Search results

1 – 10 of over 1000
Article
Publication date: 17 February 2023

Jiangnan Qiu, Wenjing Gu, Zhongming Ma, Yue You, Chengjie Cai and Meihui Zhang

In the extant research on online knowledge communities (OKCs), little attention has been paid to the influence of membership fluidity on the coevolution of the social and…

Abstract

Purpose

In the extant research on online knowledge communities (OKCs), little attention has been paid to the influence of membership fluidity on the coevolution of the social and knowledge systems. This article aims to fill this gap.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on the attraction-selection-attrition (ASA) framework, this paper constructs a simulation model to study the coevolution of these two systems under different levels of membership fluidity.

Findings

By analyzing the evolution of these systems with the vector autoregression (VAR) method, we find that social and knowledge systems become more orderly as the coevolution progresses. Furthermore, in communities with low membership fluidity, the microlevel of the social system (i.e. users) drives the coevolution, whereas in communities with high membership fluidity, the microlevel of the knowledge system (i.e. users' views) drives the coevolution.

Originality/value

This paper extends the application of the ASA framework and enriches the literature on membership fluidity of online communities and the literature on driving factors for coevolution of the social and knowledge systems in OKCs. On a practical level, our work suggests that community administrators should adopt different strategies for different membership fluidity to efficiently promote the coevolution of the social and knowledge systems in OKCs.

Details

Information Technology & People, vol. 37 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-3845

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 22 September 2021

Huan Chen, Dalong Ma and Ruowen Wang

This paper aims to explore Chinese entrepreneurs’ perceptions and interpretations of social media marketing (SMM) in their daily business practices.

1772

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore Chinese entrepreneurs’ perceptions and interpretations of social media marketing (SMM) in their daily business practices.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative approach was adopted to explore the phenomenon. Specifically, 18 in-depth interviews were conducted among Chinese entrepreneurs to obtain their experiences of and perceptions on SMM.

Findings

Findings revealed that Chinese entrepreneurs have good understandings of SMM. They believe SMM is a necessary way to interact with customers and SMM can provide flexibility and sensitivity which are important for entrepreneurial marketing and are not easy to achieve through traditional marketing activities. When they choose social media applications, they will match the purpose of marketing activity with the characteristics of the social media. They have developed the specific strategies for different social media applications. In the meantime, they are facing some challenges, such as breaking the communication clutter, measuring the results and over depending on social media.

Originality/value

Findings of the current study extend the uses and gratifications theory to the context of business-oriented media usage. In addition, findings of the study expand previous literature by enriching the theoretical understanding of the concept of entrepreneur and entrepreneurial marketing in new social and cultural contexts. Finally, findings of the current study also supplement previous research on social media advertising by uncovering rich meanings of SMM from business owners’ emic perspective.

Details

Journal of Research in Marketing and Entrepreneurship, vol. 23 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1471-5201

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 June 2022

John Peikang Sun, Karen V. Fernandez and Catherine Frethey-Bentham

The purpose of this research is to explore the nature of virtual tipping in live game streaming from the perspective of tippers.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this research is to explore the nature of virtual tipping in live game streaming from the perspective of tippers.

Design/methodology/approach

This qualitative research involved six naturalistic group interviews with 27 young adult game streaming tippers in China.

Findings

The research revealed a typology of four virtual tipping exchanges – perfunctory exchange, transactional (commodity) exchange, relational (gift) exchange and hybrid exchange. The most notable finding is hybrid exchange, a synergistic hybrid of transaction and gift-giving.

Practical implications

The authors recommend that both streamers and streaming platforms acknowledge and accommodate both transactional and relational tipping motivations. The authors also recommend platforms to recruit skillful streamers with high emotional intelligence to better convert perfunctory tippers into tippers who tip more generously.

Originality/value

The result of hybrid exchange suggests going beyond the traditional commodity vs gift dichotomy to examine the potential market-gift complementary in a single exchange in the sharing economy.

Details

Internet Research, vol. 33 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1066-2243

Keywords

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 19 March 2019

Sadia Samar Ali, Rajbir Kaur and Jose Antonio Marmolejo Saucedo

Abstract

Details

Best Practices in Green Supply Chain Management
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78756-216-5

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 5 April 2024

Kai Rüdele, Matthias Wolf and Christian Ramsauer

Improving productivity and efficiency has always been crucial for industrial companies to remain competitive. In recent years, the topic of environmental impact has become…

Abstract

Purpose

Improving productivity and efficiency has always been crucial for industrial companies to remain competitive. In recent years, the topic of environmental impact has become increasingly important. Published research indicates that environmental and economic goals can enforce or rival each other. However, few papers have been published that address the interaction and integration of these two goals.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, we identify both, synergies and trade-offs based on a systematic review incorporating 66 publications issued between 1992 and 2021. We analyze, quantify and cluster examples of conjunctions of ecological and economic measures and thereby develop a framework for the combined improvement of performance and environmental compatibility.

Findings

Our findings indicate an increased significance of a combined consideration of these two dimensions of sustainability. We found that cases where enforcing synergies between economic and ecological effects were identified are by far more frequent than reports on trade-offs. For the individual categories, cost savings are uniformly considered as the most important economic aspect while, energy savings appear to be marginally more relevant than waste reduction in terms of environmental aspects.

Originality/value

No previous literature review provides a comparable graphical treatment of synergies and trade-offs between cost savings and ecological effects. For the first time, identified measures were classified in a 3 × 3 table considering type and principle.

Details

Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-7835

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 June 2021

Atul Rawat, Sumeet Gupta and T. Joji Rao

This study aims to identify the operational and financial risks associated with the city gas distribution project in India and suggest appropriate strategies to mitigate them.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to identify the operational and financial risks associated with the city gas distribution project in India and suggest appropriate strategies to mitigate them.

Design/methodology/approach

This study aims to identify the operational and financial risks associated with the city gas distribution project in India and suggest appropriate strategies to mitigate them. The survey data is evaluated using factor analysis to understand the latent structure of the critical risk factors. Second, the author uses Situation, Actor and Process–Learning, Action and Performance framework to suggest the mitigation strategies for the identified operational and financial risk factors.

Findings

The research identified five critical risk factors and suggested 39 mitigation strategies to address operational and risk factors impacting CGD projects. The findings of this research will enable the CGD companies to formulate long-term strategies for their business and adopt proactive measures to mitigate the operational and financial risks causing delay and increasing project costs. This study also highlights the importance of government support in developing a conducive environment for CGD industry to thrive.

Originality/value

The CGD projects are critical for natural gas growth in India’s energy mix. The project delay leads to a rise in the total cost involved and increases the payback period for the CGD companies. To the best of authors’ knowledge, this research is first of its kind that identifies the critical operational and financial risks affecting CGD projects in India and suggests the mitigating strategies for them.

Details

International Journal of Energy Sector Management, vol. 15 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-6220

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 22 February 2019

Maurizio Faccio, Mojtaba Nedaei and Francesco Pilati

The current study aims to propose a new analytical approach by considering energy consumption (EC), maximum tardiness and completion time as the primary objective functions to…

Abstract

Purpose

The current study aims to propose a new analytical approach by considering energy consumption (EC), maximum tardiness and completion time as the primary objective functions to assess the performance of parallel, non-bottleneck and multitasking machines operating in dynamic job shops.

Design/methodology/approach

An analytical and iterative method is presented to optimize a novel dynamic job shop under technical constraints. The machine’s performance is analyzed by considering the setup energy. An optimization model from initial processing until scheduling and planning is proposed, and data sets consisting of design parameters are fed into the model.

Findings

Significant variations of EC and tardiness are observed. The minimum EC was calculated to be 141.5 hp.s when the defined decision variables were constantly increasing. Analysis of the optimum completion time has shown that among all studied methods, first come first served (FCFS), earliest due date (EDD) and shortest processing time (SPT) have resulted in the least completion time with a value of 20 s.

Originality/value

Considerable amount of energy can be dissipated when parallel, non-bottleneck and multitasking machines operate in lower-power modes. Additionally, in a dynamic job shop, adjusting the trend and arrangement of decision variables plays a crucial role in enhancing the system’s reliability. Such issues have never caught the attention of scientists for addressing the aforementioned problems. Therefore, with these underlying goals, this paper presents a new approach for evaluating and optimizing the system’s performance, considering different objective functions and technical constraints.

Article
Publication date: 6 May 2022

Mamta Mishra, Surya Prakash Singh and M. P. Gupta

The research in competitive facility location (CFL) is quite dynamic, both from a problem formulation and an algorithmic point of view. Research direction has changed immensely…

603

Abstract

Purpose

The research in competitive facility location (CFL) is quite dynamic, both from a problem formulation and an algorithmic point of view. Research direction has changed immensely over the years to address various competitive challenges. This study aims to explore CFL literature to highlight these research trends, important issues and future research opportunities.

Design/methodology/approach

This study utilises the Scopus database to search for related CFL models and adopts a five-step systematic approach for the review process. The five steps involve (1) Article Identification and keyword selection, (2) Selection criteria, (3) Literature review, (4) Literature analysis and (5) Research studies.

Findings

The paper presents a comprehensive review of CFL modelling efforts from 1981 to 2021 to provide a depth study of the research evolution in this area. The published articles are classified based on multiple characteristics, including the type of problem, type of competition, game-theoretical approaches, customer behaviour, decision space, type of demand, number of facilities, capacity and budget limitations. The review also highlights the popular problem areas and dedicated research in the respective domain. In addition, a second classification is also provided based on solution methods adopted to solve various CFL models and real-world case studies.

Originality/value

The paper covers 40 years of CFL literature from the perspective of the problem area, CFL characteristics and the solution approach. Additionally, it introduces characteristics such as capacity limit and budget constraint for the first time for classification purposes.

Details

Benchmarking: An International Journal, vol. 30 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-5771

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Inside Major East Asian Library Collections in North America, Volume 2
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80455-140-0

Book part
Publication date: 16 October 2018

Yang Zhang

Institutional actors are critical allies for grassroots movements, but few studies have examined their effects and variations within the non-democratic context. This chapter…

Abstract

Institutional actors are critical allies for grassroots movements, but few studies have examined their effects and variations within the non-democratic context. This chapter argues that while institutional allies are heavily constrained and unlikely to give open endorsement to grassroot activists, some institutional activists indirectly facilitate movement mobilization and favorable outcomes in the process of advancing their own political agendas. Drawing upon in-depth interviews conducted in 2008 and 2012, I illustrate this argument by examining the Anti-PX Movement – a landmark grassroots environmental movement against a chemical plant – in Xiamen, China. I find that the environmental institutional actors were constrained and divided, yet some still fostered opportunities for movement mobilization and in turn exploited the opportunity created by the protesters to pursue their policy interests, thus facilitating positive movement outcomes. As long as the claims are not politically subversive to the authoritarian rule, this type of tacit and tactical interaction between institutional activists within the state and grassroot activists on the street is conducive to promoting progressive policy changes.

Details

Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78756-895-2

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 1000