感知、真实体验与行为意向”的模型和路径关系, 证实了地方营造感知对游客真实体验的重要影响。其次, 基于中国语境, EFA提取了旅游真实性体验的五个维度(文化真实、功能真实、独特真实、产品真实和价值真实), 丰富了真实性体验的内涵。第三, 本研究将游客的地方营造感知、真实体验和行为意向进行了有效地连接。

Basándose en un contexto cultural chino y en un estudio de caso, este artículo exploró la creación de lugares turísticos en la “nueva ciudad antigua” y estableció un modelo empírico. Se utilizaron SPSS 23.0 y Smart PLS 3.0 para el análisis de datos, con el fin de examinar y verificar la relación entre las percepciones de la creación de lugares, las experiencias auténticas y las intenciones de comportamiento de los turistas en dichos lugares.

La recreación moderna de lugares como atracciones turísticas patrimoniales es un fenómeno mundial. Partiendo de un contexto cultural chino y de un estudio de caso, este artículo examina y verifica el impacto de las percepciones de los turistas, las experiencias auténticas y las tendencias de comportamiento en dicha creación de lugares; los objetivos eran intentar crear una nueva escala para medir la autenticidad de la “nueva ciudad antigua” en el contexto chino y proponer medidas específicas de mejora.

La investigación muestra que los visitantes chinos adquieren experiencias que perciben como auténticas cuando visitan una atracción artificial como una nueva ciudad antigua. Las dimensiones de autenticidad cultural, funcional, de producto, de valor y única se identificaron como dimensiones distintas de las experiencias de autenticidad de los turistas en una nueva ciudad antigua. Éstas constituyen una auténtica dimensión experiencial en un contexto típicamente oriental, que se explica de forma exhaustiva combinando la imagen de un tema cultural nacional con los elementos de construcción funcional creados por los lugares turísticos de una nueva ciudad antigua.

Este estudio exploró la relación entre la percepción de la creación de lugares, la experiencia de autenticidad y la intención de comportamiento, pero no analizó las relaciones entre las dimensiones de la percepción de la creación de lugares, ni entre las variables de la experiencia de autenticidad. Además, no se aprovechó la disponibilidad de información socioeconómica para buscar diferencias entre entrevistados con distintos atributos. Adicionalmente, en el contexto chino, la autenticidad tiene profundas connotaciones culturales y teóricas complejas, y el estudio de un solo caso no basta para dilucidar plenamente la importancia de este tema emergente.

Para los productores de espacios, reforzar la construcción del entorno físico, el marketing y las escenas puede promover las experiencias de autenticidad de los turistas: la planificación y el diseño, el marketing y la mejora de las escenas promueve las experiencias de autenticidad funcional de los turistas; la planificación y el diseño, el entorno físico y el marketing mejoran las experiencias de autenticidad de los productos de los turistas; la planificación y el diseño, el marketing, el entorno físico y la mejora de las escenas pueden mejorar la percepción de valor de los turistas; se pueden crear experiencias de autenticidad únicas en el marketing y las escenas de las nuevas ciudades antiguas.

Ciertos aspectos de la creación de lugares en las nuevas ciudades antiguas pueden mejorar la percepción de valor de los turistas. En primer lugar, puede reforzarse el sistema escénico de los lugares de interés, atendiendo a los sentidos visuales, olfativos y de otro tipo de los turistas. En segundo lugar, se puede crear un entorno físico que tenga un significado cultural étnico local para que tanto los residentes locales como los turistas puedan percibir el valor del lugar. En tercer lugar, el trazado racional de las nuevas ciudades antiguas debe establecerse y mantenerse mediante la participación continua de equipos profesionales de planificación y diseño. En cuarto lugar, las acciones diarias de marketing y gestión influyen en la experiencia de valor del turista.

En primer lugar, este estudio construyó y validó el modelo y la relación entre la “percepción de la creación de lugares, la experiencia auténtica y la intención de comportamiento,” lo que confirmó la importante influencia de la percepción de la creación de lugares en la experiencia auténtica de los turistas. En segundo lugar, basándose en el contexto chino, el análisis factorial exploratorio extrajo cinco dimensiones de la experiencia de autenticidad turística (autenticidad cultural, funcional, única, del producto y del valor), que enriquecieron las connotaciones de la experiencia de autenticidad. En tercer lugar, este estudio vinculó eficazmente las percepciones de los turistas sobre la creación de lugares, con la experiencia real y con las intenciones de comportamiento de los turistas.

Educational accountability and student achievement polarization, which result in high dropout rates, pose significant challenges and pressures on teachers' pedagogical leadership. Whether pedagogical leadership, which originates in the Western educational environment, can significantly improve student achievement in Chinese high schools remains unclear. This concept has not yet been fully explored in the Chinese educational environment, and its direct impact on student achievement and the mediating role of English teaching methods remain to be investigated. However, existing research has concentrated on the effectiveness of principals' pedagogical leadership, with variations in teachers' pedagogical leadership practices. Many reform measures have been implemented in China to improve student achievement, but past educational practices have analyzed the impact on student achievement from a single instructional leadership, school capital or teaching method perspective. Furthermore, there is a lack of multidimensional and systematic assessments of the direct effects of teacher pedagogical leadership on student achievement and the mediating effects of English teaching methods.

To address this gap, this study analyzed the impact of teachers' pedagogical leadership on student achievement and the mediating effect of English teaching methods with the support of the theory of action for teacher leadership, specifically using pedagogical leadership and English teaching methods models.This study conducted a questionnaire survey of 968 participants in Taian City, China, and quantitatively analyzed the data using SmartPLS structural equation modeling (SEM).

This study revealed that pedagogical leadership has a positive direct effect on student achievement. Meanwhile, among the four mediating factors, the Direct Method, Audio-Lingual Method and Communicative Language Teaching had significant mediating effects.

This study shows that the effective use of academic and professional capital allocation in pedagogical leadership, combined with effective measures of using multiple effective English teaching methods, helps achieve high-quality student achievement.

The purpose of this study is to develop a new hybrid method that combines interpretative structural modeling (ISM) and matrix cross-impact multiplication applied to classification (MICMAC) to investigate the influencing factors of sustainable infrastructure vulnerability (SIV).

(1) Literature review and case study were used to identify the possible influencing factors; (2) a semi-structured interview was conducted to identify representative factors and the interrelationships among influencing factors; (3) ISM was adopted to identify the hierarchical structure of factors; (4) MICMAC was used to analyze the driving power (DRP) and dependence power (DEP) of each factor and (5) Semi-structured interview was used to propose strategies for overcoming SIV.

Results indicate that (1) 18 representative factors related to SIV were identified; (2) the relationship between these factors was divided into a five-layer hierarchical structure. The 18 representative factors were divided into driving factors, dependent factors, linkage factors and independent factors and (3) 12 strategies were presented to address the negative effects of these factors.

The findings illustrate the factors influencing SIV and their hierarchical structures, which can benefit the stakeholders and practitioners of an infrastructure project by encouraging them to take effective countermeasures to deal with related SIVs.