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The issue of trust in Industry 4.0 is extremely important from an organization’s perspective. The dynamic development of 4.0 technologies implies wide-ranging changes, which, in order to be implemented effectively, require cooperation based on trust. The purpose of this literature analysis is to identify key research areas regarding trust in Industry 4.0 and to identify further research directions.

Based on a comprehensive literature analysis, the most prominent areas of research on trust issues in Industry 4.0 will be presented (k=36). This chapter will also identify and discuss directions for further research.

The results of the analysis enable to illustrate the trends of science development in the area of Industry 4.0, as well as to identify key issues related to trust. Moreover, the research problems for further studies on the analyzed issue will also be indicated.

The research presented here identifies key Industry 4.0 technologies that are based on trust.

The review provides a valuable resource for practitioners regarding the critical aspects of implementing Industry 4.0 with respect to trust.

This is the first comprehensive literature review diagnosing research areas, technologies, and directions for future research on trust in Industry 4.0.

Internet + and Electronic Business in China is a comprehensive resource that provides insight and analysis into E-commerce in China and how it has revolutionized and continues to revolutionize business and society. Split into four distinct sections, the book first lays out the theoretical foundations and fundamental concepts of E-Business before moving on to look at internet+ innovation models and their applications in different industries such as agriculture, finance and commerce. The book then provides a comprehensive analysis of E-business platforms and their applications in China before finishing with four comprehensive case studies of major E-business projects, providing readers with successful examples of implementing E-Business entrepreneurship projects.

Internet + and Electronic Business in China is a comprehensive resource that provides insights and analysis into how E-commerce has revolutionized and continues to revolutionize business and society in China.

With the rising of “religious fever” in China rural area, the authors inquire the reason why it happened. First, the authors explore the group characteristics which could affect both happiness and the religion belief of Chinese rural elderly. The authors analyze the micro-data of “thousand village surveys” data of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics by using Order Logit and Propensity Score Matching (PSM) method. These results show that when the elderly people have the following features related to health such as: feeling psychological loneliness, not obtaining the good management of chronic disease in the village, and not being participated in new rural cooperative medical system are more likely to believe in religious in the rural areas. And the authors also find these Chinese rural elderlies who believe in religion are less happy than atheism elderly actually (by PSM). Believing in religion is not the solution and maybe the way these elderly resorts to when they encounter health problem.

As a potentially disruptive technology, blockchain technology ensures that all the data cannot be merely tampered with once they are recorded on-chain. However, the fake source information may be input into the blockchain, which is mistaken for truthful data and results in a trust divide between the on-chain and the actual world. One missing perspective from previous studies is information manipulation at the source still exists under the blockchain mode. The authors’ goal was to analyze how blockchain technology affects the information deception of the agricultural product supply chain (APSC) under this premise. Also, the authors further analyzed some factors that influence the effectiveness of blockchain technology.

The authors build an APSC game model consisting of a farmer and an agricultural product broker, which employs the principal–agent game model to explore the conditions for achieving the mutual trust equilibrium between the two parts. Then, through numerical simulation, the authors further analyze how the quality of on-chain information and the numbers of on-chain firms affect blockchain’s effect on deception in APSC and examine the circumstances in which blockchain technology is more suitable.

The authors demonstrate that only by meeting the threshold of high-quality on-chain information and having a sufficient number of on-chain firms, can the blockchain-based supply chain initiate a better information ecosystem, which helps eradicate deception in the APSC.

This paper provides valuable insights for participants in supply chains as well as is probably generalizable to other industrial products that require similar services in the early stage of blockchain.

The purpose of the study reported in this paper is to synthesis curcumin, which was reported to possess broad pharmacological effects and excellent dyeing properties, via Claisen-Schmidt condensation reaction catalysed by an efficient and green solid base catalyst, KF/Al₂O₃.

A series of catalysts with different KF loadings and varying calcination temperatures had been prepared, characterised by Brunauer–Emmett–Taller surface area, temperature-programmed desorption with CO₂ using infrared spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and tested in the Claisen–Schmidt condensation reaction. The effects of different reaction parameters such as temperature, the amount of catalyst, reactant ratio and time on the synthesis of curcumin were examined. The possibility of recycling the catalyst was also investigated in detail. Moreover, the reaction mechanism and the role of KF/Al₂O₃ in the synthetic process were discussed.

The study provides an efficient and green solid base catalyst, KF/Al₂O₃, and 64.3 per cent yield of curcumin was obtained under the optimum reaction conditions. Experimental results indicate that the third reused catalyst could retain part of the catalytic activity, and the regenerated one could be reused with reasonable catalytic activity. Besides, K₃AlF₆ was proposed as the active site of the catalyst for the reaction by the analysis of the characterization results of KF/Al₂O₃.

KF/Al₂O₃ was found to be an efficient catalyst for catalytic synthesis of curcumin and could be easily recycled several times. This information may be useful for further research and practical applications of curcumin.

The purpose of this paper is to test the mediating role of perceived insider status (PIS) on the relationship between differential leadership and thriving at work, and the extent to which this mediating role is moderated by proactive personality.

This study conducts a questionnaire with 332 employees from China, taking certain traditional cultural factors and social exchange theory into consideration. This paper then analyzes the responses using a structuring equation model with SPSS 24.0 and LISREL 8.7.

The results show that PIS mediated the relationship between differential leadership and thriving at work. In addition, proactive personality was found to moderate this mediating pathway, whereby a high proactive personality increased the mediating role of perceived insider status.

This study explores how and why differential leadership is positively related to thriving at work. This paper verifies the moderated mediation model relationship among the research variables and contributes to the literature on differential leadership.

The main purpose of this study is to examine the effect of corporate digital transformation on bond credit spreads. Additionally, it also explores the two potential channels, information asymmetry and default risk, through which digital transformation can influence bond credit spreads.

We use the bond issuance data of Chinese listed companies over the period 2008–2020. Corporate digital transformation of these companies is measured with textual analysis of the management discussion and analysis part of annual reports. We employ a panel regression model to estimate the effect of digital transformation on bond credit spreads.

We find robust evidence that companies with higher digital transformation experience lower bond credit spreads. We further observe that credit spread reduction is higher for firms that are smaller, non-state-owned, have lower credit ratings and have less analyst coverage. We also find evidence that digital transformation reduces credit spreads by reducing the information asymmetry between firms and investors with enhanced information transformation mechanisms and lowering corporate default risk by strengthening operating efficiency.

To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first attempt to understand the impact of corporate digital transformation on bond credit spreads. Our findings help to understand the effect of digital transformation on firms’ credit worthiness and access to capital.

The aim of the paper is to develop a method to block hydroxyl groups of epoxy acrylate (AAEP) in vinyl ester resin (VER) and to study the influence of modified VER on polyurethane/(VER) interpenetrating polymer network (PU/VER IPN).

The hydroxyl groups of AAEP in VER were blocked via different methods. Infra‐red spectroscopy was adopted to study the influence of the reagents, reaction temperature and feed molar ratio on the blocking effect of hydroxyl groups and the optimised technological parameters were determined. The PU/VER IPN and PU/modified VER IPN were prepared by simultaneous interpenetrating of VER (mixture of AAEP and butyl methacrylate with the mass ratio of 2/1) or modified VER and synthesised PU in their laboratory. The microstructure, dynamic mechanical properties and mechanical properties of PU/VER IPN and PU/modified VER IPN were compared.

The results showed that compared to unmodified IPN, because the hydroxyl groups in VER were blocked and no chemical cross‐linked structure existed between the two networks, the modified IPN showed dual‐continuous microsturcture with larger phase domain sizes between 20 and 50 nm. The effect damping temperature range of modified IPN was broadened and its damping performance was improved. The mechanical strength of modified IPNs decreased and their break elongation increased evidently.

The PU/modified VER IPN with excellent damping properties can be used in the applications where reduction of vibration and noise is desired.

The PU/modified VER IPN, in which no chemical cross‐linked structure existed between the two networks, was novel and its damping performance was improved and excellent.

The purpose of this paper is to examine curiosity as a distal predictor of knowledge sharing facilitated by informal learning. It also probes the boundary conditions imposed by ebullient supervision in the influence of curiosity on knowledge sharing.

The authors collected data through a two-wave survey of 349 knowledge workers in the IT sector and used structural equation modeling to analyze the data.

The results indicated a positive relationship between curiosity and knowledge sharing. In particular, informal learning was found to mediate the relationship between curiosity and knowledge sharing and ebullient supervision was identified as a significant condition that strengthens the effect of curiosity on informal learning.

Organizations can promote knowledge sharing by harnessing curiosity as an intrinsic motivator for employees to engage in informal learning. Moreover, the findings identified ebullient supervision as an extrinsic motivator within the work environment, suggesting its potential to enhance the impact of curiosity on knowledge sharing.

This paper broadens the limited literature on ebullient leadership by revealing how it strengthens the effects of curiosity and informal learning on knowledge sharing.

This study investigated information needs on COVID-19 by identifying topics discussed on social questions and answers (Q&A) about daily routines, problems, and health issues for survival. A layered model of contexts for everyday life information seeking (ELIS) was adapted for interpreting topics to better understand the contexts in which users could relate information needs.

Questions and answers posted on Naver Knowledge-iN were collected and analyzed during the first nine months following the outbreak. Time distribution, topic modeling, and association rule mining were applied to examine the topics on COVID-19 and their temporal variation.

Numerous topics related to the cognitive context (symptoms and masks) and situational contexts (international affairs, financial support, study, and work) were discovered. Topics related to social context were discussed moderately, but the number of questions on this topic increased with time. Strong associations were observed between terms related to symptoms, indicating their importance as a COVID-19 topic in health.

This study investigated topics of information needs using social Q&A data in which not only information inquiry but also information sharing coexist. The findings can help bridge the theory of ELIS to topic modeling in practice. The insights gained from this study can be used by information service providers for developing guidance and programs about how to survive during a pandemic.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-10-2021-0547.