Yuan-pei Kuang, Jia-li Yang and Meseret-Chanie Abate
The multidimensional effects of farmland transfer in China have been profoundly unstudied. The purpose of this paper is to provide insights on the effects of the intermediary role…
Abstract
Purpose
The multidimensional effects of farmland transfer in China have been profoundly unstudied. The purpose of this paper is to provide insights on the effects of the intermediary role of agricultural total factor productivity (TFP) of farmland transfer on agricultural economic growth in China.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the agricultural data of 30 provinces in China over the period 2005–2018, this paper uses the intermediary effect model to test the relationship between farmland transfer, agricultural TFP and agricultural economic growth. This paper employed an intermediary effect test model to investigate the intermediary role of agricultural TFP in the influence of farmland transfer on agricultural economic growth.
Findings
The findings indicated that farmland transfer has a significant effect on promoting agricultural economic growth. There is a significant “inverted U-shaped” relationship between farmland transfer and agricultural TFP. The sample value of 84.3% of farmland transfers in China is still within the TFP promoting effect range. In addition, farmland transfer has an indirect impact on agricultural economic growth through the channel of agricultural TFP. Agricultural TFP plays a significant intermediary role, but the effect is relatively low
Originality/value
This paper is the first to provide fundamental evidence on the impact of farmland transfers on agricultural economic growth in China, driven by agricultural TFP as an intermediary factor. Agricultural TFP can reduce the involution effect of farmland transfer and promote an indirect effect on agricultural economic growth.
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Talwinder Singh, J.S. Dureja, Manu Dogra and Manpreet S. Bhatti
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of turning parameters such as cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut on tool flank wear and machined surface quality…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of turning parameters such as cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut on tool flank wear and machined surface quality of AISI 304 stainless steel during environment friendly turning under nanofluid minimum quantity lubrication (NMQL) conditions using PVD-coated carbide cutting inserts.
Design/methodology/approach
Turning experiments are conducted as per the central composite rotatable design under the response surface methodology. ANOVA and regression analysis are employed to examine significant cutting parameters and develop mathematical models for VB (tool flank wear) and Ra (surface roughness). Multi-response desirability optimization approach is used to investigate optimum turning parameters for simultaneously minimizing VB and Ra.
Findings
Optimal input turning parameters are observed as follows: cutting speed: 168.06 m/min., feed rate: 0.06 mm/rev. and depth of cut: 0.25 mm with predicted optimal output response factors: VB: 106.864 µm and Ra: 0.571 µm at the 0.753 desirability level. ANOVA test reveals depth of cut and cutting speed-feed rate interaction as statistically significant factors influencing tool flank wear, whereas cutting speed is a dominating factor affecting surface roughness. Confirmation tests show 5.70 and 3.71 percent error between predicted and experimental examined values of VB and Ra, respectively.
Research limitations/implications
AISI 304 is a highly consumed grade of stainless steel in aerospace components, chemical equipment, nuclear industry, pressure vessels, food processing equipment, paper industry, etc. However, AISI 304 stainless steel is considered as a difficult-to-cut material because of its high strength, rapid work hardening and low heat conductivity. This leads to lesser tool life and poor surface finish. Consequently, the optimization of machining parameters is necessary to minimize tool wear and surface roughness. The results obtained in this research can be used as turning database for the above-mentioned industries for attaining a better machined surface quality and tool performance under environment friendly machining conditions.
Practical implications
Turning of AISI 304 stainless steel under NMQL conditions results in environment friendly machining process by maintaining a dry, healthy, clean and pollution free working area.
Originality/value
Machining of AISI 304 stainless steel under vegetable oil-based NMQL conditions has not been investigated previously.
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Sergej Vasic and Jean Vasile Andrei
This research aims to examine how decision-makers’ demographic traits affect the integration of foreign workforce into Tirolean (Austria) companies. With continuous world…
Abstract
This research aims to examine how decision-makers’ demographic traits affect the integration of foreign workforce into Tirolean (Austria) companies. With continuous world migrations, Tirol experiences a great inflow of foreign workforce. While integrating into the workforce, the foreign workers interact with various decision-makers whose demographic traits (e.g., age, gender, nationality) potentially influence the success of the integration process. To gather data on the integration levels of a foreign workforce, the author conducted a questionnaire. Furthermore, several statistical analyses were run to determine if the relationship between demographic characteristics and integration success exists. The study reveals that demographic characteristics influence decision-makers’ acceptance of expatriates, as well as their recruitment, integration, and training and development outcomes. The empirical results indicate the strength of relationships identified through analyses. The study is limited to geographical, as well as the scope of the sample size, as the data are obtained from Tirol only. In addition, the results from the study serve as a basis for future discussions and research.
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Fang Sun, Jia Li and Fu-ping Bai
By exploring the microimplementation mechanism of common prosperity, this paper aims to offer a strategic direction for Chinese enterprises to achieve sustainable development. It…
Abstract
Purpose
By exploring the microimplementation mechanism of common prosperity, this paper aims to offer a strategic direction for Chinese enterprises to achieve sustainable development. It also provides theoretical support and practical guidance for the Chinese Government in exploring feasible paths to common prosperity, starting from the enterprises.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper takes the digital business model innovation of Rainbow Planet as a case study, systematically explicating the mechanism through which digital business model innovation fosters common prosperity by constructing a research framework of “digital business model innovation-resource orchestration-common prosperity.”
Findings
First, from a microperspective, the role of enterprises in promoting common prosperity in China is confirmed. Second, based on the theory of resource orchestration, it is concluded that digital resources can generate three types of digital effects, such as association, interaction and feedback, through effective resource orchestration under the support of the value elements of the business model. Finally, this paper emphasizes that enterprises should take actions such as demand aggregation, trust building and relationship reshaping to connect with relevant stakeholders, so as to achieve the win-win purpose of improving enterprise competitiveness and deepening common prosperity.
Originality/value
For Chinese enterprises, linking their development with the overall welfare of society is an essential path to sustainable development. Enterprises can promote the integration of their development with social welfare in three aspects: enhancing the efficiency and innovation capability of digital operations, strengthening cooperation with stakeholders and advancing sustainable business models. For the Chinese Government, it is important to encourage enterprises to play a positive role in the fields of economy, environment and society. The government can promote excellent practices in digital innovation, social responsibility and environmental protection among enterprises by publicizing successful cases, inspiring more enterprises to follow suit.
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Jia Li, David C. Yen, Pengzhu Zhang and Xuan Liu
Online shopping has recently been evolving more toward the subject area of collaborative online shopping (COS), and customer satisfaction is one of the key determinants for the…
Abstract
Purpose
Online shopping has recently been evolving more toward the subject area of collaborative online shopping (COS), and customer satisfaction is one of the key determinants for the success of COS. In this study, we investigate the effect of product type and gender and their interaction with customer satisfaction through user involvement in a collaborative online shopping context.
Design/methodology/approach
We developed a lab experiment with a mixed two-by-two factorial design to test the proposed research model. We chose gender (male versus female) as the between-subjects factor and product type (utilitarian product versus hedonic product) as the within-subjects factor.
Findings
The obtained results indicate that collaborative shopping may require group members to be more involved for a hedonic product than a utilitarian product. When collaboratively shopping for utilitarian products, male groups tend to show a higher level of involvement than female groups. In contrast, female groups show a higher level of involvement than male groups when collaboratively shopping for hedonic products. Furthermore, our results indicate that greater involvement in COS may lead to higher satisfaction.
Social implications
Websites that sell hedonic products should first adopt the design elements that support COS. Meanwhile, online sellers should be aware that the gender gap still exists as online shopping evolves toward social online shopping. In addition, COS websites should provide more design elements (e.g. co-browsing, avatar embodiment, video chat and voting tools) to stimulate user involvement.
Originality/value
In this paper, we employ the theory of consumption values, which decomposes COS value into the utilitarian and hedonic dimensions, as a theoretical foundation to investigate the effect of product type and gender together as well as their interactions in the COS context. The obtained findings may provide various insights and empirical evidence to improve the understanding of how to target male and female customers across different product types in the COS context.
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Jia Li, Jie Tang, David C. Yen and Xuan Liu
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating effect of disease risk in terms of the major signals (i.e. status, reputation and self-representation) on the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating effect of disease risk in terms of the major signals (i.e. status, reputation and self-representation) on the e-consultation platforms.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, the proposed research hypotheses are tested using the transaction data collected from xywy.com (in Need of Therapy). In fact, xywy.com is one the leading e-consultation service websites in China that provides a platform for the interactions between the physicians and patients (Yu et al., 2016; Peng et al., 2015). Generally speaking, it has all the needed design elements and in other words, a standard e-consultation website should have such items/components as physician homepage, physician review, free consultation, paid consultation and recommendation systems.
Findings
The obtained results reveal that all attributes including status, reputation and self-representation have a positive impact on physician’s online order volume. Moreover, there is a positive moderating effect of disease risk onto the online reputation, indicating a higher effect exists for the diseases with high risk. However, the effect of offline status and online self-representation is not moderated by the disease risk, indicating market signals (online reputation) may have a stronger predictive power than seller signals (offline status and online self- representation), and therefore market signals are more effective when/if the disease risk is high.
Originality/value
E-consultation has gradually become a significant trend to provide the healthcare services, in the emerging economy such as China because of shortage of medical resources but having an adequate access in internet usage. The impacts of signals on the health care market have been validated by previous studies. However, the research focusing on the moderating effect of signaling environment in the health care industry is still lacking. As a result, the value of this research helps to bridge the aforementioned research gap.
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Jia Li, Shengkang Ma, David C. Yen and Ling Ma
In the digital age, the spread of online behavior and real-world information leads to social contagion. This study aims to investigate the contagion phenomenon of online physician…
Abstract
Purpose
In the digital age, the spread of online behavior and real-world information leads to social contagion. This study aims to investigate the contagion phenomenon of online physician choice and then discuss its potential influence on the sub-specialization process in the healthcare service industry. In specific, this study aims to propose the basic mechanism of infection and immunity as follows – exposure to antigen may lead to an immune response, and the success of the immune response may depend on the provision of appropriate immune signaling.
Design/methodology/approach
Data collected from haodf.com including 4 disease types and 247 physicians from 2008 to 2015 were used to test the proposed hypotheses. Panel vector autoregression method was utilized to analyze the panel data.
Findings
The obtained result shows that social contagion of physician choice over disease type is salient on e-consultation platforms, indicating that physicians associated with/on haodf.com are concentrating on an even narrower type of disease. Disclosing more simple signals (physician history orders) results in more disease concentration for that physician in the future. In contrast, disclosing more detailed signals (physician-contributed knowledge or physician reviews) leads to less disease concentration.
Originality/value
This finding implies that physician-contributed knowledge and physician reviews may act as immune signal which will tend to trigger a success immune response. This study not only suggests managers should be careful about the double-edged sword effect of online physician choice contagion but also provides the useful approaches to promote or restrain such a contagion in a flexible way.
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Zican Chang, Guojun Zhang, Wenqing Zhang, Yabo Zhang, Li Jia, Zhengyu Bai and Wendong Zhang
Ciliated microelectromechanical system (MEMS) vector hydrophones pick up sound signals through Wheatstone bridge in cross beam-ciliated microstructures to achieve information…
Abstract
Purpose
Ciliated microelectromechanical system (MEMS) vector hydrophones pick up sound signals through Wheatstone bridge in cross beam-ciliated microstructures to achieve information transmission. This paper aims to overcome the complexity and variability of the marine environment and achieve accurate location of targets. In this paper, a new method for ocean noise denoising based on improved complete ensemble empirical mode decomposition with adaptive noise combined with wavelet threshold processing method (CEEMDAN-WT) is proposed.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the CEEMDAN-WT method, the signal is decomposed into different intrinsic mode functions (IMFs), and relevant parameters are selected to obtain IMF denoised signals through WT method for the noisy mode components with low sample entropy. The final pure signal is obtained by reconstructing the unprocessed mode components and the denoising component, effectively separating the signal from the wave interference.
Findings
The three methods of empirical mode decomposition (EMD), ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) and CEEMDAN are compared and analyzed by simulation. The simulation results show that the CEEMDAN method has higher signal-to-noise ratio and smaller reconstruction error than EMD and EEMD. The feasibility and practicability of the combined denoising method are verified by indoor and outdoor experiments, and the underwater acoustic experiment data after processing are combined beams. The problem of blurry left and right sides is solved, and the high precision orientation of the target is realized.
Originality/value
This algorithm provides a theoretical basis for MEMS hydrophones to achieve accurate target positioning in the ocean, and can be applied to the hardware design of sonobuoys, which is widely used in various underwater acoustic work.
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Emiliana Rose Jusoh Taib, Luqman Chuah Abdullah, Min Min Aung, Mahiran Basri, Mek Zah Salleh, Sariah Saalah, Suhaini Mamat, Ching Yern Chee and Jia Li Wong
This paper aims to demonstrate the synthesis of polyesterification reaction of non-edible jatropha seed oil (JO) and acrylic acid, which leads to the production of acrylated…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to demonstrate the synthesis of polyesterification reaction of non-edible jatropha seed oil (JO) and acrylic acid, which leads to the production of acrylated epoxidised-based resin. To understand the physico-chemical characteristics when synthesis the JO-based epoxy acrylate, the effect of temperature on the reaction, concentration of acrylic acid and role of catalyst on reaction time and acid value were studied.
Design/methodology/approach
First, the double bond in JO was functionalised by epoxidation using the solvent-free performic method. The subsequent process was acrylation with acrylic acid using the base catalyst triethylamine and 4-methoxyphenol as an inhibitor respectively. The physico-chemical characteristics during the synthesis of the epoxy acrylate such as acid value was monitored and analysed. The formation of the epoxy and acrylate group was confirmed by a Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy spectra analysis and nuclear magnetic resonance analysis.
Findings
The optimum reaction condition was achieved at a ratio of epoxidised JO to acrylic acid of 1:1.5 and the reaction temperature of 110°C. This was indicated by the acid value reduction from 86 to 15 mg KOH/g sample at 6 hours.
Practical implications
The JO-based epoxy acrylate synthesised has a potential to be used in formulations the prepolymer resin for UV curable coating applications. The JO which is from natural resources and is sustainable raw materials that possible reduce the dependency on petroleum-based coating.
Originality/value
The epoxidised jatropha seed oil epoxy acrylate was synthesised, as a new type of oligomer resin that contains a reactive acrylate group, which can be alternative to petroleum-based coating and can used further in the formulation of the radiation curable coating.
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Ilenia Cecchetti, Veronica Allegrini and Fabio Monteduro
The chapter aims to analyse the influence of the board of directors on transparency and integrity in hybrid organisations like state-owned enterprises. The effect of several…
Abstract
The chapter aims to analyse the influence of the board of directors on transparency and integrity in hybrid organisations like state-owned enterprises. The effect of several characteristics of directors on the board’s effectiveness was assessed. The empirical analysis was based on 60 Italian listed and non-listed state-owned enterprises. Each enterprise’s website was individually examined and coded to obtain two self-constructed indexes on transparency and integrity, and a regression model was created to test the hypotheses.
The ‘knowledge structure’ of interlocking directors and board compensation were found to be both positively related to the level of commitment among state-owned enterprises to transparency and integrity. Skill and gender diversity on the board had no significant impact. The analysis used data from a one-year period but dealt with hidden and complex phenomena like corruption. Future longitudinal studies and qualitative approaches would provide more comprehensive insights into the relationship between the board of directors, transparency and integrity over time.
Policymakers and all those involved in the appointment of directors to state-owned enterprises should be aware that some features of board members may affect the levels of organisational transparency and integrity. The chapter contributes to the literature on governance of state-owned enterprises, emphasising the board’s role and its effectiveness in sustaining transparency and integrity.