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Top executive hubris is associated with positive/negative outcome. Little is known about the antecedent of hubris in top management team (TMT) and how they can be weakened to capitalize on TMT size and market complexity. This paper aims to address these issues.

This study draws on the social information processing theory. Subsequently, it proposes and tests an inverted U-shaped relationship between task-related faultlines and top executive hubris. Top management team size and complexity can weaken the relationship between them. Panel data were collected longitudinally from 2011 to 2016 on China's listed firm on growth enterprises board.

Hierarchical regression analyses indicate that medium task-related faultlines experience stronger than weak and strong faultlines. TMT size and market complexity can weaken the inverted U-shaped relationship between them.

This study provides pioneering evidence for an inverted U-shaped relationship between task-related faultlines and top executive hubris. These findings inform practice by suggesting a tipping point of team faultlines.

The aim of this chapter is to introduce the aims of the book, how it is structured and introduce the main concepts of positive psychology and positive education. This includes a brief history of positive psychology and how it led to its application in schools as positive education. The chapter introduces positive education, what it is, why wellbeing is important in education and some of the main frameworks for positive education being used in schools. A rationale for why the focus of this book is on positive education and at all levels of those involved in education in the UK is also provided. Namely, to address whether positive education is too positive for the UK (Robson-Kelly, 2018).

This chapter explores Prospect Theory — a descriptive model of modelling individual choice making under risk and uncertainty, and its applications to a range of travel behaviour contexts.

The chapter provides background on Prospect Theory, its basic assumptions and formulations, and summarises some of its theoretical developments, applications and evidence in the field of transport research.

A body of empirical evidence has accumulated showing that the principle of maximisation of expected utility provides limited explanation of travel choices under risk and uncertainty. Prospect Theory can be seen as an alternative and promising framework for travel choice modelling (although not without theoretical and practical controversy). These findings are supported by empirical observations reported in the literature reviewed in this chapter.

The chapter provides a detailed account of the design and results of accumulated research in travel behaviour research that is based on Prospect Theory’s observations, insights and formulations. The potential of Prospect Theory for particular decision-making in travel behaviour research is articulated, main findings are presented and discussed, and limitations are identified, leading to further research needs.

This study seeks to understand how accountant stereotypes have been constructed and reconstructed at the macro-national and the structural level in Chinese society.

This qualitative investigation into China's social construction of accountant stereotypes employs Becker's (1963) labelling theory. Viewing stereotyping as a socially constructed practice, this study draws on a post-positivistic, reflexive epistemology in conducting 28 semi-structured interviews with accountants and related actors.

Chinese accountant stereotypes are constructed and reconstructed according to the rules created and enforced in different cultural-political periods. The accountant stereotypes constructed during the ancient Confucian period (500 BC – 1948) were replaced during 1949 and 2012 when the political focus shifted towards propagating socialism and later promoting economic growth. They also show how Confucian stereotypes of accountants resurfaced in 2013 but were reconstructed by the central government's cultural confidence policy of propagating Confucianism.

Empirically, prior literature has focused on what the accountant stereotype is and how accountants respond to such stereotypes, but it has neglected the ways in which these accountant stereotypes are politically and culturally constructed, diffused and legitimated. This paper fills in the gap by understanding the social practice of accountant stereotyping in a previously unexplored political-cultural context, namely Chinese society. In theoretical terms, by offering the first use of Becker's (1963) labelling theory in the accounting literature, it furthermore enhances our understanding of how accountants' identities and social standing are shaped by social rules.

This paper intends to provide a thematic literature review of the scholarly research articles orbiting the Sino–African education cooperation and exchange, published between 2005 and 2022.

The methodology used in this paper is qualitative in nature with a thematic approach. The author used content analysis techniques to spotlight the major themes of the topic studied. The author selected the papers and theses, based on their heuristic capacity, from two major databases for the English and Chinese literature: Web of Science and CNKI. The selection process resulted in 60 high-quality peer-reviewed articles and theses. Another 30 research articles and theses were used as supplementary resources.

The literature concentrates on six points: the historical development, the nature of the exchange, the frameworks of the cooperation, vocational training and knowledge transfer, African students in China and their experiences, and education cooperation and soft power. However, research tends to be somewhat polemical rather than an academic debate between Chinese researchers and their western peers. Therefore, empirical studies beyond the geopolitical preoccupations and the “YEA” or “NAY” to the Sino–African education exchange are critically needed.

The implications of this study go beyond the east/west or developed/developing world rhetoric and focus more on sustainable educational development on a global scale. Understanding how the literature on the Sino–African education engagement is shaping, provides valuable insights into international education in the global south. It can also be implied to approach educational engagement with other destinations such as India, Türkiye and Brazil.

This thematic literature review concentrates on the educational aspect of Sino–African relations. It compares English and Chinese peer-reviewed scholarly articles and theses on China–Africa educational engagement and has heuristic implications for sustainable educational development globally.

To modernize budgeting system is a challenge issue in many developing countries. To some scholars (Schick, 1998a, 1998b; Ma, 2009a), developing countries must first put into place basic budgetary controls before moving to more advanced models of budgeting. This approach of “basic first,” however, is questioned by others (e.g., Andrew, 2006). Drawing on China's recent budget reforms, this essay reconfirms the validity of the “basics first” approach. In China, budget reform since 1999 has begun to install budgetary controls for state finance, leading to an enhancement of budgeting capacity and financial accountability. However, governments at the same time have begun to be plagued by the unexpected problem of delays in spending and the accumulation of significant underexpenditures. Contrary to what many people may believe, we contend that this somewhat odd problem arises not because the new budgeting system has exercised too much control but rather because the new system is not yet effective in exerting budgetary controls.

The fracture mechanism of S-07 steel was investigated by observing the fracture surface of the specimens with scanning electron microscope (SEM). Furthermore, the overall elastic–plastic behaviors and the stress state evolution during the loading procedure of all specimens were simulated by FE analysis to obtain the local strain at crack nucleated location and the average triaxiality of each type of specimen.

Three types of tests under various stress states were performed to study the ductile fracture characteristics of S-07 high strength steel in quasi-static condition.

Under tensile and torsion loading conditions, S-07 steel exhibits two distinctive rupture mechanisms: the growth and internal necking of voids governs the rupture mechanism in tension dominated loading mode, while the change of void shape and internal shearing in the ligaments between voids dominants for shear conditions.

The failure criterion for S-07 steel considering the influence of the triaxial stress state was established.

This study aims to identify and analyse critical success factors (CSFs) for the successful implementation of distributed ledger technology (DLT) in the Nigerian construction industry.

This study adopts a quantitative approach that uses snowball sampling techniques to identify professionals participating in the study. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data virtually, using Google Forms, resulting in 217 valid responses. The collected data were subjected to rigorous statistical analysis (descriptive and inferential) to identify and prioritise the CSFs and evaluate the participants’ awareness and knowledge of DLT.

This study revealed 24 key CSFs that are pivotal in ensuring the effective implementation and adoption of DLT in the Nigerian construction industry. Furthermore, the research highlights a moderate level of awareness, but significantly low knowledge of DLT among industry professionals.

The findings of this study will benefit professionals, practitioners and policymakers in the Nigerian construction industry by providing insights into the potential of DLT to improve construction operations.

This study contributes to the literature by identifying the CSFs for implementing DLT in the construction industry and shedding light on the current level of awareness and knowledge within the Nigerian context. The findings offer valuable insights for policymakers, industry practitioners and researchers, providing a solid foundation for informed decision-making and developing effective strategies to enhance DLT adoption in the construction sector.

The construction industry is characterized by a long construction period, high cost and many uncontrollable factors. The owners and contractors are increasingly focusing on the efficiency of their construction and costs in pursuit of greater economic benefits. However, current methods used in the construction period and cost optimization analysis with multiple constraints the have their own limitations. Therefore, this study aims to propose a combination of genetic algorithm (GA) and building information modeling (BIM) to construct a five-dimensional construction duration-cost optimization model with the advantages of optimization and simulation for optimization.

This design first analyzed the characteristics of changing construction period and cost and then improved the genetic mechanism and the data processing method in the GA according to the aforementioned characteristics. Then, BIM technology was combined with GA to testify the feasibility of the model in the practical engineering project.

The result proved that this new method was reasonable and effective in dealing with the complicated problem of period and cost. GA accelerated the optimization process and yielded a reliable Pareto solution. BIM technology simulated the construction process before construction to increase the feasibility of the construction scheme.

This method not only can rapidly provide the best construction period/cost decision to the architect according to the previous working period/cost or contract data that can meet the demands of the architect but also visualize the construction and give a dynamic schedule of the project.

To develop electrode materials for supercapacitor with superior electrochemical performance and simple preparation process, the purpose of this study is to prepare flexible CC/NiS/a-NiS electrodes with self-supporting structure by loading hydrothermally synthesized a-NiS particles along with nano-NiS on carbon cloth by electroplating method.

The effects of current densities, temperatures and pH values on the loading amount and uniformity of the active substances during the plating process were investigated on the basis of optimization of surface morphology, crystalline structure and electrochemical evaluation as the cyclic voltammetry curves, constant current charge–discharge curves and AC impedance.

The a-NiS particles on CC/NiS/a-NiS were mostly covered by the plated nano-NiS, which behaved as a bulge and provided a larger specific surface area. The CC/NiS/a-NiS electrode prepared with the optimized parameter exhibited a specific capacitance of 115.13 F/g at a current density of 1 A/g and a Coulomb efficiency of 84% at 5 A/g, which is superior to that of CC/NiS electrode prepared by electroplating at a current density of 10 mA/cm², a temperature of 55°C and a pH of 4, demonstrating its fast charge response of the electrode and potential application in wearable electronics.

This study provides an integrated solution for the development of specifically structured NiS-based electrode for supercapacitor with simple process, low cost and high electrochemical charge/discharge performance, and the simple and easy-to-use method is also applicable to other electrochemically active composites.