Shanyong Wang

Regional innovation environment and innovation efficiency: the Chinese case

ABSTRACT The main goal of this paper is to analyse the connotation of ‘regional innovation environment’ and explore the relationships between the regional innovation environmental components and innovation efficiency (IE). Three regional environmental factors were extracted, namely, economic infrastructure (EI), the quality and structure of innovators (QSI) and regional openness (RO). The relationships between the regional innovation environmental components and innovation efficiency present a chain structure as RO–EI–QSI–IE. Only the QSI component affects IE directly, and all of the effects are positive. Based on these results, the characteristics of Chinese regional innovation systems were analysed, and the implications on science & technology policy were discussed.

The impact of carbon trading on regulated agents in China

Facing requirements of sustainable development and tremendous international pressures, China has initiated a serious of trials for mandatory carbon trading schemes. In this study, to investigate the impact of carbon trading on commodity prices, emissions, outputs and profits of the regulated agents such as power plants in China, a partial equilibrium model is constructed based on the Cournot theory of oligopoly. Three key results were found. First, following the implementation of a carbon trading scheme there is a shift of production from plants with high emission rates to those with low rates. Second, the emission-based updating (EBU) allocation of allowable emissions would provide a buffer in which the reduced outputs and profits of plants with high emissions are alleviated. Third, if the electricity price is market oriented it will vary with the carbon price. Based on these results, we conclude that the carbon constraint will result in cleaner generating technologies and be helpful in promoting the development of low carbon technologies in China. In addition, the EBU allocation is more feasible at the beginning of the national carbon trading in China. Given that electricity prices in China are regulated now, we argue that mandatory carbon trading should be implemented at the beginning of coordinated reforms of market-oriented pricing in electricity.

Institutional pressures and product modularity: do supply chain coordination and functional coordination matter?

Product modularity has received increasing attention from researchers and practitioners in recent years. However, the research on the antecedents of implementing product modularity is limited. In this research, drawing on institutional theory and organisational coordination theory, we propose a model to empirically investigate the effects of institutional pressures (i.e. coercive, normative, and mimetic pressures) on product modularity and how such effects are moderated by organisational coordination (i.e. supply chain coordination and functional coordination). We use data collected from 199 manufacturers to empirically test the research model. The results show that these three institutional pressures have different main effects on product modularity. Coercive pressures and normative pressures are positively and significantly associated with product modularity while the effect of mimetic pressures is not significant. In addition, supply chain coordination and functional coordination play different roles in the relationships between these three institutional pressures and product modularity. Supply chain coordination and functional coordination positively moderate the effect of coercive pressures on product modularity, but negatively moderate the effects of normative pressures and mimetic pressures on product modularity. The implications of these findings are discussed and suggestions for future research are delineated.

Understanding consumers’ intention to use plastic bags: using an extended theory of planned behaviour model

Over 3 billion plastic bags are consumed in China every day, which brings great challenges to solid waste management. Although Chinese government has implemented the “plastic ban” in 2008, many people still use plastic bags in their daily lives. This paper examines the determinants of plastic bags usage behaviour among 392 consumers in China from the perspective of the extended theory of planned behaviour (TPB). The extension is implemented by adding three variables: convenience, environmental concern and ethical belief. The empirical results indicate that consumers’ attitude towards using plastic bags, subjective norm, perceived behaviour control and convenience are all statistically significantly and positively related to the intention to use plastic bags. Meanwhile, environmental concern and ethical belief have significant but negative effects on consumers’ attitude and intention to use plastic bags. The attitude towards using plastic bags partially mediates the effects of consumers’ environmental concern and ethical belief on their intention to use plastic bags. In addition, this study confirms the appropriateness of the TPB model and shows that the extended TPB model has good predictive power in understanding consumers’ intention to use plastic bags. Based on these results, implications for policy makers and suggestions for further future study are offered.

Understanding the intention to use medical big data processing technique from the perspective of medical data analyst

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to apply an extended technology acceptance model to examine the medical data analyst’s intention to use medical big data processing technique. Design/methodology/approach Questionnaire survey method was used to collect data from 293 medical data analysts and analyzed with the assistance of structural equation modeling. Findings The results indicate that the perceived usefulness, social influence and attitude are important to the intention to use medical big data processing technique, and the direct effect of perceived usefulness on intention to use is greater than social influence and attitude. The perceived usefulness is influenced by perceived ease of use. Attitude is influenced by perceived usefulness, and attitude acts as a mediator between perceived usefulness and usage intention. Unexpectedly, attitude is not influenced by perceived ease of use and social influence. Originality/value This research examines the medical data analyst’s intention to use medical big data processing technique and provides several implications for using medical big data processing technique.

Unearthing the effects of personality traits on consumer’s attitude and intention to buy green products

Consumer’s green buying behavior has a significant effect on achieving global sustainable development. Based on this condition, the present study aimed to explore the effects of individual’s personality traits on consumer’s attitude toward green buying and intention to buy green products. Questionnaires survey method was employed to collect data, from Chinese consumers, and the data were analyzed by using SPSS software and Smart-PLS 2.0. The results indicated that the personality traits of extraversion, agreeableness, openness to experience and conscientiousness positively affect consumer’s attitude toward green buying. Consumer’s attitude, conscientiousness, openness to experience and extraversion affect consumer’s intention to buy green products positively and significantly. Furthermore, a multi-group SEM (structural equation model) analysis was conducted to explore the impacts of several demographic variables (such as age, gender and birthplace) on the relationships between personality traits, attitude and intention. The results indicated that the effects of agreeableness and conscientiousness on attitude and the effects of agreeableness, conscientiousness and attitude on intention to buy green products are stronger in Gen Y, female and southern region subgroups. The effects of extraversion and openness to experience on attitude and intention to buy green products are stronger in non-Gen Y, male and northern region subgroups. Finally, this research discussed the implications and pointed out the suggestions for future research.

Environmental knowledge and consumers’ intentions to visit green hotels: the mediating role of consumption values

ABSTRACT The aim of this research is to explore the effect of environmental knowledge on consumers’ intentions to visit green hotels through consumption values. The research data was collected using the questionnaire survey. The results showed that environmental knowledge is significantly related to consumption values of consumers, which in turn has significant impacts on the visiting intentions. Moreover, this study also found that consumption values mediate the relationship between environmental knowledge and the intentions to visit green hotels. According to the results, the implications, limitations, and the directions of follow-up research were discussed.

Public smog knowledge, risk perception, and intention to reduce car use: Evidence from China

ABSTRACT Smog pollution has received widely attention in recent years due to its negative effects. There is consensus that the motor vehicle exhaust emission is one of the sources of smog pollution and reduced private car use would significantly improve the air quality and alleviate the smog pollution problem. In this research, we aim to investigate how public smog knowledge and risk perception (physical health risk perception and mental health risk perception) affect public attitude and intention to reduce car use. A questionnaire survey of 334 randomly sampled respondents was designed to test these relationships. The results show that public smog knowledge is positively and significantly related to physical health risk perception, mental health risk perception, attitude and intention to reduce car use. Public smog knowledge has the largest impact on intention to reduce car use. Furthermore, physical health risk perception and mental health risk perception are positively and significantly associated with attitude and intention to reduce car use. In addition, the results also indicated that public smog knowledge is at a low level. Based on the results, implications and suggestions for future research were discussed.