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Based on the principal–agent and stakeholder theories, this study aims to put forward an intermediary model to verify the intermediary role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in executive equity incentives and corporate innovation performance to improve corporate innovation performance.

The 2012–2018 A-share listed companies’ disclosure of executive equity incentives data was used as the research sample. This study used CSR as an intermediary to explore the relationship between executive equity incentives and corporate innovation performance. A verification analysis was carried out.

The research results show that: a positive correlation exists between executive equity incentives and corporate innovation performance, and executives’ reasonable equity incentives can promote the growth of corporate innovation performance. A positive correlation exists between executive equity incentives and CSR. Implementing equity incentives for executives can stimulate their motivation to assume CSR. A positive correlation exists between CSR and corporate innovation performance. The more a company fulfills its social responsibility, the more it can promote the improvement of corporate innovation performance. CSR plays a mediating role between executive equity incentives and corporate innovation performance. CSR promotes executive equity incentives’ impact on corporate innovation performance and exerts a “complete mediating effect” between the two.

The number of samples and the time span of samples can be expanded in the future. This research has tested the mediating effect of CSR, but other mediating variables may play a role in the process of executive equity incentives in promoting corporate innovation performance. Further research should be conducted to explore the mediating effect of financing constraints and media attention on corporate innovation performance. This study only verifies the influence of equity incentives on CSR and innovation performance of senior executives. In the future, other incentive methods should be explored, such as salary incentives.

Foreign research on equity incentives has matured, but the experience of foreign countries cannot necessarily produce the expected effect in China. More than ten years have passed since the China A-share market began implementing equity incentives on December 31, 2005. As of December 31, 2017, about one-third of enterprises in the high-tech industry that had introduced equity incentives had stopped implementing the policy. Data from 2012 to 2018 were selected to analyze the relationship between executive equity incentives, CSR and corporate innovation performance to explore the influence mechanism of equity incentives. This study provides a comprehensive theoretical framework to examine the interaction among executive equity incentives, CSR and corporate innovation performance. Because most previous studies have focused on the relationship between executive equity incentives, CSR and corporate innovation performance, they are rarely been used as an intermediary variable to explore the impact of executive equity incentives on corporate innovation performance. This study explores the impact of executive equity incentives on corporate innovation performance under the influence of CSR. Moreover, this study explores the mediating role of CSR in corporate governance, which provides a new perspective for CSR research and verifies relevant literature on the mediating effect model.

Research countermeasures and suggestions: the research results are significant for enterprises implementing executive equity incentives, fulfilling CSR, enhancing corporate reputation, improving corporate innovation performance and ultimately obtaining market competitiveness. Therefore, the following suggestions are proposed: establish and improve the executive equity incentive mechanism and strengthen the promotion effect of executive equity incentives in CSR and corporate innovation performance. Strengthen the awareness of enterprises to actively fulfill CSR and give full play to the role of CSR in promoting corporate innovation performance. Improve the profitability of enterprises and focus on the promotion effect of enterprise profitability on corporate innovation performance.

This study focuses on executive equity incentives and introduces CSR as an intermediary variable to explore the influence path of executive equity incentives on corporate innovation performance. Based on the research results, this study takes targeted measures to improve corporate innovation performance and maintain its healthy growth of corporate innovation performance. This is significant in enhancing enterprises’ core competitiveness and promoting the enterprise economy’s sustainable development. Meanwhile, the enterprise has significant reference value in actively fulfilling its CSR and realizing its stable and healthy development.

Employee engagement serves as a critical strategy for tourism and hospitality organizations to support their employees and fight adversity. This study aims to investigate the antecedents and effects of employee engagement and examine innovative behavior as a linchpin mechanism for the relationship between organizational engagement culture and organizational performance.

This study analyzed the antecedents and effects of employee engagement through a hierarchical linear model that considers both organizational- and individual-level factors. The data was collected through a questionnaire survey from employees of 39 hotels in Guangzhou, China.

The results confirmed the significant positive effect of organizational empowerment, leadership and collaboration atmosphere on employment engagement. An individual’s perception of rewards and recognition, distributive justice and procedural justice significantly affected employee engagement. It was also confirmed that employee engagement ultimately improved performance outcomes at the individual and organizational levels. Additionally, the mediation effect of organizational innovation culture on the relationship between organizational employee engagement and organizational performance was confirmed.

Organizations can improve their performance by enhancing employee engagement, which in turn, can be encouraged by empowering leadership and organizational collaboration culture. Organizations can also improve their performance by providing rewards and recognition appreciated by employees and ensuring justice to them.

This research contributes to the literature on employee engagement in the hospitality industry by demonstrating how organizational performance can be improved through employee engagement using a multilevel model. The findings highlight that organizations with engaged employees are more likely to achieve an innovative culture, which in turn, leads to organizational success. This study also confirmed that empowerment, leadership and collaboration culture help improve organizational performance in the hospitality industry.

Stainless-clad bimetallic steels (SCBS) are widely investigated in some extremely environmental applications areas, such as polar sailing area and tropical oil and gas platforms areas, because of their excellent anticorrosion performance and relatively lower production costs. However, the properties of SCBS, including the mechanical strength, weldability and the anticorrosion behavior, have a direct relation with the manufacturing process and can affect their practical applications. This paper aims to review the application and the properties requirements of SCBS in marine environments to promote the application of this new material in more fields.

In this paper, the manufacturing process, welding and corrosion-resistant properties of SCBS were introduced systematically by reviewing the related literatures, and some results of the authors’ research group were also introduced briefly.

Different preparation methods, such as rolling composite, casting rolling composite, explosive composite, laser cladding and plasma arc cladding, as well as the process parameters, including the vacuum degree, rolling temperature, rolling reduction ratio, volume ratios of liquid to solid, explosive ratio and the heat treatment, influenced a lot on the properties of the SCBS through changing the interface microstructures. Otherwise, the variations in rolling temperature, pass, reduction and the grain size of clad steel also brought the dissimilarities of the mechanical properties, microhardness, bonding strength and toughness. Another two new processes, clad teeming method and interlayer explosive welding, deserve more attention because of their excellent microstructure control ability. The superior corrosion resistance of SCBS can alleviate the corrosion problem in the marine environment and prolong the service life of the equipment, but the phenomenon of galvanic corrosion should be noted as much as possible. The high dilution rate, welding process specifications and heat treatment can weaken the intergranular corrosion resistance in the weld area.

This paper summarizes the application of SCBS in marine environments and provides an overview and reference for the research of stainless-clad bimetallic steel.

Several different simulation techniques, such as discrete event simulation (DES), system dynamics (SD) and agent-based modelling (ABM), have been used to model complex construction systems such as construction processes and project management practices; however, these techniques do not take into account the subjective uncertainties that exist in many construction systems. Integrating fuzzy logic with simulation techniques enhances the capabilities of those simulation techniques, and the resultant fuzzy simulation models are then capable of handling subjective uncertainties in complex construction systems. The objectives of this chapter are to show how to integrate fuzzy logic and simulation techniques in construction modelling and to provide methodologies for the development of fuzzy simulation models in construction. In this chapter, an overview of simulation techniques that are used in construction is presented. Next, the advancements that have been made by integrating fuzzy logic and simulation techniques are introduced. Methodologies for developing fuzzy simulation models are then proposed. Finally, the process of selecting a suitable simulation technique for each particular aspect of construction modelling is discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to improve our understanding of how firms can maintain longitudinal satisfaction. Previous research on longitudinal satisfaction demonstrates that the product attributes weight on satisfaction shifts over time. However, the existing literature lacks an understanding of the intervening mechanism. Inspired by the hedonic adaptation theory, this research first argues that the shift depends on the attribute’s variability. Then, it posits that hedonic adaptation might play a mediation role in connecting the attribute’s weight and longitudinal satisfaction. Finally, the research incorporates consumer intentional activities into the antecedents of longitudinal satisfaction.

The authors test a series of hypotheses across two studies. Using the Slope-shift Parameter Theory and Structural Equation Modeling, data collected from smartphone owners in four MBA classes (Study 1) and eight business venues in China (Study 2) are analyzed to confirm the research model.

The findings suggest that hedonic adaptation occurs during the ownership process. It is revealed that both the attribute’s variability and consumption behavior play important roles in sustaining long-term satisfaction, confirming the mediating effects of hedonic adaptation on the relationship above.

The hedonic adaptation theory is applied to study the mediating role of product attribute variability and consumption behavior in sustaining customer satisfaction over time. Three contributions are offered: First, hedonic adaptation occurs during the ownership process; second, the attribute’s variability and consumption behavior both play important roles in sustaining longitudinal satisfaction; third, the mediating effects of hedonic adaptation are confirmed for the relationship between attribute’s variability and sustaining satisfaction and consumption behavior and sustaining satisfaction.

We describe how to improve the accuracy of stress in the application of the hybrid finite element method. The idea is based on the fact that the assumed stress hybrid method is equivalent to both the principle of minimum complementary energy within the interior of each element and the principle of the minimum potential energy in the entire domain. It is known that when a good hybrid model is used for the displacement solution, the stress model must satisfy equilibrium within individual elements and be comparable with the boundary displacements. However, the compatibility in the elements is usually ignored and through variational operation it may be only approximately satisfied. So the stress model cannot approach a corresponding analytical stress field. In the present study, after nodal displacements are solved, we propose that a different stress model could be used to find the stress coefficients according to the principle of minimum complementary energy in each element in order to get an improved stress field.

XML emerges and evolves quick and fast as Web and wireless technology penetrates more into the consumer marketplace. Database technology faces new challenges. It has to change to play the supportive role. Web and wireless applications master the technology paradigm shift. XML and database connectivity and transformation become critical. Heterogeneity and interoperability must be distinctly tackled. In this paper, we provide an in‐depth and technical review of XML and XML database technology. An analytic and comparative framework is developed. Storage method, mapping technique, and transformation paradigm formulate the framework. We collect and compile the IBM, Oracle, Sybase, and Microsoft XML database products. We use the framework and analyze each of these XML database techniques. The comparison and contrast aims to provide an insight into the structural and methodological paradigm shift in XML database technology.

The goal of this chapter is to respond to the theoretical inquiries by scholars who are interested in how the public–private partnership (PPP) models adapt to China’s context where political power dictates economic strategies. We also want to provide suggestions to policy designers who aim to promote a sustainable investment environment for domestic and international investors. We review the literature that explains the upside and downside of PPP projects in contemporary China. (1) We classify the trajectory of PPP evolution into four phases, i.e., emergence, growth, recession and revival. (2) We note that private companies take a disadvantageous position in the partnership compared with governments and state-owned enterprises because of a lack of specialized legislation, unequal competition between private companies and state-owned enterprises and the opposition from the civic society. (3) We identify political risks as the most influential risks. Political risks also lead to the misallocation of other risks between public and private parties that contributes to the high failure rate of China’s PPP projects. Based on these findings, we recommend governments to draft specialized legislation, stabilize the political environment and provide favourable subsidies to local governments to limit the risks involved in PPP projects. We also advise private enterprises and state-owned enterprises to focus on negotiating over task and risk division with governments when they make decisions to participate in PPP projects. This full review of studies on PPP development in China provides reliable recommendations to scholars, governments and enterprises.

Multiple fillers are adopted to study the filler influences on electrical and mechanical properties of the conductive adhesives. The performances of the developed nano-enhanced interconnect materials in printing process are also evaluated. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Micron-sized silver flakes are used as the basic fillers, and submicro- and nano-sized silver spheres and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are adopted to obtain conductive adhesives with multiple fillers. Differential scanning calorimetry measurement is carried out to characterize the curing behavior of the samples with different fillers, four-probe method is used to obtain the bulk resistivity, shear test is conducted for adhesive strength, and environmental loading test is also involved. Furthermore, printing trials with different patterns have been carried out.

The electrical resistivity of the adhesives with submicro-sized silver spheres does not monotonically change with the increasing sphere proportion, and there exists an optimized value for the ratio of silver flakes to spheres. Samples with relatively small amount of CNT additives show improved electrical properties, while their mechanical strengths tend to decrease. For the printing application, the adhesives with 18.3 volume% filler content behave much better than those with lower filler content of 6 percent. The presence of the nano-particles makes a slight improvement in the printing results.

More detailed printing performance and reliability test of the samples need to be carried out in the future.

The conductive adhesives as interconnect materials exhibit some improved properties with optimized bimodal or trimodal fillers. The additive of the nano-fillers affects slightly on the printing quality of the bimodal conductive adhesives.