Intermediate Function Research Articles

Fragmented Control of Platform Game Work in China

AbstractThis article adopts a labour process theory approach to analysing distinct circuits of labour control in platform video game work in China, a novel manifestation of the platform economy rooted in the special formation of Chinese gaming infrastructure as well as in precarious labour regimes. Platform game work encompasses a broad range of online video game services such as live game streaming, paid boosting, and game companion, matching customers’ demands to workers who provide entertainment or assist play. Platform game work has drawn an estimated seven million young workers into precarious employment during the past decade. The article outlines three interwoven features defining the fragmented control of platform game work: the crucial function of extra-platform intermediaries in regulating labour processes; the deployment of relationship labour in order matching and community management; and the mutual reinforcement of platform diversity and fast-moving platform architecture. These three features co-create a decentralised yet resilient structure organised by a network of platform and non-platform, human and machine agencies. Positioning platform game work in the broad spectrum of gig work, the article illuminates new modes of labour control and workers’ embedded agency, adding to the nascent literature on diverse labour regimes and subjectivities in the platform economy.

Trucking (un)limited – the impact of digital platforms on labour in production networks of logistics

Abstract For many years, struggles over value capture have been taking place between different actors in the logistics sector, creating ever more pressure for workers in traditional activities of logistics. New actors, in the form of digital business-to-business (B2B) platforms, which are proliferating especially in the freight transport sector, are further challenging the already contested field. Based on the Global Production Networks (GPN) approach, this study addresses the question of how B2B platforms affect labour in production networks of logistics, and what labour agency practices are emerging in the face of advancing platformisation. The study draws on interviews with various actors operating in the road freight transport sector in Germany. The results show that digital B2B platforms, due to their intermediary function, have a direct impact on the inclusion and exclusion of actors involved in production networks of logistics, and induce not only a race to the bottom in terms of labour conditions, but also produce increasingly contingent geographies of logistics. This paper contributes to the literature on platforms by examining previously neglected B2B platforms and shedding light on the different ways that labour in global production networks can be affected by new agents, such as digital platforms.

Key Characteristics of Digital Ecosystems in Politics

The paper discusses the main approaches to understanding the ecosystem phenomenon. The evolution of its interpretation is demonstrated. The authors characterize various approaches to understanding digital ecosystems, their main elements, characteristic features, features, as well as the main mechanisms for creating ecosystem values. The main types of digital eco-systems are given, depending on the type of ownership, among which centralized, decentralized and consortium-type ecosystems are distinguished. Conclusions are drawn about the ability of digital ecosystems to perform an intermediary function in the process of interaction between authorities and citizens, coordination of their opinions and priorities, and decisionmaking. The key threats associated with the transition of civic activity to an online environment are demonstrated. Based on the conducted research, the authors draw conclusions about the possibilities and features of studying digital ecosystems in politics. The authors argue that for a correct understanding of the phenomenon of the digital ecosystem, it is necessary to understand its structural components, the nature of their interaction with each other, as well as its desire to dominate social reality. The article highlights 10 key characteristics of the political digital ecosystem that can effectively perform their functions and act as actors in the political space (provide access to a wide range of services based on a single platform; ensure the unification of a large number of participants based on the principles of mutually beneficial relations; be based on a single account (access to all services of the platform is possible through a single account); represent a single brand for all services and infrastructure elements; provide multi-channel representation and interaction (website, application, groups in social networks, etc.); be aimed at meeting a wide range of socio-political needs of a person, from obtaining that or other information reference before the possibility to influence the decision-making in the place of residence (city, region or country); to provide the possibility of flexible changes in the structure of the ecosystem, involving constant interaction of members and their cooperation; to provide an opportunity for deliberative (deliberative) discussion and participation; to provide the possibility of building elements of the architecture of the digital services system based on their interconnection and close integration; to ensure openness and modularity).

Study on the Relationship between Professional Commitment, Self-efficacy and Learning Burnout of Vocational Students

Taking a vocational college in Tibet where the author works as an example, this study uses literature survey, questionnaire and other methods to establish a model of the relationship between professional commitment, self-efficacy and learning burnout of vocational college students using SPSS statistical software and conduct linear regression analysis, path analysis, etc. The research results mainly include the following three aspects: first, the average learning burnout of vocational college students is close to the theoretical average of 3 points, and the overall level of burnout is high; There are significant differences in the level of academic burnout in grade variables. Secondly, there is a significant negative correlation between professional commitment and learning burnout. Finally, self-efficacy plays a part of intermediary function between professional commitment and learning burnout.

How can innovation intermediaries enable product innovativeness in startups? A configurational approach

Startups play a crucial role in introducing radical innovations and need to maintain a high level of product innovativeness (PI) to consolidate their business models and remain competitive. However, startups often face challenges and limitations that hinder their PI efforts and require external support from innovation intermediaries. Despite the prevalence of research on intermediaries, there is a limited understanding of the effect of their activities and capabilities - commonly referred to as orchestration functions - on startups' innovativeness. This study aims to address this gap by exploring the causal relationships between configurations of orchestration functions of intermediation and product innovativeness in startups. Drawing on the latest literature, we identify five orchestration functions that comprise the intermediary's impact structure, including Network Composition and Process Management (NCP), Fostering Networking and Partnerships for Resource Mobilization (FNP), Intermediation for Technology Transfer, Collaborative Research, and Commercialization (ITC), Identification and Mediation of Different Interests (IMD), and Evaluation and Validation of Outcomes (EVO). Using a mixed-methods approach incorporating the fsQCA method, we conducted a longitudinal investigation of 14 startups and their relationship with an innovation intermediary in Germany. Our results reveal that three specific configurations of all five intermediary functions can explain product innovativeness in startups. This study provides a valuable contribution to academia by proposing a set of configurations of orchestration functions that can explain startups' performance and provides practical implications for practitioners looking to enhance product innovativeness in startups.

IPO System, Social Experience of Sponsor Representatives and IPO Performance

Based on the background of the pilot implementation of the registration system in Shanghai Stock Exchange, this paper studies the impact of the social experience of the sponsor representatives on IPO performance, to explore whether the sponsor representatives with rich social experience can better play their information production and certification intermediary functions in the securities issuance market, thereby improving IPO performance. The research finds that: the social experience of the sponsor representatives has a more effective inhibition on the earnings management level of the companies to be listed under the registration system; The social experience of the sponsor representative has a more effective inhibition on the IPO underpricing rate on the first day under the registration system; Under the registration system, the promotion of social experience of the sponsor representative on the long-term return of listed companies is more effective.

The politics of intermediation in transitions: Conflict and contestation over energy efficiency policy

This study investigates transition intermediation in energy efficiency regulation for buildings and light vehicles in Australia by using an analytical framework that draws on transition literature and the multiple streams approach (MSA) from policy studies. By focusing on Australian cases, this study examines required functions of transition intermediaries in a highly politicised context in which sustainability transitions are contested to improve an understanding of transition-oriented policy processes, including policy failures. The findings highlight the role of transition intermediaries that brought knowledge capacity into policy processes, advocated for new policy visions, and built consensus on policy proposals. The analysis suggests that the functional influence of transition intermediaries is particularly important when there is conflict among organised interests. In doing so, this study offers new insight into how transition intermediation is shaping the dynamics of energy transitions in politicised contexts.

The mediation model of learning organization, technology acceptance, and service innovation: accommodation purchase managers’ perceptions in Antalya, Turkey: Part II

PurposeThis study aims to analyze the theoretical complexity that underlies purchase managers’ perceptions of their ability to take part in the implementation of a new back-office service strategy.Design/methodology/approachA survey of purchasing department managers in the Antalya (Turkey) region was conducted. The purchasing managers of Antalya’s five-star accommodation businesses comprise the research sample.FindingsWithin the scope of the study, 205 questionnaires were gathered. Factor analysis, correlation and regression analysis were applied to the obtained data. The learning organization (LO) consists of three factors (organization, group/team and individual), service innovation (SI) consists of two factors (employee innovation behavior and new service development) and technology acceptance (TA) consists of four factors (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, facilitating situations and social factors), according to the findings of the factor analysis. According to correlation analysis, LO, SI and TA all have positive and significant relationships. The LO has been observed to play an intermediary function in the relationship between TA and SI as a consequence of the analysis that determines the mediation effect.Originality/valueThis study which dealt with the dimensions of SI, TA and LO showed a proposed model which gives a better understanding of how the development of back-office system strategies is affected by LOs.

Effects of middle-aged and elderly people's self-efficacy on health promotion behaviors: Mediating effects of sports participation.

This study explores the relationship between self-efficacy, sports participation, and health promotion behavior for middle-aged and elderly people. Therefore, it provides a theoretical reference for improving the quality of life for middle-aged and elderly adults and promoting a healthy lifestyle for the elderly. A total of 591 (men: 36.2%; women: 63.8%; age: above 50 years) middle-aged and elderly adults from five cities of Henan Province were selected as the research objects by convenient sampling. The self-efficacy, sports participation, and health promotion behavior scales were used for the questionnaire survey. Amos24.0 was used to test the structural equation model, intermediary function test, and bootstrap analysis. Results: The self-efficacy of middle-aged and elderly people positively impacted health promotion behavior. The path coefficient was 0.439. Sports participation played a partial intermediary role between self-efficacy and health promotion behavior (χ 2/df = 1.785, root mean square error of approximation = 0.036, root mean square residual = 0.021, goodness-of-fit index = 0.967, comparative fit index = 0.976, Tucker-Lewis Index = 0.971) The proportion of intermediary effect was 26.34% (0.100, 0.225). (1) Self-efficacy can significantly and positively affect health promotion behavior for middle-aged and elderly people; (2) sports participation plays a partial intermediary role between self-efficacy and health promotion behavior. From this point of view, we can enhance the self-efficacy of middle-aged and elderly people and improve their healthy life behavior by advancing sports participation. Thus, it provides theoretical support and practical guidance for promoting national health.

Integrated Agri-Food Supply Chain Model: An Application of IoT and Blockchain

In agri-food supply chains (ASC), consumers purchase agri-food goods from farmers. During this process, customers emphasize the need for agri-food safety, while producers hope to enhance their revenues. Due to the dynamism and complexity of the Bangladesh ASC, the traceability and control of agri-food goods encounter formidable obstacles. Due to their reliance on intermediaries, legal financial hurdles, Ethereum-based financial solutions, etc., however, most existing solutions cannot adequately meet the traceability and management needs of Bangladesh ASC. To solve these issues, the authors proposed an integrated Agri-food supply chain (IASC) model. In this study, a systematic review of the literature was conducted using a thematic analysis method. In a portion of the model, the authors depicted a linear physical flow to illustrate the relationship and function of intermediaries and to explain Bangladesh ASC’s dependence on intermediaries. The approach incorporates Blockchain technology and IoT to promote transparency, minimize mistake, prevent product delays, remove unethical and illegal actions, improve supply chain (SC) management, track the whereabouts of the goods, and eventually increase consumer and supplier trust. The article also mentions that crypto currency-based financial transactions between stakeholders in the supply chain are now unlawful in Bangladesh. For blockchain API, a mobile banking and digital payment-based solution has been proposed. Finally, the blockchain-based Hyperledger Sawtooth API has been suggested so that clients can trace the entire history of a product by scanning the QR code on the packaging. Since Bangladesh’s economy is primarily based on agriculture, this research can assist in boosting Bangladesh’s economy. The paper would also contribute to the reduction of corruption and the improvement of firmer/grower and consumer satisfaction. The findings also pave the way for future studies to implement blockchain technology in ASC without relying on Ethereum-based financial flow solutions.

ОКРЕМІ АСПЕКТИ ОПТОВОЇ ТОРГІВЛІ В УКРАЇНІ В УМОВАХ ВОЄННОГО ЧАСУ

The article examines the main aspects of wholesale trade in Ukraine during the war. The concept of wholesale trade as an intermediary in the commodity market, the intermediary functions it performs and the main purpose of the activities of wholesale enterprises are defined. The dynamics of growth in the number of enterprises operating in the field of wholesale trade have been analyzed. It has been proven that the number of enterprises that were registered under martial law has increased. The main factors that affected the state of wholesale trade with the beginning of the large-scale invasion of the Russian occupying forces in Ukraine are revealed. It has been confirmed that business in Ukraine continues to work actively even in difficult war conditions. The TOP spheres of activity of newly created FOPs for the first half of 2023 were analyzed and it was proved that wholesale trade occupies the fourth place, second only to retail trade, computer programming and the provision of other individual services. It found that, despite the economic challenges associated with the ongoing war in Ukraine, new opportunities for innovation have been created and Ukrainian business, including the wholesale sector, has demonstrated extraordinary adaptability during the war.

Understanding the future market infrastructure development through the use of tokenized assets

The paper is dedicated to the discussion of the author’s attempt to explain a trend in the future market infrastructure development through the use of tokenized assets. The paper successively solves eight working tasks: a) clarify standard functions of the market infrastructure and roles of a market intermediary; b) outline the logic for developing a virtual market and place of a legal deal; c) clarify four mandatory components of a standard deal; d) distinguish the concept of “tokenized document” as a modern type of legally valid contract; e) distinguish entities and objects involved in a deal and essential conditions of a legally valid deal; f) subjectively assess the potential impact of tokenized assets on the renewal and development of the market infrastructure; g) outline new opportunities for regulating market relations using tokenized assets, which are consequences of their properties and parameters of tokenized assets; h) summarize levels of formation of a new economic potential of tokenized assets for the market infrastructure development. The author concludes that distributed ledger tools and especially the most promising type of distributed ledger virtual asset, such as a tokenized asset, can drive the market infrastructure modernization. It will be a new and additional means for addressing global wealth inequality using tokenized assets. Its “key” is to create new professional jobs in the ecosystems of decentralized information platforms. The most expected promising areas, especially widespread digital commerce, management of objects of intellectual property rights, agricultural sector at the level of micro and small farms, pave the way for significant, almost radical transformations in the composition, structure and number of participants in the market infrastructure and economic relations on the markets. The main and fundamental technical means for this new market infrastructure organization are backed distributed ledger tokens or tokenized assets, namely tokenized contracts, tokenized resources and tokenized deals. Based on the information and applied nature of tokenized assets and four standard components of a deal (contract, entities and objects involved as well as essential conditions of the contract), the author proposed three types of tokenized assets based on the feature “original asset underlying the tokenized asset”, namely: (a) tokenized document, (b) tokenized resource and (c) tokenized deal. Together they universally cover all types of original (underlying) assets in legal civil and economic circulation in almost any country in the world. Having different functional purposes, these three types of tokenized assets along with a digital ecosystem of services potentially fulfill many functions of market intermediaries in the modern market infrastructure.

Латинская Америка и НАТО: форматы корреляций в ХХ – первой четверти XXI века

The article provides a comprehensive analysis of historical and contemporary relationships between Latin America and the NATO bloc. The relevance of the study is based on the strategic focus of the Atlantic Alliance in the “global South” as a direction for diversifying its extra-regional ties. The article provides a detailed analysis of the world bibliography available by 2022 on the problems of relations between Latin America and NATO. Two main research waves are emphasized. The impetus for the first wave was given by Argentina’s intentions to move closer to NATO at the end of the 20th century. In the 21st century, the rise of the research interest was provoked by the close rapprochement of Colombia with the Alliance. The study is based on the logical-historical method, which makes it possible to consider the object both in development and in structural-logical aspects. A comparative analysis of the texts of the NATO treaties and the Inter-American Treaty on Mutual Assistance, as a Latin American source of the Atlantic Alliance treaty, has been carried out. The author proves that this relationship remains relevant at the present time. For the first time in Russian Latin American studies, the trajectory of Colombia’s rapprochement with NATO is analyzed, and the historical background of this process in the 20th century is considered. Colombia’s interaction with the alliance in the 21st century is viewed as a key element in the system of relations between the region and the alliance. Three main areas, in which Colombia performs intermediary functions, have been identified: the operational-tactical, the educational and the integration area. All of the above leads to the conclusion that in the structure of Latin America–NATO ties, there is a clear predominance of indirect ties, both in the historical plane and in the current profile of relations. The hypothesis of the study is that their array has a sufficient critical mass to cause qualitative transition towards the direct interaction formats dominance in the future.

“Studying how employee engagement affects job satisfaction, with a specific emphasis on the intermediary function of the labor relations climate”

“Studying how employee engagement affects job satisfaction, with a specific emphasis on the intermediary function of the labor relations climate”

Impact of Wages and Social Compliance on Employee Job Satisfaction in the Readymade Garments Industry of Bangladesh: The Mediating Role of Employee Motivation

Despite rapid expansion, the ready-made garments (RMG) sector in Bangladesh is struggling to keep its workers satisfied. The purpose of this research is to examine the intermediary function of employee motivation in the relationship between wages and social compliance and job satisfaction in Bangladesh’s RMG sector. This study’s overarching goal is to examine the mediating function of employee motivation in the connection between wages, social compliance, employee motivation, and employee job satisfaction in the RMG sector of Bangladesh. This study uses a quantitative methodology, collecting data from 475 workers in the Bangladeshi garments sector, and analyzes it with partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data, and SmartPLS 4.0 was used for statistical analysis. The results show that wages and social compliance have a beneficial influence on worker drive and contentment. In addition, in the RMG sector of Bangladesh, the connection between pay, societal conformity, and job satisfaction is mediated by employees’ levels of motivation. The study suggests that RMG factories should focus on providing fair wages and ensuring social compliance to improve employee motivation and job satisfaction. Additionally, it is recommended that management should encourage employee motivation through training and development programs, recognition, and rewards to enhance job satisfaction.

China’s Financial Real Intermediary Scale, Intermediary Quality, and Social Employment

This study uses China’s overall financial institutions and city commercial banks as the research objects to explore the transmission mechanism and impact effect of financial real intermediary scale and intermediary quality on social employment. The results show that the intermediary (quantity and quality) between the overall financial institutions and city commercial banks from a national sample has a promoting effect on employment. The financial intermediaries (quantity and quality) of the financial institutions in coastal areas in the research sample have a negative impact on the growth of employment, while it is the opposite for the institutions in inland areas. In the research sample of city commercial banks, the physical intermediary scale in coastal and inland areas is conducive to employment growth. To sum up, a financial intermediary is an important means to promote social employment. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the intermediary function of traditional financial institutions, such as banks.

The transformation of the archetype in the semiosis of musical culture: from the archetypal prototype to the concept and metaconcept

A scientific problem. The article examines the musical and cultural aspects of the «archetype» phenomenon and its transformation from an archetypal prototype through an artistic image to the concept and metaconcept in musical culture. Regardless of the relevance of these phenomena in the modern space of culture, this problem remains little researched, although it is still connected with the urgent issues of finding the primary foundations, the primary sources of being, the identification of universal patterns-models in the composer’s creative work. The aim. To investigate the transformation of the archetype in the semiosis of musical culture and to reveal the genealogical interdependence of the transition of the archetype into the concept and metaconcept. The methodology is based on scientific cultural, psychological, literary and musicological investigations, as well as a systematic approach, comparative and logical-analytical methods. With the help of this methodology, the transformation of the archetype, their interdependence in musical culture was revealed. Results. The definitions of «archetype» and «concept» are considered, their common and distinctive features are clarified, and the transformation of archetypes into concepts is traced. In this context, it was noted that entering the world of everyday ideas, the archetypal prototype is filled with new emotional and informational content; it acquires a personal, socially conditioned specificity and moves into the realm of concepts. The interpretation of the definition «concept» as coexistence by J. Deleuze and F. Guattari is analyzed. The concept is considered in the context of perspectives of frame semantics in music. Conclusions. As a result of the research, a genealogical connection between two definitions «archetype» and «concept» was noted. It was found that a concept is not an image, not every artistic image can become a concept, since the concept potentially carries an invariant content in the form of an archetype, which is individually and creatively realized in each specific case of a composer’s creative work. It was determined that archetypes and concepts perform the function of memory (cultural, social, national), form the continuity, integrity of being, its value-meaning core. It was proven that archetypes of the cultural unconscious are metaconcepts of culture: both archetypes and concepts form a certain «metalanguage of culture» (Y. Lotman), or an «overlanguage». It was found that archetypal prototypes are, in their essence, archetypal semes, which go from the collective unconscious to the subconscious of a modern person, and their reactualization takes place. Archetypal semes (units of the universal subject code — sound, tone, rhythm, intonation, etc.) form the figurative sphere of the concept. It was determined that the concept in musical creativity expands the semantic and emotional-sensual possibilities and meaning of the archetypal prototype; it carries out an intermediary function in the transmission of sociocultural experience; it forms the communicative space of culture. The important essence of concepts is noted the formation of potential meanings, which the concept contains not in the text itself, but in contexts, «on the border of statements».

Prescriber Adoption of SLCO1B1 Genotype-Guided Simvastatin Clinical Decision Support in a Clinical Pharmacogenetics Program.

Pharmacogenetic implementation programs are increasingly feasible due to the availability of clinical guidelines for implementation research. The utilization of these resources has been reported with selected drug-gene pairs; however, little is known about how prescribers respond to pharmacogenetic recommendations for statin therapy. We prospectively assessed prescriber interaction with point-of-care clinical decision support (CDS) to guide simvastatin therapy for a diverse cohort of primary care patients enrolled in a clinical pharmacogenetics program. Of the 1,639 preemptively genotyped patients, 298 (18.2%) had an intermediate function (IF) OATP1B1 phenotype and 25 (1.53%) had a poor function (PF) phenotype, predicted by a common single nucleotide variant in the SLCO1B1 gene (c.521T>C; rs4149056). Clinicians were presented with CDS when simvastatin was prescribed for patients with IF or PF through the electronic health record. Importantly, 64.2% of the CDS deployed at the point-of-care was accepted by the prescribers and resulted in prescription changes. Statin intensity was found to significantly influence prescriber adoption of the pharmacogenetic-guided CDS, whereas patient gender or race, prescriber type, or pharmacogenetic training status did not significantly influence adoption. This study demonstrates that primary care providers readily adopt pharmacogenetic information to guide statin therapy for the majority of patients with preemptive genotype data.

Can Low-Carbon Pilot City Policies Effectively Promote High-Quality Urban Economic Development?—Quasi-Natural Experiments Based on 227 Cities

To explore the relationship between low-carbon pilot city policies (LCC) and the high-quality development of urban economy, this paper calculates the high-quality development index based on five dimensions to construct a double-difference model for empirical research, taking the data of 227 cities in China from 2004 to 2019 and the second batch of low-carbon pilot cities as the main research object. The research conclusions are as follows: (1) The LCC has promoted the high-quality economic development of the pilot cities, and has long-term effects, which are mainly reflected in three dimensions: Innovative development, residents’ life, and urban public services. (2) The promotion effect is mainly reflected in the big cities, as well as the eastern and central regions. (3) The intermediary function is embodied in three aspects: Industrial upgrading, urban technological innovation, and urban investment.

Intermediaries’ role in urban fresh fruits and vegetables supply chain in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

The study examines the supply chain for fresh fruits and vegetables in cities. In particular, the study determines the functions of intermediaries in the supply chain for fresh fruits and vegetables in urban settings. The study is qualitative with an ethnographic design. The study involved a sample of 92 participants obtained purposively. Data are obtained using In-Depth Interviews (IDIs), document reviews and researchers’ observations. Findings demonstrate that intermediaries typically facilitate transportation services that involve the collection, packing and handling facility selection, and delivery of fruits and vegetables. Secondly, intermediaries provide efficient storage services for storing fruits and vegetables and education about proper storage practices. Thirdly, intermediaries have involved value addition and improvement of the quality of fruits and vegetables through sorting, grading, gathering, inspection, branding, and packing. Fourthly, they execute marketing services and facilitate information flow and exchange. It is presented that to enhance intermediaries’ roles, there is a need to improve the road infrastructure networks and control corruption among unethical police officers. There is a great need to strengthen electricity. This will facilitate a reliable power supply that will enhance the easy storage of fruits and vegetables. Farmers and intermediaries need more education on quality, and financial assistance. This will support the continuum of the fresh fruits and vegetable supply chain.