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1 – 10 of 242Detmar Straub, Merrill Warkentin, Arun Rai and Yi Ding
Firms embedded in networks of relations are theorized through Gnyawali and Madhavan’s (2001) (G&M) structural embeddedness model to gain competitive advantage from topological…
Abstract
Purpose
Firms embedded in networks of relations are theorized through Gnyawali and Madhavan’s (2001) (G&M) structural embeddedness model to gain competitive advantage from topological characteristics. Empirical studies to support their theory have never been executed in full. Our study provided a full empirical test of their model in a digital trading network to achieve a higher degree of certainty that those network structural characteristics can have a major impact on the degree to which certain firms lead to competitiveness in a digital trading network environment.
Design/methodology/approach
To examine how firms respond in competitive situations, we chose the hyper-active digital trading network, eBay as our empirical context. We used eBay auction data to analyze how the network characteristics of eBay resellers impact their competitive behaviors.
Findings
Our study found strong support for the G&M model of competitiveness. We offer explanations for where support was not as strong as the Gynawali and Madavan theory proposes.
Research limitations/implications
Our research is limited by our chosen context and findings in support of part of G&M model. Future studies in other digital contexts are needed to enhance the modeling of network topologies and further study the impacts of network density and structural autonomy on competitive action.
Practical implications
Our study suggests that managers proceed cautiously in forming partnerships, weighing circumstances where the firm can find itself with increased information power and avoiding, to the greatest extent possible, situations where the playing field is roughly equal.
Social implications
Theory-making in this domain has begun as well as initial empirical testing. Much more needs to be accomplished, though, before embeddedness modeling can be thought of as being well established.
Originality/value
The G& M Model of competitiveness is an SNA explanation of why some competitive units succeed and others do not. Our study is the first, full blown empirical analysis of the theory.
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Yi Ding and Zhonghua Yin
Rosewood, as the most internationally traded endangered species, is subject to a series of restrictive trade policies globally. China has historically been the largest importer of…
Abstract
Purpose
Rosewood, as the most internationally traded endangered species, is subject to a series of restrictive trade policies globally. China has historically been the largest importer of rosewood in the world. The fluctuation of China’s rosewood import prices will have a profound impact on the global rosewood trade pattern. This study, therefore, assessed the impact of restrictive trade policies on China’s rosewood import prices to explore the fluctuation rule of rosewood trade prices under restrictive policies.
Design/methodology/approach
The study built a partial equilibrium framework about the formation mechanism of rosewood import price bubbles under supply constraints. On this basis, with China’s daily import prices of major rosewood species, the generalized supremum augmented Dickey–Fuller (GSADF) and backward supremum augmented Dickey–Fuller (BSADF) tests were applied to explore the effect of restrictive trade policies on China’s rosewood import prices.
Findings
The empirical analysis revealed that there were multiple price bubbles for five of the seven rosewood species. The largest bubbles were always created before and after the deployment of supply constraints. The empirical results for the counterfactual examples implied that price bubbles would not have occurred if restrictive rosewood trade policies had not been implemented. The above findings indicated that these measures tended to trigger significant price bubbles in China’s rosewood imports.
Originality/value
The effect of restrictive rosewood trade policies on rosewood trade prices had not yet been explored in previous research studies. This study empirically analyzed the effect of restrictive trade policies on China’s rosewood import prices using econometric models.
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Vineet Kumar and Deepak Kumar Verma
The global construction industry faces both challenges and opportunities from electronic waste (e-waste). This study aims to present a bibliometric analysis and comprehensive…
Abstract
Purpose
The global construction industry faces both challenges and opportunities from electronic waste (e-waste). This study aims to present a bibliometric analysis and comprehensive literature assessment on e-waste in concrete construction materials.
Design/methodology/approach
This study studies 4,122 Scopus documents to examine garbage generation in different countries and inventive ways to integrate e-waste into construction as a sustainable strategy. This study lists famous researchers and their cooperation networks, demonstrating a robust and dynamic area with a surge in research output, notably from 2018 to 2022. Data is visually represented using VOS Viewer to show trends, patterns and study interests throughout time.
Findings
The findings imply that e-waste can improve construction materials’ mechanical characteristics and sustainability. The results are inconsistent and suggest further optimization. e-Waste into construction has garnered scientific interest for its environmental, life cycle, and economic impacts. This field has great potential for improving e-waste material use, developing sophisticated prediction models, studying environmental implications, economic analysis, policy formulation, novel construction methods, global cooperation and public awareness. This study shows that e-waste can be used in sustainable building. It stresses this area’s need for research and innovation. This lays the groundwork for using electronic trash in buildings, which promotes a circular economy and environmental sustainability.
Research limitations/implications
The findings underscore the critical role of ongoing research and innovation in leveraging e-waste for sustainable building practices. This study lays the groundwork for integrating e-waste into construction, contributing to the advancement of a circular economy and environmental sustainability.
Social implications
The social implications of integrating e-waste into construction are significant. Using e-waste not only addresses environmental concerns but also promotes social sustainability by creating new job opportunities in the recycling and construction sectors. It fosters community awareness and responsibility towards sustainable practices and waste management. Additionally, this approach can reduce construction costs, making building projects more accessible and potentially lowering housing prices.
Originality/value
This research contributes to the field by offering a bibliometric analysis and comprehensive assessment of e-waste in concrete construction materials, highlighting its global significance.
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Ling Liang, Jiqing Xie, Jie Ren, Jialiang Wang and Chang Wang
Information opacity in donation crowdfunding activities has constrained the healthy development of China’s public welfare activities. Addressing the trust crisis and enhancing…
Abstract
Purpose
Information opacity in donation crowdfunding activities has constrained the healthy development of China’s public welfare activities. Addressing the trust crisis and enhancing public engagement warrants further investigation. This study aims to uncover the moderating effect of activity transparency by utilizing data from 1,029 donation crowdfunding projects on the Sina Weibo Public Welfare Social Platform. In this way, we seek to elucidate the impact of donation crowdfunding events on fundraising ability.
Design/methodology/approach
This study selects text complexity, number of supporters, creator experience, and social capital as explanatory variables; innovatively selects the number of updates of online crowdfunding activities and total reading volume as moderating variables; selects the number of shares of crowdfunding activities as a mediating variable; and constructs a moderated mediation multiple regression model for fundraising ability.
Findings
Our findings indicate that independent variables, such as text complexity, number of supporters, and social capital, can significantly affect the dependent variable, fundraising ability. However, creator experience does not influence fundraising ability. Furthermore, social interaction has a mediating effect, whereas activity transparency has a reverse moderating effect. These results indicate that social interaction can enhance the fundraising ability of donation crowdfunding events. However, with an increase in information transparency, the fundraising ability of social media decreases.
Originality/value
The originality of this research is in clarifying the internal factors affecting fundraising ability through induction, making bold assumptions, and focusing on how social media’s effective interaction and activity transparency will affect public welfare crowdfunding fundraising ability.
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Qingli Lu, Ruisheng Sun and Yu Lu
This paper aims to propose and verify an improved cascade active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) scheme based on output redefinition for hypersonic vehicles (HSVs) with…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to propose and verify an improved cascade active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) scheme based on output redefinition for hypersonic vehicles (HSVs) with nonminimum phase characteristic and model uncertainties.
Design/methodology/approach
To handle the nonminimum phase characteristic, a tuning factor stabilizing internal dynamics is introduced to redefine the system output states; its effective range is determined by analyzing Byrnes–Isidori normalized form of the redefined system. The extended state observers (ESOs) are used to estimate the uncertainties, which include matched and mismatched items in the system. The controller compensates observations in real time and appends integral terms to improve robustness against the estimation errors of ESOs.
Findings
Theoretical and simulation results show that the stability of internal dynamics is guaranteed by the tuning factor and the tracking errors of external commands are globally asymptotically stable.
Practical implications
The control scheme in this paper is expected to generate a reliable way for dealing with nonminimum phase characteristic and model uncertainties of HSVs.
Originality/value
In the framework of ADRC, a concise form of redefined outputs is proposed, in which the tuning factor performs a decisive role in stabilizing the internal dynamics of HSVs. By introducing an integral term into the cascade ADRC scheme, the compensation accuracy of matched and mismatched disturbances is improved.
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Piotr Staszkiewicz, Jarosław Horobiowski, Anna Szelągowska and Agnieszka Maryla Strzelecka
The study aims to identify the practical borders of AI legal personality and accountability in human-centric services.
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to identify the practical borders of AI legal personality and accountability in human-centric services.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a framework tailored for AI studies, this research analyses structured interview data collected from auditors based in Poland.
Findings
The study identified new constructs to complement the taxonomy of arguments for AI legal personality: cognitive strain, consciousness, cyborg paradox, reasoning replicability, relativism, AI misuse, excessive human effort and substitution.
Research limitations/implications
The insights presented herein are primarily derived from the perspectives of Polish auditors. There is a need for further exploration into the viewpoints of other key stakeholders, such as lawyers, judges and policymakers, across various global contexts.
Practical implications
The findings of this study hold significant potential to guide the formulation of regulatory frameworks tailored to AI applications in human-centric services. The proposed sui generis AI personality institution offers a dynamic and adaptable alternative to conventional legal personality models.
Social implications
The outcomes of this research contribute to the ongoing public discourse on AI’s societal impact. It encourages a balanced assessment of the potential advantages and challenges associated with granting legal personality to AI systems.
Originality/value
This paper advocates for establishing a sui generis AI personality institution alongside a joint accountability model. This dual framework addresses the current uncertainties surrounding human, general AI and super AI characteristics and facilitates the joint accountability of responsible AI entities and their ultimate beneficiaries.
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Abstract
Purpose
Based on organizational learning theory, this study aims to investigate the performance consequences and potential contextual factors of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) persistence.
Design/methodology/approach
A regression analysis was conducted on a sample of 19,950 OFDI events of 1,425 A-share listed Chinese enterprises from 2008 to 2022. The estimator used was ordinary least squares with residual analysis, which allowed us to obtain robust and reliable results.
Findings
The results indicated that persistence in both greenfield investments and cross-border M&As had a significant and positive impact on firm performance, and such relationship was positively moderated by organizational absorptive capacity.
Research limitations/implications
This study only tested the economic performance of OFDI persistence rather than innovation and social performance. Exploring the effects of OFDI persistence on other aspects may also add new insights to the persistence literature. Besides absorptive capacity, it might be useful to conduct a more comprehensive consideration of moderators in the future.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the research on the temporal dimension of internationalization by introducing the concept of OFDI persistence. Additionally, we used the OFDI spell to capture the notion of OFDI persistence, which is an endeavor to overcome the shortcomings of the traditional indicator. Finally, this paper also contributes to the organizational learning perspective by applying it to analyze persistent OFDI operations.
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Jie Yu, Changjun Yi and Huiyun Shen
This paper aims to study whether the adoption of an entry mode that fits the social trust level contributes to the improvement of foreign subsidiary performance.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to study whether the adoption of an entry mode that fits the social trust level contributes to the improvement of foreign subsidiary performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used the Probit model, linear regression, strategic fit approach and instrumental variable regression. The sample was made up of 11,095 observations of Chinese multinational enterprises' foreign subsidiaries in 54 countries from 2005 to 2020.
Findings
The results suggest that a host country with a high level of social trust results in fewer difficulties for enterprises in gaining legitimacy, thus foreign subsidiaries are more likely to select the wholly owned entry mode. The results also show that the effect is contingent on the formal institutions of host countries. The results of the mechanism test suggest that social trust influences subsidiaries' entry mode choice by reducing information asymmetry, costs and uncertainty risks. This study further finds that selecting a fit entry mode based on social trust level substantially increases foreign subsidiary performance and this effect is more significant when multinational enterprises (MNEs) are state-owned enterprises (SOEs).
Research limitations/implications
The main limitation of this paper is its only focus on foreign subsidiaries of Chinese MNEs, which may limit the generalizability of research findings.
Originality/value
This paper responds to the call for conducting more research on informal institutions. Findings highlight the critical role of informal institutions in helping foreign subsidiaries in gaining legitimacy in host countries and the essentialness of selecting a fit entry mode based on the informal institutions of host countries for the development of foreign subsidiaries.
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Ganli Liao, Xinshuai Hou, Yi Li and Jingyu Wang
Driven by the development of the global digital economy, knowledge management in industrial enterprises offers more possibilities for green innovation. Based on the perspective of…
Abstract
Purpose
Driven by the development of the global digital economy, knowledge management in industrial enterprises offers more possibilities for green innovation. Based on the perspective of external knowledge sources, this study aims to construct a panel regression model to explore the relationship between digital economy and industrial green innovation efficiency.
Design/methodology/approach
Panel data from 30 regions in China from 2011 to 2020 were selected as research samples. All data are obtained from national and provincial statistical yearbooks. Coupling coordination degree analysis, entropy method, panel regression analysis, robustness test and threshold effect test by Stata 16.0 were used to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The empirical results demonstrate the hypotheses and reveal the following findings: the digital economy is positively related to industrial green innovation efficiency and external knowledge sources, and external knowledge sources mediate the relationship between them. Moreover, based on the threshold test results, the digital economy has a double-threshold effect on industrial green innovation efficiency.
Originality/value
Based on the perspective of external knowledge sources, the proposed mediating mechanism between the digital economy and industrial green innovation efficiency has not been established previously, further enriching the research on the antecedents and outcomes of external knowledge sources. Moreover, this study estimated the direct influence mechanism and double-threshold effect of the digital economy on industrial green innovation efficiency from theoretical and empirical analysis, thus responding to the call of scholars and adding to existing research on how the digital economy affects the green transformation of industrial enterprises.
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Yuan-Shuh Lii, May-Ching Ding and Shanchih Lee
The research applied service-dominant logic of marketing theory, a customer-centered and relational that principally grounded in service relationships and actor networks. In actor…
Abstract
Purpose
The research applied service-dominant logic of marketing theory, a customer-centered and relational that principally grounded in service relationships and actor networks. In actor networks, salespeople provide their skills and knowledge, such as expertise, service quality, ethics and shared value to cocreate value for buyers. Therefore, this study explores the attributes of salespeople that influence the quality of the relationship (trust and satisfaction) and, as a result, loyalty in the context of the business-to-business (B2B) relationship in the Taiwan market.
Design/methodology/approach
A causal relationship and survey research design are applied. The study collected 266 valid responses from B2B account managers representing various companies and industries. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was applied to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The results showed that salespeople’s expertise demonstrated the most significant influence on both trust and satisfaction, followed by ethics, service quality and share value, in a descending order of impact. Consequently, trust and satisfaction had a significant impact on customer loyalty.
Practical implications
The four attributes of salespeople play a pivotal role in establishing lasting relationships and maximizing the customer lifetime value. To achieve long-term success in customer interactions and relationships, a well-rounded salesperson should diligently strive to excel in all these attributes.
Originality/value
The novelty and contribution of this study are twofold. First, investigating the quality of the relationship in the context of Taiwanese manufacturers in a B2B setting is still rare, and this is the study first to explore the Taiwanese B2B relationship with its global customers. As Taiwanese manufacturers play a pivotal role in the global supply chain, the research findings have symbolic meaning and practical implications for global business partners. Second, drawing from service-dominant logic theory, this research takes an integrative view by examining the attributes (expertise, service quality, shared value and ethics) that influence and establish a quality trusting relationship and consumer loyalty in the B2B context.
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