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The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors influencing customers’ willingness to participate in virtual brand community’s value co-creation and help companies better operating the virtual brand community.

Based on social cognitive theory and the features of the virtual brand community, this paper constructed a model of factors influencing customers’ willingness to participate in virtual brand community’s value co-creation. Then this paper quantitatively analyzed the mediating effect and the moderating effect.

The empirical analysis came to the following conclusions: first, in virtual brand communities, customers’ willingness to participate in value co-creation would be influenced by subject factors, environment factors, brand factors and perceived value factor. Second, customer involvement is an important moderator. The more involved the customer is, the more he/she will rely on the virtual brand community. Particularly, customer involvement has a positive moderating effect on the influence of subject factors, while it has a negative moderating effect on the influence of community experience and community trust. Third, perceived value plays a significant mediating role between subject factors and customers’ willingness to participate in value co-creation.

The results of this study can help companies better understand the influence of external factors like environment and brand so that they can better operate the virtual brand community and encourage customers to contribute to the development of the community and the brand.

Most of the existing studies focused on the formation of virtual brand communities and customers’ participation behaviors, but there is limited research focusing on what contributes to customers’ participation in value co-creation of virtual brand communities. This study, therefore, attempts to bridge the research gap.

The purpose of this study is to propose two additions to the existing IS success model to influence usefulness and satisfaction, and ultimately customer loyalty. This study posits that process quality and collaboration quality will significantly influence perceptions on satisfaction, since both considerations are expected to improve interactions between the organization and its customers.

The developed research model was tested in the context of B2B e‐commerce users, employing structural equation modelling‐partial least square to analyze and test the research hypotheses.

Results show that adding process and collaboration quality to the model affects the way system, information, and service quality influences usefulness and satisfaction, suggesting a shift in perspectives and priorities when it comes to B2B e‐commerce transactions. Furthermore, results show that process and collaboration quality have significant effects on usefulness and satisfaction, reinforcing the objective of using B2B e‐commerce systems across supply chain members.

This highlights the importance of improving business processes and enhancing collaboration activities, implying that managers should focus their efforts into enhancing customer service on top of system functionalities and features via B2B to better work with their supply chain partners. However, this study is limited in the context of a Taiwanese supply chain, suggesting that further research consider its applicability in different contexts, culturally and geographically, especially given the fact that B2B e‐commerce enables cross‐border business operations.

This study also extends the IS success model, especially in the context of B2B e‐commerce, by emphasizing behavioural considerations on top of the functional issues present in any information systems.

The purpose of this paper is to conduct the synthesization of LiFePO₄-C (LFP-C) with fine particle size and enhanced electrochemical performance as the positive electrode material for Li-ion capacitors (LICs) with neutral aqueous electrolyte.

LFP-C was prepared by using polyethylene glycol (PEG) as a grain growth inhibitor, and the effects of the calcination temperature and PEG content on the structure and morphology of LFP-C were investigated. LICs using environment-friendly, safe and low-cost LiNO₃ aqueous electrolyte were assembled with LFP-C as the positive electrode and active carbon as the negative electrode. The electrochemical performances of LFP-C and LICs were studied.

The results show that the particle size of LFP-C decreases significantly through the introduction of PEG. Cyclic voltammetry results show that the LFP-C prepared at 550°C with 1.0 g PEG exhibits the highest C_pe of 725 F/g at the scanning rate of 5 mA/s. Compared to LFP prepared without PEG, the electrochemical performance of optimized LFP-C dramatically increases due to the decrease of the particle size. Moreover, the LIC assembled with the optimized LFP-C exhibits excellent electrochemical performances. The LIC maintains about 91.3 per cent of its initial C_ps after 200 cycles which shows a good cycling performance.

The LFP-C is the suitable positive electrode material for LICs with neutral aqueous electrolyte. LICs can be used in the field of automobiles and can solve the problems of energy shortage and environmental pollution.

Both the LFP-C with fine particle size and its optimal LIC using environment-friendly, safe and low-cost LiNO₃ aqueous electrolyte own good electrochemical performances.

The aim of this paper is to study the tribological performance and self-repairing performance of surface-modified nanoscale serpentine powders as lubricant additives in the mineral base oil (5-CST).

Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy spectra and thermo-gravimetric analysis of both modified and unmodified serpentine were performed to analyse their grafting ratio and suspension after modified using a long-chain naphthene aliphatic acid. The tribological properties of surface-modified serpentine as lubricant additives in 5-CST were evaluated and the worn surfaces were investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES).

The results show that the serpentine particles have high grafting ratio, improving the dispersity in 5-CST. When the serpentine concentration of 1.00 weight per cent is used as additives in 5-CST, friction coefficient reduces by 14.80 per cent under 294 N and wear scar diameter (WSD) decreases by 11.82 per cent. The results of X-ray absorption near edge structure and XANES show that the adsorption and tribochemical reactions occur to form self-repairing lubrication films.

The paper illustrates a tribofilm form on the rubbed surface, which is responsible for the decrease in friction and wear, mainly containing iron oxides, silicon oxides, magnesium oxides and organic compounds. The results are useful for further applications in advanced environmental friendly lubricating oils and additives.

The paper is prompted by the US–China trade war and its implications for the sustenance of the multilateral trading system. The two rivals resorted to “self-help” without recourse to the World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement system, flouting the WTO as an adjudicator in trade disputes. This paper aims to analyze the drawbacks in the settlement system and examines the urgent need for a retroactive remedy.

This paper adopts desk-review and jurisprudential analysis of the relevant rulings of the WTO dispute settlement body. Using desk-review, primary sources such as the relevant domestic legislations invoked by the USA and China to trigger the trade war were discussed and critically analyzed.

This paper finds that the unilateral and protectionist actions that characterize the trade war can be linked to the loss of confidence in WTO remedies to redress members’ retroactive economic losses. This finding is useful in arguing for the incorporation of a retrospective monetary remedy to forestall the reoccurrence of a similar trade war and save the WTO from being dysfunctional.

Although, whether there should be retroactive remedies in the settlement system has been long debated, this paper makes a significant contribution by highlighting why the drawbacks in the settlement system have become so prominent in the context of this trade war. This paper strengthens the urgent need for WTO dispute settlement reform to prevent a reoccurrence of another global distortion of trade.

The purpose of this paper is to propose an instrument to evaluate the collaboration quality of sustainable supply chains by considering collaboration behaviour and sustainability factors.

The proposed model integrates Quality Function Deployment (QFD), Fuzzy Analytical Network Process (FANP) and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to assess the efficiency score of each stakeholder involved. A case of a sugar company in Indonesia was analysed as the illustration of the application of the model.

The integrated QFD-FANP-DEA method enables to incorporate collaboration behaviour and sustainability factors in a single assessment model. The results of the case study showed the benchmarking results associated with the performance variance of stakeholders and the number of samples.

Future research could consider other DEA approaches, extend the research by simulating a different number of scenarios and evaluating the improvement/deterioration, and expand the scope of collaboration.

Each stakeholder will be able to obtain the collaboration assessment results, and the improvements suggested by the model.

Smallholders and farmers will be able to increase their benefits by using the existing resources.

This paper provides a methodological contribution by introducing new collaboration quality assessment methods that can accommodate any variance in multi-stakeholders, involve qualitative and quantitative measurements, and benefit all stakeholders.