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In the practice of live streaming e-commerce, the consumer demand is usually uncertain, and the inventory and prices can be decided by brand owners or streamers. To this end, this study examines the inventory and pricing decisions of the brand owner and streamer in a live streaming e-commerce supply chain under demand uncertainty.

In this study, four scenarios are considered, i.e. the brand owner determines the inventory and price (Scenario BB), the brand owner determines the inventory and the streamer determines the price (Scenario BS), the streamer determines the inventory and the brand owner determines the price (Scenario SB), and the streamer determines the inventory and price (Scenario SS).

The results show that the inventory and prices, as well as the profits of the brand owner and streamer increase with the consumer sensitivity to streamer’s sales effort level under the four scenarios. The inventory (price) is the highest under Scenario SS (SB), while that is the lowest under Scenario BB (BS). In addition, when the sensitivity is low, the brand owner’s profit is the highest under Scenario BB, otherwise, the profit is the highest under Scenario SS. Regardless of the sensitivity, the streamer’s profit is always the highest under Scenario SS.

Few studies focused on the inventory and pricing decisions of brand owners and streamers in live streaming e-commerce supply chains under demand uncertainty, while this work bridges the research gap. This study can provide theoretical basis and decision support for brand owners and streamers.

The bridge expansion joint (BEJ) is a key device for accommodating spatial displacement at the beam end, and for providing vertical support for running trains passing over the gap between the main bridge and the approach bridge. For long-span railway bridges, it must also be coordinated with rail expansion joint (REJ), which is necessary to accommodate the expansion and contraction of, and reducing longitudinal stress in, the rails. The main aim of this study is to present analysis of recent developments in the research and application of BEJs in high-speed railway (HSR) long-span bridges in China, and to propose a performance-based integral design method for BEJs used with REJs, from both theoretical and engineering perspectives.

The study first presents a summary on the application and maintenance of BEJs in HSR long-span bridges in China representing an overview of their state of development. Results of a survey of typical BEJ faults were analyzed, and field testing was conducted on a railway cable-stayed bridge in order to obtain information on the major mechanical characteristics of its BEJ under train load. Based on the above, a performance-based integral design method for BEJs with maximum expansion range 1600 mm (±800 mm), was proposed, covering all stages from overall conceptual design to consideration of detailed structural design issues. The performance of the novel BEJ design thus derived was then verified via theoretical analysis under different scenarios, full-scale model testing, and field testing and commissioning.

Two major types of BEJs, deck-type and through-type, are used in HSR long-span bridges in China. Typical BEJ faults were found to mainly include skewness of steel sleepers at the bridge gap, abnormally large longitudinal frictional resistance, and flexural deformation of the scissor mechanisms. These faults influence BEJ functioning, and thus adversely affect track quality and train running performance at the beam end. Due to their simple and integral structure, deck-type BEJs with expansion range 1200 mm (± 600 mm) or less have been favored as a solution offering improved operational conditions, and have emerged as a standard design. However, when the expansion range exceeds the above-mentioned value, special design work becomes necessary. Therefore, based on engineering practice, a performance-based integral design method for BEJs used with REJs was proposed, taking into account four major categories of performance requirements, i.e., mechanical characteristics, train running quality, durability and insulation performance. Overall BEJ design must mainly consider component strength and the overall stiffness of BEJ; the latter factor in particular has a decisive influence on train running performance at the beam end. Detailed BEJ structural design must stress minimization of the frictional resistance of its sliding surface. The static and dynamic performance of the newly-designed BEJ with expansion range 1600 mm have been confirmed to be satisfactory, via numerical simulation, full-scale model testing, and field testing and commissioning.

This research provides a broad overview of the status of BEJs with large expansion range in HSR long-span bridges in China, along with novel insights into their design.

National spirit, as a powerful legitimacy trait, shapes the consistency of a firm’s financial decisions, employee engagement and sustainability strategies. Combining this with resource-based view (RBV) theory, the study empirically examines the dual impact of national spirit on corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance.

This paper utilizes data from Chinese A-share listed companies from 2009 to 2022 and employs machine learning methods to construct enterprise-level indicators of national spirit. In addition, the paper scrapes nearly 3 million ESG-related online news articles from the Baidu news website and uses machine learning methods to measure media ESG attention and sentiment.

The findings reveal that national spirit significantly enhances corporate ESG performance, operating through both internal and external channels: promoting social financing and boosting employee morale. Further analysis indicates that the positive influence of national spirit on corporate ESG performance is more pronounced in private enterprises, companies facing higher levels of credit constraints and firms in polluting industries. Additionally, managerial shortsightedness weakens the sustainable value of national spirit, while external media ESG attention and regional ESG governance efforts further strengthen this effect. Furthermore, different dimensions of national spirit exhibit varying impacts on corporate ESG performance.

This study provides new insights for promoting sustainable development systems in emerging economies and understanding the role of national spirit in corporate social responsibility investments.

This paper shifts the study of national spirit from macro-level cultural analyses to a micro-level perspective. It bridges gaps in the literature by providing empirical evidence on the role of national spirit as a soft resource that influences corporate financial behavior and employee morale. This study provides new insights into promoting sustainable development systems in emerging economies and understanding the role of national spirit in corporate social responsibility investments.

This study aims to investigate the effect of brand authenticity on consumer brand loyalty in the Pakistani frozen food industry sector in the light of the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) theory.

The quantitative approach utilized a survey questionnaire to acquire customers’ perceptions. A simple random technique was used to collect data. About 255 questionnaires were analysed, and the response rate was 72.86%. The measurement and structural model were constructed through Smart PLS-4 and fsQCA.

The findings indicated that brand authenticity positively affects brand loyalty in the Pakistani frozen food industry. Results further proved that brand involvement has a full mediation effect, fsQCA supports the same results, and customer satisfaction has a partial mediation effect. These findings offer valuable insights into the frozen food industry in Pakistan and other countries, allowing them to create successful tactics to engage customers and foster brand loyalty. The findings reveal the complexity and ever-changing nature of how consumers assess brand authenticity in the frozen food industry.

These findings also have implications for the frozen food business’s marketing and brand positioning strategies, particularly its utilization of brand authenticity to attract and retain consumers.

This is the first paper in the frozen food sector from the perspective of brand authenticity.

This research aims to investigate how emerging destinations cope with digitalization of information, where they are in the process and how digitalization of information takes place in destination marketing organizations (DMOs). As a case for emerging destinations that must deal with the negative consequences of the digital divide, the Vietnamese Mekong Delta (VMD) will be examined. A new framework, solutions in general, and potential innovative approaches will be presented.

A mixed methods approach was used. Firstly, a content analysis comprising 68 criteria to examine 10 destination websites was conducted to evaluate the performance of provincial destination websites of VMD. Secondly, the authors interviewed five managers from VMD DMOs to reveal the strategy, status quo and their challenges with digitalization.

Some digitalization is evident in VMD DMOs, with the digitization of tourist information provision developing from analog formats to digital modes. The content analysis of the websites shows that provincial destination websites of VMD perform well with regard to communication but need improvements for transaction, and especially relationship aspects. Emerging destinations like VMD DMOs are reaching the second or third level in the digitalization process. Yet they face challenges with human and financial resources.

This research provides recommendations concerning destination website performance, the process of digitalization and how to promote digitalization and apply more digital instruments to move to the next stages of destination digitalization. Also, suggestions on how to overcome existing challenges/barriers in similar areas of the world are provided.

A new, extended more granulated version of the digitalization framework by Karpova et al. (2019) has been developed. The new model acknowledges the continued importance of printed information, provides information about the sequence of steps how to implement website dimensions, and which instruments are realistic to implement in different levels of digitalization considering the challenges and barriers developing destinations face.

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.

The aim of this paper is to review the literature on the prediction of cutting tool life. Tool life is typically estimated by predicting the time to reach the threshold flank wear width. The cutting tool is a crucial component in any machining process, and its failure affects the manufacturing process adversely. The prediction of cutting tool life by considering several factors that affect tool life is crucial to managing quality, cost, availability and waste in machining processes.

This study has undertaken the critical analysis and summarisation of various techniques used in the literature for predicting the life or remaining useful life (RUL) of the cutting tool through monitoring the tool wear, primarily flank wear. The experimental setups that comprise diversified machining processes, including turning, milling, drilling, boring and slotting, are covered in this review.

Cutting tool life is a stochastic variable. Tool failure depends on various factors, including the type and material of the cutting tool, work material, cutting conditions and machine tool. Thus, the life of the cutting tool for a particular experimental setup must be modelled by considering the cutting parameters.

This submission discusses tool life prediction comprehensively, from monitoring tool wear, primarily flank wear, to modelling tool life, and this type of comprehensive review on cutting tool life prediction has not been reported in the literature till now. The future suggestions provided in this review are expected to provide avenues to solve the unexplored challenges in this field.

As a clean and renewable energy source, wind energy will become one of the main sources of new energy supply in the future. Relying on the stable and strong wind resources at sea, wind energy has great potential to become the primary energy. As a critical part of the wind turbine, the gearbox of a wind turbine often bears a large external load. Especially at sea, due to the effects of ocean corrosion, waves and wind, the burden of the wind turbine gearbox is greater, which brings great challenges to its reliability analysis. This study aims to systematically review the reliability research in wind turbine gearboxes and guide future research directions and challenges.

This study systematically reviews some design requirements and reliability analysis methods for wind turbine gearboxes. Then, it summarizes previous studies on wind load uncertainty modeling methods, including the processing of wind measurement data and the summary of three different classifications of random wind speed prediction models. Finally, existing reliability analysis studies on two major parts of the gearbox are described and summarized.

First, the basic knowledge of wind turbine gearboxes and their reliability analysis is introduced. The requirements and reliability analysis methods of wind turbine gearboxes are explained. Then, the processing methods of wind measurement data and three different random wind speed prediction models are described in detail. Furthermore, existing reliability analysis studies on two common parts of wind turbine gearboxes, gears and bearings, are summarized and classified, including a summary of bearing failure modes. Finally, three possible future research directions for wind turbine gearbox reliability analysis are discussed, namely, reliability research under the influence of multiple factors on gears, damage indicators of bearing failure modes and quantitative evaluation criteria for the overall dynamic characteristics of offshore wind turbine gearboxes and a summary is also given.

This paper aims to systematically introduce the relevant contents of wind turbine gearboxes and their reliability analysis. The contents of wind speed data processing, predictive modeling and reliability analysis of major components are also comprehensively reviewed, including the classification and principle introduction of these contents.

As the complexity and uncertainty of infrastructural megaprojects challenge traditional management models, there is an increasing focus on value co-creation as an organizational strategy to streamline management. However, the role of value co-creation behavior in facilitating the value realization process remains underexplored. This study examines how justice perception (distributive, procedural and interactional justice) improves contractor value co-creation behavior, focusing on the mediating role of psychological ownership.

Ten hypotheses in the proposed research model were tested through partial least squares structural equation modeling using 199 valid questionnaires from China.

The results show that contractor value co-creation behavior is directly and positively influenced by procedural, distributive and interactional justice and indirectly influenced by them through the underlying psychological mechanism of psychological ownership.

The findings fill a knowledge gap by examining the effect of justice perception on contractor value co-creation behavior based on social exchange theory. Discovering justice perception will contribute to contractor value co-creation behavior, and psychological ownership mediates this relationship.

Chatbots are increasingly embodied in business and IS contexts to enhance customer and user experience. Despite wide interest in chatbots among business and IS academics, surprisingly, there are no current comprehensive reviews to reveal the knowledge structure of chatbot research in such areas.

This study employed a mixed-method approach that combines systematic review and bibliometric analysis to provide a comprehensive synthesis of chatbot research. The sample was obtained in December 2023 after searching across six databases: EBSCOhost, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Scopus, ACM Digital Library and IEEE Computer Society Digital Library.

This study reveals the major trend in publication trends, countries, article performance and cluster distribution of chatbot research. We also identify the key themes of chatbot research, which mainly focus on how users interact with chatbots and their consequences, such as users’ cognition and behavior. Moreover, several important research agendas have been discussed to address some limitations in the current chatbot research in business and IS fields.

The present review is one of the first attempts to systematically reveal the ongoing knowledge map of chatbots in business and IS fields, which makes important contributions and provides useful resources for future chatbot research and practice.