Jea-Il Sohn, Su-Han Woo and Taek-Won Kim
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate logistics service quality using the Kano’s service quality model in the logistics-triadic context.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate logistics service quality using the Kano’s service quality model in the logistics-triadic context.
Design/methodology/approach
This study undertakes a survey research in semiconductor manufacturing equipment (SME) industry. Logistics service quality is categorized using Kano’s classification and a comparison is made of the perception of three sample groups who are SME firms, semiconductor manufacturers (SMs) and third-party logistics (TPL) providers.
Findings
Several attributes of logistics service quality are evaluated as “Must-be” quality which does not contribute to customer satisfaction, indicating existence of the non-linear relationship between some logistics service quality attributes and customers’ satisfaction. The group comparison reveals that TPL firms perceive most quality attributes as “Attractive” and “One-dimensional” whereas SMs and SME firms perceive more attributes as “Must-be.”
Research limitations/implications
Logistics service quality elements should not be used in the same way assuming the same effect of logistics service elements on customer satisfaction. It should be also noted that logistics service quality attributes have different effect on satisfaction according to the positions in the logistics triad.
Practical implications
This paper provides SME firms with useful information on how to manage their logistics service quality to improve customer satisfaction. SME firms and TPL providers need to arrange a collaborative format where logistics service quality is regularly monitored and three members discuss solutions to improve their quality performance.
Originality/value
This study is a rare empirical investigation to actually assess and compare perception on logistics service quality among the entities in a logistics triad. This study applies the Kano model to the triadic relationship in logistics service provision, which may be the first attempt to the authors’ best knowledge.
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Jacqueline Garner, Taek-yul Kim and Won Yong Kim
The purpose of this paper is to present a literature review of research on board size, structure, and independence. The paper also reviews research on director voting, and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a literature review of research on board size, structure, and independence. The paper also reviews research on director voting, and discusses recent work on “busy” directors and board diversity.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors limited the review to a focused set of research areas.
Findings
The authors summarize the research on boards of directors and note that research on this important topic should continue.
Originality/value
This review is intended to summarize the literature on boards of directors.
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Jae Yeon Sim, Natalie Kyung Won Kim and Jeong-Taek Kim
This study investigates how the introduction of a stricter loss carryforward offset rule affects firms' innovation.
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates how the introduction of a stricter loss carryforward offset rule affects firms' innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
This study investigates the overall impact of a Korean tax reform that introduced a tighter loss deduction through a difference-in-differences approach and regression discontinuity design.
Findings
This study finds that firms subject to the more restrictive tax loss offset provisions tend to file fewer patents than firms not subject to the provision. The authors further find that this effect is more pronounced for firms with high R&D intensity, more investment opportunities and weaker monitoring mechanisms.
Research limitations/implications
The results of this study suggest that more restrictive loss carryforward provisions may deter firms from innovation. This study contributes to the literature on the impact of tax loss rules, the effect of tax policies on investments and the real effects of corporate taxation.
Practical implications
This study sheds light on the debate of the consequences of a Korean tax reform. Specifically, the authors examine whether a stricter tax loss offset policy indeed dampens corporate innovation.
Originality/value
This study exploits a unique and infrequent exogenous tax policy change. The South Korean tax reform creates a treatment group of large firms that were affected by the tax reform, and a control group of small and medium-sized firms that were unaffected. This study takes advantage of this setting to examine the research question.
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Jorge Carlos Fiestas Lopez Guido, Jee Won Kim, Peter T.L. Popkowski Leszczyc, Nicolas Pontes and Sven Tuzovic
Retailers increasingly endeavour to implement artificial intelligence (AI) innovations, such as humanoid social robots (HSRs), to enhance customer experience. This paper…
Abstract
Purpose
Retailers increasingly endeavour to implement artificial intelligence (AI) innovations, such as humanoid social robots (HSRs), to enhance customer experience. This paper investigates the interactive effect of HSR intelligence and consumers' speciesism on their perceptions of retail robots as sales assistants.
Design/methodology/approach
Three online experiments testing the effects of HSRs' intellectual intelligence on individuals' perceived competence and, consequently, their decision to shop at a retail store that uses HSRs as sales assistants are reported. Furthermore, the authors examine whether speciesism attenuates these effects such that a mediation effect is likely to be observed for individuals low in speciesism but not for those with high levels of speciesism. Data for all studies were collected on Prolific and analysed with SPSS to perform a logistic regression and PROCESS 4.0 (Hayes, 2022) for the mediation and moderated-mediation analysis.
Findings
The findings show that the level of speciesism moderates the relationship between HSR intellectual intelligence and perceived competence such that an effect is found for low but not for high HSR intelligence. When HSR intellectual intelligence is low, individuals with higher levels of speciesism (vs low) rate the HSR as less competent and display lower HSR acceptance (i.e. customers' decision to shop using retail robots as sales assistants).
Originality/value
This research responds to calls in research to adopt a human-like perspective to understand the compatibility between humans and robots and determine how personality traits, such as a person's level of speciesism, may affect the acceptance of AI technologies replicating human characteristics (Schmitt, 2019). To the best of the authors' knowledge, the present research is the first to examine the moderating role of speciesism on customer perceptions of non-human retail assistants (i.e. human-like and intelligent service robots). This study is the first to showcase that speciesism, normally considered a negative social behaviour, can positively influence individuals' decisions to engage with HSRs.
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Hyung-won Kim, Hyeim Jeong, Junho Yu, Chan-Soo Lee and Nam-Soo Kim
This paper aims to propose a low-power complementary MOS (CMOS) current sensor for control circuit in an integrated DC-DC buck converter.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to propose a low-power complementary MOS (CMOS) current sensor for control circuit in an integrated DC-DC buck converter.
Design/methodology/approach
The integrated DC-DC converter, which is composed of feedback control circuit and power block, is designed with 0.35-µm CMOS process. Current sensor in the control circuit is integrated with sense-FET and voltage-follower circuits to reduce power consumption and improve its sensing accuracy. In the current-sensing circuit, the size ratio of the power metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) to the sensing transistor (K) is 1,000, and a current-mirror is used for a voltage follower. N-channel MOS acts as a switching device in the current-sensing circuit, where the sensing FET is in parallel with the power MOSFET. The amplifier and comparator are designed to obtain a high gain and a fast transient time.
Findings
Experiment shows that the current sensor is operated with accuracy of more than 85 per cent, and the transient time of the error amplifier is controlled within 100 µs. The sensing current is in the range of a few hundred µA at a frequency of 0.6-2 MHz and an input voltage of 3-5 V. The output voltage is obtained as expected with the ripple ratio within 5 per cent.
Originality/value
The proposed current sensor in DC-DC converter provides an accurately sensed inductor current with a significant reduction in power consumption in the range of 0.2 mW. High-accuracy regulation is obtained using the proposed current sensor. As the sensor utilizes simple switch-type voltage follower and sense-FET, it can be widely applied to other low-power applications such as high-frequency oscillator and over-current protection circuit.
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Won Ho Kim, Young-An Ra, Jong Gyu Park and Bora Kwon
The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of burnout (i.e. exhaustion, cynicism, professional inefficacy) in the relationship between job level and job…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of burnout (i.e. exhaustion, cynicism, professional inefficacy) in the relationship between job level and job satisfaction as well as between job level and task performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The final sample included 342 Korean workers from selected companies. The authors employed the Hayes (2013) PROCESS tool for analyzing the data.
Findings
The results showed that all three subscales of burnout (i.e. exhaustion, cynicism, professional inefficacy) mediate the relationship between job level and job satisfaction. However, only two mediators (i.e. cynicism, professional inefficacy) indicated the mediating effects on the association between job level and task performance.
Originality/value
This research presented the role of burnout on the relationships between job level, job satisfaction, and task performance especially in South Korean organizational context. In addition to role of burnout, findings should prove helpful in improving job satisfaction and task performance. The authors provide implications and limitations of the findings.
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There is a lack of clarity about what online business models are. The top 20 Google search results on online business models are articles that explain online business models…
Abstract
Purpose
There is a lack of clarity about what online business models are. The top 20 Google search results on online business models are articles that explain online business models. However, each of them deals with just one or two elements of business strategies. The list of business models is also a mixture of business strategies. This paper aims to provide practical guide that puts these business models into proper perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
A business model includes all key elements of the business, marketing and operational strategies. There are many such elements. The author has reviewed the popular use of the term online business models and found that just five of the key elements can put almost all of them into proper perspective.
Findings
Five elements of the business and marketing strategies constitute a practical guide for understanding, discussing and even designing the first working draft of a business plan.
Practical implications
The practical guide will serve as a robust vehicle for understanding, discussing and even designing the first working draft of a business plan. The current haphazard use of the term online business models does not shed light on online business models.
Originality/value
The author has examined 20 top Google search results for “online business models” and “business models”. These are articles that talk about 3-17 “business models”. The author examined all of them and confirmed that the five key elements of the business and marketing strategies can put all of them into proper perspective.
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Moosung Lee, Jin Won Kim, Youngmin Mo and Allan David Walker
Despite the continuous growth of empirical studies exploring professional learning communities (PLCs) across different education systems, little is known about PLC instruments…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the continuous growth of empirical studies exploring professional learning communities (PLCs) across different education systems, little is known about PLC instruments developed and used in existing research. This article aims to capture a full picture of existing PLC instruments developed since 1990. In so doing, the authors also pay attention to the seminal work of Karen Seashore Louis in alignment with the theme of the special issue.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the authors’ searching databases, the authors identified eleven PLC instruments and 26 applied studies using the PLC instruments since 1990. Following this, the authors closely reviewed the identified studies and their relationships (i.e. which one influences which).
Findings
The authors’ review illuminates the measurement domains, conceptual origins and methodological soundness of the existing instruments and captures the impact of Louis's work on the applied studies using PLC instruments.
Originality/value
Given that PLCs are seen as a policy measure to sustain and scale up school improvement internationally, the authors’ review provides a better understanding of what and how researchers have measured the effect of PLCs on school improvement. As the first of its kind, the authors believe that their findings can give researchers valuable ideas about how to develop and use a PLC instrument.
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Meeok Cho, Jaehee Jo, Taejin Jung and Natalie Kyung Won Kim
The purpose of this study is to examine whether the use of videoconferencing for communication between the audit committee (AC) and auditors affects the quality of client firms’…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine whether the use of videoconferencing for communication between the audit committee (AC) and auditors affects the quality of client firms’ audits.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper analyzes the mandatory disclosure information on AC–auditors communication using 1,065 Korean listed firm-years for the fiscal years 2020 and 2021. The details of AC–auditor communication (i.e. the extent of firms’ use of videoconferencing) are manually collected from audit reports.
Findings
This study finds that videoconferencing has a negative impact on audit quality, suggesting that it is not an effective communication medium between AC and auditors. The results are robust to alternative research designs (e.g. entropy-balanced sample, propensity score matching analysis and change analysis) that address endogeneity concerns. This study also finds that while the negative effect of videoconferencing is mitigated by holding more frequent AC meetings, neither AC independence nor expertise mitigates this effect.
Research limitations/implications
This paper suggests that videoconferencing may affect audit quality by hurting the discussion between the AC and auditors.
Practical implications
The findings that videoconferencing impairs the effectiveness of ACs and thus lowers audit quality have practical implications as the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly changed how AC members and auditors interact. This study offers timely and valuable insights into the potential implications of these pandemic-induced changes on audit environments.
Originality/value
This study provides large-sample empirical evidence that directly examines the effect of videoconferencing on audit quality, enhancing the understanding of the communication dynamics between the AC and auditors. This study also contributes to the literature on the role of ACs in emerging markets by highlighting the information processing role of the AC.
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Shivashankar Hiremath, Jeongwoo Oh, Younghoon Jung and Tae-Won Kim
Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene is an important material in 3D printing due to its strength, durability, heat resistance and cost-effectiveness. These properties make it suitable…
Abstract
Purpose
Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene is an important material in 3D printing due to its strength, durability, heat resistance and cost-effectiveness. These properties make it suitable for various applications, from functional prototypes to end-use products. This study aims to model and predict the mechanical properties of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene parts produced using the fused deposition modeling process.
Design/methodology/approach
The experiment was carefully designed to determine the optimal print parameters, including layer thickness, nozzle temperature and infill density. Tensile tests were performed on all printed samples following industry standards to gauge the mechanical properties such as elastic modulus, ultimate tensile strength, yield strength and breakpoint. Taguchi optimization and variable analysis were used to explore the relationship between mechanical properties and print parameters. Furthermore, an artificial neural network (ANN) regression model was implemented to predict mechanical properties based on varying print conditions.
Findings
The results demonstrated that layer thickness has the most significant influence on mechanical properties when compared to other print conditions. The optimization approaches indicated a clear relationship between the selected print parameters and the material’s mechanical response. For acrylonitrile butadiene styrene material, the optimal print settings were determined to be a 0.25 mm layer thickness, a 270 °C nozzle temperature and a 30 % infill density. Moreover, the ANN model notably excelled in predicting the yield strength of the material with greater accuracy than other mechanical properties.
Originality/value
Comparing the accuracy and capabilities of the Taguchi and ANN models in analyzing mechanical properties, it was found that both models closely matched the experimental data. However, the ANN model showed superior accuracy in predicting tensile outcomes. In conclusion, while the ANN model offers higher predictive accuracy for tensile results, both Taguchi and ANN methods are effective in modeling the mechanical properties of 3D-printed acrylonitrile butadiene styrene materials.