Suchergebnisse

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been widely adopted in the service sector to enhance the customer experience and gain a competitive advantage. However, there are a limited number of papers that focus on the relationship between AI and customer experience, and there is no clear framework to reveal how AI influences the customer experience. Therefore, this paper will address how AI affects the customer experience and develop a conceptual framework of AI applications in customer experience along the customer journey. A two-step research design is adopted in this paper. The first phase aims to identify a framework through an extensive systematic literature review of the relevant databases. The findings cover three main themes: AI experience, AI functions, and AI services. A research framework is created on the basis of the findings. This paper contributes to consumer behavior and services by integrating AI with customer experience and providing a comprehensive framework for guiding future research. The study also offers practical implications for practitioners to enhance customer experience.

AbstractSince it was framed 20 years ago, Syed Farid Alatas's theory of academic dependence has made a long‐lasting impact within the global social science field, and has elevated the previous discussion on academic dependence. In this essay, we critically examine his theory of academic dependence with an original dataset that contains 22 top sociology institutions in East Asia, including China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. We further engage the data, and theory within the global higher education ranking system, a theme that had not yet emerged when he framed his theory of academic dependence. Our findings suggest that (1) higher rankings do not create job opportunities for locally trained PhDs; (2) emphasis on the number of publications is still prevalent; (3) adopting the standards set up by the ranking agency re‐enforces the existing global division of academic labor. Overall, sociology in these societies after 20 years is now more dependent, rather than autonomous from, the Western academic center.

AbstractSince it was framed 20 years ago, Syed Farid Alatas's theory of academic dependence has made a long‐lasting impact within the global social science field, and has elevated the previous discussion on academic dependence. In this essay, we critically examine his theory of academic dependence with an original dataset that contains 22 top sociology institutions in East Asia, including China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. We further engage the data, and theory within the global higher education ranking system, a theme that had not yet emerged when he framed his theory of academic dependence. Our findings suggest that (1) higher rankings do not create job opportunities for locally trained PhDs; (2) emphasis on the number of publications is still prevalent; (3) adopting the standards set up by the ranking agency re‐enforces the existing global division of academic labor. Overall, sociology in these societies after 20 years is now more dependent, rather than autonomous from, the Western academic center.

PurposeThis study investigates, from a resource dependence perspective, the effects of domestic private firms' political connections and economic power on their labor law compliance in China.Design/methodology/approachThis study used data from a large-scale nationwide survey on Chinese domestic private firms, the Chinese Private Enterprise Survey collected from 2004 to 2012, to examine factors of interest that affect firms' compliance to labor laws. Hypotheses were tested using OLS regression models with robust standard errors.FindingsThe results indicate that domestic private firms' institutional political connections specified by the presence of a union or a Chinese Communist Party committee is positively related to firms' labor law compliance, and firm owners' formal political connections indicated by their membership in the People's Congress or the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference have a somewhat negative effect. The post-hoc analysis shows that firm owners' political representation at the county and city levels is negatively related with labor law compliance, while the political representation at the national level is positively related to labor law compliance. Moreover, the economic power of a domestic private firm is related positively to its labor law compliance. Finally, although the authors did not find evidence that the 2008 Labor Contract Law increased labor contract coverage, it did increase pension coverage after 2008.Research limitations/implicationsThe present study reveals a more refined relationship between domestic private firm owners' political connections and the degree of labor law compliance. It also demonstrates that the economic power of domestic private firms has a positive effect on their labor law compliance. This implies the importance of the contribution of domestic private firms to economic and social development in China, warranting continued support of the development of the private sector in China.Originality/valueThis study adds to the sparse literature on the determinants of domestic private firms' labor law compliance in China. It also sheds light on whether political connections and the rising economic power of Chinese domestic private firms influence their compliance with labor laws.

AbstractThe concern for inequality, growth and development is undoubtedly crucial in the context of climate change mitigation and adaptation. However, most studies either rely on the nation-state estimates of carbon emissions to propose a uniform nation-wide growth (or degrowth) strategy, or they tailor the method to assess the inequality of one country at a time, making a cross-country cross-income comparison difficult. To fill this analytical gap, we synthesize the existing methods of emission calculations and calculate the level of carbon emissions associated with given income deciles of household consumption in five countries, namely China, Germany, India, the UK and USA. We find that the within-country inequality varies among countries, with the ratio between the top and bottom income deciles ranging from three to nine at the household level. We also find that the carbon emissions of the top income group in urban China is almost comparable to that of their peer group in the US, UK and Germany. Based on these results, we discuss the use of the remaining global carbon budget in the context of development and inequality.

AbstractA decision maker makes a ruling on a random case in each period. She is uncertain about the correct ruling until conducting a costly investigation. A ruling establishes a precedent, which cannot be violated under binding precedent. We compare the information acquisition incentives, the evolution of standards and the social welfare under nonbinding and binding precedents. Compared to nonbinding precedent, under binding precedent, information acquisition incentives are stronger in earlier periods, but become weaker as more precedents are established. Although erroneous rulings may be perpetuated under binding precedent, welfare can be higher because of the more intensive investigation early on.

In this study we examined the importance of entrepreneurs' internal and external social capital in the relationship between entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) and firms' innovation behavior. We analyzed the data from 193 entrepreneurs in China, and the results showed that ESE positively
affected firms' innovation behavior, and the entrepreneur's internal social capital played a negative mediating role in the relationship between ESE and the firm's innovation behavior. The findings both empirically support propositions of previous researchers about the negative effect of social
capital in the relationship between ESE and innovation, and offer deeper insight into this. Possible explanations for our findings and future direction are also discussed.