Yao-yao Song, Hui-hui Liu, Xiao-xiao Liu and Guo-liang Yang
This paper aims to measure Chinese regional thermal industries’ evolution.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to measure Chinese regional thermal industries’ evolution.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses data envelopment analysis (DEA) and global Malmquist–Luenberger productivity (GMLP) index.
Findings
The results reveal that the development of Chinese thermal power industry varies significantly in different regions, and it is highly correlated with the level of local economic development. Although the change of technical efficiency and scale efficiency had different impacts on different regions from year to year, the overall GMLP index change shows a close relationship with the contemporaneous frontier shift.
Practical implications
The results indicate that the Chinese Government should make efforts to promote its policy implementations and regulations in thermal industries so that the contemporaneous frontier will shift toward the global technology frontier with more desirable outputs and less undesirable outputs.
Originality/value
As an application, this study uses DEA and GMLP index to measure the productivity of Chinese thermal industries in 30 Chinese provinces from 2006 to 2013. The results have the meaningful policy implications for decision makers in charge of Chinese thermal industries.
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Pooria Khalili, Xiao Ling Liu, Kim Yeow Tshai, Ing Kong, Chris Rudd and Xiao Su Yi
The purpose of this paper is to fabricate and characterize the natural fibre (NF) reinforced epoxy composites containing flame retardants (FRs) and microcrystalline cellulose…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to fabricate and characterize the natural fibre (NF) reinforced epoxy composites containing flame retardants (FRs) and microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) in terms of flammability, thermal properties and dynamic mechanical performances.
Design/methodology/approach
The FRs used in this study were ammonium polyphosphate and alumina trihydrate.
Findings
The results demonstrated that the addition of MCC particles into the flame retardant composite (control) further enhanced the self-extinguishing properties of composites, in particular, the burn length. Thermogravimetric analysis showed that the mass residue improved with every addition of MCC particles at 700 °C. For instance, the residual weight enhanced from 28.4 Wt.% to 33 Wt.% for the control and the composite with 7 Wt.% MCCs, respectively. As obtained from the dynamic mechanical analysis, the glass transition temperature of composites increased upon increasing inclusion of MCC particles. For example, this parameter was 77.1 °C and 86.8 °C for the control and composite loaded with 7 Wt.% MCC, respectively.
Originality/value
Thus, the combination of MCC and FR had been proved to be a promising flame retardant system for NF reinforced epoxy.
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Sifeng Liu, Yingjie Yang, Naiming Xie and Jeffrey Forrest
The purpose of this paper is to summarize the progress in grey system research during 2000-2015, so as to present some important new concepts, models, methods and a new framework…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to summarize the progress in grey system research during 2000-2015, so as to present some important new concepts, models, methods and a new framework of grey system theory.
Design/methodology/approach
The new thinking, new models and new methods of grey system theory and their applications are presented in this paper. It includes algorithm rules of grey numbers based on the “kernel” and the degree of greyness of grey numbers, the concept of general grey numbers, the synthesis axiom of degree of greyness of grey numbers and their operations; the general form of buffer operators of grey sequence operators; the four basic models of grey model GM(1,1), such as even GM, original difference GM, even difference GM, discrete GM and the suitable sequence type of each basic model, and suitable range of most used grey forecasting models; the similarity degree of grey incidences, the closeness degree of grey incidences and the three-dimensional absolute degree of grey incidence of grey incidence analysis models; the grey cluster model based on center-point and end-point mixed triangular whitenization functions; the multi-attribute intelligent grey target decision model, the two stages decision model with grey synthetic measure of grey decision models; grey game models, grey input-output models of grey combined models; and the problems of robust stability for grey stochastic time-delay systems of neutral type, distributed-delay type and neutral distributed-delay type of grey control, etc. And the new framework of grey system theory is given as well.
Findings
The problems which remain for further studying are discussed at the end of each section. The reader could know the general picture of research and developing trend of grey system theory from this paper.
Practical implications
A lot of successful practical applications of the new models to solve various problems have been found in many different areas of natural science, social science and engineering, including spaceflight, civil aviation, information, metallurgy, machinery, petroleum, chemical industry, electrical power, electronics, light industries, energy resources, transportation, medicine, health, agriculture, forestry, geography, hydrology, seismology, meteorology, environment protection, architecture, behavioral science, management science, law, education, military science, etc. These practical applications have brought forward definite and noticeable social and economic benefits. It demonstrates a wide range of applicability of grey system theory, especially in the situation where the available information is incomplete and the collected data are inaccurate.
Originality/value
The reader is given a general picture of grey systems theory as a new model system and a new framework for studying problems where partial information is known; especially for uncertain systems with few data points and poor information. The problems remaining for further studying are identified at the end of each section.
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Zhuanzhuan Sun, Yanzhen He, Xiao-Xiao Liu and Yijiao Ye
Drawing on research on organisation-based self-esteem (OBSE) and self-consistency theory, this study aims to investigate whether, how and when leader aggressive humour (LAH…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on research on organisation-based self-esteem (OBSE) and self-consistency theory, this study aims to investigate whether, how and when leader aggressive humour (LAH) impacts hospitality employees’ proactive customer service performance (PCSP).
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 294 supervisor–employee dyads from eight hotels in China participated in the survey. The data were analysed by hierarchical multiple regression and PROCESS macro in SPSS.
Findings
LAH undermines hospitality employees’ PCSP by threatening their OBSE, and this effect is significant only for highly entitled employees.
Practical implications
Organisations could improve leaders’ awareness of the dark side of aggressive humour, especially for those who supervise highly entitled employees. Organisations could also cultivate positive leader–member relationships to improve employees’ OBSE and provide training for highly entitled employees to cope with leaders’ LAH.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the LAH literature by examining its influence on hospitality employees’ PCSP and identifying the mechanism and boundary conditions underlying this effect.
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Ya Lan, Yongdong Shi, Yu-xiao Liu and Wu Wei
This study aims to investigate how women’s entrepreneurial self-identity influences their experience of well-being through entrepreneurship.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate how women’s entrepreneurial self-identity influences their experience of well-being through entrepreneurship.
Design/methodology/approach
This study tested and validated a model using survey data from 210 women entrepreneurs in China. Hierarchical regression and bootstrapping methods were used to test the hypotheses.
Findings
This study finds that women’s entrepreneurial self-identity not only has a direct positive effect on entrepreneurial well-being but also an indirect positive effect on entrepreneurial well-being through the mediating role of entrepreneurial work autonomy and work meaning. Moreover, in mediation analyses, the autonomy and meaning of entrepreneurial work simultaneously mediate the relationship between women’s entrepreneurial self-identity and entrepreneurial well-being, and further play a chain mediating role between the two.
Originality/value
Little is known about how women perceive well-being through entrepreneurship. Moreover, the available literature has mostly overlooked the impact of women’s entrepreneurial self-identity on their entrepreneurial well-being. This study reveals the influence mechanism from the perspectives of identity and self-determination theories, with a focus on women entrepreneurs in China.
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Xiao-xiao Liu, Hui-hui Liu, Guo-liang Yang and Jiao-feng Pan
The high-quality development of the real estate industry is crucial to the transformation of China's economy. However, few studies apply the productivity to explore the…
Abstract
Purpose
The high-quality development of the real estate industry is crucial to the transformation of China's economy. However, few studies apply the productivity to explore the development path of the real estate industry in China. To fill this gap, this study mainly investigates the total factor productivity (TFP) of the real estate industry of 30 sample provinces in mainland China from 2007 to 2016.
Design/methodology/approach
The Malmquist index is applied to estimate the productivity (i.e. TFP) of the real estate industry, based on the data envelopment analysis (DEA). Then, the truncated tobit regression analysis explores the external influencing factors on the TFP of the real estate industry.
Findings
Through empirical analysis, it is found that the high-quality development of the real estate industry depends on the technological innovation by the real estate enterprises and the targeted policies by the provincial government. Moreover, the development of the real estate industry has a positive correlation with the growth of China's economy but a negative correlation with the development of other industries.
Practical implications
TFP mainly reveals the development status of the provincial real estate industry and identifies the driving force for exploring the high-quality development mode of the real estate sector. Furthermore, the fluctuation rule of TFP can be applied to predict the development trend of the real estate industry in the future.
Originality/value
As an application, this study measures the TFP of the Chinese real estate industry in different provinces and periods. The results have meaningful policy implications for policymakers regulating the real estate industry.
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Yanqin Wang, Lulu Wang, Xiao Yan Liu, Hongru Yang, Yuan Zhang and Xiaosong Zhu
The effects of the thermo-mechanical treatment on the properties and microstructure of the Al–Cu–Mg–Ag alloy were investigated.
Abstract
Purpose
The effects of the thermo-mechanical treatment on the properties and microstructure of the Al–Cu–Mg–Ag alloy were investigated.
Design/methodology/approach
A short-duration preprecipitation process is designed prior to predeformation aging. The novel predeformation aging (solution treatment + holding at 185 °C for 15 min+ rolling deformation + aging at 185 °C, also named T8) was performed on a heat-resistant Al–Cu–Mg–Ag alloy.
Findings
The purpose of this study indicate that a short-duration heat treatment before predeformation is beneficial to the precipitation of O during the aging process. The precursors of O during this process might pin the dislocation and cause the grains to orient along some specific direction, which might be advantageous to the precipitation of O while disadvantageous to that of θ′. This novel thermal-mechanical process could result in an increase in the quantity and decrease in the size of the precipitation of O, which leads to a remarkable strength effect. The potential increases while the current density decreases with an increase in the deformation amount, which implies a smaller intergranular corrosion rate. The fine deformed structure leads to an opposite behavior in the exfoliation corrosion test compared with that for intergranular corrosion.
Originality/value
The intergranular corrosion resistance of the Al–Cu–Mg–Ag alloy is enhanced, whereas the exfoliation corrosion resistance is reduced by novel predeformation aging.
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Xiao Zhou Liu, Shuang Ling and Ying Liu
This study aims to empirically examine the relationship between Internet use and personal privacy risk perceptions, the mediating effect of trust and the moderating effect of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to empirically examine the relationship between Internet use and personal privacy risk perceptions, the mediating effect of trust and the moderating effect of satisfaction on that relationship, which is exactly conducive to the practice of personal information protection.
Design/methodology/approach
A moderated mediation model will be employed to test the hypothesized relationships using the 2017 Chinese Society Survey data.
Findings
The authors find that Internet use positively relates to citizens' risk perceptions toward privacy security, and trust partially mediates the relationship between Internet use and privacy risk perception. In addition, the analysis of moderating effects showed that satisfaction with social life significantly enhances the negative impact on individuals' privacy risk perceptions of interpersonal trust. The positively moderating effect of satisfaction with local governments' work mainly reveals the relationship between interpersonal trust (or institutional trust) and citizens' privacy risk perception. Moreover, satisfaction with Internet platforms positively moderates the relationship between consumer trust and privacy risk perception.
Originality/value
This article contributes to the social risk amplification framework by applying it to the personal privacy information protection field, which was rarely discussed before. It also enriches privacy research by identifying the internal mechanism of how Internet use influences citizens' risk perceptions towards privacy information leakage.
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Diego Quer-Ramón, Enrique Claver-Cortés and Laura Rienda-García
Since the beginning of the 21st century, China’s outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) is growing steadily and Chinese multinationals (MNCs) are playing an increasingly…
Abstract
Purpose
Since the beginning of the 21st century, China’s outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) is growing steadily and Chinese multinationals (MNCs) are playing an increasingly important role in the global economy. Thus, the number of papers focusing on China’s OFDI and Chinese MNCs has been increasing during the last years. The aim of this chapter is to carry out a review of the empirical papers dealing with Chinese MNCs published between 2002 and 2012 in high-impact international business and management journals.
Design/methodology/approach
This chapter reviews 43 empirical papers focusing on Chinese MNCs that were published in nine major scholarly journals between 2002 and 2012.
Findings
We report individual and institutional contributions, the theories and methods used, the research topics, and the main findings. We also discuss implications for future research.
Originality/value
Some previous literature reviews have dealt with research on China’s OFDI and Chinese MNCs. Nevertheless, none of the earlier reviews dealt specifically with empirical papers; neither did they provide an analysis of both individual and institutional contributions.
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Min Ji, Shuhai Liu and Huaping Xiao
The purpose of this paper is to study the tribology behavior of steel–steel contact under the lubrication of water-based drilling mud with different oleic acid-filled…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study the tribology behavior of steel–steel contact under the lubrication of water-based drilling mud with different oleic acid-filled microcapsules as lubricant additives.
Design/methodology/approach
A ball-on-disc tribometer was used to evaluate the lubrication properties of the steel–steel contact. The wear tracks of the worn surfaces were observed by a scanning electron microscope.
Findings
Results show that the dependence of both friction and wear on the category of additives shares a consistent pattern. In contrast to oleic acid and empty microcapsules, oleic acid-filled microcapsules achieve the best tribological performance which is related to the lubricant effect of oleic acid and the isolation and rolling abilities of microcapsules.
Practical implications
This study provides a helpful method of encapsulated lubricant additives to prolong lubrication performance for steel–steel contact.
Originality/value
This study has applied microcapsules to improve the tribological properties of drilling mud.
Peer review
The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-08-2019-0320/