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The framework of Six Sigma Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control was applied in this study, and various tools and techniques were used at different stages to implement lean measures to ensure quality. The purpose of this paper is to develop a decision-making framework that assesses key quality performance to ensure that practitioners improve quality and control by modeling and optimizing production processes.

A model of a quality performance index system was established. The weights of factors and sub-factors, which were estimated using an FAHP, were used as a reference for the decision maker under fuzzy uncertainly to make a decision, and thus, results present the bottlenecks in processes. Furthermore, any other factors that may affect the key process bottlenecks must be considered. The critical to quality characteristics were determined, and factor levels were set. The interaction between the factors was analyzed, their significance was studied using the Design of experiments and the parameters were predicted. Finally, quality improvement decisions were made through failure mode and effects analysis.

The implementation results of this research prove that the proposed model could successfully determine the key processes and focus on the improvement of critical quality factors under limited resources.

This study establishes a set of performance appraisal methods for production systems, which can be used for improving productivity and quality.

Knowledge management (KM) is crucial to ensure construction organisations effectively take advantage of existing expertise, engendering faster and more effective decision-making. Most importantly, it helps organisations to learn from past experiences. Despite its increasing academic attention, the implementation of KM is still relatively slow across the construction industry. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to gain a renewed understanding of the extent of KM practices in construction.

Quantitative approach using a questionnaire survey was used to prioritise the 15 critical factors and 9 enables of knowledge creation. Finally, an exploratory factor analysis is used to determine the principal elements of successful KM implementation in construction.

KM in a construction organisation is significantly influenced by knowledge sharing, collaboration, learning from mistakes, employee training and knowledge strategy. On the other hand, knowledge is created mostly through project mistakes, individual constant self-improvement, challenging barrier, review session and brainstorming discussion. With factor analysis technique, three underlying factors impacting KM practices are capacity and capability improvement, long-term commitment and innovation and synergetic working culture.

Questionnaire survey was used as the single data collection instrument. The findings of the current study shed light on the salient issues affecting KM practices in construction but may not generalise to organisations operating in other industries.

These findings can support first-order KM implementation decision-making and enable the exploitation of existing knowledge assets towards achieving sustainable development and competitive advantage.

Effective KM practices are about finding the best ways to deliver the right knowledge to the right person at the right time, enabling informed decision-making and improving operational efficiencies. The contribution of this study is built upon the examination of the underlying factors of KM implementation; the findings provide insights into the core aspects of KM practices, facilitating managers in prioritising KM strategies that are really going to make a difference.

The purpose of this study is to develop and validate empirically a research model that depicts the relationships between the identified key value proposition attributes of mobile value‐added services and the core factors of brand equity.

Survey data collected from 497 mobile value‐added service consumers were examined using structural equation modeling to validate the research model.

The results indicate that the mobile service attributes of personalization, identifiability, and perceived enjoyment have significant positive influences on the key brand equity factors, including brand loyalty, perceived quality, brand awareness, and brand associations. Additionally, the results confirm the significance of all four of the brand equity factors in interpreting consumer purchase intention in the context of mobile value‐added service consumption.

The research results provide insights into how mobile value‐added services may be better designed and delivered to enhance brand equity and, in turn, profits.

While the market potential of mobile value‐added services and the importance of brand equity have both been widely recognized, the development and empirical validation of a model that specifically depicts the determinants of mobile value‐added service consumption from a brand‐equity perspective has not yet been undertaken. Consequently, this study investigates the relationships among key m‐commerce attributes, core brand‐equity components, and consumer behaviors. The research results have extended the application and advanced the understanding of previous mobile‐commerce and brand‐equity theories in the context of mobile value‐added service consumption.

The purpose of this paper is to provide the historical background of genealogical records and analyze the value of Chinese genealogical research through the study of names and genealogical resources.

The paper examines the historical evolution and value of Chinese genealogical records, with the focus on researching the Islamic Chinese names used by the people living in Guilin. The highlight of this paper includes the analysis and evolution of the Islamic Chinese names commonly adopted by the local people in Guilin. It concludes with the recommendations on emphasizing and making the best use of genealogical records to enhance the research value of Chinese overseas studies.

The paper covers the history of Islam and describes how the religion was introduced into China, as well as Muslims' ethnicity and identity. It also places focus on the importance of building a research collection in Asian history and Chinese genealogy.

This research study has a strong subject focus on Chinese genealogy, Asian history, and Islamic Chinese surnames. It is a narrow field that few researchers have delved into.

The results of this study will assist students, researchers, and the general public in tracing the origin of their surnames and developing their interest in the social and historical value of Chinese local history and genealogies.

The study of Chinese surnames is, by itself, a particular field for researching the social and political implications of contemporary Chinese society during the time the family members lived.

Very little research has been done in the area of Chinese local history and genealogy. The paper would be of value to researchers such as historians, sociologists, ethnologists and archaeologists, as well as students and anyone interested in researching a surname origin, its history and evolution.

The participatory method, a major factor for a successful post-disaster reconstruction (PDR) project, is applied in various stages of the PDR. However, the application of this method for PDR involving indigenous populations is underexplored. Therefore, this paper aims to analyze the critical factors that can influence the participatory PDR in the indigenous context.

Two large-scale, indigenous, post-disaster relocation projects after the 2009 Typhoon Morakot were selected as case studies. The qualitative and quantitative methodology (semi-structured interview and questionnaire) were applied in the research.

A participation-friendly policy, community organization, the extent of damage, flexibility of nongovernmental organizations, understanding of the participatory concept and mutual trust were found to be essential factors that profoundly influence participation in PDR projects.

This study contributes by providing guidelines for future participatory PDR projects, especially in the indigenous context.

Seekers who visit professional virtual communities (PVCs) are usually motivated by knowledge-seeking, which is a complex cognitive process. How do seekers search for knowledge, and how is their search linked to prior knowledge or PVC situation factors? From the cognitive process and interactional psychology perspectives, this study investigated the three-way interactions between seekers’ expertise, task complexity, and perceptions of PVC features (i.e. knowledge quality and system quality) on knowledge-seeking strategies and resultant outcomes.

A field experiment was conducted with 119 seekers in a PVC using a 2 × 2 factorial design of seekers’ expertise (i.e. expert versus novice) and task complexity (i.e. low versus high).

The study reveals three significant insights: (1) For a high-complexity task, experts adopt an ask-directed searching strategy compared to novices, whereas novices adopt a browsing strategy; (2) For a high-complexity task, experts who perceive a high system quality are more likely than novices to adopt an ask-directed searching strategy; and (3) Task completion time and task quality are associated with the adoption of ask-directed searching strategies, whereas knowledge seekers’ satisfaction is more associated with the adoption of browsing strategy.

We draw on the perspectives of cognitive process and interactional psychology to explore potential two- and three-way interactions of seekers’ expertise, task complexity, and PVC features on the adoption of knowledge-seeking strategies in a PVC context. Our findings provide deep insights into seekers’ behavior in a PVC, given the popularity of the search for knowledge in PVCs.

The purpose of this paper is to explore e‐commerce development strategy from the consumer loyalty perspective in a Chinese context and to examine the impact of some key factors that affect e‐commerce development in China. The policy implications are also presented.

Data were collected by the wide surveying of trained MBAs with different professional backgrounds. Confirmatory factor analysis and reliability analysis were then used to explore whether the “7C” model of consumer loyalty in electronic commerce is acceptable.

The results show that security and reputation have the most positive impact on consumer loyalty, and playfulness is not significantly related to the potential variable it belongs to. To those enterprises planning to implement e‐business in China, some advice is given; such as increasing the security and reputation of web sites and enhancing communications between buyers and sellers.

The paper gives directions to the e‐commerce enterprises in developing countries about how to improve consumer loyalty and enhance business competence. Online enterprises can build consumer loyalty by improving their web sites and learning about consumers' behaviors to provide customized products and services. The specific policy measures in China are suggested.

While it is known that consumer loyalty is critical to online enterprises' success, little is known about how to build and improve e‐loyalty in the emerging markets. This paper tries to bridge this gap by examining what affects e‐loyalty, to help better understand consumer loyalty in the emerging markets like China.

Previous research has posited country image to operate at two levels: the country’s macro image, based on general politico-economic descriptors of the country, and the country’s micro image, based on perceptions of products from the country. The purpose of this paper is to further explore this premise in a practical study, using a psychometric assessment of macro and micro country images by ascertaining the nature of differences in macro and micro images of leading exporters, the USA and China, for consumers in Malaysia, a top import destination of US and Chinese goods; the images of Malaysian goods were similarly assessed.

The study used a systematic sample, with questionnaires distributed to adult respondents using a street intercept. Interviewers asked every other passer-by to fill out a questionnaire, and stood in close proximity to address any questions from respondents. The study hypothesized that there is a significant difference between country macro and micro image, respectively for the USA, China and Malaysia, and that there is significant relationship between country macro image and country micro image in each country, respectively, USA, China and Malaysia.

The study found support for the reliability of existing country micro and macro image measures, and further refined them for increased validity. The study compared between the countries and found significant differences on both macro and micro dimensions of country image. The US scored highest on technological research, high quality products, standards of living, labor costs, welfare system, industrialization, civilian government, development, literacy, free-market system and democracy, followed by China on technological research, industrialization, development and free-market system, with Malaysia scoring higher on product quality, labor costs, welfare system, civilian government is civilian/non-military, literacy, free-market system and democracy.

A broader study of countries that share geopolitical and cultural similarities might offer additional insights into country macro and micro image.

The study cautions marketers to assess the acceptance of their products in the context of their country’s macro and micro image perceptions in target markets, and steer those perceptions in a manner that would be beneficial to their marketing efforts.

The conceptualization of the macro and micro aspects of country image has been one of the less studied dimensions of country image. This study is the first to address these dimensions from an emerging-market perspective, suggesting that, at the macro level, country perceptions regarding technology, economy, and politics contribute to an overall impression of the country, which would then influence the desirability of its products originating there. For the micro country image, products from countries perceived as innovative, excelling in product design, and producing prestigious products, are likely to be perceived as desirable.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a better method for quality management to maintain an essential level of quality in different fields like product quality, service quality, air quality, etc.

In this paper, a hybrid adaptive time-variant fuzzy time series (FTS) model with genetic algorithm (GA) has been applied to predict the air pollution index. Fuzzification of data is optimized by GAs. Heuristic value selection algorithm is used for selecting the window size. Two algorithms are proposed for forecasting. First algorithm is used in training phase to compute forecasted values according to the heuristic value selection algorithm. Thus, obtained sequence of heuristics is used for second algorithm in which forecasted values are selected with the help of defined rules.

The proposed model is able to predict AQI more accurately when an appropriate heuristic value is chosen for the FTS model. It is tested and evaluated on real time air pollution data of two popular tourism cities of India. In the experimental results, it is observed that the proposed model performs better than the existing models.

The management and prediction of air quality have become essential in our day-to-day life because air quality affects not only the health of human beings but also the health of monuments. This research predicts the air quality index (AQI) of a place.

The proposed method is an improved version of the adaptive time-variant FTS model. Further, a nature-inspired algorithm has been integrated for the selection and optimization of fuzzy intervals.

India’s retail sector is going through a significant transitional period with the internet as a new distribution channel becoming more common. Given the barriers to adoption, the purpose of this paper is to understand the role played by trusting beliefs when engaging with an online retailer. In the Indian market, online vending is expected to increase at a rate of 35 per cent per annum, and by understanding trusting beliefs retailers will be able to develop their market share by developing appropriate and/or innovative strategies.

The work is based on a sample of more than 200 internet customers in India. In understanding the data and the relationships that emerged from the modelling, the authors used a range of tools to analyse the data, including CFA and structural equation modelling. The authors also used descriptive statistics to provide a holistic overview of response profiles.

The study reveals that trusting beliefs are negatively influenced by an uncertainty avoidance culture and positively influenced by a firm’s image and a customer’s price awareness. Moreover, purchase intentions (PIs) are significantly enhanced by trusting beliefs in an online environment. Hence, it leads us to conclude that PIs can be augmented by facilitating and ensuring good quality service by placing special emphasis on timeliness, accuracy and conditions of the order, security and privacy paradigms, aftersales services, etc.

As can be seen, the internet is an emergent tool for retailers in India. By understanding trusting beliefs, retailers will be able to better understand customers’ behaviour and thus design management strategies accordingly. Although this is likely to take more than a decade, as internet retailing becomes embedded it may have a detrimental effect on the historical channel to market, thus altering the country’s retail landscape which is currently dominated by small retailers.

The work’s findings are insightful for those seeking to maximize the opportunities presented by the internet as a channel to market. The works shows how the channel is influenced and thus how it can be managed. In making the contribution the authors provide guidance in terms of operational activity to engage with potential customers.

This paper examines trusting beliefs when using the internet as a channel to market and in doing so it makes a new contribution because it establishes links with culture and other factors. For the research venue the authors use a developing market and therefore the findings are applicable to markets with similar characteristics.