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Existing research on innovation has mainly focused on how to promote technological innovation in megaprojects and management innovation (MI) in megaprojects is still an unknown research field. The purposes of this study are to examine the effect of MI on megaproject performance and how the top management team (TMT) regulatory focus affects the use of MI in projects. At the same time, the moderating effects of project uncertainties are also tested.

On the basis of an explorative/exploitative ambidextrous analysis framework, this study divides MI into two dimensions: explorative and exploitative MI, and integrates the theoretical perspectives of the TMT regulatory focus and project uncertainties into a research model. Taking 314 responses from megaprojects’ TMTs in China as research data, this study empirically tests the above model.

Results show that exploratory MI has a U-shaped relationship with megaproject performance; whereas exploitative MI has an inverted U-shaped relationship with megaproject performance. The TMT promotion focus has a positive effect on exploratory and exploitative MI; and the TMT prevention focus has a negative effect on exploratory MI but has a positive effect on exploitative MI. Project uncertainties have a positive moderating effect on the positive relationship between TMT promotion focus and exploratory MI, whereas it has a negative moderating effect on the negative relationship between the TMT prevention focus and exploratory MI.

By empirically measuring the relationship between two types of MIs and megaproject performance, this study clarifies the differential mechanism of the effect of different MIs on megaproject performance. This study also examines the MI of megaprojects from the perspective of the TMT regulatory focus and expounds how changes in uncertainties affect the relationship between the TMT regulatory focus and MI.

The behavior of the entities in a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) cooperation network is influenced by the core enterprise. Addressing the problem of how the network vulnerability changes when the core enterprise is attacked is a challenging topic. The purpose of this paper is to reveal the failure process of SME cooperation networks caused by the failure of the core SME from the perspective of cascading failure.

According to the Torch High Technology Industry Development Center, Ministry of Science & Technology in China, 296 SMEs in Jiangsu province were used to construct an SME cooperation network of technology-based SMEs and an under-loading cascading failure model. The weight-based attack strategy was selected to mimic a deliberate node attack and was used to analyze the vulnerability of the SME cooperation network.

Some important conclusions are obtained from the simulation analysis: (1) The minimum boundary of node enterprises has a negative relationship with networks' invulnerability, while the breakdown probability has an inverted-U relationship with networks' invulnerability. (2) The combined effect of minimum boundary and breakdown probability indicates that the vulnerability of networks is mainly determined by the breakdown probability; while, minimum boundary helps prevent cascading failure occur. Furthermore, according to the case study, adapting capital needs and resilience in the cooperation network is the core problem in improving the robustness of SME cooperation networks.

This research proposed an under-loading cascading failure model to investigate the under-loading failure process caused by the shortage of resources when the core enterprise fails or withdraws from the SME cooperation network. Two key parameters in the proposed model—minimum capacity and breakdown probability—could serve as a guide for research on the vulnerability of SME cooperation networks. Additionally, practical meanings for each parameter in the proposed model are given, to suggest novel insights regarding network protection to facilitate the robustness and vulnerability in real SME cooperation networks.

Quality management practices (QMP) have stood as one of the critical strategic differentiators for enhancing firm performance. The production and manufacturing industry is the main driving force of economic growth and social development for any developed or developing country. This study aims to focus on two primary dimensions of QMP: soft quality management practices (SQMP) and hard quality management practices (HQMP) from the socio-technical system perspectives. Based on institutional theory perspectives, the study explores the impact of SQMP and HQMP on quality performance (QP), innovation performance (IVP) and financial performance (FP) in Indian oil processing organizations.

A proposed research model is validated using 289 cross-sectional survey data collected from the senior officials of oil processing firms in India. Covariance-based structural equation modeling is used to verify the proposed theoretical model.

SQMP, directly and indirectly, influenced QP and IVP while only indirectly to FP mediated through QP. HQMP directly impacted only QP while indirectly to IVP and FP mediated through QP.

Impact of organizational legitimacy in proper utilization or application of QMP in achieving the firm sustainable growth. The future study may address the following Research Question (RQ) also: How do QMP enhance the legitimacy of organizations operating in the oil processing industries? Are there specific mechanisms or pathways through which improved performance contributes to enhanced organizational legitimacy? How does legitimacy impact the success and sustainability of organizations, particularly, within the context of the oil processing industries? Are there regulatory requirements or industry certifications that organizations must adhere to in order to maintain legitimacy?

Similarly, manufacturing firms establish QMP of interaction and maintaining relationships with all the stakeholders, total employee empowerment and involvement, workforce commitment and workforce management, helping to control their reputations and maintain legitimacy (Li et al., 2023). Similarly, in the health industry, the health management information system (HMIS), which uses the DHIS2 platform, establishes that isomorphism legitimizes data QMP among health practitioners and, subsequently, data quality. Further, it was concluded that mimetic isomorphism led to moral and pragmatic legitimacy. In contrast, normative isomorphism led to cognitive legitimacy within the HMIS structure and helped to attain the correctness and timeliness of the data and reports, respectively (Msendema et al., 2023). Quality, flexibility and efficiency of Big Data Analytics through better storage, speed and significance can optimize the operational performance of a manufacturing firm (Verma et al., 2023).

The study provides the academician with the different dimensions of QMP. The study demonstrates how a firm develops multiple performance capabilities through proper QMP. Also, it shows how vital behavioral and managerial perspectives are to QMP and statistically solid tools and techniques. The study draws their importance to risk factors involved in the firms. Since the SQMP play a vital role, thus, emphasis on the behavioral dimension of quality requires more investigation and is in line with hard technological advancements in the quality field.

The study of the impact of HQMP and SQMP on performance is still not established. There are inconsistencies in the findings. The study of the impact of HQMP and SQMP in oil processing industries has not dealt with before. The effects of HQMP and SQMP on the firm’s FP have least been dealt. In context to the intended influence of QM implementation, QP has not been examined as a potential mediator between FP. Research carried out in the past is limited to American and European countries. However, a limited study was done in Asia, and no study has been conducted in the Indian context.

Despite the efforts of governments and firms, consumer resistance toward digital innovations in the retail finance space continues to manifest rather visibly. Yet, the causes of consumer resistance toward innovations such as online procurement of financial products continue to remain under-explored. The present study attempts to address this gap by examining barriers that may constitute Indian consumers' resistance to buying financial products marketed digitally, using insurance as an exemplar. Precisely, the study measures five classic innovation resistance theory (IRT) barriers constituting consumers' resistance toward procuring digitally marketed insurance and examines the influence of consumers' demographic characteristics, measured through age and gender.

The conceptual model, resting on the theoretical proposition of IRT, was tested using data collected from 420 smartphone users. Given that, the data did not satisfy the multivariate assumptions of normality, homoscedasticity and linearity, artificial neural network approach was used for analysis. The analysis served as the basis for determining the relative importance of the five barriers in influencing consumer resistance.

The results indicated that the image barrier was the most influential barrier impacting consumer resistance, followed by usage, tradition, risk and value barriers. Moreover, as revealed by the values of correlations, the direction of influence was positive. Notably, the relationship of all barriers except tradition with consumer resistance was found to be nonlinear.

The study makes a novel contribution in two ways – one by extending IRT to a new area, i.e., resistance to buying financial products online, thereby further enhancing its applicability, and the other by exploring consumer resistance to e-procurement of life and nonlife insurance, which to the best of the authors' knowledge, has not been examined so far despite the established exigency.

The purpose of this study is to explore how big data analytics (BDA) as a potential information technology (IT) innovation can facilitate the retail logistics supply chain (SC) from the perspective of outbound logistics operations in the United Kingdom. The authors' goal was to better understand how BDA can be integrated to streamline SCs and logistical networks by using the technology, organisational and environmental model.

The authors applied existing theoretical foundations for theory building based on semi-structured interviews with 15 SC and logistics managers.

The perceived benefits of using BDA in outbound retail logistics comprised the strongest predictor amongst technological, organisational and environmental issues, followed by top management support (TMS). A framework was proposed for the adoption of BDA in retail logistics. Contextual concepts from previous literature have helped us understand how environmental changes impact BDA decision-making, as such: (i) SC maturity levels and connectivity affect BDA utilisation, (ii) connected SCs improve data accessibility and information exchange, (iii) the benefits of BDAs also affect adoption and (iv) outsourcing complex tasks to experts allows companies to focus on core businesses instead of investing in IT infrastructure.

Outside the key findings listed, this study shows that there is no one-size-fits-it-all approach for use within all organisational settings. The proposed framework reveals that the perceived benefit of BDA is non-transferrable and requires top-level management support for successful implementation.

The existing literature focusses on the approaches to applying BDA in SC and logistics but fails to present a deep dive into retail outbound logistics activity. This study addresses the “how” and proposes a social-inclusive framework for a technology-enabled topic.

With the emergence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the usage of e-money has been reinforced to reach the next level. Therefore, this study aims to examine the mediating role of perceived behavioral control (PBC) on the nexus of customers' innovativeness and continuance intention of electronic money (e-money). This study also explores the moderating roles of perceived risk (PR) and electronic security (e-security) in relationships.

The authors employed a structured questionnaire for data collection and the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) for empirical estimations.

The authors' findings reveal that customers' innovativeness promotes continuance intention of using e-money and demonstrate that PBC partially mediates the relation between customers' innovativeness and continuance intention of using e-money. The empirical findings also reveal that PR negatively moderates the relationship between customers' innovativeness and continuance intention and the relationship between customers' innovativeness and PBC. The empirical findings also exhibit that perceived e-security enhances the degree of the relationship between customers' innovativeness and continuance intention and the relationship between customers' innovativeness and PBC.

The findings shed light on an important factor that increases the likelihood of repeat e-money usage and has direct managerial implications for customer experience and risk concerns. Hence, the findings imply that e-money service providers should run a promotional advertisement highlighting what additional features are included or offered and how these could be beneficial for the customers. Furthermore, e-money service providers should provide some tutorial videos in order to increase innovative customers' control over e-money services as well as highlight how risk and security are protected.

This paper integrates three key theories: the diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory, the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the PR theory in post-adoption behavior of e-money usage. The current study also attempts to fill a literature gap by examining the moderating role of PR and e-security, which could be useful within the relationship between customers' innovativeness, PBC and customers' continued intentions of e-money usage.

Technology upgrade has been adopted as a strategy for technology vendors to modify and improve their incumbent technologies. However, user resistance is widespread in practice. In order to understand user technology upgrade behavior, this study integrates the retrospective and prospective sides of actions and proposes an inertia-mindfulness ambidexterity perspective to explore the antecedents of technology upgrade.

An online survey was conducted to collect data from 520 Microsoft Windows users to test this research model. Structural equation modeling (SEM) approach was used to evaluate measurement model and structural model.

Inertia can induce individuals' psychological reactance and thus reduce their intention to upgrade. In contrast, mindfulness can decrease users' psychological reactance and then motivate them to upgrade to a new version of technology. Finally, individuals' dissatisfaction with the current version of technology would weaken the negative impact of psychological reactance on upgrade intention.

This study generates an inertia-mindfulness ambidexterity perspective to investigate the factors that influence user technology upgrade intention from both retrospective and prospective sides and then identifies psychological reactance as underlying mechanism to explain how inertia and mindfulness work. Finally, this study posits that user dissatisfaction with current version of technology can moderate the relationship between psychological reactance and technology upgrade intention.

A novel facet of the construction industry's (CI) digital transformation relates to the rise of smart contracts, and the contribution of blockchain technology in this domain appears to be nascent but rapidly gaining traction. Although the benefits of digitalisation for technologically less enthusiastic CI are irrefutable, the adoption of smart contracts has been found to be low pertaining to industry professionals' behavioural factors stimulated by technological perception. The challenge undertook by this study, therefore, is to develop a knowledge framework for blockchain-enabled smart contract adoption in the CI.

From a methodological perspective, this study employed a qualitative approach that involved semi-structured interviews with ten (10) highly experienced CI practitioners involved in digital innovations for data collection. Directed content analysis was performed using NVivo 12 software, which enabled the creation of preliminary open codes. Subsequently, these open codes were grouped into similar categories to develop axial codes. Finally, the study presented final themes along with their corresponding descriptions.

Notably, research findings expanded the current body of knowledge on perceived attributes and their measurement items to determine the perception of innovation adoption in CI, where a total of nine (9) perceived attributes were associated with thirty-two (32) measurement items.

The measurement items were seen as having an extensive impact on the CI professionals' decision to adopt blockchain-enabled smart contracts. With ensuing implications, this study represents one of the first to present a knowledge framework exclusively customised for blockchain-enabled smart contracts, laying the groundwork for effective technological adoption by CI professionals.

Advances in material agency driven by artificial intelligence (AI) have facilitated breakthroughs in material adaptivity enabling smart objects to autonomously provide individualized smart services, which makes smart objects act as social actors embedded in the real world. However, little is known about how material adaptivity fosters the infusion use of smart objects to maximize the value of smart services in customers' lives. This study examines the underlying mechanism of material adaptivity (task and social adaptivity) on AI infusion use, drawing on the theoretical lens of social embeddedness.

This study adopted partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), mediating tests, path comparison tests and polynomial modeling to analyze the proposed research model and hypotheses.

The results supported the proposed research model and hypotheses, except for the hypothesis of the comparative effects on infusion use. Besides, the results of mediating tests suggested the different roles of social embeddedness in the impacts of task and social adaptivity on infusion use. The post hoc analysis based on polynomial modeling provided a possible explanation for the unsupported hypothesis, suggesting the nonlinear differences in the underlying influencing mechanisms of instrumental and relational embeddedness on infusion use.

The formation mechanisms of AI infusion use based on material adaptivity and social embeddedness help to develop the business strategies that enable smart objects as social actors to exert a key role in users' daily lives, in turn realizing the social and economic value of AI.

This study advances the theoretical research on material adaptivity, updates the information system (IS) research on infusion use and identifies the bridging role of social embeddedness of smart objects as agentic social actors in the AI context.

Advertisements facilitate certain emotions, subsequently influencing purchase intentions. Humor, as an influential way of information expression, is frequently used in ads to elicit emotions. Drawing upon literature on advertisement humor and new product purchase intention and the theory of planned behavior, the study proposes that humor stimulation in advertisements can affect consumers' new product purchase intentions, in which two process mechanisms, namely, emotional arousal and cognitive flexibility, play a mediating effect.

To test the assertions, the authors conduct three experimental studies. The authors' first study assesses the main effect between advertisement humor and purchase intentions. In the second study, the authors show the mediating effects of emotional pleasure, emotional arousal, and cognitive flexibility on the relationship between advertisement humor and purchase intentions. In the first two experiments, the authors study incremental new products. In the third study, the authors study the same mediating relationships for radically new products.

This study's results show consumers that watch humorous ads are more likely to choose new products than those who watch non-humorous ads (Study 1); compared with non-humorous ads, humorous ads can enhance emotional arousal, thus promoting cognitive flexibility and making consumers more inclined to choose new products (Study 2 and Study 3). That said, the authors find that these mediation effects are only partial.

This study's results have important implications for firms vying to enhance consumers' new product purchase intentions by deploying humorous ads.