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Using the Social Network Analysis(SNA) method, this paper examines inter-country relationships between countries that may be part of the New Silk Road. Based on bilateral-trade data from more than 70 countries, the paper provides a more vivid understanding of overall features and effects of the New Silk Road policy. According to the results, India, Turkey, and Russia have the highest degree centrality, indicating that the success of the New Silk Road policy depends mainly on the ability of the Chinese government to incorporate these countries. Among European countries, only Germany can be successfully incorporated into the New Silk Road network. In addition, Central Asian countries such as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan show no potential as hubs in the network. Most importantly, China has a dominant position in the New Silk Road network. China's focal and dominating status is also supported by the fact that there is no change in the clustering coefficient in the network, which implies that the Chinese government has to absorb into the system those countries that are less likely to benefit from the policy.

As a sociotechnical system, the metaverse has sparked heated discussion. However, concerns abound that the concept is “old wine in a new bottle” used for capital hype. The mixed definitions of the metaverse and unclear relationships between its technical features and user behaviors have greatly impeded its design and application. Therefore, the authors aim to sort out the metaverse definition and properties, analyze its technical features in various contexts and unveil the mechanisms leading to user behaviors.

The authors conduct a literature review on the definition, technical features and user behaviors of/in the metaverse.

First, the authors identify two main categories of the metaverse definition and find a mixed conceptualization. Second, the authors present technologies and technical features in the diverse contexts of the metaverse. Third, the authors summarize the effect of technical features on user behaviors from a sociotechnical perspective.

The authors analyze the definition, technical features, user behaviors of the metaverse and their theoretical foundations. Based on these findings, the authors propose a theoretical framework unveiling how social and technical elements affect user behaviors in the metaverse. In conclusion, the study offers a research agenda for future studies.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate why users are willing to diffuse healthcare knowledge in social media by drawing on the communicative ecology theory (CET) and prior research on interpersonal communication.

This paper conducts a large-scale scenario-based online survey in WeChat (the most popular social media platform in China) to test the proposed research model and hypotheses. The final data set consists of 1,039 useful responses from WeChat users.

The results indicate that interestingness, emotionality and institution-based trust are the strongest antecedents in predicting healthcare knowledge-diffusing likelihood, followed by usefulness, source credibility and positivity. Further, the relationship between institution-based trust and healthcare knowledge-diffusing likelihood is partially mediated by source credibility.

Healthcare practitioners who seek to motivate individuals to disseminate healthcare knowledge need to phrase or frame healthcare knowledge in a way that draws greater interest, evokes stronger emotion, increases perceived usefulness or reflects positively on themselves. Healthcare organizations should also pay attention to strengthening users’ trust in the platform and source-related information that can indicate source authority.

This study is one of the first to investigate the dissemination of healthcare knowledge in the context of social media (WeChat in particular). Compared with other types of information, healthcare knowledge is more scientific and professional to the extent that most laypersons do not have relevant expertise to directly evaluate whether the content is credible and of high quality. Rather, their sharing likelihood is dependent more on other factors than perceived information quality and credibility; those factors include platform-related factors that may play an important role but has been overlooked in prior literature on interpersonal communication. By combining CET with interpersonal communication-related research and including institution-based trust as an important determinant of healthcare knowledge dissemination, this study provides a comprehensive analysis of healthcare knowledge diffusion process.

Cold-formed steel has been used extensively as secondary elements such as purlins and girts in building frames. Purlin is critical to the structure of the roof because it supports the weight of the roof deck and aids to make the entire roof structure more rigid. Furthermore, cold-formed steel purlin is a replacement for wood purlin because steel purlins are light weight and more economical. Hence, the purpose of this study to investigate the effect of opening due to torsion behaviour.

This analysis used cold-formed steel hat purlin with and without openings (WOs) under different opening shape, location and spacing by using finite element LUSAS software.

The finite element results showed that purlin with openings had higher angle of rotation than section WO, with a percentage difference of not more than 6%. When the opening was located at mid-span, the angle of rotation reduced. Angle of rotation increased when the opening spacing increased. Number of openings also affected the torsional behaviour of the purlin. Five opening shapes, which were circle, diamond, C-hexagon, square and elongated circle, were studied. Among all the shapes, purlin with diamond opening was more resistance to torsion.

The use of cold-formed steel section with web openings (rectangular or circular) is a practical solution when it is required to pass service ducts through the structural member. However, the presence of opening gives minor effect on the structural behaviour of cold-formed steel hat purlin.

Even though the Indian luxury market is predicted to grow as much as the Chinese one over the coming years, limited research has been conducted on luxury consumer behavior. The purpose of this study is to examine the purchasing behavior for luxury fashion goods using the framework of the theory of planned behavior.

A total of 257 respondents were included after distributing a structured questionnaire by surveying real luxury consumers in Delhi. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.

The results of the study indicated that subjective norm was the most important determinant of the purchasing intentions for luxury fashion goods, followed by attitude. Perceived behavioral control was not found to have a significant relationship with purchasing intentions, but it showed a strong positive relationship with actual purchasing behavior.

This study provides new theoretical insights regarding luxury consumer behavior in India. It explains the motivating factors behind purchasing intentions for luxury goods among Indian consumers. The findings of the study will provide great help to global luxury companies in formulating their penetration and expansion strategies in the Indian market.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors found on US construction projects that are perceived by contractors to strengthen or weaken trust between contracting stakeholders and to develop a framework for evaluating these relationships.

A comprehensive framework containing a number of factors (54) that could impact trust on construction projects was first developed. A survey questionnaire was then developed and administered via phone to contractors selected from the Engineering News Record top 400 US construction companies. The survey findings were then used to develop a trust model and case studies were used to validate and revise the trust model.

A trust model is developed that helps large US contractors measure and improve trust with other stakeholders on their projects.

Large US contractors are now provided with a tool not previously available to help them measure and improve trust between the different contracting parties on construction projects which can help them decrease project time and costs, and improve project results.

The proposed trust model adds a number of different dimensions to the existing trust models found in the literature and as such improves the contractor’s ability to foster and enhance trust on a US construction project.

Drawing upon the ambivalence literature, the purpose of this paper is to explore clients’ ambivalence caused by the co-existence of trust and distrust and to investigate how clients respond to the ambivalence.

Qualitative research strategies using multiple data sources were adopted. Face-to-face interviews were the major method for gathering data. Additional data sources included archival cases, official reports, regulations and rules and survey reports.

The results identified that clients’ ambivalence occurs in the face of the co-existence of trust and distrust. Clients might trust contractors on certain aspects and distrust of others or when they realize that trust and/or distrust have mixed merits and demerits. As a response strategy to the ambivalence, clients may choose to oscillate between trust and distrust in accordance with contractors’ quality and cost performance.

One limitation is that dwelling fit-out projects are generally small in size. Parties in small size projects might have different mindsets than large projects. Thus, it is worthwhile to extend the framework to the context of large projects.

Managers or clients should be aware of the double-edged sword nature of trust and distrust. To deal with the ambivalence resulting from co-existence of trust and distrust, a proper balance of trust and distrust might be effective.

This study contributes an ambivalence approach to the trust research in project management.

A construction project typically involves many participants such as owners, consultants, contractors, subcontractors and suppliers. It is important for them to have harmonious relationships so that the project can be completed expeditiously. Trust is a critical factor to maintain harmonious relationships. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the ingredients to bring about trust in construction project teams in Vietnam. The specific objectives were to investigate the existence of personal trust, explore relationship between trust and project outcomes, and identify attributes that help to improve trust.

This research employed questionnaire survey as the research method and collected data via face‐to‐face and e‐mail interviews. The sample comprised randomly selected construction practitioners in Vietnam. Data were analyzed using the SPSS software.

The results showed that trust exists between members of construction project team members in Vietnam. It was found that trust can leverage project quality and client satisfaction. In this regard, a number of factors were found to be significantly important to the development of trust.

The sample size was relatively small.

When operating in Vietnam, practitioners should adopt a long‐term mindset so as to develop trust. They should also select partners who have good reputations as these are more trustworthy.

This study contributes to knowledge by showing that trust exists between individuals participating in construction projects in Vietnam and it leads to higher output quality and client satisfaction. Unique attributes to increase trust in Vietnam were also uncovered.

With the advent of globalization, consultancy firms could easily offer services outside their home countries. This study aims to investigate how quantity surveying (QS) firms in Singapore internationalize their services, by examining the unique characteristics of exporting firms, the forces that drive them to export and the strategies they adopt in internationalization.

The research method is based on a structured questionnaire and data were collected via postal survey. Questionnaires were sent to all 47 QS firms operating in Singapore. A total of 25 responses were received.

The results show that QS firms that offer services overseas have more staff than non‐exporters, handle larger projects and offer a wider range of services. In addition, these firms are focused on generating additional revenue and conduct their own market research to secure overseas contracts. They enter foreign countries first as wholly owned foreign subsidiaries and later on form joint ventures with firms in the host country.

The finding suggests that to internationalize, firms need to be of a critical size in terms of staff strength. They must offer integrated and other value added services. To secure more overseas projects, firms should undertake aggressive marketing, collect market data in host countries, instead of relying on published information. Many projects were won through past and present clients' recommendations. To win more overseas contracts, it is recommended that QS firms form close relationships with clients who are best placed to give referrals or repeat business.

The purpose of this paper is to obtain an understanding of the perception of trust between US construction contracting parties. The research objectives were to identify the factors on construction projects that impact such trust and to identify how trust affects factors on construction project.

A survey of construction professionals working for the Engineering News Record’s Top 400 US contractors was conducted.

The findings showed that paying on time, competency, reliability and effective collaboration were the most important factors that affected contextual conditions trustworthiness. Factors perceived to strengthen trust included face-to-face communication, electronic documents, and timely and adequate responses to requests for information. The presence of construction managers on construction projects, and corrective changes orders from neutral third parties were perceived to weaken trust. Trust was perceived to assist leadership, team building, communication and information sharing.

The main contribution of this study is the discovery of additional factors that impact trust and factors that require trust and that were not identified by previous researchers.