Empirical Test Research Articles

The Impact of Service Quality and Tax Socialization on Taxpayer Awareness Performance: Case from Mimika Papua, Indonesia

Taxation plays a crucial role as the largest source of income for governments, including local governments such as Mimika Regency, Papua Province. Therefore, the impact of Tax Socialization, Taxpayer Compliance and Awareness, and Service Quality on Taxpayer Service Performance remains relevant to be studied. This study employs an empirical test with 100 taxpayer respondents in Mimika Regency, Papua Province, Indonesia. Hypothesis testing was conducted using Structural Equation Modeling – Partial Least Square (SEM-PLS). The results of the test prove that service quality, tax socialization, and taxpayer awareness have a positive influence on taxpayer compliance. Service quality, tax socialization, and taxpayer awareness also have a positive influence on service performance. Taxpayer compliance does not have a positive influence on service performance, but taxpayer awareness does. The theoretical implications of this research information serve as a guide for researchers to develop tax and tax knowledge, and the determinants of non-compliance can be used for future research. From a policy maker's perspective, this information will assist tax authorities in developing tax education programs.

Methods for Constructing a Refined Early-Warning Model for Rainstorm-Induced Waterlogging in Historic and Cultural Districts

Against the backdrop of increasingly severe global climate change, the risk of rainstorm-induced waterlogging has become the primary threat to the safety of historic and cultural districts worldwide. This paper focuses on the historic and cultural districts of Beijing, China, and explores techniques and methods for identifying extreme rainstorm warnings in cultural heritage areas. Refined warning and forecasting have become important non-engineering measures to enhance these districts’ waterlogging prevention control and emergency management capabilities. This paper constructs a rainstorm-induced waterlogging risk warning model tailored for Beijing’s historical and cultural districts. This model system encompasses three sets of models: a building waterlogging early-warning model, a road waterlogging early-warning model, and a public evacuation early-warning model. During the construction of the model, the core concepts and determination methods of “1 h rainfall intensity water logging index” and “the waterlogging risk index in historical and cultural districts” were proposed. The construction and application of the three models take into full account the correlation between rainfall intensity and rainwater accumulation, while incorporating the characteristics of flood resilience in buildings, roads, and the society in districts. This allows for a precise grading of warning levels, leading to the formulation of corresponding warning response measures. Empirical tests have shown that the construction method proposed in this paper is reliable. The innovative results not only provide a new perspective and method for the early-warning of rainstorm-induced waterlogging, but also offer scientific support for emergency planning and response in historical and cultural districts.

Does digital transformation benefit innovation in manufacturing firms? Empirical evidence based on data mining and textual analysis methods

With the increasing spread of the digital economy and the application of digital technologies, more and more manufacturing enterprises have begun to improve the efficiency of digital transformation with the help of big data and other digital technologies to promote the high-quality development of enterprises. Through the open big data platform, manufacturing enterprises can collect data and information reflecting the needs of users in a timely manner to achieve real-time optimization of the production process and timely detection of problems to a certain extent, thereby improving the ability to research and innovation. Through the establishment of econometric models and empirical tests, we also find that the education level of managers affects the process of digital transformation and influences the impact of digital transformation on innovation.

Conceptualising Of Muslims In Using Ar-Rahnu Services Offered by Malaysian Islamic Banks

This paper aims to recognize and discuss the factors influencing the intention of Muslims to participate in Ar-Rahnu offered by Islamic banks. Despite conventional pawnshops offering a higher margin to the value of collateral higher asset values in loans compared to Ar-Rahnu, there has been a noticeable increase in the demand for Ar-Rahnu over the years. The discussions attempt to create a discourse around the factors that influence the intention of Muslims to participate in Ar-Rahnu by using the Theory of Planned Behaviour plus religiosity. The findings propose conceptual frameworks that consist of components such as attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and religiosity as factors influencing the intention of Muslims to participate in Ar-Rahnu. However, these frameworks remain conceptual and await validation through empirical testing by future researchers. The findings of this study will provide valuable insights for Malaysian Islamic banks to enhance their Ar-Rahnu services. By aligning their offerings with Muslims' preferences and needs, Islamic banks can foster stronger relationships with their customer base and potentially attract new clientele. This review is hoped to be valuable to the present and future Ar-Rahnu scholars interested in the evolution of literature and identifying opportunities for future research. Ultimately, this paper addresses the crucial question of the factors influencing Muslims' intention to participate in Ar-Rahnu services in Islamic banks, thus contributing to the advancement of knowledge in this field.

An Empirical Test of the Concept of the Adaptively Intelligent Attitude.

This study provides an empirical test of a previously proposed assertion that intelligence as adaptation has an attitudinal as well as an ability component. The ability component deals with what the basic knowledge and skills are that underlie intelligence, and how much of each one an individual has. The attitudinal component deals with how an individual chooses to deploy the abilities they have. In other words, to what use are the abilities put? It is argued that it is impossible fully to separate the measurement of the ability component from the attitudinal one. In a diverse population, even taking an intelligence test will show itself to involve an attitude toward the test, which may enhance or detract from performance, as when one sees the test as irrelevant or harmful to one's life, or as a sociocultural misfit to one's life experience. To succeed, people need not only to have abilities, but attitudes that put those abilities to effective use to accomplish individuals' life goals. In the study, we found that intelligent attitudes are related, but non-identical, to germane constructs, such as wisdom, the need for cognition, creativity, and openness to experience. Scores on the attitudinal measure were not related to scores on tests of fluid intelligence and academic abilities/achievement. Thus, the range of attitudes regarding how to deploy intelligence can vary over ability levels.

How overloaded employees can use resilience and forgiveness resources to overcome dissatisfaction and maintain their knowledge-sharing efforts

Purpose Drawing on conservation of resources theory, this study aims to examine how employees’ experiences of excessive workloads may direct them away from efforts to share knowledge with other organizational members, as well as the circumstances in which this process is more or less likely. To untangle the process, the authors predict a mediating role of job dissatisfaction and moderating roles of two complementary resources that help employees cope with failure: resilience as a personal resource and organizational forgiveness as an organizational resource. Design/methodology/approach Survey data were gathered from employees of an organization that operates in the construction retail sector. The Process macro provides an empirical test of the moderated mediation dynamic that underpins the proposed conceptual framework. Findings The statistical findings affirm that an important channel through which employees’ perceptions that their work demands are unreasonable escalate into a diminished propensity to share knowledge is their lack of enthusiasm about their jobs. Their ability to recover from challenging work situations and their beliefs that the organization does not hold grudges against people who commit mistakes both mitigate this harmful effect. Practical implications For organizational practitioners, this research shows that when employees feel frustrated about extreme work pressures, the resource-draining situation may escalate into diminished knowledge sharing, which might inadvertently undermine their ability to receive valuable feedback for dealing with the challenges. From a positive perspective, individual resilience and organizational forgiveness represent resources that can protect employees against this negative spiral. Originality/value This study explicates an unexplored harmful effect of strenuous workloads on knowledge sharing, which is explained by employees’ beliefs that their organization fails to provide satisfactory job experiences. This effect also is mitigated to the extent that employees can draw from valuable personal and organizational resources.

The Impact of Technological Competence and Service Innovation Implementation on Brand Equity: A Case Study of Hotel Industry in Vietnam

This paper aims to propose and investigate two new antecedent factors (Technological competence and service innovation implementation) that affect hotel brand equity development in the context of the hotel. Questionnaire data were collected from 215 domestic tourists who have traveled to at least one experience using service to stay at 4-5 star hotels. The results of empirical tests using a structural equation model support the research hypotheses. The findings support direct positive links between technological competence, service innovation implementation, and the dimensions of brand equity, as well as the positive relationship between overall brand equity and its dimensions, except for the effect of destination brand awareness. Finally, relevant implications are provided for destination marketers to improve hotel brand equity in the tourism industry.

The steady effect of knowledge co-creation with universities on business scientific impact throughout the economic cycle

Economic ups and downs condition science and innovation. The research strength of business firms and their cooperation with universities are important functions of science systems. The aim of this research is to analyse some of the links between business scientific output co-creation and impact throughout the economic cycle. Economic growth increases the probability of firms fostering both their scientific knowledge co-creation output and their scientific impact, until reaching an inflection point, after which those relationships become negative. Co-creation with universities intensifies the scientific impact of firms’ output; however, although in theory this effect should vary according to the economic phase, the evidence shows that it remains steady. In this mixed-method study, the theory is grounded through interviews with key university and firm co-authors, and an empirical test is conducted on publications from 15,000 Spanish firms between 2000 and 2016 and their citations—a period which includes the Spanish Great Recession (2008–2014). The analysis suggests that policies to promote business co-creation output with universities should be more stable throughout the economic cycle: with high growth, governments should maintain the support for co-creation that is typical with low growth; with low growth, governments should not expect co-creation with universities to have an even greater positive effect on firms’ scientific quality than it already has with high growth.

Formation Mechanism of Tourists’ Pro-Environmental Behavior in Wuyishan National Park, China, Based on Ecological Values

The establishment of a new type of natural protected area system with national parks as the main body is an inevitable trend of current development, and it is also an important ways to build a more beautiful China. During tourist visits, the national park will promote a variety of ways to enhance the ecological values of tourists. Ecological values can strengthen tourists’ sense of identity, but their impact on tourists’ pro-environmental behavior is not discussed. Based on this, Wuyishan National Park, a world natural and cultural heritage, is selected as the case site, and the PLS-SEM analysis method is used. An empirical test was conducted on 358 valid samples collected in the field. The results show the following: (1) tourists’ ecological values and place identity can positively affect their pro-environmental behaviors; (2) place identity plays a mediating role between ecological values and tourists’ pro-environmental behavior; (3) place dependence and place identity play a chain mediating role between ecological values and tourists’ pro-environmental behavior; (4) according to the PLS-MGA test, gender and age can play a moderating role on the influence of ecological values on pro-environmental behavior. Therefore, the managers of national parks should pay attention to the cultivation of ecological values and consider tourist attraction, as well as formulating marketing strategies and other policy suggestions according to the different characteristics of tourists. The findings of this study offer both practical guidance and a theoretical underpinning for advancing ecological tourism within the framework of natural protected areas, with national parks playing a central role.

Procedural justice and probation officer legitimacy: Testing the process-based model in community supervision

PurposeThis study provides an empirical test of Tyler's (2006) process-based model by investigating the relationship between procedural justice, legitimacy, and felt obligation to obey among people sanctioned to county-level probation. MethodsUsing a cross-sectional design, self-reported data were collected from a sample of individuals on probation in a western state (n = 185). Confirmatory factor analyses and full structural equation modeling were used to test a measurement and structural component on the relationship between procedural justice and clients' legitimacy and obligation to obey. ResultsResults demonstrate construct and discriminant validity across measures of client's procedural justice and legitimacy attitudes. In addition, SEM results revealed a positive and statistically significant association between procedural justice with probationers' legitimacy beliefs. In addition, perceived legitimacy was associated with clients' felt obligation to obey their probation officer, though indirect effects were non-significant but potentially suggested partial mediation. ConclusionsThis study provides empirical evidence supporting the positive relationship between perceptions of procedural justice with clients' legitimacy and perceived PO legitimacy with their felt obligation. Study results highlight key theoretical and policy considerations regarding the measurement and application of the process-based model in community corrections.

Financial development and central bank bilateral currency swaps: Is there trade effect?

Purpose ― This paper aims to empirically investigate the impact of currency swaps on international trade, given China's differential level of financial development and its currency swap partners. Methods ― The study employes an empirical structural gravity model using datasets encompassing financial development, trade, and intuitive gravity equation variables for 27 countries from 1980 to 2013. The level of financial development and swaps was captured by the interaction term of the disaggregated measure of financial development, such as access, depth, and efficiency, each interacting with currency swaps.Findings ― The findings suggest that currency swaps are essential for trade and exhibit a large trade effect, especially for countries with relatively low levels of financial development. The paper substantiates empirical evidence indicating disparities in financial development across countries, and such differences are important in determining trade patterns. Implication ― Strong financial systems promote trade in advanced economies, whereas the opposite holds true for developing countries. The examination of the influence of financial systems on trade through empirical tests remains important on the research agenda of policymakers and researchers, especially those looking at industry-level import and export data.Originality ― The study delves into the nexus between financial development and trade within the framework of the Central Bank bilateral currency swap network by highlighting the role of financial institutions and market size (depth), activity (access), and efficiency. In addition, it addresses the drawbacks of previous empirical research that largely focuses on the private credit-to-GDP ratio as a key proxy for financial development.

Development and Validation of a Novel Zero-Dimensional Heat Rejection Model for High-Efficiency Engines

In recent years, the trend towards the performance maximization of modern internal combustion engines has led to the creation of accurate simulation models to optimize the engine design and operating conditions. Temperature management is crucial to achieve the performance goals of an internal combustion engine without affecting the component’s reliability. Formula 1 mandates that only a limited number of experimental tests can be performed, which leads to the necessity of simulators capable of substituting empirical tests. Furthermore, the requirement of adapting the vehicle setup before each race weekend to maximize the performance on each circuit layout necessitates short computational time. To address this, the development of a zero-dimensional model of the thermal flows within an engine is presented in this paper. This model allows to precisely compute the dynamic variations of all the heat flows inside the combustion engine, excluding only the radiative ones and the engine components’ temperatures. The new simulation approach has been developed and validated on a Formula 1 engine and shown to be precise and fast. The results demonstrate the value of the proposed model with an average engine fluid temperature error of less than 1 °C for a computational cost comparable with on-board applications.

Unravelling the Interplay of Servant Leadership, Cognitive Trust, and Employee Wellbeing: A Cae of An Emerging Economy

This study examines the relationship between servant leadership, cognitive-based trust, and employee wellbeing in Pakistan's healthcare sector. Grounded in existing research, our study explains the theoretical underpinnings of servant leadership, cognitive-based trust, and employee wellbeing. Servant leadership prioritizes followers' needs, fostering positive outcomes such as organizational citizenship behavior and job engagement. Cognitive-based trust, rooted in transparent communication and shared values, is fundamental to healthy leader-follower relationships and organizational commitment. Employee wellbeing, encompassing physical and psychological dimensions, is crucial for organizational success. In Pakistan's healthcare sector, marked by its complexity and the need for positive work environments, this study investigates how servant leadership and cognitive-based trust impact employee wellbeing. Four hypotheses are formulated: (1) Servant leadership positively correlates with overall employee wellbeing, (2) Servant leadership positively influences cognitive-based trust development, (3) Higher levels of cognitive-based trust correlate with enhanced wellbeing, and (4) Servant leadership's positive influence on wellbeing is mediated by cognitive-based trust. Through empirical testing, this research aims to deepen understanding of leadership, trust, and wellbeing dynamics in healthcare, providing insights for organizational practices. By elucidating these relationships, the study seeks to contribute to the creation of flourishing and sustainable workplaces in Pakistan's healthcare sector.

Asset allocation combining macro and micro information–Empirical test based on entropy pool model

Macroeconomic environment is an essential factor affecting asset return, but it is difficult to construct portfolios using macro information quantitatively in traditional models. In this paper, we extend the Black-Litterman framework to build an efficient portfolio by using views containing macro information and prior market distribution reflecting micro information. In order to enhance the model's flexibility, entropy pool method is used. Empirical evidence shows that with reasonable allocation across economic stages, the newly constructed portfolio enjoys a higher level of Sharpe ratio compared to classic allocation models, and the result is robust under different circumstance.

Research on the Impact of Trade Policy Uncertainty on the Digital Transformation of Chinese Export Firms

Abstract This paper uses data from listed companies in China from 2007 to 2022 to prove that the increase in trade policy uncertainty has promoted the digital transformation process of Chinese export firms. Through theoretical analysis and empirical testing, we found that the promotion effect of trade policy uncertainty on the digital transformation of Chinese export firms is related to trade costs. Rising trade policy uncertainty has increased trade costs, which in turn has forced Chinese exporters to accelerate their digital transformation. Digital capabilities are used to resolve cost challenges brought about by trade policy uncertainty. In addition, this paper also finds that when trade policy uncertainty promotes the digital transformation of Chinese exporters, foreign investment will significantly strengthen this role, while financing constraints will weaken this role, reflecting the importance of foreign investment. Finally, we found that the increase in trade policy uncertainty reduces the imbalance of digital development levels in industries and regions, promotes the digital transformation of industries and regions with lower digitalization levels, and is conducive to promoting the balanced development of digitalization in industries and regions in a country. Keywords: trade policy uncertainty, digital transformation, Chinese export firms.

The Pathways of Digital Innovation in Manufacturing Enterprises: Based on Dynamic Capabilitie

As the global digital economy continues to evolve, manufacturing companies are encountering the necessity to shift from conventional methods to digital solutions, including cloud services and big data analytics. The objective of this research is to investigate the ways in which the capabilities of digital platforms facilitate digital innovation within enterprises. Grounded in the relevant theories of dynamic capability and open innovation, a research model among variables is constructed, and empirical test is conducted through a questionnaire. The findings of the analysis indicate that: First, digital platform capability promotes the realization of digital innovation through the joint action of platform integration and platform reconstruction; Second, organizational agility plays a partially mediating role. The research results have some practical guiding value for manufacturing enterprises to realize innovation by using information technology during the digital economic era.

Cortical parenchyma wall width regulates root metabolic cost and maize performance under suboptimal water availability.

We describe how increased root cortical parenchyma wall width (CPW) can improve tolerance to drought stress in maize by reducing the metabolic costs of soil exploration. Significant variation (1.0-5.0 µm) for CPW was observed in maize germplasm. The functional-structural model RootSlice predicts that increasing CPW from 2 µm to 4 µm is associated with a ~15% reduction in root cortical cytoplasmic volume, respiration rate, and nitrogen content. Analysis of genotypes with contrasting CPW grown with and without water stress in the field confirms that increased CPW is correlated with an ~32-42% decrease in root respiration. Under water stress in the field, increased CPW is correlated with 125% increased stomatal conductance, 325% increased leaf CO2 assimilation rate, 73-78% increased shoot biomass, and 92-108% increased yield. CPW was correlated with leaf mesophyll midrib parenchyma wall width, indicating pleiotropy. Genome-wide association study analysis identified candidate genes underlying CPW. OpenSimRoot modeling predicts that a reduction in root respiration due to increased CPW would also benefit maize growth under suboptimal nitrogen, which requires empirical testing. We propose CPW as a new phene that has utility under edaphic stress meriting further investigation.

Precursor of privacy leakage detection for individual user

The pursuit of dividends from the burgeoning realm of data traffic has emerged as a prevailing trend. Given this current state of affairs, the safeguarding of personal information has become an urgent task. Current methods for personal privacy protection primarily offer alerts when information breaches occur, but at that stage, irreversible breaches have already transpired. Thus, the study of preemptive privacy breach prediction is a task of significant importance within the realm of privacy protection. However, the endeavor to predict privacy breaches in advance remains exceedingly challenging, owing to several factors: (i) The complexity of social networks gives rise to high-dimensional features. (ii) Concerning the comprehensive and precise capture of pathways leading to information leakage. (iii) How to employ time series data effectively to realize early predictions.This study proposes a novel approach for constructing graph neural networks and forecasting privacy breaches, centered on the context of user-generated content within specific time frames, integrates spatial graph structures with temporal series information. The integration can entirely achieve the advance prediction of users' privacy status, thereby preventing information leakage. Empirical tests on real-world datasets demonstrate that our approach surpasses traditional time series forecasting methods in privacy breach predictions, achieving a notable average improvement of 2% in F1 score, Recall, and Precision metrics.

Gain and loss cycles revisited: What to consider when testing key assumptions of conservation of resources theory

In this editorial, we discuss approaches to the empirical test of gain and loss cycles as described within Hobfoll's conservation of resources theory (COR). We present COR theory's basic assumptions about gain and loss cycles and critically discuss typical empirical studies that aim at testing these assumptions. We highlight conceptual and empirical problems when testing gain and loss cycles of resources and provide guidance for researchers with respect to theoretical, temporal, and data-analytic aspects. We offer some suggestions for constructive replications and reproducibility.

Long-Term Taste and Smell Outcomes After COVID-19

Self-report surveys suggest that long-lasting taste deficits may occur after SARS-CoV-2 infection, influencing nutrition, safety, and quality of life. However, self-reports of taste dysfunction are inaccurate, commonly reflecting deficits due to olfactory not taste system pathology; hence, quantitative testing is needed to verify the association of post-COVID-19 condition with taste function. To use well-validated self-administered psychophysical tests to investigate the association of COVID-19 with long-term outcomes in taste and smell function. This nationwide cross-sectional study included individuals with and without a prior history of COVID-19 recruited from February 2020 to August 2023 from a social media website (Reddit) and bulletin board advertisements. In the COVID-19 cohort, there was a mean of 395 days (95% CI, 363-425 days) between diagnosis and testing. History of COVID-19. The 53-item Waterless Empirical Taste Test (WETT) and 40-item University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT) were used to assess taste and smell function. Total WETT and UPSIT scores and WETT subtest scores of sucrose, citric acid, sodium chloride, caffeine, and monosodium glutamate were assessed for groups with and without a COVID-19 history. The association of COVID-19 with taste and smell outcomes was assessed using analysis of covariance, χ2, and Fisher exact probability tests. Tests were completed by 340 individuals with prior COVID-19 (128 males [37.6%] and 212 females [62.4%]; mean [SD] age, 39.04 [14.35] years) and 434 individuals with no such history (154 males [35.5%] and 280 females [64.5%]; mean (SD) age, 39.99 [15.61] years). Taste scores did not differ between individuals with and without previous COVID-19 (total WETT age- and sex-adjusted mean score, 33.41 [95% CI, 32.37-34.45] vs 33.46 [95% CI, 32.54-34.38]; P = .94). In contrast, UPSIT scores were lower in the group with previous COVID-19 than the group without previous COVID-19 (mean score, 34.39 [95% CI, 33.86-34.92] vs 35.86 [95% CI, 35.39-36.33]; P < .001]); 103 individuals with prior COVID-19 (30.3%) and 91 individuals without prior COVID-19 (21.0%) had some degree of dysfunction (odds ratio, 1.64 [95% CI, 1.18-2.27]). The SARS-CoV-2 variant present at the time of infection was associated with smell outcomes; individuals with original untyped and Alpha variant infections exhibited more loss than those with other variant infections; for example, total to severe loss occurred in 10 of 42 individuals with Alpha variant infections (23.8%) and 7 of 52 individuals with original variant infections (13.5%) compared with 12 of 434 individuals with no COVID-19 history (2.8%) (P < .001 for all). In this study, taste dysfunction as measured objectively was absent 1 year after exposure to COVID-19 while some smell loss remained in nearly one-third of individuals with this exposure, likely explaining taste complaints of many individuals with post-COVID-19 condition. Infection with earlier untyped and Alpha variants was associated with the greatest degree of smell loss.