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Article
Publication date: 3 October 2022

Yongwook Sun and Euehun Lee

Rapid changes in technologies and customer preferences are increasing market uncertainty. Hence, despite the benefits of reactive and adaptive marketing in the industrial market…

Abstract

Purpose

Rapid changes in technologies and customer preferences are increasing market uncertainty. Hence, despite the benefits of reactive and adaptive marketing in the industrial market, such marketing is sometimes insufficient for suppliers to survive and succeed. This phenomenon is prevalent among the small and medium-sized suppliers (SMSs) who fail to build technological capability. This suggests that SMSs should be entrepreneurial to survive and succeed in today’s environment. Against this backdrop, the purposes of this study are to understand the process by which entrepreneurial marketing of SMSs enhances their technological capability and to explore factors that stimulate SMSs to implement entrepreneurial marketing.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on a survey data set on 249 industrial SMSs in South Korea, the authors test the hypotheses formulated in this work using structural equation modeling.

Findings

Based on effectuation theory, this study conceptualizes entrepreneurial marketing as a process by contrasting entrepreneurial marketing with reactive and adaptive marketing. The results show that proactive market orientation and subsequent exploratory market behavior enhance technological capability, and proactive market orientation is stimulated by relational satisfaction and perceived technological turbulence.

Originality/value

This study advances effectuation theory in the industrial marketing literature by exploring the value of entrepreneurial marketing in today’s industrial market. Further, this study extends the entrepreneurial marketing literature by conceptualizing and testing the process by which entrepreneurial marketing of SMSs enhances their technological capability.

Details

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2554

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 September 2019

Bela Florenthal

A comprehensive operational framework is proposed to explain young consumers’ (i.e. generations Y and Z) engagement with brands on social media sites (SMSs). This paper aims to…

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Abstract

Purpose

A comprehensive operational framework is proposed to explain young consumers’ (i.e. generations Y and Z) engagement with brands on social media sites (SMSs). This paper aims to synthesize two motivational theories: uses and gratifications (U&G) theory and the technology acceptance model (TAM).

Design/methodology/approach

A selective literature review was conducted to examine recent publications related to young consumers’ brand-driven engagement behavior on SMSs in which either TAM or U&G theory was applied. A three-stage method was used: an initial search was followed by vertical and horizontal searches and then a targeted search of scholarly publications. At each stage, the university’s library databases and Google Scholar were searched for relevant, mainly peer-reviewed articles, using appropriate filters and keywords. The articles’ references and the studies that cited those articles were added to the initially identified research pool (vertical search), coupled with publications of a similar nature based on keywords (horizontal search). The final stage, the targeted search, involved identifying and adding specific articles (e.g. literature reviews and integrated models).

Findings

After a review of a significant number of U&G and TAM studies, similarities and differences of the two theories were identified, and an integrated operational framework was developed. Based on empirical findings of existing U&G and TAM studies, testable propositions were presented.

Research limitations/implications

The proposed hybrid model and the associated propositions provide a research opportunity to empirically examine how young consumers’ motivational (i.e. motivating and demotivating) drivers, normative influence, perceived value and attitudes (toward brand content and engagement) predict intention or actual brand-related behavior on SMSs.

Practical implications

Much of current research indicates that generations Y and Z (“digital natives”) spend considerably more time on SMSs than any of the older generations (“digital immigrants”). Thus, brands that aim to target this cohort need to develop successful engagement strategies (e.g. gamification and influencer marketing) on current and emerging SMSs. The suggested conceptualization provides guidelines for companies to effectively use such communication strategies to motivate young people to engage with their brands on sites such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Originality/value

A review of TAM research indicates that it lacks rich motivating/demotivating constructs, and thus borrows from other theories to complement this weakness. An examination of U&G frameworks, particularity Ducoffe (1996)-based models, indicates that these frameworks mainly test engagement with social media advertising but seldom other types of brand-driven engagement on SMSs. In addition, many U&G studies focus less than TAM studies do on outcome variables such as behavioral intentions and behavior. Thus, the authors propose a synthesized U&G and TAM framework that mitigates both theories’ weaknesses and builds on their strengths, enriching the growing research on brand-driven engagement behavior via SMSs.

Article
Publication date: 19 November 2021

Zhiting Song and Jianhua Zhu

Smart manufacturing is the prime gripper for the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry. Smart manufacturing systems (SMSs) largely determine how smart…

Abstract

Purpose

Smart manufacturing is the prime gripper for the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry. Smart manufacturing systems (SMSs) largely determine how smart manufacturing evolves in technical and organizational dimensions and how it realizes values in products, production or services. SMSs are growing rapidly and receiving tons of attention from academic research and industrial practice. However, the development of SMSs is still in its fancy, and many issues wait to be identified and solved, such as single point failures, low transparency and ineffective resource sharing. Blockchain, an emerging technology deriving from Bitcoin, is competent to aid SMSs to conquer troubles due to its decentralization, traceability, trackability, disintermediation, auditability and etc. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the blockchain applications in SMSs, seek out the challenges faced by blockchain-enabled SMSs (BSMSs) and provide referable research directions and ideas.

Design/methodology/approach

A comprehensive literature review as a survey is conducted in this paper. The survey starts by introducing blockchain concepts, followed by the descriptions of a literature review method and the blockchain applications throughout the product life cycle in SMSs. Then, the key issues and challenges confronting BSMSs are discussed and some possible research directions are also proposed. It finally presents qualitative and quantitative descriptions of BSMSs, along with some conclusions and implications.

Findings

The findings of this paper present a deep understanding about the current status and challenges of blockchain adoption in SMSs. Furthermore, this paper provides a brand new thinking for future research.

Originality/value

This paper minutely analyzes the impacts that blockchain exerts on SMSs in view of the product life cycle, and proposes using the complexity science thinking to deal with BSMSs qualitatively and quantitatively, including tackling the current major problems BSMSs face. This research can serve as a foundation for future theoretical studies and enterprise practice.

Details

Chinese Management Studies, vol. 16 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-614X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 August 2021

Shuai Zhang, Feicheng Ma, Yunmei Liu and Wenjing Pian

The purpose of this paper is to explore the features of health misinformation on social media sites (SMSs). The primary goal of the study is to investigate the salient features of…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the features of health misinformation on social media sites (SMSs). The primary goal of the study is to investigate the salient features of health misinformation and to develop a tool of features to help users and social media companies identify health misinformation.

Design/methodology/approach

Empirical data include 1,168 pieces of health information that were collected from WeChat, a dominant SMS in China, and the obtained data were analyzed through a process of open coding, axial coding and selective coding. Then chi-square test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were adopted to identify salient features of health misinformation.

Findings

The findings show that the features of health misinformation on SMSs involve surface features, semantic features and source features, and there are significant differences in the features of health misinformation between different topics. In addition, the list of features was developed to identify health misinformation on SMSs.

Practical implications

This study raises awareness of the key features of health misinformation on SMSs. It develops a list of features to help users distinguish health misinformation as well as help social media companies filter health misinformation.

Originality/value

Theoretically, this study contributes to the academic discourse on health misinformation on SMSs by exploring the features of health misinformation. Methodologically, the paper serves to enrich the literature around health misinformation and SMSs that have hitherto mostly drawn data from health websites.

Details

Library Hi Tech, vol. 40 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0737-8831

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 April 2021

Philipp Schröder

This study aims to explore how banks practice corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication on two popular social media sites (SMSs), Facebook and Twitter. Furthermore, this…

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to explore how banks practice corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication on two popular social media sites (SMSs), Facebook and Twitter. Furthermore, this study examines CSR communication strategies on SMSs, including the levels of communication direction and communication balance.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were extracted from Facebook and Twitter over a five-year period (2015–2019), and content analysis was performed. The research setting was the German banking industry.

Findings

The results indicate that the number of banks using SMSs to communicate CSR-information increased over time. Although the majority of banks’ messages were not related to CSR, the most-referenced (least-referenced) CSR-theme was “society” (“human rights”). On Facebook, banks employed an interacting CSR communication strategy more often than an informing one when communicating CSR activities; on Twitter banks used a balanced mix of communication strategies. In terms of stakeholder engagement, social media users interacted with banks more frequently on Facebook than on Twitter, and banks made efforts to engage in two-way symmetrical communication.

Research limitations/implications

Although the sample comprised the most relevant banks in Germany, it was limited to a single national context. Thus, the results may not be generalizable.

Originality/value

This study makes a significant contribution to the limited literature on banks’ CSR communication via SMSs, provides new empirical evidence on the use of CSR communication strategies and extends prior research on the direction and balance of communication. Recommendations are provided for banking communication practitioners.

Details

Corporate Communications: An International Journal, vol. 26 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1356-3289

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 August 2015

Weiting Tao and Christopher Wilson

The purpose of this paper is to explore the communication strategies corporations adopt for Facebook and/or Twitter, and the consistency of communication strategies used on both…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the communication strategies corporations adopt for Facebook and/or Twitter, and the consistency of communication strategies used on both Facebook and Twitter.

Design/methodology/approach

A content analysis of 2011 Fortune 1000 corporate Facebook and Twitter sites was undertaken. Specially, communication strategies on 63 Fortune 1000 Facebook sites and 65 Fortune 1000 Twitter sites in January 2012 were examined.

Findings

This study found that a majority of the examined Fortune 1000 companies emphasized a corporate ability communication strategy over a corporate social responsibility communication strategy on their Facebook and Twitter sites. Additionally, none of these companies used a true hybrid strategy on their social media sites (SMSs). Results also demonstrated that these companies were following the one message principle of integrated communication.

Research limitations/implications

This study is limited to its samples size and the coding time frame.

Practical implications

Results of this study can help public relations and corporate communication professionals leverage multiple SMSs to build strong associations, improve engagement, and strengthen relationships with target stakeholders.

Originality/value

Through examining corporate communication strategies on SMSs, this study contributes to current social media research along with corporate communication/public relations scholarship. It replicated and extended prior work by examining how existing corporate communication strategies on traditional web sites were incorporated into two new mainstream media – Facebook and Twitter.

Details

Journal of Communication Management, vol. 19 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-254X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 May 2015

Martin Petrun, Simon Steentjes, Kay Hameyer, Jozef Ritonja and Drago Dolinar

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive analysis of different material models when observing the magnetisation dynamics and power losses in non-oriented soft…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive analysis of different material models when observing the magnetisation dynamics and power losses in non-oriented soft magnetic steel sheets (SMSSs).

Design/methodology/approach

During the analysis four different magnetic material models were used for describing the static material characteristics, which characterised the materials’ magnetisation behaviour with increasing accuracies: linear material model, piecewise linear material model, non-linear H(B) characteristic and the static hysteresis material model proposed by Tellinen. The described material models were implemented within a parametric magneto-dynamic model (PMD) of SMSSs, where the dynamic responses as well as power loss calculations from the obtained models were analysed.

Findings

The momentous influences of various levels of detail on the calculation of dynamic variables and power losses inside SMSS with non-uniform magnetic fields were elaborated, where various static material characteristic models were evaluated, ranging from linear to hysteretic constitutive relationships.

Research limitations/implications

The resulting PMD model using different static models was analysed over a frequency range from quasi-static to f=1,000 Hz for different levels of magnetic flux density up to B max=1.5 T.

Practical implications

The presented analysis provides fundamental insight when calculating dynamic electromagnetic variables and power losses inside non-linear SMSSs, which is instrumental when selecting an adequate model for a specific application.

Originality/value

This paper provides closer insight on the way non-linearity, magnetic saturation and hysteresis affect the energy loss and magnetisation dynamics in SMSSs through the level of detail in the used material model. The strongly coupled model addresses both induced eddy currents and the ferromagnetic materials’ magnetisation behaviour simultaneously using varying levels of detail so that the interplay between skin effect (i.e. eddy currents) across laminations and hysteresis can be resolved accurately. Therewith, adequate models for specific applications can be selected.

Details

COMPEL: The International Journal for Computation and Mathematics in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, vol. 34 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0332-1649

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 November 2020

Bela Florenthal, Manar Awad and Susan Godar

Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) are increasingly using social media outlets to target millennials for donations of time and money. This study aims to investigate the motivational…

Abstract

Purpose

Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) are increasingly using social media outlets to target millennials for donations of time and money. This study aims to investigate the motivational drivers of millennials’ intention to donate money to charities on social media sites (SMSs).

Design/methodology/approach

A partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) method was used to test the proposed model.

Findings

The results indicate that both information seeking and entertainment, coupled with subjective norm, directly affect millennials’ intention to donate money to NPOs via SMSs. In addition, attitude toward engagement with NPOs on SMSs mediates the impact of credibility (fully, positively), irritation (fully, negatively) and entertainment (partially, positively) on behavior intention. Implications for practitioners are discussed.

Originality/value

An integration of two leading theories, Uses and An integration of two leading theories, Uses and Gratifications (U&G) and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)—is used to examine the antecedents of donation behavior of this cohort as related to their engagement with NPOs on SMSs. Such an approach has not been used in the past to examine Millennials’ engagement with NPOs on SMSs.

Details

Young Consumers, vol. 21 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1747-3616

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 April 2010

A.A. van Rooyen

The University of South Africa (Unisa), as a distance education institution, is continuously challenged to lessen the negative impact distance has on students’ learning. The…

413

Abstract

The University of South Africa (Unisa), as a distance education institution, is continuously challenged to lessen the negative impact distance has on students’ learning. The effective use of technologies affords distance education institutions with valuable opportunities to enhance teaching and support students’ learning. Using online technologies in the context of a developing country like South Africa often remains unrealised because of the persistent impact of lack of access, bandwidth and cost to students. Most students, however, have mobile phones, thus creating an ideal opportunity for distance education institutions to increase the effectiveness of learning. This article investigated students’ responses to a pilot study aimed at integrating short message systems (SMSs) into the study experience of accounting students at Unisa. This research found that students overwhelmingly experienced this initiative not only as support but also more importantly as assistance to enable them to study more effectively. On the basis of the evidence provided, it is evident that using mobile technology can enhance the learning experience of accounting students and provide them with a more satisfying and successful experience.

Details

Meditari Accountancy Research, vol. 18 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1022-2529

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 September 2021

Jose-Gonzalo Gonzalez-Rodriguez, Andres Carmona Hernandez, E. Vázquez-Vélez, A. Contreras-Cuevas and Jorge Uruchurtu Chavarin

This paper aims to use an imidazole-based n-ionic Gemini surfactant derived from palm oil to inhibit the sulfide stress corrosion cracking of a supermartensitic stainless steel.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to use an imidazole-based n-ionic Gemini surfactant derived from palm oil to inhibit the sulfide stress corrosion cracking of a supermartensitic stainless steel.

Design/methodology/approach

The slow strain rate testing technique, hydrogen permeation tests and potentiodynamic polarization curves have been used.

Findings

Addition of the inhibitor below the critical micelle concentration (CMC) decreased the corrosion current density (icorr), but not enough to avoid embrittlement due to the entry of hydrogen into the steel. Instead, the addition of the inhibitor close to the CMC decreased the icorr, suppressed the entry of hydrogen and inhibited the sulfide stress cracking of steel. Finally, the addition of inhibitor above the CMC led to a slight increase of icorr and promoted localized corrosion, however, the sulfide stress cracking of steel was inhibited.

Originality/value

A green sulfide stress corrosion cracking inhibitor of a supermartensitic stainless steel has been obtained.

Details

Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials, vol. 68 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0003-5599

Keywords

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