Research Picks 1 Apr 2018

Peer pressure
Researchers from Israel have recently questioned whether or not the voluntary model on which the peer review system of academic journals remains valid in the age of growing publisher profits and open access publications with novel publication models. For their specific area of research, the business and sociology of tourism and hospitality, they ask whether or not refereeing papers in this field should remain an altruistic academic tradition or become a service to be paid for? A commercial model might reduce many of the problems associated with the current voluntary model such as the “tragedy of the reviewer commons” and the “free-rider problem”, as well as relieving the heavy burden on journal editors of finding suitable referees to review submissions. However, the opposite perspective is that journal review is an enlightened academic tradition that ought not to be compromised by commercial concerns on the part of the referees. The researchers argue that the conventional model is broken and a commercial approach offers the only valid way forward.
Shani, A. (2018) ‘Reviewing articles for tourism and hospitality journals: an altruistic academic tradition or a service to be paid for?’, Int. J. Tourism Policy, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp.73–82.

The power of Tesla
A collaboration between researchers in Germany and Italy has looked at the impact of severe disruptions, such as random catastrophic events, manmade or natural, workers strikes, and political crises, on supply chain performance in an automotive closed-loop supply chain. They take as their focus a case study of Tesla and look at its resilience and how disruption in the reverse supply chain can affect the financial and operational performances of such a company.
Gianesello, P., Ivanov, D. and Battini, D. (2017) ‘Closed-loop supply chain simulation with disruption considerations: a case-study on Tesla’, Int. J. Inventory Research, Vol. 4, No. 4, pp.257–280.

Controlling commercial e-vehicles
Czech and French researchers have looked at driving range as a serious issue with electric vehicles and determined that for commercial vehicles it might be possible to improve range by using predictive control of the vehicle, its onboard computer having been given a priori route information. The computer can take control of torque and braking depending on given parameters programmed in parallel with the route within legal boundaries of speed and control so that the drain on the power supply is slowed as much as possible between charging stations. Their modelling shows what strategies would work to reduce power consumption and how range might be compromised if other approaches to predictive control were used instead.
Steinbauer, P., Husák, J., Pasteur, F., Denk, P., Macek, J. and Šika, Z. (2018) ‘Predictive control of commercial e-vehicle using a priori route information’, Int. J. Powertrains, Vol. 7, Nos. 1/2/3, pp.53–71.

Social culture
Culture affects how individuals respond to social media according to a study from Finland and the USA. The researchers have looked at content generated by companies on social media in Finland and Poland. Their findings suggest that reveals it is not the intensity of social media use that differs among cultures with different levels of in-group collectivism, as was previously thought, but whether or not user responses to firm-generated content are public (content sharing, commenting, or clicking “like”), or private (reading and watching content). They suggest that cultural dimensions must not be studied in isolation and that previously neglected cultural dimensions such as masculinity versus femininity and indulgence versus restraint can shape user responses to firm-generated content.
Chwialkowska, A. and Kontkanen, M. (2017) ‘How culture shapes user responses to firm-generated content on social media: the role of cultural dimensions of in-group collectivism, indulgence, and masculinity’, Int. J. Export Marketing, Vol. 1, No. 4, pp.328–356.