bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
An exploratory study of Internet of Things (IoT) adoption intention in logistics and supply chain management
Authors: Tu Mengru 
Published: January 2018

PurposeThe Internet of Things (IoT) envisions a global infrastructure of networked physical objects that render radical transparency to supply chain management. Despite the perceived advantages of IoT, industry has still not widely adopted IoT-enabled logistics and supply chain management. The purpose of this paper is to understand the incentives and concerns behind firms’ decisions to adopt IoT, explore the determinant factors affecting IoT adoption in logistics and supply chain management.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses mixed methods research to explore the determinants of IoT adoption intention in logistics and supply chain management. Qualitative analysis using the Grounded Theory methodology reveals the underlying perceptions regarding logistic innovation with IoT. Quantitative hypotheses are then developed based on qualitative investigation and adoption literature. Survey data were collected from the managerial staff of Taiwanese firms across various industries. Structural equation modeling with partial least square is used for data analysis.FindingsThe results of the qualitative study identify uncertainties and issues regarding firms’ intention to accept or reject IoT technology in logistics and supply chain management, including the benefit and cost aspects of adopting IoT, uncertainties about the trustworthiness of IoT technology, and the external motivating force to embrace IoT. The resulting quantitative model shows that perceived benefits, perceived costs, and external pressure are significant determinants of IoT adoption intention, while technology trust is not. However, technology trust does indirectly influence IoT adoption intention through perceived benefits.Practical implicationsThe empirical findings of this study provide some guidelines for logistics and supply chain managers to evaluate IoT adoption in their firms. Likewise, IoT solution providers can also benefit from this study by improving their solutions to mitigate the IoT adoption concerns addressed herein.Originality/valueThis paper is among the first known to examine IoT adoption intention in logistics and supply chain management using mixed methods research. The mixed methods approach offers a better insight in understanding incentives behind firms’ decisions to adopt IoT vs the use of either a qualitative or quantitative method alone.
Ensuring supplier participation toward addressing sustainability-oriented objectives of the mid-day meal supply chain
Authors: Roy Vivek , Charan Parikshit , Schoenherr Tobias , Sahay B.S. 
Published: January 2018

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore and further explain the phenomena of supplier participation in addressing the sustainability-oriented objectives of a supply chain. Specifically, the paper explains how a buyer can integrate sustainability concerns among its suppliers. The study is based in the context of the Indian school feeding (mid-day meal) program and approaches the issue from the perspective of a mid-day meal provider.Design/methodology/approachThis paper first explains how the mid-day meal providers in India explicitly address the social and economic dimensions of sustainability. Thereby, it conducts an exploratory case study on a renowned meal provider with the objective to understand the nature of its efforts toward supplier participation through in-depth interviews.FindingsAs evident in the case, from the buyer’s perspective, the key to success in winning supplier participation in addressing the sustainability-oriented supply chain objectives largely revolves around efforts along the critical aspects of policy development, policy implementation, and intent building with suppliers.Originality/valueThis paper propagates a threefold value by outlining the central importance of the focus on efforts and challenges for understanding supplier participation in sustainable supply chain management (SSCM). First, the paper is among the initial studies to focus on ground-level efforts and challenges for a mid-day meal provider, and outlines best practices. Second, the case presents revelatory insights on SSCM from the perspective of supplier participation. For example, it demonstrates the relevance of supply-chain-based social identification in governing supplier willingness to participate in a buyer’s SSCM. Third, the findings also extend critical implications toward SSCM theory and practice.
The role of dependence and information sharing on governance decisions regarding conflict
Authors: Eckerd Stephanie , Sweeney Kevin 
Published: January 2018

PurposeContemporary supply chain exchanges are governed by both contractual and relational governance mechanisms. However, the decision about when to use these mechanisms is likely driven by key relationship characteristics as well as the context in which they are needed. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the influence of dependence and information sharing on the governance decision within the context of inter-organizational conflict, and assess the degree to which contractual and relational governance approaches lead to more satisfying outcomes.Design/methodology/approachThis research builds on both transaction cost and conflict resolution arguments to build hypotheses. To test the hypotheses, survey data were collected from supply chain professionals regarding specific episodes of conflict and analyzed using an ordinary least squares regression.FindingsThe results show a strong reluctance for the use of relational governance mechanisms to resolve conflict when the relationship is characterized by strong joint dependency or information sharing asymmetries. A strong dependence asymmetry and high degree of joint information sharing are associated with greater use of contractual and relational governance approaches, respectively. Finally, the authors find that contractual mechanisms do not necessarily lead to a dissatisfactory outcome for the manager involved.Originality/valueThis research investigates not only the use of contractual and relational governance mechanisms in inter-firm conflict resolution, but also the relationship specific factors that influence a firm’s decision to leverage either type of governance mechanism.
Financial service providers and banks’ role in helping SMEs to access finance
Authors: Song Hua , Yu Kangkang , Lu Qiang 
Published: January 2018

PurposeDespite their crucial role in sustaining national economies, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are beset by the constraint of financing at better conditions. The purpose of this paper is to compare supply chain finance (SCF) solutions provided by commercial banks and financial service providers (FSPs) that help SMEs access financing.Design/methodology/approachThis study looks at multiple case studies using in-depth interviews with focal firms (lenders) to answer the research questions. In-depth interviews were conducted with three Chinese FSPs and three commercial banks providing working capital to the same SMEs. The unit of analysis is SCF solutions that have made the companies competitive in the industry.FindingsThe case studies show that the acquisition of transaction information and business credit in SCF can reduceex anteinformation asymmetry. SCF utilizing receivable transfers, closed-loop business, relational embeddedness, and a combination of outcome control and behavioral control can also reduceex postinformation asymmetry. For these reasons, compared with commercial bank-dominated SCF, SCF adopted by FSPs in the supply chain can better reduce information asymmetry.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the emerging literature exploring the impact of SCF on SMEs accessing financing. In particular, this study provides supply chain management and operations insights on SCF and their consequent influence. Previous research has focused on the direct dyadic relationship between lenders and borrowers while neglecting supply chain effects. Uniquely, this study explores the different ways commercial banks and FSPs implement SCF solutions.
Drivers of franchisor growth: a meta-analysis
Authors: Kang Jun , Asare Anthony K. , Brashear-Alejandro Thomas , Li Ping 
Published: January 2018

PurposeThis study aims to help resolve some of the inconsistencies of the relationships between franchisor growth and its drivers in prior literature.Design/methodology/approachFirst, this study provides a meta-analysis with bivariate correlation analysis and moderation analysis. It then offers an additional analysis of secondary data to shed further light on the relationship between franchisor growth and its drivers.FindingsThis study confirms the diverse nature of the relationship between the various measures of growth and drivers. It finds that proportion of outlets franchised and brand reputation have the strongest relationships with geographic dispersion; age and proportion of outlets franchised have the strongest relationships with outlet growth rate; and size has the strongest relationship with the number of new outlets. In addition, these multiple relationships are moderated by all three research characteristics that this study investigates, including data source, time frame and industry context.Research limitations/implicationsThis meta-analysis merely offers an examination of the most commonly studied drivers and not a complete review of all potentially important variables. It calls for further research that examines the factors that lead to franchisor growth and performance in general.Practical implicationsManagers of young franchisors do not need to rush to expand their business across a wide range of geographic regions. Young franchisors instead should focus initially on gaining maturity, developing their business concept, building an attractive track record and improving their brand reputation. Beyond a strong brand and well-developed business concept, franchisors can attract potential franchisees by reassuring them and making them feel secure about their investment.Originality/valueThis study includes a bivariate analysis that was used to conduct a meta-analysis and also an empirical analysis of secondary data. By conducting the secondary data analysis, we were able to examine the extent to which the meta-analysis results of this study could be extended beyond the time period for papers included in the meta-analysis.
Internal elements that hinder a better industrial service offering
Authors: Pereira Giancarlo Medeiros , Rocha Mauro , Nunes Fabiano L. , Borchardt Miriam , Viegas Claudia Viviane 
Published: January 2018

Purpose
This study aims to investigate the internal elements that influence service offering. A better understanding of these elements can improve interaction between organizational structure, corporate culture and human resource management, and can leverage interdepartmental collaboration.

Design/methodology/approach
In total, 12 global manufacturers that sell products and services to the automotive or to the chemical supply chains were investigated on multiple case studies.

Findings
The lack of interdepartmental processes and indicators may induce other departments to not prioritize the demands of the service department, thus lowering the service level. Service professionals who do not combine technical and commercial skills may hinder sales increase (product + service). The isolation of service professionals prevents the dissemination of knowledge among departments, thus reducing manufacturer’s innovativeness.

Research limitations/implications
Further research must focus on how to manage/redesign processes to improve sales and innovativeness; how to hire, qualify and motivate service professionals who possess commercial skills; and how to mitigate the isolation of service professionals.

Originality/value
New interdepartmental processes and indicators can turn on new and better organizational structures, improve the service management and reduce internal conflicts. Service professionals who possess and use only technical skills can hamper the incorporation of the new demands presented by the customers. Isolated professionals may negatively affect the efficacy of the market strategy.
A multilevel study on servant leadership, job boredom and job crafting
Authors: Harju Lotta K. , Schaufeli Wilmar B. , Hakanen Jari J. 
Published: January 2018

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine cross-level effects of team-level servant leadership on job boredom and the mediating role of job crafting. Cross-level moderating effects of team-level servant leadership were also investigated.

Design/methodology/approach
This longitudinal study employed a multilevel design in a sample of 237 employees, clustered into 47 teams. Servant leadership was aggregated to the team-level to examine the effects of shared perceptions of leadership at T1 on individual-level outcome, namely job boredom, at T2. In addition, mediation analysis was used to test whether team-level servant leadership at T1 can protect followers from job boredom at T2 by fostering job crafting at T2. Cross-level moderating effects of team-level servant leadership at T1 on the relation between job crafting at T2 and job boredom at T2 were also modeled.

Findings
Job crafting at T2 mediated the cross-level effect of team-level servant leadership at T1 on job boredom at T2.

Research limitations/implications
The findings suggest that team-level servant leadership predicts less job boredom by boosting job crafting.

Originality/value
This study is the first to assess the effects of servant leadership on job boredom and the mediating role of job crafting. This paper examines job boredom in a multilevel design, thus extending knowledge on its contextual components.
On the fire performance of unbraced composite frames
Authors: Bahr Oliver 
Published: January 2018

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of the structural behaviour of fire-exposed unbraced composite frames. Designers to date paid little attention to unbraced one-bay composite frames as structural system. There are two main reasons for this. First, codes lack simplified methods for the fire design of these frames due to their sway and the linked P-Δ effects when subjected to fire, which complicates the design. Second, it is demanding to construct external composite joints for the regarded one-bay frames. Thus, external joints in composite constructions are mostly constructed as steel joints. Nevertheless, these frames offer advantages. These include increased usable space and flexibility in the building’s use, large spans, fast construction times and inherent fire resistance.Design/methodology/approachTo profit from these benefits, two different external semi-rigid composite joint were developed for the considered one-bay composite frames. The first solution based on concrete-filled steel tube columns and the second on concrete-filled double skin tube columns. Furthermore, a numerical model was established to study the fire performance of unbraced composite frames. The model was validated against four fire tests on isolated composite joints and two large-scale fire tests on unbraced composite frames.FindingsOverall, the predictions of the numerical model were in good agreement with the test results. Thus, the numerical model is appropriate for further investigations on the fire performance of unbraced composite frames.Originality/valueThe sequence of construction results in significant stresses in the steel section, which creates difficulties in numerical modelling and may account for the relatively few studies carried out at room temperature. For the fire design, there was, to the best knowledge of the author, to date no numerical model available that was capable of considering the sequence of construction.
“This course made me feel guilty to be an Australian”
Authors: Crowhurst Michael , Faulkner Julie 
Published: January 2018

Purpose
From one Graduate Diploma Secondary student taking a pro-diversity course that both authors had a connection with there was a very angry response, encapsulated by the statement “This course made me feel guilty to be an Australian”. We are aware that negative student evaluations can be part of the territory for tertiary teachers working in diversity courses. The purpose of this paper is to explore the students’ confronting comment which will be construed as a type of offer that is being extended to us – an offer that we are refusing. We draw on Deleuze and Guattari’s notion of “exterior assemblages”, and we shift our gaze to consider “what constitutes the territory” that is our response to the pre-service teacher’s evaluative claim.

Design/methodology/approach
The specific methods we deployed involved an eclectic appropriation of various tools. We embarked on this process of exploration by journaling, collective reflection and informal discussions with other colleagues. Our journals responded to the question: What constitutes the place that is the territory that is our refusal of the student’s offer? In order to explore this place we: kept a hand-written journal; used conventional text and arts based practice techniques in our journaling; discussed our journal entries periodically (face to face, via Skype and via e-mail); discussed this project with colleagues – giving them knowledge that we were doing this – and that we might write journal entries about these conversations; and read a variety of relevant texts We engaged in these processes for a three month period. At the end of this period we shared journals, and set about the task of analysing them. We engaged in a number of analyses and detailed our findings over the next month. Further, over a longer period of time we engaged with this incident and our journal entries and presented a series of in progress papers at a variety of conferences and seminars. The analysis of the data generated involved discourse analysis and dialogue.

Findings
A series of key discourses were identified and listed in the paper.

Research limitations/implications
The key identified ideas are briefly linked to a series of implications for practitioners.

Practical implications
One of the key practical implications is the suggestion that where disagreements surface in education that one response to such moments might be for the parties to consider where they are located.

Social implications
The paper outlines a way of thinking about disagreements that has useful implications when considering issues relating to pedagogical strategies aiming to work towards social justice.

Originality/value
The paper is an original response to a critical moment that occurred for two lecturers in pre-service teacher education.
Effect of apoptosis‐associated speck‐like protein containing a caspase recruitment domain on vaccine efficacy: Overcoming the effects of its deficiency with aluminum hydroxide adjuvant
Authors: Lee Deuk‐Ki , Lee Eun‐Young , Kim Ryoon‐Ho , Kwak Hye‐Won , Kim Joo Young , Kim Hun , Kang Kyung‐Won , Lee Sang‐Myeong , Park Jong‐Hwan , Chang Jun , Nam Jae‐Hwan 
Published: January 2018

ABSTRACTHost factors such as nutritional status and immune cell state are important for vaccine efficacy. Inflammasome activation may be important for triggering vaccine‐induced humoral and cell‐mediated immune responses. Formulations with alum as a typical adjuvant to overcome the effects of host factors have recently been shown to induce inflammasome activation, which augments vaccine efficacy. Apoptosis‐associated speck‐like protein containing a caspase recruitment domain (ASC) is one of the main components of inflammasomes, but it is not clear whether ASC affects the vaccine‐induced immune response. Herein, we used two types of vaccines: inactivated influenza vaccine not formulated with alum, and HPV vaccine formulated with alum. We gave the vaccines to ASC knockout (ASC−/−) mice to investigate the role of ASC in vaccine efficacy. Influenza vaccine‐immunized ASC−/− mice did not show antibody titers in week 2 after the first vaccination. After boosting, the antibody titer in ASC−/− mice was about half that in wild type (WT) mice. Furthermore, a cytotoxic T‐lymphocyte response against influenza vaccine was not induced in ASC−/− mice. Therefore, vaccinated ASC−/− mice did not show effective protection against viral challenge. ASC−/− mice immunized with alum‐formulated HPV vaccine showed similar antibody titers and T‐cell proliferation compared with immunized WT mice. However, the HPV vaccine without alum induced up to threefold lower titers of HPV‐specific antibody titers in ASC−/− mice compared with those in WT mice. These findings suggest that alum in vaccine can overcome the ASC‐deficient condition.
Defensive symbionts mediate species coexistence in phytophagous insects
Authors: Hertäg Corinne , Vorburger Christoph 
Published: January 2018

Abstract

Competition of two species for the same resource is expected to result in competitive exclusion of the inferior competitor. In natural communities, however, other antagonists and symbionts moderate competition. Thus, we have to go beyond studying pairwise interactions.

Natural enemies may facilitate coexistence if they affect the superior competitor more strongly, or they can hinder coexistence via apparent competition. Less well studied is the role of symbionts, which may influence species coexistence in conjunction with enemies.

Eukaryotes commonly harbour microbial endosymbionts that provide protection against natural enemies, but are costly in their absence. Such defensive symbionts could thus mediate coexistence of species competing for the same resource, both in the presence and in the absence of enemies, but as yet there is little evidence for this claim.

We addressed this proposed role of defensive symbionts in replicated simple communities consisting of two aphid species sharing the same host plant and the same natural enemy, a parasitoid wasp. Both, one, or neither species were infected with a resistance‐conferring symbiont, and they competed in the absence as well as the presence of parasitoids.

The symbiont had significant effects in the absence of parasitoids by lowering competitive ability especially in one species, but the effects were more dramatic in the presence of parasitoids. With both species protected by the symbiont, parasitoid densities remained low and both aphid species persisted. When neither species was protected, parasitoids drove both species to extinction. Surprisingly, the same outcome was observed when only one species was protected. The susceptible species supported high densities of parasitoids that also killed the resistant aphids via mechanisms other than parasitism, presumably by disturbing them to the point of starvation. This is an intriguing form of apparent competition.

Our results demonstrate an important role of defensive symbionts in insect communities through modifying species interactions. This highlights the need for experimental data when studying species coexistence in competitive networks. Furthermore, the observation that a susceptible host can negatively affect a resistant host via a shared parasitoid is an instructive insight for biological control.

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