Wei Guan, Wenhong Ding, Bobo Zhang and Jerome Verny
The deployment of blockchain technology (BT) throughout the supply chain is usually led by large firms that dominate the supply chain. Leading firms can encourage other…
Abstract
Purpose
The deployment of blockchain technology (BT) throughout the supply chain is usually led by large firms that dominate the supply chain. Leading firms can encourage other resource-constrained partners to get on board by providing technical and financial support. However, due to the uncertain consequences of relying on leading firms, these partners may still be reluctant to adopt BT. Drawing on resource dependence theory, this study aims to investigate whether and when supply chain alignment can be used as a dependency coping strategy to increase the willingness of resource-constrained partners to adopt BT. Moreover, it aims to examine the motivators for supply chain alignment.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopted a survey research design and collected data from 364 small and medium-sized enterprises in China.
Findings
Supply chain alignment positively affects BT adoption. The effect of supply chain alignment on BT adoption is contingent on guanxi (a Chinese cultural tradition of interpersonal connections that facilitate a mutual exchange of favors). Relative advantage, technology complexity, organizational readiness and cost are motivators for supply chain alignment. Supply chain alignment mediates the effect of cost, technology complexity and relative advantage on BT adoption.
Originality/value
This research addresses the problem of resource dependency in the context of BT adoption which has been overlooked by previous research. Moreover, this paper enriches the BT literature by identifying supply chain alignment as an important channel for technology–organization–environment factors to influence BT adoption.
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Wei Liu, Bobo Zhang, Rui Sun and Shuwen Li
As coaching assumes an increasingly critical role in satisfying employees' demands for growth, the function of coaching has progressively shifted towards direct supervisors. This…
Abstract
Purpose
As coaching assumes an increasingly critical role in satisfying employees' demands for growth, the function of coaching has progressively shifted towards direct supervisors. This study seeks to investigate the distinct effects of managerial coaching behaviors on employee outcomes from an emotional perspective. Specifically, we aim to explore whether leaders' encourage-to-explore and guide-to-learn behaviors impact employees' creativity and performance through discrete emotional mechanisms upon appraisal theory of emotion.
Design/methodology/approach
We conducted two studies to test our proposition. In study 1, an experiment using coaching scenarios was performed with 128 students majoring in management. In study 2, data were collected from 311 supervisor-subordinate dyads.
Findings
The results indicate that encourage-to-explore behaviors are positively related to employee creativity by fostering feelings of inspiration, and guide-to-learn behaviors are positively related to employee performance by alleviating anxiety. These findings suggest that different leaders’ coaching behaviors influence employee outcomes through different emotional processes. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are also discussed.
Originality/value
These findings suggest that different leaders’ coaching behaviors influence employee outcomes through different emotional processes. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are also discussed.
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Lixuan Zhang, Eric Smith and Andrea Gouldman
This study examines the impacts of three individual values on the willingness to pay and perceived fairness of use tax on Internet purchases. Analysis of survey data collected…
Abstract
This study examines the impacts of three individual values on the willingness to pay and perceived fairness of use tax on Internet purchases. Analysis of survey data collected from 114 taxpayers reveals that while a strong sense of national identity is significantly correlated with fairness perceptions of use tax, it is not significantly related to perception of willingness to pay use tax. Our findings suggest that taxpayers with a high level of religiosity are more willing to pay use tax, although they do not perceive the use tax to be fair.
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Yuting Wang, Guodong Sun, Haisheng Wang and Bobo Jian
The purpose of this study is to solve the issues of time-consuming and complicated computation of traditional measures, as well as the underutilization of two-dimensional (2D…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to solve the issues of time-consuming and complicated computation of traditional measures, as well as the underutilization of two-dimensional (2D) phase-trajectory projection matrix, so a new set of features were proposed based on the projection of attractors trajectory to characterize the friction-induced attractors and to reveal the tribological behavior during the running-in process.
Design/methodology/approach
The frictional running-in experiments were conducted by sliding a ball against a static disk, and the friction coefficient was collected to reconstruct the friction-induced attractors. The projection of the attractors in 2D subspace was then mapped and the distribution of phase points was adapted to conduct the feature extraction.
Findings
The evolution of the proposed moment measures could be described as “initial rapid decrease/increase- midterm gradual decrease/increase- finally stable,” which could effectively reveal the convergence degree of the friction-induced attractors. Moreover, the measures could also describe the relative position of the attractors in phase–space domain, which reveal the amplitude evolution of signals to some extent.
Originality/value
The proposed measures could reveal the evolution of tribological behaviors during the running-in process and meet the more precise real-time running-in status identification.
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Lv Jiawen, Bobo Li, Zhanxin Li, Yitao Chen, Jingchi Liu and Bingheng Lu
This paper aims to investigate a novel additive manufacturing (AM) method for titanium alloy using Joule heat as the single heat source to melt TC4 wire, which intends to provide…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate a novel additive manufacturing (AM) method for titanium alloy using Joule heat as the single heat source to melt TC4 wire, which intends to provide a new low-power, low-cost solution for the processing of titanium alloys.
Design/methodology/approach
When current flows through the wire and the substrate, Joule heat will be generated to melt the wire and join the wire with the substrate. By stacking the wire layer by layer, finally a part can be formed. The cross-sectional morphology, microstructure and hardness of TC4 single track deposits formed by Joule heat melting wire AM were investigated by various characterization methods.
Findings
The melting width and melting penetration decreased with the increase of printing speeds. There is no obvious change in single track morphology with the change of printing pressures. The melting width and melting penetration increased with the increase of printing currents. The observation of the internal microstructure of a single track reveals a decrease in grain size as printing speeds increase. The average hardness of the single track was about 363 HV, which is comparable to the hardness of the parts fabricated by selective laser melting process. The printing power is less than 300 W, which is lower than other AM processes.
Originality/value
This paper provides a novel solution for the processing of titanium alloy parts. Compared with other expensive energy sources, this work only uses an ordinary DC power supply as the energy source. The printing process is simple and the cost is low. The power is much lower than other AM processes.
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The present study assesses how sibship size affects child quality as measured by educational attainment.
Abstract
Purpose
The present study assesses how sibship size affects child quality as measured by educational attainment.
Design/methodology/approach
The data are from the Canadian General Social Surveys (GSS) of 1986, 1990, 1994 and 1995. The sample is restricted to the individuals born in Canada between 1946 and 1965, that is, the baby-boom generation. In addition to controlling for parental education, the sibship size is instrumented by a non-binary variable created based on the sex composition of the sibship. While most previous studies have pooled both genders, the present paper produces by gender estimates
Findings
The OLS estimates are statistically significant, negative and moderately large for both male and female baby boomers. When the sibship size is instrumented, the estimates indicate that one additional sibling had reduced the educational attainment of male baby boomers by almost half a year. No causal effect for the sibship size is found for female baby boomers.
Originality/value
This is the first paper on the effects of sibship size on educational attainment, using Canadian data.
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Zhao Wang, Yuefeng Li, Jun Zou, Bobo Yang and Mingming Shi
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of different soldering temperatures on the performance of chip-on-board (COB) light sources during vacuum reflow soldering.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of different soldering temperatures on the performance of chip-on-board (COB) light sources during vacuum reflow soldering.
Design/methodology/approach
First, the influence of the void ratio of the COB light source on the steady-state voltage, luminous flux, luminous efficiency and junction temperature has been explored at soldering temperatures of 250°C, 260°C, 270°C, 280°C and 290°C. The COB chip has also been tested for practical application and aging.
Findings
The results show that when the soldering temperature is 270°C, the void ratio of the soldering layer is only 5.1%, the junction temperature of the chip is only 76.52°C, and the luminous flux and luminous efficiency are the highest, and it has been observed that the luminous efficiency and average junction temperature of the chip are 107 lm/W and 72.3°C, respectively, which meets the requirements of street lights. After aging for 1,080 h, the light attenuation is 84.64% of the initial value, which indicates that it has higher reliability and longer life.
Originality/value
It can provide reference data for readers and people in this field and can be directly applied to practical engineering.
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Yihan Zhu, Kriti Gopal and Allison BrckaLorenz
College support and career development are two significant challenges international students encountered during the pandemic, and these two factors have an enormous impact on the…
Abstract
College support and career development are two significant challenges international students encountered during the pandemic, and these two factors have an enormous impact on the internationalization of higher education. The data for this study came from the 2020 to 2021 administrations of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) that includes over 500 international students enrolled at over 120 four-year colleges and universities in the United States. These students specifically responded to an open-ended item asking them what they think institutions should do better to assist their academic achievement and career goals. This study takes an in-depth look at international students’ qualitative responses about ways that institutions could better support their preparation for future careers. Using theories of cultural wealth and ecological systems to understand the unique experiences of international students during the pandemic offers an opportunity to help students not just in times of crisis but more holistically as they continue to pursue their higher education experiences in the United States. Ultimately, the authors provide recommendations for higher education professionals working with international students to better support their students’ career development and overall college experience.
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Christopher Amaral, Ceren Kolsarici and Mikhail Nediak
The purpose of this study is to understand the profit implications of analytics-driven centralized discriminatory pricing at the headquarter level compared with sales force price…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to understand the profit implications of analytics-driven centralized discriminatory pricing at the headquarter level compared with sales force price delegation in the purchase of an aftermarket good through an indirect retail channel with symmetric information.
Design/methodology/approach
Using individual-level loan application and approval data from a North American financial institution and segment-level customer risk as the price discrimination criterion for the firm, the authors develop a three-stage model that accounts for the salesperson’s price decision within the limits of the latitude provided by the firm; the firm’s decision to approve or not approve a sales application; and the customer’s decision to accept or reject a sales offer conditional on the firm’s approval. Next, the authors compare the profitability of this sales force price delegation model to that of a segment-level centralized pricing model where agent incentives and consumer prices are simultaneously optimized using a quasi-Newton nonlinear optimization algorithm (i.e. Broyden–Fletcher–Goldfarb–Shanno algorithm).
Findings
The results suggest that implementation of analytics-driven centralized discriminatory pricing and optimal sales force incentives leads to double-digit lifts in firm profits. Moreover, the authors find that the high-risk customer segment is less price-sensitive and firms, upon leveraging this segment’s willingness to pay, not only improve their bottom-line but also allow these marginalized customers with traditionally low approval rates access to loans. This points out the important customer welfare implications of the findings.
Originality/value
Substantively, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to empirically investigate the profitability of analytics-driven segment-level (i.e. discriminatory) centralized pricing compared with sales force price delegation in indirect retail channels (i.e. where agents are external to the firm and have access to competitor products), taking into account the decisions of the three key stakeholders of the process, namely, the consumer, the salesperson and the firm and simultaneously optimizing sales commission and centralized consumer price.
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Environmental pollution has been a great concern for the government of Bangladesh. Bangladesh was the least developed country, with a lot of financial challenges. The industrial…
Abstract
Environmental pollution has been a great concern for the government of Bangladesh. Bangladesh was the least developed country, with a lot of financial challenges. The industrial process in Bangladesh has not been able to maintain the directives of the SDGs. The lack of proper industrial policy, technological backwardness and lacunae in implementing environmental governance have affected the environment of the country. The unorganised and informal manufacturing units are often accused of emitting greenhouse gases. Like other South Asian countries, the informal manufacturing sector in Bangladesh has been established without proper planning and environmental guidelines. In Bangladesh, the informal sector includes brick kilns, food processing factories, leather tanning, etc., which are responsible for environmental pollution, health hazards and violations of SDG goals. The issue of environmental pollution by the informal manufacturing sectors of Bangladesh needs to be investigated in the context of the socioeconomic profile of the country and the performance of the government in monitoring the issue. Due to the lack of environmental governance, a high level of pollution has been occurring in the country. What kinds of economic tools and industrial policies are needed to be implemented to avoid environmental hazards? The content analysis method will be applied in this chapter.