Chaohua Huang, Shaoshuang Zhuang and Haiyan Ma
This study aims to examine the effects of pathos in sustainable brand stories featuring masculinity on brand masculinity and men’s sustainable brand attitude using Aristotle’s…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the effects of pathos in sustainable brand stories featuring masculinity on brand masculinity and men’s sustainable brand attitude using Aristotle’s rhetoric theory.
Design/methodology/approach
Three independent online experiments (N = 398; N = 216; N = 247) were conducted to observe how participants responded to a sustainable brand story. Data collected through a post-experimental survey were used to test the proposed model. Research hypotheses were inspected using SPSS.
Findings
The authors reveal brand masculinity is influenced by varying degrees of pathos: participants who read stories with all three pathos elements (metaphor, humor and empathy) demonstrated the highest level of perceived brand masculinity. Male consumers showed more positive attitudes toward masculine sustainable brand stories than feminine ones. The authors also identify the moderating effect of consumer generation: Gen Z (versus Gen Y) consumers demonstrated stronger character identification with hybrid masculinity (versus hegemonic masculinity) sustainable brand stories, resulting in more favorable sustainable brand attitudes.
Originality/value
The study provides a new angle for exploring the relationship between gendered sustainable brand stories and sustainable brand attitudes. It is the first (to the authors’ knowledge) that links Aristotle’s rhetoric theory to brand gender research, and it empirically demonstrates how male consumers from different generational cohorts respond to different masculinity strategies used by sustainable brands.
Details
Keywords
Wei Lin, Xuewen Li, Bing Tu, Chaohua Zhang and Yulong Li
This study aims to analyze the wettability of the self-developed Sn–Bi–Zn solder and to conduct a series of analysis on the wetting kinetics, diffusion phenomenon and interfacial…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to analyze the wettability of the self-developed Sn–Bi–Zn solder and to conduct a series of analysis on the wetting kinetics, diffusion phenomenon and interfacial reaction of Sn–Bi–Zn solder on Cu substrate.
Design/methodology/approach
The wetting kinetics, diffusion phenomenon and interfacial reaction of Sn–Bi–Zn solder on Cu substrate were analyzed by experiments. The interface was observed by scanning electron microscope to study the effect of Zn content on its interface.
Findings
With the increase in brazing temperature, the final spreading equivalent radius of the solder increases significantly, and the final contact angle of the solder decreases significantly. In addition, when the Zn content is 1%, the spreading effect of solder is the best, the equivalent radius is the largest and the contact angle is the smallest. According to the microstructural analysis, the thick intermetallic compounds layer of the Sn–15Bi–xZn solders on the Cu substrate can be effectively decreased by adding appropriate Zn content.
Originality/value
The wetting kinetics, diffusion phenomenon and interfacial reaction of Sn–15Bi–xZn solder on Cu substrate at different temperatures have not been studied yet.
Details
Keywords
Kam Hung, Sha Wang and Chaohua Tang
This study aims to understand the normative expectations of travelers on the services and experiences provided by Buddhism-themed hotels as well as how service providers perceive…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to understand the normative expectations of travelers on the services and experiences provided by Buddhism-themed hotels as well as how service providers perceive such expectations. The growth of religion-themed hotels in China follows a larger and more generalized global marketing trend in terms of providing tourists and consumers with “themed” experiences.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the service quality model, this study investigates these expectations of Buddhism-themed hotels in China. The Delphi method was used with two expert panels, namely, travelers and tourism/hotel practitioners. Preliminary interviews revealed 98 normative expectations from Buddhism-themed hotels. Two sets of Delphi questionnaires were used to compare tourist expectations with practitioner perceptions.
Findings
Results show a wide range of expectations of travelers staying in Buddhism-themed hotels. They also reveal how the expectations of the two groups aligned as well as differed.
Research limitations/implications
This study extends the application of the service quality model to the context of religion-themed hotels. As this study adopted the Delphi technique through criterion sampling, future studies should use a larger random sample to verify the results of this study.
Practical implications
The results help religion-themed hoteliers to understand their customer expectations better.
Originality/value
Given the lack of studies on religion-themed hotels, especially on the gap between tourist expectations and service providers’ perceptions, this study is a timely contribution to improve the understanding on the needs and expectations of customers when visiting religion-themed hotels.
Details
Keywords
The booming social media attracts construction professionals (CPs) to express emotions caused by work pressure (WP) through online behaviors. Previous works focus on the analysis…
Abstract
Purpose
The booming social media attracts construction professionals (CPs) to express emotions caused by work pressure (WP) through online behaviors. Previous works focus on the analysis of WP and emotions but do not adequately consider how WP can be reflected through online emotions. Thus, this study aims to attempt to explore the quantitative relationship between online emotional intensity and WP.
Design/methodology/approach
This study developed a linguistic-sticker (LS) model to quantitatively evaluate the sentiment intensity of posts published on social media. Moreover, the authors designed two econometric models of ordinary least squares regression and negative binomial regression to test the hypothesis.
Findings
The research found that posts with stronger negative sentiment (or positive sentiment) indicate that CPs face higher (or lower) WP. Besides, there is a negative bias between the sentiment intensity of posts and the comment quantity.
Practical implications
The positive correlation between sentiment intensity of posts and WP has been confirmed, which indicates that construction managers should pay more attention to CPs' behavior on social media, and take a more direct way to analyze work-related online behavior (e.g. posting, commenting). The dynamic monitoring of emotion-related posts also provides a direct basis for the management team to learn about CP's pressure status and propose measures to reduce their negative emotions. Furthermore, the emotional posts published by CPs on social media provide a direct basis for team managers to obtain their psychological state.
Originality/value
The research contributes to incorporating CPs' emotions into the LS model and to providing information systems artifacts and new findings on the analysis of WP and online emotions.
Details
Keywords
To examine China's reforms and successes could have been replicated to other transition economies.
Abstract
Purpose
To examine China's reforms and successes could have been replicated to other transition economies.
Design/methodology/approach
The applicability of the Chinese process as an alternative for transition economies involves an analysis of the necessary reforms regarding price liberalisation‐stabilisation; privatisation; institutions; monetary policy and the financial system; fiscal policy; international trade and foreign aid and social policy.
Findings
The transition process in China has maintained political‐ideological authoritarianism and state control of the whole economy. Therefore, it was not the “special initial conditions” of China that made the model inappropriate but, rather, the switch to a democratic political‐ideological‐economic structure in transition economies.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the transition literature by demonstrating that the strategy was only rendered workable in China, as the governments of transition economies neither had the mandate nor wanted to reimpose tight state direction of the politics, ideology and economy.
Details
Keywords
Zhang Jie, Su Xinning and Deng Sanhong
This paper is written as an attempt to employ the Chinese Social Science Citation Index (CSSCI) in the evaluation of Chinese humanities and social science research.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper is written as an attempt to employ the Chinese Social Science Citation Index (CSSCI) in the evaluation of Chinese humanities and social science research.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses statistics in the CSSCI (2000‐2004) to analyze the academic impact of researchers, papers and works, institutions and regions on Chinese humanities and social science research.
Findings
The authors identify 100 highly cited people, 50 highly cited papers, 50 highly cited works, 20 highly productive institutions and 20 highly cited institutions. Also provided is some regional information about Chinese humanities and social science research.
Originality/value
It is hoped that the CSSCI, as well as the analysis and evaluation based on it, will give researchers a better understanding of Chinese humanities and social science research.