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R&D indicates absorptive capacity, which may affect IT payoff. The purpose of this paper is to examine how R&D investment affects the relation between IT investment and firm performance and under what circumstances R&D intensity is more beneficial to IT returns. Such study has been lacking in R&D research and IT payoff literature.

A conceptual model for linking IT investment, R&D investment, environmental dynamism and firm performance was developed and tested by data collected from Chinese listed firms from 2007 to 2013, using fixed effects regression model.

The results show positive moderating effects of firm R&D investment and government R&D subsidies on the relation between IT investment and firm performance. Furthermore, the impact of firm R&D investment on IT payoff is stronger for firms in more dynamic environments. The findings suggest that R&D investment creates additional business value through interactions with IT, and complementarities between R&D and IT, as manifested in their interaction effect on firm performance vary across industry sectors.

This paper indicates the importance of complementarities between R&D and IT, which should prove helpful to researchers and practitioners engaged in Chinese business.

This paper presents one of the first attempts at examining the moderating effect of R&D investment on the relation between IT investment and firm performance. Especially this study helps to understand under what circumstances R&D investment is more or less likely to be beneficial to IT returns.

Online brand communities (OBCs) are important platforms to obtain consumers' ideas. The purpose of this study is to examine how peer influence and consumer contribution behavior simulate innovative behaviors in OBCs to increase idea quality.

Using a firm-hosted popular online brand community – Xiaomi Community (MIUI), the authors collected a set of data from 6567 consumers and then used structural equation modeling (SEM) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to empirically test the impact of peer influence and consumer contribution behaviors on idea quality in OBCs.

The results of this study show that both peer influence breadth and depth have a positive effect on idea adoption and peer recognition, wherein proactive contribution behavior positively mediates these relationships, and responsive contribution behavior negatively mediates the impact of peer influence breadth and peer influence depth on peer recognition. A more detailed analysis using the fsQCA method further identifies four types of antecedent configurations for better idea quality.

Based on the attention-based view and the theory of learning by feedback, this study explores the factors that affect idea quality in the context of social networks and extends the research of peer influence in the digital age. The paper helps improve our understanding of how to promote customer idea quality in OBCs.

Although the impacts of trust on information disclosure have been well recognized, the trust building mechanisms in social media are still underexplored. To fill this gap, the purpose of this paper is to explore two trust building mechanisms, namely, institution-based and transference-based trust building and identify how these two mechanisms vary across gender.

An online survey was conducted to collect data. The partial least squares method was used to examine the relationships among regulatory effectiveness, three trusting perceptions and disclosure intention. A cross-group path coefficient comparison method was used to test gender differences.

The results suggest that regulatory effectiveness affects competence- and character-based trust and these impacts are stronger for males than for females. Both competence- and character-based trust influence general trust in members while their impacts vary. Competence-based trust is more important for males while character-based trust is more important for females.

This study contributes to social media literature by identifying the two trust building mechanisms with special attention to the role of regulatory effectiveness and trust transfer. Further, this study also sheds light on how these two mechanisms vary across gender.

This study aims to examine the antecedents of career decision self-efficacy (CDSE) and provide a comprehensive understanding of the factors that influence this critical construct in career development and decision-making.

This study employed a meta-analysis of 43 independent studies, comprising 90 correlations and 17,143 participants. The Hunter-Schmidt method meta-analysis was used to analyze the data and identify the factors associated with CDSE. Random-effect meta-regression analysis was applied to detect the potential moderators.

The study found that CDSE is positively associated with social support (ρ = 0.41), age (ρ = 0.05), agreeableness (ρ = 0.23), conscientiousness (ρ = 0.48), emotional intelligence (ρ = 0.48), extraversion (ρ = 0.41), openness (ρ = 0.35) and proactive personality (ρ = 0.68), while negatively related to neuroticism (ρ = −0.33). Furthermore, the results indicate that sample gender (%female) and mean age partially moderate the relationship between CDSE and age, core-self evaluations and neuroticism.

In this study, the authors have contributed significantly to the existing research on CDSE antecedents by conducting a thorough analysis of the various factors associated with this critical construct. The findings offer an accurate understanding of the factors that influence CDSE, and this paper's moderation analysis sheds light on the boundary conditions in the CDSE literature. Moreover, this research has practical implications for practitioners such as teachers, parents and career counselors. By leveraging the insights gained from this study, practitioners can provide more effective career support and intervention to young people, which can help increase their CDSE and improve their overall career development and well-being.

This study aims to develop a bimodal nano-silver paste with improved mechanical property and reliability. Silicon carbide (SiC) particles coated with Ag were introduced in nano-silver paste to improve bonding strength between SiC and Ag particles and enhance high-temperature stability of bimodal nano-silver paste. The effect of sintering parameters such as sintering temperature, sintering time and the proportion of SiC particles on mechanical property and reliability of sintered bimodal nano-silver structure were investigated.

Sandwich structures consist of dummy chips and copper substrates with nickel and silver coating bonded by nano-silver paste were designed for shear testing. Shear strength testing was conducted to study the influence of SiC particles proportions on the mechanical property of sintered nano-silver joints. The reliability of the bimodal nano-silver paste was evaluated experimentally by means of shear test for samples subjected to thermal aging test at 150°C and humidity and temperature testing at 85°C and 85 per cent RH, respectively.

Shear strength was enhanced obviously with the increase of sintering temperature and sintering time. The maximum shear strength was achieved for nano-silver paste sintered at 260°C for 10 min. There was a negative correlation between the proportion of SiC particles and shear strength. After thermal aging testing and humidity and temperature testing for 240 h, the shear strength decreased a little. High-temperature stability and high-hydrothermal stability were improved by the addition of SiC particles.

Submicron-scale SiC particles coated with Ag were used as alternative materials to replace part of nano-silver particles to prepare bimodal nano-silver paste due to its high thermal conductivity and excellent mechanical property.

Technology upgrade has been adopted as a strategy for technology vendors to modify and improve their incumbent technologies. However, user resistance is widespread in practice. In order to understand user technology upgrade behavior, this study integrates the retrospective and prospective sides of actions and proposes an inertia-mindfulness ambidexterity perspective to explore the antecedents of technology upgrade.

An online survey was conducted to collect data from 520 Microsoft Windows users to test this research model. Structural equation modeling (SEM) approach was used to evaluate measurement model and structural model.

Inertia can induce individuals' psychological reactance and thus reduce their intention to upgrade. In contrast, mindfulness can decrease users' psychological reactance and then motivate them to upgrade to a new version of technology. Finally, individuals' dissatisfaction with the current version of technology would weaken the negative impact of psychological reactance on upgrade intention.

This study generates an inertia-mindfulness ambidexterity perspective to investigate the factors that influence user technology upgrade intention from both retrospective and prospective sides and then identifies psychological reactance as underlying mechanism to explain how inertia and mindfulness work. Finally, this study posits that user dissatisfaction with current version of technology can moderate the relationship between psychological reactance and technology upgrade intention.

Although user behaviors in social network service (SNS) have been well studied in prior literature, most of these studies focus on those behaviors with relatively deep user engagement such as information disclosure, while the underlying mechanisms that explain users’ shallow engagement behaviors (e.g. Like behavior) have been rarely discussed. To fill this research gap, the purpose of this paper is to propose and empirically test a research model to identify the antecedents of Like behavior.

This study identifies the distinctions between post behavior and Like behavior and develops a research model of Like behavior by emphasizing the role of sense of presence from the perspective of symbolic interactionism. The model is tested through a survey with 479 users of WeChat (a popular SNS tool in China). Structural equation modeling, SmartPLS in particular, is used for data analysis.

Three value perceptions, namely cognitive value, hedonic value and social value, are found to be positively associated with Like intention, and sense of presence is found to affect Like intention both directly and indirectly via the three value perceptions.

The research model is tested based on a specific SNS in China, so whether the conclusions can be applied to other research contexts should be further examined in future research. This study identifies the distinctions between post behavior and Like behavior and suggests to view the Like behavior from the perspective of symbolic interactionism.

The paper outlines ways to effectively promote SNS users’ Like behaviors by enhancing the functions related to three value perceptions, especially by enriching the ways that facilitate interpersonal interactions.

This paper is one of the first to distinguish Like behavior from post behavior in SNS, propose and empirically test a research model of Like behavior. In particular, this paper strengthens the important role of sense of presence from the perspective of symbolic interactionism which has rarely been investigated in prior studies.

The purpose of this paper is to improve the degradation efficiency of Rhodamine B (RhB) by new photocatalytic materials.

Binary Z-scheme g-C₃N₄/Bi₂WO₆ photocatalytic material was synthesized by the one-step hydrothermal reaction. The construction of Z-scheme heterojunction led to the rapid separation of photogenerated electrons and holes, which would degrade RhB into small molecular substances to achieve the purpose of degradation.

It was found that Bi₂WO₆/25%g-C₃N₄ displayed the highest photocatalytic activity, which was about 1.44 and 1.34 times higher than that of pure Bi₂WO₆ and g-C₃N₄, respectively. According to the trapping experiments, the superoxide radical (·O²⁻) was the major active species of the RhB decomposition in Bi₂WO₆/g-C₃N₄ catalysts.

The successful synthesis of Z-scheme Bi₂WO₆/g-C₃N₄ provides new ideas and references for the design of catalysts with high photocatalytic activity, which should have wide applications in the future.

Although extant studies have investigated the antecedents of negative electronic word of mouth (eWOM), they treated it as a unidimensional concept without classification. To bridge this knowledge gap, this paper distinguishes rational negative eWOM (RNW) from emotional negative eWOM (ENW) and leverages the consumer value framework to investigate their drivers in the context of peer-to-peer accommodation platforms (PPAPs).

This study collected data through an online survey of 437 PPAP users. Partial least squares (PLS) were used to validate the proposed hypotheses. Further, the path coefficients comparison method was adopted to distinguish the different impacts of consumer values on RNW and ENW.

This research showed that self-presentation exerted a positive impact on RNW, but its relationship with ENW was insignificant. Anger and regret were, respectively, positively related to ENW and RNW. Besides, altruism exerted a positive effect on RNW, whereas it had a negative effect on ENW.

First, this paper makes a fresh attempt to categorize negative eWOM into RNW and ENW. Second, this paper draws upon the consumer value framework to dissect varied motivations for posting RNW versus ENW on PPAPs. Third, this paper empirically verifies the differential influences that consumer values exert on RNW and ENW.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of organizational rewards on two forms of knowledge sharing – explicit knowledge sharing and tacit knowledge sharing in virtual communities, and further to explore the mediating effect of intrinsic motivation on the effect of virtual community rewards on implicit knowledge sharing.

Based on relevant knowledge sharing theories, this study develops an integrated framework to explore virtual community rewards and tacit and explicit knowledge sharing in a virtual context. This study then collected data from 429 virtual community users in four virtual communities via an online survey. Hierarchical regression analyzes were used to test the proposed research model.

The results of this study show that virtual rewards have a significantly positive linear relationship with explicit knowledge sharing but have an inverse U-shape relationship with tacit knowledge sharing in virtual communities. In addition, intrinsic motivations including enjoyment and self-efficacy mediate the relationship between rewards and tacit knowledge sharing.

This study suggests more virtual community rewards may not always lead to more tacit knowledge sharing. Instead, too many rewards may weaken the motivation for tacit knowledge sharing. Knowledge management practitioners should make full use of the positive impact of self-efficacy and enjoyment to set up appropriate reward incentives to encourage knowledge-sharing, in particular, tacit knowledge sharing and to better manage virtual communities.

This study explores knowledge-sharing behavior in virtual communities, an important step toward more integrated knowledge-sharing theories. While online communities have become increasingly important for today’s knowledge economy, few studies have explored knowledge and knowledge sharing in a virtual context and this study helps to bridge the gap. In addition, this study develops an integrated framework to explore the mechanism through which virtual community rewards affect knowledge sharing with intrinsic motivation mediating this relationship in online communities, which further enriches the understanding on how to use virtual rewards to motivate knowledge sharing behaviors in the virtual context.