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Online health question-and-answer (Q&A) forums have developed a new business model whereby listeners (peer patients) can pay to read health information derived from consultations between askers (focal patients) and answerers (physicians). However, research exploring the mechanism behind peer patients' purchase decisions and the specific nature of the information driving these decisions has remained limited. This study aims to develop a theoretical model for understanding how peer patients make such decisions based on limited information, i.e. the first question displayed in each focal patient-physician interaction record, considering argument quality (interrogative form and information details) and source credibility (patient experience of focal patients), including the contingent role of urgency.

The model was tested by text mining 1,960 consultation records from a popular Chinese online health Q&A forum on the Yilu App. These records involved interactions between focal patients and physicians and were purchased by 447,718 peer patients seeking health-related information until this research.

Patient experience embedded in focal patients' questions plays a significant role in inducing peer patients to purchase previous consultation records featuring exchanges between focal patients and physicians; in particular, increasingly detailed information is associated with a reduced probability of making a purchase. When focal patients demonstrate a high level of urgency, the effect of information details is weakened, while the interrogative form is strengthened.

The originality of this study lies in its exploration of the monetization mechanism forming the trilateral relationship between askers (focal patients), answerers (physicians) and listeners (peer patients) in the business model “paying to view others' answers” in the online health Q&A forum and the moderating role of urgency in explaining the mechanism of how first questions influence peer patients' purchasing behavior.

During crises, notably the recent COVID-19 pandemic, a heightened sense of urgency has manifested as a catalyst for improvement within organizations. The present study aims to explore the influence of a sense of urgency on individual kaizen performance. Additionally, the study delves into the potential moderating roles of organizational culture in this relationship.

Data samples include 481 employees who are working at Japanese manufacturing companies. SPSS software is used for data analysis, comprising measurement test, correlation and regression analysis.

A sense of urgency was found to predict a higher number of accepted suggestions. Moreover, there is a significant and positive interaction effect of adhocracy culture and a sense of urgency on writing and submitting ideas.

As an initial study that empirically tests the relationship between a sense of urgency and individual kaizen performance, this paper contributes to the literature on kaizen, change management and innovation. It also corroborates previous research on the Person-Organization fit framework.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a model for relief inventory ordering considering declining demand and realized shortage (RS) costs. This study is motivated by the overflow of unsolicited items in affected areas, which hinder the urgent relief flow.

This study proposes a dynamic programing model reflecting the change of demand and urgency during relief operations. A solution algorithm for finding a replenishing point of relief is also introduced here.

Relief ordering policy based on the RS cost increases the service level (in terms of time). The service level is dependent on the deterioration rate.

Deterioration is not applicable for all relief items. Therefore, the proposed model is applicable for certain relief items. Additionally, computation of temporal urgency is not included.

The study outcomes can be invaluable for resource planning. The model shows a gradual decrease of ordering quantity and a gradual increase of cycle length. This observation can be utilized for resource (e.g. truck) planning and fewer truck can be used in later stages of relief operations.

This study introduces temporal urgency for disaster logistics (DL) and proposes a relief inventory policy by incorporating temporal urgency. This model highlights the importance of considering declining demand for DL.

Retailer-brand collaborations (e.g. Target–Lilly Pulitzer) attract media attention and generate excitement, and may encourage buying the product right away rather than waiting until a sale. To clearly establish factors that contribute to consumers' urge to purchase retailer-brand collaborations, the purpose of this study is to test the effects of: (1) collaboration duration (limited edition vs ongoing) and (2) perceived retailer-brand fit (high vs low) on consumers' urgency to buy.

Three experimental studies (n = 499) manipulate and test the effect of collaboration duration (Study 1), perceived retailer-brand fit (Study 2) and the combined effect (Study 3) on consumers' urgency to buy.

Findings indicate that urgency to buy retailer-brand collaborations are favourable when products are offered as limited edition versus ongoing (Study 1), when there is high-perceived fit versus low-perceived fit between retailer and brand partners (Study 2) and when both conditions are true (Study 3).

To enhance consumers' urgency to buy retailer-brand collaborations, the partnerships should be limited in duration (vs collaborating in an ongoing fashion). Additionally brands and retailers need to strategically align with well-fitting partners.

Despite the prevalence and success of retailer-brand collaborations in industry, research on such collaboration is surprising scant. Additionally, while previous studies often measure purchase intentions as consumers' response, an understanding of factors that discourage consumers from delaying their purchase (i.e. factors that lead to urgency to buy) help to identify strategies to cultivate greater profits.

We studied seven hydropower license consultations to examine the role of a sense of urgency to reach agreement. Hydropower licensing consultations were studied because the statutory requirement for consultation encourages negotiation, all such consultations are similar, and a negotiated settlement is not a foregone result. Cases selected for analysis met screening criteria. Structured interviews were conducted with participants after the negotiations had been concluded. Respondent recollections were checked against the documentary record. A sense of urgency to reach agreement was a significant factor in the completion of these negotiations; where there was no shared sense of urgency, purposeful delay adversely affected the negotiations. Although a sense of urgency was experienced by at least one party in each case, only a shared sense of urgency at the end of the process proved significant. Delay did not prevent ultimate agreement but a shared sense of urgency brought speedier agreement and greater satisfaction with the negotiation.

Previous research have shown that individuals with high trait impulsivity are at high risk of engaging in problem alcohol use and that drinking motives differentially predicted alcohol use and problems. This study aimed to investigate whether these previously shown associations still existed during the global outbreak of the pandemic, COVID-19, which resulted in a long period of lockdown and raised concerns about the effects of alcohol.

The data was collected from 185 adults between ages of 18 and 35 during the lockdown period (November 20–May 21) through an online survey. Participants completed an impulsivity questionnaire, drinking motives and alcohol use measures.

The results revealed that enhancement and coping motives mediated the effects of positive and negative urgency, respectively, and lack of premeditation facet of impulsivity was directly linked to alcohol use. These findings are partially in line with the previous studies before the lockdown.

Overall, individuals with particularly high urgency and premeditation maybe at high risk for problem alcohol use and may require tailored support for regulating emotions, particularly during stressful life events such as a global pandemic.

Findings may inform prevention and intervention strategies. Individuals with high trait urgency may benefit from more adaptive coping strategies such as learning specific emotion regulation strategies to minimise engaging in risk behaviours in stressful situations.

Findings suggest that traits positive and negative urgency are risk factors for alcohol use through enhancement and coping motives respectively, and these associations are particularly strong during stressful life events.

The speed of integration has been a salient and longstanding topic in the literature on managing mergers and acquisitions. Yet over the decades, speed has also been the subject of extensive debate. While many have advocated for fast integration, others have recommended a more measured pace. In this chapter, the authors reflect on the discussion by canvasing the variety of views on the speed of integration. The work is positioned at the nexus of the literature on mergers with that on stakeholders, in particular its attention to urgency in stakeholder management. It approaches urgency in mergers and acquisitions as a “dilemma of stake,” a new lens on a well-established but challenging topic. The study draws on ethnographic research to examine accounts of speed of integration in a New Zealand public sector merger. The chapter juxtaposes varied views on the topic against the respective arguments within the merger literature. It examines the overarching themes of “go slow” and the “need for speed” by attending to the tensions between a prosocial service ethos on the one hand and a managerialist ethos on the other. The explication of the respective dilemmas of stake shows how participants articulate their views on urgency both in terms of its effects on their individual professional role, their own stake, as well as in terms of the effects on employees as internal stakeholders. The analysis also explores the role of internal and external context in shaping the views on urgency in merger integration. The work concludes by outlining an agenda for future research.

Many industrial salespeople and sales managers think that to close a sale they need to employ manipulative closing techniques during the closing stage of the sales process. That is a mistake. Successful sellers make prospects aware of their needs in the "needs awareness" stage and create a sense of urgency to satisfy those needs. This paper discusses how corporate policies, goal setting (financial and activity) and employing effective information systems can create or diminish the sense of urgency for industrial salespeople.

Application environments of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) include heterogeneous nodes with different packet sizes, transmission abilities and tolerable delay times. This study aims to design a reasonable network topology and transmission timing for these heterogeneous nodes to improve the quality of service (QoS) of networks.

In this paper, the authors treat node urgency and data packets as the basis of network clustering and to extend the network lifetime. The flow, energy consumption and residual energy of a node are included in the cluster head election. We also propose a delay evaluation function.

All the nodes in the network are guaranteed to transmit to the sink nodes efficiently by planning the transmission order in each cluster.

The simulation results show that the proposed method can balance node urgency and data packets path planning, which not only extends the lifetime of the network but also decreases network delay and improves the overall efficiency.

Extant research suggests that managing strategic change has become a key managerial function and this duty encompasses changes in organizational product-market boundaries and organizational structure among many related organizational activities. The need to achieve strategic change arises because of major shifts in the external environment and the subsequent need for the organization to remain viable and competitive in the changed environment. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate if middle managers are likely to adopt authoritative style while implementing strategic change when they sense organizational survival.

“Sensemaking” literature led to development of the authors’ hypotheses and these were tested using the responses of 117 middle managers. The authors used survey-based instrument to collect data and used regression analysis to explicate the responses of the middle managers.

Results indicate that when middle managers sense that the survival of the organization is at stake, they are likely to choose an authoritative style. The authors also investigated the moderating role of organizational commitment, strategic posture of the top management team, and hostile business environment on the relationship between perception of survival urgency and the choice of authoritative implementation style. Only organizational commitment moderates this relationship.

The authors’ data collection was survey based and the authors used a single source for each questionnaire and this process may lead to possibilities of mono-method bias. However, steps were taken to reduce the resultant mono-method bias. The respondents are from a variety of industries and future research may focus on one specific industry.

The first implication of this study allows us to expand research focus on the adoption of authoritative style, a research area that is not explored very much. The second implication of the study is that middle managers tend to focus on their emotions when it comes to implementing strategic changes. Using arguments from sensemaking the authors show that the perception of need for survival or the perception that business environment is hostile will determine how strategic change could be implemented. Middle managers must be treated as more than just the implementers of the directives/fiats/orders/edicts that originate from the top.

Role of middle managers in strategic change management is critical and the authors suggest that the perception of organizational survival at risk leads to choice managerial style by middle managers.

The authors have combined ideas from both the strategic management and organizational development fields to understand successfully the implementation of strategic change in a survival urgency situation. In the past, the strategic management literature focused primarily on understanding strategy formulation process, and the process of implementation was generally neglected. The respondents are from a variety of industries. The analysis indicate that membership to any one firm was not impacting the results obtained by the authors and as such allows for results to generalized.