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Despite growing research on metaverse, the way this is associated with psychological contracts in business is virtually absent. In this paper, we aim to provide a conceptual exploration of this association between metaverse and the psychological contracts of both employees and customers.

This is a conceptual article that examines the implications of metaverse as a workplace and marketplace on frontline employees’ and customers’ psychological contracts. In doing so, we develop a conceptual model and make propositions, while we also offer recent examples of firms that have moved to metaverse.

Although we do not provide empirical results, we indicate through a set of propositions how changes in the workplace and marketplace caused by the firm’s use of metaverse influence the psychological contract of its employees and customers, as well as how these are interrelated. We further explain that the accomplishment of these psychological contracts in a metaverse context can favorably affect business performance.

Companies need to anticipate, monitor and adjust to the changing pattern of psychological contracts of both employees and customers as they move to metaverse because this will have serious implications on their business performance.

We introduce metaverse, a recently introduced phenomenon that is gaining momentum in the business world, causing significant changes in the workplace and marketplace and seriously affecting the nature of psychological contracts of both employees and customers.

This paper aims to find a suitable solution to degrade the C.I. Reactive Red 24 (RR24) dyeing wastewater by using sodium persulphate to recycle water and inorganic salts.

The effects of temperature, the concentration of inorganic salts and Na₂CO₃ and the initial pH value on the degradation of RR24 were studied. Furthermore, the relationship between free radicals and RR24 degradation effect was investigated. Microscopic routes and mechanisms of dye degradation were further confirmed by testing the degradation karyoplasmic ratio of the product. The feasibility of the one-bath cyclic dyeing in the recycled dyeing wastewater was confirmed through the properties of dye utilization and color parameters.

The appropriate conditions were 0.3 g/L of sodium persulphate and treatment at 95°C for 30 min, which resulted in a decolorization rate of 98.4% for the dyeing wastewater. Acidic conditions are conducive to rapid degradation of dyes, while ·OH or SO₄⁻· have a destructive effect on dyes under alkaline conditions. In the early stage of degradation, ·OH played a major role in the degradation of dyes. For sustainable cyclic dyeing of RR24, inorganic salts were reused in this dyeing process and dye uptake increased with the times of cycles. After the fixation, some Na₂CO₃ may be converted to other salts, thereby increasing the dye uptake in subsequent cyclic staining. However, it has little impact on the dye exhaustion rate and color parameters of dyed fabrics.

The recommended technology not only reduces the quantity of dyeing wastewater but also enables the recycling of inorganic salts and water, which meets the requirements of sustainable development and clean production.

This study aims to assess the effects of risk perception and management subject satisfaction on consumers' online meal food safety self-protection behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study uses 742 questionnaires collected via a two-stage online survey conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, between December 2021 and January 2022. The entropy method, descriptive statistics, ordered logit model, stepwise regression models, interaction terms and decentralization method were used in the quantitative analysis. Respondents’ written responses to self-protection behavior were categorized into five groups.

Less than half of consumers were aware that online food products carry the risk of SARS-COV-2 (44.48%). Between 30 and 40% of consumers took insufficient or no self-protection measures. Risk perception significantly and positively affected self-protection behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. Consumers' management subject satisfaction has a positive moderating effect on risk perception, with the moderating effect of the satisfaction of online retailers being significant at the 5% level. Risk perception significantly and positively influences consumer self-protection behavior in provinces not affected by the pandemic.

The findings stress the benefits of synergistic interventions by consumers and management subject to food safety measures and the inclusion of tailored interventions during events threatening public health to effectively address food safety. The study offers valuable insights contributing to the improvement of public health outcomes, customer trust and service quality within the online food delivery industry.

Despite the burgeoning popularity of virtual gifting in live streaming, research lacks an in-depth understanding of the drivers behind this behavior. Using para-social relationship (PSR), this study aims to capture viewers’ lively social feelings toward the streamer as the key factor leading to the purchase behavior of virtual gifts. It also aims to establish a theoretical link between PSR and viewers’ holistic experience in live streaming as captured by cognitive absorption and aims to investigates the role of technological features (i.e. viewer–streamer and viewer–viewer interactivity, streamer-level and viewer-level deep profiling and design aesthetics) in shaping viewers’ experience.

Based on 433 survey responses, this study employs a combination of structural equation modeling and neural networks to offer valuable insights into the relationships between the technological environment, viewer experience and viewer behavior.

Our results highlight the salience of PSR in promoting the purchase of virtual gifts through cognitive absorption and the importance of the technological environment in eliciting the viewer experience. This study sheds light on the development of PSR in a technological environment and its relationship with cognitive absorption.

By applying PSR to conceptualize viewers’ perceived connection with the streamer, this study extends the research on purchase behavior in the non-shopping context by providing an enlightened understanding of virtual gift purchase behavior in live streaming. Moreover, by theoretically linking PSR with cognitive absorption, virtual gift purchase and technological features of live streaming, it enriches the theory of PSR and bridges the gap between the design practice of supporting the IT infrastructure of live streaming and research.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors influencing the development of social media marketing strategy in an international context. We specifically look at the potential drivers and barriers throughout the social media marketing strategy development process and how cultural differences shape social media marketing strategy decision-making among firms in international markets.

The study is conducted with an inductive research approach involving in-depth interviews with 32 firms from Finland, China and Brazil. Using inductive data analysis, we identify both internal and external factors that drive and hinder the development of firms’ social media marketing strategies. Moreover, we explore the essential elements in social media marketing strategy development based on the key practices observed among these firms, which enables us to conduct a comparative analysis of how cultural values influence the development of social media marketing strategies.

Our findings underscore the importance of both internal (i.e. resources and capabilities) and external (i.e. market-level and country-level) factors that influence the development of social media marketing strategy. Our analysis also unveiled four key practices throughout the social media marketing strategy development process: social selling, content marketing, risk management and relationship management. Additionally, we identified three distinct mindsets regarding firms’ social media selling objectives across companies in the three countries.

The comparative approach provides novel insight into firms' international social media marketing strategy. Our proposed conceptual model shows the development process of social media marketing strategy in the international context. The research propositions highlight the role of cultural values and open up new avenues for future research.

This study aims to identify an antecedent that hinders knowledge sharing, namely, the perceived climate of Cha-xu. Based on the social exchange perspective, the authors propose a theoretical model that links the perceived climate of Cha-xu to employee knowledge sharing. This model focuses on the mediating role of two types of trust (vertical and horizontal trust) and the moderating role of task interdependence in influencing the mediation.

Using a sample of 509 Chinese employees, this study carried out a survey on an online platform. This study developed a structural equation model and tested the moderated mediation hypothesis by using Mplus 8.0.

The results showed that two types of trust act as mediators in the relationship between the perceived climate of Cha-xu and knowledge-sharing processes. The mediating effect of horizontal trust is stronger. Most significantly, findings show that this mediated relationship is contingent on the level of task interdependence.

This paper provides evidence for distinguishing vertical trust and horizontal trust in the field of knowledge management. From a managerial perspective, this study identifies traditional cultural factors for hindering knowledge-sharing processes within Chinese organizations.

This paper presents a comprehensive study using bibliometric and social network analysis (SNA) to depict the academic community, research hotspots and the correlation between research performance and social network measurements within Library Hi Tech.

Publications from Library Hi Tech between 2010 and 2022 are reviewed and analysed through coauthorship analysis, co-occurrence analysis, SNA and the Spearman rank correlation test.

The annual number of publications in Library Hi Tech increased from 2016 to 2022, indicating that this research has gradually gained global attention. The USA and China are the most significant contributors to the relevant publications. Scholars in this field mainly engage in small-scale cooperation. Academic libraries, digital libraries, libraries, information technology and COVID-19 were hot topics during the study period. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a marked increase in research on healthcare. Academic interest in the internet of Things and social media has proliferated recently and may soon attract more attention. Spearman rank correlation analysis shows that research performance (i.e. publication count and citation count) is significantly and positively correlated with social network measurements (i.e. degree centrality, betweenness centrality, closeness centrality and eigenvector centrality) in studies of Library Hi Tech.

This paper reveals a systematic picture of the research landscape of Library Hi Tech and provides a potential guide for future research. The relationship between scientific research performance and social network measurements can be objectively identified based on statistical knowledge.

This study aims to elucidate the dyeing kinetics and thermodynamic relationships of CI Reactive Red 24 (RR24) on cotton fabrics, achieve the recycling of inorganic salts and water resources and obtain comprehensive data on color parameters, fastness and other characteristics of fabrics dyed with the recycled dyeing residual wastewater.

The dyeing wastewater obtained through advanced oxidation technology was used as a medium for dyeing cotton fabrics with RR24. The absorbance value of the dyeing residue served as an evaluation index, and the relevant kinetic and thermodynamic parameters were calculated based on this absorbance. The color parameters and fastness of the fabric samples were measured to compare the performance of different dyeing media.

Dyeing cotton with RR24 in both media follows pseudo-second-order kinetics. When dyeing with wastewater media, the dye adsorption in the first 45 min increased by 0.082–1.29 g/kg compared with conventional dyeing. Furthermore, the half-dyeing time was shortened by 4.19–11.99 min and the equilibrium adsorption amount was reduced by 0.277–0.302 g/kg. The adsorption of RR24 on cotton fabrics conformed to the Freundlich model. Fabrics dyed using recycled wastewater exhibit a deeper color, with reduced red light and enhanced blue light, resulting in an overall deeper apparent color.

These dyeing kinetics and thermodynamic properties are beneficial for comprehending and interpreting the dyeing performance and behavior of reactive dyes in dyeing wastewater. They lay a theoretical foundation for the treatment and recycling of dyeing wastewater.

In China, engineering insurance has been questioned as not being beneficial as expected. This paper seeks to further understand how China's engineering insurance industry functions and to provide a macro perspective explanation for engineering insurance's underdevelopment.

Three industrial organization hypotheses were extended to the engineering insurance context: structure conduct performance (SCP), relative market power (RMP) and efficiency structure (ES) hypotheses. This paper employed the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) bootstrap to test the hypotheses using panel data from 2008 to 2017.

The results suggest that the SCP paradigm is validated in China's engineering insurance market, indicating a concentrated market where the welfare of consumers (e.g. owners, contractors and designers) may be eroded. Several factors are identified to have significant impacts on engineering insurers' performance, such as the investment return, percentage of engineering business, the ratio of outstanding claims, the number of large contractors, market rivalry and entry barriers.

Despite the sheer size of China's construction industry and the urgent need to improve risk management, the insurance industry that serves construction firms engineering insurance is underdeveloped. Engineering insurance is yet to be understood from a macro perspective, which may reveal the underlying reasons for engineering insurance's underdevelopment. The industrial organization theories provided a theoretical framework to test the functioning of this specific industry. The disaggregated data (engineering line specific) is employed to ensure effective regulation and policymaking.

This study aims to examine the factors (Stimuli) enhancing perceived utilitarian, social and conditional values (Organisms) of social commerce (s-commerce) platforms and their impact on small and medium enterprises’ (SMEs’) behavioral intention (Response) to adopt s-commerce.

Survey data were gathered from 304 Indian SMEs using s-commerce platforms. Data were analyzed using SmartPLS 3 software.

The results indicated that perceived values significantly impact SMEs’ behavioral intention to adopt s-commerce. Among conditional, utilitarian and social values, the conditional value of s-commerce sites was found to be the strongest motivator for SMEs to adopt s-commerce.

This research contributes to the growing literature on s-commerce, explaining how perceived value influences the decision of SMEs to adopt s-commerce platforms.

Among the significant influencers, perceived usefulness and perceived reputation were found to be the most effective triggers that stimulate perceived values of s-commerce sites. The findings draw due attention from policymakers toward environmental cues such as the legal and regulatory environment, which are instrumental in creating the most important perceived value for SMEs, i.e. conditional value.

By employing the inputs from the theory of consumption values and the Stimulus-Organism-Response framework, this original study looked beyond the technology factors and examined the role of perceived values of s-commerce platforms in shaping SMEs’ behavioral intention to adopt.

Charitable crowdfunding features are embedded in social media platforms to encourage pro-social behaviors. Although such new practice allows practitioners to leverage the power of a highly connected crowd, accomplishing the fundraising goal is still a challenge. This study seeks to understand what drives the donation intention in charitable crowdfunding features on social media platforms by examining the roles of social experience, empathy and personal impulsiveness.

A survey questionnaire was distributed to social media users in China to collect data. A total of 206 valid responses were analyzed using structural equation modeling to test the proposed hypotheses.

The results showed that empathy mediates interaction with the fundraiser and perceived proximity with the donatee on a user's donation intention. We also found that social influence on social media platforms positively influences empathy and donation intention. In addition, personal impulsiveness was found to moderate the relationship between empathy and donation intention.

This study contributes to existing literature and practices. It identifies three dimensions of social experience and examines their effects on donation intention, providing insights into the charitable crowdfunding features on social media. Moreover, this study extends the understanding to empathy by delineating its mediating role in the relationship between social experience and donation intention and examining how personal impulsiveness moderates the effect of empathy on donation intention. Furthermore, this study provides valuable insights for practitioners to craft strategies to stimulate pro-social behaviors and increase donations.

In this study, the effects of negative tourism impacts, length of residency and nativity on support for tourism development were examined.

Because understanding the attitudes of local people toward tourism support is complex, this study employed both symmetric (PLS-SEM) and asymmetric (fsQCA) approaches from a holistic perspective. A total of 336 individuals from Cappadocia, one of Turkey's most prominent tourist destinations, were surveyed.

According to the symmetric method results, respondents' negative perceptions of tourism negatively affect attitudes toward tourism support. Native-born status acts as a moderating variable in the relationship between attitudes toward tourism support and the negative economic impacts of tourism. On the other hand, this study shows that the complex interactions of nativity and the negative impacts of tourism directly affect local people's attitudes toward tourism support.

This study revealed that practitioners should adopt a comprehensive perspective to understand the attitudes of local people toward tourism support.

This study, in addition to the findings obtained via the symmetric method, reveals the complex interaction of the negative impacts of tourism, thus providing a roadmap to improve local people's attitudes toward tourism support by using asymmetric modeling.

A novel grafted temperature-responsive ReO₄⁻ Imprinted composite membranes (Re-ICMs) was successfully prepared by using polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) resin membranes as substrates, this study aimed to separate and purify ReO effectively.

Re-ICMs were synthesized by PVDF resin membranes as the substrate, acrylic acid (AA), acrylamide (AM), ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) were functional monomers. The morphology and structure of Re-ICMs were characterized by scanning electron microscope and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.

The maximum adsorption capacity toward ReO₄⁻ was 0.1,163 mmol/g and the separation decree had relation to MnO₄⁻ was 19.3. The optimal operation conditions were studied detailedly and the results as follows: the molar ratios of AA, AM, EGDMA, ascorbic acid, NH4ReO₄, were 0.8, 0.96, 0.02, 0.003 and 0.006. The optimal time and temperature were 20 h and 40°C, respectively. The Langmuir and pseudo-second-order models were fit these adsorption characteristics well.

Rhenium (Re) is mainly used to chemical petroleum and make superalloys for jet engine parts. This study was representing a technology in separate and purify of Re, which provided a method for the development of the petroleum and aviation industry.

This contribution provided a novel method to separate ReO₄⁻ from MnO₄⁻. The maximum adsorption capacity was 0.1163 mmol/g at 35°C and the adsorption equilibrium time was within 2 h. Meanwhile, the adsorption selectivity rate ReO₄⁻/MnO₄⁻ was 19.3 and the desorption rate was 78.3%. Controlling the adsorption experiment at 35°C and desorption experiment at 25°C in aqueous solution, it could remain 61.3% of the initial adsorption capacity with the adsorption selectivity rate of 13.3 by 10 adsorption/desorption cycles, a slight decrease, varied from 78.3% to 65.3%, in desorption rate was observed.

This study aims to investigate the relationships between electronic word of mouth (eWOM) source credibility, perceived risk and information usefulness and how they influence tourists’ destination visit intention and online review involvement.

Data for this quantitative study were collected via an online survey from 460 participants and analyzed using a partial least squares analysis.

All four dimensions of eWOM source credibility reduce travelers’ perceived risk associated with destination visits, among which homophily has the greatest influence. Lower levels of perceived risk are associated with higher perceived information usefulness, thus boosting tourists’ eWOM involvement and intention to visit a destination.

Results offer practical implications for how the tourism industry can exploit eWOM as an information source that consumers frequently consult. The results are also valuable for Destination Marketing Organizations, allowing them to determine what type of information promotes positive tourist attitudes and behaviors toward destinations.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first studies to examine the interaction between eWOM credibility, perceived risk and information usefulness and their effect on consumer behaviors in the tourism context.

eWOM 来源可信度对目的地访问意愿和在线参与的影响：以中国游客为例

本研究调查了 eWOM 来源可信度、感知风险和信息有用性之间的关系, 以及它们如何影响游客的目的地访问意图和在线评论参与度。

这项定量研究的数据是通过对 460 名参与者的在线调查收集的, 并使用偏最小二乘法分析。

eWOM 来源可信度的所有四个维度都降低了旅行者与目的地访问相关的感知风险, 其中同质性影响最大。较低的感知风险水平与较高的感知信息有用性相关, 从而提高游客的 eWOM 参与度和访问目的地的意愿。

本研究结果为旅游业如何利用 eWOM 作为消费者经常咨询的信息源提供了实际意义。结果对 DMO 也很有价值, 使他们能够确定哪些类型的信息可以促进游客对目的地的积极态度和行为。

本论文是首批研究 eWOM 可信度、感知风险和信息有用性之间的相互作用及其对旅游背景下消费者行为的影响的研究之一。

The massive number of pavements and buildings coupled with the limited inspection resources, both monetary and human, to detect distresses and recommend maintenance actions lead to rapid deterioration, decreased service life, lower level of service and increased community disruption. Therefore, this paper aims at providing a state-of-the-art review of the literature with respect to deep learning techniques for detecting distress in both pavements and buildings; research advancements per asset/structure type; and future recommendations in deep learning applications for distress detection.

A critical analysis was conducted on 181 papers of deep learning-based cracks detection. A structured analysis was adopted so that major articles were analyzed according to their focus of study, used methods, findings and limitations.

The utilization of deep learning to detect pavement cracks is advanced compared to assess and evaluate the structural health of buildings. There is a need for studies that compare different convolutional neural network models to foster the development of an integrated solution that considers the data collection method. Further research is required to examine the setup, implementation and running costs, frequency of capturing data and deep learning tool. In conclusion, the future of applying deep learning algorithms in lieu of manual inspection for detecting distresses has shown promising results.

The availability of previous research and the required improvements in the proposed computational tools and models (e.g. artificial intelligence, deep learning, etc.) are triggering researchers and practitioners to enhance the distresses’ inspection process and make better use of their limited resources.

A critical and structured analysis of deep learning-based crack detection for pavement and buildings is conducted for the first time to enable novice researchers to highlight the knowledge gap in each article, as well as building a knowledge base from the findings of other research to support developing future workable solutions.

This paper aims to present a longitudinal and visualising study using bibliometric approaches to depict the emerging trends and research hotspots within the mobile information system domain.

Publications included in the Web of Science (WoS) database for 2001–2021 are reviewed and analysed on various aspects through coauthorship, cocitation and co-occurrence analysis. The analyses are conducted using VOSViewer, a scientific visualisation software program.

Academic publications related to mobile information systems fluctuated at a low level during the initial part of the 21st century and have grown rapidly in number in the past decade. The USA and China are the leading contributors to these publications and hold dominant positions in the obtained collaboration network. Computer science, engineering and telecommunications are the top three research areas in which mainstream mobile information system research occurs. Moreover, medical informatics and health-care science services have gradually become new research hotspots.

This study provides a systematic and holistic account of the developmental landscape of the mobile information system domain. This study provides a good basis for analysing the evolution of research in mobile information systems and may serve as a potential foundation for future research.

Rapid prototyping (RP) technology is widely used in many fields in recent years. Bone tissue engineering (TE) is an interdisciplinary field involving life sciences, engineering and materials science. Hydroxyapatite (HAp) are similar to natural bone and it has been extensively studied due to its excellent biocompatibility and osteoconductivity. This paper aims to review nanoscaled HAp-based scaffolds with high porosity fabricated by various RP methods for bone regeneration.

The review focused on the fabrication methods of HAp composite scaffolds through RP techniques. The paper summarized the evaluation of these scaffolds on the basis of their biocompatibility and biodegradability through in vitro and in vivo tests. Finally, a summary and perspectives on this active area of research are provided.

HAp composite scaffold fabricated by RP methods has been widely used in bone TE and it has been deeply studied by researchers during the past two decades. However, its brittleness and difficulty in processing have largely limited its wide application in TE. Therefore, the formability of HAp combined with biocompatible organic materials and fabrication techniques could be effectively enhanced, and it can be used in bone TE applications finally.

This review paper presented a comprehensive study of the various types of HAp composite scaffold fabricated by RP technologies and introduced their potential application in bone TE, as well as future roadmap and perspective.

With the increasing importance of e-commerce to the economy and people's lives, user-generated content, such as electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) represented by online reviews, has exploded. On one hand, it is of great significance for review consumers (readers) to identify high-quality ones from a large number of existing reviews to assist their purchase decision. On the other hand, how to use appropriate strategies to make their published reviews more concerned by others is also important to review generators (reviewers). The purpose of this study is to understand the comprehensive relationship among review characteristics, review helpfulness and receiver attention.

This study uses the online movie reviews obtained from the most popular review platform in China to conduct multiple empirical analyses.

The results show that the review helpfulness plays a mediating role between the emotional characteristics of online reviews and the receiver attention, and such a mediating role is more significant among reviewers with rich review expertise. The reviewer's expertise also moderates the impact of review emotions on review helpfulness.

This work studies eWOM receiver involvement, which can ultimately impact product sales, but seldom be investigated in eWOM domain. Therefore, this research can enrich studies on eWOM and provide valuable practical implications as well.