Alexander Kies, Arne De Keyser, Susana Jaramillo, Jiarui Li, Yihui (Elina) Tang and Ihtesham Ud Din
Neurotechnologies such as brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are rapidly moving out of laboratories and onto frontline employees' (FLEs) heads. BCIs offer thought-controlled device…
Abstract
Purpose
Neurotechnologies such as brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are rapidly moving out of laboratories and onto frontline employees' (FLEs) heads. BCIs offer thought-controlled device operation and real-time adjustment of work tasks based on employees’ mental states, balancing the potential for optimal well-being with the risk of exploitative employee treatment. Despite its profound implications, a considerable gap exists in understanding how BCIs affect FLEs. This article’s purpose is to investigate BCIs’ impact on FLEs’ well-being.
Design/methodology/approach
This article uses a conceptual approach to synthesize interdisciplinary research from service marketing, neurotechnology and well-being.
Findings
This article highlights the expected impact from BCIs on the work environment and conceptualizes what BCIs entail for the service sector and the different BCI types that may be discerned. Second, a conceptual framework is introduced to explicate BCIs’ impact on FLEs’ well-being, identifying two mediating factors (i.e. BCI as a stressor versus BCI as a resource) and three categories of moderating factors that influence this relationship. Third, this article identifies areas for future research on this important topic.
Practical implications
Service firms can benefit from integrating BCIs to enhance efficiency and foster a healthy work environment. This article provides managers with an overview of BCI technology and key implementation considerations.
Originality/value
This article pioneers a systematic examination of BCIs as workplace technology, investigating their influence on FLEs’ well-being.
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Jiarui Li and Jiyun Kang
The New York Times has suggested replacing sustainable fashion with responsible fashion, emphasizing the need for joint efforts by both individual consumers and retailers to take…
Abstract
Purpose
The New York Times has suggested replacing sustainable fashion with responsible fashion, emphasizing the need for joint efforts by both individual consumers and retailers to take responsibility for their own decisions and actions. This study seeks to investigate the mechanism that activates individuals' personal social responsibility (PSR) and its association with their perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) from a responsible luxury fashion retailer.
Design/methodology/approach
An online experiment was conducted with a nationwide US sample of luxury consumers who were randomly assigned to either individuation or deindividuation groups. Covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) and multi-group SEM were employed to test the hypotheses.
Findings
Individuals' universalism positively affected PSR, which then enhanced their recognition of a responsible luxury retailer’s CSR and led to a greater willingness to pay a premium. More importantly, the positive effect of universalism on PSR was strengthened when consumers’ unique individuality, rather than their deindividuated state, was emphasized. Moreover, the moderating effect of individuation was indirectly transmitted through PSR to perceived CSR, hence reinforcing the relationship between PSR and CSR.
Originality/value
This study significantly advances existing scholarship on sustainable luxury retailing and adds rigor to deindividuation theory by demonstrating the central role of PSR and the moderating effect of individuation in enhancing recognition of a luxury fashion retailer’s CSR commitments. The findings provide luxury fashion retailers with communication and marketing strategies that highlight consumers' unique individuality to more effectively activate their sense of personal responsibility and thereby increase their recognition of the retailer’s CSR.
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Jiarui Li and Jiyun Kang
Luxury brands struggle to communicate their sustainability commitments to consumers due to the perceived incongruence between “luxury” and “sustainability”. This study aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
Luxury brands struggle to communicate their sustainability commitments to consumers due to the perceived incongruence between “luxury” and “sustainability”. This study aims to provide luxury brands with insights on how to engage consumers with different social value orientations (SVOs) to make sustainable luxury purchases in a compatible manner. It investigates the relationships between personal values (symbolism/universalism), SVOs (pro-self/prosocial orientation) and behavioral intentions toward sustainable luxury brands. It further explores whether these relationships may differ when consumers view themselves as individuals (salient personal identity is activated) versus group members (salient social identity is activated).
Design/methodology/approach
Study 1 (N = 419) used an online experiment in which participants were randomly assigned to either salient personal or social identity conditions to test the proposed model. Study 2 (N = 438) used a fictional brand to further validate the findings. Hypotheses were tested using covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) and multi-group SEM.
Findings
Results indicate that prosocial orientation significantly increases consumers’ behavioral intentions toward sustainable luxury brands. Interestingly, pro-self-orientation can also drive intentions to support sustainable luxury brands when consumers’ personal identity is salient. Salient social identity can further strengthen the relationship between prosocial orientation and sustainable luxury behavioral intentions.
Originality/value
This study presents a novel, inclusive definition of sustainable luxury brands and adds theoretical rigor to the SVO framework by revealing the moderating role of salient identities, contributing to the body of knowledge in luxury brand research.
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Ming Tian, Jiarui Yan and Xiaotong Li
Artificial intelligence (AI) used in service has sparked fundamental changes in how enterprises engage their customers. AI specifically designed for customer service is denoted as…
Abstract
Purpose
Artificial intelligence (AI) used in service has sparked fundamental changes in how enterprises engage their customers. AI specifically designed for customer service is denoted as service-oriented AI. Through the lens of social information processing theory and the pleasure-arousal-dominance (PAD) emotional state model, this study aims to examine the underlying mechanisms for service-oriented AI anthropomorphism to influence customers' propensity for value co-creation.
Design/methodology/approach
Our data were collected from hotel customers who had experienced interactions with service-oriented AI. Through purposive sampling, 350 survey responses were collected. We analyzed the survey data using covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM).
Findings
This study has two key findings. Firstly, customers' propensity for value co-creation is favorably facilitated by the anthropomorphism of service-oriented AI. Secondly, the anthropomorphism of service-oriented AI can strengthen customers' perceptions of cuteness and service capacity, elicit a sense of novelty, and enhance customers' propensity to collaborate with service-oriented AI to create value. These findings address the research gaps by focusing on customer engagement through service-oriented AI and provide a theoretical basis for subsequent practical endeavors in the field.
Originality/value
Integrating the PAD emotional state model with the social information processing theory, this study explores the effects of service-oriented AI's anthropomorphism on customers' propensity for value co-creation.
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Bai Liu, Tao Ju, Jiarui Lu and Hing Kai Chan
This research investigates whether focal firms employ strategic supply chain information disclosure, focusing on the concealment of supplier and customer identities, as part of…
Abstract
Purpose
This research investigates whether focal firms employ strategic supply chain information disclosure, focusing on the concealment of supplier and customer identities, as part of their supply chain environmental risk management strategies (supplier sustainability risk and customer loss risk, respectively).
Design/methodology/approach
Using a panel dataset of Chinese listed firms from 2009 to 2019 and utilizing the suppliers’ environmental punishment of peer firms (peer events) as an exogenous shock and employing ordinary least squares (OLS) estimation, this study conducts a regression analysis to test how focal firms disclose the identities of their suppliers and customers.
Findings
Our results indicate that focal firms prefer to hide the identities of their suppliers and customers following the environmental punishment of peer firms’ suppliers. In addition, supplier concentration weakens the effect of withholding supplier identities, whereas customer concentration strengthens the effect of hiding customer identities. Mechanism analysis shows that firms hide supplier identities to avoid their reputation being affected and hide customer identities to prevent the deterioration of customers’ reputations and thus impact their market share.
Originality/value
Our study reveals that reputation spillover is another crucial factor in supply chain transparency. It is also pioneering in applying the anonymity theory to explain focal firms’ information disclosure strategy in supply chains.
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Huihong Feng, Jianxiang Zhao, Jiarui Hou and Huixia Feng
This study aims to investigate the influence of polyepoxysuccinic acid sodium (PESA), a green antiscalant, on the nucleation, crystallization and precipitation of magnesium…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the influence of polyepoxysuccinic acid sodium (PESA), a green antiscalant, on the nucleation, crystallization and precipitation of magnesium phosphate.
Design/methodology/approach
The conductivity method was used to investigate the maximum relative supersaturation of magnesium phosphate across various PESA dosages. Subsequently, a magnesium phosphate scale was prepared using the static scale inhibition method (GB/T16632-1996) and then analyzed via scanning electron microscopy.
Findings
The findings showed that PESA extends the induction period of magnesium phosphate crystallization, reduces crystal growth rate and elevates the solution’s relative supersaturation. Notably, PESA exerts a low dosage effect on inhibition of the magnesium phosphate scale, with the optimal dosage identified at 10 mL. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that PESA dispenses a dispersing effect on the magnesium phosphate scale, generating numerous concave, convex and deeper pores on the scale particles’ surface, and thereby significantly enhancing the surface area, especially when using an antiscalant with variable dosages.
Originality/value
This study sheds new light on the impact of PESA, a green antiscalant, on the crystallization and precipitation of magnesium phosphate, thus paving the way for the development of enhanced and eco-friendly scale inhibition strategies in future applications.
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Weijie Tan, Yiqian Liu, Qi Dong and Xihui Haviour Chen
National spirit, as a powerful legitimacy trait, shapes the consistency of a firm’s financial decisions, employee engagement and sustainability strategies. Combining this with…
Abstract
Purpose
National spirit, as a powerful legitimacy trait, shapes the consistency of a firm’s financial decisions, employee engagement and sustainability strategies. Combining this with resource-based view (RBV) theory, the study empirically examines the dual impact of national spirit on corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper utilizes data from Chinese A-share listed companies from 2009 to 2022 and employs machine learning methods to construct enterprise-level indicators of national spirit. In addition, the paper scrapes nearly 3 million ESG-related online news articles from the Baidu news website and uses machine learning methods to measure media ESG attention and sentiment.
Findings
The findings reveal that national spirit significantly enhances corporate ESG performance, operating through both internal and external channels: promoting social financing and boosting employee morale. Further analysis indicates that the positive influence of national spirit on corporate ESG performance is more pronounced in private enterprises, companies facing higher levels of credit constraints and firms in polluting industries. Additionally, managerial shortsightedness weakens the sustainable value of national spirit, while external media ESG attention and regional ESG governance efforts further strengthen this effect. Furthermore, different dimensions of national spirit exhibit varying impacts on corporate ESG performance.
Practical implications
This study provides new insights for promoting sustainable development systems in emerging economies and understanding the role of national spirit in corporate social responsibility investments.
Originality/value
This paper shifts the study of national spirit from macro-level cultural analyses to a micro-level perspective. It bridges gaps in the literature by providing empirical evidence on the role of national spirit as a soft resource that influences corporate financial behavior and employee morale. This study provides new insights into promoting sustainable development systems in emerging economies and understanding the role of national spirit in corporate social responsibility investments.
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Tuotuo Qi, Tianmei Wang and Jiarui Yan
Understanding health experts' online free knowledge contribution behavior is vital for promoting health knowledge and improving health literacy. This study focuses on the…
Abstract
Purpose
Understanding health experts' online free knowledge contribution behavior is vital for promoting health knowledge and improving health literacy. This study focuses on the spillover effects of different monetary incentive levels on health experts' free knowledge contribution behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
In 2016, Zhihu Live and Zhi Hu were launched as two types of paid knowledge products on Zhihu.com, a hybrid knowledge exchange platform. Focusing on the policy impact of launching Zhihu Live and Zhi Hu, this study uses the difference-in-differences model to analyze the heterogeneous spillover effects of high-yield and low-yield monetary incentives on health experts' free knowledge contribution behavior.
Findings
In the short term, the high-yield monetary incentive has positive spillover effects on the quantity and quality of free knowledge contribution while the low-yield monetary incentive generates opposite effects. In the long term, the effects of the high-yield monetary incentive remain significantly positive. The effect of the low-yield monetary incentive on the quantity of free knowledge contribution remains significantly negative, but its effect on the quality of free knowledge contribution is not significant.
Originality/value
This study combines theories of reciprocity and resource limitation to study the spillover effects of different monetary incentive levels on health experts' online behavior. The short-term and long-term effects of different monetary incentive levels on health experts' online behavior are also explored.
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Achmad Wildan Kurniawan, Suwandi Sumartias, Soeganda Priyatna, Karim Suryadi and Eli Sumarliah
This study seeks to comprehend if political exposure containing disapproval and different values will affect implicit knowledge sharing (KS) amongst colleagues in the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study seeks to comprehend if political exposure containing disapproval and different values will affect implicit knowledge sharing (KS) amongst colleagues in the organization. This research examines participants' responses to a colleague's social-media political exposure and their readiness to perform implicit KS to their colleague.
Design/methodology/approach
Data collection uses an online questionnaire and a vignette approach. Subsequently, data analysis for 316 finished surveys employs structural equation modelling-partial least squares (SEM-PLS).
Findings
The findings show that the perceived-value similarity of political posts of a colleague significantly and indirectly affects workers' readiness to do implicit KS. Besides, likes and trusts also significantly affect workers' readiness to perform implicit KS. While perceived-value similarity strongly shapes likes, likes significantly and positively affect trusts.
Originality/value
Sharing social-media postings associated with political exposure can hinder the implicit KS in organizations and is understudied in the field of knowledge management. Especially, unlike this study which focuses on private companies, previous studies have paid more attention to public enterprises. Besides, this paper's empirical verification is obtained from private organizations in Indonesia, which is also neglected by scholars.
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China’s swift economic rise, as symbolized by the first Chinese Olympics and by surpassing Japan to become the world’s second largest economy despite the recent global financial…
Abstract
China’s swift economic rise, as symbolized by the first Chinese Olympics and by surpassing Japan to become the world’s second largest economy despite the recent global financial meltdown, has been accompanied by a transformation of Chinese foreign policy behavior. After spending the last decade emphasizing China’s “peaceful rise” or “peaceful development,” Beijing has begun to expound its policy preferences and territorial claims more forthrightly, even assertively. The purpose of this chapter will be to consider the origins, consequences, and likely future of the new Chinese foreign policy in the wake of the leadership transition at the 18th Party Congress in 2012 and the 12th National People’s Congress in 2013.