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1 – 10 of over 1000Xiayu Chen, Shaobo Wei, Ruolin Ding and Yanrui Li
Based on uncertainty reduction theory, this study explores how perceived information transparency mitigates users' perceived uncertainty, which in turn influences their actual…
Abstract
Purpose
Based on uncertainty reduction theory, this study explores how perceived information transparency mitigates users' perceived uncertainty, which in turn influences their actual purchase behavior. In addition, the moderating effects of cultural tightness on the relationship between perceived information transparency and perceived uncertainty are also considered.
Design/methodology/approach
Users with the shopping experience on Xiaohongshu are invited to participate in the survey. Finally, 355 valid longitudinal data are collected.
Findings
The results indicate that the three dimensions of perceived information transparency (i.e. perceived product transparency, perceived seller transparency and perceived transaction transparency) can reduce users' perceived uncertainty significantly. Besides, the negative impacts of perceived product and seller transparency on users' perceived uncertainty are stronger when cultural tightness is higher. However, cultural tightness does not moderate the relationship between perceived transaction transparency and users' perceived uncertainty.
Originality/value
First, the authors' research extends the uncertainty reduction theory to the context of social commerce. Second, the authors' research explores the boundary condition under which perceived information transparency varies by identifying cultural tightness as the moderator of the relationship between perceived information transparency and uncertainty. Third, the authors' research enriches the understanding of the cultural tightness of China.
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Jiaye Ge, Myung-Soo Jo and Emine Sarigollu
This study aims to examine how cultural tightness at the national level and individual level influences consumer attitudes toward a brand's wrongdoing depending on the brand's…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine how cultural tightness at the national level and individual level influences consumer attitudes toward a brand's wrongdoing depending on the brand's country of origin and severity of the transgression.
Design/methodology/approach
Employing data from two tight-culture countries (China and South Korea) and a loose-culture country (the USA), two experiments were conducted to examine the proposed hypotheses.
Findings
The authors found that although consumers across cultures universally punish strong (vs weak) transgressions more severely, consumers in a tight-culture country, China, are more forgiving of a local (vs foreign) brand in both strong and weak transgression conditions, and forgiveness is higher for the strong transgression. Moreover, this buffering effect observed for Chinese consumers is stronger for those with high personal cultural tightness in the strong transgression condition. However, it emerges only in the weak transgression condition for South Korea, another tight-culture country. As hypothesized, no buffering effect for a local brand was found in a loose-culture country, the USA. Consumers from a loose culture assess transgression severity independently, and the punishment is harsher for strong transgressions than for weak transgressions.
Originality/value
This study fills a research gap by revealing that consumers from tight (vs loose) cultures would react differently to brands following a transgression depending on the brand's country of origin. It provides implications by examining how national-level and individual-level cultural tightness jointly affect post-transgression attitudes. It also presents a more nuanced perspective that the local brand's buffering effect is contingent on the degree of tightness and severity of transgression, even in similar culturally tight countries.
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Girdles should be designed to beautify the lower body part of a woman without creating any discomfort and detrimental physiological effects. This paper reports on an experimental…
Abstract
Girdles should be designed to beautify the lower body part of a woman without creating any discomfort and detrimental physiological effects. This paper reports on an experimental investigation into the relationship between the subjective tightness sensation and the clothing pressure of girdles. The subjective tightness sensation is a measure of the effectiveness of girdles, since too loose means the girdle is not effective in shaping the body and too tight means it is not comfortable and may have detrimental physiological effects. Based on this experimental investigation, the effect of clothing pressure on the tightness sensation is better understood and the optimum pressure distribution of girdles, which is an important criterion for product development and evaluation of girdles, is proposed.
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This paper empirically investigates how cultural variations in individualism and tightness affected the containment of COVID-19 using data from 54 nations during a 30-day period…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper empirically investigates how cultural variations in individualism and tightness affected the containment of COVID-19 using data from 54 nations during a 30-day period of government intervention.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors utilized the hierarchical regression approach to check the effects of three cultural variables – the individualism measure, taken from Hofstede’s six-dimension national culture index, and the measure of cultural tightness, based on the three tightness–looseness indexes calculated by Irem Uz (2015) and their interaction – on the changes in the prevalence rate (ΔPR) and crude mortality rate (ΔCMR) and case fatality rate (CFR) while controlling for the stringency of government responses to COVID-19, median age and population density.
Findings
Significant relationships were found between cultural variables and national performance in slowing the spread of the coronavirus, measured by ΔPR, ΔCMR and CFR. After controlling for the stringency of government responses, median age and population density, the authors found that cultural tightness and individualism as well as their interactions remain to be pivotal. Loose and individualistic cultures led to faster increases in PR and CMR and higher CFR. A four-quadrant conceptual framework is developed to categorize and discuss the national differences.
Originality/value
The paper integrated two constructs – cultural tightness–looseness and individualism–collectivism – to form a theoretical lens to guide the authors’ analyses while using the real-time COVID-19 data as a natural experiment for theorizing and testing. This study’s findings have significant policy implications in government responses, strategic planning, cultural adaptability and policy implementations for the world’s continuous battle against the pandemic.
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Bousmaha Baiche, Chris Kendrick and Ray Ogden
The purpose of this paper is based on recent research at Oxford Brookes University which explored how metal building envelopes can provide high levels of air‐tightness.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is based on recent research at Oxford Brookes University which explored how metal building envelopes can provide high levels of air‐tightness.
Design/methodology/approach
An intensive research programme tested many of the foremost cladding systems used in the UK. Over 500 individual tests have produced reliable data on the performance of different joint types. This paper summarises that data and identifies key design issues and solutions.
Findings
The research has demonstrated that metal building envelopes can provide very high levels of air‐tightness providing that they are properly engineered and assembled. It also presents compelling evidence, based on whole building thermal dynamic simulations using the test data, that further increases in air‐tightness are achievable; far more energy can be saved by doing this than by increasing thermal insulation even further.
Research limitations/implications
The testing programme concentrated on steel cladding systems, both built‐up and composite panels, with technical assessment of different joints assemblies using a dedicated purpose‐built air‐tightness test rig.
Practical implications
As this research and other studies have shown that far more energy can be saved by achieving high levels of air‐tightness than by increasing thermal insulation even further, it suggests that a major change in regulatory strategy is now due.
Originality/value
The value of the paper lies in the originality of the testing programme and method. Although BSRIA has been testing whole completed buildings for air‐tightness using large mobile fan units pressurising the building to 50 Pa, it is the first time that a variety of cladding systems have been tested for air‐tightness on a large scale and in a laboratory environment; BRE carried out air‐tightness testing on few steel cladding systems on a smaller scale.
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Gaetano Lisi and Mauro Iacobini
This paper aims to pose an important starting point for the application of the search-and-matching models to real estate appraisals, thus reducing the “gap” between practitioners…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to pose an important starting point for the application of the search-and-matching models to real estate appraisals, thus reducing the “gap” between practitioners and academicians. Due to relevant trading frictions, the search-and-matching framework has become the benchmark theoretical model of the housing market. Starting from the large related literature, this paper develops a simplified approach to modelling the frictions that focuses on the direct relationship between house price and market tightness (a common feature only for the labour market matching models). The characterization of the equilibrium through two main variables simplifies the analysis and allows using the theoretical model for empirical purposes, namely, the real estate appraisals.
Design/methodology/approach
This work is both theoretical and empirical. Theoretically, a long-run equilibrium model with a positive share of vacant houses and home seekers is determined along with price and market tightness. Also, the conditions of existence and uniqueness of the steady-state equilibrium are determined. Unlike most of the search-and-matching models in the housing literature, the out-of-the steady-state dynamics are also analyzed to show the stability of the equilibrium. Empirically, to show the usefulness of the theoretical model, a numerical simulation is performed. By using two readily available housing market data – the expected time on the market and the average number of trades – it is possible to determine the key variables of the model: price, market tightness and matching opportunities for both buyers and sellers. Although the numerical simulation concerns the Italian housing market, the proposed model is generally valid, being empirically applicable to all real estate markets characterized by non-negligible trading frictions. Indeed, the proposed model can be used to compare housing markets with different features (concerning the search and matching process), as well as analyse the same housing market in different time periods (because the efficiency of the search and matching process can change).
Findings
Several important results are obtained. First, the price adjustment – i.e. the difference between the actual selling price and the price obtained in an ideal situation of frictionless housing market – is remarkable. This means that the sign and the size of the price adjustment depend on the extent of trading frictions in the housing market. Precisely, the higher the trading frictions on the demand side (more buyers and less sellers), the higher the actual selling price (the price adjustment is positive), whereas the higher the trading frictions on the supply side (less buyers and more sellers), the lower the actual selling price (the price adjustment is negative). Accordingly, the real estate appraisers should assess the trading frictions in the housing market before determining the price adjustment. Second, an increase in the number of trades affects the house price only if the time on the market varies. Also, the higher the variation in the time on the market, the larger the house price adjustment. Indeed, the expected time on the market reflects the opportunities to matching for both parties and thus the trading frictions. If the time on the market increases (decreases), the seller will receive less (more) opportunities to match; thus, the actual selling price will be driven downwards (upwards).
Originality/value
As far as the authors are aware, none of the existing works in the search and matching literature has considered how to take advantage of this theoretical approach to estimate the house price in the presence of trading frictions in the housing market. Indeed, the proposed theoretical model may be a useful tool for real estate appraisers, as it is able to derive the trading frictions from the time on the market and the number of trades, thus estimating properly the house price.
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Haithem Zourrig, Jeongsoo Park, Kamel El Hedhli and Mengxia Zhang
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how cultural tightness may influence consumers’ attitudes toward insurance services and occurrence of insurance fraud.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how cultural tightness may influence consumers’ attitudes toward insurance services and occurrence of insurance fraud.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on Gelfand et al.’s (2011) theory of tight and loose cultures, the authors theorize that perceived wrongness of insurance fraud, fraud occurrence and perceived risk of being caught depend on the cultural tightness. Using field data from a global European social survey (ESS), the authors investigate these differences across two fairly different European countries – Norway (i.e. tight culture) and Ukraine (i.e. loose culture).
Findings
Consumers from tight culture report less tolerance for insurance fraud (inflating insurance claim) are less likely to commit an insurance fraud, and they perceive higher level of risk of being caught than their counterparts from loose culture (Ukraine).
Practical implications
Understanding cultural variability in attitude toward insurance fraud, the occurrence of insurance fraud and the sensitivity to the risk of being caught could enrich the authors knowledge about how to prevent insurance fraud.
Social implications
Consumer protection agencies, consumer educators and policymakers could all benefit from understanding cultural variability in attitude toward fraud. This will potentially help to design effective learning and education programs to sensitize customers to the illegal and unethical aspects of fraudulent behaviors.
Originality/value
Insurance fraud is a universal issue and exists in many European countries, yet no previous work has investigated the effect of cultural tightness–looseness on fraud perception.
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The lack of integrity of the piston machine combustion chamber manifests itself in leakages of the working fluid between the piston and the cylinder liner, at valves mounted in…
Abstract
Purpose
The lack of integrity of the piston machine combustion chamber manifests itself in leakages of the working fluid between the piston and the cylinder liner, at valves mounted in the cylinder head and between the head and the liner. An untight combustion chamber leads to decreased power output or efficiency of the engine, while leaks of a fluid may cause damage to many components of the chamber. The actual value of working chamber leak is a desired and essential piece of information for planning operations of a given machine.
Design/methodology/approach
This research paper describes causes and mechanisms of leakage from the working chamber of internal combustion engines. Besides, the paper outlines presently used methods and means of leak identification and states that their further development and improvements are needed. New methods and their applicability are presented.
Findings
The methods of leak identification have been divided into diagnostic and non-working machine leak identification methods. The need has been justified for the identification of leakage from the combustion chamber of a non-working machine and for using the leakage measure as the value of the cross-sectional area of the equivalent leak, defined as the sum of cross-section areas of all leaking paths. The analysis of possible developments of tightness assessment methods referring to the combustion chamber of a non-working machine consisted in modelling subsequent combustion chamber leaks as gas-filled tank leak, leak from another element of gas-filled tank and as a regulator of gas flow through a nozzle.
Originality/value
A measurement system was built allowing the measurement of pressure drop in a tank with the connected engine combustion chamber, which indicated the usefulness of the system for leakage measurement in units as defined in applicable standards. A pneumatic sensor was built for measuring the cross-sectional area of the equivalent leak of the combustion chamber connected to the sensor where the chamber functioned as a regulator of gas flow through the sensor nozzle. It has been shown that the sensor can be calibrated by means of reference leaks implemented as nozzles of specific diameters and lengths. The schematic diagram of a system for measuring the combustion chamber leakage and a diagram of a sensor for measuring the cross-sectional area of the equivalent leak of the combustion chamber leakage are presented. The results are given of tightness tests of a small one-cylinder combustion engine conducted by means of the set up measurement system and a pre-prototype pneumatic sensor. The two solutions proved to be practically useful.
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Mariem Mejri, Hakim Ben Othman, Basiem Al-Shattarat and Kais Baatour
The purpose of this interdisciplinary cross-country study is to investigate the influence of cultural tightness-looseness on money laundering.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this interdisciplinary cross-country study is to investigate the influence of cultural tightness-looseness on money laundering.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors rely on tightness-looseness theory as the basis for their predictions. The authors use the Basel Anti Money Laundering Index to operationalize financial crimes. They use dynamic panel data regressions spanning from 2012 to 2018 across 66 countries.
Findings
The authors find a positive and significant effect of national culture on money laundering financial crime. This suggests that financial crimes increase in countries with higher levels of cultural looseness orientation. Moreover, the authors show that the absence of violence, control of corruption, political stability and voice and accountability has a significant and negative influence on money laundering financial crime.
Practical implications
Formal institutional factors are not the only factors that can help curb financial crimes, but policy regulators should also consider the degree of cultural tightness-looseness.
Originality/value
To the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first research ever to examine the effects of cultural tightness-looseness on the level of financial crimes.
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Xiuchen Wang, Zhe Liu, Zhong Zhou, Qing He and Haoxian Zeng
The purpose of this paper is to propose a new indicator-gray porosity that can objectively evaluate real porosities of electromagnetic shielding (EMS) fabric based on computer…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose a new indicator-gray porosity that can objectively evaluate real porosities of electromagnetic shielding (EMS) fabric based on computer image analysis, which aims to address current porosity evaluation by tightness.
Design/methodology/approach
A method for the fabric image acquisition is determined and a gray digital model is established. The porosity membership region of true porosity is judged according to the total gray wave. A bi-directional judgment method based on horizontal and vertical single gray waves is proposed to automatically identify the gray porosity in the porosity membership region. After experiments, the differences between the gray porosity indicator and the tightness indicator are analyzed, the influence of the gray porosity on the shielding effectiveness (SE) is discussed, and the advantages of the gray porosity indicator are detailed.
Findings
Results show that the proposed indicator can accurately represent the real porosity size of the EMS fabric without pre-acquiring the structure parameters of the fabric, which provides a reference for the study of the electromagnetic characteristic of the EMS fabric.
Originality/value
The gray porosity presented in this paper is a new method to objectively evaluate real porosities of the EMS fabric, and can be applied to the research and evaluation of the electromagnetic characteristic for the EMS fabric.
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