Search results
1 – 10 of 137Zeqi Liu, Zefeng Tong and Zhonghua Zhang
This study examines the differences in the economic stimulus effects, transmission mechanisms, and output multipliers of government consumption, government traditional investment…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines the differences in the economic stimulus effects, transmission mechanisms, and output multipliers of government consumption, government traditional investment, and government science and technology investment.
Design/methodology/approach
This study constructs and estimates a New Keynesian model of endogenous technological progress embedded in the research and development (R&D) and technology transfer sectors. Using Chinese macroeconomic time series data from 1996 to 2019, this study calibrates and estimates the model and analyzes the impulse response function and a counterfactual simulation of expenditure structure adjustment.
Findings
The results show that compared with the traditional dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model, the endogenous process of technological progress amplifies the impact of government consumption shock and traditional government investment shock on the macroeconomy, leading to greater economic cycle fluctuations. As government investment in science and technology has positive external spillover effects on firm R&D activities and the application of innovation achievements, it can promote more sustainable economic growth than government consumption and traditional investment in the long run.
Originality/value
This study constructs an extended New Keynesian model with different types of government spending, which includes endogenous technological progress within the R&D and technology transfer sectors, thereby linking fiscal policy, business cycle fluctuations and long-term economic growth. This model can study the macroeconomic impact of fiscal expenditure structure adjustment when fiscal expansion is limited. In the Bayesian estimation of model parameters, this study not only uses macroeconomic variables but also adds a sequence of private R&D investment.
Details
Keywords
Zhonghua Zhang, John Chi-Kin Lee and Ping Ho Wong
The purpose of this paper is to address the statistical issues associated with the hierarchically structured data in previous studies that focused on servant leadership. To…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to address the statistical issues associated with the hierarchically structured data in previous studies that focused on servant leadership. To resolve these issues, multilevel modeling methods were applied to re-visit the construct validity of the servant leadership questionnaire developed by Barbuto and Wheeler (2006) and investigate the relationship between servant leadership and job satisfaction under a multilevel framework.
Design/methodology/approach
The survey data was obtained from a sample of 2,089 teachers from 117 primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong. The analyses were conducted using multilevel confirmatory factor analysis (MLCFA) and multilevel structural equation modeling (MLSEM).
Findings
The results revealed the significant and non-trivial variances that were explained at the organization level in the items measuring servant leadership, which justified the use of MLCFA and MLSEM. The results of MLCFA provided empirical support for the multidimensional construct as well as the second-order factorial structure of servant leadership measures at both the individual and organization levels. In addition, the positive relationships between servant leadership and the followers’ job satisfaction were found to vary at different levels.
Originality/value
This study reiterates the importance of using appropriate methods to capture a solid definition of the construct of servant leadership and provides new insights into the conceptual framework of servant leadership as well as the effects of servant leadership on individual and organizational outcomes.
Details
Keywords
Abstract
Purpose
This paper traces the incorporation of western educational histories in the development of normal-school curricula during the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China (1901–1944). It uses publication networks to show how the study of comparative educational history facilitated the international circulation of knowledge in the teaching profession, and how the “uses” of educational history were shaped by larger geopolitical forces.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper analyzes the international exchange of texts between normal schools in China and Japan and, subsequently, between normal schools in China and the United States. A database of 107 publications in the field of western educational history that were adopted in China reveals specific patterns of textual citation, cross-reference, and canon-formation in the field of educational historiography.
Findings
With conclusions derived from a combination of social network analysis and clustering analysis, this paper identifies three broad stages in China's development of normal-school curricula in comparative educational history: “Japan as Teacher,” “transitional period” and “America as Teacher.”
Research limitations/implications
Statistical analysis can reveal citation and reference patterns but not readers' understanding of the deeper meaning of texts – in this case, textbooks on the subject of western educational history. In addition, the types of publications analyzed in this study are relatively limited, the articles on the history of education in journals have not become the main objects of this study.
Originality/value
This paper uses both quantitative and qualitative methods to uncover the transnational circulation of knowledge in the field of comparative educational history during its formative period in China.
Details
Keywords
Zhuming Bi, Chaomin Luo, Zhonghua Miao, Bing Zhang and Chris W.J. Zhang
Since the market penetrations of service robots are only successful to a limited types of services, the purpose of the paper is to look into the reasons why the market…
Abstract
Purpose
Since the market penetrations of service robots are only successful to a limited types of services, the purpose of the paper is to look into the reasons why the market penetrations are lagged from both technical and nontechnical perspectives. Automatic robotic recharging services, especially robotic refueling systems, are used as the case study for the investigation.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper surveyed the relevant technologies and products and conducted the feasibility study and risk management for new development of automated robotic refueling systems. This paper developed a cost model for the evaluation of robotic refueling systems.
Findings
There are no major technical barriers that exist for the development of robotic refueling systems, but two main risks of developing new robotic refueling systems are interference of existing patents and the extreme effort to further reduce the development cost of automated refueling systems. The recommendations have been made to new developers of service robots.
Research limitations/implications
The suggestions are made for further development on service robots, in general; however, this paper does not cover the physical development of service robots.
Practical implications
This study was actually conducted for a client company who has a strong interest in developing new products for automatic robotic refueling systems. The reported work has great significance for new comers in this area to understand the state of the art, technological challenges and some potential risks in the field.
Originality/value
To the best of authors’ knowledge, it will be the first academic paper to summarize the research and development effort on automatic recharging business. The targeted field is very typical in promoting robots in services. Even robotic refueling was proposed at very early stage of robotic application, the market penetration of refueling robots the market penetration is very limited, not because the technology readiness but some other factors. This work has its significance to identify technical and nontechnical challenges to promote robots in services.
Details
Keywords
Jinting Huang, Ankang Ji, Zhonghua Xiao and Limao Zhang
The paper aims to develop a useful tool that can reliably and accurately find the critical paths of high-rise buildings and provide optimal solutions considering the uncertainty…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to develop a useful tool that can reliably and accurately find the critical paths of high-rise buildings and provide optimal solutions considering the uncertainty based on Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) to enhance project implementation performance by assisting site workers and project managers in high-rise building engineering.
Design/methodology/approach
This research proposes an approach integrating the improved nondominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA-II) considering uncertainty and delay scenarios simulated by MCS with the technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution.
Findings
The results demonstrate that the proposed approach is capable of generating optimal solutions, which can improve the construction performance of high-rise buildings and guide the implementation management for shortening building engineering project schedule and cost under the delay conditions.
Research limitations/implications
In this study, only the construction data of the two floors was focused due to the project at the construction stage, and future work can analyze the whole construction stage of the high-rise building to examine the performance of the approach, and the multi-objective optimization (MOO) only considered two factors as objectives, where more objectives, such as schedule, cost and quality, can be expanded in future.
Practical implications
The approach proposed in this research can be successfully applied to the construction process of high-rise buildings, which can be a guidance basis for optimizing the performance of high-rise building construction.
Originality/value
The innovations and advantages derived from the proposed approach underline its capability to handle project construction scheduling optimization (CSO) problems with different performance objectives under uncertainty and delay conditions.
Details
Keywords
Zhonghua Li, Ibrahim Kucukkoc, David Z. Zhang and Fei Liu
Surface roughness is an important evaluation index for industrial components, and it strongly depends on the processing parameters for selective laser molten Ti6Al4V parts. This…
Abstract
Purpose
Surface roughness is an important evaluation index for industrial components, and it strongly depends on the processing parameters for selective laser molten Ti6Al4V parts. This paper aims to obtain an optimum selective laser melting (SLM) parameter set to improve the surface roughness of Ti6Al4V samples.
Design/methodology/approach
A response surface methodology (RSM)-based approach is proposed to improve the surface quality of selective laser molten Ti6Al4V parts and understand the relationship between the SLM process parameters and the surface roughness. The main SLM parameters (i.e. laser power, scan speed and hatch spacing) are optimized, and Ti6Al4V parts are manufactured by the SLM technology with no post processes.
Findings
Optimum process parameters were obtained using the RSM method to minimise the roughness of the top and vertical side surfaces. Obtained parameter sets were evaluated based on their productivity and surface quality performance. The validation tests have been performed, and the results verified the effectivity of the proposed technique. It was also shown that the top and vertical sides must be handled together to obtain better top surface quality.
Practical implications
The obtained optimum SLM parameter set can be used in the manufacturing of Ti6Al4V components with high surface roughness requirement.
Originality/value
RSM is used to analyse and determine the optimal combination of SLM parameters with the aim of improving the surface roughness quality of Ti6Al4V components, for the first time in the literature. Also, this is the first study which aims to simultaneously optimise the surface quality of top and vertical sides of titanium alloys.
Details
Keywords
Christhina Candido, Ozgur Gocer, Samin Marzban, Kenan Gocer, Leena Thomas, Fan Zhang, Zhonghua Gou, Martin Mackey, Lina Engelen and Dian Tjondronegoro
In the rise of offices designed to support activity-based working (ABW), parts of industry have fully transitioned to open-plan environments and then later to unassigned seating…
Abstract
Purpose
In the rise of offices designed to support activity-based working (ABW), parts of industry have fully transitioned to open-plan environments and then later to unassigned seating, whereas other parts, such as tertiary education, are still in the process of moving away from individual offices. There are a few relevant studies to understand how occupants from industry sectors with different levels of adoption of ABW perceived environments designed to support this way of working. This paper aims to contribute to the knowledge gap by providing insight into workers’ satisfaction and dissatisfaction from open-plan offices designed to support ABW along with the key predictors of perceived productivity.
Design/methodology/approach
A data set of 2,090 post-occupancy evaluation surveys conducted in five sectors – tertiary education, finance, construction, property/asset management and design/engineering – was analyzed. ANOVA and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were conducted for the survey questionnaires. First, ANOVA tests were conducted for the whole sample with perceived productivity as the dependent variable. A seven-point Likert scale with five theoretical factors was generated with all survey questionnaires. CFA was performed to show the factor loadings. In addition, regression analyses were carried out for each of factor item taken as the independent variable, where perceived productivity was the dependent variable. Key sources of satisfaction and dissatisfaction per sector were analyzed and differences between occupants reporting a negative or positive impact on their productivity were also investigated. Finally, open-ended comments were analyzed to show the key sources of dissatisfaction based on open-ended comments.
Findings
Workers from construction were the most satisfied, followed by finance and tertiary education. Occupants from all industry sectors consistently rated their workspaces highly on biophilic and interior design. Distraction and privacy received the lowest scores from all sectors. Open-ended comments showed mismatches between spatial and behavioral dimensions of ABW both for satisfaction and perceived productivity. Interior design was the strongest predictor for perceived productivity for all sectors. Findings dispel the notion that ABW implementation may not be suitable for certain industries, as long as the three key pillars of ABW are fully implemented, including design, behavior and technology.
Originality/value
This paper provides insight into workers’ satisfaction and dissatisfaction from open-plan offices designed to support ABW in different industry sectors along with the key predictors of perceived productivity.
Details
Keywords
Xiufeng Cheng, Ziming Zhang, Yue Yang and Zhonghua Yan
Social coding platforms (SCPs) have been adopted by scores of developers in building, testing and managing their codes collaboratively. Accordingly, this type of platform (site…
Abstract
Purpose
Social coding platforms (SCPs) have been adopted by scores of developers in building, testing and managing their codes collaboratively. Accordingly, this type of platform (site) enables collaboration between enterprises and universities (c-EU) at a lower cost in the form of online team-building projects (repositories). This paper investigates the open collaboration patterns between these two parties on GitHub by measuring their online behaviours. The purpose of this investigation is to identify the most attractive collaboration features that enterprises can offer to increase university students' participation intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
The research process is divided into four steps. First, the authors crawled for numerical data for each interactive repository feature created by employees of Alibaba on GitHub and identified the student accounts associated with these repositories. Second, a categorisation schema of feature classification was proposed on a behavioural basis. Third, the authors clustered the aforementioned repositories based on feature data and recognised four types of repositories (popular, formal, normal and obsolete) to represent four open collaboration patterns. The effects of the four repository types on university students' collaboration behaviour were measured using a multiple linear regression model. An ANOVA test was implemented to examine the robustness of research results. Finally, the authors proposed some practical suggestions to enhance collaboration between both sides of SCPs.
Findings
Several counterintuitive but reasonable findings were revealed, for example, those based on the “star” repository feature. The actual coding contribution of the repositories had a negative correlation with student attention. This result indicates that students were inclined to imitate rather than innovate.
Originality/value
This research explores the open collaboration patterns between enterprises and universities on GitHub and their impact on student coding behaviour. According to the research analysis, both parties benefit from open collaboration on SCPs, and the allocation or customisation of online repository features may affect students' participation in coding. This research brings a new perspective to the measurement of users' collaboration behaviour with output rates on SCPs.
Details
Keywords
This article aims to clarify the impact of stock market liberalization on corporate green technology innovation, analyze its mechanism from the perspectives of financing…
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to clarify the impact of stock market liberalization on corporate green technology innovation, analyze its mechanism from the perspectives of financing constraints and environmental management level and explore heterogeneity.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the panel data of Chinese enterprises from 2010 to 2020, this article adopts the multi-point difference-in-difference (DID) method to test the impact of stock market liberalization on enterprise green technology innovation and its conduction pathway.
Findings
The outcomes demonstrate that stock market liberalization contributes to the furthering of green technology innovation. The heterogeneity test reveals that this promotion is more pronounced for private companies, small-scale companies and companies with high information transparency. The mediating effect test shows that stock market liberalization boosts green technology innovation by alleviating corporate financing constraints and improving corporate environmental management.
Originality/value
This article elucidates the impact path of stock market liberalization on corporate green innovation based on alleviating corporate financing constraints and improving corporate environmental management levels. From the perspective of corporate green technology innovation, this article provides evidence from emerging market countries for the economic effects of capital market opening, which helps to further improve the level of green innovation.
Details