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This study aims to explore and theorize value gaps within value chain management (VCM) by extending the service quality gap model to the context of global manufacturing value chains.

Drawing upon a case study of a small, family-owned Swedish furniture wholesaler, Alpha, this research adapts the service quality gap model and integrates it into the VCM framework. The investigation examines the value creation and delivery processes across a network of actors, highlighting how various gaps emerge at different stages of the value chain.

The study identifies and describes several value gaps, including those related to consumer understanding, manufacturing capabilities and coordination across the value chain. Value creation gaps arise from poor communication about consumer needs and product features, whereas value delivery gaps are mainly tied to manufacturing capacity and material restrictions. These gaps can result in misalignment between consumer expectations and the delivered value.

Although this study provides insights into the emergence of value gaps, further research is needed to determine the magnitude and reduction strategies for these gaps. In addition, understanding how consumers evaluate new products remains a critical area for investigation.

The research highlights the significance of a coordinated approach to managing value creation and delivery processes. It underscores the need for companies to capture accurate consumer data, consider manufacturing capabilities and engage in effective coordination with various actors in the value chain.

By addressing value gaps, companies can enhance consumer satisfaction and minimize potential dissatisfaction caused by misalignment between consumer expectations and delivered value. This, in turn, can lead to improved relationships with consumers and other actors within the value chain.

This research offers a novel perspective on value gaps in VCM, extending the service quality gap model to the realm of manufacturing. It underscores the importance of managing both value creation and delivery processes for enhancing competitive advantage in a global market.

This study aims to identify the key characteristics of tourism live streamers (TLSers) that influence target consumers and examine how these characteristics enhance destination brand value by stimulating consumer emotional engagement and value co-creation behaviors.

A questionnaire survey was conducted with 552 respondents who had viewed tourism live streaming in China. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.

The results revealed that TLSers’ expertise had the strongest influence on consumers and positively affected their attachment, trust, participation and citizenship behaviors and perceived destination brand value. Attractiveness and trustworthiness exerted positive but weaker effects on these variables.

This study contributes to the theoretical development of live-streaming research by demonstrating the distinct impacts of TLSer characteristics. Furthermore, this study expands the application of the social exchange theory and value co-creation in tourism research.

本研究旨在确定影响目标消费者的旅游直播主（TLSers）的关键特征, 并检验这些特征如何通过激发消费者情感参与和价值共创行为来增强目的地品牌价值。

对在中国观看过旅游直播的552名受访者进行了问卷调查, 采用结构方程建模分析数据。

研究结果显示, TLSers的专业知识对消费者影响最大, 并积极影响他们的情感依恋、信任、参与和公民行为, 以及感知的目的地品牌价值。吸引力和可信度对这些变量的影响较弱但也是积极的。

本研究通过展示TLSer特征的独特影响, 对直播研究的理论发展做出了贡献。此外, 本研究扩展了社会交换理论和价值共创在旅游研究中的应用。

This study aims at building a framework for the electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) response under the social media environment. The elaboration likelihood model was adopted to explain how message source credibility and message appeal jointly influence the eWOM response process, while source credibility provides a central route and message appeal plays a peripheral route for information processing.

This study used a scenario design to test the decision behavior in the Facebook environment through message content manipulation. A convenience sampling method was adopted in this study. We collected 203 valid questionnaires and tested this research model with LISREL 8.8. This study used a two-stage structural equation modeling data analysis method with LISREL 8.8, by which the measurement model was assessed through confirmatory factor analysis for the reliability and validity of the research model, and the causal relationship among factors was assessed through exploratory factor analysis .

The results showed that 53% variance of eWOM responses could be explained by message source credibility and emotional message appeal from the elaboration likelihood model perspective. Message source credibility plays a central role in the social media environment. The model was further tested with a demographic profile analysis for both gender and age. It is found that a female user is influenced by both source credibility and emotional appeal, but a male user is only influenced by message source credibility. The mature age group is more responsive to eWOM messages.

The sample might not represent all social networking sites (SNS) users. The participants represent a small segment of the Facebook population around the globe. Secondly, this research design could be improved by using more recreational messages to test the effects of message appeal and message source credibility. Thirdly, the mobile phone is a type of physical product rather than an experiential product. Future studies could try to identify the same eWOM determinants with different SNS functions, for example, the inbox message function. Similarly, Facebook users are allowed to use both text and pictures to disseminate promotional messages.

This study provides an insight for SNS administrators regarding the determinants of driving more customer responses toward a message. Message source credibility and message appeal are identified as the antecedents for eWOM responses in SNS. Companies could make use of this finding to improve their marketing communication strategy in SNS. The finding can inform administrators of the importance of focusing on both customers’ psychological state and message attributes during the dissemination of promotional messages to improve the efficiency of the promotional effort. Companies aimed at receiving different types of eWOM responses in SNS may need to consider other factors for creating their promotional messages.

Previous studies have mainly identified factors influencing eWOM responses from the people-centered variables such as personal traits and social relationships. This study proposes that the eWOM response is a dual information processing process that can be explained by the ELM. When a user processes information in SNS, he follows both the central route and the peripheral route (i.e. source credibility and message appeal) which can influence the eWOM response. It is the first time that the source credibility is investigated as the central route in ELM model.

Lack of access to finance is a major constraint to the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurship in developing countries. The recent proliferation of mobile phone services, access to the internet and emerging technologies has led to a surge in the use of FinTech in Africa and is transforming the financial sector. This paper aims to examine whether FinTech developments heterogeneously contribute to the growth of digital finance for SMEs and entrepreneurship in 47 African countries from 2013 to 2020.

The paper uses a novel method of moments quantile regression, which deals with heterogeneity and endogeneity in diverse conditions for asymmetric and nonlinear models.

The empirical results reveal that the rise of FinTech companies offering services in Africa heterogeneously increases digital finance for SMEs and entrepreneurship in their different stages of growth. FinTech developments have a strong and positive impact in countries with higher levels of digital finance than those with lower levels. FinTech developments and digital finance positively and significantly influence entrepreneurship in Africa, particularly in the nascent and transitional development stages of entrepreneurship. Institutional quality has a considerable positive moderating effect when used as a control rather than an interaction variable.

The results suggest the need to promote FinTech developments in Africa: to provide a wide range of alternative digital finance schemes to SMEs and to promote entrepreneurship, especially in countries where entrepreneurship is in the nascent and transitional development stages. The results also underscore the need to promote FinTech development through supportive regulations and institutional quality to reduce risks related to FinTech and digital financing schemes.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is one of the first attempts to account for the often overlooked heterogeneity effects and show that the influence of FinTech developments is not homogenous across the varying development stages of digital finance and entrepreneurship.

This study seeks to examine the mediating role of innovative work behavior (IWB) in the relationship between entrepreneurial leadership (EL) and employee performance.

The study adopted the cross-sectional research design of quantitative approach where data were collected from 344 employees in Ghana’s food and beverages industry. The retrieved data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics (partial least squares structural equation modeling).

Mainly, the study revealed that IWB positively and significantly mediated the relationship between EL and contextual and task performance (TP). The study found that EL has a significant positive relationship with task and contextual performance (CP). This indicates that leaders who demonstrate entrepreneurial qualities, such as innovation, proactiveness and risk-taking, are likely to enhance their team’s ability to complete specific tasks effectively (TP) and contribute positively to the broader organizational environment (CP).

Practically, organizations that prioritize EL qualities among managers and supervisors in the form of providing training programs, coaching and mentorship opportunities that emphasize innovation, risk-taking and pro-activeness in decision-making significantly influence their employee performance.

The originality and value of this study lie in its comprehensive exploration of the relationship between EL, IWB and performance outcomes.