Search results

The purpose of this paper is to examine how service failure affects customers’ negative response and how service recovery affects perceived justice in the context of different relationship norms.

It includes four studies that examine how relationships influence customer reactions to service failures. In study 1, the paper examines how service failures affect customers’ negative reaction. In study 2, the paper examines how service recoveries influence perceived justice. Study 3 and study 4 test the robustness of the results of study 1 and study 2. All studies have a 2×2 between-subjects design.

The results show that individuals in exchange relationships experience a stronger feeling of betrayal than those in communal relationships during service failures. Further, individuals feel more betrayed and show greater negative responses during process failures. They perceive greater justice when offered physical recoveries, which, in turn, contributes to higher service-recovery satisfaction.

This study was conducted in Taiwan. Customer reactions to service failures may vary according to cultural and environmental contexts.

Service providers are encouraged to cultivate relationships with customers and identify different types of customers to compensate them more effectively, according to their preferences.

This study introduces relationship norms to investigate consumer responses to service failures. The main contributions are twofold; it investigates the effect of relationship norms on customer responses to service-failure types and service-recovery types.

Business Process Reengineering (BPR) eliminates non-value-added (NVA) and essential non-value-added (ENVA) waste through radical process redesign to improve organizational operations. Comprehensive research integrating BPR tools is needed to understand their benefits for manufacturing firms. This research presents an integrated BPR-simulation framework tailored to the manufacturing sector to maximize process improvements and operational excellence.

The BPR design methodology adopts a systematic, multi-stage approach. The first phase involves identifying a specific improvement process aligned with BPR's core objectives. This phase analyses and redesigns workflows to optimize task sequences, roles, and stakeholder interactions while eliminating redundancies and inefficiencies via Workflow Process Reengineering. Visual process mapping tools, including VSM and simulation, pinpoint areas of waste, delay, and potential enhancement. The second phase follows the workflow analysis and aims to improve efficiency and effectiveness by redefining roles, rearranging tasks, and integrating automation and technology solutions. The redesigned process undergoes evaluation against key performance indicators to ensure measurable improvements are achieved. The final phase validates the proposed changes through simulation models, assesses the impact on key performance metrics, and establishes the necessary infrastructure for successful implementation. The proposed model is empirically validated through a case study of a leading apparel company in Vietnam, confirming its effectiveness.

The findings reveal that NVA activities are being eliminated, and ENVA activities in key departments are significantly reduced. This yielded a substantial improvement, reducing 25 out of 186 combined ENVA and NVA operations in the sewing facility, involving a decrease of 15 ENVA operations and the removal of 10 NVA operations. Consequently, this led to an 8.5% reduction in the proportion of ENVA operations, accompanied by a complete 100% elimination of NVA activities.

The single case study limits generalizability; thus, expanded implementation across diverse manufacturing sub-sectors is required to establish validity and broader applicability of the integrated framework.

The experimental results highlight the proposed model's effectiveness in optimizing resource utilization and its practical implementation potential. This structured BPR methodology enables organizations to validate, evaluate, and establish proposed process changes to enhance operational performance and productivity.

This study aims to analyze the paths and mechanisms of firms’ sustainable high growth. Firms’ high growth is susceptible to interruption, stagnation or reversal. Thus, how firms can achieve sustainable high growth is an important topic that requires urgent discussion and has significant implications for sustainable economic development and employment.

This study applies a longitudinal case study approach to portray the process by which Jiashu orchestrated digital elements with traditional resources to continuously fulfill their user demands and ultimately achieve sustainable high growth.

This study reveals three resource orchestration strategies: trust-oriented, demand-oriented and efficiency-oriented. These strategies are adopted in an organization’s startup, expansion and maturity periods, respectively. By dynamically integrating and orchestrating digital elements with traditional resources, firms implement a growth strategy with expanding and stacking dimensions, leading to sustainable high growth. The replicability and connectivity resulting from orchestrating digital elements and traditional resources encourage firms to expand their dimensions of growth and achieve sustainable high growth in multiple dimensions.

This study conducts a preliminary exploration of the relationship between the integration of digital and traditional elements and the sustainable high growth of enterprises. A more stable theoretical relationship between the two requires further multi-case studies and empirical analysis for substantiation.

This study first clarifies the concept of sustainable high growth and reveals a unique nonlinear path characterized by growth with expanding and stacking dimensions. The findings contribute to deepening the theories of sustainable high growth and resource orchestration in the digital economy era and offer practical implications for the sustainable high-growth practices of firms.

River flood exposes the population to multiple attacks from the physical, mental, health risks and its related negative effects. This study focused on the Pahang River and the three worst-hit district population (Pekan, Kuantan and Temerloh). Tools on areas of self-perceived health symptoms, QOL, depression, PTSD and community empowerment were assessed. Semi-guided questionnaires were distributed to a total of 602 victims. Questions on health symptoms were asked to respondents (R) and household members (HM). PTSD screening, i.e., the Trauma Screening Questionnaire, was used. Depression was assessed through the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). WHOQOL-BREF assessed four domains of QOL, i.e., physical activity, psychological, social relationships and environment. Community empowerment using the Individual Community Related Empowerment tool to assess five domains, i.e., self-efficacy, participation, motivation, intention and critical awareness. Prevalent disease showed that majority suffered from hypertension (11.0%) and diabetes (7.3%). Two main symptoms experienced were cough (R = 47.2%, HM = 43.7%) and flu (R = 42.7%, HM = 40.4). Monthly health expenditure was higher post flood. Purchase of prescription medications rose from MYR24.40 to 31.02. A total of 33 people were suspected to suffer from PTSD. Through BDI assessment, it was estimated that as many as 104 (17.3%) suffered overt (high) depression. The prevalence of QOL domains are as such: low physical activity was highest at 59%, low psychological activity at 53.3%, low social relationships at 43% and low environment at 45.2%. On community empowerment, low empowerment was seen on four domains: self-efficacy at 52%, participation at 55%, motivation at 54.2% and critical awareness at 74.4%. The domain with good intention and willing to participate was at 54%. Results indicate that the community was not adaptable to flood events. This is evident from high amount of experienced symptoms, low QOL (physical and psychological aspects) and empowerment (except intention). Proportion of PTSD and overt (high) depression was however quite low.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the mechanism of shared leadership on team members’ innovative behavior.

Paired questionnaires were collected from 89 scientific research teams in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region of China at two-time points with a time lag of 4 months. Then multilevel structural equation model method was applied to analyze the multiple mediating effects.

This study finds that: the form of shared leadership in scientific research teams of universities; shared leadership has a positive impact on team members’ innovative behavior; there are multiple mediations in the relationship including synchronization and sequence of creative self-efficacy and achievement motivation.

According to the “stimulus-organism-response” model, this paper has constructed a multi-level theoretical model that shared leadership influences individual innovation behavior and reveals the “black box” from the perspective of psychological mechanism. It not only verifies that “can-do” shapes “willing to do” but also makes up for the gap of an empirical test of the effectiveness of shared leadership in scientific research teams of universities. Besides, the formal scale of shared leadership in the Chinese situation is revised, which can provide a reference for future empirical research on shared leadership. The research conclusions provide new ideas for improving the management of scientific research teams in universities.

The purpose of this paper is to reduce the computational burden and improve the precision of the parameter optimization in the convection-diffusion equation, a new algorithm, the refined gray-encoded evolution algorithm (RGEA), is proposed.

In the new algorithm, the differential evolution algorithm (DEA) is introduced to refine the solutions and to improve the search efficiency in the evolution process; the rapid cycle operation is also introduced to accelerate the convergence rate. The authors apply this algorithm to parameter optimization in convection-diffusion equations.

Two cases for parameter optimization in convection-diffusion equations are studied by using the new algorithm. The results indicate that the sum of absolute errors by the RGEA decreases from 74.14 to 99.29 percent and from 99.32 to 99.98 percent, respectively, compared to those by the gray-encoded genetic algorithm (GGA) and the DEA. And the RGEA has a faster convergent speed than does the GGA or DEA.

A more complete convergence analysis of the method is under investigation. The authors will also explore the possibility of adapting the method to identify the initial condition and boundary condition in high-dimension convection-diffusion equations.

This paper will have an important impact on the applications of the parameter optimization in the field of environmental flow analysis.

This paper will have an important significance for a sustainable social development.

The authors establish a new RGEA algorithm for parameter optimization in solving convection-diffusion equations. The application results make a valuable contribution to the parameter optimization in the field of environmental flow analysis.

The proposed model aims to tackle the data quality issues in multivariate time series caused by missing values. It preserves data set integrity by accurately imputing missing data, ensuring reliable analysis outcomes.

The Conv-DMSA model employs a combination of self-attention mechanisms and convolutional networks to handle the complexities of multivariate time series data. The convolutional network is adept at learning features across uneven time intervals through an imputation feature map, while the Diagonal Mask Self-Attention (DMSA) block is specifically designed to capture time dependencies and feature correlations. This dual approach allows the model to effectively address the temporal imbalance, feature correlation and time dependency challenges that are often overlooked in traditional imputation models.

Extensive experiments conducted on two public data sets and a real project data set have demonstrated the adaptability and effectiveness of the Conv-DMSA model for imputing missing data. The model outperforms baseline methods by significantly reducing the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) metric, showcasing its superior performance. Specifically, Conv-DMSA has been found to reduce RMSE by 37.2% to 63.87% compared to other models, indicating its enhanced accuracy and efficiency in handling missing data in multivariate time series.

The Conv-DMSA model introduces a unique combination of convolutional networks and self-attention mechanisms to the field of missing data imputation. Its innovative use of a diagonal mask within the self-attention block allows for a more nuanced understanding of the data’s temporal and relational aspects. This novel approach not only addresses the existing shortcomings of conventional imputation methods but also sets a new standard for handling missing data in complex, multivariate time series data sets. The model’s superior performance and its capacity to adapt to varying levels of missing data make it a significant contribution to the field.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the water resources vulnerability (WRV) rationally in Haihe River Basin (HRB) using set pair analysis (SPA) theory.

An improved intelligent set pair analysis (IISPA) model is established, in which intelligent SPA theory is introduced and the weights are determined by use of the maximum entropy principle and the improved analytic hierarchy process method. The index systems and criteria of WRV assessment in terms of water cycle, socio-economy, and ecological environment are established based on the analysis of sensibility and adaptability.

The authors apply IISPA to the WRV assessment of seven administrative divisions in HRB. Results show IISPA can fully take advantage of certain and uncertain information compared with fuzzy assessment and topsis assessment models. For present situation, Shanxi, Shandong, Tianjing, Inner Mongolia, Hebei are higher, Henan and Beijing are the middle vulnerability. But Henan will become worse under climate change scenario II and IV.

The analysis results may be affected by the limited climate change data.

It is helpful for further research to the complexity analysis of water resources system.

This paper will have an important impact on water resources sustainable utilization.

This is the first time to utilize IISPA method to analyze the WRV of seven administrative divisions in HRB. This paper provides an important theoretical support for water resources management.

This paper seeks to examine how leaders shape employee creativity by using interpersonal emotion management (IEM) strategies. Drawing on the social information processing (SIP) theory, the authors argue that psychological safety translates leader problem-focused IEM into employee creativity, an impact which is moderated by organizational justice.

Data were collected in two waves from 201 employees and their leaders in China. Regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses.

Leader problem-focused IEM is positively related to employee creativity, and this relationship is mediated by psychological safety. Organizational justice positively moderates the relationship between leader problem-focused IEM and psychological safety as well as the indirect relationship between leader problem-focused IEM and employee creativity via psychological safety.

This paper identifies a novel and useful predictor of employee creativity from the perspective of leader problem-focused IEM and provides practical insights for organizations regarding ways of improving employee creativity.

The purpose of this paper is to seek to understand the differences in image repair strategies adopted by two governments that operate in the Western and Asian societies when faced with similar crises.

Textual analyses are presented of communication of Hurricane Katrina and Typhoon Morakot by the Taiwanese and US governments, respectively.

Faced with similar accusations of slow response, the Asian culture, represented by the Taiwanese Government, used predominantly mortification and corrective action strategies. The Western culture, represented by the US Government, used predominantly bolstering and defeasibility and a mixed bag of other strategies such as shifting the blame and attack the accuser.

A limitation of the study is that it depends on news reports, instead of news releases and speeches, for analysis. However, given the rapidity and volatility in the unfolding drama of each of the two crises, many of the comments made were to the media and not in prepared speeches. It is a limitation the authors accept.

Strategies reflected Hofstede's uncertainty avoidance and power distance dimensions. These dimensions should be considered when designing communication strategies in different cultures so as to be culturally sensitive and relevant.

Few, if any, studies on image repair theory have addressed the role of culture in strategies used. This study fills the gap by integrating Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory.