Hao Lou, Anne McClanahan and Ellsworth Holden
This case study reports findings on user acceptance of an electronic mail system in a business college setting. It builds on earlier research of computer‐mediated communication…
Abstract
This case study reports findings on user acceptance of an electronic mail system in a business college setting. It builds on earlier research of computer‐mediated communication systems by Hiltz and Johnson (1989). Although the use of the electronic mail system is mandatory in this organization, the overall results are parallel to earlier findings in terms of usage, satisfaction with, and perceived outcomes of the system. In contrast to a contention of earlier research, the current results suggest that mandatory use of electronic mail can be an appropriate strategy for implementing such systems in organizations.
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Valerie Wang, Hao Lou, Yong Wang and Chiquan Guo
– The purpose of this paper is to compare organizational web site design attributes between US and Chinese small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to compare organizational web site design attributes between US and Chinese small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses 18 web site design variables identified by previous research.
Findings
The results show that US and Chinese SME corporate web sites have both similarities and differences in terms of web site design attributes. The design differences are not much affected by the impacts of macro-economy and technology gaps. However, US and Chinese SMEs may differ in terms of their marketing practices and cultural orientations, and as a result, web site design attributes still remain significantly different.
Originality/value
Marketing and cultural factors are found to be important determinants in SMEs’ organizational web site design across the two countries.
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Nitish Singh, Olivier Furrer and Massimiliano Ostinelli
With the growth of worldwide e‐commerce, companies are increasingly targeting foreign online consumers. However, there is a dearth of evidence as to whether global consumers…
Abstract
With the growth of worldwide e‐commerce, companies are increasingly targeting foreign online consumers. However, there is a dearth of evidence as to whether global consumers prefer to browse and buy from standardized global web sites or web sites adapted to their local cultures. This study provides evidence from five different countries as to whether global consumers prefer local web content or standardized web content. The study also measures how the degree of cultural adaptation on the web affects consumer perception of site effectiveness.
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Xingyuan Wang, Zhifeng Lou, Xiaodong Wang, Yue Wang, Xiupeng Hao and Zhize Wang
The purpose of this paper is to design an automatic press-fit instrument to realize precision assembly and connection quality assessment of a small interference fitting parts…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to design an automatic press-fit instrument to realize precision assembly and connection quality assessment of a small interference fitting parts, armature.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, an automatic press-fit instrument was developed for the technical problems of reliable clamping and positioning of the armature, automatic measurement and adjustment of the attitude and evaluation of the connection quality. To compensate for the installation error of the equipment, corresponding calibration method was proposed for each module of the instrument. Assembly strategies of axial displacement and perpendicularity were also proposed to ensure the assembly accuracy. A theoretical model was built to calculate the resistant force generated by the non-contact regions and then combined with the thick-walled cylinder theory to predict the press-fit curve.
Findings
The calibration method and assembly strategy proposed in this paper enable the press-fit instrument to achieve good alignment and assembly accuracy. A reasonable range of press-fit curve obtained from theoretical model can achieve the connection quality assessment.
Practical implications
This instrument has been used in an armature assembly project. The practical results show that this instrument can assemble the armature components with complex structures automatically, accurately, in high-efficiency and in high quality.
Originality/value
This paper provides a technical method to improve the assembly quality of small precision interference fitting parts and provides certain methodological guidelines for precision peg-in-hole assembly.
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Fanjue Liu and Yu-Hao Lee
This study aims to investigate the rising trend of virtual influencers – digitally created characters with human-like attributes. It aims to evaluate and compare their…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the rising trend of virtual influencers – digitally created characters with human-like attributes. It aims to evaluate and compare their effectiveness with human influencers in terms of brand attitudes and purchase intentions. It uncovers the mechanisms underlying the differences in effectiveness observed between virtual influencers and their human counterparts.
Design/methodology/approach
The research uses a 2 (influencer type: human vs virtual) × 3 (product type: functional vs symbolic vs experiential) between-subjects design. Through a pilot study (n = 334) and a main study (n = 352), the research examines the interactive effects of influencer and product type on brand attitude and purchase intentions. Hypotheses were developed and tested using moderating mediation models centered on authenticity and product–endorser fit.
Findings
Virtual influencers are perceived as less authentic than human influencers across all product types, negatively influencing brand attitude and purchase intention. However, the extent to which influencer type affects brand attitudes and purchase intentions, mediated by product–endorser fit, varies based on the product type.
Originality/value
This research emphasizes two key mechanisms – authenticity and product–endorser fit – influencing the effectiveness of virtual influencers. It suggests that aligning virtual influencers with suitable product types can offset their perceived authenticity deficit, significantly affecting their endorsement effectiveness.
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Jie Sheng, Yi Hui Lee and Hao Lan
This study aims to examine whether and how the effect of intimate relationships with micro-influencers on customer behaviour is interrupted by external cues such as sponsorship…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine whether and how the effect of intimate relationships with micro-influencers on customer behaviour is interrupted by external cues such as sponsorship disclosures and negative electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM).
Design/methodology/approach
The study worked with Instagram micro-influences to conduct a vignette survey with four experimental scenarios.
Findings
The benefits of parasocial relationships (PSR) in enhancing customer engagement (CE), brand preference (BP) and purchase intention (PI) cannot be sustained in the presence of external interruptive cues. For micro-influencers, whilst sponsorship disclosures do not moderate the influence of PSR, customers are considerably sensitive to negative eWOM or when the two cues co-occur.
Originality/value
This study focusses on micro-influencers and investigates whether the follower–micro-influencer bond can be moderated by external cues including sponsorship disclosure and negative eWOM.
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The purpose of this study is to address the surging reliance on influencer marketing in evolving business models, focusing on a novel approach – the influencer e-commerce…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to address the surging reliance on influencer marketing in evolving business models, focusing on a novel approach – the influencer e-commerce storefront. This study investigates various influencer advertising disclosures, social media activities and their impact on consumer engagement and sales within the influencer e-commerce storefront.
Design/methodology/approach
Secondary data was collected on 734 influencers from an e-commerce website based on “influencer” storefronts, and the influencer’s social media activity and content were collected from Instagram. Two-stage seemingly unrelated regression model was used to examine the research model.
Findings
Influencer social media use, encompassing daily posts, story posts and average comments, positively influences consumer engagement and sales on influencer e-commerce storefronts. Notably, the study reveals that different advertising disclosure languages yield varying effects. Unclear disclosures (e.g. branded Highlights) positively impact engagement and sales, while obvious disclosures (e.g. “Sponsored Ad”) negatively affect both.
Originality/value
The study contributes to Persuasion Knowledge Theory, examining influencer e-commerce storefronts and revealing the persuasive impact of undisclosed language in advertising. This study innovatively explores the effects of obvious and undisclosed sponsorship on coping mechanisms, offering insights into consumer reactions. The recommended use of undisclosed language suggests that ambiguity can enhance ad persuasion, guiding practitioners in crafting more effective messages. Moreover, the study extends co-creation theory and service-dominant logic by underscoring the significance of influencers’ social media engagement in co-creating value for consumers. Influencers’ active engagement on social media fosters co-creation, strengthening connections and boosting consumer loyalty.
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Susanna S. Lee, Huan Chen and Yu-Hao Lee
The purpose of this study is to understand how perceived micro-celebrity-product image congruency and product type affect native advertising effectiveness on Instagram…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to understand how perceived micro-celebrity-product image congruency and product type affect native advertising effectiveness on Instagram. Additionally, the study aims to understand how advertising skepticism and persuasion knowledge affect the effectiveness of native advertising featuring micro-celebrity.
Design/methodology/approach
This study was administered online using a 2 (product type: high self-expressive vs low self-expressive) × 2 (micro-celebrity and product congruity: congruent vs incongruent) between-subjects factorial design to test the hypotheses. A total of 186 participants, all Instagram users living in the USA, were recruited using an Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk). After screening out 14 respondents who were not Instagram users or did not fully answer the questions, a total sample of 172 valid and complete responses were included for hypotheses testing.
Findings
The results revealed that when native advertising featured highly self-expressive products and micro-celebrities with good product image fit, consumers had a more positive attitude toward the ad and the brand, higher source credibility and higher electronic word-of-mouth intention. In addition, advertising skepticism was found to moderate the effect of micro-celebrity-product fit on source credibility.
Originality/value
This study is the first to examine the effect of micro-celebrity and product congruence on native advertising effectiveness. Moreover, the study provides a better understanding of the advertising skepticism and its influence on source credibility. It discusses why a micro-celebrity’s image is a critical factor in shaping attitudes toward native advertising. This study contributes to both the native adverting and influencer marketing literature.
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Wen-Qian Lou, Bin Wu and Bo-Wen Zhu
This study aims to clarify influencing factors of overcapacity of new energy enterprises in China and accurately predict whether these enterprises have overcapacity.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to clarify influencing factors of overcapacity of new energy enterprises in China and accurately predict whether these enterprises have overcapacity.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on relevant data including the experience and evidence from the capital market in China, the research establishes a generic univariate selection-comparative machine learning model to study relevant factors that affect overcapacity of new energy enterprises from five dimensions. These include the governmental intervention, market demand, corporate finance, corporate governance and corporate decision. Moreover, the bridging approach is used to strengthen findings from quantitative studies via the results from qualitative studies.
Findings
The authors' results show that the overcapacity of new energy enterprises in China is brought out by the combined effect of governmental intervention corporate governance and corporate decision. Governmental interventions increase the overcapacity risk of new energy enterprises mainly by distorting investment behaviors of enterprises. Corporate decision and corporate governance factors affect the overcapacity mainly by regulating the degree of overconfidence of the management team and the agency cost. Among the eight comparable integrated models, generic univariate selection-bagging exhibits the optimal comprehensive generalization performance and its area under the receiver operating characteristic curve Area under curve (AUC) accuracy precision and recall are 0.719, 0.960, 0.975 and 0.983, respectively.
Originality/value
The proposed integrated model analyzes causes and predicts presence of overcapacity of new energy enterprises to help governments to formulate appropriate strategies to deal with overcapacity and new energy enterprises to optimize resource allocation. Ten main features which affect the overcapacity of new energy enterprises in China are identified through generic univariate selection model. Through the bridging approach, the impact of the main features on the overcapacity of new energy enterprises and the mechanism of the influence are analyzed.
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Tingli Liu, Ying Jiang and Lizhong Hao
Although short selling has been legalized in China for nearly 10 years, due to the existence of short-sale constraints, its impact on corporate governance of listed companies…
Abstract
Purpose
Although short selling has been legalized in China for nearly 10 years, due to the existence of short-sale constraints, its impact on corporate governance of listed companies remains unclear. This paper aims to examine the impact of short-sale refinancing on earnings quality after the short-selling constraints have been released. The authors further explore whether this impact is subject to the nature of property rights and shareholding structures.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is based on a sample of A-share firms in China for the period 2014–2016. The authors use earnings response coefficients (ERC) as a proxy for earnings quality. To empirically examine this issue, a matching sample is generated by using propensity score matching method (PSM) to reduce sample selection bias.
Findings
This study provides evidence that deregulation of short selling has positive external effect on corporate governance. The results indicate that the potential short-selling opportunities can effectively suppress earnings manipulation and improve earnings quality. However, the impact of short selling on earnings quality varies for companies with different nature of property rights and shareholding structure.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the relationship between short selling and earnings quality in the unique setting of short-sale refinancing. This study provides new evidence on the impact of short selling at the micro level and calls for further deregulation of short selling. In addition, this study contributes to existing studies on short-sale refinancing by examining an emerging market.