Digital Commons Network^™

Corporate Strategic Changes In Response To Negative Performance Gaps: The Role Of Listing Board In China, Lei Yu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This dissertation investigates how Chinese listed companies respond strategically to negative performance gaps under different institutional environments defined by the Main Board and ChiNext Board of China’s capital market. Drawing on Performance Feedback Theory and New Institutional Theory, it explores whether and how listing board heterogeneity moderates the relation between performance shortfalls and corporate strategic transformation, and further examines the boundary effects of internal governance factors including ownership type, CEO power, and resource slack.

Using panel data of A-share listed companies from 2009 to 2019 obtained from the CSMAR database, this study employs multiple regression analysis and interaction modeling to …

The Impact Of Value Co-Creation On Organizational Resilience In Small And Medium-Sized Traditional Foreign Trade Enterprises, Dan Yan

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Against the backdrop of increasing uncertainty in the global business environment, international scholarly attention to individual, group, and organizational resilience has risen significantly. Chinese export trading enterprises—especially small and medium-sized export trading enterprises(SMETEs)—face disadvantages such as small scale, weak financing capacity, limited access to information, and low brand strength. After experiencing shocks from digital transformation, the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russia–Ukraine war, and the European energy crisis, these firms have been compelled to reconsider how to enhance their organizational resilience in order to adapt to an increasingly turbulent external environment.

First, this study selects Company H as a representative case of …

Striking A Balance Between Personal Data Protection And Transactional Efficiency In The Context Of Data-Driven Mergers, Jun Hu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The proliferation of data-driven mergers and acquisitions (M&A) has created a critical tension between the commercial value of integrated data assets and the fundamental privacy rights of users. This dissertation addresses the underexplored micro-foundations of user consent when personal data is transferred wholesale to an acquiring firm. It develops and empirically tests a sequential mediation model, anchored in Privacy Calculus and Signaling Theory, to explain how users' perceptions and intentions are shaped by different corporate data protection strategies.

A between-subjects experimental design was employed (N=532), exposing participants to one of three distinct protection mechanisms: procedural safeguards (emphasizing fairness and control), …

A Cultural Identity Approach To The Generational Divide, Davelle Lee, Andree Hartanto

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Some scholars have argued strongly against the idea that differences between generations are responsible for intergenerational conflict, calling for organisations and policymakers to do away with the notion of generations altogether. The current review argues that generations are an important social identity and makes the case for why generational identity should inform policy, despite inconsistent empirical evidence for generational differences. Drawing on cultural psychology and social identity theory, we find parallels between how racial and ethnic identities shape how people interpret and respond to racial diversity and so-called racial and ethnic “differences”, and how generational identity influences people's attitudes and …

Social Expectancies To Be Constantly Available And Productive As Antecedents And Consequences Of Burnout: A Longitudinal Bidirectional Investigation, Andree Hartanto, Meilan Hu, Adalia Y. H. Goh, Eddie M. W. Tong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Burnout has become increasingly prevalent in contemporary society, affecting not only those in the workplace but also students across various educational settings. The current study investigates whether the pervasive social expectancies to be constantly available and productive contribute to the onset and maintenance of academic burnout among university students. Using a 13-week longitudinal design and a random-intercept cross-lagged panel model, we examined the bidirectional association between social expectancies to be constantly available and productive and academic burnout. Our findings indicate that heightened social expectancies predict increases in emotional exhaustion and feelings of inadequacy in the following week. Furthermore, emotional exhaustion, …

Sopo: Text-To-Motion Generation Using Semi-Online Preference Optimization, Xiaofeng Tan, Hongsong Wang, Xin Geng, Pan Zhou

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Text-to-motion generation is essential for advancing the creative industry but often presents challenges in producing consistent, realistic motions. To address this, we focus on fine-tuning text-to-motion models to consistently favor highquality, human-preferred motions—a critical yet largely unexplored problem. In this work, we theoretically investigate the DPO under both online and offline settings, and reveal their respective limitation: overfitting in offline DPO, and biased sampling in online DPO. Building on our theoretical insights, we introduce Semi-online Preference Optimization (SoPo), a DPO-based method for training text-to-motion models using “semi-online” data pair, consisting of unpreferred motion from online distribution and preferred motion in …

Uniteformer: Unifying Node And Edge Modalities In Transformers For Vehicle Routing Problem, Dian Meng, Zhiguang Cao, Jie Gao, Yaoxin Wu, Yaqing Hou

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Neural solvers for the Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) have typically relied on either node or edge inputs, limiting their flexibility and generalization in real-world scenarios. We propose UniteFormer, a unified neural solver that supports node-only, edge-only, and hybrid input types through a single model trained via joint edge-node modalities. UniteFormer introduces: (1) a mixed encoder that integrates graph convolutional networks and attention mechanisms to collaboratively process node and edge features, capturing cross-modal interactions between them; and (2) a parallel decoder enhanced with query mapping and a feed-forward layer for improved representation. The model is trained with REINFORCE by randomly sampling …

Learning Memory-Enhanced Improvement Heuristics For Flexible Job Shop Scheduling, Jiaqi Wang, Zhiguang Cao, Peng Zhao, Rui Cao, Yubin Xiao, Yuan Jiang, You Zhou

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The rise of smart manufacturing under Industry 4.0 introduces mass customization and dynamic production, demanding more advanced and flexible scheduling techniques. The flexible job-shop scheduling problem (FJSP) has attracted significant attention due to its complex constraints and strong alignment with real-world production scenarios. Current deep reinforcement learning (DRL)-based approaches to FJSP predominantly employ constructive methods. While effective, they often fall short of reaching (near-)optimal solutions. In contrast, improvement-based methods iteratively explore the neighborhood of initial solutions and are more effective in approaching optimality. However, the flexible machine allocation in FJSP poses significant challenges to the application of this framework, including …

Instance-Level Video Depth In Groups Beyond Occlusions, Yuan Liang, Yang Zhou, Ziming Sun, Tianyi Xiang, Guiqing Li, Shengfeng He

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Depth estimation in dynamic, multi-object scenes remains a major challenge, especially under severe occlusions. Existing monocular models, including foundation models, struggle with instance-wise depth consistency due to their reliance on global regression. We tackle this problem from two key aspects: data and methodology. First, we introduce the Group Instance Depth (GID) dataset, the first large-scale video depth dataset with instance-level annotations, featuring 101,500 frames from real-world activity scenes. GID bridges the gap between synthetic and real-world depth data by providing high-fidelity depth supervision for multi-object interactions. Second, we propose InstanceDepth, the first occlusion-aware depth estimation framework for multi-object environments. Our …

Robust Hallucination Detection In Llms Via Adaptive Token Selection, Mengjia Niu, Hamed Haddadi, Guansong Pang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Hallucinations in large language models (LLMs) pose significant safety concerns that impede their broader deployment. Recent research in hallucination detection has demonstrated that LLMs’ internal representations contain truthfulness hints, which can be harnessed for detector training. However, the performance of these detectors is heavily dependent on the internal representations of predetermined tokens, fluctuating considerably when working on free-form generations with varying lengths and sparse distributions of hallucinated entities. To address this, we propose HaMI, a novel approach that enables robust detection of hallucinations through adaptive selection and learning of critical tokens that are most indicative of hallucinations. We achieve this …

Sempo: Lightweight Foundation Models For Time Series Forecasting, Hui He, Kun Yi, Yuanchi Ma, Qi Zhang, Zhengdong Niu, Guansong Pang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The recent boom of large pre-trained models witnesses remarkable success in developing foundation models (FMs) for time series forecasting. Despite impressive performance across diverse downstream forecasting tasks, existing time series FMs possess massive network architectures and require substantial pre-training on large-scale datasets, which significantly hinders their deployment in resource-constrained environments. In response to this growing tension between versatility and affordability, we propose SEMPO, a novel lightweight foundation model that requires pretraining on relatively small-scale data, yet exhibits strong general time series forecasting. Concretely, SEMPO comprises two key modules: 1) energy-aware SpEctral decomposition module, that substantially improves the utilization of pre-training …

Towards Inclusive Digital Futures Of Cultural Heritage: Insights From A Critical Discourse Analysis Of Unesco Dialogues, Shiqing Huang, Keng Siau, Xiaoting Chen

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Digital technologies are shaping many aspects of cultural heritage, but very little research has examined the implications of digital transformation. Drawing on concepts from Fairclough’s three-dimensional critical discourse analysis, this research examines the discourse using seven online dialogues (available on the UNESCO website) between 18 professionals who have different backgrounds and cultures to identify social practices related to the digital transformation of cultural heritage. We identify four digital transformation discourse types in professional dialogues: documentation, management, interpretation, and interaction. We also identify seven main groups: memory institutions including libraries, archives, and museums (LAMs), governments, international organizations, art and creative supporters, …

From Discrete Manufacturing To Continuous Manufacturing: Examining The Relationship Among Digital Capability, Organizational Learning, And Enterprise Performance, Demu Chen

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

In 2018, Company J launched its intelligent drive digital transformation project, which was completed and entered operation in 2021. That December, the project obtained certification under Zhejiang Province's "1353" system for the future factory enterprises, marking a successful transition from discrete to continuous manufacturing. To address the asynchronous flows of logistics, information, personnel, capital, and value indiscrete manufacturing enterprises, as well as pain points such as lowper capita output, long product delivery cycles, and low annual inventory turnover rates, this study, based on organizational learning theory, constructs ananalytical model encompassing digital capability (independent variable X), organizational learning (mediating variable Z), …

Riding Attention Spikes: How Analysts Respond To Advertising, Minjae Koo, Annika Yu Wang, Yin Wang, Liandong Zhang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Product market advertising, while containing little new information, triggers spikes in investor attention. Using weekly advertising data, we find that sell-side analysts issue optimistic earnings forecasts in response to heavier advertising in the prior week. This effect is not driven by confounding earnings or product news. It is more pronounced for experienced analysts and analysts affiliated with brokerages relying solely on trading revenues. The optimistic forecast bias intensifies the impact of advertising on investor trades, especially on retail buying, of the underlying stock during the following week. Overall, analysts appear to issue optimistic forecasts to exploit retail investor attention spikes …

Designing Payment Models For The Poor, Bhavani Shanker Uppari, Sasa Zorc

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Millions of people in poverty lack access to basic services such as energy, clean water, and cooking gas. Private firms are increasingly delivering these services—for example, by offering solar home systems or clean cooking packages with remote lockout capabilities—through pay-as-you-go (PAYGo) contracts that give consumers flexibility over payment timing and amount to match their erratic cash flows. Because firms cannot observe consumer liquidity, however, consumers may misuse this flexibility and prioritize other needs over repayment. We study how to design contracts that preserve flexibility while creating incentives for timely repayment using an optimal contracting approach. The optimal contract summarizes each …

Real-Time Estimated Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (Sofa) Score With Intervals: Improved Risk Monitoring With Estimated Uncertainty In Health Condition For Patients In Intensive Care Units, Yan He, Qian Luo, Hai Wang, Zhichao Zheng, Haidong Luo, Oon Cheong Ooi

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Purpose: Real-time risk monitoring is critical but challenging in intensive care units (ICUs) due to the lack of real-time updates for most clinical variables. Although real-time predictions have been integrated into various risk-scoring systems to aid monitoring, existing systems do not address uncertainties in risk assessments. We developed an enhanced risk monitoring framework based on commonly used systems like the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score by incorporating uncertainties to improve the effectiveness of real-time risk monitoring in ICUs.Methods: This study included 5,351 patients admitted to the Cardiothoracic ICU in the National University Hospital in Singapore. We developed machine learning …

Riding The Waves Of Power: Power Fluctuation, Cognitive Energy, And Goal Pursuit, Hae-Lueng Rose Kim, Trevor A. Foulk, Michael Schaerer, Jake Gale, Eric A. Anicich

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

A central finding in the power literature is that experiencing elevated power facilitates employees’ goal-relevant cognitions and behaviors. In this work, we suggest that the relationship between power and goal pursuit is more complex than previously assumed. Specifically, we examine how experiencing power fluctuation—alternating states of high and low power during the workday—can uniquely promote employees’ goal-relevant behaviors beyond the effect of static power. Integrating insights from the Dynamic Equilibrium Model of Organizing (DEMO) and the Model of Proactive Motivation (MPM), our work demonstrates that power fluctuation can facilitate employees’ cognitive energy, in a way that enhances their goal-relevant cognitions …

Over-Reliance On Aesthetics? The Appearance-Reveals-Character Lay Theory Increases Consumers’ Devaluation Of Unattractive Produce, Shilpa Madan, Krishna Savani, Gita Venkataramani Johar

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Approximately 40% of all produce is rejected because it appears unattractive, contributing significantly to food waste. Whereas previous research attributes this devaluation to the ugly-is-bad effect, this research identifies an important moderator of consumers’ reliance on this heuristic: the lay theory that a person’s outer appearance reveals their inner character. Specifically, consumers who believe that people’s appearances reveal their character are less willing to accept unattractive (vs. attractive) produce because they generalize their lay theory to produce and are, thus, more likely to infer that unattractive produce is of lower quality. Consumers who do not hold the lay theory do …

Incident-Driven Esg Engagements, Hao Liang, Yongheng Sun, T. Mandy Tham

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We examine when and why institutional investors engage portfolio firms on ESG issues using proprietary engagement records from a European asset manager. Salient negative incidents emerge as a powerful trigger—second only to firm size—because they heighten reputational accountability for investors and reveal new information about hidden ESG weaknesses, particularly at firms perceived as ESG leaders. Monitoring also extends along the supply chain: incidents at key suppliers prompt investor engagement with focal firms. Finally, engagement is associated with higher firm value, stronger ESG performance, and increased cash flows. Together, the findings illuminate the drivers and mechanisms of ESG engagement and underscore …

Growing Up Under Mao And Deng: On Politician Ideology And Corporate Policies, Hao Liang, Rong Wang, Haikun Zhu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We provide firm-level evidence on how politicians’ ideologies shape economic outcomes, using a unique setting of ideological discontinuity in China, transitioning from Maoism to Dengism around 1978. We find that ideological exposure during a politician’s early adulthood has a lasting impact on contemporary firm policies in their city. Firms governed by “Maoist mayors” show greater stakeholder spending, lower pay inequality, and less internationalization compared with those governed by “Dengist mayors.” Further evidence suggests that politicians’ ideologies influence corporate behaviors through nonpolicy channels, and these results cannot be fully explained by selection bias, endogenous matching, or the age of the mayor.

The Token-Effort Effect: Trivial Redemption Effort Increases Price Promotions Effectiveness, Kuangjie Zhang, Thomas Allard, Nidhi Agrawal, Rajesh Bagchi

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This research documents how introducing redemption tasks requiring a token (i.e., trivial) amount of effort—for instance, by asking the consumer to enter a promo code or solve a CAPTCHA to receive a discount—increases price promotion effectiveness compared with equivalent straight discounts (i.e., applied automatically). Eight studies (including two field experiments) and three additional Web Appendix studies provide robust evidence for the beneficial effect of token-effort requirements on redemption rates. This effect occurs because the easy-to-attain redemption task induces a high perceived return on effort. Thus, this effect only occurs when the redemption task requires token-type effort but not when it …

National Halo And Culture Mixing: U.S. Consumer Acceptance Of Korean Cultivated Meat Made With Seaweed Components, Mark Chong, Angela K. Y. Leung, Tricia Marjorie Fernandez

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate U.S. consumers’ perception and acceptance of a “culturally mixed” product – i.e., cultivated meat (beef) made with Korean seaweed components – a product that involves the blending of a foreign cultural element (Korean seaweed) with a local cultural element (cultivated beef) to create a mixed cultural representation. Subsequently, it aimed to assess if the product’s country of origin (i.e., South Korea) would influence consumer perception and acceptance. Online in-depth interviews were conducted with 20 U.S. consumers recruited through two market research companies. The interview transcripts were analyzed by two trained coders …

One Size Does Not Fit All: Contract Design In Fintech Lending, Jianfeng Hu, Changcheng Song, Gloria Yang Yu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Many fintech lenders rely on standardized contract terms to support scale and operational speed. This paper examines whether modest tailoring of loan contracts can improve credit market outcomes. We conduct a randomized field experiment with a large fintech lender that varies loan due dates relative to borrowers' salary paydays. Synchronizing repayment schedules with income cycles reduces delinquency by 29.1% in the experiment and 15.7% in the administrative data. Effects concentrate among liquidity-constrained borrowers: young, low-income, and low-creditlimit individuals. Tailored repayment timing generates substantial economic benefits: borrowers save on overdue penalties, lenders accelerate cash flows, and improved repayment increases future credit …

A Transaction Cost Perspective On Option Anomalies, James O'Donovan, Gloria Yang Yu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We examine the impact of transaction costs on the profitability of long-short portfolios of delta-hedged option returns. Of the 24 portfolio sort variables studied, 17 generate positive and significant gross returns, but none remain profitable after accounting for trading costs. We propose a cost-mitigation approach that restores profitability to 7 key portfolios. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the choice of delta-hedging frequency has a first-order impact on transaction costs. Our findings underscore the central role of implementation costs in shaping the investment opportunity set in equity–option markets, highlighting the need to account for transaction costs when evaluating option-based strategies.

Can Better Transportation Infrastructure Help Bridge The Gender Mobility Gap?: Analysis Of The Dhaka Metro Rail, Prottoy A. Akbar, Tomoki Fujii, Arpita Khanna, Abu S. Shonchoy

Research Collection School Of Economics

Inadequate transportation infrastructure is a pressing challenge in rapidly expanding urban centers globally. However, the differential impacts of infrastructure improvements for women versus men remain inadequately understood and underexplored. This study addresses this knowledge gap by documenting gender-specific travel patterns and perceptions of safety in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Specifically, we analyze how the introduction of Dhaka’s first mass rapid transit (MRT) line has altered modes of transportation, the frequency of travel, and safetyrelated concerns among women. Our empirical findings highlight that the new MRT line has notably influenced women’s travel behaviors, particularly by alleviating safety concerns that previously discouraged regular travel.

Exploratory Innovation: A New Perspective On Family Firms' Under-Diversification Puzzle, Po-Hsuan Hsu, Sterling Huang, Massimo Massa, Yaru Qian, Hong Zhang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We propose a new perspective on family firms’ puzzling under-diversification in product spaces: these firms first need to succeed in exploratory innovation so they may diversify into new product markets. We construct a large database of family ownership and patent records of U.S. public firms, and show that family firms produce more exploratory patents than others, a relation that is stronger among under-diversified family firms. In addition, we find that such innovation indeed helps family firms diversify business risks. A causal interpretation of our result is supported by (i) using the property division standard in state-level divorce laws as an …

Framerate Sensitivity And Cinemagoing Explain The Soap Opera Effect Of Films: A Preregistered Study Of Undergraduate Students In Singapore., Sonny Rosenthal, Benjamin J. Li

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

The soap opera effect is an unsettling feeling that some individuals experience while watching films at a high framerate. It has received little scholarly attention, and most explanations of it are speculative or anecdotal. Drawing on the mere exposure effect, this preregistered laboratory experiment provides new evidence of framerate sensitivity and cinemagoing as explanatory factors of the soap opera effect. Undergraduate students (N = 270) reported their cinemagoing and completed a novel task to measure their framerate sensitivity. They also completed a task indicating their framerate preferences. Those with a higher framerate sensitivity and more regular cinemagoing preferred the standard …

Public Views Towards Lifespan, Healthspan, And Healthy Longevity Medicine In Singapore: A Qualitative Study From The Healthy Longevity (Helo) Initiatives, Belinda Wang, Anna Szucs, Elena Sandalova, Zhi Meng Lim, E. J. Horberg, Paul A. O’Keefe, Louis Island, Sonny Rosenthal, Andrea B. Maier

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Introduction: Healthy Longevity Medicine (HLM) offers a strategy to reduce the healthspan-lifespan gap, yet public perspectives remain unclear. This study refines the Healthy Longevity (HELO) framework through a qualitative exploration of public views towards lifespan, healthspan, and HLM.Methods: Individuals living in Singapore participated in semi-structured group or individual discussions to explore (a) their understanding of lifespan and healthspan, (b) motivational factors for health behaviours, and (c) their awareness of HLM. Sampling maximised variation across age, sex, and ethnicity. Data obtained through 13 discussions were analysed with a mixed, inductive-deductive approach employing the HELO framework.Results: Thirty-six participants (mean age = 49.4 …

Evaluating Defi Vulnerabilities: The Role Of Bug Bounty Programs On Defi Software Supply Chain, Ping Fan Ke, Yi Meng Lau, Lingxiao Jiang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Decentralized finance (DeFi), powered by blockchain technology, enables peer-to-peer financial transactions without intermediaries. Despite rapid adoption, DeFi attracts malicious actors exploiting vulnerabilities. To mitigate risks, we propose a framework assessing entry points in the DeFi software supply chain: smart contracts, oracles/third-party feeds, user interfaces, off-chain storage, and crypto wallets. Applying this framework, we evaluate whether industry solutions—particularly bug bounty programs—adequately address these gaps. Our preliminary analysis indicates that most programs cover smart contract vulnerabilities (85.7%), followed by user interface issues (21.3%) and crypto wallet loopholes (11.9%). However, third-party risks, such as oracle feeds, are frequently deemed out of scope. This …

A Socio-Technical Analysis Of Market Reactions On Meme Coins: Trump’S Presidential Effect, Ping Fan Ke, Yi Meng Lau

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Meme coins are a unique type of cryptocurrency whose value is shaped by internet culture and viral trends. This study introduces a socio-technical research model to examine key factors influencing meme coin dynamics and applies it to analyze market reactions to Donald Trump’s 2024 U.S. presidential election victory and inauguration, focusing on the $TRUMP meme coin and other politics-related meme coins, known as PolitiFi. Using a mixed-methods approach, we analyze publicly available news, social media activity, and marketplace data to investigate the interaction between social engagement and technical infrastructure. Econometric analysis shows that Trump-related events triggered short-term price surges, increased …