Research on urban economic centrality in the perspectives of knowledge stocks and flows

In light of the profound advancements in information and communication technologies ushering in the knowledge economy, the urban space is undergoing a transformation from the traditional "space of places" to the emerging "space of flows." This shift poses questions about the influence of knowledge flows on urban economic centrality. This paper seeks to address this knowledge gap by introducing a theoretical framework that elucidates how knowledge contributes to urban economic centrality. Our analysis focuses on both intra-city knowledge stocks and inter-city knowledge flows. Empirical findings in China highlight that knowledge stocks based on R&D and education levels, along with knowledge flows, significantly and positively influence all four dimensions of centrality. In contrast, knowledge spatial agglomeration within the knowledge stocks exhibits a significant positive correlation solely with power centrality. Additionally, although the knowledge stock structures don't yield significant results in the diffusion centrality model, for agglomeration and power centralities, a combination of specialized knowledge and telecommunications enhances urban economic centrality, while face-to-face communication strengthens the positive impact of diverse knowledge on urban economic centrality. The results suggest implementing knowledge-based policies tailored to different nodes in the city network is expected to promote sustainable competitiveness in the urban system.

Do consumers continue to use O2O food delivery services in the post-pandemic era? Roles of sedentary lifestyle

Online-to-offline food delivery (O2OFD) services have become popular worldwide, and consumers' O2OFD usage and sedentary behavior have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, whether consumers will continue to use O2OFD in the post-pandemic era is uncertain, and the relationship between sedentary lifestyle and O2OFD usage is poorly understood to date. Therefore, this study aims to investigate consumers' continued intention to use O2OFD in the post-pandemic era and their subsequent use behavior, as well as to explore the roles of sedentary lifestyle. A research model based on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology 2 (UTAUT2), integrating network externalities and including sedentary lifestyle, was proposed. A two-stage online survey was conducted in China, with 409 eligible responses used in the data analysis. The results indicate that habit, perceived network size, and perceived complementarity were the main predictors of continued intention, whereas habit and continued intention were the primary determinants of use behavior. Sedentary lifestyle was positively related to O2OFD use behavior and moderated the effects of habit and continued intention on use behavior. In addition to its theoretical contributions, this study has implications for public policies, marketing strategies, and consumer well-being.

The impact of network externalities and altruistic preferences on carbon emission reduction of low carbon supply chain

This paper explores the manufacturer's carbon emission reduction in the presence of network externalities and altruistic preferences. Existing literature mainly analyzes the impact of government regulations and firms' behavior characteristics on manufacturers' decisions, while little literature investigates the role of network externalities and altruistic preferences in promoting carbon emission reduction of manufacturers. Our results show that network externalities and altruistic preferences are conducive to improving manufacturers' profits and carbon emission reduction levels. However, we find that manufacturers' carbon emission reductions are more likely to be optimal without network externalities and altruistic preferences when the cost of low-carbon technologies is low, and consumer preferences are high. Interestingly, when the low-carbon technologies cost is high, the combined effect of network externalities and altruistic preferences is more favorable for manufacturers to implement carbon emission reductions. However, when the cost of low-carbon technologies is moderate, we find that the combined effect of network externalities and retailers' altruistic preferences does not always increase the level of carbon emission reductions. In addition, we also find that network externalities or altruistic preferences enhance manufacturers' ability to afford the costs of low-carbon technologies, which implies that manufacturers are more inclined to reduce carbon emissions compared to scenarios without network externalities and altruistic preferences.

A bottom-up simulation on competition of online interpersonal communication platforms

The competition of interpersonal communication platforms is a complex process affected by various factors. This paper aims to simulate and analyze this process from a bottom-up perspective. Individual platform selection serves as the micro-foundation for the study. The evolution of online interpersonal communication networks, and innovations proposed by online interpersonal communication platforms, would also impact this process by affecting individual selection on those platforms. Three scenarios were designed for this study to simulate typical modes of competition. In this regard, the simulation results were compared to practical cases. Taken together, this bottom-up simulation model could reproduce and anticipate the applied competition process associated with such platforms. Based on this model, it was found that, in any case, one online interpersonal communication platform will eventually monopolize the market, either partly or entirely. The late entrant platform, comprising a major innovation, tends to fail when competing with the incumbent monopoly due to "network externalities." Even when two competing platforms continue to propose innovations, and they will alternately lead the competition due to those innovations, this type of replacement of their competitive positions in the market may only occur a few times and then disappear completely.

Health information exchange, system size and information silos

There are many technology platforms that bring benefits only when users share data. In healthcare, this is a key policy issue, because of the potential cost savings and quality improvements from 'big data' in the form of sharing electronic patient data across medical providers. Indeed, one criterion used for federal subsidies for healthcare information technology is whether the software has the capability to share data. We find empirically that larger hospital systems are more likely to exchange electronic patient information internally, but are less likely to exchange patient information externally with other hospitals. This pattern is driven by instances where there may be a commercial cost to sharing data with other hospitals. Our results suggest that the common strategy of using 'marquee' large users to kick-start a platform technology has an important drawback of potentially creating information silos. This suggests that federal subsidies for health data technologies based on 'meaningful use' criteria, that are based simply on the capability to share data rather than actual sharing of data, may be misplaced.