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The purpose of this paper is to construct historical perceptions of coal use in India and Japan in different historical time periods through the process of analyzing the narratives and discourses in academic, media and trade literatures.

In terms of methodology, this paper will utilize discourse theories/analysis and interpretive history to study the subject matter. In this paper, specific literatures on energy as well as general literatures on themes like technology are utilized.

The finding of the paper is that discourses and narratives about coal energy for example are constantly negotiated, constructed and then deconstructed again to fit and adapt to new realities, including the availability of newer technologies or priorities and concerns about the environment.

The research implication and originality of the paper is to demonstrate empirically the idea of the existence of narrative communities debating the use of coal energy in India and Japan. It highlights the communities of stakeholders interested in coal energy resource. The practical application and value of the ideas is the intellectual process of categorizing various contemporary narratives about coal energy use specific to two of the largest consumers and importers of coal in Asia. Through historical narratives of its past and recent coal use, the role and function of coal in the overall energy mix of India and Japan are instructive. The research limitation lies in its non‐quantitative nature and reliance on a combination of academic and trade secondary sources.

This study aims to analyze the impact of family incivility (FI) on in-role performance (IRP) and proactive customer service performance (PCSP) via the mediating effect of emotional exhaustion (EE) and the moderating roles of emotional intelligence (EI) and mindfulness.

Hypotheses were verified using multisource and multiwave data collected from 337 valid hotel employee–supervisor dyads in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Data were analyzed using SPSS 24.0, AMOS 24.0 and PROCESS (version 3.4).

FI intensified frontline employees’ (FLEs) EE, which subsequently impeded their IRP and PCSP. EI and mindfulness moderated the direct influence of FI on EE, IRP and PCSP and moderated the indirect influence of FI on the two aforementioned outcomes through EE.

Managers should observe FLEs’ indicators of FI and deter its emergence by implementing care programs for FLEs suffering from FI. In addition, human resource managers should preferentially recruit employees with high EI through related tests. Hotels can invite reputable psychologists to provide psychotherapy interventions for FLEs, such as mindfulness-based psychological lectures and therapy.

The hospitality literature lacks an understanding of the underlying process through which FI affects FLEs’ job outcomes. This study incorporates EE as a mediator of the FI’s impact on IRP and PCSP, and to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to assess whether EI and mindfulness moderate the direct impact of FI on IRP and PCSP and the indirect impact of FI on two aforementioned outcomes via EE.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of partnership (i.e. partner's trust and commitment) on electronic commerce strategic planning (ECSP), and the strategic benefits of expanding partnership. Beyond this research objective, this paper attempts to draw conclusions on the benefits of seeing such trust and commitment as common sense.

A total of 166 Chief information officers were selected from the top 1000 largest firms in Taiwan to test the relations within the research model. Moreover, the structural equation modeling technique was used to evaluate the research model.

Partner trust significantly influences electronic commerce strategic planning. The results also indicate that the success of ECSP enables firms to achieve the strategic benefits of electronic commerce.

This study demonstrates the need to separate the partner's trust and commitment from the environmental context when discussing certain questions related to environmental issues. Future ECSP studies could seek an enhanced understanding of the effects on investigations of other attributes of partnership.

Top managers and information system executives who are considering the process of ECSP must know that the first step is to acquire the partner's trust. And then, they need to make a commitment to their partners in order to gain the strategic benefits. The skills and actions to achieve these steps should become common sense for these executives.

This paper contributes to ECSP research by clarifying the effects of both partner trust and partner commitment on the ECSP, and provides a valuable reference for EC strategic planners, as well as researchers interested in EC strategic planning and management.

The purpose of this paper is to develop some picture uncertain linguistic aggregation operators based on Bonferroni mean operators, which is combined with multiple attribute decision-making (MADM) and has applied the proposed MADM model for selecting the service outsourcing provider of communications industry under picture uncertain linguistic environment.

The service outsourcing provider selection problem of communications industry can be regarded as a typical MADM problem, in which the decision information should be aggregated. In this paper, the authors investigate the MADM problems with picture uncertain linguistic information based on traditional Bonferroni mean operator.

The results show that the proposed model can solve the MADM problems within the context of picture uncertain linguistic information, in which the attributes are existing interaction phenomenon. Some picture uncertain aggregation operators based on Bonferroni mean have been developed. A case study of service outsourcing provider selection problem of communications industry is provided to illustrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed methods. The results show that the proposed methods are useful to aggregate the picture uncertain linguistic decision information in which the attributes are not independent so as to select the most suitable supplier.

The proposed methods can solve the picture uncertain linguistic MADM problem, in which the interactions exist among the attributes. Therefore, it can be used to solve service outsourcing provider selection problems and other similar management decision problems.

This paper develops some picture uncertain aggregation operators based on Bonferroni mean and further presents two methods based on the proposed operators for solving MADM problems. It is useful to deal with multiple attribute interaction decision-making problems and suitable to solve a variety of management decision-making applications.

It is useful to deal with multiple attribute interaction decision-making problems and suitable to solve a variety of management decision-making applications.

The paper investigates the MADM problems with picture uncertain linguistic information based on traditional Bonferroni mean operator and develops the picture uncertain linguistic Bonferroni mean operator and picture uncertain linguistic geometric Bonferroni mean operator, picture uncertain linguistic weighted Bonferroni mean operator and picture uncertain linguistic weighted geometric Bonferroni mean operator for aggregating the picture uncertain linguistic information, respectively. Finally, a numerical example concerning the service outsourcing provider selection problem of communications industry is provided to illustrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed methods.

This paper aims to analyse transfer of learning to workplace regarding to job-related training courses. Training courses analysed in this study are offered under the professional training for employment framework in Spain.

During the training courses, trainees completed a self-reported survey of reasons for participation (time 1 data collection, N = 447). Two months after training, a second survey was sent to the trainees by email (time 2 data collection, N = 158). Factor analysis, correlations and multiple hierarchical regressions were performed.

The results of this study demonstrate the importance of training relevance and training effectiveness in transfer of training. Results indicated that relevance, the extent training courses were related to participant’s workplace activities and professional development, positively influences transfer of training. Effectiveness, training features which facilitated participants to acquire knowledge and skills, also has a significantly positive influence in transfer of training. Motivation to participate and learning-conducive workplace features also have a positive influence in transfer of training.

This study contributes to the understanding of transfer of learning in work-related training programmes by analysing the factors that influence transfer of learning back to the workplace. The study has practical implication for training designers and education providers to enhance work-related training in the context of the Professional Training for Employment Subsystem in Spain.

This paper aims to study a parameter tuning method for the active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) to improve the anti-interference ability and position tracking of the performance of the servo system, and to ensure the stability and accuracy of practical applications.

This study proposes a parameter self-tuning method for ADRC based on an improved glowworm swarm optimization algorithm. The algorithm is improved by using sine and cosine local optimization operators and an adaptive mutation strategy. The improved algorithm is then used for parameter tuning of the ADRC to improve the anti-interference ability of the control system and ensure the accuracy of the controller parameters.

The authors designed an optimization model based on MATLAB, selected examples of simulation and experimental research and compared it with the standard glowworm swarm optimization algorithm, particle swarm algorithm and artificial bee colony algorithm. The results show that the response time of using the improved glowworm swarm optimization algorithm to optimize the auto-disturbance rejection control is short; there is no overshoot; the tracking process is relatively stable; the anti-interference ability is strong; and the optimization effect is better.

The innovation of this study is to improve the glowworm swarm optimization algorithm, propose a sine and cosine, local optimization operator, expand the firefly search space and introduce a new adaptive mutation strategy to adaptively adjust the mutation probability based on the fitness value, improve the global search ability of the algorithm and use the improved algorithm to adjust the parameters of the active disturbance rejection controller.

Suggests that misunderstandings frequently occur when trying to understand Chinese language and culture, and so gives the implied meaning of various Chinese expressions and sayings such as greetings, thanks, respect, age, congratulations and taboo subjects.

Presents over sixty abstracts summarising the 1999 Employment Research Unit annual conference held at the University of Cardiff. Explores the multiple impacts of globalization on work and employment in contemporary organizations. Covers the human resource management implications of organizational responses to globalization. Examines the theoretical, methodological, empirical and comparative issues pertaining to competitiveness and the management of human resources, the impact of organisational strategies and international production on the workplace, the organization of labour markets, human resource development, cultural change in organisations, trade union responses, and trans‐national corporations. Cites many case studies showing how globalization has brought a lot of opportunities together with much change both to the employee and the employer. Considers the threats to existing cultures, structures and systems.

In the contemporary business environment, companies must constantly consider methods to enhance their competitive advantage and create value for their customers. The purpose of this paper is to develop a research model based on a business ecosystem view. Within a business ecosystem, the authors identified the key factors of co-development and the manner in which these factors affect a company’s innovation performance.

The theoretical hypotheses are confirmed by partial least squares analysis of survey responses collected from information and communication technology (ICT) and hotel industries in Taiwan.

In both industries, the results suggest that a firm’s co-development within its own ecosystem has positive effects on innovation performance. For companies in the ICT industry, collaborative networks and partner selection have significant impacts on the firms’ co-development, but their information technology (IT) capability does not; in contrast, in the hotel industry, partner selection and IT capability have significant impacts on firm co-development, but their collaborative network does not.

This study contributes to the literature of business ecosystem and co-development by offering a co-development model. As both conceptual and empirical research on this topic is still underdeveloped, this study provides fresh insights into collaboration management and offers significant theoretical and managerial implications from a business ecosystem perspective.

With rapid industrialization and urbanization, municipal solid waste (MSW) management has become a serious challenge worldwide, especially in developing countries. The Beijing Municipality is a representative example of many local governments in China that are facing MSW management issues. Although there have been studies in the area of MSW management in the literature, less attention has been devoted to developing a structured framework that identifies and interprets the barriers to MSW management in megacities, especially in Beijing. Therefore, this study focuses on identifying a comprehensive list of barriers affecting the successful implementation of MSW management in Beijing.

Through an extensive review of related literature, 12 barriers are identified and classified into five categories: government, waste, knowledge dissemination, MSW management process and market. Using an integrated approach including the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL), maximum mean de-entropy algorithm (MMDE) and interpretive structural modeling (ISM), a conceptual structural model of MSW implementation barriers is constructed to provide insights for industrial decision-makers and policymakers.

The results show that a lack of economic support from the government, imperfect MSW-related laws and regulations, the low education of residents and the lack of publicity of waste recycling knowledge are the main barriers to MSW management in Beijing. Combined with expert opinions, the paper provides suggestions and guidance to municipal authorities and industry practitioners to guide the successful implementation of MSW management.

The findings of this study can provide a reference for MSW management in other metropolises in China and other developing countries.

This study proposes a hybrid DEMATEL-MMDE-ISM approach to resolve the subjectivity issues of the traditional ISM approach and it analyzes the barriers that hinder MSW management practices in Beijing.