Abstract
Purpose
Fully automatic operation (FAO) metro system is the trend of urban rail in modern cities. This study aims to develop a service quality scale for measuring passenger service perception in the context of FAO metro system.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the interviews and the dimensions proposed in the previous service quality scales of the public transport sector, this study develops a multidimension service quality scale. Face-to-face interviews and surveys are conducted to obtain the riding experience and satisfaction of passengers in the metro stations of Beijing Subway Yanfang Line and Beijing Daxing International Airport Express that are FAO metro lines. Reliability, validity and nomological validity of our scale are demonstrated.
Findings
Six dimensions (i.e. tangibles, information, safety, efficiency, empathy and innovation) and 22 items are included in the scale through quantitative analysis. It is found that all of the six dimensions have a significant relationship with passenger satisfaction. Especially information and innovation are the more important dimensions of FAO metro system service quality.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the service quality literature in the public transport sector taking the FAO metro system as the object. The findings may provide a guide for the FAO metro operators to evaluate and improve their service quality.
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Min Zhang, Lin Sun, Fang Qin and G. Alan Wang
In recent years, more and more e-retailers have adopted live streaming services to attract customers. Although the extant literature has mostly examined the motivations for live…
Abstract
Purpose
In recent years, more and more e-retailers have adopted live streaming services to attract customers. Although the extant literature has mostly examined the motivations for live streaming usage, it remains unclear how to enhance customers’ purchase behaviour. Based on the social exchange theory, in the context of live streaming platforms (LSP), this study aims to investigate the impact of information quality and interaction quality on swift guanxi and customers’ purchase intention.
Design/methodology/approach
This study conducted an online survey to conduct two rounds of data collection and analyses the data using SPSS and SmartPLS softwares.
Findings
The results show that information quality (believability, usefulness and vividness) and interaction quality (responsiveness, real-time interaction and empathy) are positively related to swift guanxi, which may influence customers’ online purchase intention on LSP.
Originality/value
Prior service quality studies tend to focus on traditional physical stores and e-commerce websites context. This study offers the description of key dimensions of service quality on emerging LSP context. The study also confirms the importance of swift guanxi in an online marketplace.
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Fang Qin, Wei Le, Min Zhang and Yujia Deng
The boom in livestreaming commerce (LSC) has brought significant changes to social interaction methods. Understanding customer engagement in LSC is critical for online sellers who…
Abstract
Purpose
The boom in livestreaming commerce (LSC) has brought significant changes to social interaction methods. Understanding customer engagement in LSC is critical for online sellers who try to enhance the social influence and improve marketing effectiveness of LSC. Based on the stimulus–organism–response (S–O–R) paradigm, this study aims to develop a model to investigate the effects of perceived attributes of LSC (real-time interaction, perceived proximity and perceived authenticity) on social support (informational and emotional support) and subsequent engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey is conducted to collect data from LSC customers, and data are analyzed using SPSS and SmartPLS.
Findings
The results indicate that informational and emotional support are positively affected by real-time interaction, perceived proximity and perceived authenticity. In turn, informational and emotional support enable and mediate the prediction of customer engagement intention in LSC.
Originality/value
Prior LSC studies tend to focus on the motivation influencing LSC engagement from the perspective of perceived value. This study confirms the importance of perceived attributes of LSC in driving customer engagement from the perspective of social support.
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Mingguo Liu, Xiangming Fang and Jingru Ren
This study aims to identify the importance of agricultural and rural modernization and propose ways to accelerate such modernization.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to identify the importance of agricultural and rural modernization and propose ways to accelerate such modernization.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors systematically examine the crucial role that the modernization of agriculture and rural areas plays in China, discuss the current issues in China's modernization from the perspective of agricultural and rural fields and propose practical measures to accelerate agricultural and rural modernization.
Findings
This study emphasizes the importance of China's agricultural and rural modernization in five aspects: the significance inherent in theories and experiences, the high complexity of the modernization work, the extreme difficulty of the task, the particular sluggishness of the process and its specific impact on the overall development. Numerous shortcomings in domestic agriculture and rural areas have been identified. The following actions can help achieve modernization: strengthening strategic leadership, providing policy support and constructing supportive measures.
Originality/value
This paper summarizes the significance of agricultural and rural modernization, highlights the issues regarding such modernization and suggests effective solutions.
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The US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Soil Conservation Services (SCS) rainfall-runoff model has been applied worldwide since 1954 and adopted by Malaysian government agencies…
Abstract
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Soil Conservation Services (SCS) rainfall-runoff model has been applied worldwide since 1954 and adopted by Malaysian government agencies. Malaysia does not have regional specific curve numbers (CN) available for the use in rainfall-runoff modelling, and therefore a SCS-CN practitioner has no option but to adopt its guideline and handbook values which are specific to the US region. The selection of CN to represent a watershed becomes subjective and even inconsistent to represent similar land cover area. In recent decades, hydrologists argue about the accuracy of the predicted runoff results from the model and challenge the validity of the key parameter, initial abstraction ratio coefficient (λ) and the use of CN. Unlike the conventional SCS-CN technique, the proposed calibration methodology in this chapter discarded the use of CN as input to the SCS model and derived statistically significant CN value of a specific region through rainfall-runoff events directly under the guide of inferential statistics. Between July and October of 2004, the derived λ was 0.015, while λ = 0.20 was rejected at alpha = 0.01 level at Melana watershed in Johor, Malaysia. Optimum CN of 88.9 was derived from the 99% confidence interval range from 87.4 to 96.6 at Melana watershed. Residual sum of square (RSS) was reduced by 79% while the runoff model of Nash–Sutcliffe was improved by 233%. The SCS rainfall-runoff model can be calibrated quickly to address urban runoff prediction challenge under rapid land use and land cover changes.
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MengQi (Annie) Ding and Avi Goldfarb
This article reviews the quantitative marketing literature on artificial intelligence (AI) through an economics lens. We apply the framework in Prediction Machines: The Simple…
Abstract
This article reviews the quantitative marketing literature on artificial intelligence (AI) through an economics lens. We apply the framework in Prediction Machines: The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence to systematically categorize 96 research papers on AI in marketing academia into five levels of impact, which are prediction, decision, tool, strategy, and society. For each paper, we further identify each individual component of a task, the research question, the AI model used, and the broad decision type. Overall, we find there are fewer marketing papers focusing on strategy and society, and accordingly, we discuss future research opportunities in those areas.
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Agata Leszkiewicz, Tina Hormann and Manfred Krafft
Organizations across industries are increasingly using Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems to support their innovation processes, supply chains, marketing and sales and other…
Abstract
Organizations across industries are increasingly using Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems to support their innovation processes, supply chains, marketing and sales and other business functions. Implementing AI, firms report efficiency gains from automation and enhanced decision-making thanks to more relevant, accurate and timely predictions. By exposing the benefits of digitizing everything, COVID-19 has only accelerated these processes. Recognizing the growing importance of AI and its pervasive impact, this chapter defines the “social value of AI” as the combined value derived from AI adoption by multiple stakeholders of an organization. To this end, we discuss the benefits and costs of AI for a business-to-business (B2B) firm and its internal, external and societal stakeholders. Being mindful of legal and ethical concerns, we expect the social value of AI to increase over time as the barriers for adoption go down, technology costs decrease, and more stakeholders capture the value from AI. We identify the contributions to the social value of AI, by highlighting the benefits of AI for different actors in the organization, business consumers, supply chain partners and society at large. This chapter also offers future research opportunities, as well as practical implications of the AI adoption by a variety of stakeholders.
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Mohammad Islam Biswas, Md. Shamim Talukder and Atikur Rahman Khan
Firms have already begun integrating artificial intelligence (AI) as a replacement for conventional performance management systems owing to its technological superiority. This…
Abstract
Purpose
Firms have already begun integrating artificial intelligence (AI) as a replacement for conventional performance management systems owing to its technological superiority. This transition has sparked a growing interest in determining how employees perceive and respond to performance feedback provided by AI as opposed to human supervisors.
Design/methodology/approach
A 2 x 2 between-subject experimental design was employed that was manipulated into four experimental conditions: AI algorithms, AI data, highly experienced human supervisors and low-experience human supervisor conditions. A one-way ANOVA and Welch t-test were used to analyze data.
Findings
Our findings revealed that with a predefined fixed formula employed for performance feedback, employees exhibited higher levels of trust in AI algorithms, had greater performance expectations and showed stronger intentions to seek performance feedback from AI algorithms than highly experienced human supervisors. Conversely, when performance feedback was provided by human supervisors, even those with less experience, in a discretionary manner, employees' perceptions were higher compared to similar feedback provided by AI data. Moreover, additional analysis findings indicated that combined AI-human performance feedback led to higher levels of employees' perceptions compared to performance feedback solely by AI or humans.
Practical implications
The findings of our study advocate the incorporation of AI in performance management systems and the implementation of AI-human combined feedback approaches as a potential strategy to alleviate the negative perception of employees, thereby increasing firms' return on AI investment.
Originality/value
Our study represents one of the initial endeavors exploring the integration of AI in performance management systems and AI-human collaboration in providing performance feedback to employees.
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The digital economy is expected to revive the countryside and reduce the current level of urban–rural inequality. Nevertheless, whether rural e-commerce can narrow the urban–rural…
Abstract
Purpose
The digital economy is expected to revive the countryside and reduce the current level of urban–rural inequality. Nevertheless, whether rural e-commerce can narrow the urban–rural income gap still requires further analysis. The purpose of this paper is to clarify whether this goal is, in fact, being achieved.
Design/methodology/approach
Taobao villages have become the epitome of rural e-commerce development in China. Therefore, this paper matches the data of Taobao villages and the data of prefecture-level cities from 2014 to 2019, and employs a two-way fixed effect model, nonlinear model, instrumental variable model and interactive fixed effects model to explore the impact of rural e-commerce on the urban–rural income gap.
Findings
Firstly, the ability of urban residents to share rural e-commerce development is higher than that of rural residents, which actually widens the urban–rural income gap. Secondly, the migration to cities of rural families that have profited from e-commerce, and the return of working-class people to the countryside, are two factors that are contributing to the widening of the urban–rural income gap. Thirdly, the farther the distance from the urban area and the higher the spatial agglomeration of the rural e-commerce cluster is, the weaker the impact on widening the urban–rural income gap will be. Finally, while industrial-led rural e-commerce is responsible for widening the urban–rural income gap, agricultural-led rural e-commerce has no significant impact on the urban–rural income gap.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors' knowledge, this paper is the first to analyze the impact of rural e-commerce on the urban–rural income gap from the perspective of the coverage of Taobao villages. This empirical study will enrich existing theoretical perspectives on urban–rural integration under the backdrop of the digital economy.
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This paper aims to examine the process for estimation of efforts for software development and suggests a framework for estimating software development costs and ensuring quality…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the process for estimation of efforts for software development and suggests a framework for estimating software development costs and ensuring quality of code in e-Government projects from the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. With no established processes for estimation of efforts, the Government relied on open bids from the market to develop these e-Government applications.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper adopts an exploratory case study approach to analyze the e-Government applications in Andhra Pradesh. Using data from the information technology department of the Government of Andhra Pradesh, the paper evolves a framework to compute costs of software development, based on the software development life cycle.
Findings
The framework helps in arriving at a hurdle price before the tender process. The study has shown that an e-Government application in AP state would cost Rs. 224,000, or US$2,969.25, for a simple application, and Rs. 33,60,000, or US$44,538.71, for a complex application over a five-year period, depending on the complexity and size of the application. This information would be useful to the Government decision-makers for expanding e-Government.
Research limitations/implications
Further research may assess the utility of this framework for e-Government support activities like automation of data centers, video conferencing facilities and ushering in financial technologies for encouraging cashless payments.
Originality/value
The paper provides information that could be of value at a national level (for India) and at the same time providing a guide for other countries that would like to adopt this framework.