Search results

Group criticism plays an important role in intergroup relations and conflicts, but few studies have related group criticism to intercultural communication contexts. This study aims to explore two cultural groups’ (Chinese international students in the USA and American domestic students) collective face concern as a unique experience in intercultural communication and other psychological responses while encountering group criticism targeting their country image.

A laboratory experiment was conducted assessing Chinese international students (n = 115) and American domestic students’ (n = 100) responses to a research-confederate critic (whose group membership was manipulated) criticizing participants’ country image such as blaming China and the USA for air pollution or using drugs in the Olympics. analysis of covariance, correlational analysis and regression analysis were adopted to analyze the data.

Chinese international students reported higher collective face concerns and lower liking toward the critic compared with American students. When criticism specifically targeted participants’ country image, Chinese international students reported more discomfort feelings than American students; and while responding to the critic who identified as participants’ ingroup member, Chinese international students’ discomfort feelings were more susceptible to their collective face than American students in the same condition.

This study illustrates cultural differences in collective face concerns and psychological reactions in responding to criticism targeting a country image in intercultural communication contexts.

This study aimed to examine the research hotspots and evolution paths in the field of health information behavior (HIB) in China and abroad, and conduct comparative analysis to better understand its development trajectory globally.

A keyword search of the relevant literature included in the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) database and Web of Science (WoS) core collection database was conducted, using the visualized analysis tool CiteSpace V for bibliometric analyses.

The common research hotspots in China and abroad can be divided into related research on HIB, research on its influencing factors and health information research. Among these, health information-seeking behavior has been the focus of domestic and foreign scholars. From the subdivision perspective, the focus of Chinese and foreign research hotspots differs. In terms of evolutionary path, the initial stage of HIB research in China and abroad revolves around health information and health information-seeking behavior, followed by the influencing factors of HIB; however, the research breakthrough point is the reverse. Then, domestic and foreign research was conducted on different types of HIBs. Regarding the selection of research objects, Chinese and foreign research objects were increasingly diversified.

This study also has several limitations. First, the literature sample only selected the literature in the WoS and CNKI databases, and there may be many HIB-related works published in other databases. Therefore, future research should include other databases. Second, in terms of language, this study selected only Chinese and English literature, but in many countries, important research results on certain topics are usually published in native language, and future research should expand the language selection. Third, this study only conducted national and institutional collaboration network analysis, keyword co-occurrence analysis, cluster analysis and timeline chart analysis.

The implication of practice can be divided into the following three points. (1) Analyzing the domestic and foreign literature on HIB and identifying highly cooperative institutions and countries in the field of HIB can reveal the research situation of HIB and help researchers establish new research networks in the future. (2) Analyzing the research hotspots and evolutionary paths of HIB at home and abroad is helpful for quickly understanding the development context of this field and grasping the emerging research directions such as HIB of people in close contact with patients, health information exchange behavior, health information avoidance behavior and health information discontinuation behavior, which can help researchers to explore the future research direction in this field, so as to determine the topic and fill the research gap. (3) Combining the analysis of HIB-related research at home and abroad is helpful for professionals to understand the characteristics and rules of HIB of users, consumers and other groups to further optimize and improve health information services.

Comparing and summarizing the research status of HIB in China and globally, and presenting the findings visually, will help researchers better grasp the research overview and hotspot changes in this field, as well as provide a follow-up reference.

This research investigates the politics of smiling as a central driver for employees to navigate power dynamics within the prevailing discourse at a Japanese retailer in Hong Kong. Existing critical management studies emphasize power in organizational language, often neglecting the role of employees’ emotions in sustaining discourse. This paper examines employees’ smiles as tools for legitimizing (sensegiving) and interpreting (sensemaking) discourse. It explores how the use of their emotional display influenced the outcome of the company’s attempt to legitimize discourse. This research divides the discourse process into five phases: formation, codification, implementation, monitoring and adaptation.

Using the critical sensegiving and sensemaking approach, this paper discusses how employees’ interpretations of corporate policies shape the perpetuation of dominant discourse and outcomes. Data were collected through the author’s long-term participant observation in the Hong Kong branches of Japanese retailers.

The formation phase discusses the emergence of a dominant discourse favoring Japanese practices in the company’s Hong Kong operations. Codification involves the conceptualization of standard smiles in customer service policies. In practice (implementation, monitoring and adjustment), employee smiles serve as tools for negotiating power—shaping careers, earnings and shift preferences. This paper argues that this discourse shapes organizational norms while employees’ sensemaking influences the discourse implementation. Furthermore, this paper highlights the transnational impact of Japanese culture in Hong Kong, which has shaped the way Japanese top management and local employees interpret the dominant discourse.

This study demonstrates the importance of discussing the display of emotions and employees’ intentions to understand their impact on the outcome of discourse implementation. This study also reiterates the significance of discussing the influence of one culture on another to understand the broader social context that affects the perpetuation of discourse.

This study explores the politics of ideology in the process of sensegiving and sensemaking at a Japanese retailer in Hong Kong. Studies on power and politics are scarce despite key role of power and politics in understanding the factors behind the conflict between the management's policy legitimization (sensegiving) and employees' policy interpretation (sensemaking). By using the three dimensions proposed in the critical sensemaking approach (discourse, rules and contexts), this paper explores the complex mechanism of power and politics in sensemaking and sensegiving.

Using 15 months of participant observation as a salesperson, this paper discusses how the Japan-centric customer service philosophy (dominant discourse), customer service policies and practices (organizational rules) and asymmetric power structure between the Japanese global headquarters and Hong Kong subsidiaries (formative contexts) are presented and perpetuated through the sensegiving–sensemaking process.

Dominant discourse was observed in the management's sensegiving, which placed the Japanese style of customer service over others. This ethnocentric dominant discourse informed the creation of customer service policies, although the realization of the discourse was determined by the employees' conflicting interpretations of the organizational rules. As a formative context, an asymmetric power structure was present that positioned the Hong Kong subsidiary as subservient to the global headquarters in Japan. This shows that the political process of sensegiving and sensemaking deeply implicates the dominant discourse, organizational rules and power structure as central forces that determine the level of perpetuating ideology.

This research illustrates the wider implications of power and politics in sensegiving–sensemaking studies and provides a complex picture of ethnocentric management.

Many process parameters in selective laser melting (SLM) can be configured to optimize build time, which directly relates to energy consumption, and to achieve acceptable part quality. This study aims to investigate whether energy can be effectively reduced with acceptable mechanical properties. The influence of exposure time is primarily focused to correlate energy consumption to mechanical properties.

Through single-factor design and experiment result analysis, three levels of exposure time were examined in fabricating two sets of sample parts, for energy analysis and mechanical property tests. Manufacturing power profile was measured online, and four mechanical properties, tensile, flexural, torsional strengths and part density, were investigated. A graphical growth rate tendency (GRT) plot is proposed to jointly analyze multiple variables.

Energy consumption increases in fabricating a same part with the increase of exposure time in the tested range, but exposure time was found to influence build power rather than build time in the given SLM system. Mechanical properties do not increase linearly, and grow at different rates. It is found that within the tested range, increased energy consumption brought to a small improvement of part density, but a notable improvement of tensile strength and maximum torque.

Producing quality SLM parts can be energy-effective through quantitative study. The proposed GRT plot is an intuitive visual aid to compare the growth rates of different variables, which offers more information to additive manufacturing practitioners.

In this research, energy consumption and mechanical property are jointly analyzed for the first time to advance the knowledge of energy-effective SLM fabrication. This helps additive manufacturing technology to be truly energy-efficient and environmental-friendly.

This study aims to explore how emerging SMEs respond to the multifaceted contents of CSR-related code of conduct (COC) from external stakeholders and the underlying constraining forces and mechanisms shaping such responses.

This study opted for a qualitative methodology using the content analysis, and the data were collected from the auditing reports on Chinese export-oriented SMEs carried out by a public and independent third-party agency.

The findings showed that SMEs from emerging markets present a short-termism orientation in the response to external CSR-related COC, and the study developed a threefold response typology implemented by SMEs, capturing economic interest and moral rightness as two dimensions shaping such responsive patterns. The study furthermore showed that whether SMEs' responses are more symbolic or substantive depends on managers' beliefs regarding the economic-moral conflict tension involved in the implementation of CSR-related COC.

This paper explores emerging SMEs' response strategy to CSR-related issues formulated by external stakeholders and clarifies the underlying decision-making road map to alleviate the tension involved in corporate social responsibility implementation.

The purpose is to show that all uncountable infinite sets are self‐contradictory non‐sets.

A conceptual approach is taken in the paper.

Given the fact that the set N={x|n(x)} of all natural numbers, where n(x)=_df “x is a natural number” is a self‐contradicting non‐set in this paper, the authors prove that in the framework of modern axiomatic set theory ZFC, various uncountable infinite sets are either non‐existent or self‐contradicting non‐sets. Therefore, it can be astonishingly concluded that in both the naive set theory or the modern axiomatic set theory, if any of the actual infinite sets exists, it must be a self‐contradicting non‐set.

The first time in history, it is shown that such convenient notion as the set of all real numbers needs to be reconsidered.

The paper aims to employ a different approach to show that the countable infinite sets are self‐contradictory non‐sets.

The paper discusses the concept.

The concept of infinities in the countable set theory was discussed in Zhu et al. by employing the method of analysis of allowing two different kinds of infinities. What was obtained is that various countable infinite sets, studied in the naïve and modern axiomatic set theories, are all incorrect concepts containing self‐contradictions. In this paper, the authors provide another argument to prove the same conclusion: various countable infinite sets studied in both naïve and modern axiomatic set theories are all specious non‐sets. The argument is given from a different angle on still the same premise of allowing two different concepts of infinities.

The concept of Cauchy theater is introduced.

This paper is the fourth part of the effort to resolve the following two problems that urgently need an answer: how can an appropriate theoretical foundation be chosen for modern mathematics and computer science? And, under what interpretations can modern mathematics and the theory of computer science be kept as completely as possible?

The paper is a conceptual discussion.

The paper lays out the set theoretical foundation for the mathematical system of potential infinities.

This work is the non‐logical axiomatic part of the mathematical system of potential infinities: the axiomatic set theoretic system. At the end, the problem of consistency of this axiomatic set theory is discussed.

This paper is the third part of the effort to resolve the following two problems, which urgently need an answer: how can an appropriate theoretical foundation be chosen for modern mathematics and computer science? And, under what interpretations can modern mathematics and the theory of computer science be kept as completely as possible?

The paper is a conceptual discussion of the metatheory.

The paper establishes the metatheory of the logical foundation for the mathematical system of potential infinities.

The authors prove the relevant results on the reliability and the completeness of the logical system.