Jingen Zhou, Shu-Ling (Peggy) Chen and Wenming (Wendy) Shi
The cruise industry has witnessed steady growth, with passenger volume increasing from 17.8 million in 2009 to 30 million in 2019. In the context of global competition and an…
Abstract
Purpose
The cruise industry has witnessed steady growth, with passenger volume increasing from 17.8 million in 2009 to 30 million in 2019. In the context of global competition and an uncertain business environment, competition in business has changed dramatically from battles of “firm versus firm” to “supply chain versus supply chain”. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to understand the cruise industry from a chain perspective, which has not drawn widespread research attention.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper brings together the insights, opinions, concepts and frameworks from a literature review of different disciplines (maritime shipping, tourism management, logistics management, operations management and supply chain management) and analysis results from 22 semi-structured interviews to make an early attempt to conceptualise the cruise supply chain (CSC).
Findings
The cruise supply chain is elaborated on the process, the role of each entity and its characteristics by comparing with the maritime supply chain and tourism supply chain. Based on the understanding of the CSC, two specific characteristics of the Chinese CSC are examined, which need further investigation.
Originality/value
The CSC is articulated with detailed processes and characteristics based on the literature review and empirical study. The findings of this paper not only advance the knowledge of the supply chain in the cruise industry but also highlight the importance of further research on the CSC.
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Taknaz Alsadat Banihashemi, Jiangang Fei and Peggy Shu-Ling Chen
The implementation of reverse logistics (RL) as a strategic decision has gained significant attention amongst organisations due to its benefits to sustainable development. The…
Abstract
Purpose
The implementation of reverse logistics (RL) as a strategic decision has gained significant attention amongst organisations due to its benefits to sustainable development. The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of the literature to evaluate the performance of the RL process based on the three dimensions of sustainability including environmental, economic and social aspects.
Design/methodology/approach
Content analysis was adopted to collect and analyse the information.
Findings
The findings of this research show that most of the studies have focused on the performance evaluation of RL by considering the factors associated with economic and environmental performance. The social aspect of RL has been overlooked and requires investigation due to its contribution to positive social outcomes. In addition, no research has been conducted to assess the impact of each of the disposition options on the triple-bottom-line sustainability performance in one study.
Originality/value
Although RL can make a significant contribution to improving the sustainability performance of firms, little research has been undertaken on exploring the relationship between RL and sustainability performance. This paper provides practitioners, academics and researchers a broad and complete view of the relationship between RL and sustainability performance with suggestion for future research.
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Son Nguyen, Peggy Shu-Ling Chen and Yuquan Du
Container shipping is a crucial component of the global supply chain that is affected by a large range of operational risks with high uncertainty, threatening the stability of…
Abstract
Purpose
Container shipping is a crucial component of the global supply chain that is affected by a large range of operational risks with high uncertainty, threatening the stability of service, manufacture, distribution and profitability of involved parties. However, quantitative risk analysis (QRA) of container shipping operational risk (CSOR) is being obstructed by the lack of a well-established theoretical structure to guide deeper research efforts. This paper proposes a methodological framework to strengthen the quality and reliability of CSOR analysis (CSORA).
Design/methodology/approach
Focusing on addressing uncertainties, the framework establishes a solid, overarching and updated basis for quantitative CSORA. The framework consists of clearly defined elements and processes, including knowledge establishing, information gathering, aggregating multiple sources of data (social/deliberative and mathematical/statistical), calculating risk and uncertainty level and presenting and interpreting quantified results. The framework is applied in a case study of three container shipping companies in Vietnam.
Findings
Various methodological contributions were rendered regarding CSOR characteristics, settings of analysis models, handling of uncertainties and result interpretation. The empirical study also generated valuable managerial implications regarding CSOR management policies.
Originality/value
This paper fills the gap of an updated framework for CSORA considering the recent advancements of container shipping operations and risk management. The framework can be used by both practitioners as a tool for CSORA and scholars as a test bench to facilitate the comparison and development of QRA models.
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Son Nguyen, Peggy Shu-Ling Chen and Yuquan Du
Although being considered for adoption by stakeholders in container shipping, application of blockchain is hindered by different factors. This paper investigates the potential…
Abstract
Purpose
Although being considered for adoption by stakeholders in container shipping, application of blockchain is hindered by different factors. This paper investigates the potential operational risks of blockchain-integrated container shipping systems as one of such barriers.
Design/methodology/approach
Literature review is employed as the method of risk identification. Scientific articles, special institutional reports and publications of blockchain solution providers were included in an inclusive qualitative analysis. A directed acyclic graph (DAG) was constructed and analyzed based on network topological metrics.
Findings
Twenty-eight potential risks and 47 connections were identified in three groups of initiative, transitional and sequel. The DAG analysis results reflect a relatively well-connected network of identified hazardous events (HEs), suggesting the pervasiveness of information risks and various multiple-event risk scenarios. The criticality of the connected systems' security and information accuracy are also indicated.
Originality/value
This paper indicates the changes of container shipping operational risk in the process of blockchain integration by using updated data. It creates awareness of the emerging risks, provides their insights and establishes the basis for further research.
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Sonia Sadeghian Esfahani, Stephen Cahoon, Shu-Ling Chen, Hilary Pateman and Seyed Mojtaba Sajadi
This paper aims to examine 12 factors influencing environmental activity adoption by Australian logistics companies.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine 12 factors influencing environmental activity adoption by Australian logistics companies.
Design/methodology/approach
After a literature review and collect the major factors influencing environmental activity adoption, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and Friedman test are used to cluster and prioritize these factors through a Web survey.
Findings
The results of EFA show that these factors belong to three main groups including social and economic, pressure and governmental factors. The results of a Friedman test prioritizes 12 factors to find which factors have the greatest importance toward the adoption of environmental activity by managers of Australian logistics companies and reveals that governmental regulation, fuel and energy prices and the potential for achieving a competitive advantage, had the first to third ranking, respectively. Some new influencing factors in implementing environmental activities are found such as the willingness to be the market leader, responsibility and risk mitigation.
Research limitations/implications
This paper contributes to the literature by exploring the new factors influencing environmental adoption.
Practical implications
Australian logistics managers can use the results of this paper in developing their strategies and public policymakers can also use these results to improve sustainable development.
Originality/value
This is the first paper that clusters and prioritizes factors influencing environmental adoption in the Australian logistics industry.
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Tseng-Lung Huang and Shu-Ling Liao
Drawing on virtual liminoid theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine factors that induce a multisensory flow experience in an e-shopping context through the use of…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on virtual liminoid theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine factors that induce a multisensory flow experience in an e-shopping context through the use of augmented-reality interactive technology (ARIT).
Design/methodology/approach
To validate the research framework, a task-based laboratory study was performed. Participants were recruited through a snowball e-mail method and requested to freely and independently use ARIT for clothes fitting in the laboratory, after which they completed a questionnaire; 336 valid responses were received.
Findings
Empirical results revealed that three decorating psychological states (sense of body ownership, sense of ownership control, and self-explorative engagement) directly induced a multisensory flow experience. Furthermore, two multisensory factors (sense of self-location and haptic imagery) mediated the multisensory flow experience through these three decorating psychological states.
Practical implications
Consumers not only rely on generating self-display for optimal fitting in virtual avatar decoration in an e-shopping context but also concentrate more on expression and control of self-body. As consumers’ decorating psychological states require an ideal form of self-expression, a high degree of autonomy in exploring self-decoration options will create more value for consumers. Considering that expressing and controlling the self-body in addition to self-explorative engagement in virtual avatar decoration will trigger the flow experience in an e-shopping context, increasing the use of multisensory ARIT to trigger decorating psychological states in e-shopping contexts is highly recommended.
Originality/value
In this study, a relationship was constructed among virtual liminoid theory, flow theory, and multisensory technology, and an integrated conceptual framework was developed for the relationship between decorating psychological states and multisensory flow experience.
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Min-Jeng Shiue, Peng-Chia Chiu, Li-Chun Kuo and Shu-Ling Yeh
The purpose of this study is to examine the association between audit partners’ signing networks and accruals quality, using the sample of Taiwanese publicly traded companies.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the association between audit partners’ signing networks and accruals quality, using the sample of Taiwanese publicly traded companies.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses four centrality measures as proxies in this study for the strength of the audit partners’ relationship networks and the absolute value of discretionary accruals to measure accruals quality.
Findings
Using the sample of publicly traded firms audited by the Big 4 accounting firms in Taiwan during the 2011–2017 period, this study finds that the centrality of an audit partner’s signing network is negatively associated with the absolute value of discretionary accruals. The result is robust to various discretionary accruals measures and survives the alternative explanation related to the endogenous matching between audit partners and their clients.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the understanding of the effect of the relationship network within an accounting firm on accruals quality. This is one of the few studies to empirically examine the strength of the audit partners’ relationship network as a factor in firms’ financial reporting quality, especially by using the sample from an emerging market. This study shows that the strength of the audit partners’ signing networks contains incremental information when assessing firms’ earnings quality. High-quality audit work is important to ensure high-quality financial reporting and the results of this study highlight that audit partners’ network linkages affect the quality of their work.
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The current work studies the cause, process, and effects of financial reform in 10 countries in Eastern Asia for the period of 1993–2002, especially focusing upon comparisons…
Abstract
The current work studies the cause, process, and effects of financial reform in 10 countries in Eastern Asia for the period of 1993–2002, especially focusing upon comparisons between pre- and post-Asia financial crisis. This study utilizes Mann–Whitney U test and Intervention Analysis to explore the different effects of the changes of GDP, stock index, exchange rate, CPI index, and the changes of the unemployment rate before and after the Asia financial crisis. It shows the consistent relationship between stock index, exchange rate, CPI index, and the changes of unemployment rate.