Mengmeng Song, Xinyu Xing, Yucong Duan and Jian Mou
Based on appraisal theory and social response theory, this study aims to explore the mechanism of AI failure types on consumer recovery expectation from the perspective of service…
Abstract
Purpose
Based on appraisal theory and social response theory, this study aims to explore the mechanism of AI failure types on consumer recovery expectation from the perspective of service failure assessment and validate the moderate role of anthropomorphism level.
Design/methodology/approach
Three scenario-based experiments were conducted to validate the research model. First, to test the effect of robot service failure types on customer recovery expectation; second, to further test the mediating role of perceived controllability, perceived stability and perceived severity; finally, to verify the moderating effect of anthropomorphic level.
Findings
Non-functional failures reduce consumer recovery expectation compared to functional failures; perceived controllability and perceived severity play a mediating role in the impact of service failure types on recovery expectation; the influence of service failure types on perceived controllability and perceived severity is moderated by the anthropomorphism level.
Originality/value
The findings enrich the influence mechanism and boundary conditions of service failure types, and have implications for online enterprise follow-up service recovery and improvement of anthropomorphic design.
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Jinnan Wu, Mengmeng Song, Pablo Zoghbi-Manrique-de-Lara, Hemin Jiang, Shanshan Guo and Wenpei Zhang
This study investigated why employees' cyberloafing behavior is affected by their coworkers' cyberloafing behavior. By integrating social learning theory and deterrence theory…
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigated why employees' cyberloafing behavior is affected by their coworkers' cyberloafing behavior. By integrating social learning theory and deterrence theory, the authors developed a model to explain the role of employees' perceived certainty of formal and informal sanctions in understanding the effect of coworkers' cyberloafing behavior on employees' cyberloafing behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a survey that involved a two-stage data collection process (including 293 respondents) to test our developed model. Mplus 7.0 was used to analyze the data.
Findings
The results revealed that employees' cyberloafing was positively affected by their coworkers' cyberloafing both directly and indirectly. The indirect effect of coworkers' cyberloafing on employees' cyberloafing was mediated by the employees' perceived certainty of formal and informal sanctions on cyberloafing. Employees' perceived certainty of formal and informal sanctions were found to mediate the relationship both separately (each type of sanctions mediates the relationship individually) and in combination (the two types of sanctions form a serial mediation effect).
Originality/value
The study reveals an important mechanism – employees’ perceived certainty of formal and informal sanctions – that underlies the relationship between coworkers' cyberloafing and employees' cyberloafing, thus, contributing to the cyberloafing literature. It also demonstrates the importance of negative reinforcement (perceived sanctions) in the social learning process, which contributes to the literature on social learning theory because previous studies have primarily focused on the role of positive reinforcement. Lastly, the study reveals a positive relationship between employees' perceived certainty of formal sanctions and informal sanctions, which has important implications for deterrence theory.
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Mengmeng Fu, Jianwei Zhang, Wenfeng Zheng and Yunshan Jiang
This study aims to examine how higher education can overcome some of the psychological barriers to pro-environmental behavior among college students by cultivating growth mindset…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine how higher education can overcome some of the psychological barriers to pro-environmental behavior among college students by cultivating growth mindset of nature and to investigate whether, how and when growth mindset of nature can enhance pro-environmental behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
A three-wave survey was conducted to collect quantitative data on growth mindset of nature, connectedness with nature, pro-environment behavior and pro-environmental school climate among 283 undergraduate college students at two universities in China. This study used the Process Macro for SPSS (models 4 and 14) to reveal the effects of direct, mediating and moderated mediation.
Findings
The findings showed that growth mindset of nature positively affected students’ pro-environment behavior. Moreover, growth mindset of nature contributed to pro-environment behavior through the beneficial effects of connectedness with nature. In particular, positive pro-environmental school climate strengthens the mediating effects of connectedness with nature on the relationship between growth mindset of nature and pro-environment behavior.
Practical implications
Growth mindset of nature provides a vital impetus for facilitating college students’ pro-environmental behavior so that universities can incorporate sustainable development, climate change and environmental sustainability into curricula to cultivate students’ growth mindset of nature. Furthermore, educators could develop students’ connectedness with nature through environmental education by directly exposing them to nature. Finally, the pro-environmental school climate is the essential social-environmental nourishment for college students’ pro-environmental behavior.
Originality/value
This study advances implicit theory by introducing implicit beliefs to the environmental realm. Meanwhile, this study solves the puzzle concerning why people are aware of increasingly serious environmental issues, yet few are really engaged in pro-environmental behavior. A second contribution lies in extending the application of the pro-environmental climates into educational contexts to uncover the “black box” of how growth mindset of nature promotes college students’ pro-environmental behavior. Finally, this study enriches the literature on connectedness with nature by exploring the mediating mechanism of connectedness with nature between growth mindset of nature and pro-environmental behavior.
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The purpose of this paper is to determine the effect of clothing fabrics, sizes and air ventilation rate on the volume and thickness of the air gap under the air ventilation…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to determine the effect of clothing fabrics, sizes and air ventilation rate on the volume and thickness of the air gap under the air ventilation garments (AVGs).
Design/methodology/approach
The geometric models of the human body and clothing were obtained by using a 3D body scanner. Then the distribution of the volume and thickness of the air gap for four clothing fabrics and three air ventilation rates (0L/S, 12L/S and 20L/S) were calculated by Geomagic software. Finally, a more suitable fabric was selected from the analysis to compare the distribution of the air gap entrapped for four clothing sizes (S, M, L and XL) and the three air ventilation rates.
Findings
The results show that the influence of air ventilation rate on the air gap volume and thickness is more obvious than that of the clothing fabrics and sizes. The higher is the air ventilation rate, the thicker is the air gap entrapped, and more evenly distributed is the air gap. It can be seen that the thickness of the air gap in the chest does not change significantly with the changes of the air ventilation rates, clothing fabrics and sizes, while the air gap in the waist is affected significantly.
Originality/value
This research provides a better understanding of the distribution of the air gap entrapped in ventilated garments, which can help in designing the optimal air gap dimensions and thus provide a basis and a reference for the design of the AVGs.
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Mengmeng Li, Jian Chen, Jingtao Sun, Long Hao, Di Wu, Jianqiu Wang and Wei Ke
The purpose of this study is to investigate the initial corrosion behavior of pure Mg, AZ31 and AZ91 alloys in phosphate buffer solution (PBS) and to characterize the features in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the initial corrosion behavior of pure Mg, AZ31 and AZ91 alloys in phosphate buffer solution (PBS) and to characterize the features in corrosion type and resistance of the corrosion product layer.
Design/methodology/approach
The scanning electron microscopy, equipped with energy-dispersive spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy have been used to characterize the as-corroded samples. Besides, the Mg2+ concentration in PBSs has been determined by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrum.
Findings
It has been found that pure Mg suffers pit corrosion, and AZ31 initially undergoes pit corrosion and then uniform corrosion dominates with an extended immersion duration. However, AZ91 exhibits the uniform corrosion with the highest corrosion rate among the three materials. Besides, the corrosion product layer on AZ31 has the best compactness and corrosion resistance.
Originality/value
The findings add depth in understanding the corrosion of pure Mg and its alloys in PBS and also have guiding significance in exploring the effects by alloyed elements to develop new biomaterials with better performance.
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Yuanyuan Cai, Mengmeng Wang, Haiyang Huang and Quanyu Jiang
The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically disrupted everyday life, leading to a cascade of negative emotional responses such as death anxiety. Against this backdrop, the purpose of…
Abstract
Purpose
The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically disrupted everyday life, leading to a cascade of negative emotional responses such as death anxiety. Against this backdrop, the purpose of this paper is to focus on the buffering effect of brand attachment on death anxiety by exploring the roles of brand concepts and brand positioning on psychological compensation for security.
Design/methodology/approach
This multi-method paper features four studies and shows how brands can offer emotional support under high-risk circumstances.
Findings
Study 1 includes two surveys which offer preliminary evidence that death anxiety can enhance consumers’ brand attachment. Study 2 reveals a causal effect wherein consumers experiencing death anxiety are more likely to attach to brands with a self-transcendence (vs self-enhancement) concept. Study 3 examines the mediating role of need for security in the relationship between death anxiety and attachment to brands with a self-transcendence concept. Further, Study 4 indicates the moderating role of brand positioning: self-transcendence brands adopting local (vs global) positioning strategies are more likely to satisfy consumers’ need for security, thereby leading to strong brand attachment.
Originality/value
The findings of this paper contribute to the brand attachment literature and to the global branding literature regarding consumers’ emotional responses in the context of COVID-19. This paper innovatively frames brand concepts and brand positioning and provides actionable guidelines to help brands satisfy consumers’ needs amid a worldwide crisis.
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Maoliang Bu, Steven Rotchadl and Mengmeng Bu
This paper aims to conduct a comparative study between the historical development of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in both the USA and China. It is motivated by the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to conduct a comparative study between the historical development of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in both the USA and China. It is motivated by the phenomenon that CSR is developing in two different directions (global vs local).
Design/methodology/approach
A comparative study on sustainability-linked compensation illustrates how CSR in the USA is driven by firm-level economic decisions, in which the manifestations of CSR are usually those which prove to be the most profitable financially. Moreover, a case analysis on the green bond market in China contrarily illustrates how CSR in China is usually based more on alignment with top-down, state-led initiatives in which the state directs the ways in which CSR is manifested.
Findings
This paper reveals that despite globalizing trends are attempting to unify definitions of CSR, they inevitably become localized to fit the societal needs in which they are located.
Originality/value
By understanding how CSR development in these two countries has changed over time, this paper shows that future developments in CSR will likely be influenced more by local practices than by converging global forces.
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Zhi Guo, Zhongde Shan, Dong Du, Mengmeng Zhao and Milan Zhang
This paper aims to determine how the viscosity and curing agent content affect the flowability of moist silica sand granules. In addition, a coating device was designed according…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to determine how the viscosity and curing agent content affect the flowability of moist silica sand granules. In addition, a coating device was designed according to the flow properties of silica sand granules.
Design/methodology/approach
The flowability of silica sand granules premixed with two curing agents of different viscosities is studied using a Jenike shear apparatus. An open-ended device was used in discharge testing of sand granules with a design based on the variable dip angle of the two plates and variable outlet size.
Findings
The test results show that increasing the curing agent content would significantly decrease the flowability of silica sand granules, and a curing agent of higher viscosity has a greater effect on the flowability of silica sand. The presence of a curing agent strengthens the cohesion among sand granules, lubricates them and restrains their deformation. The shape function of the coating device was obtained by theoretical derivation.
Practical implications
The flow properties provide a valuable theoretical guidance for the design of coating device for sand mold printing.
Originality/value
This paper deals with experimental work on flow properties of silica sand granules with different viscosities and curing agent content. The shape function of a wedge-shaped coating device is obtained based on experimental data.
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Jieyu Zhou, Mengmeng Bu and Liangding Jia
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how CEO humility influences inter-firm collaboration (IFC) and the moderating roles of firm status (a firm's relative position in a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how CEO humility influences inter-firm collaboration (IFC) and the moderating roles of firm status (a firm's relative position in a social order) and environmental uncertainty on such an effect.
Design/methodology/approach
As the firms were nested in township clusters, the theoretical model was tested using hierarchical linear modeling to analyze a multisource and multilevel onsite survey from 254 firms in Chinese township clusters. CEO humility was measured using an 18-item scale reported by both the human resource managers and the financial managers. Besides using CEO self-reported ratings as the measurement of IFC, this study employed additional measurements to further validate the findings, including the IFC reported by the administrative managers and two alternative measures for IFC reported by both CEO and the administrative managers of each firm.
Findings
This study found that CEO humility is positively related to IFC (H1), and that this association is marginally more salient when firms have high status (H2) but less salient when firms face a high level of environmental uncertainty (H3).
Practical implications
Findings suggest that firms with humble CEOs may benefit from better inter-firm collaborative relationships, especially when firms have high status (i.e. possess many well-known trademarks), but not when they are in an uncertain environment.
Originality/value
Previous humility studies focused on the influence of leader humility on individual and team outcomes, but little attention has been paid to organizational outcomes. This research extends the implications of leader humility to inter-firm relationships. Moreover, this paper explores the boundary conditions of the influence of CEO humility, thus advancing the contextual understanding of leader humility.
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This study aims to solve the problem of job scheduling and multi automated guided vehicle (AGV) cooperation in intelligent manufacturing workshops.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to solve the problem of job scheduling and multi automated guided vehicle (AGV) cooperation in intelligent manufacturing workshops.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, an algorithm for job scheduling and cooperative work of multiple AGVs is designed. In the first part, with the goal of minimizing the total processing time and the total power consumption, the niche multi-objective evolutionary algorithm is used to determine the processing task arrangement on different machines. In the second part, AGV is called to transport workpieces, and an improved ant colony algorithm is used to generate the initial path of AGV. In the third part, to avoid path conflicts between running AGVs, the authors propose a simple priority-based waiting strategy to avoid collisions.
Findings
The experiment shows that the solution can effectively deal with job scheduling and multiple AGV operation problems in the workshop.
Originality/value
In this paper, a collaborative work algorithm is proposed, which combines the job scheduling and AGV running problem to make the research results adapt to the real job environment in the workshop.