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The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the methodological importance of how researchers exit fieldwork to draw attention to implications for participant and researcher well-being.

Reflecting in detail on one researcher’s final six-months exiting fieldwork at a retirement village, this paper critically examines the unintended consequences of participant observation and researcher-participant relationships.

The paper illustrates that difficulties to exit fieldwork can be unintended consequences of participant observation activities and developing researcher-participant relationships. The findings also discuss how fieldwork exit can impose upon participant and researcher well-being.

The findings are built upon fieldwork at a retirement village where the researcher served as a volunteer. Thus, the discussion focusses on participant observation activities that are likely to lead to close researcher-participant relationships. However, this paper aims to serve as a useful resource for researchers when considering how to exit their unique fieldwork contexts “with grace”.

The paper provides practical suggestions to help marketing researchers such as ethnographers, manage fieldwork exits with participant and researcher well-being concerns in mind.

The practical suggestions provided by this paper aim to enable marketing researchers to exit fieldwork contexts “with grace” through reflection and proactive management of the social impacts of their research activities.

Even though researchers acknowledge fieldwork is social and personal by nature, little research attention has been paid to the management of researcher-participant relationships and the exit stage of fieldwork. This paper discusses and addresses this blind-spot in marketing research.

The effect of playfulness climate on employees in firms has been the subject of an increasing number of studies in recent years. Given the growing number of businesses that have incorporated playfulness into their operations, it is possible to enhance the task performance and innovative performance of the younger generation of workers by rationally managing playfulness, particularly when it comes to that aspect of the workplace. Based on the conservation of resources theory, this study aims to investigate how the playfulness climate in organizations influences the change self-efficacy of the millennial workers and how to enhance their task performance and innovation performance.

The authors used a quantitative approach to test the relationship between the hypotheses. The survey population for this study consisted of the millennial workers in the computer sector who are involved in research and development in China. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the built mediation model empirically over the course of the study's three rounds of data collection, each separated by one month. Through the collection of paired questions for leadership and their subordinates, 424 valid questionnaires were obtained.

The examination of the questionnaire results supports the study's theoretical hypothesis, which states that when millennial workers sense a more playfulness work environment, it will encourage them to develop a sense of change self-efficacy. Additionally, they will be better able to handle work-related responsibilities and come up with innovative ideas as a result of change self-efficacy, which would eventually enhance the task performance and innovation performance of millennial employees.

By introducing the mediation of change self-efficacy, this study expands on the application of the conservation of resources theory. The research on the performance of millennial employees is complemented and enhanced by investigating the relationship between the playfulness climate and employees' task performance and innovation performance from the perspective of their sense of change self-efficacy. This study also reveals that managers should foster a positive and playfulness environment in their workplaces in order to manage the performance of millennial employees.

Coordinating low-carbonization and digitalization is a practical implementation pathway to achieve high-quality economic development. Regions are under great emission reduction pressure to achieve low-carbon development. However, why and how regional emission reduction pressure influences enterprise digital transformation is lacking in the literature. This study empirically tests the impact of emission reduction pressure on enterprise digital transformation and its mechanism.

This article takes the data of non-financial listed companies from 2011 to 2020 as a sample. The digital transformation index is measured by entropy value method. The bidirectional fixed effect model was used to test the hypothesis.

The research results show that emission reduction pressure forces enterprise digital transformation. The mechanism lies in that emission reduction pressure improves digital transformation by promoting enterprise innovation, and digital economy moderates the nexus between emission reduction pressure and digital transformation. Furthermore, the effect of emission reduction pressure on digital transformation is more significant for non-state-owned, mature and high-tech enterprises.

This paper discusses the mediating role of enterprise innovation between carbon emission reduction pressure and enterprise digital transformation, as well as the moderating role of digital economy. The research expands the body of knowledge about dual carbon targets, digitization and technological innovation. The author’s findings help update the impact of regional digital economy development on enterprise digital transformation. It also provides theoretical guidance for the realization of digital transformation by enterprise innovation.

Much of the research on overqualification has focused on the negative effects at the individual level. However, in the face of the increasing tendency to recruit overqualified employees, managing the perception of team overqualification can be effective in motivating team members in the current complex and changing business environment.

Based on the person–environment fit theory, this study examines how team overqualification affects employees' change self-efficacy and how it further motivates employees to engage in strategic scanning behavior toward proactive external information gathering and analysis. The data collection for this study was divided into two stages, spaced three months apart. The analysis of questionnaire data from 290 employees and 72 supervisors confirmed the theoretical hypothesis of this study.

When employees perceive a higher level of team overqualification, they will generate more strategic scanning behavior. And the change self-efficacy plays a mediating role between team overqualification and strategic scanning behavior and thus team members actively seek information from the external environment to develop future plans and work strategies. Meanwhile, transformational leadership positively moderates this process.

Firstly, this study extends the positive manifestations of overqualification at the team level. Secondly, this study verifies that change self-efficacy mediates the relationship between team overqualification and strategic scanning, enriching the research on the antecedent and outcome variables of change self-efficacy. Finally, this study verified that the interaction effect of transformational leadership and team overqualification had an impact on employee strategic scanning behavior through change self-efficacy.

This study aims to develop a high-performance nanofluid that can be used in titanium alloys machining. Titanium alloys are difficult-to-cut materials and difficult to be lubricated. This study explored the lubrication performance of various carbon nanoparticles in water-based lubricants for titanium alloys.

The lubricating and antiwear properties of the developed cutting fluid were tested by a tribo-tester. The lubricant performance was evaluated through friction coefficient, wear volume and surface quality. The lubrication mechanism was analyzed through surface morphology, wettability and bonding analysis.

The lubricating performance of four kinds of carbon nanoparticles on titanium alloys was tested and the results showed that single-layer graphene had the smallest COF and wear volume. The interaction between nanoparticles and debris was an important factor that influenced the lubrication performance of nanoparticles for titanium alloy. Moreover, the hybrid nanofluid with graphene and spherical graphite in a ratio of 1:2 achieved a balance between lubricating performance and price, making it the optimal choice.

The developed lubricant containing carbon nanoparticles that can lubricate titanium alloys effectively has great potential in machining titanium alloy as a high-performance cutting fluid in the future.

This paper fulfills an identified need for water-based lubricant for titanium alloys considering the bad tribological properties.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-04-2024-0124/

Vision, audition, olfactory, tactile and taste are five important senses that human uses to interact with the real world. As facing more and more complex environments, a sensing system is essential for intelligent robots with various types of sensors. To mimic human-like abilities, sensors similar to human perception capabilities are indispensable. However, most research only concentrated on analyzing literature on single-modal sensors and their robotics application.

This study presents a systematic review of five bioinspired senses, especially considering a brief introduction of multimodal sensing applications and predicting current trends and future directions of this field, which may have continuous enlightenments.

This review shows that bioinspired sensors can enable robots to better understand the environment, and multiple sensor combinations can support the robot’s ability to behave intelligently.

The review starts with a brief survey of the biological sensing mechanisms of the five senses, which are followed by their bioinspired electronic counterparts. Their applications in the robots are then reviewed as another emphasis, covering the main application scopes of localization and navigation, objection identification, dexterous manipulation, compliant interaction and so on. Finally, the trends, difficulties and challenges of this research were discussed to help guide future research on intelligent robot sensors.

As one of the tomographic imaging techniques, electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) is widely used in many industrial applications. While most ECT sensors have electrodes placed around a cylindrical chamber, the planar ECT sensor has been investigated for depth and defect detection. However, the planar ECT sensor has limited height and depth sensing capability due to its single-sided assessment with the use of only a single-plane design. The purpose of this paper is to investigate a dual-plane miniature planar 3D ECT sensor design using the 3 × 3 matrix electrode array.

The sensitivity map of dual-plane miniature planar 3D ECT sensor was analysed using 3D visualisation, the singular value decomposition and the axial resolution analysis. Then, the sensor was fabricated for performance analysis based on 3D imaging experiments.

The sensitivity map analysis showed that the dual-plane miniature planar 3D ECT sensor has enhanced the height sensing capability, and it is less ill-posed in 3D image reconstruction. The dual-plane miniature planar 3D ECT sensor showed a 28% improvement in reconstructed 3D image quality as compared to the single-plane sensor set-up.

The 3 × 3 matrix electrode array has been proposed to use only the necessary electrode pair combinations for image reconstruction. Besides, the increase in number of electrodes from the dual-plane sensor setup improved the height reconstruction of the test sample.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of disorderly environment on consumers’ preferences for boundaries and the mediating effect of personal control in this process.

The authors examined hypotheses in two studies. In Study 1, the authors measured environmental orderliness, preference for boundaries and other control variables like positive and negative emotions. In Study 2, the authors primed participants’ concept of environmental orderliness and measured personal control as well as the same variables in Study 1.

Consumers in disorderly environments prefer bounded logos more compared to those in orderly environments. Personal control mediates the effect of chaotic physical environment on the preference for boundaries. Compared with the counterparts in the orderly environment, consumers in the disorderly environment have a lack of personal control, thus giving the preference to logos with boundaries.

This paper discusses the mechanism of the process that the disorderly environment triggers the individual’s preference for bounded design, which enriches the research related to physical environment in the field of consumer behavior. However, it fails to examine the influence of disorderly environment on the preference for real bounded products and did not discuss the invisible boundary.

The impact of the disorderly environment on consumers’ boundary preferences, which the research focuses on, has further deepened the understanding of the boundaries, and to some extent, the authors filled the research gap in this field.

Rework is detrimental to project outcomes. However, there is still a lack of attention about rework within the Malaysian construction industry. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of rework on schedule and cost performance, to explore the causes of rework and to propose effective measures to minimise the occurrence of rework in building construction projects in Malaysia.

Using a sample of 114 construction stakeholders consisting of 39 clients, 36 consultants and 39 contractors from the Klang Valley region, the authors investigated the variables on rework through a questionnaire survey. The level of importance of the causes and the potential solutions was ranked and correlated.

From the primary data analysis, the study on Malaysian building projects unveiled the cost of rework to range from 3.1 to 6.0 per cent of the project value and the schedule growth due to rework to range from 5.1 to 10.0 per cent. The significant causes of rework were identified and prioritised. The 18 causes were further categorised into five underlying dimensions by using a factor analysis. Effective rework reduction measures were also given. Finally, the relationships between the causes of rework and the potential solutions were identified using correlation tests.

While this study is limited to rework in Malaysian building construction, rework in infrastructure projects is a potential area to discover new causes and possible solutions.

This paper provides insights into the effects of rework to project outcomes, causes of rework and feasible solutions in reducing rework in building construction projects.

Rework has been the focal point of research; however, empirical studies on rework have been under-represented in the Malaysian construction industry. This paper seeks to fill the gap by conducting an in-depth investigation on rework in the context of Malaysia.

This paper aims to share some experiences and practical activities related to the use and management of usage data in the Digital Resource Acquisition Alliance of Chinese Academic Libraries (DRAA) as a reference for library consortia engaged in providing usage statistics services of e-resources to member libraries.

A literature review and online survey are used to analyze the research and practice of e-resources usage statistics conducted internationally. The case of DRAA is introduced to present how DRAA develops usage statistics services and promotes the implementation of the Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative (SUSHI) to deliver usage statistics to member libraries. Future developments and enhancements are also described.

The main actions taken by DRAA to develop usage statistics services are as follows: development of the DRAA Usage Statistics Portal to provide a single point of access to usage statistics from participating publishers on behalf of member libraries; development of a SUSHI client, taking the lead in promoting SUSHI implementation to automatically obtain usage statistics in Chinese academic libraries; establishment of a working group on usage statistics and the China Academic Library and Information System/DRAA Standards and Recommended Practices Research Task Group to form a long-term mechanism for monitoring and gathering usage statistics; and strengthening of the understanding and application of standards and best practices for libraries and vendors in China. Scheduled enhancements in the future include a deep analysis and utilization of usage statistics, the promotion of Counting Online Usage of NeTworked Electronic Resources and SUSHI to Chinese academic resource publishers and raising awareness about normalizing usage statistics.

This paper has pertinence and wider implications for library consortia engaged in providing e-resources usage statistics services to member libraries.