Yang Lei, Qiang Zhou, Jifan Ren and Xiling Cui
This study aims to examine how job satisfaction (JS) affects two types of knowledge sharing (KS), in-role KS and extra-role KS. It also investigates the mediating effect of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine how job satisfaction (JS) affects two types of knowledge sharing (KS), in-role KS and extra-role KS. It also investigates the mediating effect of knowledge sharing self-efficacy (KSSE) and the moderating effect of team collaborative culture (TCC) between JS and two types of KS.
Design/methodology/approach
This study applies attribution theory to develop a cross-level model and validate it through paired data collected from 322 information technology professionals nested within 80 teams. Hierarchical linear modeling is used to test the hypotheses.
Findings
JS positively influences in-role and extra-role KS via KSSE and TCC positively moderates the relationship between JS and extra-role KS.
Originality/value
This study is one of the first to investigate the mechanism underlying the influence of JS on two types of KS. It also identifies the mediating and moderating effects of this mechanism.
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Xiling Cui, Baofeng Huo, Yang Lei and Qiang Zhou
The purpose of this paper is to examine how team social media usage (SMU) affects two types of knowledge sharing (KS), namely, in-role and extra-role KS, and then individual job…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how team social media usage (SMU) affects two types of knowledge sharing (KS), namely, in-role and extra-role KS, and then individual job performance. The study also examines the mediating effects of two types of KS and the main and moderating effects of team performance norms on individual job performance.
Design/methodology/approach
This study applies the theory of communication visibility to develop a cross-level model and then validate it through a three-wave survey from 600 individuals in 120 teams. Hierarchical linear model is used to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The results suggest that team SMU improves team members’ in-role and extra-role KS, and thus enhances their individual job performance. The in-role and extra-role KS have partial mediating effects between team SMU and job performance. The results also show that team performance norms have a positive main effect on individual job performance, but negatively moderate the relationship between individual extra-role KS and job performance.
Research limitations/implications
This study contributes to the operations management literature by examining the effects of team SMU from a multilevel perspective.
Practical implications
The findings provide managers with ways to improve individual KS and job performance.
Originality/value
This study is one of the first to investigate the effects of team SMU on individual KS and job performance. It also identifies the two-sided effects of team performance norms.
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Qiang Zhou and Xin Li
In the past several decades, considerable research has been dedicated to the development of mobile systems that can traverse vertical surfaces. For the control of the climbing…
Abstract
Purpose
In the past several decades, considerable research has been dedicated to the development of mobile systems that can traverse vertical surfaces. For the control of the climbing robot, high-precision sensing of the climbing robot’s heading angle during movement is very important. This paper aims to propose a vision-based scheme for the 2D direction angle detection of wall-climbing robots.
Design/methodology/approach
First, the authors proposed a method based on image geometric transformation to transform a camera image into a front view image of the wall, as the position and direction angle of the robot can be detected from the transformed image to eliminate the need for calibration of the camera’s internal and external parameters. Second, the AngleNet model is proposed to detect the 2D direction angle of the wall-climbing robot. Third, a training sample expansion strategy is proposed, which greatly decreased the workload of annotating training samples for AngleNet.
Findings
The single image processing time of AngleNet on the GPU is only 1.7 ms, which satisfies the demands of real-time processing. The mean and maximum error of predicted direction angle on the 556 samples of the test set are 1.1° and 3.8°, respectively.
Originality/value
This research offers an effective method for measuring the climbing robot’s direction angle in a complex outdoor environment. Combined with position detection, it can provide high-precision position and direction angle measurement information for the motion control of the climbing robot.
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Qiang Zhou, Danping Zou and Peilin Liu
This paper aims to develop an obstacle avoidance system for a multi-rotor micro aerial vehicle (MAV) that flies in indoor environments which usually contain transparent…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to develop an obstacle avoidance system for a multi-rotor micro aerial vehicle (MAV) that flies in indoor environments which usually contain transparent, texture-less or moving objects.
Design/methodology/approach
The system adopts a combination of a stereo camera and an ultrasonic sensor to detect obstacles and extracts three-dimensional (3D) point clouds. The obstacle map is built on a coarse global map and updated by local maps generated by the recent 3D point clouds. An efficient layered A* path planning algorithm is also proposed to address the path planning in 3D space for MAVs.
Findings
The authors conducted a lot of experiments in both static and dynamic scenes. The results show that the obstacle avoidance system works reliably even when transparent or texture-less obstacles are present. The layered A* path planning algorithm is much faster than the traditional 3D algorithm and makes the system response quickly when the obstacle map has been changed because of the moving objects.
Research limitations/implications
The limited field of view of both stereo camera and ultrasonic sensor makes the system need to change heading first before moving side to side or moving backward. But this problem could be addressed when multiple systems are mounted toward different directions on the MAV.
Practical implications
The developed approach could be valuable to applications in indoors.
Originality/value
This paper presents a robust obstacle avoidance system and a fast layered path planning algorithm that are easy to be implemented for practical systems.
Details
Keywords
Qiang Zhou and Xin Li
Glass-cleaning robots were developed to perform the difficult, time-consuming and dangerous job of cleaning windows that had traditionally been done by humans. The wiping…
Abstract
Purpose
Glass-cleaning robots were developed to perform the difficult, time-consuming and dangerous job of cleaning windows that had traditionally been done by humans. The wiping mechanism is the most important functional component of a glass-cleaning robot, which indirectly affects the design of the adsorption and transport mechanisms. This study aims to compare two types of wiping mechanisms – the drag-wiper and roller-wiper –through an analysis and an actual experiment, providing theoretical and measured data that can be applied to the optimization of the design of future glass-cleaning robots.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors undertook a theoretical force and energy consumption analysis of glass-cleaning robots and, based on the obtained results, undertook an analysis the two wiper types. They verified the theoretical analysis by conducting several experiments including studying the relationship between a wiper’s friction force and rotational speed, measuring the contact normal forces of the suckers, wiper and crawlers relative to the glass wall, measuring the energy consumed to drive the robot and studying the relationship between the vacuum pump’s power consumption and the adsorption force. The authors also compared the wiping efficacy of the drag-wiper robot and roller-wiper robot.
Findings
The drag-wiper offers the advantages of simplicity while being able to wipe the area around the edge of a window frame. Meanwhile, the use of a roller-wiper not only improves the robot’s driving performance and reduces the required adsorption force but can also reduce the amount of energy consumed to drive both the robot itself and also the vacuum pump; in addition, the roller-wiper is more flexible and energy- and time-efficient when dealing with dirt that is difficult to remove.
Originality/value
This study has, through a detailed analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of a drag-wiper and roller-wiper robot, from the three aspects of force analysis, energy consumption and wiping efficacy, obtained theoretical and measured data that can be applied to the optimization of the design of future industrial and household glass-cleaning robots.
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Keywords
Leadership politics in China.
Kristína Medeková, Kristína Pompurová and Ivana Šimočková
Interest in the Electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM) in connection with tourism is constantly growing not only among consumers but also among theoreticians. Therefore, the objective of…
Abstract
Interest in the Electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM) in connection with tourism is constantly growing not only among consumers but also among theoreticians. Therefore, the objective of this chapter is to provide an overview of studies that focus on eWOM in the tourism sector using the snowball method. The article is based on a review of the literature of 60 studies that focus not only on consumer behavior in tourism and the impact of eWOM on tourism supply but also on the impact of hotel managers' responses to other consumer behavior and tourism companies. The results of the studies show that eWOM has a significant impact not only on consumer behavior but also on tourism supply. Manager responses can also strongly affect other consumer behavior in decision-making. When eWOM is distributed, consumers are influenced by their emotions, motives, and also by the websites to which they have decided to contribute. The chapter proposes further research areas for different authors.
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Cong Liu, Qiang Zhou and Xiaoguang Hu
– The purpose of this paper is to study the dynamical group consensus of heterogeneous multi-agent systems with fixed topologies.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study the dynamical group consensus of heterogeneous multi-agent systems with fixed topologies.
Design/methodology/approach
The tool used in this paper to model the topologies of multi-agent systems is algebraic graph theory. The matrix theory and stability theory are applied to research the group consensus of heterogeneous multi-agent systems with fixed topologies. The Laplace transform and Routh criterion are utilized to analyze the convergence properties of heterogeneous multi-agent systems.
Findings
It is discovered that the dynamical group consensus for heterogeneous multi-agent systems with first-order and second-order agents can be achieved under the reasonable hypothesizes. The group consensus condition is only relied on the nonzero eigenvalues of the graph Laplacian matrix.
Originality/value
The novelty of this paper is to investigate the dynamical group consensus of heterogeneous multi-agent systems with first-order and second-order agents and fixed topologies and obtain a sufficient group consensus condition.
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This chapter explores the development of sport sociology in China from its transition from an ‘imported’ Western concept to a ‘localised’ Chinese discipline. Specifically, this…
Abstract
This chapter explores the development of sport sociology in China from its transition from an ‘imported’ Western concept to a ‘localised’ Chinese discipline. Specifically, this chapter considers the role of the body in this process. This chapter offers some descriptive insight into the development of sport sociology in China, focussing on how it has transitioned from an ‘imported’ Western concept to a ‘localised’ discipline with its own unique characteristics. It also seeks to address some differences and similarities between Eastern and Western ideologies regarding the concept of the ‘body’ and how these differences influence the study of sport sociology in China. The chapter uses a historical and philosophical approach to analyse the development of sport sociology in China. It examines the concept of the body in both Western and Chinese contexts and how these concepts have influenced the development of sport sociology in China. The value of this work is it provides a unique perspective on the development of sport sociology in China, highlighting the role of the body and the process of localization. It contributes to the understanding of the interaction between Western and Eastern ideologies in the field of sport sociology.
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Theodore T. Y. Chen, Qiang Zhou, Hui Fang and Yanling Wang
The Braun and Simpson’s (2004) study indicates that the Pause method is an effective teaching approach for auditing based on four sets of hypotheses in developing students’ oral…
Abstract
The Braun and Simpson’s (2004) study indicates that the Pause method is an effective teaching approach for auditing based on four sets of hypotheses in developing students’ oral, written and interpersonal communication skills. In addition, it is more beneficial to the learning process and more enjoyable than the lecture-only method. The extent of achieving both of these is dependent on the type of activity that is consistent with the student’s preferred Pause method activity. Students will achieve higher examination scores when following their preferred Pause activity. Our study replicates the Braun and Simpson’s study in Greater China using one university in Hong Kong and one in mainland China as students in these jurisdictions are more passive learners and their value of learning more extrinsic than intrinsic. The results are similar to the Braun and Simpson’s study, thus enhancing the universality of the “Pause” method.