Search results

This study aims to address the low thermal conductivity and suboptimal performance of phase change materials (PCMs) by examining the impact of geometric adjustments on their melting rate.

A two-dimensional numerical model was created to investigate the effect of different positions and angular inclinations of the inside heating surface (IHS) on the melting rate of PCM within a latent heat thermal energy storage system. The model analysed the IHS at the centre and below the centre at various positions (10, 20, 30 and 40 mm) and inclinations (0°, 15°, 30°, 45°, 60°, 75° and 90°).

The 90° inclination (vertical) significantly reduced the melting time by 75% compared to the 0° inclination (horizontal). The best melting performance was recorded with the IHS positioned 20 mm below the centre. At a 30° inclination, the maximum reduction in melting time was observed with the IHS at 30 and 40 mm placements. The system demonstrated the highest energy storage capacity of 307.72 kJ/kg at a 75° inclination with the IHS positioned 10 mm laterally, and the lowest capacity of 255.02 kJ/kg at a 0° inclination with the IHS at a 30 mm lateral position.

To address the deficient part of PCM like low thermal conductivity and below level performance characteristics, a structural (geometrical) adjustment was developed to study the effect on the melting rate of PCM without any cost addition. Using the computational model, an optimised thermal energy storage system is developed that can play a pivotal role in improving the applicability of thermal energy storage systems.

This research is novel in simultaneously investigating the numerical characteristics of PCM melting behaviour with different lateral positions and angular orientations of the IHS. A unique design modification was introduced, using a 2D numerical model and simulations to explore the effects under isothermal conditions.

On the basis of the conservation of resources theory (CORT), this study investigates the relationship between social overload and users’ withdrawal intention from social communities on social networking sites (SNSs), with the serial mediating mechanisms of social-psychological distance and emotional exhaustion and the moderating mechanism of (similar) linguistic style.

Data were collected from 489 users in different social communities on SNSs in an emerging market. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the sample data and test the hypotheses.

Results show that social overload has a positive influence on withdrawal intention from social communities on SNSs. Furthermore, social-psychological distance and emotional exhaustion have a serial mediating effect in this relationship. In addition, (similar) linguistic style negatively moderates the link between social overload and emotional exhaustion and that between social overload and withdrawal intention.

This study extends CORT to propose and test a unique research model that clarifies the mechanisms leading to users’ withdrawal behavior from social communities on SNSs. The findings of this study provide implications for researchers, individual users, administrators/managers of social communities, and SNS providers to understand and make better decisions to retain member users.

This study aims to show that employees' excessive work-related use of enterprise social networks (ESN) can be accompanied by some work-related strains, hindering them from continuing utilization of ESN at work. To this end, the impact of employees' excessive work-related utilization of ESN on their discontinuous usage intentions by mediating roles of employees' impression management concerns, privacy concerns and ESN fatigue will be evaluated.

Stimulus-organisms-response (S-O-R) framework has been drawn to support the design of this research. Using an entirely random data collection, 173 ESN users from 10 Iranian organizations were surveyed. The model was assessed using partial least squares structural equations modeling (PLS-SEM).

The results of the study confirm that employees' excessive work-related use of ESN positively affects impression management and privacy concerns, resulting in ESN fatigue. Furthermore, ESN fatigue plays a predicting role in ESN discontinuous usage intention.

According to the obtained results, if work-related use of ESN exceeds a normal threshold (i.e. excessive usage), employees will stop using ESN in their work due to the work-related strains delivered to them, revealing the dark side of ESN usage in organizations.

The use of social media is an integral part of modern life, yet the impact of social media on creativity is a paradox. Drawing on the conservation of resources theory, the authors propose that social media, as an ecological condition, both nurture and deplete resources. Accordingly, the authors investigated two inconsistent mechanisms: creative self-efficacy and ego depletion.

Study 1 established the within-person effects of social media use on creativity by tracking 64 college students for five working days. Using a sample of 493 employee–leader-matched dyads in a national bank, Study 2 tested the entire model. Study 3 is a follow-up experiment based on a sample of 160 participants.

The results consistently showed that: (1) social media use had a positive impact on creativity in general; (2) social media use increased ego depletion and creative self-efficacy, which were two inconsistent mediators; (3) hedonic use of social media reduced the negative impact of cognitive use of social media on ego depletion.

This research sheds new light on the paradox between social media use and creativity and highlights the benefits of the balanced use of social media features. This research has implications for creative stimulation and job design in digital contexts.

The primary purposes of this research are to empirically examine four distinctive technological traits (social comparisons, self-disclosure, information acquisition and entertainment acquisition) as significant determinants of problematic WeChat use among university students and to illuminate their connections with students’ awareness of inattention and declined academic achievement.

The study utilizes two established theoretical frameworks (the stressor-strain-outcome model and the transactional model of stress) to formulate a comprehensive conceptual study model. Data were collected from 770 WeChat users at mainland Chinese universities using a cross-sectional methodology. Primitive analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were employed to test the corresponding hypotheses.

The study demonstrates that all four technological traits significantly influence problematic WeChat use, which can disrupt students’ attention and contribute to declined academic achievement. Moreover, the detrimental impact of awareness of inattention on academic achievement is also demonstrated by the research.

The findings deepen the comprehension of the detrimental influence of problematic WeChat use from the perspective of stress, offering valuable insights for both practitioners and scholars engaged in devising strategies to mitigate psychological problems encountered by social media users.

The underlying mechanism of problematic WeChat use in higher education has received limited attention. This study fills that gap and clarifies the adverse effects of social media use in mainland China.

In light of the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) theoretical paradigm, this paper explores how information relevance and media richness affect social network exhaustion and, moreover, how social network exhaustion ultimately leads to health anxiety and COVID-19-related stress.

The conceptual model is explicitly analyzed and estimated by using data from 309 individuals of different ages in mainland China. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were utilized to validate the proposed hypotheses through the use of online data.

The findings suggest that information relevance is negatively associated with social network exhaustion. In addition, social network exhaustion is a significant predictor of health anxiety and stress. Furthermore, information relevance and media richness can indirectly influence health anxiety and stress through the mediating effect of social network exhaustion.

Theoretically, this paper verifies the causes and consequences of social network exhaustion during COVID-19, thus making a significant contribution to the theoretical construction and refinement of this emerging research area. Practically, the conceptual research model in this paper may provide inspiration for more investigators and scholars who are inclined to further explore the different dimensions of social network exhaustion by utilizing other variables.

Although social network exhaustion and its adverse consequences have become prevalent, relatively few empirical studies have addressed the deleterious effects of social network exhaustion on mobile social media users’ psychosocial well-being and mental health during the prolonged COVID-19. These findings have important theoretical and practical implications for the rational development and construction of mobile social technologies to cultivate proper health awareness and mindset during the ongoing worldwide COVID-19 epidemic.

Social media played an irreplaceable role in young people’s online social life and information consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic. This research focuses on the impact of excessive information on social media about COVID-19 vaccines on Generation Z's (Gen Z) associated psychological states and long-term vaccine advocacy.

The research conducted structural equation modeling analysis with online survey data from 409 Gen Z citizens in the UK.

The findings suggest that excessive information increased Gen Z social media users' ambivalence and conspiracy beliefs around COVID-19 vaccines, which, in turn, reduced their long-term vaccine advocacy in terms of vaccine acceptance, vaccination intention and vaccine promotion. Importantly, Gen Z’s confidence in government and in the healthcare systems during COVID-19 was effective in helping them overcome the detrimental effects of conspiracy beliefs and ambivalence about long-term vaccine advocacy, respectively.

This research reveals the “dark side” of social media use in the post-pandemic period and highlights the significant roles played by social institutions in mitigating the detrimental effects of Gen Z’s support in social decisions. Beyond the context of COVID-19, this research has important implications for facilitating the civic engagement of Gen Z and boosting their confidence in social institutions in terms of social cohesion.

The aim of this study is to investigate how team-level leader-member exchange (LMX) and the instrumental use of artificial intelligence (AI) by team members influence team psychological empowerment and information systems development (ISD) team performance.

A survey approach was employed to collect time-lagged, multi-source data for testing the proposed model of this study (N = 514 responses from 88 teams). PROCESS macro was used to analyze the data to generate empirical results.

The results suggest that instrumental AI use indirectly influences ISD team performance by enhancing team psychological empowerment. Additionally, it moderates the effects of team-level LMX on team psychological empowerment and ISD team performance. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that the interaction effect of LMX and instrumental AI use on ISD team performance is mediated by team psychological empowerment.

While research on ISD consistently demonstrates that teams, data, and technology collectively contribute to the success of these projects. What is less known, however, is how the exchange relationship between ISD teams and their leader, as well as technological factors, contribute to ISD projects. This study draws on LMX theory to propose how team-level LMX and the instrumental use of AI by team members influence team psychological empowerment and ISD team performance. The study puts forth a mediated moderation model to develop a set of hypotheses. It offers valuable contributions to AI and LMX, along with implications for ISD team management.

This paper aims to investigate the use of social media platforms compared to IT-enabled communication in the context of dispersed teams.

We draw on the millefeuille theory to develop a model that examines the impact of multiple media use (namely the millefeuille effect) on team performance. Data were collected from 70 dispersed teams.

We showed dispersed teams are more likely to improve their performance when relying on diverse media, including social media platforms and other IT-enabled communication. We provide empirical evidence that the millefeuille effect does not necessarily impede performance.

An increasing number of companies are implementing social media platforms as part of their media portfolio in addition to the already existing IT-enabled communication, such as email. However, we lack understanding of how the use of different media impacts team performance. Drawing on the millefeuille theory, this study investigates the use of social media platforms in dispersed teams by examining how their use with other IT-enabled communication can lead to team performance. This research introduces and differentiates two measures of the millefeuille effect to explain the different impacts of the millefeuille effect: millefeuille size (the number of non-overlapping media used) and millefeuille diversity (the variety of media used).

This study aims to explore how firms can enhance their innovation processes by effectively utilizing external knowledge and employing digital technologies. Specifically, it emphasizes the role of absorptive capacity (ACAP) in external knowledge acquisition and assimilation (potential ACAP), as well as transformation and exploitation (realized ACAP), highlighting the necessity of equipping firms with digital technologies to support ACAP activities.

To achieve the research purpose, we conducted a structured literature review of academic papers sourced from Scopus-Elsevier.

The key findings encompass the identification of common digital technologies supporting ACAP and explore how these technologies contribute to knowledge acquisition, assimilation, transformation and exploitation. The main results show that social media and online communities are the most studied technologies in relation to ACAP activities. Research predominantly centres on potential ACAP – with acquisition activity more studied than assimilation – rather than realized ACAP – with only social media and online communities demonstrating full support for transformation and exploitation activities.

This research represents a pioneering joint study of ACAP and digital technologies, advancing understanding beyond organizational perspectives and expanding open innovation literature by integrating ACAP role in technology collaborations. A call for qualitative investigations into the relationship between digital technologies and ACAP emerged.

The findings offer valuable guidance to innovation managers, aiding them in selecting appropriate digital technologies to strengthen ACAP activities.

This work’s uniqueness lies in bridging the gaps between open innovation, ACAP and digital technologies, which are often studied in isolation.