The purpose of the present study was to explore the direct influence of self-concept and self-imagination on English language learning outcomes. Furthermore, this study examined the mediating role of self-efficacy in the relationship between self-concept, self-imagination, and ELLO. A survey questionnaire of 21 items was used in this study. We distributed the questionnaire through QR code and collected the data from 2,517 participants who enrolled in blended learning courses at the undergraduate level in Chinese universities. The relationship among the variables (...) was measured through SmartPLS-SEM 3.3.3. The outcomes of the present study indicated a direct, positive, and significant connection of self-concept, self-imagination, and self-efficacy with ELLO. Looking at indirect influences, self-concept and self-imagination, positive and significant, influence ELLO through self-efficacy. Thus, self-efficacy was indicated to play a mediating role between self-concept, self-imagination and ELLO. We can conclude that self-concept, self-imagination, and self-efficacy are the main predictors of ELLO in blended learning courses during the pandemic. Additionally, self-concept and self-imagination along with the intervening role of self-efficacy, play a more effective role in improving ELLO. Moreover, this study provided some useful, practical implications, and future research directions. (shrink)

Although big data analytics capability leads to competitive performance, the mechanism of the relationship is still unclear. To narrow the research gap, this paper investigates the mediating roles of two forms of resource integration in the relationship between two forms of BDAC [big data analytics management capability and BDA technology capability] and competitive performance. Supported by Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling and the cross-sectional survey data from 219 Chinese enterprises, the results show that the resource bricolage plays a significantly mediating (...) role in the relationships between BDA management capability and competitive performance as well as in the relationship between BDA technology capability and competitive performance. Furthermore, the mediating effect in the former relationship is stronger than that in the latter relationship. Additionally, BDA technology capability only has a direct effect on resource bricolage, while BDA management capability has a stronger effect on resource optimization than that on resource bricolage. Finally, resource bricolage has a stronger impact on competitive performance than resource optimization. These findings contribute to understanding how enterprises could apply different forms of BDAC to other kinds of resource integration to achieve outstanding competitive performance. (shrink)

Although lean search is seen as an important action in lean startup, previous studies have less knowledge on how to realize it, especially in the face of traditional plans that cannot cope with sudden changes in the environment. To fill the research gap, this study investigates the effects of improvisation on lean search. Meanwhile, this research also discusses the moderating effects of entrepreneurial team heterogeneity and the environmental uncertainty to identify the boundary conditions of this relationship. Supported by the cross-sectional (...) data from 203 Chinese startups, the results show that explorative and ambidextrous improvisation are positively associated with lean search. However, the effect of exploitative improvisation on lean search is unsupported. Additionally, technology uncertainty positively moderates the relationship between exploitative improvisation and lean search. Market uncertainty positively moderates the relationship between explorative improvisation and lean search. However, the entrepreneurial team heterogeneity negatively moderates the relationship between ambidextrous improvisation and lean search. These findings contribute to understanding how startups could conduct lean search in a rapidly changing environment, which provides theoretical guidance for improving the success rate of startups. (shrink)

Wireless devices consume large amounts of energy during wireless communication. As the energy storage of battery is limited, improving energy efficiency has become an important approach to prolong the lifetime of devices. The IEEE 802.11 protocol supports the power save mode in wireless local area networks. However, the standard PSM cannot adapt to the changes of traffic load or channel conditions. Therefore, this article proposes an adaptive traffic-aware PSM mechanism that improves energy efficiency of wireless devices in a WLAN with (...) an access point. According to the current channel condition and traffic load, the AP adjusts the interval of beacons that give devices different priorities to fetch buffered packets. The devices can adaptively adjust listening intervals according to network traffic, and adopt different congestion backoff timers when channel collisions happen or the network topology changes. The APSM has been implemented and evaluated in NS-2. The simulation results have shown that devices using the APSM can improve energy efficiency by 115% at most compared with the ones using the standard PSM. The benefit of adaptive beacon interval and listening intervals is significant, while the improvement due to the adaptive backoff timer is minor. The improvement of the APSM over the PSM is more significant when the network traffic level decreases and the ratio of idle power to sleeping power increases. Additionally, the APSM increases the delay of data frames within a limited range, which does not bring any bad effect on network throughput. (shrink)