Becoming a tree when I will be dead? Why not! Generation X,Y and Z,and innovative green death practices

Within the theoretical field of ethical consumption, the study focuses on consumer behavior and innovative green death practices. While scarcely investigated in the marketing and consumer behavior research domains, at least four main reasons spur to consider the funeral industry as an interesting subject of enquiry: i) the sector boasts of a significant economic relevance; ii) it is extremely impactful from an environmental and social point of view; iii) it is witnessing interesting innovative processes in the direction of social and environmental sustainability; iv) consumer movements are rising all over the world asking for more sustainable death practices. Thus, adopting an augmented version of the theory of planned behavior (TPB), which includes individuals’ environmentally responsible consumption, and egoistic and altruistic environmental concern, the study investigates behavioral intention to adopt innovative green death practices (a green funeral) of people belonging to three different generations: X, Y, and Z. A purposive sample of 627 Italian people participated in an online the survey. Collected data were analyzed adopting an ordinal logit model. The results confirm the TPB predictive power also in the field of green funeral behavioral intention. Furthermore, environmentally responsible consumption and environmental concern – even though only in its altruistic component – positively influence behavioral intention, and generation exerts a moderating effect among the examined constructs. Overall, the research attempts to enrich the literature on ethical consumption by exploring the underinvestigated phenomenon of buying behavior of unsought and end-of-life products, that of green funerals, and provide managerial recommendations to funeral service sellers.     

The antecedents of digital collaboration through an enhanced digital platform for destination management: A micro-DMO perspective

While the tourism sector shifts towards digital transformation, Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) often struggle to adapt to their changing technological environment. This study explores the antecedents of digital collaboration and develops a framework for micro-DMOs to enhance effective destination management through digital technologies. An integrated sequential qualitative approach was adopted by conducting multi-phase interviews, in addition to designing and trialling a real-world trial digital platform. The research provides empirical evidence that digital collaboration is essential for micro-DMOs, necessitating them to transform their current “websites” into digital platforms which act as a hub for business stakeholders to actively be involved in. Antecedents of successful digital collaboration include mutuality, trust, control, and leadership which may be manifested differently from non-digital collaboration. Additionally, the study identifies three aspects for digital collaboration; marketing, networking and knowledge sharing that demands specific attention. Our results have theoretical, methodological, and practical implications for academia, industry and policymakers.     

Examining artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in marketing via a global lens: Current trends and future research opportunities

Artificial intelligence (AI) has captured substantial interest from a wide array of marketing scholars in recent years. Our research contributes to this emerging domain by examining AI technologies in marketing via a global lens. Specifically, our lens focuses on three levels of analysis: country, company, and consumer. Our country-level analysis emphasizes the heterogeneity in economic inequality across countries due to the considerable economic resources necessary for AI adoption. Our company-level analysis focuses on glocalization because while the hardware that underlies these technologies may be global in nature, their application necessitates adaptation to local cultures. Our consumer-level analysis examines consumer ethics and privacy concerns, as AI technologies often collect, store and process a cornucopia of personal data across our globe. Through the prism of these three lenses, we focus on two important dimensions of AI technologies in marketing: (1) human–machine interaction and (2) automated analysis of text, audio, images, and video. We then explore the interaction between these two key dimensions of AI across our three-part global lens to develop a set of research questions for future marketing scholarship in this increasingly important domain.     

科学与技术耦合效果评价——科技互补效应和成本效应分析

考虑到当前创新环境日益复杂化，科学与技术耦合系统已成为一个受系统内外因共同影响而发生演化的开放系统。在为耦合系统构建状态空间模型的基础上，通过求解该模型，刻画科学技术化强度和技术科学化强度，据此分析科学与技术互动产生的互补效应和成本效应，评价29个省份的科学与技术耦合效果，并测度地区科技发展所属耦合路径类型。研究表明，不同省份推进科学技术化进程和技术科学化进程的差异性显著；科学与技术耦合效果最佳并不能说明地区科技发展速度最快；绝大多数省份的科技耦合路径表现为科技中立路径，占比最小的路径为技术强势路径。基于不同省份的耦合情况差异，提出针对性建议。     

游客感知视角下乡村旅游质效提升维度研究——以西双版纳傣族园为例

发展乡村旅游是实施乡村振兴战略的重要途径，对促进乡村经济发展具有重要作用。以西双版纳傣族园为案例研究地，通过SPSS和AMOS实证探究游客感知视角下乡村旅游质效提升的维度。结果表明：游客感知视角下的乡村旅游质效提升包含旅游地感知、地方认同感、主观幸福感、环境责任行为4个维度；地方认同感和旅游地感知对乡村旅游质效提升的影响力较强，其次是主观幸福感和环境责任行为。     

技术创业型企业孵化资本投入的风险管控——来自多案例对比

待孵化的技术创业型企业同时具有概念性技术向差异化产品转化的高风险与产品异质性被认同后溢价评估的高收益特点，导致其投资者多处于隔岸观火却欲罢不能的的孵化投资矛盾中。对孵化资本实施有效的风险管控，成为吸引外部资本投入的关键。基于此，选择在可创概念选育与技术创业孵化领域探索出高成功率路径的概念证明中心、YCombinator和创新工场为研究案例，分析其在创业项目筛选、孵化资金运营等关键环节的风险管控方式，以期完善我国孵化资本管控理论、助力我国商业孵化器提高资金风险管控能力、促进外部资本投入。     

Exploring the factors that drive consumers to use contactless delivery services in the context of the continued COVID-19 pandemic

The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the launch of contactless delivery services. This research integrates resource matching, service quality evaluation, and perceived value theories to explore the factors that promote the use contactless delivery services. The data was obtained through questionnaire surveys, and research hypotheses were verified through the structural equation modelling approach. With the exception of convenience, the results show that privacy, reliability, security, and flexibility have a significantly positive effect on consumers' intention to use “contactless” delivery services through consumers' perceived value. This study contributes to the literature by introducing theoretical frameworks from various paradigms and enriches the academic research on existing theoretical structure models. It also helps optimize resource allocation and realize the social environment related to coexisting with the COVID-19 pandemic.     

The influence of anthropomorphic appearance of artificial intelligence products on consumer behavior and brand evaluation under different product types

While artificial intelligence products are widely used in the market, their anthropomorphic appearance design is becoming a frontier issue in product strategy and consumer behavior research. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of anthropomorphic appearance on consumer behavior and brand evaluation under different AI product types. It was conducted in China, a new but rapidly-growing country in the field of Internet, AI technology and AI product consumption. This study conducted four situational experiments with a 2 (anthropomorphic design: anthropomorphic vs. non-anthropomorphic) × 2 (product type: hedonic vs. utilitarian) between subjects’ experimental design. Data was collected from 1172 Chinese “Digital Natives” by using a structured questionnaire. The findings revealed that for hedonic AI products, anthropomorphic appearance improves consumers' purchase intention and brand evaluation through perceived entertainment, and intelligence level significantly moderates the mediating effect of perceived entertainment; while for practical AI products, anthropomorphic appearance improves consumers' purchase intention and brand evaluation through perceived usefulness, and intelligence level does not significantly moderate the mediating effect of perceived usefulness. There is no significant moderating effect of intelligence level on perceived usefulness. The study contributes to development and validation of a more comprehensive understanding and theoretical foundation of anthropomorphism, and furthermore explores the impact of anthropomorphic appearance on consumer behavior and brand evaluation under different AI product types. This study also provides insights for companies to apply anthropomorphic strategies.     

西部地区财政科技支出的经济增长效应

科学技术是第一生产力，科技投入无论是在推动经济增长还是促进社会发展方面，都有着举足轻重的重要作用。通过协整检验、格兰杰因果检验等方法，研究2006年-2020年西部地区财政科技支出对区域经济增长的作用。实证结果表明，西部地区的财政科技支出与经济增长之间存在着长期的均衡关系。因此，应进一步加大及合理安排政府财政科技资金的投入，加强资金监管，提高资金使用效率，更好地促进经济发展与社会进步。     

供给侧改革视角下科技保险 “供需双冷”困境及其化解

在供给侧改革背景下，科技保险肩负着为科技创新保驾护航的历史使命。然而，科技保险试点10年来，依然面临需求低迷与供给不足并存的发展困境。其主要根源在于：严重的信息不对称造成市场失灵、“跛行”的财政支持政策不能形成有效激励以及不成熟的行业环境制约。要想走出这一困境，仅仅从需求方着力是远远不够的。科技保险的正外部性和科技保险市场高度的信息不对称，决定了必须从财政支持、产品创新、机制创新、中介培育及信息服务等方面进行供给侧改革。为此，提出应当构建供需并重的差异化财政支持机制、加大与需求侧相匹配的科技保险产品供给、创新科技保险契约模式及运行机制、搭建科技保险中介服务和信息支持平台等建议。