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This study aims to address the issues of limited pipe diameter adaptability and low inspection efficiency of current pipeline inspection robots, a new type of pipeline inspection robot capable of adapting to various pipe diameters was designed.

The diameter-changing mechanism uses a multilink elastic telescopic structure consisting of telescopic rods, connecting rods and wheel frames, driven by a single motor with a helical drive scheme. A geometric model of the position relationships of the hinge points was established based on the two extreme positions of the diameter-changing mechanism.

A pipeline inspection robot was designed using a simple linkage agency, which significantly reduced the weight of the robot and enhanced its adaptive pipe diameter ability. The analysis determined that the robot could accommodate pipe diameters ranging from 332 mm to 438 mm. A static equilibrium equation was established for the robot in the hovering state, and the minimum pressing force of the wheels against the pipe wall was determined to be 36.68 N. After experimental testing, the robots could successfully pass a height of 15 mm, demonstrating the good obstacle capacity of the robot.

This paper explores and proposes a new type of multilink elastic telescopic variable diameter pipeline inspection robot, which has the characteristics of strong adaptability and flexible operation, which makes it more competitive in the field of pipeline inspection robots and has great potential market value.

The robot is characterized by the innovative design of a multilink elastic telescopic structure and the use of a single motor to drive the wheel for spiral motion. On the basis of reducing the weight of the robot, it has good pipeline adaptability, climbing ability and obstacle-crossing ability.

With the wide adoption of information and communication technologies globally, digital marketing (DM) has emerged as an important and influential role in the growth and development of firms. However, it remains unclear how small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in emerging markets that normally have limited digital technology resources can gain benefits from DM. Thus, this research aims to investigate how DM benefits SMEs in emerging markets.

Drawing on the resource-based views (RBV) theory and a sample of 156,625 SMEs in Vietnam, this research uses statistical models and examines the performance of SMEs in terms of sales and productivity.

There is strong evidences that the sales and productivity performance of SMEs are positively affected by DM. Furthermore, there is evidence that corporate social responsibility plays an important role in moderating the influence of DM on SME performance.

This finding suggests that entrepreneurs should carefully consider using digital technologies to create DM strategies. This result also encourages local policymakers to invest more in digital technology and boost the growth of SMEs.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the pricing strategies for knowledge payment products, taking into account the quality level of pirated knowledge products, in the context of platform copyright supervision.

This study abstracts the knowledge payment transaction process and aims to maximize producer's revenue by constructing a pricing model for knowledge payment products. It discusses pricing strategies for knowledge payment products under two scenarios: traditional supervision and blockchain supervision. The analysis explores the impact of pirated knowledge products quality level and blockchain technology on pricing strategies and consumer surplus, while providing threshold conditions for effective strategies.

Deploying blockchain technology in platform operations can significantly reduce costs and increase efficiency. In both scenarios, knowledge producer needs to balance factors such as the quality of pirated knowledge products, the supervision level of platform, and consumer surplus to dynamically adjust pricing strategies in order to maximize his own revenue.

This study enriches the literature on the pricing models of knowledge payment products and has practical significance in guiding knowledge producer to develop effective pricing strategies under copyright supervision.

This study aims to develop analytical models that consider product quality and production volume as essential drivers for profitability in the marketplace. It also considers product demand and price dynamics to understand related nuances backed by empirical validation.

The pricing mechanism is influenced by production quality, while product demand is influenced by both price and quality. The study considers cost elements, including production cost and quality loss cost which in turn are influenced by production volume and product quality. It establishes analytical conditions for optimal product quality and applies them to numerical analyses considering four distinct industry settings.

The study reveals that unique solutions exist for optimal product quality at each production level in four industry scenarios. The optimal production volume depends on product quality, and empirical research validates these findings from analytical models and numerical analysis.

This study represents a pioneering effort to investigate operational strategies in both analytical and empirical contexts, thus contributing to the existing body of knowledge in this area.

Construction projects in developing countries frequently face criticism for engaging in social and environmentally irresponsible practices. Therefore, the purpose behind this research stems from the critique, requiring to formulate a comprehensive corporate social responsibility (CSR) framework that integrates sustainable innovation into business processes through stakeholder engagement.

In total, 23 experts from the Pakistan construction industry took part in the Delphi study. Criteria set in terms of diverse backgrounds, organization size, characteristics or experiences of experts.

The finding reveals that the integration of CSR with sustainable innovation demands significant change in business processes, starting from planning, implementing and oversighting stages of project management and a demand for top management commitment to realize sustainable benefits that deliver value to all stakeholders.

Construction projects in developing countries frequently face criticism for engaging in socially and environmentally irresponsible practices. Therefore, the purpose behind this research stems from the critique, requiring to formulate a comprehensive CSR framework that integrates sustainable innovation into business processes through stakeholder engagement. In total, 23 experts from the Pakistan construction industry took part in the Delphi study. Criteria set in terms of diverse backgrounds, organization size, characteristics, or experiences of experts. The finding reveals that the integration of CSR with sustainable innovation demand significant change in business processes, starting from the planning, implementing and oversighting stages of project management and a demand for top management commitment to realize sustainable benefits that deliver value to all stakeholders.

This study aims to investigate the effects of audit committees on the real earnings management (REM) in Islamic banks.

The sample data used in the study were retrieved manually from annual reports of 57 fully operational Islamic banks across 16 countries between 2012 and 2023.

The results indicate that the size of Audit Committee (AC), the presence of independent directors on the AC and AC diligence exert a significant and negative influence on REM in Islamic banks. In contrast, the proportion of directors with PhD and female directors in AC positively influences REM. However, the presence of foreign directors in AC does not impact REM in Islamic banks.

The study used six AC characteristics as part of the corporate governance mechanism to investigate their impact on REM in Islamic banks from 2012–2023.

The study contributes to the scanty literature showing how AC attributes influence REM in Islamic banks.

Brand crises are widespread in the marketplace and how consumers perceive and respond to such crises is crucial for brand survival. This paper aims to elucidate the critical role of brand age in shaping consumers’ negative responses to competence-related versus ethics-related crises, with a particular focus on the Eastern cultural context. In addition, the roles of information diagnosticity and culture are investigated.

In a series of four studies conducted across China and the USA, the authors use a rigorous between-subject experimental design to delve into the dynamics of how the interplay between brand age and brand crisis impacts consumers’ negative responses, specifically negative word-of-mouth and boycott tendency, toward brands perceived as guilty.

Results show that brand age helps mitigate the negative responses of consumers in competence-related crises, yet exacerbates such reactions in ethics-related crises. In addition, information diagnosticity mediates the interactive effect of brand crisis and brand age on consumers’ negative responses. However, the results of the cross-cultural comparison study suggest that brand age exaggerates consumers’ negative responses to ethics-related brand crises only in Eastern cultures, but not in the Western contexts.

The research reveals the dual-edged impact of brand age during crises, enriches the literature that draws on information diagnosticity within the hierarchical restrictive schema theory. It also clarifies the boundary mechanisms related to cultural differences.

The findings of this research provide meaningful implications for brand managers by communicating the oldness of a brand may serve to buffer negative consumer responses to competence-related crises but can exacerbate the consequences of ethics-related crises.

This research offers a novel perspective on the nuanced influence of brand age on consumers’ adverse reactions to brand crises. It clarifies why emphasizing the oldness of brands in Eastern-culture markets is effective in mitigating competence-related crises but often counterproductive for ethics-related crises.

This paper aims to address the gaps in current research by exploring how blockchain technology influences corporate green innovation.

This study investigates the potential of blockchain technology to stimulate the green innovation of companies using the difference-in-difference model with a panel data set of 1,803 Chinese listed companies from 2012 to 2019.

The application of blockchain significantly increases the number of green invention patents obtained by companies but has no significant impact on green utility model patents, that is, blockchain applications improve the quality rather than the quantity of green innovation. The role of blockchain in promoting green innovation is particularly pronounced in state-owned enterprises, non-heavily polluting industries and older companies. The use of blockchain technology helps reduce sales costs and boosts research and development investments, thereby encouraging green innovation. Additionally, a company’s internal control quality plays a moderating effect.

Firstly, previous research on blockchain has primarily centered on its relationship with supply chain management. This article empirically tests the impact of blockchain applications on the green innovation of companies using the DID method. Secondly, current studies mainly explore the influencing factors on green invention patents. This article examines the impact of blockchain applications on both green invention patents and green utility model patents and identifies distinct influencing effects. Finally, this article introduces the internal control mechanism of enterprises into the DID model and explores the potential impact of the quality of internal control on the relationship between blockchain and green innovation.

To understand how retail companies are using TikTok, a short-form video social media platform, this study investigates the use of relationship cultivation strategies and message appeals in TikTok videos posted by the top 100 retail companies. The study also examines the extent to which these strategies influence public engagement on TikTok.

A quantitative content analysis was conducted to analyze the use of relationship cultivation strategies and message appeals by the top 100 retail companies on TikTok. The study also applied negative binomial regression to assess the impact of these strategies on public engagement.

The findings show that the positivity strategy was the most frequently used relationship cultivation strategy, followed by networking and assurance. The analysis also revealed that about half of the videos employed at least one message appeal. The use of relationship cultivation strategies and message appeals had significant effects on public engagement.

This study is one of the first to examine the role of relationship cultivation strategies and message appeals in enhancing social media engagement for companies on TikTok.

The principal objective of this current research is to explore and test an underlying mechanism to solve the inconsistent relationship between supervisors’ developmental feedback and employee creativity. This study also tests the moderating role of absorptive capacity in fully understanding the relationship between two constructs.

A time-lagged survey was utilized to collect data from 317 employees working at information technology (IT) organizations in Vietnam. This research conducted a hierarchical regression analysis to examine the hypotheses.

This research found that employees’ operational skills fully mediated the link between supervisors’ developmental feedback and employees’ creative performance. Moreover, absorptive capacity positively moderated the relationship between supervisors’ developmental feedback and employees’ operational skills as well as the relationship between employees’ operational skills and employee creativity.

This research is one of the first papers to discuss the mediating role of employees’ operational skills in associating supervisors’ developmental feedback with employee creativity in response to the calls of previous studies. To fully comprehend the indirect impact of supervisors' developmental feedback on workers' creative performance, this research also examines the moderating influence of absorptive capacity at the individual level.