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The use of mobile wireless data services continues to increase worldwide. New fourth‐generation (4G) wireless networks can deliver data rates exceeding 2 Mbps. The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework of 4G mobile applications that utilize such high data rates and run on small form‐factor devices.

The author reviews existing literature of mobile applications development and proposes using network‐related characteristics to create a conceptual framework of these applications.

Combining traffic symmetry and latency yields a 2×3 framework with six categories that characterize current and emerging 4G mobile applications, such as augmented reality, mobile social networking and m‐health.

With the advent of high‐speed 4G networks, completely new mobile applications can be developed to leverage such high data rates, and a framework of such development efforts is highly desirable.

The framework is developed based on a perspective of technical characteristics because these characteristics intrinsically constrain the kinds of broadband mobile applications that can be developed. The framework should be useful in exploring opportunities of mobile application development and guiding future research in this area.

Mobile data traffic globally is increasing rapidly in both enterprise and consumer segments. The purpose of this paper is to identify a new network architecture and opportunity that support ubiquitous mobile work for higher-education institutions.

It reviews existing literature and enabling technologies and proposes integrating both wide-area Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-Advanced) and local-area IEEE 802.11ac networks for seamless, gigabit-speed services. A decision framework for moving toward such architecture and a cost/benefit analysis are also presented.

Integrating both LTE-Advanced and IEEE 802.11ac networks for seamless connectivity is technically and organizationally feasible, provided that a higher-education institution has faculty and staff that require locational and interactional mobility. The cost/benefit analysis also shows that moving to the new architecture has potential benefits that can accrue to the higher-education institution.

With the coming availability of these wide-area and local-area gigabit networks, a new architecture that can ubiquitously supports mobile workers may be advantageous to universities and colleges.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is one of the first that proposes such integrated architecture in the context of higher-education institutions. In addition to the examination of technological issues and proposed architecture, the decision framework, and cost/benefit analysis should be valuable for institutions contemplating the move toward the new architecture and for guiding further research in this area.

This study investigates the impact of online synchronous audio and video systems on the performance of cooperative learning in decision making and intellective tasks.

In total, 156 subjects, divided into 46 groups, were invited to resolve decision and intellective tasks in text messaging and audio conferencing e‐learning environments.

For decision‐making tasks, audio conferencing has a significant impact on cooperative learning satisfaction but not on learning performance; while for intellective tasks, neither audio conferencing nor text messaging has an impact on cooperative learning outcomes. There are no cross‐effects between platforms and task types on cooperative learning outcomes. The results indicate that the main effects of platforms and task types are independent. In other words, the impact of platforms on group discussion processes can be examined without the need of considering task types, since the latter will not affect the impacts of platforms.

The main effects of information richness and task types are independent. Major limitation is that the student sample may not be sufficiently representative to allow wider generalization of the findings of this study.

The main effects of information richness and task types are independent as far as learning outcomes are concerned. The learners' attitude toward the synchronous learning system significantly affects the satisfaction of synchronous online cooperative learning.

This study uses empirical data to validate the hypothesized relationships between the independent variables of online synchronous learning systems (audio‐ and text‐based), the moderating variable of task types (decision making vs intellective) and the dependent variable of learning outcomes.

More hospitals and caregivers are realizing the importance of radiofrequency identification (RFID) technology in the face of increased healthcare costs, medical errors, and pressure of governmental mandates. The necessity for and awareness of RFID has yet to drive its widespread adoption in the healthcare industry. As such, this study aims to examine key factors that contribute to the intention to continue using RFID.

The paper adopts the expectation‐confirmation model (ECM) to study the intention of caregivers to continue using RFID as a vehicle to deliver emergency medical services. It is theorized that perceived usefulness of front‐end interoperability and back‐end interoperability along with performance expectancy contribute to confirmation experience, which in turn leads to satisfaction and ultimately to intention to continue to use RFID. The study surveys caregivers and staffs in the emergency room department of five hospitals in Taiwan.

Perceived usefulness of front‐end interoperability and performance expectancy both have significant relationships with confirmation experience; confirmation experience has a significant relationship with satisfaction, which in turn relates to intention to continue using RFID. The relationship between perceived usefulness of back‐end interoperability and confirmation experience is not significant.

This study explains RFID adoption behavior using the ECM. Limitations of the study and possible future research direction are discussed.

The results of this study should help hospital management to build commitment to the RFID system and help equipment vendors to build loyalty to the technology.

This study represents a novel attempt to explain RFID adoption behavior using the ECM. It is expected that the proposed framework and empirical findings can contribute to further understanding of how RFID is adopted and used in a hospital environment.

Outlines the history of accounting in China and reviews the literature published in English on the full range of Chinese accounting issues. Summarizes the contents of three books, refers to sections in other books and analyses journal articles by period, journal, research topic and research method. Argues that this accounting research has historical, academic and practical value,believes it will continue to improve and calls for greater use of more rigid research methodologies in this area.

The purpose of this paper is to understand e-loyalty in the travel industry. Specifically, this paper aims to examine the curvilinear relationship between predictors and e-loyalty.

An empirical study was conducted using an online survey with one of the largest travel companies in China. Structural equation modeling was used to test the models, and pair-wise nested F-tests were used to compare the models.

Results show that the curvilinear model has greater explanatory power of loyalty than traditional linear models. The results of pair-wise nested F-tests show that the loyalty model exhibits statistically significant R2 improvement compared to the linear model. However, the R2 improvement in the integrated model is not statistically different from that in the linear model. Confirmation and satisfaction are found to be salient factors influencing loyalty.

This study makes important contributions to the online community literature by understanding the drivers of loyalty in the travel industry. However, there are limitations. First, this study addressed member loyalty of an online travel community with data collected from one company. Thus, generalizability is limited. Online communities and firms may have different characteristics, resulting in different factors influencing consumer loyalty. The authors plan in the future to collect data from other online travel companies and examine their model with different samples so as to check the generalizability of the current findings. Second, the authors collected a snapshot view on loyalty. Both researchers and managers note that small changes in loyalty and retention can yield disproportionately large changes in profitability (Reichheld et al., 2000). Consumer loyalty may change over time, so to maintain and increase profits, it is important to monitor such change. In the future, the authors plan to conduct a longitudinal study of community members to evaluate their loyalty over time.

As China seeks to gain additional market share in the global tourism market, travel companies should make use of websites as a marketing tool to attract and retain customers. These actions enable a travel company to enhance its competitiveness. More and more people use the internet for tour deals, bookings and finding tour-related information. Effective use of websites can affect the competitiveness of ecommerce companies. E-vendors could assess and adopt the dimensions recommended in this paper to help better understand areas for improvement. It is common today for consumers to buy travel products online instead of going through a travel agent. Considering the importance of reciprocity in formulating consumer satisfaction and loyalty in the virtual environment, companies should monitor reciprocal behavior on the virtual community. With advancement in technologies, consumer behaviors have changed and more consumers prefer social interactions in the virtual world. Companies can analyze posts in the virtual environment to assess reciprocity and may design a mechanism to foster reciprocal behaviors. By leveraging reciprocity, firms can better connect satisfaction with loyalty. More than 70 per cent of executives surveyed by McKinsey (2012) said that they regularly generate value through their Web communities. In addition, to pay attention to consumer to consumer reciprocity in the virtual world, companies should listen to what customers say in their online community, as this attention is an indication of reciprocity between consumers and companies. The ideas and opinions expressed in the online community tell the company customers’ perception of the value of its products and customers’ needs. Such attention to the voices in the online community will help companies to better tailor products/services to meet customers’ needs. Furthermore, the voices expressed in the virtual community are also effective in developing and maintaining new internet marketing opportunities such as email marketing, giveaways, search engine optimization, pay per click and shopping comparison marketing. Companies interested in retaining and attracting customers should leverage their established virtual communities and pay close attention to online posts and evaluate members’ satisfaction. Such effort will provide tangible benefits. As shown in Ye et al.’s study, traveler reviews produce a significant impact on online sales (Ye et al., 2011), with a 10 per cent increase in traveler review ratings, boosting online bookings by more than 5 per cent. This finding suggests that businesses should link online user-generated reviews to business performance in tourism. Finding incentives for users to share might be one way to improve interactivity and further create stickiness on the part of the website.

This paper is one of the first studies to address the need to move beyond linear models of e-loyalty and to additionally examine potential curvilinear and interactive effects. This study also identifies key variables such as reciprocity and satisfaction as determinants of e-loyalty in the Chinese online travel and tourism industry.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a traffic route selection strategy based on minimum carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission by vehicles over different route choices.

The study used queuing theory for Markovian M/M/1 model over the road junctions to assess total time spent over each of the junctions for a route with junctions in tandem. With parameters of distance, mean service rate at the junction, the number of junctions and fuel consumption rate, which is a function of variable average speed, the CO₂ emission is estimated over each of the junction in tandem and collectively over each of the routes.

The outcome of the study is a mathematical formulation, using queuing theory to estimate CO₂ emissions over different route choices. Research finding estimated total time spent and subsequent CO₂ emission for mean arrival rates of vehicles at junctions in tandem. The model is validated with a pilot study, and the result shows the best vehicular route choice with minimum CO₂ emissions.

Proposed study is limited to M/M/1 model at each of the junction, with no defection of vehicles. The study is also limited to a constant mean arrival rate at each of the junction.

The work can be used to define strategies to route vehicles on different route choices to reduce minimum vehicular CO₂ emissions.

Proposed work gives a solution for minimising carbon emission over routes with unsignalised junctions in the tandem network.