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1 – 8 of 8Fang Xie, Xufan Zhang, Jing Ye, Lulu Zhou, Wenjian Zhang and Feng Tian
Based on the resource conservation theory, this research paper aims to evaluate the positive impact of customer orientation on frontline employees' emotional exhaustion and the…
Abstract
Purpose
Based on the resource conservation theory, this research paper aims to evaluate the positive impact of customer orientation on frontline employees' emotional exhaustion and the moderating effects of customer incivility and supervisor monitoring.
Design/methodology/approach
Two-wave data from 484 frontline employees in power supply business halls were analyzed. This study used AMOS 23.0, SPSS22.0 and PROCESS macro for data statistics and analysis.
Findings
Our empirical research demonstrates that customer orientation has a significant positive impact on frontline employees' emotional exhaustion. At the same time, supervisor monitoring moderates the relationship between customer orientation and emotional exhaustion. The higher the interactional or observational monitoring, the stronger customer orientation's effect on frontline employees' emotional exhaustion. Moreover, a three-way interaction model exists between customer orientation, customer incivility and supervisor monitoring.
Practical implications
This study yields practical implications for helping the frontline employees of service-oriented organizations alleviate multiple interpersonal workplace pressures.
Originality/value
Based on resource conservation theory, this paper used a novel approach to focus on customer orientation, customer incivility and supervisor monitoring as interpersonal stressors.
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Keywords
Xufan Zhang, Xue Fan and Mingke He
The challenges faced by China's high-end equipment manufacturing (HEEM) industry are becoming clearer in the process of global supply chain (GSC) reconfiguration. The purpose of…
Abstract
Purpose
The challenges faced by China's high-end equipment manufacturing (HEEM) industry are becoming clearer in the process of global supply chain (GSC) reconfiguration. The purpose of this study is to investigate how China's HEEM industry has been affected by the GSC reconfiguration, as well as its short- and long-term strategies.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors adopted a multi-method approach. Interviews were conducted in Phase 1, while a three-round Delphi survey was conducted in Phase 2 to reach consensus at the industry level.
Findings
The GSC reconfiguration affected China's HEEM supply chain (SC). Its direct effects include longer lead times, higher purchasing prices and inconsistent supply and inventory levels of key imported components and materials. Its indirect effects include inconsistent product quality and cash flows. In the short term, China's HEEM enterprises have sought to employ localized substitutes, while long-term strategies include continuous technological innovation, industry upgrades and developing SC resilience.
Originality/value
This study not only encourages Chinese HEEM enterprises to undertake a comprehensive examination of their respective industries but also provides practical insights for SC scholars, policymakers and international stakeholders interested in how China's HEEM industry adapts to the GSC reconfiguration and gains global market share.
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Lulu Zhou, Jin Li, Yan Liu, Feng Tian, Xufan Zhang and Weiping Qin
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mediating effect of information search effort on the relationship between leader narcissism and team creativity in China based on…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mediating effect of information search effort on the relationship between leader narcissism and team creativity in China based on attention theory. The paper also explores participative decision making as a moderator in the relationship between team leader narcissism and information search effort.
Design/methodology/approach
Through a survey of 667 team members and their team leaders from 96 research and development teams at 23 high-tech enterprises in China with paired samples, cross-time data were collected. Confirmatory factor analysis, hierarchical regression and path analysis were adopted to analyze the data.
Findings
This paper found that leader narcissism had a positive impact on team information search effort, thereby promoting team creativity, and the effect of leader narcissism on team information search effort is more positive in the context of high participation in decision making.
Practical implications
Narcissism should be a noteworthy trait in manager selection and promotion especially for the departments and teams which focus on innovation and creation. And companies should pay attention to the team work processes to ensure that team members have the opportunity to participate in decision making for promoting the team leader’s narcissistic “bright” side in the institutional environment and avoiding the “dark” side.
Originality/value
This paper discusses how and when leader narcissism influences team creativity in Chinese high-technology enterprises based on attention theory. This research expands the application of attention theory at the team level.
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Lulu Zhou, Shuming Zhao, Feng Tian, Xufan Zhang and Stephen Chen
The purpose of this paper is to explore how visionary leadership influences employees’ creativity in R&D teams in China, and the role of employee knowledge sharing and goal…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how visionary leadership influences employees’ creativity in R&D teams in China, and the role of employee knowledge sharing and goal orientation.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was conducted on 331 professional technical engineers in R&D departments of 62 high-tech corporations in China. Hierarchical regression was used to model the relationships between visionary leadership style, employee goal orientations, knowledge sharing and employee creativity.
Findings
The results show that visionary leadership is positively associated with employee creativity in Chinese organizations and the relationship is positively mediated by employee knowledge sharing. Furthermore, employee “learning goal” orientation strengthens the relationship between visionary leadership and employee knowledge sharing, whereas employee “performance-avoid goal” orientation weakens the relationship between visionary leadership and employee knowledge sharing.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature on the effects of leadership on employee creativity by showing that, contrary to western organizations, where a less directive leadership style is generally recommended to enhance employee creativity, in Chinese organizations, visionary leadership is positively associated with employee creativity, but the effect is contingent on employees’ goal orientations and knowledge sharing.
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Jing Ye, Xufan Zhang, Lulu Zhou, Decai Wang and Feng Tian
The purpose of this paper is to explore the psychological mechanism linking green human resource management (GHRM) to the in-role and extra-role green behavior of new employees.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the psychological mechanism linking green human resource management (GHRM) to the in-role and extra-role green behavior of new employees.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the AMO framework, the authors used three-wave survey data from 399 newcomers and 103 superiors in China. This study uses the bootstrapping approach with Mplus 7.0.
Findings
The analysis shows the direct effect of GHRM on the in-role and extra-role green behavior of new employees as well as the mediating effects between perceived insider status and perceived external prestige.
Originality/value
This study expands research on GHRM to the in-role and extra-role green behavior of new employees. This paper also enhances the understanding of green behaviors inside and outside the roles of new employees and provides scientific implications for the green development of organizations.
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Mumtaz Ali Memon, Hiram Ting, Christian Ringle, Jun-Hwa Cheah and Nuttawuth Muenjohn
Yong Wang, Yuting Liu and Fan Xu
Soft robots are known for their excellent safe interaction ability and promising in surgical applications for their lower risks of damaging the surrounding organs when operating…
Abstract
Purpose
Soft robots are known for their excellent safe interaction ability and promising in surgical applications for their lower risks of damaging the surrounding organs when operating than their rigid counterparts. To explore the potential of soft robots in cardiac surgery, this paper aims to propose an adaptive iterative learning controller for tracking the irregular motion of the beating heart.
Design/methodology/approach
In continuous beating heart surgery, providing a relatively stable operating environment for the operator is crucial. It is highly necessary to use position-tracking technology to keep the target and the surgical manipulator as static as possible. To address the position tracking and control challenges associated with dynamic targets, with a focus on tracking the motion of the heart, control design work has been carried out. Considering the lag error introduced by the material properties of the soft surgical robotic arm and system delays, a controller design incorporating iterative learning control with parameter estimation was used for position control. The stability of the controller was analyzed and proven through the construction of a Lyapunov function, taking into account the unique characteristics of the soft robotic system.
Findings
The tracking performance of both the proportional-derivative (PD) position controller and the adaptive iterative learning controller are conducted on the simulated heart platform. The results of these two methods are compared and analyzed. The designed adaptive iterative learning control algorithm for position control at the end effector of the soft robotic system has demonstrated improved control precision and stability compared with traditional PD controllers. It exhibits effective compensation for periodic lag caused by system delays and material characteristics.
Originality/value
Tracking the beating heart, which undergoes quasi-periodic and complex motion with varying accelerations, poses a significant challenge even for rigid mechanical arms that can be precisely controlled and makes tracking targets located at the surface of the heart with the soft robot fraught with considerable difficulties. This paper originally proposes an adaptive interactive learning control algorithm to cope with the dynamic object tracking problem. The algorithm has theoretically proved its convergence and experimentally validated its performance at the cable-driven soft robot test bed.
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Fan Xu, Hesheng Wang, Weidong Chen and Jingchuan Wang
Soft robotics, regarded as a new research branch of robotics, has generated increasing interests in this decade and has demonstrated its outperformance in addressing safety issues…
Abstract
Purpose
Soft robotics, regarded as a new research branch of robotics, has generated increasing interests in this decade and has demonstrated its outperformance in addressing safety issues when cooperating with human beings. However, there is still lack of accurate close-loop control because of the difficulty in acquiring feedback information and accurately modeling the system, especially in interactive environments. To this end, this paper aims to improve the controllability of the soft robot working in specific underwater environment. The system dynamics, which takes complicated hydrodynamics into account, is solved using Kane’s method. The dynamics-based adaptive visual servoing controller is proposed to realize accurate sensorimotor control.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents an image-based visual servoing control scheme for a cable-driven soft robot with a fixed camera observing the motions. The intrinsic and extrinsic parameters of the camera can be adapted online so that tedious camera calibration work can be eliminated. It is acknowledged that kinematics-based control can be only applied into tasks in the free space and has limitation in accelerating the motion speed of robot arms. That is, one must consider the unneglectable interaction effects generated from the environment and objectives when operating soft robots in such interactive control tasks. To extend the application of soft robots into underwater environment, the study models system dynamics considering complicated hydrodynamic effects. With the pre-knowledge of the external effects, the performance of the robot can be further improved by adding the compensation term into the controller.
Findings
The proposed controller has theoretically proved its convergence of image error, adaptive estimation error and the stability of the dynamical system based on Lyapunov’s analysis. The authors also validate the performance of the controller in positioning control task in an underwater environment. The controller shows its capacity of rapid convergence to and accurate tracking performance of a static image target in a physical experiment.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, there is no such research before that has developed dynamics-based visual servoing controller which takes into account the environment interactions. This work can thus improve the control accuracy and enhance the applicability of soft robotics when operating in complicated environments.
Details