Xiaofang Ma, Wenming Wang, Gaoguang Zhou and Jun Chen
This study aims to take advantage of the unprecedented anti-corruption campaign launched in China in December 2012 and examine the effect of improved public governance on…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to take advantage of the unprecedented anti-corruption campaign launched in China in December 2012 and examine the effect of improved public governance on tunneling.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a sample of Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchange listed companies from 2010 to 2014 and conduct regression analyses to investigate the effect of improved public governance attributed to the anti-corruption campaign on tunneling.
Findings
This study finds that the level of tunneling decreased significantly after the anti-corruption campaign, suggesting that increased public governance effectively curbs tunneling. Cross-sectional results show that this mitigating effect is more pronounced for non-SOE firms, especially non-SOE firms with political connections, firms audited by non-Big 8 auditors, firms with a large divergence between control rights and cash flow rights and firms located in areas with lower marketization.
Practical implications
This study highlights the importance of anti-corruption initiatives in improving public governance and in turn reducing tunneling. This study provides important implications for many other emerging economies to improve public governance.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature on the role of public governance in constraining corporate agency problems and advances the understanding of the economic consequences of China's anti-corruption campaign in the context of tunneling.
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Anis Jarboui, Emna Mnif, Nahed Zghidi and Zied Akrout
In an era marked by heightened geopolitical uncertainties, such as international conflicts and economic instability, the dynamics of energy markets assume paramount importance…
Abstract
Purpose
In an era marked by heightened geopolitical uncertainties, such as international conflicts and economic instability, the dynamics of energy markets assume paramount importance. Our study delves into this complex backdrop, focusing on the intricate interplay the between traditional and emerging energy sectors.
Design/methodology/approach
This study analyzes the interconnections among green financial assets, renewable energy markets, the geopolitical risk index and cryptocurrency carbon emissions from December 19, 2017 to February 15, 2023. We investigate these relationships using a novel time-frequency connectedness approach and machine learning methodology.
Findings
Our findings reveal that green energy stocks, except the PBW, exhibit the highest net transmission of volatility, followed by COAL. In contrast, CARBON emerges as the primary net recipient of volatility, followed by fuel energy assets. The frequency decomposition results also indicate that the long-term components serve as the primary source of directional volatility spillover, suggesting that volatility transmission among green stocks and energy assets tends to occur over a more extended period. The SHapley additive exPlanations (SHAP) results show that the green and fuel energy markets are negatively connected with geopolitical risks (GPRs). The results obtained through the SHAP analysis confirm the novel time-varying parameter vector autoregressive (TVP-VAR) frequency connectedness findings. The CARBON and PBW markets consistently experience spillover shocks from other markets in short and long-term horizons. The role of crude oil as a receiver or transmitter of shocks varies over time.
Originality/value
Green financial assets and clean energy play significant roles in the financial markets and reduce geopolitical risk. Our study employs a time-frequency connectedness approach to assess the interconnections among four markets' families: fuel, renewable energy, green stocks and carbon markets. We utilize the novel TVP-VAR approach, which allows for flexibility and enables us to measure net pairwise connectedness in both short and long-term horizons.
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Alireza Nazarian, Ehsan Zaeri, Pantea Foroudi, Amirreza Afrouzi and Peter Atkinson
This study explores the impact of ethical and authentic leadership on employees' workplace perceptions, focusing on organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB), trust in leader…
Abstract
Purpose
This study explores the impact of ethical and authentic leadership on employees' workplace perceptions, focusing on organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB), trust in leader, commitment, employee voice and empowerment in independent hotels across two contrasting Global Leadership and Organizational Behaviour Effectiveness (GLOBE) clusters: Germanic and Middle-Eastern clusters. It examines how national culture influences these relationships in the hospitality industry.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 1,678 employees in independent hotels in the Germanic European cluster (Germany and the Netherlands) and the Middle-Eastern cluster (Qatar and Turkey) using selective and snowball sampling techniques. Hypotheses were tested using two-stage structural equation modelling.
Findings
Ethical leadership significantly affects employee voice in Germany and the Netherlands but not in Qatar and Turkey. Authentic leadership positively influences employee voice in Qatar, Turkey and Germany but does not significantly impact trust in leader in any of the four countries. The study underscores the role of cultural dimensions, particularly power distance, in shaping these relationships.
Originality/value
This research contributes to the literature by investigating the effects of ethical and authentic leadership on key organisational variables in culturally diverse contexts within the hospitality industry. The findings highlight the necessity of considering national culture in leadership practices and suggest practical implications for independent hotels to adapt their leadership approaches to enhance employee outcomes. Future research should explore cultural dimensions as moderators in organisational relationships.
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The brake controller is a key component of the locomotive brake system. It is essential to study its safety.
Abstract
Purpose
The brake controller is a key component of the locomotive brake system. It is essential to study its safety.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper summarizes and analyzes typical faults of the brake controller, and proposes four categories of faults: position sensor faults, microswitch faults, mechanical faults and communication faults. Suggestions and methods for improving the safety of the brake controller are also presented.
Findings
In this paper, a self-judgment and self-learning dynamic calibration method is proposed, which integrates the linear error of the sensor and the manufacturing and assembly errors of the brake controller to solve the output drift. This paper also proposes a logic for diagnosing and handling microswitch faults. Suggestions are proposed for other faults of brake controller.
Originality/value
The methods proposed in this paper can greatly improve the usability of the brake controller and reduce the failure rate.
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Quan Yuan, Xuecai Xu, Tao Wang and Yuzhi Chen
This study aims to investigate the safety and liability of autonomous vehicles (AVs), and identify the contributing factors quantitatively so as to provide potential insights on…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the safety and liability of autonomous vehicles (AVs), and identify the contributing factors quantitatively so as to provide potential insights on safety and liability of AVs.
Design/methodology/approach
The actual crash data were obtained from California DMV and Sohu websites involved in collisions of AVs from 2015 to 2021 with 210 observations. The Bayesian random parameter ordered probit model was proposed to reflect the safety and liability of AVs, respectively, as well as accommodating the heterogeneity issue simultaneously.
Findings
The findings show that day, location and crash type were significant factors of injury severity while location and crash reason were significant influencing the liability.
Originality/value
The results provide meaningful countermeasures to support the policymakers or practitioners making strategies or regulations about AV safety and liability.
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Yazhou Mao, Yang Jianxi, Xu Wenjing and Liu Yonggang
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of round pits arrangement patterns on tribological properties of journal bearing. In this paper, the tribological behaviors…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of round pits arrangement patterns on tribological properties of journal bearing. In this paper, the tribological behaviors of journal bearing with different arrangement patterns under lubrication condition were studied based on M-2000 friction and wear tester.
Design/methodology/approach
The friction and wear of journal bearing contact surface were simulated by ANSYS. The wear mechanism of bearing contact surfaces was investigated by the means of energy dispersive spectrum analysis on the surface morphology and friction and wear status of the journal bearing specimens by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive Spectrometer (EDS). Besides, the wearing capacity of the textured bearing was predicted by using the GM (1,1) and Grey–Markov model.
Findings
As the loads increase, the friction coefficient of journal bearing specimens decrease first and then increase slowly. The higher rotation speed, the lower friction coefficient and the faster temperature build-up. The main friction method of the bearing sample is three-body friction. The existence of texture can effectively reduce friction and wear. In many arrangement patterns, the best is 4# bearing with round pits cross-arrangement pattern. Its texturing diameters are 60 µm and 125 µm, and the spacing and depth are 200 µm and 25 µm, respectively. In addition, the Grey–Markov model prediction result is more accurate and fit the experimental value better.
Originality/value
The friction and wear mechanism is helpful for scientific research and engineers to understand the tribological behaviors and engineering applications of textured bearing. The wear capacity of textured bearing is predicted by using the Grey–Markov model, which provides technical help and theoretical guidance for the service life and reliability of textured bearing.
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Yang Li, Zhicheng Zheng, Yaochen Qin, Haifeng Tian, Zhixiang Xie and Peijun Rong
Drought is the primary disaster that negatively impacts agricultural and animal husbandry production. It can lead to crop reduction and even pose a threat to human survival in…
Abstract
Purpose
Drought is the primary disaster that negatively impacts agricultural and animal husbandry production. It can lead to crop reduction and even pose a threat to human survival in environmentally sensitive areas of China (ESAC). However, the phases and periodicity of drought changes in the ESAC remain largely unknown. Thus, this paper aims to identify the periodic characteristics of meteorological drought changes.
Design/methodology/approach
The potential evapotranspiration was calculated using the Penman–Monteith formula recommended by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, whereas the standardized precipitation evaporation index (SPEI) of drought was simulated by coupling precipitation data. Subsequently, the Bernaola-Galvan segmentation algorithm was proposed to divide the periods of drought change and the newly developed extreme-point symmetric mode decomposition to analyze the periodic drought patterns.
Findings
The findings reveal a significant increase in SPEI in the ESAC, with the rate of decline in drought events higher in the ESAC than in China, indicating a more pronounced wetting trend in the study area. Spatially, the northeast region showed an evident drying trend, whereas the southwest region showed a wetting trend. Two abrupt changes in the drought pattern were observed during the study period, namely, in 1965 and 1983. The spatial instability of moderate or severe drought frequency and intensity on a seasonal scale was more consistent during 1966–1983 and 1984–2018, compared to 1961–1965. Drought variation was predominantly influenced by interannual oscillations, with the periods of the components of intrinsic mode functions 1 (IMF1) and 2 (IMF2) being 3.1 and 7.3 years, respectively. Their cumulative variance contribution rate reached 70.22%.
Research limitations/implications
The trend decomposition and periods of droughts in the study area were analyzed, which may provide an important scientific reference for water resource management and agricultural production activities in the ESAC. However, several problems remain unaddressed. First, the SPEI considers only precipitation and evapotranspiration, making it extremely sensitive to temperature increases. It also ignores the nonstationary nature of the hydrometeorological water process; therefore, it is prone to bias in drought detection and may overestimate the intensity and duration of droughts. Therefore, further studies on the application and comparison of various drought indices should be conducted to develop a more effective meteorological drought index. Second, the local water budget is mainly affected by surface evapotranspiration and precipitation. Evapotranspiration is calculated by various methods that provide different results. Therefore, future studies need to explore both the advantages and disadvantages of various evapotranspiration calculation methods (e.g. Hargreaves, Thornthwaite and Penman–Monteith) and their application scenarios. Third, this study focused on the temporal and spatial evolution and periodic characteristics of droughts, without considering the driving mechanisms behind them and their impact on the ecosystem. In future, it will be necessary to focus on a sensitivity analysis of drought indices with regard to climate change. Finally, although this study calculated the SPEI using meteorological data provided by China’s high-density observatory network, deviations and uncertainties were inevitable in the point-to-grid spatialization process. This shortcoming may be avoided by using satellite remote sensing data with high spatiotemporal resolution in the future, which can allow pixel-scale monitoring and simulation of meteorological drought evolution.
Practical implications
Under the background of continuous global warming, the climate in arid and semiarid areas of China has shown a trend of warming and wetting. It means that the plant environment in this region is getting better. In the future, the project of afforestation and returning farmland to forest and grassland in this region can increase the planting proportion of water-loving tree species to obtain better ecological benefits. Meanwhile, this study found that in the relatively water-scarce regions of China, drought duration was dominated by interannual oscillations (3.1a and 7.3a). This suggests that governments and nongovernmental organizations in the region should pay attention to the short drought period in the ESAC when they carry out ecological restoration and protection projects such as the construction of forest reserves and high-quality farmland.
Originality/value
The findings enhance the understanding of the phasic and periodic characteristics of drought changes in the ESAC. Future studies on the stress effects of drought on crop yield may consider these effects to better reflect the agricultural response to meteorological drought and thus effectively improve the tolerance of agricultural activities to drought events.
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Hangjing Zhang, Yan Chen and H. Vicky Zhao
The purpose of this paper is to have a review on the analysis of information diffusion based on evolutionary game theory. People now get used to interact over social networks, and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to have a review on the analysis of information diffusion based on evolutionary game theory. People now get used to interact over social networks, and one of the most important functions of social networks is information sharing. Understanding the mechanisms of the information diffusion over social networks is critical to various applications including online advertisement and rumor control.
Design/methodology/approach
It has been shown that the graphical evolutionary game theory (EGT) is a very efficient method to study this problem.
Findings
By applying EGT to information diffusion, the authors could predict every small change in the process, get the detailed dynamics and finally foretell the stable states.
Originality/value
In this paper, the authors provide a general review on the evolutionary game-theoretic framework for information diffusion over social network by summarizing the results and conclusions of works using graphical EGT.
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Juan Camilo López-Vargas, José D. Meisel, Diana María Cárdenas-Aguirre and Pablo Medina
The study aims to present an agent-based simulation model (ABM) for exploring interorganizational coordination scenarios in local disaster preparedness. This approach includes…
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to present an agent-based simulation model (ABM) for exploring interorganizational coordination scenarios in local disaster preparedness. This approach includes local actors and logistical processes as agents to compare various strategic coordination mechanisms.
Design/methodology/approach
The ABM model, developed in the Latin American context, specifically focuses on a case study of Colombia. Three coordination mechanisms (centralized, decentralized and cluster-type) have been evaluated using three performance indicators: effectiveness, efficiency and flexibility.
Findings
Simulation results show that the decentralized scenario outperforms in terms of efficiency and flexibility. On the contrary, the centralized and cluster-type scenarios demonstrate higher effectiveness, achieving a greater percentage of requirements coverage during the disaster preparedness stage. The ABM approach effectively evaluates strategical coordination mechanisms based on the analyzed performance indicators.
Research limitations/implications
This study has limitations due to the application of results to a single real case. In addition, the focus of the study is primarily on a specific type of disaster, specifically hydrometeorological events such as flash floods, torrential rains and landslides. Moreover, the scope of decision-making is restricted to key actors involved in local-level disaster management within a municipality.
Originality/value
The proposed ABM model has the potential as a decision-making tool for policies and local coordination schemes for future disasters. The simulation tool could also explore diverse geographical scenarios and disaster types, demonstrating its versatility and broader applicability for further insights and recommendations.
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Angela Russo, Mohammed Mansouri, Giuseppe Santisi and Andrea Zammitti
In today’s high-demand work environments, characterised by an expectation for individuals to possess resources to manage workloads effectively, workaholism poses a significant…
Abstract
Purpose
In today’s high-demand work environments, characterised by an expectation for individuals to possess resources to manage workloads effectively, workaholism poses a significant threat to employee well-being. This study aims to investigate the impact of work overload and psychological flexibility on compulsive work behaviours and well-being.
Design/methodology/approach
This study applies the Job Demands-Resources model and uses structural equation modelling to analyse data collected from 305 adult workers aged 19–65. Psychological flexibility and work overload are examined as antecedents of compulsive work behaviour, with flourishing and life satisfaction as outcomes.
Findings
The results indicate that compulsive work behaviour mediates the relationship between work overload and psychological flexibility on well-being outcomes. Psychological flexibility was found to be a crucial resource in reducing workaholic tendencies, leading to improved flourishing and life satisfaction.
Research limitations/implications
The implications for human resources include practical strategies and targeted interventions to help individuals navigate organisational demands, prevent compulsive work behaviours and improve overall well-being.
Originality/value
This study offers new insights into the role of psychological flexibility as a personal resource in reducing compulsive work tendencies and enhancing both hedonic and eudaimonic well-being in high-demand work environments.