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It becomes a strategic option for enterprises to upgrade and improve supply chain efficiency (SCE) by promoting the digital transformation (DT). This study formulated a parallel mediation model to analyze the relationships among DT, supply chain transparency (SCT), supply chain agility (SCA) and SCE to reveal how DT affects SCE through the mediation of SCT and SCA.

Three paradigms, i.e. resource-based view (RBV), dynamic capability view (DCV) and structure-conduct-performance (SCP) were employed to address the parallel mediation effects. A total of 392 questionnaires (samples) from the port-hinterland supply chain in the DT pilot project of New Land-Sea Corridor in western China were collected, which was then applied to formulate a structural equation model (SEM) to verify the proposed hypotheses.

The results confirmed the existences of parallel mediating effects of SCT and SCA between DT and SCE. On one hand, the direct effect of DT on SCE is not significant when SCT and SCE plays jointly impacts on DT and SCE. On the other hand, SCT and SCA play a positive parallel full mediating effect of DT on SCE.

This study contributed to the literature on changing activities of SCE in DT processes. Specifically, it highlighted how DT leads to SCE via SCT and SCA activities. In addition, this study specified the conditions that the insignificant direct effect of DT has reflects on SCE, it is the time when SCT and SCE are jointly acting on DT and SCE.

By integrating insights from the RBV, DCV and SCP paradigms, this study clarified the mechanisms of DT on SCE, and provided insight on the role of SCT and SCA in the relationship between DT and SCE. The novelty of this study and the results extend the existing literature and provide implications for future research.

Intellectual capital (IC) is a paramount resource for competitiveness in the knowledge-based financial sectors of the economy. As financial technology advances, specifically in the banking industry, it is vital to understand the effect of IC on financial performance. This study aims to investigate the effect of IC on return on equity (ROE), with a unique emphasis on the moderating role of board attributes. Previous studies have overlooked this moderating role.

The study sample consists of 17 banks and a panel data set spanning 2016–2021, extracted from annual reports. Antel Pulic’s value-added intellectual coefficient (VAIC) model is used to compute IC. To analyze the data, a generalized least squares analysis is conducted. The robustness of the analysis is ensured by using the two-stage least squares (2SLS) econometric technique.

The findings indicate that both the VAIC and human capital efficiency (HCE) have a significant impact on the ROE of banks. In terms of moderation, it is observed that board size (BS) exerts a negative effect on the association between VAIC, HCE, structural capital efficiency and ROE. Additionally, BS positively compounds the connection between capital employed efficiency and ROE. Similarly, the presence of independent directors (IND) significantly moderates the effects of VAIC and its components on the ROE of banks in Pakistan.

Banks should focus on the HCE for a higher ROE. Moreover, banks ought to prioritize appointing more independent directors in the boardroom for effective utilization of IC and greater ROE.

The findings of the study, which analyzed data from Pakistan’s banking sector, are original and provide additional insights into the literature on IC and board attributes.

This study investigates the effect of intellectual capital (IC) and its components on the technical efficiency of Indian commercial banks after controlling the influence of bank-specific and macroeconomic variables.

The study selects a sample of 37 listed Indian commercial banks from 2005 to 2019 and uses the two-step data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach. Banks' technical efficiency scores are first estimated, while the relationship between IC and technical efficiency is examined in the second stage using the panel data Tobit model.

This study's findings suggest a fluctuating trend in the technical efficiency of Indian banks. Notably, from 2015 onwards, a declining technical efficiency trend is observed for all banks. However, private-sector banks outperform public-sector banks in terms of technical efficiency. This study's regression analysis indicates a positive relationship between IC and banks' technical efficiency scores. Further, by decomposing IC into its components like human capital, structural capital and capital employed, the study's findings show that human capital and structural capital enhance banks' technical efficiency. Notably, capital employed reduces technical efficiency. Moreover, bank size, diversification, capitalization, net interest margin and the country's growth rate significantly drive Indian banks' efficiency. In contrast, their operating cost ratio and the country's inflation negatively influence the same.

This study makes a novel endeavor to examine the IC and bank's technical efficiency nexus in the Indian context, encompassing a period of landmark banking reforms.

This study aims to investigate the roles of intellectual capital efficiency and institutional ownership on cash holdings and their speed of adjustment.

Using a sample of 432 firm-year observations of tourism-listed companies, three measures of cash holdings are used as dependent variables and intellectual capital efficiency and institutional ownership as independent variables. The financial data is collected from the S&P Capital IQ database for the period 2015–2020. Two system-generalized methods of moment estimation are used for the robustness checks of the results.

The study provides evidence that an increase in intellectual capital efficiency in tourism firms results in lower cash holdings. The research findings also report that characteristics such as firm size, age and market-to-book value ratio are associated with cash holdings. Furthermore, institutional ownership in these firms did not affect the cash holdings. The results also confirm the existence of a target cash holding level to which the tourism firms attempt to converge. These results are robust to the alternative proxy of cash holding and endogeneity tests.

The study uses intellectual capital efficiency measured by the model proposed by Pulic. Alternative measures of intellectual capital can be included in future studies. Future research can also investigate the impact on cash holdings before and during the pandemic for tourism companies. The study is limited to the impact of institutional ownership; thus, research can be extended to consider other types of ownership.

The findings of this study indicate that tourism companies should take into account the impact of intellectual capital efficiency on their cash holding decisions. The industry uses a specific financial management strategy in light of better efficiency and possibly values the opportunity cost of holding more cash. Additionally, regulators should re-examine the role of institutional ownership in tourism firms, as it was found to have no impact on cash holdings. The regulators may need to consider other factors, such as firm size and age, when developing policies and regulations to ensure that tourism firms have adequate cash holdings.

This study adds to the body of knowledge on the factors that influence cash management and ideal cash levels for the tourism industry. The examination of the effect of intellectual capital on cash holdings is a novel contribution, filling a gap in the existing literature. The findings on the speed of adjustment towards optimal cash holdings also provide support for the trade-off theory.

This paper proposes a new metric, named Operational Space Efficiency (OpSE), intended to diagnose and quantify the inefficient use of floor space for stocking materials in industrial workstations. OpSE presents a formulation analogous to the well-known Overall Equipment Effectiveness and can be obtained as the product of three distinct indicators: Standard Compliance Effectiveness, Standards Selection Effectiveness and Design Space-usage Effectiveness.

This indicator scrutinizes how usefully floor space in workstations is used to temporarily stock materials in the form of raw materials, semi-finished products, parts and components. It is suited for analyzing fixed-position layouts as well as product layouts typical of repetitive manufacturing settings, such as assembly lines in the automotive sector. The proposed indicator leverages an appropriate loss structure that features those factors affecting floor space utilization in workstations with regard to supplying and stocking materials.

An Italian manufacturer in the field of electro-technology was used as an industrial case study for the application of the methodology. The application shows how the three indicators work in practice, the effectiveness of OpSE and the methodology as a whole, in diagnosing floor space usage inefficiencies and in properly addressing improvement actions of the internal logistics in industrial settings.

The paper scrutinizes some important Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) dealing with space usage efficiency and identifies some significant drawbacks. Then it suggests a new, inclusive structure of losses and a KPI that not only measures efficiency but also allows to identify viable countermeasures.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of chloride ion concentration and applied bias voltage on the electrochemical migration (ECM) behavior between Cu and Ag under an NaCl thin electrolyte layer (TEL).

A self-made experimental setup for the ECM behavior between Cu and Ag was designed. An HD video measurement microscopy was used to observe the typical dendrite/corrosion morphology and pH distribution. Short-circuit time (SCT), short-circuit current density and the influence of the galvanic effect between Cu and Ag on their ECM behavior were studied by electrochemical tests. The surface morphology and composition of dendrite were characterized by FESEM/EDS.

The SCT increased with increasing NaCl concentration but decreased with increasing applied bias voltage, and the SCT between Cu and Ag was less than that between Cu and Cu because their galvanic effect accelerated the dissolution and migration of Cu. When NaCl concentration was less than or equal to 6 mmol/L, cedar-like dendrite was formed, whereas no dendrite formed and only precipitation occurred at high chloride ion concentration (100 mmol/L). The composition of the dendrite between Cu and Ag was copper.

The significance of this study is to clarify the ECM failure mechanism of printed circuit board (PCB) with an immersion silver surface finish (PCB-ImAg).

This study provides a basic theoretical basis for the selection of protective measures and metal coatings for PCB.

The social implication of this study is to predict the service life of PCB.

The ECM behavior of dissimilar metals under a TEL was investigated, the influence of the galvanic effect between them on their ECM was discussed, and the SCT increased with increasing NaCl concentration.

This study aims to examine the impact of intellectual capital (IC) on default risk in Indian companies listed on the National Stock Exchange.

This study applies panel data regression analysis to derive a relationship between IC and default risk for the sample period 2013–2022. The value-added intellectual coefficient (VAIC) of Pulic (2000) has been applied to measure IC performance, and default risk is estimated using the revised Z-score model of Altman (2000).

The results revealed a positive association between Z-score and VAIC. It implies that a higher value of VAIC improves financial stability and leads to a lower likelihood of default. The findings further suggest that new default forecasting models can be experimented with IC indicators for better default prediction.

The findings can have implications for investors and banks. This paper provides evidence of IC performance in improving the financial solvency of firms. Investors and financial institutions should invest their resources in a healthy firm that effectively manages and invests in their IC. It will eventually award investors and creditors high returns through efficient value-creation processes.

This study provides evidence of IC performance in improving the financial solvency of Indian high-defaulting firms, which lacks sufficient evidence in this domain of research. Numerous studies exist examining the relationship between firm performance and IC value, but this area is inadequately focused and underresearched. This study, therefore, fills the research gap from an Indian perspective.

The objective of this paper is to examine the determinants of the Greek house market during the period 2006–2022 using not only economic variables but also behavioral variables, taking advantage of available information on the volume of Google searches. In order to quantify the behavioral variables, we implement a Python code using the Pytrends 4.9.2 library.

In our study, we assert that models relying solely on economic variables, such as GDP growth, mortgage interest rates and inflation, may lack precision compared to those that integrate behavioral indicators. Recognizing the importance of behavioral insights, we incorporate Google Trends data as a key behavioral indicator, aiming to enhance our understanding of market dynamics by capturing online interest in Greek real estate through searches related to house prices, sales and related topics. To quantify our behavioral indicators, we utilize a Python code leveraging Pytrends, enabling us to extract relevant queries for global and local searches. We employ the EGARCH(1,1) model on the Greek house price index, testing several macroeconomic variables alongside our Google Trends indexes to explain housing returns.

Our findings show that in some cases the relationship between economic variables, such as inflation and mortgage rates, and house prices is not always consistent with the theory because we should highlight the special conditions of the examined country. The country of our sample, Greece, presents the special case of a country with severe sovereign debt issues, which at the same time has the privilege to have a strong currency and the support and the obligations of being an EU/EMU member.

The results suggest that Google Trends can be a valuable tool for academics and practitioners in order to understand what drives house prices. However, further research should be carried out on this topic, for example, causality relationships, to gain deeper insight into the possibilities and limitations of using such tools in analyzing housing market trends.

This is the first paper, to the best of our knowledge, that examines the benefits of Google Trends in studying the Greek house market.

This research aims to examine how consumer minimalism (CM), self-conscious feelings (such as consumer guilt (CG) and consumer pride (CP)) and the inclination to use rental services interact. It also looks at how attitudes toward pro-environmental advertisements affect these relationships as a moderator, recognizing the importance of pro-environmental advertising in influencing consumer behavior.

This study employed a quantitative methodology to investigate the aforementioned associations. Survey questionnaires are used to collect data, which is then analyzed using AMOS 25 and Process Macro to generate meaningful insights.

The findings indicate that the willingness to use rental services is directly associated with CM, while self-conscious emotions (SCEs) play the role of a mediator in this relationship.

It is essential to recognize the limitations of this study. There may be other variables at play, but the research focuses on SCEs (CG and CP) and their role as mediators. The findings must be interpreted based on the selected research methodology and sample size. Future research could investigate additional variables and enlarge the sample size to increase generalizability.

Targeted marketing can leverage CM, SCEs and willingness to use rental services. Recognizing the moderating effect of attitude toward pro-environmental advertisements can help create more effective campaigns promoting environmental behavior.

Underpinned by SCEs, the current study is one of the initial studies to explain how CM encourages responsible environmental behavior through access-based consumption models.