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The effects of government expenditure on the shadow economy have been investigated. However, the effect from a moderating factor that affects this relationship has been largely ignored in the existing literature. This paper investigates how fiscal deficit moderates the effects of government expenditure on the shadow economy for 32 Asian countries for the past two decades since 2000.

The authors use various techniques, which allow cross-sectional dependence and slope homogeneity in panel data analysis, to examine this relationship in both the long run and short run. The analysis also considers the marginal effects of government expenditure on the shadow economy at different degrees of fiscal deficits.

Empirical findings from this paper indicate that an increase in government expenditure and fiscal deficit will increase the shadow economy size. Interestingly, the effects of government expenditure on the shadow economy will intensify with a greater degree of the budget deficit. The authors also find that enhancing economic growth to improve income per capita and extending international trade appears to reduce the shadow economy in the Asian countries.

The authors consider that policies targeting reducing shadow economy should follow conventional economic policies on economic growth, unemployment and inflation.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical study conducted to examine the moderating role of fiscal deficit in the government expenditure–shadow economy nexus in Asian countries.

This study aims to explore how the inhibitor-loaded nanocontainers can be used in the epoxy coating for protection of steel against corrosion. A self-healing anticorrosive coating can be easily fabricated by embedding the inhibitor-loaded nanocontainers into the epoxy coating matrices. For this purpose, first, cerium (a catholic corrosion inhibitor) is encapsulated into silica nanoparticles (SiO₂@Ce). Thereafter, an epoxy nanocomposite coating has been prepared on steel substrate using these SiO₂@Ce nanoparticles as nanofillers.

To examine the effect of SiO₂@Ce nanocontainers on mechanical properties of epoxy coating, the abrasion resistance, impact resistance and adhesion strength of coating have been evaluated. To reveal the effect of SiO₂@Ce nanocontainer on corrosion behavior of epoxy-coated steel, the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) has been conducted in NaCl solution.

Transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy/Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analyses indicate that Ce³⁺ cations have been successfully loaded into the surface of silica nanoparticles (at the content of approximately 2 Wt.%). Mechanical tests of epoxy nanocomposite coatings indicate that the nanocomposite coatings with nanoparticles content of 2.5 Wt.% provide the highest values of abrasion resistance, impact resistance and adhesion strength. EIS results show that the presence of SiO₂@Ce³⁺ nanocontainers increases both coating resistance and polarization resistance. Along with the improvement the coating barrier performance, Ce inhibitor plays an important role in improving the anticorrosive performance at the steel–electrolyte interface.

The application of self-healing epoxy/SiO₂@Ce nanocomposite coatings for the protection of carbon steel is very promising.

This study aims to examine the relationships among fear of COVID-19, job stress, job commitment and intention to quit. It also investigates the boundary conditions of the impact of fear of COVID-19 on job stress and intention to quit, a research gap that has not been addressed yet.

This research focused on full-time frontline hotel employees who have been working in four- and five-star hotels in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. A pilot test was performed before collecting formal data. The survey was conducted face-to-face on site so that any potential confusion could be clarified right away. 487 valid responses were analyzed using SPSS 28 and SmartPLS 4.

The majority of hypotheses were supported, with the results suggested that supervisor support contributes to reducing the tendency of hotel employees to quit their job and their job stress. Besides, government support is necessary to make staff feel secure during the pandemic.

This study contributes to pointing out central priorities in making decisions by hotel managers when facing crises. Managers need to focus more on measures to help their employees feel secure and should be available for guidance and feedback when nedeed. Additionally, supportive policies from the government, especially financial support, can provide hotel employees with resources they need to maintain a basic level of living in the face of a severe drop in their income. The study provides the hotel industry not only in Vietnam but also in countries with comparable settings with strategies to cope with unexpected events.

Research on intention to quit a job has mainly focused on a complex interplay of internal factors. However, the influence of fear of COVID-19 on intention to quit a job has not been studied in the context of Vietnamese hotel industry yet. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of hotels in Vietnam had to close due to a lack of visitors, which had a negative impact on human resources. Accordingly, fear, stress, commitment and intention to quit a job are the issues faced by staff.

This paper aims to propose a method to reduce the resistance of silicon-based V-shaped electrothermal microactuator (VEM) by applying a surface sputtering process.

Four VEM’s samples have been fabricated using traditional silicon on insulator (SOI)-Micro-electro-mechanical System (MEMS) technology, three of them are coated with a thin layer of platinum on the top surface by sputtering technique with different sputtered times and the other is original. The displacements of the VEM are calculated and simulated to evaluate the advantages of sputtering method.

The measured results show that the average resistance of the sputtered structures is approximately 1.16, 1.55 and 2.4 times lower than the non-sputtering sample corresponding to the sputtering time of 1.5, 3 and 6 min. Simulation results confirmed that the maximum displacement of the sputtered VEM is almost 1.45 times larger than non-sputtering one in the range of voltage from 8 to 20 V. The experimental displacements are also measured to validate the better performance of the sputtered samples.

The experimental results demonstrated the better displacement of the VEM structure after using the platinum sputtering process. The improvement can be considered and applied for enhancing displacement as well as decreasing the driving voltage of the other electrothermal microactuators like U- or Z-shaped structures while combining with the low-cost SOI-MEMS micromachining technology.

This study aims to investigate the influence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on corporate sustainable performance (CSP) of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by looking into the significance of mediating factors, namely, brand image (BI) and brand loyalty (BL), within the context of an emerging economy.

The authors conduct an extensive literature study on the subjects of CSR, BI and BL to assess their influence on the sustainable performance of SMEs in an emerging market. The study adopts a quantitative methodology. A total of 438 answers were obtained from a sample size of 513. The data of the SMEs in Vietnam was analyzed using the smart partial least squares structural equation modeling software, specifically version 3.3.2.

The results of the authors demonstrate notable and favorable correlations between CSR and CSP, CSR and BI and CSR and BL. Importantly, the findings contribute to existing knowledge by looking into the mediating influence of BI and BL in the relationship between CSR and CSP.

According to the authors’ understanding, a number of research have investigated the correlation between CSR and CSP within the realm of SMEs. Nevertheless, there is a scarcity of scholarly research examining the mediating function of BI and BL in this association. The study’s findings have important implications for entrepreneurs and senior management in effectively guiding their enterprises and improving their business strategies with an emphasis on sustainability in emerging markets. The outcome of this study has the potential to significantly contribute to SMEs in Vietnam as well as other emerging countries.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how negative emotions toward brands, especially brand hate, impact anti-brand consumption behavior, including brand avoidance and further brand switching, through the intervening mediators of negative word-of-mouth (nWOM) and protest behavior as well as within contingencies.

Existing scales are adapted, and the field study is conducted in Malang, Indonesia. Based on purposive sampling, 275 respondents in three different malls complete a questionnaire related to Sari Roti, a national brand suffering from a boycott. In all, 250 qualified questionnaires are eventually used for data analysis using partial least square.

This research supports the effect of brand hate on nWOM, which then influences protest behavior, subsequently driving consumers to avoid a particular brand and opt for an alternative. nWOM was also found to have a direct effect on brand avoidance. For moderating effects, brand social responsibility and social media usage were found to negatively and positively affect the brand hate–nWOM relationship, respectively.

The limited extant literature only addresses a simple direct–effect relationship between negative emotions and anti-brand consequences. Drawing on the positioning lens and the dis-identification view, this research provides deep insight through theorizing a sequential, four-stage framework regarding the effect of brand hate on brand avoidance and brand switching. This framework is also explored under contingencies, further advancing an understanding of this dynamic subject matter.

We propose a machine learning based methodology to deal with data collected from a mobile application asking users their opinion regarding fashion products. Based on different machine learning techniques, the proposed approach relies on the data value chain principle to enrich data into knowledge, insights and learning experience.

Online interaction and the usage of social media have dramatically altered both consumers’ behaviors and business practices. Companies invest in social media platforms and digital marketing in order to increase their brand awareness and boost their sales. Especially for fashion retailers, understanding consumers’ behavior before launching a new collection is crucial to reduce overstock situations. In this study, we aim at providing retailers better understand consumers’ different assessments of newly introduced products.

By creating new product-related and user-related attributes, the proposed prediction model attends an average of 70.15% accuracy when evaluating the potential success of new future products during the design process of the collection. Results showed that by harnessing artificial intelligence techniques, along with social media data and mobile apps, new ways of interacting with clients and understanding their preferences are established.

From a practical point of view, the proposed approach helps businesses better target their marketing campaigns, localize their potential clients and adjust manufactured quantities.

The originality of the proposed approach lies in (1) the implementation of the data value chain principle to enhance the information of raw data collected from mobile apps and improve the prediction model performances, and (2) the combination consumer and product attributes to provide an accurate prediction of new fashion, products.