Xiang Zou

Purpose: This research aimed to examine how consumers' power distance belief (PDB) influences their responses to two distinct corporate donation strategies: intensive-effort versus persistent-effort strategies, and to investigate the mediating effect of value-driven motive attribution as the underlying psychological mechanism. Design/methodology/approach: This research conducted three scenario-based experiments with a total of 845 participants recruited via Credamo and Prolific. Study 1 employed a 2 (donation strategy: intensive-effort vs persistent-effort) × 2 (PDB: high vs low) between-subjects design to examine the role of PDB in consumer evaluations of corporate donation strategies. Studies 2 and 3 further investigated the role of value-driven motive attribution as the underlying psychological mechanism. Specifically, Study 3 validated the generalizability of the findings at the country level through a cross-national comparative experiment between China (a high-PDB country) and the United Kingdom (a low-PDB country). Findings: This research established a significant moderating effect of PDB on consumer responses to corporate donation strategies. Consumers with high PDB responded more favorably to intensive-effort donation strategies, while those with low PDB responded more favorably to persistent-effort donation strategies. This effect was mediated by value-driven motives attributed to the company. Practical implications: Our research provides actionable guidance for managers on tailoring corporate donation strategies to align with the cultural values of their target markets. These findings also offer useful insights for non-profit organizations seeking to optimize corporate partnerships and for policymakers designing culturally informed CSR regulations. Originality/value: This research contributes to the literature by introducing PDB into studies of corporate donation evaluation. It extends prior work that has focused primarily on situational factors by revealing how PDB shapes consumers' moral judgments of corporate giving. Moreover, the study deepens our understanding of the role of PDB in moral attribution processes. The findings offer practical guidance for managers seeking to tailor and effectively communicate donation strategies across diverse cultural contexts and consumer segments, as well as valuable insights for non-profit organizations and policymakers.

Blind boxes are becoming increasingly popular and have sparked an emerging body of research exploring their appeal in recent years. However, research about the heterogeneity in consumer reactions to blind boxes remains insufficient. This study investigates how power distance belief (PDB) shapes consumer preference for blind boxes. Across six studies, we find that consumers with low PDB respond more positively to blind boxes than those with high PDB, an effect driven by differences in their process/outcome mindsets. That is, low PDB consumers tend to appreciate the experience of opening blind boxes, whereas high PDB consumers focus more on the results. Consequently, the experiential appeal of blind boxes has a stronger impact on low PDB consumers. In addition, incorporating a hidden version into blind boxes can increase the attractiveness of blind boxes for high PDB consumers. This research enriches existing knowledge on mystery consumption and PDB and offers actionable insights for practitioners in the blind box market.

Purpose: The performance of corporations in sustainable development is not only a concern of investors, but has also captured ever-increasing attention from consumers. However, the evidence on how these good practices would ultimately benefit brands economically remains insufficient. This study tests the causal effect between corporate Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance, media coverage, and brand value to reveal the underlying mechanisms of how consumers would react to high ESG performance.Design/methodology/approach: This study uses panel data regression analysis with a sample of Chinese A-share non-financial listed companies from 2010 to 2021. ESG performance, brand value, and media coverage are assessed with Huazheng ESG Rating, the rankings from the China’s 500 Most Valuable Brands' list published by the World Brand Lab, and media index compiled by the Chinese Research Data Services Platform (CNRDS) respectively.Findings: This research confirmed that ESG performance positively impacted brand value in terms of profitability, and that media coverage played a role as a megaphone in this relationship. Large-scale corporates, compared to small ones, benefited more from good ESG ratings due to increased media coverage.Originality/value: The findings provide evidence of the megaphone effect of media coverage on the relationship between firms’ ESG engagements and brand value in the product market, which has extended the knowledge of media’s monitoring role in the financial market. And this megaphone effect is strengthened by firm size in which larger firms have spotlight effect in draw public attention due to higher expectations in terms of social responsibility.

Variational algorithms are a representative class of quantum computing workloads that combine quantum and classical computing. This paper presents an LLVM-based C++ compiler toolchain to efficiently execute variational hybrid quantum-classical algorithms on a computational system in which the quantum device acts as an accelerator. We introduce a set of extensions to the C++ language for programming these algorithms. We define a novel Executable and Linking Format (ELF) for Quantum and create a quantum device compiler component in the LLVM framework to compile the quantum part of the C++ source and reuse the host compiler in the LLVM framework to compile the classical computing part of the C++ source. A variational algorithm runs a quantum circuit repeatedly, each time with different gate parameters. We add to the quantum runtime the capability to execute dynamically a quantum circuit with different parameters. Thus, programmers can call quantum routines the same way as classical routines. With these capabilities, a variational hybrid quantum-classical algorithm can be specified in a single-source code and only needs to be compiled once for all iterations. The single compilation significantly reduces the execution latency of variational algorithms. We evaluate the framework's performance by running quantum circuits that prepare Thermofield Double (TFD) states, a quantum-classical variational algorithm.

Glutathionylcobalamin (GSCbl), the complex formed between glutathione (GSH, gamma-glutamylcysteinylglycine) and aquacobalamin (H2OCbl), has been implicated as an intermediate in the pathway for the formation of the cobalamin coenzymes. In chemical model studies, GSCbl has been shown to be a substrate for methylcobalamin formation in the presence of S-adenosylmethionine and a thiol reductant. Although GSCbl was first described in 1964, the structure of this compound, particularly the site of GSH coordination, has been unknown. GSCbl was prepared by reacting GSH (5-fold molar excess) with H2OCbl in 0.1 M sodium phosphate (pH 6.5) and was purified by gel-permeation chromatography on a Bio-Gel P2 polyacrylamide column. By use of a combination of homonuclear [homonuclear J-correlated spectroscopy (COSY), homonuclear Hartmann-Hahn spectroscopy (HOHAHA), and absorption-mode nuclear Overhauser effect spectroscopy (NOESY)] and inverse detected heteronuclear [1H-detected heteronuclear multiple-quantum coherence (HMQC) and 1H-detected multiple-bond heteronuclear multiple-quantum coherence (HMBC) spectroscopies] two-dimensional NMR methods at 600 MHz, the complete 1H and 13C NMR spectra of GSCbl have now been assigned. Comparison of the 1H and 13C NMR chemical shifts of the GS moiety of GSCbl to those of free GSH and GS- shows that by far the largest differences occur at the cysteine alpha and beta positions. This result strongly suggests that GSH is coordinated to the cobalt atom in GSCbl via the cysteine sulfur atom.