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The relationship between Cr/C and properties of Fe‐C‐Cr high chromium white irons was studied by calculating the valence electron structure of austenite of Fe‐C‐Cr high chromium white irons with the empirical electron theory of solids and molecules (EET) and the equilibrium phase diagram of Fe‐C‐Cr system. Results show that the C‐Cr bond is the strongest bond of all bonds in alloying austenite in Fe‐C‐Cr high chromium white irons of industrial application and, thereby, causes partial aggregation of C‐Cr atomic groups. The weight of partial aggregation of C‐Cr atomic groups would be increased greatly and more austenite would be reserved to room temperature when Cr/>6. The Fe‐CCr high chromium white irons achieve best mechanical property when Cr/C=5.5‐6.5.

Practical needs in geographical information systems (GIS) have led to the investigation of formal, sound and computational methods for spatial analysis. Since models based on topology of R² have a serious problem of incapability of being applied directly for practical computations, we have noticed that models developed on the raster space can overcome this problem. Because some models based on vector spaces have been effectively used in practical applications, we then introduce the idea of using the raster space as our platform to study spatial entities of vector spaces. In this paper, we use raster spaces to study not only morphological changes of spatial entities of vector spaces, but also equal relations and connectedness of spatial entities of vector spaces. Based on the discovery that all these concepts contain relativity, we then introduce several new concepts, such as observable equivalence, strong connectedness, and weak connectedness. Additionally, we present a possible method of employing raster spaces to study spatial relations of spatial entities of vector spaces. Since the traditional raster spaces could not be used directly, we first construct a new model, called pansystems model, for the concept of raster spaces, then develop a procedure to convert a representation of a spatial entity in vector spaces to that of the spatial entity in a raster space. Such conversions are called approximation mappings.

The study of spatial entities needs a model that is not only fully observable and controllable, but also computable. Euclidean topology on R² is a usually used tool for this study, but it has the following two weaknesses. First, there exists some phenomenon of human perception of the spatial entity that cannot be simulated by it. Second, its observation of the basic geometric properties (interior, exterior, boundary) of the spatial entity lacks computability so that the model based on it lacks computability and cannot be directly used to practical systems. Consequently, in this paper, we present another tool for studying spatial entities – raster quasi‐topology on R² and then compare the two tools.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on the performance of service innovation (PSI), and the mediating effect of knowledge acquisition.

Drawing on social exchange and knowledge management theories, this paper establishes a relevant conceptual model and adopts a hierarchical regression analysis to examine the model with a data set of 298 firms from China.

CSR positively affects the PSI; however, the effects vary when firms take responsibility for different stakeholders. CSR for the same group of stakeholders influences differently the short-term financial and long-term non-financial PSI, whereas knowledge acquisition mediates the impact of employee and customer CSR on PSI, but not the impact of community CSR on PSI.

Managers could improve the PSI of the firm by strategically assuming CSR and by managing corporate knowledge acquisition activities.

This study contributes to the service innovation literature by identifying the influence of particular types of CSR on PSI, and by highlighting the influencing mechanism of knowledge acquisition. It extends scholarly understanding of the antecedents of PSI as well as the business returns to CSR.

Previous literature suggests that people might purchase symbolic products to signal their social identity. However, in the organizational context, subordinates as customers might choose products with less brand prestige than what they want and can afford, just to make sure their choices are below the invisible “red-line” set by the brands of their supervisors. The authors term the phenomenon as “boss ceiling effect,” and term the behavior that people often downgrade their original choice to make sure the brand prestige is lower than that of the product owned by their boss as “downgrading behavior,” which have not been explored and well explained by existing literature so far. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

The authors conduct qualitative study to explore the existence of boss ceiling effect and providing possible influential factors of brand downgrading attitude. The quantitative study empirically examines the relationships among undesired self, perceived risk, organizational culture balance, and downgrading attitude and intension.

The authors find that undesired self-congruence and perceived risk are positively related to the downgrading attitude. In addition, the culture balance directly affects the brand downgrading attitude negatively and also moderates the relationship between undesired self-congruence and downgrading attitude positively and the relationship between perceived risk and downgrading attitude negatively.

The authors contribute to both organizational culture research and symbolic consumption research by considering symbolic consumption behavior in organization context. It is of great practical implications for marketers of symbolic consumption to understand the downgrading behavior.

The purpose of this study is to empirically examine the effects of the numerical cues (NC) used in online review comments on perceived review helpfulness and the underlying psychological mechanisms.

An experimental design approach was employed to investigate the proposed research questions. Two experiments were conducted to test the hypotheses. Mplus 7 and Stata 14.0 were used for data analysis.

Empirical findings support the positive correlation between the presence of NC in online review comments and perceived review helpfulness across different product categories. This relationship is mediated by two psychological responses of consumers: cognitive elaboration and credibility perception.

This research adds to the existing literature by focusing on the value of NC in online review comments and how they can enhance perceived review helpfulness. Some practical implications are also addressed. For example, marketers can encourage consumers to post reviews that contain quantitative information to facilitate their target markets' comprehension of a product or brand.

Building on the previous literature, the work adds incremental knowledge on the role NC in online review comments play in affecting consumers' perceptions. In addition, the research uncovers the underlying psychological responses that mediate the relationship between NC in review comments and perceived review helpfulness.

Smiles displayed at varying intensities by service providers may result in different social judgments by customers, affecting decision-making. This study investigates the joint effect of customers' sense of power (low vs. high) and service providers' smile intensity (slight vs. broad) on their warmth and competence perceptions in service encounters.

The authors conducted four experiments based on the Stereotype Content Model (SCM) of social judgments and the agentic-communal model of power, and assessed the impact of perceived power and smile intensity in different service encounter contexts.

The interaction effect of customers' sense of power (low vs. high) and service providers' smile intensity (slight vs. broad) influences customers' social judgments (warmth perceptions vs. competence perceptions). A service provider who displays a broad smile is more likely to be perceived as warmer by customers with a low sense of power, but less competent by those with a high sense of power. Furthermore, mediation analysis revealed that the combined effect of customers' sense of power and service providers' smile intensity on customers' subjective well-being and purchase intentions might be attributed to their social judgments.

This study reveals the intrinsic mechanism behind the interaction effect between smile intensity and sense of power affecting customers' purchase intentions and subjective well-being, namely, warmth/competence perceptions.

Drawing on conservation of resources (COR) theory and the motivation-opportunity-ability (MOA) framework, this study examines how salespersons' self-monitoring and psychological capital influence sales performance.

This study uses survey data from 293 salespersons employed in China and their archival sales performance to test the hypotheses posited.

The results show that both salespersons' self-monitoring and psychological capital enhance sales performance via adaptive selling. However, these elements are primarily substitutes in influencing adaptive selling. In addition, by dividing social capital into two types (i.e. family-based social capital and customer-based social capital), the results reveal that salespersons' self-monitoring enhances family-based social capital, but not customer-based social capital. Finally, customer-based social capital, but not family-based capital, improves sales performance.

This paper extends the literature on sales force management, which examines various psychological traits and their influences on sales performance. While self-monitoring and psychological capital have been investigated separately, this research simultaneously examines these two factors by drawing on resource conservation theory. Furthermore, it explores how these psychological traits impact salespersons' ability development (i.e. adaptive selling) and capital accumulation (i.e., family-based social capital and customer-based social capital), which, in turn, affect sales performance.

The results offer managerial insights into sales force selection and management. In particular, managers should encourage salespersons to obtain greater customer-based social capital, which is more valuable than family-based social capital in boosting sales performance.

The present research is also beneficial for employee psychological health management, as it seeks to illuminate the role of psychological traits, ability development and capital accumulation. It offers insights into sociological research on social capital by categorizing it into family-based and customer-based capital.

This paper extends the literature on salespersons' psychological traits, selling abilities and social capital by examining the impacts of self-monitoring and psychological capital on adaptive selling and social capital. Specifically, this study examines the interplay between self-monitoring and psychological capital from the perspective of resources conservation theory.

Drawing on the principal-agent theoretical perspective, we assert that sellers’ opportunism is acknowledged as an essential component that could determine the quality of the relationship between buyers (principals) and sellers (agents). The primary aim of this research is to investigate the influence of seller behavior vs outcome-based reputation and seller’s perceived freedom on opportunistic behavior in the Chinese e-commerce platform context.

The data collected from 436 e-commerce platform sellers were analyzed and interpreted using structural equation modeling.

The results indicate that both behavior-based and outcome-based reputations positively impact sellers’ perceived freedom but negatively impact their opportunism. Additionally, while perceived freedom of objectives reduces opportunism, freedom of action increases it. The study also highlights the significant moderating roles of prevention mechanisms and ethical ideology.

This study extends the principal-agent perspective by integrating the seller’s reputation as a potential source of preventing sellers from behaving opportunistically on e-commerce platforms.