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This study aims to examine the double-edged effects of guanxi on opportunism and the moderating effects of legal enforceability and partner asset specificity. It thus differs from the current literature, which primarily focuses on the benevolent effects of guanxi.

Based on matched data collected from 268 sales manager and salesperson dyads, this study tested hypotheses using hierarchical regressions.

The empirical test supports the conceptual model and demonstrates two findings. First, guanxi between boundary spanners follows an inverted U-shaped relationship with inter-firm opportunism. Second, both the benefits and drawbacks of guanxi are stronger under the condition of low legal enforceability and high partner asset specificity.

The study did not untangle guanxi into different dimensions and did not investigate how firms should make trade-offs between the benefits and drawbacks of guanxi. Therefore, future research could further explore this question by using a multidimensional approach.

The study alerts managers that guanxi is a double-edged sword, so they should complement it with formal control mechanisms, particularly when they are operating in legally inefficient regions or when their partner firm’s asset specificity is high.

The study offers a more balanced view of guanxi by showing both its positive and negative effects on opportunism. It also uncovers legal enforceability and partner asset specificity as two boundary conditions that influence the curvilinear effects of guanxi on opportunism.

This paper aims to examine how channel whistleblowing intensity affects a distributor’s compliance to the manufacturer’s request and how that impact is influenced by institutional environments.

Based on paired survey data, which was collected from an automobile manufacturer in China and its 211 distributors, combined with secondary data, this study used hierarchical regression analyses to test the hypotheses.

The study finds that channel whistleblowing intensity has an inverted U-shaped effect on distributor compliance. In addition, this curvilinear effect is stronger in regions with more effective legal systems and higher social trust, but the authors do not find perceived vertical control moderating the effect of whistleblowing intensity on distributor compliance.

First, this study enriches the marketing literature by highlighting the significance of whistleblowing and especially its downside in marketing channel management. Second, moving beyond prior marketing studies’ focus on bilateral controls, it recognizes channel whistleblowing as a peer-enforced control mechanism. Third, it identifies environmental factors as shift parameters that alter the impact of channel whistleblowing, attesting to the importance of “discriminating alignment.”

The findings caution channel managers against the double-edged effects of whistleblowing and inform the conditions that amplify this impact.

This work highlights the bright and dark sides of channel whistleblowing and uncovers situations in which it works or fails to promote distributor compliance.

The purpose of this study is to develop an electromagnetic loading method for online measurement of the acoustoelastic coefficients and bus bar plane stress.

A method based on the combination of electromagnetic loading and the acoustoelastic effect is proposed to realize online measurement of acoustoelastic coefficients and plane stress. Electromagnetic loading is performed on the bus bar specimen, and the acoustoelastic coefficients and the bus bar plane stress are obtained by the ultrasonic method. An electromagnetic loading experimental platform is designed to provide electromagnetic force to the metal plate, including an electromagnetic loading module, an ultrasonic testing module and a stress simulation module.

The feasibility of the proposed electromagnetic loading method is proved by verification experiments. The acoustoelastic coefficients and plane stress measured using the electromagnetic loading method are more accurate than those measured using the traditional method.

The proposed electromagnetic loading method provides a new study perspective and enables more accurate measurement of the acoustoelastic coefficients and plane stress. The study provides an important basis for evaluating the operation status of electrical equipment.

Under the condition of small data set, a prediction model of motor magnetic field is established based on deep learning method. This paper aims to complete the magnetic field prediction quickly and accurately.

An improved Linknet model is proposed to predict the motor magnetic field. This is a digital twin technology, which can predict the function values of other points according to the function values of typical sampling points. The results of magnetic field distribution are represented by color images. By predicting the pixels of the image, the corresponding magnetic field distribution is obtained. The model not only considers the correlation between pixels but also retains the spatial information in the original input image and can well learn the mapping relationship between motor structure and magnetic field.

The model can speed up the calculation while ensuring the accuracy and has obvious advantages in large-scale calculation and real-time simulation.

Under the condition of small data set, the model can well learn the mapping relationship between motor structure and magnetic field, so as to complete the magnetic field prediction quickly and accurately. In the future, according to the characteristics of magnetic field distribution, it will lay a foundation for solving the problems of rapid optimization, real-time simulation and physical field control of electrical equipment.

By distinguishing between core business service and value-added service in mobile payment applications, this paper aims to incorporate point mechanisms (point rewarding and point exchanging) into these two separated roles of services to understand user loyalty formation. Specifically, this study aims to examine the mediating role of need satisfaction and perceived value in the relationships between point mechanisms and user loyalty.

Drawing upon self-determination theory and perceived value lens, this study develops a theoretical model that examines the mediation effects of multiple psychological outcomes on the relationships between point mechanisms (point rewarding and point exchanging) and user loyalty in the context of mobile payment. Data were collected from 731 users of a leading mobile payment application in China through an online survey. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the hypothesized relationships.

Empirical results suggest that point rewarding enhances users’ need satisfaction of core service, whereas point exchanging increases users' perceived value of additional value-added service. Results also reveal that need satisfaction and perceived value mediate the relationships between point mechanisms (i.e. point rewarding and point exchanging) and user loyalty. In sum, the findings enhance our understanding of user loyalty formation from a dual channeling perspective.

This study informs the managers of mobile payment applications on how to build user loyalty by enhancing users' experience of core business service and value-added service through point mechanism implementation.

This study highlights the importance of both core business service and value-added service in mobile payment applications and provides new insights into the effects of point mechanisms on user loyalty by considering different service routes. Additionally, this study uncovers the mediation mechanisms of users' need satisfaction of core service and users' perceived value of additional value-added service on the two service routes, which further enrich our understanding regarding the user loyalty formation of mobile payment applications.

The purpose of this research is to examine the holistic impact of expanded servicescape stimuli (physical, social, socio-symbolic, natural) on the decision-making processes (emotional, attitudinal, normative, and control) of fitness center members and consequently, the indirect effects on behavioral intentions (response) within the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) model.

A total of 336 fitness center members were reached using the convenience sampling method. The fundamental methodological principles of structural equation modeling (SEM) were followed to validate the proposed theoretical model and test the hypotheses.

The results revealed that the holistic servicescape stimuli of fitness centers affect the emotional, normative, attitudinal, and control variables in the psychological decision-making processes of members, thereby influencing their intentions to maintain their fitness center memberships.

This study significantly advances the literature by empirically demonstrating the combined effects of expanded servicescape stimuli on the decision-making processes of fitness center customers. Thus, providing valuable insights for both academics and practitioners in environmental psychology and sports marketing.

This paper considers an e-tailer planning to distribute a product under one direct sales channel and multiple asymmetric agency platforms. Based on the multinomial logit (MNL) choice model, this study optimizes the pricing strategy and channel selection strategy to maximize the e-tailer’s profit.

A two-stage channel selection and pricing problem is formulated, where the profit-maximizing e-tailer first optimally selects a specified number of agency platforms from a set of alternatives to distribute the product and then determines the optimal prices in those channels.

An optimal pricing strategy is proposed to maximize the e-tailer’s total profit on multiple asymmetric channels. The results show that the e-tailer can obtain a higher profit by selling products on more asymmetric agency platforms. Moreover, an effective channel selection algorithm is provided to help the e-tailer optimally select the M agency platforms from N alternatives.

This study enriches the relevant research on multichannel selection and pricing by proposing an optimal pricing strategy and an effective channel selection algorithm. Evaluation results based on real-world industrial data show that the proposed optimal multichannel pricing strategy in this paper can significantly improve the profit of a real-world e-tailer compared to the e-tailer’s actual profit.

This study aims to investigate how social capital (e.g. cognitive and relational) influences students’ trust (e.g. cognitive and affective) as mediator variables, affecting students’ information sharing activity on Facebook.

The sample consists of 398 valid participants obtained through an online survey and using structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the research hypotheses.

The empirical results indicate that social capital has significant and positive effects on students’ trust (e.g. cognitive and affective-based trust), also mediator variables. Furthermore, the mediator variables partially mediate social capital and information sharing based on the concept of cognition-affection-behavior (CAB).

This study was limited to Indonesian students. Therefore, future study is needed to analyze across cultures and regions. It can help practitioners, regulators and researchers to observe the dynamic behavior on the impact of social capital on social media users’ activities.

Education stakeholders (e.g. lecturers and teachers) can identify the students’ goal and rational concerns to improve their social capital and trust to share information. The government as a regulator needs to support students’ activities on social media to provide updated information regarding economic and social conditions during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study contributes to the literature on virtual communities. Specifically, it considers how social capital influences trust, which subsequently affects information sharing based on the CAB context among Indonesian student’ Facebook users.

This study aims to evaluate the impact of a sustainable production action on consumer trust and purchase intention by a company involved in moral transgression and also analyze the effect on consumer trust and purchase intention if a company, after green marketing, is identified as greenwashing spreader.

This quantitative nature (n = 121) study uses scale’s discriminant and convergent validity analyses, structural equation modeling and Student’s t-test.

Even for previously morally transgressive brands, actions of social legitimation, such as embracing environmental causes, positively impact consumer trust and purchase intention. However, consumers drop brand trust and purchase intention when verifying that this action was greenwashing.

Mediating or moderating variables of ecological awareness, such as religiosity or political view, were not tested.

This article combines the impact of positive, sustainable management actions for morally transgressive companies and the effects of new transgression on their sustainable management action. Thus, it aims to reduce the gap between organizational practice and management research.

This article shows that embracing society’s emerging causes and helping the world be a better place to live, moving toward the 2030 United Nations agenda, have practical repercussions for organizations.

This article contributes both to the literature and managerial implications by combining the impact of positive, sustainable management actions for morally transgressive companies and the effects of new transgression on their sustainable management action, thus reducing the gap between management research and organizational practice by unveiling the relations between sustainable actions and their perceived consequences.

This study aims to evaluate the impact of several factors on the continuance participation intention of service providers in the sharing economy business model, i.e. food delivery application (FDA) service.

Based on primary data collected from 282 service providers, this study used partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to validate measurement scales and the proposed model.

The SEM analysis revealed that service providers’ intention to continue participating was influenced by perceived social benefit, perceived economic benefit and the corporate image of the service enabler. Notably, the relationship between perceived social benefit and continuance participation intention is moderated by the service enabler’s corporate image. Furthermore, this study identified four antecedents that impact on perceived benefit of service providers, namely, market attractiveness, and marketing capabilities of service enabler, delivery quality and customers’ positive affective response. However, the effect of marketing capabilities of the service enabler on perceived economic benefit was found to be irrelevant.

This study enriches the authors’ understanding of the factors that promote service providers’ intention to continue participating in the sharing economy business model, particularly within the context of FDAs. Based on the findings, the study offers both theoretical and practical implications for service enablers, policymakers and technology providers to enhance stakeholder engagement in the sharing economy business model.