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This study aims to analyze the relevance of the city spatial structure for smart city innovation from the perspective of agglomeration externalities, and discusses whether there is heterogeneity in innovation across different geographical areas and population scales of cities.

The authors construct the centralization and concentration indexes to conceptualize the city spatial structure of 286 cities (prefecture-level) in China based on the LandScan Global Population Dataset from 2001 to 2016. A fixed-effects panel data model is employed to analyze the relationship between the spatial structure and the innovation ability of smart cities; the results were validated through robustness tests and heterogeneity analyses.

The study found that the more concentrated and more evenly the distribution of urban population, namely the more city spatial structure tends to be weak-monocentricity, the higher the level of innovation in smart cities. The relevance of the weak-monocentricity structure and smart city innovation varies significantly depending on their geographical location and the size of the city. This result is more applicable to cities in the eastern and central regions, as well as to cities with smaller populations.

The adjustment and optimization of the city spatial structure is important for enhancing smart city construction. Unlike previous studies, which mostly use a single dimension of “the proportion of population in sub-centres to the population of all central areas” to measure city spatial structure, the authors employed the spatial centralization and spatial concentration. It is hoped that this study can guide smart city construction from the perspective of the development model of city spatial structure.

The draconian measures to lock down communities and cities in China during the COVID-19 pandemic are unprecedented in human history. First the mega-city of Wuhan, then the province of Hubei, and eventually the whole nation of China, were shut down, surveilled and governed in a way that was identical to the 17th century plague-stricken European town re-portrayed and analyzed by Foucault. Instead of categorizing China’s COVID-19-triggered spatial and social governance as an ad hoc and hence abnormal disciplinary mechanism, this essay argues that the spatial lockdown and social control in China during the COVID-19 pandemic express the long existing and well-established governance model of China: that of a pre-liberal disciplinary society.

A disciplinary society using “the meticulous exercise of the right of the sword” with neither liberal values nor liberal practices, China’s swift re-configuration into a pre-liberal disciplined society during the COVID-19 pandemic invalidates a neo-liberal reading of the Chinese governance. Furthermore, the radical spatial and social control measures not only expose the fundamentally illiberal nature of the Chinese governance but also suggest its institutional dependence on its Leninist nomenklatura system.

With this institutional dependence, draconian spatial and social control measures are likely to be continuously carried on in China after the COVID-19 crisis, albeit in a less brutal manner.

It offers a conceptual and theoretical framework to understand China's socio-spatial governance.

The purpose of this study is to explore the three-way interaction effects among congruence type (proximal vs distal) of nonverbal ad messages, assessment perspective (internal vs external) of verbal ad messages and social distance (close vs faraway) on consumers’ visit intention.

After developing the four categories of restaurant advertisements and scenarios for each type of social distance, the authors used 780 observations collected from Chinese consumers via the online survey platform Sojump and WeChat. The authors conducted ANOVA to test the hypotheses.

The results reveal that in proximal congruence situations, consumers who feel a close social distance between themselves and their companions report higher visit intentions when exposed to internal versus external perspective-oriented ad messages; in distal congruence situations, external perspective-oriented ad messages elicit higher intention to visit advertised restaurant when consumers feel a far social distance between themselves and their companions.

Future research can focus on the different categories of messages, such as functional and experiential messages, to find whether similar interaction effects are explored or not.

This paper suggests some practical implications for advertisers to maximize the impact of advertisements on consumers’ behavioral outcomes via combining the different characteristics of nonverbal and verbal messages effectively, especially according to their target consumers’ characteristics.

In the view of the three-way interaction effects, this paper offers a new lens on understanding how advertisements influence consumers’ behavioral outcomes, which could contribute to the advancement of advertisement theories.

The purpose of this study is to establish an assembly accuracy analysis model of deployable arms based on Jacobian–Torsor theory to improve the assembly accuracy. Spacecraft deployable arm is one of the core components of spacecraft. Reducing the errors in assembly process is the main method to improve the assembly accuracy of spacecraft deployable arms.

First, the influence of composite connecting rod, root joint and arm joint on assembly accuracy in the tandem assembly process is analyzed to propose the assembly accuracy analysis model. Second, a non-tandem assembly process of “two joints fixed-composite rod installed-flange gasket compensated” is proposed and analyzed to improve the assembly accuracy of deployable arms. Finally, the feasibility of non-tandem assembly process strategy is verified by assembly experiment.

The experiential results show that the assembly errors are reduced compared with the tandem assembly process. The errors on axes x, y and z directions decreased from 14.1009 mm, 14.2424 mm and 0.8414 mm to 0.922 mm, 0.671 mm and 0.2393 mm, respectively. The errors round axes x and y directions also decreased from 0.0050° and 0.0053° to 0.00292° and 0.00251°, respectively.

This paper presents an assembly accuracy analysis model of deployable arms and applies the model to calculate assembly errors in tandem assembly process. In addition, a non-tandem assembly process is proposed based on the model. The experimental results show that the non-tandem assembly process can improve the assembly accuracy of deployable arms.

This study aims to examine the employment practices of family firms in emerging markets. Drawing from the social exchange theory, the authors propose that transgenerational control intention enhances the motivation for family owners to engage in favorable employment practices as inducement for future contribution of employees.

Multilevel regression models were applied to test the hypotheses with a sample of 3033 Chinese private family firms.

The results show that the employment practices of family firms are positively associated with transgenerational control intention, and the effect of transgenerational control intention is contingent on regional social trust.

This study highlights the role of transgenerational control intention of family owners in motivating favorable employment in family firms. The study adds nuance to the variances in employment behaviors of family firms as well as the family owner-employee exchange relationship in emerging markets.

This study aims to investigate the effect of immigration on housing prices in Australia both at the national and regional levels.

Data for eight Australian states on a quarterly basis from 2004–2017 is used. To study the possible dynamic and endogenous relationship between housing prices and immigration, a panel vector autoregressive error correction model (PVECM) is adopted.

Analysis of the results indicates that in the short run immigration positively and significantly affects housing prices, whereas in the long run no significant relationship was observed between the two variables. From the regional breakdown and analysis, it is discerned that in some states there is a significant and positive effect of immigration on residential real estate prices in the long run. Causality analysis confirms that the direction of causation is from immigration to housing prices.

The study illustrates that immigration and interstate migration, as well as high salaries, have been causing a rise in housing demand and subsequently housing prices. To monitor exceedingly high housing prices, local authorities should be controlling migration and salary levels.

Past research studies had highlighted the importance of native interstate migration in explaining the nexus between immigration – housing prices. In this study, it has been empirically verified how immigration has been affecting the locational decisions of natives and subsequently how this has been affecting housing prices.

The purpose of this paper is to identify electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) customers from customer reviews. Thus, firms can precisely leverage eWOM customers to increase their product sales.

This research proposed a framework to analyze the content of consumer-generated product reviews. Specific algorithms were used to identify potential eWOM reviewers, and then an evaluation method was used to validate the relationship between product sales and the eWOM reviewers identified by the authors’ proposed method.

The results corroborate that online product reviews that are made by the eWOM customers identified by the authors’ proposed method are more related to product sales than customer reviews that are made by non-eWOM customers and that the predictive power of the reviews generated by eWOM customers are significantly higher than the reviews generated by non-eWOM customers.

The proposed method is useful in the data set, which is based on one type of products. However, for other products, the validity must be tested. Previous eWOM customers may have no significant influence on product sales in the future. Therefore, the proposed method should be tested in the new market environment.

By combining the method with the previous customer segmentation method, a new framework of customer segmentation is proposed to help firms understand customers’ value specifically.

This study is the first to identify eWOM customers from online reviews and to evaluate the relationship between reviewers and product sales.

This study explores the effects of different types of technology lock-in on enterprise innovation performance. On this basis, the authors aim to provide technological innovation suggestions for the long-term development of Chinese enterprises.

A total of 211 high-tech enterprises in China were taken as the research sample. Data were collected through questionnaire surveys and secondhand data. Linear and nonlinear regression models were used to test the hypotheses.

Different types of technology lock-in had different effects on enterprise innovation performance. Initiative lock-in and passive lock-in showed an inverted U-shaped relationship with innovation performance. Economies of scale were positively correlated with innovation performance, while self-lock-in was negatively correlated with it.

This research can help enterprises reconceptualize technology lock-in. It can also help enterprises in different stages of development carry out targeted technological innovation and management strategies.

This research enriches our understanding of technology lock-in. By breaking with previous conceptualizations of a simple linear relationship between technology lock-in and innovation performance, this study proposes and confirms different technology lock-in has different relationships with enterprise innovation performance. This study is important for enterprises to reassess their technology lock-in state and carry out targeted technological innovation strategies. This research enriches the theory of path dependence and its combination with other theories. And this study also reveals the current research on technology lock-in is insufficient.