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This study aims to explore the effect of human resource (HR) strategy (e.g. empowerment and teamwork) on green supply chain integration (e.g. green supplier and customer integration), which further leads to economic performance. Moreover, the authors examined the moderating effects of information systems and mutual trust on the relationship between HR strategy and green supply chain integration.

Using the empirical data from 213 Chinese manufacturing firms, this study uses structural equation modeling and hierarchical regressions to examine the conceptual model.

The study’s findings reveal that empowerment and teamwork positively enhance green supplier and customer integration. Green supplier and customer integration are positively related to economic performance. Moreover, information systems positively moderate the relationship between empowerment and green supplier integration but negatively moderate the relationship between teamwork and green supplier/customer integration. Mutual trust positively moderates the relationship between empowerment and green supplier integration and the relationship between teamwork and green customer integration.

This study extends the existing understanding regarding how to enhance green supply chain integration by adopting an appropriate HR strategy in the context of different levels of information systems and mutual trust.

This study examines the effect of relational investments (e.g. supplier involvement and commitment, customer involvement and commitment) on supply chain quality integration (e.g. supplier and customer quality integration), which leads to financial performance. Moreover, the authors explore the moderating effects of legal bonds on the relationship between relational investments and supply chain quality integration.

A survey study of manufacturing firms is presented to illustrate the conceptual model. The authors use the data from 213 manufacturing firms to test the hypotheses by structural equation modeling.

The results show that supplier and customer quality integration are positively related to financial performance. Supplier involvement and commitment are positively related to supplier quality integration. Customer involvement is positively related to customer quality integration, but customer commitment is not significantly related to customer quality integration. Additionally, on the supplier side, legal bonds negatively moderate the relationship between supplier involvement and supplier quality integration but positively moderate the relationship between supplier commitment and supplier quality integration. On the customer side, legal bonds do not moderate the relationship between customer involvement and customer quality integration, but negatively moderate the relationship between customer commitment and customer quality integration.

This study provides novel insights into supply chain quality management from relational perspectives, as well as the contingent role of legal bonds between them.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate effects of two integrative mechanisms of third-party logistics (3PL) integration (i.e. information sharing and process coordination) between users and providers on relationship satisfaction, and further explores how partnership-surrounding (e.g. legal unprotectability) and partnership-specific barriers (e.g. measurement difficulty and cooperation difficulty) influence 3PL integration in the context of Chinese 3PL practices.

Using data collected from 247 3PL users in China, this study uses the structural equation modeling method to empirically examine the relationship among partnership-surrounding/specific barriers, 3PL integration and relationship satisfaction.

The results show that information sharing has no significant effect on relationship satisfaction, while process coordination has a positive effect on relationship satisfaction and partially mediates the relationship between information sharing and relationship satisfaction. Furthermore, as partnership-specific barrier, measurement difficulty and cooperation difficulty are negatively related to information sharing and process coordination. Surprisingly, as partnership-surrounding barrier, legal unprotectability is not significantly related to information sharing but is positively related to process coordination.

As a comprehensive study on 3PL user-provider relationship in China, this study extends existing 3PL literature by providing evidence about the importance of 3PL integration and different types of barriers to 3PL integration, also providing managerial implications for 3PL users, providers, law and regulation makers about how to better implement 3PL integration in China.

The implementation of green collaboration has evolved from the interfirm level to the supply chain level, which requires more participation in information and manufacturing technologies. Despite many efforts to green supply chain collaboration (GSCC), the research on how to enhance it from a technological perspective remains unclear. Thus, this study aims to address this gap by exploring how to enhance green supplier, internal and customer collaboration through using information technology (IT) and advanced manufacturing technology (AMT), which further accelerates environmental and economic performance.

This study was conducted based on survey data collected from 213 manufacturing firms from different industries. The direct effects of the conceptual model were tested using the method of structural equation modeling (SEM), whereas the bootstrapping method tested the mediation effects of AMT between IT and GSCC.

The results show that green supplier collaboration (GSC) is significantly associated with environmental performance, while green customer collaboration (GCC) is positively related to economic performance. Green internal collaboration not only enhances green supplier and customer collaboration but also boosts environmental and economic performance. IT directly improves green internal collaboration but is negatively related to GSC and insignificantly related to GCC. However, AMT not only enhances green internal, supplier and customer collaboration but also mediates the relationship between IT and green supplier and customer collaboration.

This study offers comprehensive and novel insights into GSCC from a technological perspective, giving rise to meaningful contributions to green practices for both scholars and practitioners.

This study aims to explore the relationship among five types of power (expert, referent, legitimate, reward and coercive power), two dimensions of cooperative behavior (specific investments and communication) and three types of alliance performance (alliance stability, income increase and cost decrease) in contract farming. By investigating the dyadic perspectives of companies and contract farmers, the authors examine how power use influences cooperative behavior, which further enhances alliance performance.

The authors construct a theoretical model grounded on resource dependence theory (RDT). Data from 202 companies and 462 farmers in China are used to test the proposed hypotheses using structural equation modeling.

The authors' results show that the five types of power play different roles in cooperative behavior. On the one hand, farmers' expert, reward and coercive power enhance the company's specific investments; farmers' expert power enhances the company's communication but farmers' coercive power harms the company's communication. Also the company's specific investments enhance communication that is positively related to alliance ability, income increase and cost decrease. On the other hand, the company's expert, referent and legitimate power enhance farmers' communication, while the company's coercive power harms farmers' communication; the company's reward and coercive power enhance farmers' specific investments. Moreover, farmers' communication is positively related to alliance ability, income increase and cost decrease, but farmers' specific investments do not significantly influence such.

This study contributes to the literature on contract farming supply chain management by examining the relationships among power use, cooperative behavior and alliance performance from the dyadic perspective of companies and farmers. These findings have practical implications for agricultural companies and farmers promoting cooperative behavior and alliance performance through appropriate power use in contract farming supply chains.

The paper aims to evaluate the influence of atmospheric environment on the conductivity of nanoscale copper films sputtered on polyester substrates; process parameters of optimal conductivity were firstly analyzed by orthogonal test scheme design, and then the surface morphology, crystal structures and conductivity of samples were performed after samples were placed in the atmospheric conditions for some time according to the optimization of process parameters.

Nanoscale copper films was prepared by RF (radio frequency) magnetron sputtering and low-temperature plasma technology with polyester fabrics as substrates and metal copper as targets under the conditions of low temperature and high vacuum.

The experimental results showed that copper films were broken and the continuity of samples was destroyed after 60 days, while exposed in atmospheric environment for 90 days, cracks of copper films gradually expanded, there was no change in the atomic species for samples placed in the atmospheric conditions. However, the conductivity of the samples hardly had changed with the ambient temperature, humidity and degree of water washing, which is mainly decided by the internal structures of substrates.

This paper has some theoretical and applicable value to the functional textile.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss polyester fabric structures in terms of the surface morphology, crystal structure of copper films and interfacial bonding properties between polyester fabrics and copper films.

Nanoscale copper (Cu) thin films were deposited onto the surface of polyester fabrics with different structures by the radio frequency magnetron sputtering technique at room temperature.

Copper films uniformly deposited on the surface of the polyester nonwovens and nanofiber membranes have larger average particle diameters and surface roughness, and higher crystallinity.

Theoretical value: the effects of polyester substrate structures on the morphology and interfacial bonding properties of Cu thin films have rarely been reported.

With the discussion on the linear relationship of determined material parameters, this study aims to propose a new method to analyze the deformation mechanism.

A modified constitutive model based on the hyperbolic sine Arrhenius equation has been established, which is applied to describe the flow behavior of Ti-6Al-4V alloy during the superplastic forming (SPF).

The modified constitutive model in this work has a good ability to describe the flow behavior for Ti-6Al-4V in SPF. Besides, a deformation map of titanium material is obtained based on the parameters. As the supplement, finite element models of high-temperature tensile tests are carried out as the application of the constitutive model.

The relationship between constitutive model parameters and forming mechanism is established, which is a new angle in rheological behavior research and constitutive model analysis.

This study explores whether the peer effects of internationalization exist within the subdivision industry of enterprises in the engineering field and assesses the imitation paths for the peer engineering enterprises within the industry when implementing internationalization strategies under the peer effects.

This study collected secondary and objective data on 38 Chinese engineering enterprises from the Engineering News-Record's list of the top 250 international contractors between 2013 and 2021. It employed a regression analysis to test the research hypotheses.

The findings reveal that in the process of internationalization: (1) peer effects exist within the subdivision industry of internationalization of engineering enterprises; (2) engineering enterprises within the same industry and region imitate each other; (3) non-state-owned engineering enterprises imitate state-owned engineering enterprises within the same industry; and (4) in the industry follower–leader imitation process, industry followers imitate leaders according to enterprise size and return on assets.

The results contribute to a better understanding of how peer effects influence engineering enterprises' internationalization process. This study also proposes imitation paths based on the law of imitation to provide recommendations for engineering enterprises' better development in the international market.

Although knowledge transfer in the context of projects and project-based organizations (PBOs) has gained increasing attention from academia and industry, it is not clear how knowledge transfers from projects to their parent PBOs. This research aims to explore the main factors influencing knowledge transfer from projects to their parent PBOs, and analyze how these factors integrate the transfer process as system components using the system dynamics (SD) method.

Based on the literature review, investigation and interview, this paper adopts the event analysis to obtain the influencing factors from historical cases and establishes a conceptual model of knowledge transfer from five dimensions, which simultaneously considers the knowledge sender, knowledge receiver and the relationship between the knowledge sender and receiver, knowledge features and transfer context. Then, the relationships between variables in the qualitative model were clarified, and a quantitative model including seven feedback loops was established using the SD model. Lastly, the system simulation and sensitivity analysis of the main parameters were realized in Vensim PLE software.

The simulation analysis results show that the model can simulate the knowledge transfer process from projects to the PBO to a certain extent. This research fully demonstrates the impact of variables from five dimensions on knowledge transfer and incorporates the knowledge gap and transfer threshold in the research category. Moreover, the rationality of seven feedback loops proposed in the model was verified. And the effects of various factors on the amount of knowledge transferred and the PBO's knowledge stock were examined through sensitivity analysis. Furthermore, recommendations for developing an integrated knowledge transfer mechanism of PBOs and projects to enhance transfer effect are offered.

This research provides other researchers with a systematic understanding of transfer process from projects to PBOs, and insight for further research on knowledge transfer in project and organization contexts. Furthermore, this study guides researchers to focus on the causal processes that constitute knowledge transfer and explores the expected and unexpected phenomena generated over time. However, some variables involved in the transfer process are simplified, and the establishment of a more complex dynamic model needs further research and discussion.

By establishing a simulation model for knowledge transfer from projects to their parent PBOs, this study helps project teams and PBOs grasp the overall picture of the transfer process. Especially, this paper provides target-oriented recommendations for project and PBO managers to implement effective knowledge transfer practices, which have certain practical values for knowledge cultivation, coordination, reuse and innovation in the organization.

This study contributes to knowledge management and project management literature by simulating the knowledge transfer process from projects to their parent PBOs. Additionally, this paper provides a reference for PBO and project managers to establish an integrated knowledge-transfer mechanism in the work process and comprehensively implement effective knowledge transfer practices.