Xinlin Wang, Dewei Deng and Hongchao Zhang
This study aims to investigate the effects of mass energy and line mass on the geometrical dimensions, microstructures, hardness and mechanical properties of direct laser…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the effects of mass energy and line mass on the geometrical dimensions, microstructures, hardness and mechanical properties of direct laser fabrication parts.
Design/methodology/approach
Direct laser fabrication is successfully used to manufacture a series of samples of AISI 316L stainless steel.
Findings
The width and height of the deposition layers increase with increasing mass energy and line mass. When the powder feed rate is 0.295 g/s, higher mass energy and line mass create more refined grains. However, mass energy and line mass have adverse effects on grain size at the powder feed rate of 0.241 or 0.187 g/s. Higher ultimate tensile strength (UTS) values and reduced ductility values are obtained in comparison with those obtained by traditional methods. Thus, the increase in the mass energy and line mass improves the mechanical properties of the parts.
Originality/value
This study is helpful for the optimization of the parameters in the direct laser fabrication process.
Details
Keywords
Jianyu Zhao, Xinru Wang, Xinlin Yao and Xi Xi
Although digital transformation (DT) has emerged as an important phenomenon for both research and practices, the influences remain inconclusive and inadequate. The emerging…
Abstract
Purpose
Although digital transformation (DT) has emerged as an important phenomenon for both research and practices, the influences remain inconclusive and inadequate. The emerging artificial intelligence (AI) technologies further complicate the understanding and practices of DT while understudied yet. To address these concerns, this study takes a process perspective to empirically investigate when and how digital-intelligence transformation can improve firm performance, aiming to enrich the literature on digital-intelligence transformation and strategic information systems (IS) field.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on the dynamic capability view and business agility, we took a process perspective to conceptualize and empirically examine the influence of digital-intelligence transformation and the process characteristics. Taking a continuous panel dataset of listed Chinese firms covering 2007 to 2020, we investigated digital-intelligence transformation’s effect on firm performance and the moderating roles of three strategic aspects: pace, scope and rhythm.
Findings
This study found that digital-intelligence transformation positively affects firm performance and is moderated by the characteristics of transformation processes (i.e. pace, scope and rhythm). Specifically, the high-paced and rhythmic transformation processes facilitate the positive relationship, while the large scope undermines the benefits of transformation. These relationships hold across various endogeneity and heterogeneity analyses.
Originality/value
Our findings provide valuable implications for digital-intelligence transformation and strategic IS field. First, this study enriches existing literature on digital-intelligence transformation by empirically investigating the influence from a process perspective. Moreover, this study provides insights into a comprehensive understanding of the complexity of digital-intelligence transformation and the influences of AI. Finally, this study provides practical implications on how to make digital-intelligence transformation to benefit firm performance.
Details
Keywords
Yi Liu, Xinlin Tang, Peigong Li and Xuan Wang
This paper extends the current literature on app engagement to identify dynamic factors that affect app engagement and the value-creation pathway that connect these factors with…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper extends the current literature on app engagement to identify dynamic factors that affect app engagement and the value-creation pathway that connect these factors with app engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data were collected from 299 app users to test the proposed research model.
Findings
The study found that the perceived effectiveness of evolution content and that of evolution speed impose both individual and joint positive effects on app identity, which serves as the mediation mechanism that connects these dynamic factors with app engagement.
Originality/value
This study takes the user perspective to explore how user perceptions of the effectiveness of app evolution content and speed, which represent unique user experiences in the app context, cultivate app engagement by enhancing app identity. Specifically, this study reveals the intertwined relationship among perceived effectiveness of app evolution, app identity, and app engagement.
Details
Keywords
Yishou Wang, Zhibin Han, Tian Gao and Xinlin Qing
The purpose of this study is to develop a cylindrical capacitive sensor that has the advantages of high resolution, small size and designability and can be easily installed on…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to develop a cylindrical capacitive sensor that has the advantages of high resolution, small size and designability and can be easily installed on lubricant pipeline to monitor lubricant oil debris.
Design/methodology/approach
A theoretical model of the cylindrical capacitive sensor is presented to analyze several parameters’ effectiveness on the performance of sensor. Numerical simulations are then conducted to determine the optimal parameters for preliminary experiments. Experiments are finally carried out to demonstrate the detectability of developed capacitive sensors.
Findings
It is clear from experimental results that the developed capacitive sensor can monitor the debris in lubricant oil well, and the capacitance values increase almost linearly when the number and size of debris increase.
Research limitations/implications
There is lot of further work to do to apply the presented method into the application. Especially, it is necessary to consider several factors’ influence on monitoring results. These factors include the flow rate of the lubricant oil, the temperature, the debris distribution and the vibration. Moreover, future work should consider the influence of the oil degradation to the capacitance change and other contaminations (e.g. water and dust).
Practical implications
This work conducts a feasibility study on application of capacitive sensing principle for detecting debris in aero engine lubricant oil.
Originality/value
The novelty of the presented capacitance sensor can be summarized into two aspects. One is that the sensor structure is simple and characterized by two coaxial cylinders as electrodes, while conventional capacitive sensors are composed of two parallel plates as electrodes. The other is that sensing mechanism and physical model of the presented sensor is verified and validated by the simulation and experiment.
Details
Keywords
Xinlin Yao, Yuxiang Chris Zhao, Shijie Song and Xiaolun Wang
While anonymous online interactions could be helpful and less risky, they are usually not enough for LGBTQ+ people to satisfy the need of expressing their marginalized identity to…
Abstract
Purpose
While anonymous online interactions could be helpful and less risky, they are usually not enough for LGBTQ+ people to satisfy the need of expressing their marginalized identity to networks of known ties (i.e. on identified social media like Facebook, WeChat, and TikTok). However, identified social media bring LGBTQ+ people both sources and challenges like “context collapse” that flattens diverse networks or audiences that are originally separated. Previous studies focus on LGBTQ+ people's disclosure and responses to context collapse, few studies investigate how their perceptions of context collapse are shaped and their privacy management beyond regulating disclosure on social media. Drawing on identity theory and communication privacy management (CPM), this study aims to investigate how the need of LGBTQ+ people for self-identity affects their perceived context collapse and results in privacy management on identified social media.
Design/methodology/approach
Given the target population is LGBTQ+ people, The authors recruited participants through active LGBTQ+ online communities, influential LGBTQ+ activists, and the snowballing sampling. The authors empirically examined the proposed model using the PLS-SEM technique with a valid sample of 232 respondents concerning their identity practices and privacy management on WeChat, a typical and popular identified social media in China.
Findings
The results suggested that the need for expressing the self and the need for maintaining continuity of self-identity have significant influences on perceived context collapse, but vary in directions. The perceived context collapse will motivate LGBTQ+ individuals to engage in privacy management to readjust rules on ownership, access, and extension. However, only ownership management helps them regain the perceived privacy control on social media.
Originality/value
This study incorporated and highlighted the influence of LGBTQ+ identity in shaping context collapse and online privacy management. This study contributes to the literature on privacy and information communication and yields practical implications, especially on improving privacy-related interactive design for identified social media services.
Details
Keywords
Meng Chen, Hefu Liu and Xinlin Tang
Firms are increasingly depending on supplier portfolios in the quest for firm innovation. However, whether concentrated supplier portfolios are beneficial to innovation remains…
Abstract
Purpose
Firms are increasingly depending on supplier portfolios in the quest for firm innovation. However, whether concentrated supplier portfolios are beneficial to innovation remains highly disputed. This study aims to investigate the effect of supplier portfolio concentration on firm innovation and the contingencies that shape this effect.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors build on the knowledge search view to theorize a U-shaped effect of supplier portfolio concentration on firm innovation and further propose that the U-shaped effect is contingent on financial slack and growth opportunities. The authors collected panel data from 1,320 manufacturing firms in China. The negative binomial regression analyses were performed to test the hypotheses.
Findings
Supplier portfolio concentration has a U-shaped effect on firm innovation. This U-shaped effect is weakened and flipped by financial slack but strengthened by growth opportunities.
Originality/value
The findings extend current understandings of the influence of supplier portfolio on firm innovation by clarifying the U-shaped effect of supplier portfolio concentration on innovation and the circumstances under which supplier portfolio concentration is more effective for firm innovation.
Details
Keywords
Shijie Song, Yuxiang Chris Zhao, Xinlin Yao, Zhichao Ba and Qinghua Zhu
Although leveraging social media to access healthcare information is nothing new, a boom in short video apps offers new potential for disseminating health-related information…
Abstract
Purpose
Although leveraging social media to access healthcare information is nothing new, a boom in short video apps offers new potential for disseminating health-related information. However, it is still unclear how short video apps might facilitate and benefit users’ consumption of health information. Furthermore, the technology features of short video apps complicate attempts to conduct research about them; as a consequence, they have been understudied. For addressing these concerns, this study adopts an affordance perspective to investigate the relationship between affordances and user experience and to examine factors that contribute to users’ intention to continue using short video apps to obtain health information.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing upon affordance theory, we constructed a research model that integrates four types of affordances (livestreaming, searching, meta-voicing and recommending), three types of user experience (immersion, social presence and credibility perception), and user’s intention to continue use. We employed an online survey and obtained a sample of 372 valid responses from TikTok (DouYin) users in China. The partial least squares (PLS) method was used to analyze the data.
Findings
The study found that the user experience, in terms of social presence, immersion and credibility perception, can significantly predict users’ intention to continue using short video apps to obtain health information. Furthermore, the user experience was positively associated with the different affordances provided by the short video apps.
Originality/value
The findings of this study have several implications. First, the study contributes to the health information behavior literature by incorporating the aspect of user experience. Moreover, the study extends the application of affordance theory to users’ health information acquisition, and it carries some practical implications on how to leverage the great potential of short video apps to serve public health communication better.
Details
Keywords
Zhen Zhu and Xinlin Tang
With emerging markets representing great growth opportunities and serving as indispensable components in the global supply chain, it is unclear how well modern supply chain…
Abstract
Purpose
With emerging markets representing great growth opportunities and serving as indispensable components in the global supply chain, it is unclear how well modern supply chain management theories developed in advanced markets apply to emerging markets. This study integrates the institution-based view with supply chain management literature to examine how integration capabilities can be leveraged to achieve supply chain agility in emerging markets and how the efficacy of integration capabilities is shaped by internal and external institutional contexts.
Design/methodology/approach
This study examines how firms in emerging markets can leverage their platform integration and knowledge integration capabilities with channel distributors to improve the supply chain agility and how such relationships are shaped by both the internal (proxy by ownership structure) and external (proxy by regional openness) institutional contexts in which firms operate. Survey and archival data collected from 207 firms operating in China, one of the largest emerging markets, were used to test the proposed research model.
Findings
The results reveal that platform integration and knowledge integration are two driving forces for supply chain agility in the emerging markets. Moreover, the results indicate that state-owned firms are able to achieve higher supply chain agility from their investments in knowledge integration with channel distributors than non-state-owned firms. While firms in regions with a high level of openness enjoy higher supply chain agility from knowledge integration, firms in regions with a low level of openness can catch up by investing in platform integration with their channel distributors.
Originality/value
The authors extend the extant study on supply chain integration (SCI) research to examine how operational and strategic integration with channel distributors can help the focal firm achieve supply chain agility in emerging markets. The study results also enrich the existing studies in emerging markets by revealing the importance of the institutional context in which firms operate on B2B channel management.
Details
Keywords
Yingjie Zhang, Wentao Yan, Geok Soon Hong, Jerry Fuh Hsi Fuh, Di Wang, Xin Lin and Dongsen Ye
This study aims to develop a data fusion method for powder-bed fusion (PBF) process monitoring based on process image information. The data fusion method can help improve process…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to develop a data fusion method for powder-bed fusion (PBF) process monitoring based on process image information. The data fusion method can help improve process condition identification performance, which can provide guidance for further PBF process monitoring and control system development.
Design/methodology/approach
Design of reliable process monitoring systems is an essential approach to solve PBF built quality. A data fusion framework based on support vector machine (SVM), convolutional neural network (CNN) and Dempster-Shafer (D-S) evidence theory are proposed in the study. The process images which include the information of melt pool, plume and spatters were acquired by a high-speed camera. The features were extracted based on an appropriate image processing method. The three feature vectors corresponding to the three objects, respectively, were used as the inputs of SVM classifiers for process condition identification. Moreover, raw images were also used as the input of a CNN classifier for process condition identification. Then, the information fusion of the three SVM classifiers and the CNN classifier by an improved D-S evidence theory was studied.
Findings
The results demonstrate that the sensitivity of information sources is different for different condition identification. The feature fusion based on D-S evidence theory can improve the classification performance, with feature fusion and classifier fusion, the accuracy of condition identification is improved more than 20%.
Originality/value
An improved D-S evidence theory is proposed for PBF process data fusion monitoring, which is promising for the development of reliable PBF process monitoring systems.
Details
Keywords
Shijie Song, Yuxiang Chris Zhao, Xinlin Yao, Zhichao Ba and Qinghua Zhu
Hedonic social applications have been increasingly popular among health information consumers. However, it remains unclear what motivates consumers to adopt health information in…
Abstract
Purpose
Hedonic social applications have been increasingly popular among health information consumers. However, it remains unclear what motivates consumers to adopt health information in hedonic applications when they have alternative choices of more formal health information sources. Building on the self-determination theory and the affordances lens, this study aims to investigate how different affordances on hedonic social applications affect consumers' basic psychological needs and further influence their intention to adopt health information on such applications.
Design/methodology/approach
As TikTok demonstrated great potential in disseminating health information, we developed a model that we analyze using the PLS-SEM technique with data collected from a valid research sample of 384 respondents with health information seeking or encountering experience in TikTok.
Findings
The results suggested that health information adoption in hedonic social applications is significantly predicted by the satisfaction of consumers' basic psychological needs, namely autonomy, relatedness and competence. Moreover, the satisfaction of basic psychological needs is positively affected by affordances provided by the hedonic social applications. The hedonic affordances positively influence autonomy satisfaction, while the connective affordances positively affect relatedness satisfaction, and the utilitarian affordances positively support competence satisfaction.
Originality/value
The study indicates that hedonic social applications such as TikTok could be an important channel for consumers to access and adopt health information. The study contributes to the literature by proposing a theoretical model that explains consumers' health information adoption and yields practical implications for designers and service providers of hedonic social applications.