Liang Xiao, Tongping Ke, Fumao Yu and Peihua Guo
Digital freight platform is an innovation practice of green concept, sharing economy and crowdsourcing concept in China's logistics field. It has many advantages, such as…
Abstract
Purpose
Digital freight platform is an innovation practice of green concept, sharing economy and crowdsourcing concept in China's logistics field. It has many advantages, such as improving the utilization rate of logistics resources, reducing carbon emissions, etc., so it has been highly regarded by the government. This paper systematically studies what types of government supports are available and explores the influence mechanism of these government supports on users' participation intention in digital freight platform.
Design/methodology/approach
In total 191 valid questionnaires were collected through a questionnaire survey in China. Then SmartPLS is used to analyze the collected data.
Findings
The empirical results show that user subsidies, standardization of tax administration and financial resource support have a significant impact on actual carriers' participation intention in digital freight platform. The impact of standardization of tax administration on actual carriers' participation intention is the most substantial, followed by that of financial resource support, while the user subsidies exert a minimum impact. Moreover, the impact of standardization of tax administration and user subsidies on legitimacy perception is related to enterprise scale.
Originality/value
This study enriches the field of crowdsourcing logistics research and provides referential suggestions for the formulation and implementation of government supports to promote the sustainable development of green crowdsourcing logistics platforms represented by digital freight platform. In addition, in the growth process of new models with strong social benefits, the government can promote its development through a variety of policy tools to improve the accuracy of government policies.
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David Oswald, Rita Peihua Zhang, Helen Lingard, Payam Pirzadeh and Tiendung Le
The purpose of this paper is to present a critical review of the use of safety performance indicators in the construction industry. The authors consider the strengths, limitations…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a critical review of the use of safety performance indicators in the construction industry. The authors consider the strengths, limitations and managerial consequences associated with commonly used indicators.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors combine two separate data sets in this critical review. These include 32 semi-structured interviews with construction industry representatives involved in the collection and reporting of safety indicators, as well as a multi-level safety climate survey that was conducted at 12 construction sites across Australia.
Findings
The analysis provides new evidence that, in their current use, commonly used H&S indicators are subject to manipulation and misinterpretation. Their usefulness as tools to support safety management activities in construction projects and organisations needs to be understood in the context of their limitations. In particular, safety indicators do not reflect the full set of factors that affect workplace safety and there will always be disagreement about what should be counted and how.
Originality/value
As a result of the substantial shortcomings of safety indicators, great care needs to be taken when using them to determine or evaluate organisational safety policy and practices.
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Sainan Lyu, Carol K.H. Hon, Albert P.C. Chan, Arshad Ali Javed, Rita Peihua Zhang and Francis K.W. Wong
Previous studies have highlighted that communication barrier was one of the major safety problems faced by ethnic minority (EM) workers. This study aims to model the predominant…
Abstract
Purpose
Previous studies have highlighted that communication barrier was one of the major safety problems faced by ethnic minority (EM) workers. This study aims to model the predominant safety communication networks of EM crews and explore the relationships among safety communication networks, individual attributes, safety climate, near misses and injuries of EM crews.
Design/methodology/approach
Case studies were conducted with EM crews in the Hong Kong construction industry. Demographic attribute, network, safety climate and accidents data were collected through questionnaires and analyzed by a combination of social network analysis (SNA), cross-case comparison and nonparametric tests.
Findings
The results revealed that language proficiency, network density and level of reciprocity were contributing factors of distinguishing high and low safety performing EM crews. EM management received more safety information from EM workers than local management. The centrality of EM workers was significantly related to their age, the perceived priority of safety and language ability.
Practical implications
The research findings regarding the impact of safety communication network characteristics on the safety performance of EM crews provides insights to employers on how to cultivate effective safety communication patterns within EM crews that can lead to better safety performance. The connections between personal attributes and their positions in safety communication networks could help the employers identify the EM workers who are positioned on edges of networks and need more attention.
Originality/value
This study contributes to knowledge by enriching the limited research on analyzing safety communication of small construction crews using SNA and expanding the research object to EM construction crews in the literature, who are more vulnerable to construction accidents. This research also extends the existing body of knowledge from studies mainly carried out in Western culture to Eastern culture. Although safety communication has been regarded as important for EM workers, there is a lack of quantitative analysis on this at a crew level. The present study provides empirical research to reveal authentic safety communication networks and their connections with safety performance and personal attributes.
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Pengfei Han, Haifeng Wang and Peihua Fan
Along with the important impact of green strategies on firm survival and performance improvement, its dark side likewise requires attention. By integrating network evolution…
Abstract
Purpose
Along with the important impact of green strategies on firm survival and performance improvement, its dark side likewise requires attention. By integrating network evolution theory with the literature on green supply chain management, this study proposes a theoretical framework consisting of green strategies, network conduct (cooperation length), network structure (structural holes) and relationship maintenance. The purpose of this study is to indicate how green strategies can affect relationship maintenance on the basis of a network evolution perspective, and demonstrate how this effect can be influenced by cooperation length and structural holes.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a sample of 122 matched pairs of the upstream and downstream supply chain from the Chinese paper-making industry, which is in urgent requirement of green strategies due to high pollution and resource consumption.
Findings
This study theoretically and empirically indicates that green strategies may have a positive impact on relationship maintenance. In addition, this effect can be positively moderated by cooperation length, but negatively moderated by structural holes.
Originality/value
This study uncovers the impact of green strategies on relationship maintenance by proposing a network evolution perspective, which could solve its conflicting effects in a specific context and move extant research a step forward.
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Zisheng Guo, Jianqi Zhang and Heng Liu
Small firms in China anticipate entrepreneurial opportunities for continual growth. However, they may fail to recognize opportunities because of their inefficiency in managing…
Abstract
Purpose
Small firms in China anticipate entrepreneurial opportunities for continual growth. However, they may fail to recognize opportunities because of their inefficiency in managing their knowledge.
Design/methodology/approach
In this explorative paper, the authors assess the opportunity recognition efficiency of 168 small Chinese firms using data envelopment analysis (DEA). Supplementary Tobit regressions were conducted for further exploring the factors that influence the firms’ efficiency in opportunity recognition.
Findings
Results from the DEA suggest that most respondents recognize significantly fewer opportunities than those with equivalent knowledge stock. Moreover, many firms have low levels of pure technical efficiency but high levels of scale efficiency, indicating insufficient use of knowledge as a major reason for inefficiency in opportunity recognition. The Tobit regressions show that sales and research and development intensity are relevant to a firm’s opportunity recognition efficiency.
Research limitations/implications
This study calls for the investigation of efficiency issues in opportunity recognition and suggests that managers guard against unwarranted loss of opportunities owing to inefficient use of existing knowledge elements.
Originality/value
First, the authors introduce the concept of opportunity recognition efficiency within the entrepreneurial process. Second, they manifest the role of knowledge management in opportunity recognition. Third, they introduce DEA to investigate the relationship between knowledge stock and opportunity recognition. Fourth, this study reveals that inefficient use of knowledge is a disadvantage of small Chinese firms in terms of opportunity recognition.
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China has witnessed the emergence and rapid development of private higher education in the past three decades. As private higher education gradually takes on a more significant…
Abstract
China has witnessed the emergence and rapid development of private higher education in the past three decades. As private higher education gradually takes on a more significant role in the Chinese educational system, due to the inability of the government to accommodate the growing demand for higher education, educational reform, influenced by the success of private higher education, will inevitably affect the quality and quantity of education overall.
This chapter focuses on several aspects of this development: the growth of private higher education in China, issues of finance and access, its relationship to the national system and to government policy, issues of ownership and the autonomy of private higher education, as well as the advantages and challenges of Chinese private higher education and the larger significance of its emergence in China. This study concludes that with proper management private colleges and universities will benefit from and contribute to Chinese society through multiple roles and responsibilities at their mature stage.
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Jiangfeng Ye, Yunqiao Wu, Bin Hao and Zusheng Chen
The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between two types of informal ties and radical innovation in the context of China’s university spin-offs and the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between two types of informal ties and radical innovation in the context of China’s university spin-offs and the moderating roles of knowledge breadth and depth in such relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic review of literature on informal ties, internal knowledge base and radical innovation provides the theoretical foundation of the research framework and hypotheses. Using a sample of 158 China’s university spin-offs, the authors conduct a regression analysis on the theoretical framework and hypotheses.
Findings
The results show that business and university ties are positively related to radical innovation. Moreover, the effects of business and university ties on radical innovation are contingent on knowledge breadth and depth in opposite ways. In particular, the positive effect of business ties on radical innovation depends significantly on internal knowledge depth rather than on knowledge breadth, and the positive effect of university ties on radical innovation will be affected by internal knowledge breadth rather than knowledge depth.
Practical implications
Managers of university spin-offs must examine informal ties they already have and identify their nature, content and embedded advantages and promptly adjust their strategy of informal ties to adapt to their firms’ internal knowledge base.
Originality/value
This study highlights the positive role of managers’ personal connections with different external parties in facilitating radical innovation and advances the understanding of informal ties by proposing that the effects of informal ties on radical innovation are contingent on a firm’s internal knowledge base in the context of China’s university spin-offs.
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Yongqiang Lu and Li Ma
Construction project team members’ job burnout damages the physical health of members and also have a negative effect on project performance. This study primarily aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
Construction project team members’ job burnout damages the physical health of members and also have a negative effect on project performance. This study primarily aims to empirically examine the relationship between coaching project managers (CPMs) and team members’ job burnout. Moreover, this research examines the cross-level mediating effect of team caring ethical climate and team members’ team-based self-esteem (TBSE) on the relationship between the two aspects.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses conservation of resources theory as basis to construct a cross-level research model of the effect of CPMs on team members’ job burnout. Thereafter, regression analysis was performed on a sample of 431 team members from 83 teams.
Findings
According to the empirical results, the authors found that, in construction project teams, first, CPMs were negatively correlated with team members’ job burnout and positively correlated with caring ethical climate and team members’ TBSE. Second, caring ethical climate and team members’ TBSE played a cross-level mediating role between CPMs and team members’ job burnout. In addition, caring ethical climate played a cross-level moderating role in the negative relationship between team members’ TBSE and job burnout.
Originality/value
This study introduces coaching leadership, an important leadership type, into the research background of construction project teams, thereby theoretically enriching the research on construction project team leadership. Moreover, by further expanding the research on the consequences of coaching leadership to the field of job burnout, this study also enriches the theoretical results of the research on the consequences of coaching leadership.
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Zhining Wang, Dandan Liu and Shaohan Cai
This paper aims to examine the effect of self-reflection on employee creativity in China. The authors identify individual intellectual capital (IIC) as a mediator and concerns for…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the effect of self-reflection on employee creativity in China. The authors identify individual intellectual capital (IIC) as a mediator and concerns for face as a moderator for this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
A sample of 351 dyads of full-time employees and their immediate supervisors from various Chinese companies were surveyed. Regression analysis and structural equation modeling were used to test the research model.
Findings
Three dimensions of self-reflection significantly affect IIC and subsequently lead to employee creativity; IIC mediates the relationship between three dimensions of self-reflection and employee creativity; concern for face negatively moderates the effect of IIC on employee creativity.
Practical implications
Managers can facilitate employees’ creativity by motivating them to conduct self-reflection and develop IIC, and by nurturing a safe atmosphere that allows individuals to take risks without losing face.
Originality/value
This is one of the first empirical studies to investigate the mediating effects of IIC and the moderating effects of concerns for face on the relationship between self-reflection and creativity.