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This study empirically investigates how source factors of the streamers affect swift guanxi between the streamers and consumers and their subsequent impacts on consumers’ purchase intentions in live stream e-commerce in China.

Drawing on source credibility theory (Weiss, 1974) and source attractiveness theory (McGuire, 1985), our study hypothesizes that the expertise, similarity, familiarity and likability of streamers are such source factors. For this empirical investigation, the study conducted online surveys with 428 adult Chinese consumers with previous purchasing experience on live-streaming platforms.

The study found positive effects with source expertise, familiarity and likeability on swift guanxi and purchase intentions; however, we found no such positive effect for source similarity. Overall, our findings suggest that source factors can have significant effects on swift guanxi and that swift guanxi constructed with source factors can have subsequent effects on purchase intentions.

This study conceptualizes and empirically tests the role of streamer credibility and attractiveness in live stream e-commerce.

This study aims to provide a new perspective on the impact of mortality threats on consumer behavior through the lens of brand anthropomorphism. It examines the mediating effects of control and connectedness motives and the moderating effects of brand roles on the relationship between mediators and brand attitudes.

A preliminary study explored the relationship between pandemic-induced mortality threats and attitudes toward anthropomorphized brands. Study 1 investigated the underlying mechanism, and Study 2 examined the moderating effects of servant or partner roles. Study 3 confirmed the mortality threat effect on anthropomorphic brand attitudes in the absence of the pandemic.

The study revealed that mortality threats enhanced the desire for control and connectedness, which strengthened attitudes toward anthropomorphized brands. The results also indicated matching effects between the motivations for anthropomorphism and brand roles.

This research offers novel insights into the effects of pandemic-induced mortality threats and mortality threats in non-pandemic contexts on anthropomorphic motives. It highlights the influence of these psychological needs on consumer responses to brand roles and provides insights for brand management during a crisis.

In recent years, augmented reality (AR) emerged as a notable technology within the fashion industry, enhancing consumers’ shopping experience by offering virtual try-on (VTO). To comprehensively understand female apparel consumers’ adoption intentions of this novel shopping tool, this study expanded the Technology Acceptance Model by incorporating constructs from Innovation Diffusion Theory and two psychological factors – fit confidence (FC) and body esteem (BE).

This study used a scenario-based design where participants imagined dress shopping, watched a video of a woman using an AR-based VTO app and then completed a survey. The sample included a total of 388 U.S. female participants.

The findings demonstrated the explanatory power of the research model and highlighted important factors affecting adoption decisions. Among the five innovative dimensions, relative advantage, complexity and trialability significantly impacted perceived ease of use (PEOU) and/or perceived usefulness (PU). PEOU, PU, FC and BE all significantly affected attitude and purchase intention, with attitude partially mediating the effects on intention.

Findings highlight that retailers can enhance AR-based VTO adoption by promoting its relative advantages, such as convenience and personalization, and by offering free trials or demos to increase the PEOU. Furthermore, designing AR-VTO features with inclusivity and body positivity can address consumer concerns about fit and body image, improving engagement and satisfaction. These insights provide actionable strategies for technology developers and retailers aiming to create consumer-centric shopping experiences.

This study examined both technological and psychological antecedents, providing researchers and marketers with a comprehensive understanding of fashion consumers’ shopping experiences using AR-based VTO.

Fire safety is a pivotal requirement in building codes. Prescribed design criteria have been the norm to achieve it, which imposes limitations on engineers, including the inability to accommodate new solutions/materials. The shift towards performance-based design offers the potential to address shortcomings of the prescribed design. However, this shift also significantly increases the workload on structural engineers without a corresponding increase in their engineering fees. Simplified design tools are needed to assist engineers in this transition.

The paper is divided into sections investigating equivalent standard fire duration, thermal deformations, flexural behaviour and shear capacity of flat slabs when exposed to fire. The first section conducts a parametric study correlating equivalent and realistic fire durations using the average internal temperature profile (AITP) method, resulting in statistical equations estimating equivalent fire duration. The second section evaluates thermal deformations and flexural behaviour through a parametric study considering various parameters. This section results in statistical equations estimating thermal deformations and flexural behaviour of flat slab sections during fire exposure. The final section focuses on shear capacity, developing simplified heat transfer formulas and statistical equations predicting compression zone depth reduction. The section presents methodologies predicting flat slab sections' one-way and two-way shear capacities during fire exposure.

Structural engineers can use the proposed methods for daily design work without applying complex heat transfer calculations. When the equivalent standard fire duration is utilized, a flat slab’s thermal deformations, flexural behaviour and shear capacity under an actual fire condition can be calculated. As such, the methods would be highly beneficial in assessing the structural integrity of a building during an active fire incident.

The paper provides engineers with the tools required to evaluate the safety of flat slab sections during fire exposure. The methodologies presented in the paper enable engineers to use performance-based design for slab sections by (1) converting any real fire scenario to a standard fire with an equivalent duration, (2) assessing their thermal behaviour, (3) evaluating their flexural behaviour and (4) evaluating their flexural and shear capacities. The paper concludes with a case study example demonstrating the detailed application of the developed methods.

Conspicuously absent from the branding literature is research on the brand-to-brand (Br2Br) interface enabled by social media. The author proposes how networked brands-as-actors integrate their resources as Br2Br interactions that co-create consumer–brand value. As a secondary contribution, the author provides an empirical baseline exploration of the value co-creating impact of Br2Br interactions on consumer–brand evaluations and social media engagement.

Three streams of research aid in conceptualizing the value co-creating process of Br2Br interactions. A follow-up exploratory study uses a controlled Br2Br interaction stimulus in a 2 × 2 × 2 between-subjects design, where brand familiarity and product category complementarity are manipulated, and interaction spillover effects are analyzed using structural equation modeling.

The author finds Br2Br interactions positively affect consumer–brand evaluations and social media engagement likelihood. Spillover effects of these interactions are symmetric for consumer–brand evaluations for both brands. However, brand familiarity moderates the effects of Br2Br interactions on consumer–brand evaluations.

The author lays the groundwork for future research on the complexities of Br2Br interactions – including brand personality conflict, interaction duration and paratextual language – and the boundary conditions for Br2Br and brand-to-consumer relationships.

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.

To meet an ever - increasing urbanization demand, urban complex projects have evolved to form the development type of HOPSCA (an acronym for Hotel, Office, Park, Shopping mall, Convention and Apartment, representing a new type of urban complex). Its integrated functions, complex structures and superior siting expose HOPSCA’s construction phase to higher and more uncertain safety risks. Despite this, research on construction safety risks of large urban complexes is scarce. This study addresses this by introducing the interval ordinal priority approach (Interval-OPA) method to build a safety risk assessment model for HOPSCA, targeting its construction safety risk management.

This study initially identifies risk factors via literature review, field survey and three Delphi method rounds, forming a construction safety risk list of HOPSCA projects. Then, Interval-OPA is employed to create a safety risk assessment model, and its validity confirmed through a representative case study of an ongoing project. Lastly, uncertainty and weighting analyses of the model results identify the most probable major construction accidents, safety risk factors and targeted prevention strategies for the urban complex projects construction phase.

The findings reveal that (1) there are 33 construction safety risks in HOPSCA’s construction phase across 4 aspects: “man-machine-environment-management”; (2) object strikes are the most prominent of accidents and need to be prioritized for prevention, especially when managerial risks are arising; (3) falls from heights are evaluated with the highest level of uncertainty, which represents an ambiguous area for safety management and (4) the result of the risk evaluation shows that there are nine critical construction safety risk factors for the HOPSCA project and that most of the management-level risk factors have high uncertainty. This study explores and provides effective measures to combat these factors.

This study innovatively applies the Interval-OPA method to risk assessment, offering a fitting method for evaluating the HOPSCA project’s construction safety risks and accidents. The model aids decision-makers in appropriate risk classification and selection of scientific risk prevention strategies, enhances HOPSCA’s construction safety management system and even benefits all under-construction projects, promoting the construction industry’s sustainable development.

This paper aims to regulate the oil retention rate and tribological properties of pored polytetrafluoroethylene (PPTFE) using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-based oil gel.

PPTFE was first prepared by using citric acid (CA) as an efficient pore-making agent. Subsequently, PVA and chitosan solution was introduced into the pores and experienced a freezing-thawing process, forming PVA-based gels inside the pores. Then, the PPTFE/PVA composite was impregnated with polyethylene glycol 200 (PEG200), yielding an oil-impregnated PPTFE/PVA/PEG200 composite.

It was found that the oil-impregnated PPTFE/PVA/PEG200 composite exhibited advanced tribological properties than neat PTFE with reductions of 53% and 70% in coefficient of friction and wear rate, respectively.

This study shows an efficient strategy to regulate the tribological property of PTFE using a PVA-based oil-containing gel.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-11-2024-0432/

The purpose of this paper is to combine triboelectric nanogeneration technology with ball bearing structure to achieve energy collection and fault monitoring.

In this paper, according to the rotation mode of ball bearings, the freestanding mode of triboelectric nanogeneration is selected to design and manufacture a novel triboelectric nanogeneration device Rolling Ball Triboelectric Nanogenerator (RB-TENG) which combines rotary energy collection with ball bearing fault self-sensing.

The 10,000s continuous operation experiment of the RB-TENG is carried out to verify its robustness. The accurate feedback relationship between the RB-TENG and rotation velocity can be demonstrated by the fitting comparison between the theoretical and experimental electrical signal periods at a certain time. By comparing the output electrical signals of the normal RB-TENG and the rotor spalling RB-TENG and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) balls with different degrees of wear at 500 r/min, it can be concluded that the RB-TENG has an ideal monitoring effect on the radial clearance distance of bearings. The spalling fault test of the RB-TENG stator inner ring and rotor outer ring is carried out.

Through coupling experiments of rotor spalling fault of the RB-TENG and PTFE balls fault with different degrees of wear, it can be seen that when rotor spalling fault occurs, balls wear has a greater impact on the normal operation of the RB-TENG, and it is easier to identify. The fault self-sensing ability of the RB-TENG can be obtained, which is expected to provide an effective scheme for monitoring the radial wear clearance distance of ball bearings.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-08-2024-0295/

This study aims to explore the challenges faced by third-party agencies as quality assurance (QA) bodies for higher education in Yunnan Province, China.

This qualitative case study included 10 respondents – six experts from a higher education evaluation center and four directors from two private undergraduate colleges (PUCs). Semi-structured and in-depth interviews were conducted with ethical considerations, from topic selection to references. The data were analyzed using thematic and inductive methods.

Third-party agencies primarily function as administrative tools affiliated with the government and face deficits in trust and autonomy. They lack formal legislation, legal status, authority and independence and face shortages of experts, expertise, accountability mechanisms and market-oriented service structures.

This study may not be generalizable to the country’s landscape and other higher education institutions. Future research should explore these issues using quantitative or mixed methods in different provinces and institutions.

Insights from experts in evaluation centers and PUC management provide empirical evidence for policymakers on QA reform, advance knowledge on QA governance and extend resource dependence theory. Under a centralized system, China’s context mirrors provincial challenges, offering a foundation for addressing similar issues.

The study fills the gap in current research by providing empirical knowledge on the obstacles faced by third-party agencies as QA bodies. This could lead to policymaking or legislation formulation to empower these agencies as legal and independent evaluation bodies, promoting the development of higher education and economic prosperity.