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This study examines whether relational capital influences self-disclosure behavior through the mechanism of needs-based motivation in virtual communities.

This study adopts hierarchical linear model (HLM) to differentiate between the relationships at different levels, with 378 online questionnaires recovered from 42 virtual communities.

The results show that group-level relational capital is positively related to self-disclosure and affects it through the partially mediating mechanism of motivation. Relational capital also strengthens the positive influence of the need to be on trend on individual self-disclosure behavior.

This study makes four research contributions. Firstly, we identify the means by which relational capital established within a virtual community influences user disclosure behavior. This focus differs from those of previous studies, which have emphasized privacy and security of information systems, cost–benefit considerations, and/or adopted personality traits as the research basis. Secondly, this study examines and verifies the mediating mechanism of motivation, establishing an alternative perspective for theoretical studies, and providing future studies with a reference for investigating the self-disclosure behavior of members. Thirdly, this research introduces and verifies the moderating effects of relational capital based on member relationships, thus making further theoretical and empirical contributions. Finally, we adopt HLM to conduct our analyses, thereby ensuring higher precision regarding the explanatory power of group-level explanatory variables for individual-level dependent variables.

The purpose of this paper is to answer the question of how brand-specific transformational leadership (TFL) and transactional leadership (TRL) enhance employee-based brand equity (EBBE) by influencing employees’ perceived brand value congruence (EPBVC).

This study employed hierarchical linear modeling and chose moderating variables that are primarily related to the working environment: person–job fit (PJF) and person–group fit (PGF). The sample included managers and employees of the largest domestic bank in Taiwan.

Questionnaires were distributed to banking staff in the service industry. The results imply that both brand-specific TFL and brand-specific TRL require the mediation of PJF and PGF to influence EBBE, which then influences brand equity. Without these mediators, brand-specific TFL and brand-specific TRL have no effects on EBBE.

Compared to the results from other studies, these results imply a unique discovery that both brand-specific TFL and brand-specific TRL require the mediation of PJF and PGF to influence EPBVC, which in turn influences EBBE. Without these mediators, brand-specific TFL and brand-specific TRL do not have any effects.

The purpose of this paper is to explore whether online leadership affects offline leadership through a mediation mechanism.

Drawing on social presence theory, the authors developed a mediation model of online leadership to offline leadership, and examine the moderating effect of interactivity. Data were collected through an internet questionnaire, with gamers in Taiwan’s leading forum as research targets. After receiving 912 valid questionnaires, the authors used SPSS 21 and AMOS 21 to conduct data analysis to test the model.

The results show that online leadership will affect offline leadership. Moreover, game achievements and character identification have partial mediated effects in this model. Finally, interactivity has a moderating effect in this model.

These findings provide insights for future leadership training effectiveness, training guidelines, game design, and selection of references.

This research extends the current state of knowledge about the paths to transfer online leadership experiences to office situations through direct influence, game achievement, and character identification.

This study examines whether consumer brand engagement (CBE) can mitigate the negative effects of economic animosity (EA) on purchase intention (PI) and strengthen the positive effect of country-of-origin (COO) on PI.

Using questionnaires distributed to 372 young Chinese adults, the study collected PI data for US products in the Chinese market. Partial least square structural equation modeling was adopted.

This study found a positive relationship between COO and CBE and a negative relationship between EA and CBE. CBE exhibits a partial mediating effect in the relationship between COO and PI and a full suppression effect on EA toward PI.

This research is limited to China; future research could extend this framework to the United States.

This study contributes to relationship marketing knowledge. Furthermore, it provides new tools for multinational corporations to deploy their marketing strategies and avoid negative consequences stemming from the EA effect in the Chinese market following the US–China trade war.

This study is the first to extend COO and EA research to CBE discipline.

This study aims to identify the driving forces of customer value co-creation (VCC) that occur through employee positive psychological capital (PPC), employee service-oriented organizational citizenship behavior (SOOCB) and customer brand experience (BE).

In total, 493 valid samples were retrieved from 30 hotels in Taiwan. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to extensively and accurately examine customer VCC from a cross-level perspective.

The results showed that employee PPC was not positively related to customer VCC, that employee PPC affected customer VCC indirectly through the mediating effect of employee SOOCB and that the relationship between employee SOOCB and customer VCC was positively moderated by customer BE.

First, this study investigated the customer VCC driving forces through the role of the employee, and thus advances the customer VCC field. Second, it identified employee SOOCB as a key mediating mechanism that links the indirect relationship between employee PPC and customer VCC. Third, it identified customer BE as a key moderating mechanism in the relationship between employee SOOCB and customer VCC. Fourth, regarding methodology, few studies investigate VCC through a cross-level approach. The present study used hierarchical linear modeling to extensively and accurately examine customer VCC and its cross-level relationships, thus providing greater research value compared with single-level analysis. Finally, the result findings suggest that organizational leaders should enhance the PPC of employees in furtherance of encouraging the employees to perform extra-role SOOCB, which makes customer co-creation behavior, and ultimately, contributes to managerial practice.

The purpose of this paper is to review existing literature on users’ digital learning acceptance behavior and to identify gaps in the current body of knowledge and suggest future research directions. The paper also includes identification of motivating as well as inhibiting factors previously explored by academicians in the acceptance of digital learning.

The systematic literature review based on PRISMA methodology was conducted, and 200 articles from peer-reviewed journals on digital learning acceptance behavior using technology adoption theories were examined.

The study found an overall rise in the number of papers published yearly during 2002–2017. Most of the studies were published in two journals, i.e. Computers & Education and Computers in Human Behaviour and were carried out in Asia followed by Europe, North America, Africa, Oceania and South America. It was also noted that most of the studies have used the technology acceptance model and were empirical in nature. The study also found that prominently students’ digital learning acceptance behavior was investigated. The review also indicates a lack of qualitative and mixed method (qualitative and quantitative) approaches to study digital learning acceptance behavior.

The study identified gaps in the current body of knowledge by reviewing published articles that will suggest future directions for further research. The top three determinants of digital learning acceptance that have been analyzed were the behavioral intention, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, followed by attitude and user behavior. The study articulates the implications for providers in marketing digital learning products, for higher education institution in expanding digital content, for students seeking digital education tools, for educators in motivating students to accept digital learning and for governments in delivering cost-effective public education by utilizing digital learning.

The paper analyzes 200 publications on digital learning acceptance through technology adoption theories. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first initiative to provide systematic and exhaustive summarization of the knowledge in this subject. It further explores the various factors influencing digital learning adoption behavior and provides avenues for future research. The paper is useful for researchers working on digital learning acceptance behavior.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a proportional-integral-derivative-based fuzzy neural network (PIDFNN) with elitist bacterial foraging optimization (EBFO)-based optimal membership functions (PIDFNN-EBFO) position controller to control the voice coil motor (VCM) for tracking reference trajectory accurately.

Because the control characteristics of the VCM are highly nonlinear and time varying, a PIDFNN, which integrates adaptive PID control with fuzzy rules, is proposed to control the mover position of the VCM. Moreover, an EBFO algorithm is further proposed to find the initial optimal fuzzy membership functions for the PIDFNN controller.

Due to the gradient descent method used in back propagation (BP) to derive the on-line learning algorithm for the PIDFNN, it may reach the local optimal solution due to the inappropriate initial values. Hence, a hybrid learning method, which includes BP and EBFO algorithms, is proposed to improve the learning performance of the PIDFNN controller.

Future work will consider reducing the computational burden of bacterial foraging optimization algorithm for on-line parameters optimization.

The real-time control system is implemented on a 32-bit floating-point digital signal processor (DSP). The experimental results demonstrate the favorable effectiveness of the proposed PIDFNN-EBFO controlled VCM system.

A new PIDFNN-EBFO control scheme is proposed and implemented via DSP for real-time VCM position control. The experimental results show the superior control performance of the proposed PIDFNN-EBFO compared with the other control systems.

Unique product design is a highlight of sustainable branding. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether product design affects customers’ psychological responses (i.e. cognitive and affective responses) to smartphones, and, in turn, affects their brand loyalty (i.e. attitudinal and behavioral brand loyalty), further advancing the knowledge of product design and brand management.

This work used survey data from 456 Taiwanese with experience using smartphone. Structural equation modeling was employed to test the proposed model and hypotheses.

The results indicate that the product design significantly affects both cognitive response and affective response, which, in turn, significantly affect both attitudinal brand loyalty and behavioral brand loyalty. The findings also suggest that the moderating effect of product involvement on the relationship between product design and affective response is statistically significant, although it does not positively and significantly moderate the link between product design and cognitive response.

This study has two main limitations. First, this study was conducted in the context of smartphones, thus potentially constraining the generalization of the results to other industries. Second, the data in this study were obtained from a cross-sectional design.

These findings can permit companies to generate more brand loyalty in their customers and guide their management of assets and marketing activities.

This paper presents new insights into the nature and importance of product design in brand value.

Considering that users’ information privacy concerns may affect the development of e-commerce, the purpose of this paper is to explore what drives internet users’ willingness to provide personal information; further, the paper examines how extrinsic rewards moderate the relationship between users’ information privacy concerns and willingness to provide personal information.

Data collected from 345 valid internet users in the context of electronic commerce were analyzed using the partial least squares approach.

The result showed that agreeableness, risk-taking propensity and experience of privacy invasion were three main antecedents of information privacy concerns among the seven individual factors. Additionally, information privacy concerns did not significantly affect users’ willingness to provide personal information in the privacy calculation mechanism; however, extrinsic rewards directly affected users’ disclosure intention. The authors found that extrinsic rewards had not moderated the relationship between users’ information privacy concerns and their willingness to provide personal information.

This study is an exploratory effort to develop and validate a model for explaining why internet users were willing to provide personal information. The results of this study are helpful to researchers in developing theories of information privacy concerns and to practitioners in promoting internet users’ willingness to provide personal information in an e-commerce context.

Taking a mental accounting theory perspective, this study explores how pricing strategy (all-inclusive vs partitioned) influences consumers' perceived residual value of a product and their subsequent intentions to upgrade to a newer model.

A pilot study and two formal experiments were conducted to test the hypotheses.

A partitioned (vs all-inclusive) price causes consumers to later recall a lower total cost and perceive lower residual value for the existing product, thereby increasing upgrade intentions. This finding holds for both utilitarian and hedonic products. Perceived residual value mediates the impact of the pricing strategy on upgrade intentions. The pricing strategy effect is stronger for state-oriented individuals than for action-oriented individuals.

This study extends understanding of the impact of pricing strategies from consumers' short-term immediate demand to long-term upgrade intentions. It also identifies a previously uninvestigated moderator (action-state orientation), clarifying the boundary conditions of pricing strategy effects. The study's conceptual framework links pricing strategy, sunk costs, perceived residual value and upgrade intentions, providing rich insights and potential research paths. These findings further enhance understanding of upgrade intentions.