Search results
1 – 10 of 66Wenhua Liu, Zekai He and Qi Wang
This paper explores the relationship between state-led urbanization and primary industry development using the difference-in-differences (DiD) method.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper explores the relationship between state-led urbanization and primary industry development using the difference-in-differences (DiD) method.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses the DiD method.
Findings
Exploiting county-city mergers during 2010–2018, the key strategy to expand the city outward and promote urbanization on the urban fringe by local government, the authors find that county-city mergers led to the growth of primary industry decline by 4.23%. The result can be explained by the loss of essential production factors, including land and labor used for farming. In addition, the negative effect is more pronounced for counties with more substantial manufacturing. The results indicate that urbanization in China relocates land and labor; however, it does not improve the efficiency of agricultural output.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the understanding of urbanization and rural development from the perspective of the primary industry by showing production factor redistribution. Second, this study complements the literature on local government mergers.
Details
Keywords
Mingli Zhang, Mu Hu, Lingyun Guo and Wenhua Liu
Thriving brand communities are inseparable from engaged members and their word-of-mouth behavior. The purpose of this paper is to investigate which customer experience elevates…
Abstract
Purpose
Thriving brand communities are inseparable from engaged members and their word-of-mouth behavior. The purpose of this paper is to investigate which customer experience elevates customer engagement and consequent word-of-mouth intention in online brand communities, and how.
Design/methodology/approach
From the perspective of service ecosystem theory, a framework with several hypotheses was proposed. The model was verified with structural equation modeling based on questionnaire data collected from smartphone communities in China.
Findings
Empirical results indicate that customer experience promotes community engagement, and further enhances word-of-mouth intention. Furthermore, the mediating effect of community engagement in the relation between customer experience (social support and flow) and word-of-mouth intention has been verified.
Practical implications
This paper informs practitioners about the importance of experience co-creation with community members in brand and community promotion, and provides several implications to encourage more engaged customers with fostering pleasant customer experiences.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the theory of service ecosystem by empirical examination of its several propositions in a brand community context. The paper extends the present theory with the discussion of the mediation effect of community engagement in the continuing value co-creation process.
Details
Keywords
Liguo Xu, Pinging Fu and Youmin Xi
The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize the indigenous concept of suzhi at individual and organizational levels, and identify its dimensions for human resource management…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize the indigenous concept of suzhi at individual and organizational levels, and identify its dimensions for human resource management (HRM) research and practice in China.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a comprehensive review of suzhi literature, Chinese cultural and historical literature, as well as Western mainstream HRM research, a multidimensional suzhi framework is conceptualized.
Findings
As an indigenous expression, suzhi can be and has been adopted for Chinese HRM research and practice. As a multidimensional construct, one’s cognitive suzhi is jointly determined by corresponding moral suzhi, wenhua (knowledge-based) suzhi and zhuanye (professional) suzhi. Cognitive suzhi, in turn, determines one’s behavioral suzhi that drives employees to enhance organizational performance, and this relationship is moderated by psychological suzhi.
Research limitations/implications
The proposed framework provides new insight for Chinese indigenous management research, particularly in developing suzhi measurement for different dimensions. It also informs HRM practices in recruiting, selection, performance analysis and employee career development.
Originality/value
The complexity of suzhi dimensions from an organizational HRM perspective is analyzed. The resulting suzhi framework offers new insight for HRM research and practices in China.
Details
Keywords
It is a very prominent problem that Chinese universities lack school-running characteristics. In the past ten years, because of undergraduate teaching assessment requirements of…
Abstract
Purpose
It is a very prominent problem that Chinese universities lack school-running characteristics. In the past ten years, because of undergraduate teaching assessment requirements of the Ministry of Education, universities attach great importance to school-running characteristics. What is the reality and how to improve the effectiveness of creating the school-running characteristics of universities? It is a problem that needs to be solved. The purpose of this paper is to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the survey method, literature study, case studies and other methods, this study reviewed ten years of school-running characteristics construction and explored some laws of creating school-running characteristics.
Findings
This study found although universities in China are beginning to attach great importance to the school-running characteristics, but they are still staying in the summarization of characteristics. School-running characteristics are very rough. Creating school-running characteristics are mainly efforts responding to the superior government. Creating school-running characteristics should be based on category characteristic. Universities need to change in competition and create characteristics within its history and culture. Universities need to refine the core idea of education, develop a big picture and then renew them in the assessment cycle.
Originality/value
The originality of this study was that it put forward some new laws including changing from summarizing to creating its own school-running characteristics, putting category characteristic as the prerequisite and considering the core idea of education as the focus of school-running characteristics. This research will enrich the theory building of higher education research and has some value in promoting the creation of school-running characteristics.
Details
Keywords
Fushu Luan, Wenhua Qi, Wentao Zhang and Victor Chang
The connection between digital manufacturing technologies (Industry 4.0) and the environment has sparked discussions on firms' disclosure of negative information on pollutant…
Abstract
Purpose
The connection between digital manufacturing technologies (Industry 4.0) and the environment has sparked discussions on firms' disclosure of negative information on pollutant emissions and the pursuit of positive environmental outcomes. However, very few studies explore how it relates to a firm's robot usage and its mechanism. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impacts of robot penetration on firms' environmental governance in China.
Design/methodology/approach
The ordered probit model (and probit model) are employed and empirically tested with a sample of 1,579 Chinese listed firms from 2010 to 2019.
Findings
The study reveals a negative relationship between robot usage and the disclosure of negative indicators and a U-shaped relationship between robot usage and positive environmental outcomes. Among the sample, nonstate-owned enterprises (SOEs) display unsatisfactory performance, while heavily polluting industries disclose more information on pollutant emissions. The robot–environmental governance nexus is conditional on firm size, capital intensity and local economic development.
Originality/value
The study proposes a fresh view of corporate environmental governance to assess the environmental implications of robot adoption. It also contributes to identifying the curvilinear, moderating and heterogenous effects in the robot–environment nexus. The results provide rich policy implications for the development of industrial intelligence and corporate environmental governance in the circular economy (CE) context.
Details
Keywords
Qi Wang and Virpi Timonen
Existing research focuses on the pension systems and reforms in China from a macro-level and financial perspective. The expectations of mid-life Chinese people regarding their…
Abstract
Purpose
Existing research focuses on the pension systems and reforms in China from a macro-level and financial perspective. The expectations of mid-life Chinese people regarding their retirement and pensions have been ignored to date, and this research set out to address this lacuna.
Design/methodology/approach
The application of qualitative research methods is relatively novel in Chinese social science. As a grounded theory (GT) study, the research reported here deployed semi-structured interviews to investigate middle-aged Chinese women's and men's perceptions of their pensions and retirement. In total, 36 interviews were conducted, following the constructivist GT method.
Findings
The data point to disparities between the choices and perceptions of individuals on the one hand and the official assumptions underlying the current pension regime on the other hand. Research participants had varying interpretations of the inequality in retirement incomes in China, the main division being between enterprise workers and public-sector employees.
Originality/value
Although there are in principle rigidly fixed retirement ages for men and women in contemporary China, the phenomena of early retirement and working post-retirement are increasing. There are trade-offs between work/retirement and family needs, which influence the choices of middle-aged citizens. Retirement pathways are increasingly individualised, reflecting broader patterns of individualisation and inequality in China.
Details
Keywords
Wenhua Shi, Lingshu Tang, Xiaohang Zhang, Yu Gao and Yameng Zhu
Although word of mouth (WOM) affects customers’ purchasing intentions to a large extent, prior research has neglected the role of WOM as a driver of customer satisfaction.
Abstract
Purpose
Although word of mouth (WOM) affects customers’ purchasing intentions to a large extent, prior research has neglected the role of WOM as a driver of customer satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
Several scholars have suggested that WOM can not only affect customer expectation but also can influence perceived quality. Consistent with existing research results and the expectancy disparity model, this paper established a causal relation between WOM and customer satisfaction and confirmed it was drawing on an experimental study.
Findings
This paper indicates that positive or negative WOM affects customer satisfaction by promoting or lowering customers’ expectations. This relation is moderated by product type, rather than the source of the WOM. With experience goods, positive (negative) WOM will decrease (increase) customer satisfaction. However, with search goods, positive (negative) WOM will increase (decrease) customer satisfaction.
Originality/value
The results of this study have implications for academia and management. Academically, this study establishes the causal relation between WOM and customer satisfaction, expanding the research on the relation between WOM and satisfaction. From a managerial perspective, the promotion of WOM also can create certain service risks.
Details
Keywords
Wenhua Hou and Lun Wang
With the majority of highway projects in China having entered their operational phases, the maintenance and repair of the pavement is receiving increasing attention. One problem…
Abstract
Purpose
With the majority of highway projects in China having entered their operational phases, the maintenance and repair of the pavement is receiving increasing attention. One problem that needs to be addressed urgently is that of how to raise the proper funds for highway maintenance to ensure the sustainable operation of the project. To this end, the aim of this study is to investigate the capital demand for operation and maintenance of a project by means of a refinancing scheme, in order to reduce the possibility of project bankruptcy and to enhance the economic value of the project.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on an analysis of the dynamic complexity of the highway pavement maintenance system, a Markov model is used to predict pavement performance, and an optimal capital structure decision model is proposed for highway public–private partnership (PPP) project refinancing, using the method of system dynamics (SD). The proposed model is then applied to a real case study.
Findings
Results show that the proposed model can be used to predict accurately the dynamic changes in the demand for road maintenance funds and refinancing during the period of operation, before making the optimal decision for the refinancing capital structure.
Originality/value
Although many scholars have studied the optimal refinancing capital structure of PPP projects, the dynamic changes inherent in the demand for maintenance funds for highway PPP projects are seldom considered. Therefore, in the approach used here the influence of the dynamic change of road maintenance capital demand on refinancing is investigated, and SD is used for the optimal capital structure decision-making model of highway PPP project refinancing, to make the decision-making process more reasonable and scientific.
Details
Keywords
Wenhua Guo, Xinmin Hong and Chunxia Chen
This paper aims to study the influence of aerodynamics force of trains passing each other on the dynamic response of vehicle bridge coupling system based on numerical simulation…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to study the influence of aerodynamics force of trains passing each other on the dynamic response of vehicle bridge coupling system based on numerical simulation and multi-body dynamics and put forward the speed threshold for safe running of train under different crosswind speeds.
Design/methodology/approach
The computational fluid dynamics method is adopted to simulate the aerodynamic force in the whole process of train passing each other by using dynamic grid technology. The dynamic model of vehicle-bridge coupling system is established considering the effects of aerodynamic force of train passing each other under crosswind, the dynamic response of train intersection on the bridge under crosswind is computed and the running safety of the train is evaluated.
Findings
The aerodynamic force of trains' intersection has little effects on the derailment factor, lateral wheel-rail force and vertical acceleration of train, but it increases the offload factor of train and significantly increases the lateral acceleration of train. The crosswind has a significant effect on increasing the derailment factor, lateral wheel-rail force and offload factor of train. The offload factor of train is the key factor to control the threshold of train speed. The impact of the aerodynamic force of trains' intersection on running safety cannot be ignored. When the extreme values of crosswind wind speed are 15 m·s−1, 20 m·s−1 and 25 m·s−1, respectively, the corresponding speed thresholds for safe running of train are 350 km·h−1, 275 km·h−1 and 200 km·h−1, respectively.
Originality/value
The research can provide a more precise numerical method to study the running safety of high-speed trains under the aerodynamic effect of trains passing each other on bridge in crosswind.
Details
Keywords
Yuwen Zeng and Wenhua Hou
This paper aims to exam the publisher’s online distribution strategies of print books between a reselling and a marketplace channel with the coexistence of e-book. This study…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to exam the publisher’s online distribution strategies of print books between a reselling and a marketplace channel with the coexistence of e-book. This study extends the study of channel selection to the content products industry.
Design/methodology/approach
By constructing a publisher-leader Stackelberg game model, the authors investigate the publisher’s distribution strategies. The retailer holds a digital channel for e-book and reselling and marketplace channels for print books. The authors examine three-channel modes for the print book distribution: a pure reselling channel, a marketplace channel and a hybrid channel.
Findings
The results reveal that a hybrid channel always dominates a pure marketplace channel from the publisher’s perspective. Then, only when the print book’s margin cost and the marketplace’s slotting fee are not very high, the publisher prefers the hybrid to a pure reselling channel. The authors also found a Pareto zone where the hybrid channel mode improves publisher’s and retailer’s profits. Furthermore, the publisher is less likely to choose the hybrid channel as the acceptance of e-book increases. The authors also examine the situation where a publisher-authorized third-party distributor runs the marketplace channel and found the results still hold.
Originality/value
This paper fills a theoretical and practical gap for a structured analysis of the content providers’ online distribution channel selection of the physical products and digital products. Different from previous related studies, this study focuses on analyzing physical products’ channel strategies and finds physical products’ cost plays a crucial role in the content provider’s channel decision.
Details