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The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of social media-based brand community (SMBBC) markers on customer-based brand equity (CBBE). Moreover, this research evaluates the mediating effect of brand community commitment and the moderating effect of customer gender.

This research collected data from a questionnaire survey with participants who are members of the Xiaomi Community in Vietnam on Facebook (XCVF). Finally, 512 valid and usable questionnaires were tested by applying the structural equation modeling approach.

On the basis of social identity theory, results showed that three components of brand community markers significantly affect two aspects of CBBE. Moreover, brand community commitment plays a mediating role in the relationship of shared consciousness, ritual and traditions, and CBBE. In addition, the influence of SMBBC on CBBE is stronger for women than for men.

The sample selected is limited to only members of XCVF, so the results may have an inadequate view in comparison with other brand communities. This research can eliminate other important variables that can contribute to this relationship.

This research is among the first studies that have focused on the importance of SMBBC markers on CBBE, the mediating role of brand community commitment and the moderating effect of customer gender.

The aim of the study was to investigate the differential effects of interpersonal relationships across functions on product and service innovation, and to examine the moderating role of market competition.

This study was based on a survey of senior and middle managers from 149 pharmaceutical firms in China.

Interpersonal relationships between employees across functions (IR-E) have a stronger impact on product innovation than do interpersonal relationships between managers across functions (IR-M), but IR-M have a stronger impact on service innovation. Market competition strengthens the effects of IR-M on both product and service innovation, but it attenuates the effect of IR-E on service innovation.

Although the effects of interpersonal relationships across functions are crucial to cross-functional interactions, these effects have received little attention in the literature. By identifying the potential “backfiring” effect of dual-level interpersonal relationships, this study contributes to knowledge of cross-functional relationships. It also deepens understanding of the relationship between cross-functional relationships and organizational innovation, especially in the service setting.

This research explores whether, when and why employee identity salience influences content sharing of employee's friends in social networks and further investigates two moderating conditions of network overlap and deal content.

In Study 1, the authors analyzed a field data related to 20,715 users on the largest social network platform in China. In Studies 2 and 3, the authors verified the findings of Study 1 and tested the underlying mechanism with two experiments.

The results showed that employee identity salience could increase sharing likelihood of content receiver, especially when the employee had higher network overlap with receiver. However, when the content contained deal-related information, the receiver was less likely to share this content from employee with salient identity. The authors also found that perceived information credibility acted as a mediator in above relationships.

This research is the first to test the effects of employee identity salience on content sharing by considering both content type and network characteristics. The authors also provide insights into the mediating role of information credibility, which enriches the content sharing and social network literature.

The aim of this study is to investigate the differential effects of pure and creative imitation on customer equity and the moderating roles of market contingency (i.e. competition intensity) and institutional contingency (i.e. enforcement inefficiency).

A lab experiment with 181 subjects and a survey of both senior and middle managers from 149 pharmaceutical firms in China were conducted.

Pure imitation decreases customer equity, but creative imitation increases it. Competition intensity attenuates the negative effect of pure imitation and the positive effect of creative imitation, whereas enforcement inefficiency only attenuates the negative effect of pure imitation.

The findings have significant implications for managers seeking to implement product imitation strategies in emerging economies. They can help managers understand the effects of two kinds of imitation strategies on customer equity. Furthermore, this shows that product imitation strategies should be aligned with various market and institutional contingencies to achieve better performance.

The authors distinguished between pure and creative imitation. Whereas previous studies have investigated the effects of pure and creative imitation on financial and market performance, the focus was on their differential effects on customer equity and the moderating roles of environmental contingencies at the market and institutional levels.

Although coopetition has been studied for decades, most prior studies shed light on interfirm coopetition across firms instead of intrafirm coopetition across functional departments within a firm. To fill the research gaps, this study aims to investigate the differential effects of cross-functional coopetition on both product and service innovations and the moderating roles of environmental turbulence.

This study surveyed both senior and middle managers from 149 pharmaceutical firms in China.

This study discovers the opposite relationships of cross-functional coopetition on product and service innovations such that cross-functional coopetition enhances product innovation but hurts service innovation. Furthermore, market turbulence attenuates the positive effect on product innovation but strengthens the negative effect on service innovation. However, technological turbulence attenuates the negative impact of cross-functional coopetition on service innovation.

The effects of cross-functional coopetition have been ignored in the innovation literature. By identifying the double-edged sword of cross-functional coopetition, this study contributes to the literature by providing new insights into the differential effects of cross-functional coopetition on product and service innovations.

This paper aims to investigate a novel shape from focus (SFF) algorithm based on maximum correntropy Kalman filtering (SFF-MCKF) for solving the problem that traditional SFF methods are weak in de-noising and spatial continuity.

To be specific, it was first assumed that the predicted depth of next pixel is equal to the depth of the current pixel according to spatial continuity. Besides, the observing data are derived from the estimation of traditional SFF and the corresponding covariance of noise is adaptively calculated by the entropy along the optical axis. Finally, to enhance robustness, we systematically conduct MCKF iteratively in four transfer directions that are 0°, 90°, 45° and −45°, respectively.

The experimental results indicate that the robustness of SFF-MCKF facing noises as well as the spatial continuity is better than that of the existing representative ones.

As the proposed method is aimed at precision objects, high demand is for experimental device. Unstable device unregister the source images, which is unfavorable for observing data.

SFF-MCKF can be applied to many precision object measurements without significant drifts, such as the surface reconstruction of metal objects and electronic components. Besides, the computation cost is low, and SFF-MCKF has a wide range of real-time industrial applications.

This paper aims to explore the influence of applied pressure on the tribological properties of the friction component in a wet multi-disc clutch during the running-in process.

The running-in evolutionary was explored in terms of global friction performance. The variation of friction torque and mean COF of the initial 300 engagement cycles was obtained by full-scale tests. Finally, an optical microscope was used to detect the wear characteristics of friction surfaces.

The applied pressure showed a significant influence on the tribological behaviors of wet clutches during the running-in process. The mean COF decreased and then increases with the increase of the applied pressure. A higher applied pressure contributed to more asperity summits being sheared, thus resulting in a smoother surface. Considering a suitable wore performance, properly applied pressure is necessary.

The results provide theoretical guidance for selecting the optimal applied pressure in the running-in of wet clutches.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-08-2022-0256/

The motion picture industry is a cultural and creative industry. Unlike its US counterpart, the Chinese motion picture industry is still developing. Therefore, learning from the US market, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the business model of Chinese movies from the perspective of new product diffusion.

Based on 66 movies released in the US and 21 movies released in China, this paper first compares the diffusion curves of Chinese and US movies through the movie life cycle and box office trends. Next, it analyzes the moviegoing behaviors of Chinese and US audiences based on the innovation and imitation coefficients in the Bass model. Finally, it compares the attention to information of Chinese and US audiences from the perspective of interpersonal word-of-mouth (WOM).

In the USA, a movie’s highest weekly box office is usually in its opening week, followed by a weekly decline in revenue; in China, there is no difference in box office performance between the first two weeks, but a weekly decline in revenue similarly follows. US audiences pay more attention to advertisements for movies than WOM recommendations, while Chinese people pay more attention to WOM recommendations. Neither the Chinese nor the US market differs in the volume of WOM between the first week before release and the opening week, and these two weeks are the most active period of WOM in both markets.

During the production phase for Chinese movies, we should satisfy opinion leaders’ needs. During the distribution phase, we should not only focus on market spending before the movie’s release, but also increase market spending in the opening week. During the theater release phase, we should stimulate WOM communication between moviegoers and thereby attract many more opinion seekers.

Few studies have investigated the Chinese motion picture industry from the perspective of new products. This paper compares and analyzes the diffusion of Chinese and US movies using the Bass model of new product diffusion, providing systematic theoretical guidelines for the commercial operation of the Chinese motion picture industry.

This paper aims to study and compare the friction stability of wet paper-based clutches with regard to the radial grooves (RG) and waffle grooves (WG).

This paper presents an experimental study of a wet clutch concerning the effect of groove patterns on the friction torque and surface temperature. The friction stabilities of RG and WG are investigated with the applied pressure, rotating speed and automatic transmission fluid (ATF) temperature taken into consideration.

The friction torque and surface temperature of WG are larger than those of RG under the same operating condition. The friction torque difference between RG and WG grows with the increase of applied pressure and narrows with the increase of ATF temperature. Additionally, their temperature difference expands via increasing the rotating speed and ATF temperature or reducing the applied pressure; in this way, not only the variable coefficient difference between RG and WG can be narrowed, but also the friction stability of the clutch can be improved dramatically.

This paper explains the thermodynamic differences between RG and WG; moreover, it is verified experimentally that WG has a better friction stability than RG.

This paper aims to investigate the thermal characteristics of the clutch hydraulic system under various oil flow conditions. Increasing the oil flow is one of the most important approaches to reduce the clutch temperature. However, the effect of the oil flow on the clutch temperature remains to be explored.

The thermal resistance network model and the lumped parameter method are used to study the thermal characteristics of the clutch hydraulic system. The predicted temperature variations of the clutch and the oil are compared with experimental data.

Results demonstrate that the larger the friction power is, the higher the temperatures of the clutch and the oil are. However, the temperature growth rates of the clutch and oil present different trends: the former decreases gradually and the latter increases constantly. Additionally, increasing the oil flow within a certain range gives rise to the decrease of clutch temperature and the increase of oil temperature; nevertheless, their variation trends are gradually weakening. When the oil flow is large enough, it brings a slight effect on the clutch temperature rise.

This paper extends the knowledge into the oil flow supply of the clutch hydraulic system. The conclusions can provide a theoretical guidance for the oil management of the transmission system. Additionally, the thermal resistance network model is also effective and efficient for other hydraulic equipment to predict the temperature variation.