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Despite service downgrades' undisputed practical relevance, service downgrades (e.g. customers shifting the price tier downward) have received surprisingly little attention from scholars. Previous studies have focussed on either the public policy issue of tiered pricing or optimal pricing by the service provider. Only a few studies have examined why customers shift across different price tiers and how such activities indicate their future behaviour.

Based on customer data collected from a major telecommunications company, the authors use a logistic regression model to investigate how two service modification levers (i.e. transaction- and relationship-level factors) influence the likelihood of service downgrade. The authors apply a survival model to study how service downgrades affect customer churn.

Transaction-level factors such as service usage (e.g. the frequency and recency of underuse experiences) are positively associated with the likelihood of a downgrade. However, relationship-level factors (e.g. relationship duration and customer status) are negatively associated with the likelihood of downgrades. Customers engaging in downgrades are more likely to churn in the future.

The authors focus on downgrade behaviour, which can be perceived as customers' choice to move down the price tier, which likely ruins the service provider's performance. The authors conceptualise two fundamental driving forces behind a service downgrade: the misfits between the actual usage and the service plan chosen and the deteriorating relationships. The authors' empirical findings on the factors influencing downgrades provide insights for service providers seeking to prevent such behaviour.

The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of firm performance on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its possible moderating effect. Despite the significance of CSR, there remains an extensive debate about how it is affected by firm performance.

The conceptual model is mainly built on goal-setting theory. Based on archival data from multiple data sets on 1,650 companies, collected from 2010 to 2017, the hypotheses are tested using the two-stage instrumental variable regression method.

There is an inverted U-shaped relationship between firm performance and CSR that first increases and then decreases. In addition, considering the boundary conditions, state ownership makes the inverted U-shaped curve steeper, while high executive wage concentration makes the inverted U-shaped curve flatter.

This study harmonizes the traditional contradictory findings of the influence of firm performance on CSR, that is, it supports a positive, negative or neutral relationship between the two.

This research provides a necessary structure for the CSR literature. By delving deeply into the relationship between firm performance and CSR, it enables scholars to better address the critical management question of whether earning more will lead to doing good.

Limited use of Internet of Things (IoT) technology on construction sites has restricted its value in the construction industry. To propel its widespread application, this paper explores the influencing factors and action paths of construction companies' IoT technology adoption behavior.

First, literature research, technology adoption theories, and semi-structured expert interviews were employed to build the adoption model. Second, a questionnaire survey was conducted among Chinese construction contractors to collect empirical data. Third, the structural equation model method and regression analysis were used to test the adoption model. Finally, the findings were further validated with interviews, case studies, and field observations.

External environmental pressure (EEP), perceived benefit (PB), top management support (TMS), company resource readiness (CRR), adoption intention (AI), and perceived compatibility (PCA) have a direct positive impact on adoption behavior (AB). In contrast, perceived cost (PC) and perceived complexity (PCL) exert a direct negative impact on AB. The EEP, PB, and PC are critical factors affecting AB, whereas AI is strongly affected by CRR and TMS. Besides, AI plays a part mediating role in the relationship between seven factors and AB. Company size and nature positively moderate AI's positive effect on AB.

This paper contributes to the knowledge of IoT technology adoption behavior in the construction sector by applying the technology adoption theories. Exploring the implementation barriers and drivers of IoT technology in construction sites from the perspective of organizational technology adoption behavior and introducing moderating variables to explain adoption behavior are innovations of this paper. The findings can help professionals better understand the IoT technology adoption barriers and enhance construction companies' adoption awareness, demand, and ability. This work also provides a reference for understanding the impact mechanism of the adoption behavior of other innovative technologies in construction.

This study aims to examine how loneliness, romantic relationship status (single/non-single) and romantic attachment factors (sociosexual orientation index (SOI), satisfaction with current relationship) interactively affect conspicuous consumption.

Five quasi-experimental studies were conducted with different measures of conspicuous consumption across a variety of samples (N = 1189).

Study 1 shows that loneliness increased singles’ but not non-singles’ conspicuous consumption. Study 2A further shows the mediating role of the mating motive amongst singles. Study 2B compared conspicuous and inconspicuous consumption and showed no interaction effect between loneliness and romantic relationship status in the domain of inconspicuous consumption. Studies 3 and 4 tested whether the effects of loneliness on non-singles’ conspicuous consumption were moderated by SOI and satisfaction with current relationship, respectively. Specifically, lonely non-singles with high SOI or low satisfaction with current relationship sought conspicuous consumption, but those with low SOI or high satisfaction with the current relationship avoided conspicuous consumption.

This study did not specifically consider different roots of loneliness (lack of romantic love, friendship or family attachment) between singles and non-singles, which future research should explore.

The findings have implications for both marketers and policymakers regarding marketing campaigns for conspicuous products, support programmes satisfying the specific social attachment needs of different lonely people, etc.

This study identifies a specific social attachment desire of the lonely, namely, romantic motive, by which loneliness influences singles’ and non-singles’ conspicuous consumption in different ways. The findings suggest the value of distinguishing types of loneliness.

As value co-creation has become a critical strategy for companies to gain competitive advantage, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the degree of the uncertain reward (DUR) and its impact on customer engagement (CE), particularly in the promotion stage, which has not been sufficiently explored. Further, optimistic estimation (OE) is examined as an underlying mechanism of the uncertain reward effect, as well as the impact of combining this with other marketing strategies: the controllable lottery and the delayed reward.

Three studies were conducted to examine the influence of DUR on CE, which included online experiments and a laboratory experiment. In total, 337 participants were recruited from China and the USA to enhance the study’s reliability and validity.

The research demonstrated that a high-degree uncertain reward led to less OE than a low-degree uncertain reward (LDUR), which subsequently decreased CE (Study 1). However, when other marketing strategies were combined – the controllable lottery (Study 2) and time-delay reward strategy (Study 3) – the uncertain reward effect was reversed (Study 2) or attenuated (Study 3).

The current research only presents two possible reward amounts and independently explores the influence of two popular marketing strategies. Future research can explore customers’ responses to engagement when they face multiple rewards and thoroughly investigate the influence of other social or psychological factors.

Firms could apply an LDUR to enhance CE effects. Furthermore, this could be done at a low cost by empowering customers’ controllability. Nonetheless, firms should be cautious with trade-offs when using time-delay reward strategies.

The research contributes to establishing networks of customer–company and interpersonal relationships, as well as fostering closer social ties and social harmony.

This research offers not only initial research on CE in the promotion stage, but also a novel psychological perspective in CE literature. Meanwhile, the study provides substantial value in guiding managers to effectively transform customers into value co-creators.

This paper aims to prepare third-order nonlinear optical (NLO) organic materials with large nonlinear optimization value, high damage threshold and ultrafast response time.

A series of novel symmetric and asymmetric compounds possessing third-order NLO properties were synthesized using 1,3,5-tribromobenzene as the basis. The photophysical and electrochemical properties, as well as the click reactions, were characterized by means of UV–VIS–NIR absorption spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry.

The donor–acceptor chromophores were inserted into compound, making the molecule to have a broader absorption in the near-infrared regions and a narrower optical and electrochemical band gap. It also formed an electron-delocalized organic system, which has larger effects on achieving a third-order NLO response. The third-order NLO phenomenon of benzene ring complexes was experimentally studied at 532 nm using Z-scan technology, and some compounds showed the expected NLO properties.

The click products exhibit more NLO phenomena by performing different click combinations to the side groups, opening new perspectives on using the system in a variety of photoelectric applications.

The aim of this paper was to clarify the influence of tensile stress on the electrochemical behavior of X80 steel in a simulated acid soil solution and attempt to understand mechanistic aspects of the corrosion behaviors of X80 under these conditions.

The electrochemical behavior of X80 steel at various tensile stresses was investigated in a simulated acid soil solution using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, potentiodynamic scan measurements and surface analysis techniques.

The results show that as tensile stress was increased, the open-circuit potential decreased, the reaction activity increase, the reaction resistance (Rct)value became smaller by degrees, the corrosion product film resistance (Rf) first decreased and then increased and polarization current densities changed conversely. The corrosion product film was compact and continuous under the low stress, whereas it was relatively loose under high-stress conditions. Tensile stress promotes the movement of dislocations, which become active points when they move to the steel surface. The increase in the number of active points enhances the anodic dissolution rate and promotes the formation of corrosion product film whose blocking effect can decrease the dissolution rate. The corrosion rate of the specimen is determined by these two effects.

This research provides an essential insight into the mechanism of the electrochemical behavior of X80 steel in acid soil environments.

The shape of a product plays a crucial role in shaping consumer behavior. Despite the voluminous research on factors influencing consumers’ shape preferences, there remains a limited understanding of how the busy mindset, a mentality increasingly emphasized by marketing campaigns, works. This study aims to fill this gap by exploring the relationship between a busy mindset and the preference for angular-shaped versus circular-shaped products and brand logos.

This research consists of seven experimental studies using various shape stimuli, distinct manipulations of busy mindset, different assessments of shape preference and samples drawn from multiple countries.

The findings reveal that a busy mindset leads to a preference for angular shapes over circular ones by amplifying the need for uniqueness. In addition, these effects are attenuated when products are scarce.

This research represents one of the pioneering efforts to study the role of a busy mindset on consumers’ aesthetic preferences. Beyond yielding insights for practitioners into visual marketing, this research contributes to the theories on the busy mindset and shape preference.

Purpose: This study investigates how couple similarity in various aspects affects their life satisfaction and how these impacts vary across educational groups among the young married couples in Shanghai.

Methodology: This study employs the pooled data from three waves of the Fudan Yangtze River Delta Social Transformation Survey which sampled Shanghai youths born between 1980 and 1989, the first single-child generation. Couple similarity is evaluated through the comparison in age, hukou status, education, and income quartile between the husband and wife. Ordered logistic regression model is applied to assess the impacts of couple similarity on life satisfaction.

Findings: Marriage hypergamy in age, education, and income barely have any impacts on couples’ life satisfaction, while hukou comparison, as an important indication of social stratification in Shanghai, is strongly associated with life satisfaction. The couple in which husband holds the urban hukou and wife rural hukou as well as the couple in which both partners hold the urban hukou are significantly happier than those in which both partners hold the rural hukou. Such a positive impact is partially explained by the higher husband’s decision-making power in male-advantaged families. Moreover, husband’s urban hukou status is especially important for those without college education, but not for those with college education.

Values: This chapter highlights the importance of hukou hypergamy in life satisfaction for married couples, in particular, lower-educated couples in Shanghai. These findings reveal an implicit but persistent preference for male-dominated family model, where husbands retain a higher decision-making power that, in turn, promotes life satisfaction for both partners.

Improving the diversity of recommendation information has become one of the latest research hotspots to solve information cocoons. Aiming to achieve both high accuracy and diversity of recommender system, a hybrid method has been proposed in this paper. This study aims to discuss the aforementioned method.

This paper integrates latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) model and locality-sensitive hashing (LSH) algorithm to design topic recommendation system. To measure the effectiveness of the method, this paper builds three-level categories of journal paper abstracts on the Web of Science platform as experimental data.

(1) The results illustrate that the diversity of recommended items has been significantly enhanced by leveraging hashing function to overcome information cocoons. (2) Integrating topic model and hashing algorithm, the diversity of recommender systems could be achieved without losing the accuracy of recommender systems in a certain degree of refined topic levels.

The hybrid recommendation algorithm developed in this paper can overcome the dilemma of high accuracy and low diversity. The method could ameliorate the recommendation in business and service industries to address the problems of information overload and information cocoons.