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1 – 10 of over 1000Despite the well-recognized importance of recycled water, the study of industry-peer pressure on recycled water is relatively new. This study investigates how organizations…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the well-recognized importance of recycled water, the study of industry-peer pressure on recycled water is relatively new. This study investigates how organizations experience and react to industry-peer pressure to set recycled water targets. Additionally, this study investigates the role of board chairs involved in sustainability committees in contributing to responses to industry-peer pressure.
Design/methodology/approach
Using Eviews 12, this study employed a pooled logistic regression model to analyze data from 1,346 firms on Taiwan and Taipei exchanges (2017–2020).
Findings
The findings revealed that frequency-based imitation drives recycled water target-setting diffusion. However, there is no direct relationship between outcome-based imitation and recycled water target-setting. Notably, outcome-based imitation drives the adoption of recycled water target-setting of firms with board-chair membership in sustainability committees.
Research limitations/implications
This study faces certain data limitations. First, this study primarily focuses on water recycling. Future research could explore other ways to reduce water usage, such as using water-efficient equipment. Second, this study gathered information solely on the presence or absence of a board chairperson on the sustainability committee. Future researchers could explore the impact of the composition of sustainability committee on recycled water target-setting. Lastly, the sample used in this study is restricted to Taiwan's corporations that existed during 2017–2020. Future researchers may consider adopting a longitudinal design in other economies to address this limitation.
Practical implications
The findings of this study offer several guidelines and implications for recycled water target-setting and the composition of sustainability committees. It responds to an urgent call for solutions to water shortages when pressure from governments and nongovernmental organizations is relatively absent. The number of industry peers that have already set recycled water targets is indispensable for motivating firms to set their own recycled water targets. In terms of insufficient water-related regulatory pressure and normative pressure, this study found evidence suggesting that the direct motivation for setting recycled water targets stems from mimetic pressures via frequency-based imitation. The evidence in this study suggests that policymakers should require companies to disclose their peers’ recycled water target information, as doing so serves as an alternative means to achieving SDG 6.3.
Social implications
Recycled water target-setting might be challenging. Water recycling practices may face strong resistance and require substantial additional resources (Zhang and Tang, 2019; Gao et al., 2019; Gu et al., 2023). Therefore, this study suggests that firms should ensure the mindfulness of board members in promoting the welfare of the natural environment when making recycled water target-setting decisions. To reap the second-mover advantage, firms must consider the conditions in which board members can more effectively play their role. Corporations may help their chairpersons in setting recycled water targets by recruiting them as members of sustainability committees. Meanwhile, chairpersons tend to activate accurate mental models when the water conservation performance of pioneering industry peers is strong enough to indicate the potential benefits of adopting recycled water target-setting. Investors’ and stakeholders’ understanding of how the composition of sustainability committees is related to recycled water target-setting may help to identify the potential drivers of firms’ water responsibility. Investors and stakeholders should distinguish firms in terms of the board chair’s membership of their sustainability committee and focus on water-use reduction outcomes in the industry. This study provides insights into circumstances whereby chairpersons help to restore the water ecosystem.
Originality/value
This study explains how frequency-based and outcome-based imitation are two prominent mechanisms underlying the industry-peer pressure concerning recycled water target-setting. Moreover, this study fills literature gaps related to the moderating roles of board-chair membership in sustainability committees concerning industry-peer pressure on recycled water target-setting.
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Yongjia Lin, Zhenye Lu, Di Fan and Zhen Zheng
This study aims to investigate the bright and dark sides of environmental, social and governance (ESG) during the COVID-19 pandemic, including both the outbreak and recovery…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the bright and dark sides of environmental, social and governance (ESG) during the COVID-19 pandemic, including both the outbreak and recovery periods, for the Chinese hospitality industry.
Design/methodology/approach
Using panel data of 564 firm-quarter observations from 2018 to 2020, the authors adopt fixed-effects regression estimation with standard errors clustered at the firm level. To address potential endogeneity concerns, the authors also use the two-stage least squares estimator with instrumental variables.
Findings
The results suggest that ESG plays different roles in market- and accounting-based performance during the COVID-19 outbreak and recovery periods. Specifically, ESG practices show a bright side as a reputation builder to mitigate the negative pandemic impact on market-based performance, whereas the dark side of ESG practices consumes firm resources to aggravate the negative pandemic impact on accounting-based performance during the coronavirus outbreak. These results also suggest hospitality companies benefit bountifully from ESG practices during the COVID-19 recovery.
Practical implications
ESG plays a vital role for hospitality firms by providing insurance-like protection during and after the COVID-19 outbreak. Additionally, hospitality firms should evaluate their capability to adapt resource-consuming ESG practices.
Originality/value
Existing hospitality COVID-19 studies have investigated the effect of ESG on firm performance within a short period with mixed results. This study extends the literature by showing the different effects of ESG practices on market- and accounting-based performance during the COVID-19 outbreak and recovery periods.
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Chang Chen, Yuandong Liang, Jiten Sun, Chen Lin and Yehao Wen
The purpose of this paper is to introduce a variable distance pneumatic gripper with embedded flexible sensors, which can effectively grasp fragile and flexible objects.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce a variable distance pneumatic gripper with embedded flexible sensors, which can effectively grasp fragile and flexible objects.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the motion principle of the three-jaw chuck and the pneumatic “fast pneumatic network” (FPN), a variable distance pneumatic holder embedded with a flexible sensor is designed. A structural design plan and preparation process of a soft driver is proposed, using carbon nanotubes as filler in a polyurethane (PU) sponge. A flexible bending sensor based on carbon nanotube materials was produced. A static model of the soft driver cavity was established, and a bending simulation was performed. Based on the designed variable distance soft pneumatic gripper, a real-time monitoring and control system was developed. Combined with the developed pneumatic control system, gripping experiments on objects of different shapes and easily deformable and fragile objects were conducted.
Findings
In this paper, a variable-distance pneumatic gripper embedded with a flexible sensor was designed, and a control system for real-time monitoring and multi-terminal input was developed. Combined with the developed pneumatic control system, a measure was carried out to measure the relationship between the bending angle, output force and air pressure of the soft driver. Flexible bending sensor performance test. The gripper diameter and gripping weight were tested, and the maximum gripping diameter was determined to be 182 mm, the maximum gripping weight was approximately 900 g and the average measurement error of the bending sensor was 5.91%. Objects of different shapes and easily deformable and fragile objects were tested.
Originality/value
Based on the motion principle of the three-jaw chuck and the pneumatic FPN, a variable distance pneumatic gripper with embedded flexible sensors is proposed by using the method of layered and step-by-step preparation. The authors studied the gripper structure design, simulation analysis, prototype preparation, control system construction and experimental testing. The results show that the designed flexible pneumatic gripper with variable distance can grasp common objects.
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Xiaomei Liu, Bin Ma, Meina Gao and Lin Chen
A time-varying grey Fourier model (TVGFM(1,1,N)) is proposed for the simulation of variable amplitude seasonal fluctuation time series, as the performance of traditional grey…
Abstract
Purpose
A time-varying grey Fourier model (TVGFM(1,1,N)) is proposed for the simulation of variable amplitude seasonal fluctuation time series, as the performance of traditional grey models can't catch the time-varying trend well.
Design/methodology/approach
The proposed model couples Fourier series and linear time-varying terms as the grey action, to describe the characteristics of variable amplitude and seasonality. The truncated Fourier order N is preselected from the alternative order set by Nyquist-Shannon sampling theorem and the principle of simplicity, then the optimal Fourier order is determined by hold-out method to improve the robustness of the proposed model. Initial value correction and the multiple transformation are also studied to improve the precision.
Findings
The new model has a broader applicability range as a result of the new grey action, attaining higher fitting and forecasting accuracy. The numerical experiment of a generated monthly time series indicates the proposed model can accurately fit the variable amplitude seasonal sequence, in which the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) is only 0.01%, and the complex simulations based on Monte-Carlo method testify the validity of the proposed model. The results of monthly electricity consumption in China's primary industry, demonstrate the proposed model catches the time-varying trend and has good performances, where MAPEF and MAPET are below 5%. Moreover, the proposed TVGFM(1,1,N) model is superior to the benchmark models, grey polynomial model (GMP(1,1,N)), grey Fourier model (GFM(1,1,N)), seasonal grey model (SGM(1,1)), seasonal ARIMA model seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average model (SARIMA) and support vector regression (SVR).
Originality/value
The parameter estimates and forecasting of the new proposed TVGFM are studied, and the good fitting and forecasting accuracy of time-varying amplitude seasonal fluctuation series are testified by numerical simulations and a case study.
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Xingxin Zhao, Jiafu Su, Taewoo Roh, Jeoung Yul Lee and Xinrui Zhan
The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of technological diversification (TD) on enterprise innovation performance, meanwhile focusing on the moderating effects of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of technological diversification (TD) on enterprise innovation performance, meanwhile focusing on the moderating effects of various organizational slack (i.e. absorbed and unabsorbed slack) and ownership types (i.e. state-owned or privately-owned) in the context of Chinese listed firms.
Design/methodology/approach
This study formulates five hypotheses based on organization and agency theories. Our empirical analysis employs a fixed-effect regression estimator with a unique panel dataset of Chinese-listed manufacturing firms and 13,566 firm-year observations over 9 years from 2012 to 2020.
Findings
Our findings show that an inverted U-shaped relationship exists between TD and innovation performance, varying with different types of organizational slack and ownership. In state-owned enterprises (SOEs), unabsorbed slack negatively moderates the inverted U-shaped relationship; however, in privately-owned enterprises (POEs), this relationship is positively moderated. Although absorbed slack has negative moderating effects in both SOEs and POEs, its impact is only significant for POEs.
Practical implications
Our results imply that organizational slack has a contrasting impact on the relationship between TD and innovation performance when the type of ownership varies. Therefore, the managers that intend to achieve optimal innovation performance through TD should understand how organizational slack can be leveraged.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the existing literature by applying the relationship between TD and innovative performance to the transition economy, as well as examining the double-edged sword impact of state ownership on firm innovation performance.
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María Isabel Barba-Aragón and Daniel Jiménez-Jiménez
The purpose of this study is to contribute to empirical research on green innovation drivers. This paper analyzes the relationships between training, knowledge acquisition, green…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to contribute to empirical research on green innovation drivers. This paper analyzes the relationships between training, knowledge acquisition, green innovation and firm performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis is carried out on a sample of 373 Spanish companies from a wide variety of sectors. This research has used the partial least squares (PLS) model to test the hypotheses.
Findings
It is found that green innovation and knowledge acquisition improve firm performance, and that knowledge acquisition has a mediating effect between training and green innovation.
Practical implications
The findings of this article indicate that green innovation allows the company to obtain benefits while reducing the negative environmental impact, then managers should bet on ecological innovation. This study also shows that there is an indirect effect of training on green innovation and, therefore, managers must invest in training as a mechanism to increase knowledge acquisition and, thus, green innovation.
Originality/value
This paper analyzes two research areas that have received little attention: the role of human resource management in green innovation and the relationship between a given driver and green innovation. In the first, it analyzes whether training increases green innovation, and in the second, it considers the effect of training on knowledge acquisition and on green innovation, specifically, it studies whether knowledge acquisition mediates the relationship between training and green innovation.
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This research aims to examine the effects of corporate digital transformation on firm value, with a particular focus on the mediating roles played by cost leadership and…
Abstract
Purpose
This research aims to examine the effects of corporate digital transformation on firm value, with a particular focus on the mediating roles played by cost leadership and differentiation strategies.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employs word frequency analysis to create corporate digital transformation indicators and determine how corporate digital transformation impacts firm value. The data used in the analysis comes from 2,056 listed manufacturing enterprises in China between 2010 and 2019.
Findings
This study demonstrates that digital transformation has a favorable impact on firm value, and that cost leadership strategy and differentiation strategy significantly mediate the relationship between both of them.
Research limitations/implications
This study utilized word frequency analysis to assess the state of corporate digital transformation. It lacked a more thorough description of internal production processes, operational efficiency, and the pace of digital transformation.
Practical implications
The results of this study can not only promote the digital transformation and firm value, but also provide a theoretical basis for enterprises to choose a reasonable competitive strategy in the digital transformation.
Originality/value
This study contributes significantly to the field of firm value research by including digital transformation as a fundamental component. Furthermore, it investigates how cost leadership strategy and differentiation strategy play mediating roles, providing a new perspective and explanatory mechanism for understanding the influence of digital transformation on firm value.
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Muthmainnah, Ahmad Al Yakin, Muhammad Massyat, Luís Cardoso and Andi Asrifan
Purpose: This study aims to identify communication speech acts and transaction terms in online stores (Olshop) during live streaming on Facebook amid the COVID-19 pandemic and to…
Abstract
Purpose: This study aims to identify communication speech acts and transaction terms in online stores (Olshop) during live streaming on Facebook amid the COVID-19 pandemic and to understand communication patterns between sellers and buyers when shopping on Facebook live streaming in Indonesia.
The Need for Research: This research is motivated by the skill gap arising from increasing buying and selling transactions through live streaming on Facebook. Cultural and demographic shifts, along with the widespread availability of modern technologies and marketing 2.0 have resulted in the global population adopting social media at rates far beyond our use of the Internet, making a compelling case by example and analogy that social media has the potential to level the playing field and is effective in reaching their target market.
Methodology: The type of research is descriptive-qualitative using corpus data instruments. The data collection technique in this study was carried out by reading and observing the data and listening to speeches about buying and selling women’s equipment from various online stores on Facebook. Then select and sort the data designated as forms, strategies, and functions of speech acts in buying and selling transactions during live streaming on Facebook. The data analysis technique has three steps: (1) reducing the amount of data; (2) presenting the data; and (3) concluding.
Findings: The results show that there are four types of speech acts between sellers and buyers in the live-streaming online shop on Facebook, namely, assertive, directive, expressive, and commissive speech acts.
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José Rabal Conesa, Daniel Jiménez Jiménez and Micaela Martínez Costa
This paper shows how organisational agility allows companies to adopt the necessary changes to remain competitive and produce with a lower environmental impact, implying customers…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper shows how organisational agility allows companies to adopt the necessary changes to remain competitive and produce with a lower environmental impact, implying customers in the value chain.
Design/methodology/approach
This investigation uses a cross-sectional design to collect data on the study variables from a sample of 260 Spanish manufacturing organisations. Structural equations with PLS are applied to test hypotheses.
Findings
Results show that organisational agility is positively related to eco-innovation. Furthermore, eco-innovation results in a positive relationship with organisational performance. Finally, it has been found that customer involvement positively moderates the effect of organisational agility on new green processes and products and makes green product innovations more successful.
Practical implications
Conclusions indicate that would be advisable that innovative companies promote capabilities such as organisational agility, and integrating customer involvement throughout their value chain, for developing successful new green products increasing their results with a lower environmental impact. Likewise, the customer’s involvement in eco-innovation projects has been found, in companies with agile behaviours, that could aim to increase their performance, helping to react more quickly to market trends and saving money in product development.
Originality/value
This investigation addresses three gaps previously identified in the literature. Firstly, it covers a lack of research on how agility could foster green innovation and how this could positively affect their performance outcomes. Secondly, it studies a moderating factor, customer involvement, and its effects on the relationship between organisational agility and eco-innovation in product and process and between eco-innovation in product and organisational performance. Thirdly, it introduces dynamic capabilities theory through agility concept to study the dynamic context of the eco-environment.
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Constantin Bratianu, Alexeis Garcia-Perez, Francesca Dal Mas and Denise Bedford