Citlaly Palau and Daniel Scott
This study aims to directly compare risk and protective factors of male and female gang-involved youth.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to directly compare risk and protective factors of male and female gang-involved youth.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses the 2022 Arizona Youth Survey data. Gang-involved boys and girls are compared through multivariate logistic regression analyses to examine the relationship between risk and protective factors and youth gang membership.
Findings
Multivariate analyses reveal significant differences in risk and protective factors between gang-involved boys and girls in connection with family conflict.
Practical implications
There is a need for semi-specialized prevention and intervention programming for male and female gang youth. Gang programs should emphasize addressing issues with family and home life more for girls than for boys. School-based gang programs need to similarly emphasize educational commitment and positive peer influence for both gang-involved boys and girls. Improving positive neighborhood attachment through community programming will be beneficial for reducing the likelihood of gang involvement for both girls and boys.
Originality/value
There is a need to improve comprehension of the similarities and differences among male and female gang youth. Few studies directly compare the two groups, and by focusing on risk/protective factors, the results can help to provide direct applications to existing intervention and prevention programming.
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Jianyao Jia, Ming Wu and Bon-Gang Hwang
Although previous research has recognized the pivotal role of mobile social media in knowledge sharing among project members, little is known about what factors affect knowledge…
Abstract
Purpose
Although previous research has recognized the pivotal role of mobile social media in knowledge sharing among project members, little is known about what factors affect knowledge sharing in mobile social media groups (MSMGs). Against this background, using normative social influence theory, this study attempts to explore factors influencing knowledge sharing in MSMGs.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from 205 Chinese construction project members are collected and used for analysis. Ordinary least squares regression by Stata 16 is used to test the proposed hypotheses.
Findings
Concerning role norms, gender difference in knowledge sharing behavior (KSB) is found, while it is not the case for knowledge quality (KQ). Work experience is found to positively affect KQ, but shows no influence on KSB. As for group norms, the inverted-U relationship between number of members and KSB is partially supported. In addition, organizational norms generally exhibit the greatest influence on both KSB and KQ among the three forms of norms.
Originality/value
This study deepens the understanding of knowledge sharing factors in mobile social media environments and affords practical implications for how to make full use of social media for knowledge management within construction project teams.
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Amin Khalifeh, Husam Ananzeh, Belal Mathani, Mohammed Alrousan, Ahmad Samed Al-Adwan, Mohammad Al Khasaawneh and Fandi Omeish
This study aims to empirically examine the influence of transformational leadership on job satisfaction in Jordanian commercial banks through knowledge sharing as a mediator. The…
Abstract
This study aims to empirically examine the influence of transformational leadership on job satisfaction in Jordanian commercial banks through knowledge sharing as a mediator. The data were collected from 232 employees and then analyzed through regression analysis using SPSS. The results revealed that there is a significant influence of transformational leadership on job satisfaction, as well as a significant influence of knowledge sharing on this relationship. These findings imply that if managers adopt transformational leadership, their subordinates can be satisfied with their jobs, specifically if they facilitate knowledge sharing. This study sheds light on improving organizational performance and employee engagement in a specific context and provides excellent direction for future contributions.
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Mechanoreception is crucial for robotic planning and control applications, and for robotic fingers, mechanoreception is generally obtained through tactile sensors. As a new type…
Abstract
Purpose
Mechanoreception is crucial for robotic planning and control applications, and for robotic fingers, mechanoreception is generally obtained through tactile sensors. As a new type of robotic finger, the soft finger also requires mechanoreception, like contact force and object stiffness. Unlike rigid fingers, soft fingers have elastic structures, meaning there is a connection between force and deformation of the soft fingers. It allows soft fingers to achieve mechanoreception without using tactile sensors. This study aims to provide a mechanoreception sensing scheme of the soft finger without any tactile sensors.
Design/methodology/approach
This research uses bending sensors to measure the actual bending state under force and calculates the virtual bending state under assumed no-load conditions using pressure sensors and statics model. The difference between the virtual and actual finger states is the finger deformation under load, and its product with the finger stiffness can be used to calculate the contact force. There are distinctions between the virtual and actual finger state change rates in the pressing process. The difference caused by the stiffness of different objects is different, which can be used to identify the object stiffness.
Findings
Contact force perception can achieve a detection accuracy of 0.117 N root mean square error within the range of 0–6 N contact force. The contact object stiffness perception has a detection average deviation of about 15%, and the detection standard deviation is 10% for low-stiffness objects and 20% for high-stiffness objects. It performs better at detecting the stiffness of low-stiffness objects, which is consistent with the sensory ability of human fingers.
Originality/value
This paper proposes a universal mechanoreception method for soft fingers that only uses indispensable bending and pressure sensors without tactile sensors. It helps to reduce the hardware complexity of soft robots. Meanwhile, the soft finger no longer needs to deploy the tactile sensor at the fingertip, which can benefit the optimization design of the fingertip structure without considering the complex sensor installation. On the other hand, this approach is no longer confined to adding components needed. It can fully use the soft robot body’s physical elasticity to convert sensor signals. Essentially, It treats the soft actuators as soft sensors.
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Haoxu Zhang, Elena Millan, Kevin Money and Pei Guo
This research examines the impact of the National Rural E-commerce Comprehensive Demonstration Project (NRECDP) on poverty reduction and income growth in rural China.
Abstract
Purpose
This research examines the impact of the National Rural E-commerce Comprehensive Demonstration Project (NRECDP) on poverty reduction and income growth in rural China.
Design/methodology/approach
The study develops a theoretical framework, which considers the role of geographical, technological, institutional and cultural factors for the e-commerce poverty alleviation (e-CPA) model. Empirically, this study applies the difference-in-differences (DID) model and the event study approach to evaluate the effectiveness of NRECDP on the basis of large-scale county-level and household-level panel data spanning 2010 to 2020.
Findings
The study found that the NRECDP, as a government-led, information and communication technology (ICT)-enabled, market-based program, has led to a significant increase in per capita output of primary industry employees, as well as in the disposable income of rural residents, especially those in national-level poverty-stricken (NP) counties. The interventions of the NRECDP achieved these positive outcomes through transportation and Internet infrastructure improvement, ICT adoption and human capital accumulation in impoverished towns and villages in remote rural areas. These effects are larger in the eastern region of China, followed by the central region, whereas the weakest effects were found in the western region. However, we found little evidence of the NRECDP increasing household developmental expenditure.
Research limitations/implications
The study findings have important practical and policy implications for rural e-commerce development and self-sustained poverty alleviation solutions. The research revealed the significance of government NRECDP interventions for increasing rural income, reducing living costs, and empowering the rural population in its multiple social roles, namely, as consumers, producers, employees and microentrepreneurs. The local cultural context may also play a role in ICT adoption and entrepreneurship cultivation with a downstream effect on the effectiveness of e-CPA practices. Policymakers would need to ensure a supportive entrepreneur-friendly environment for rural e-commerce development and continue implementing progressive policies for poverty alleviation.
Originality/value
This study explores poverty alleviation issues in China by developing for the first time a multi-faceted framework that is subsequently tested by both county-level and household-level large-scale observations. Also, it is the first study to provide nationwide empirical evidence on the effectiveness of e-CPA in narrowing down the spatial and digital divides in China. In addition to the impact of geography, technology and governmental support, this study also sheds light on the role of culture in the adoption and diffusion of digital technologies and as a source of local entrepreneurial opportunities.
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Hui Shan, Daeyoung Ko, Lan Wang and Gang Wang
This study aims to examine the relationship between managerial ability and innovation efficiency, the mediating effect of digital transformation and the moderating effect of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the relationship between managerial ability and innovation efficiency, the mediating effect of digital transformation and the moderating effect of internal control.
Design/methodology/approach
This study collected A-share manufacturing listed companies in China from 2008 to 2019 and analyzed the data by means of multiple regression analysis, mediating effect test, moderating effect test and heterogeneity test. Finally, the authors conducted robustness test by remeasuring key variables and adding control variables.
Findings
The empirical results show that the higher managerial ability can improve innovation efficiency, internal control has a positive moderating effect and digital transformation plays a partial mediating effect on the relationship between managerial ability and innovation efficiency. Specially, it is found that the mediating effect of digital transformation is not significant in non-state-owned firms.
Practical implications
This study suggests that it is necessary to focus on the managerial ability in terms of both cultivation and supervision, to further deepen the digital transformation from the aspects of firms, government and society, especially to support the digital transformation of non-state-owned firms, and to make efforts to improve the corporate governance mechanism and internal control system, so as to better comprehensively realize the improvement of enterprise innovation efficiency.
Originality/value
Based on the mediating effect analysis of digital transformation and the moderating effect analysis of internal control, this study explores the role of managerial ability on innovation efficiency from a new perspective, expanding the related theoretical framework and research boundaries.
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Kangning Liu, Bon-Gang Hwang, Jianyao Jia, Qingpeng Man and Shoujian Zhang
Informal learning networks are critical to response to calls for practitioners to reskill and upskill in off-site construction projects. With the transition to the coronavirus…
Abstract
Purpose
Informal learning networks are critical to response to calls for practitioners to reskill and upskill in off-site construction projects. With the transition to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, social media-enabled online knowledge communities play an increasingly important role in acquiring and disseminating off-site construction knowledge. Proximity has been identified as a key factor in facilitating interactive learning, yet which type of proximity is effective in promoting online and offline knowledge exchange remains unclear. This study takes a relational view to explore the proximity-related antecedents of online and offline learning networks in off-site construction projects, while also examining the subtle differences in the networks' structural patterns.
Design/methodology/approach
Five types of proximity (physical, organizational, social, cognitive and personal) between projects members are conceptualized in the theoretical model. Drawing on social foci theory and homophily theory, the research hypotheses are proposed. To test these hypotheses, empirical case studies were conducted on two off-site construction projects during the COVID-19 pandemic. Valid relational data provided by 99 and 145 project members were collected using semi-structured interviews and sociometric questionnaires. Subsequently, multivariate exponential random graph models were developed.
Findings
The results show a discrepancy arise in the structural patterns between online and offline learning networks. Offline learning is found to be more strongly influenced by proximity factors than online learning. Specifically, physical, organizational and social proximity are found to be significant predictors of offline knowledge exchange. Cognitive proximity has a negative relationship with offline knowledge exchange but is positively related to online knowledge exchange. Regarding personal proximity, the study found that the homophily effect of hierarchical status merely emerges in offline learning networks. Online knowledge communities amplify the receiver effect of tenure. Furthermore, there appears to be a complementary relationship between online and offline learning networks.
Originality/value
Proximity offers a novel relational perspective for understanding the formation of knowledge exchange connections. This study enriches the literature on informal learning within project teams by revealing how different types of proximity shape learning networks across different channels in off-site construction projects.