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To investigate the influence of logistics and transportation workers’ perceptions of their management’s simultaneous safety and operations focus (or lack thereof) on related worker safety and operational perceptions and behaviors.

This multi-method research consisted of two studies. Study 1 aimed to establish correlational relationships by evaluating the impact of individual-level worker perceptions of operationally focused routines (as a moderator) on the relationship between worker perceptions of safety-related routines and workers’ self-reported safety and in-role operational behaviors using a survey. Study 2 aimed to establish causal relationships by evaluating the same conceptual relationships in a behavioral-type experiment utilizing vehicle simulators. After receiving one of four pre-task briefings, participants completed a driving task scenario in a driving simulator.

In Study 1, the relationship between perceived safety focus and safety behavior/in-role operational behavior was strengthened at higher levels of perceived operations focus. In Study 2, participants who received the balanced pre-task briefing committed significantly fewer safety violations than the other 3 treatment groups. However, in-role driving deviations were not impacted as hypothesized.

This research is conducted at the individual (worker) level of analysis to capture the little-known perspectives of logistics and transportation workers and explore the influence of balanced safety and operational routines from a more micro perspective, thus contributing to a deeper understanding of how balanced routines might influence worker behavior when conducting dynamic tasks to ensure safe, effective outcomes.

Studies on developed economies showed that imposing taxes on animal-based foods could effectively reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions (AGHGEs), while this taxation may not be appropriate in developing countries due to the complex nutritional status across income classes. Hence, this study aims to explore optimal tax rate levels considering both emission reduction and nutrient intake, and examine the heterogenous effects of taxation across various income classes in urban and rural China.

The authors estimated the Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System model to calculate the price elasticities for eight food groups, and performed three simulations to explore the relative optimal tax regions via the relationships between effective animal protein intake loss and AGHGE reduction by taxes.

The results showed that the optimal tax rate bands can be found, depending on the reference levels of animal protein intake. Designing taxes on beef, mutton and pork could be a preliminary option for reducing AGHGEs in China, but subsidy policy should be designed for low-income populations at the same time. Generally, urban residents have more potential to reduce AGHGEs than rural residents, and higher income classes reduce more AGHGEs than lower income classes.

This study fills the gap in the literature by developing the methods to design taxes on animal-based foods from the perspectives of both nutrient intake and emission reduction. This methodology can also be applied to analyze food taxes and GHGE issues in other developing countries.

This paper aims to determine pathways leading to enterprise profitability during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines.

The study (N = 272) was participated by 228 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and 44 large enterprises. Configurational analysis using the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis was used in modelling combinations of firm characteristics and organizational resilience attributes that could lead to enterprise profitability.

Using the Benchmark Resilience Tool of Resilient Organisations, the study showed that three main attributes of organizational resilience (leadership and culture, networks and relationships, and readiness to change) played significant roles in enterprise profitability. Other conditions of varying influence on profitability included costs, sales, number of employees and the number of years in operations of an enterprise. For MSMEs, profitability can be achieved if all resilience attributes are present, while for large enterprises, the absence of some resilience attributes can be compensated by other attributes such as low decline in sales, low employee reduction, and more years in operation.

While the COVID-19 pandemic’s impacts have been far-reaching, the MSMEs and large enterprises are more likely to be profitable if they have used the three organizational resilience attributes. Moreover, these attributes do not only improve firm profitability and the overall enterprise performance during the present pandemic but also prepare them for future shocks.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, modelling antecedents of enterprise profitability using configurational analysis is the first in the Philippines.

Given the positive organizational principles associated with total quality management (TQM) – customer focus, continuous improvement, and process management – one would assume TQM's application is universally beneficial across businesses. Generally, research supports that notion. However, given resource limitations and shallow management teams in small businesses, there are multiple challenges in implementing TQM in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Therefore, small business leaders should benefit from knowledge linking other management practices to TQM’s positive effect on small firm performance, which enhances these leaders' return on TQM investment.

The authors apply partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to explore TQM’s effect on small business performance and how other management practices enhance that relationship. Specifically, the authors explore how a comprehensive strategic approach (CSA) – a higher-order construct consisting of strategic planning, goal setting, and financial ratio analysis – moderates the relationship between TQM and small business performance. Given the complexity of the authors' model, the application of higher-order constructs, and the exploratory nature of this work, PLS-SEM is well suited for this study.

Consistent with prior research, the authors found that TQM (also a higher-order construct, consisting of seven lower-order constructs) positively impacts small firm performance. In addition, the authors found that CSA positively moderates the relationship between TQM and financial performance.

TQM’s effect on small business performance is enhanced when leaders implement a CSA. In other words, when small business leaders strategically plan, set goals, and analyze financial ratios, TQM's positive effect on firm performance is enhanced. This finding provides business leaders insights for how to maximize the TQM investment return.

There is an increasing interest in the use of knowledge graphs to represent real-world knowledge and a common need to manage imprecise knowledge in many real-world applications. This paper aims to study approaches to solve flexible queries over knowledge graphs.

By introducing fuzzy logic in the query answering process, the authors are able to obtain a novel algorithm to solve flexible queries over knowledge graphs. This approach is implemented in the FUzzy Knowledge Graphs system, a software tool with an intuitive user-graphical interface.

This approach makes it possible to reuse semantic web standards (RDF, SPARQL and OWL 2) and builds a fuzzy layer on top of them. The application to a use case shows that the system can aggregate information in different ways by selecting different fusion operators and adapting to different user needs.

This approach is more general than similar previous works in the literature and provides a specific way to represent the flexible restrictions (using fuzzy OWL 2 datatypes).

Financial inclusion is a critical component of financial development, which disseminates accessible financial services to benefit all parts of society and consequently promotes economic growth. The study explores the dynamic common correlated effects of financial inclusion on economic growth in Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries.

The conventional econometric techniques overlook heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence and provide false results. Hence, a unique methodology, ‘Dynamic Common Correlated Effects (DCCE)’, is used, which can efficiently tackle the above-mentioned issues.

The DCCE estimation indicates a positive and significant impact of financial inclusion on economic growth in overall and higher-income OIC economies. Moreover, in the lower-income OIC group, financial inclusion is inversely correlated with economic growth, which converts into a positive linkage by including an interaction term of financial inclusion and institutional quality.

Based on the research outcomes, it is recommended that policymakers and governments of OIC economies seek to increase financial inclusion to achieve sustainable, optimal and inclusive economic growth.

The DCCE technique in this study considers heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence among countries and thus provides robust findings.

Effectuation, which articulates the process of entrepreneurial action based on nonpredictive control logic, is receiving extensive scholarly attention. What drives the effectual entrepreneurship is featured with high complexity. However, existing studies ignored the complex driving forces underlying entrepreneurial decision-making. Building on a configurational perspective, the purpose of this study was to examine the combinative effects of environmental uncertainty and entrepreneurs’ means on effectual entrepreneurship.

Drawing on 54 entrepreneurs who are launching new ventures in China, this study adopts a fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) to investigate two sets of antecedent conditions and how they form different combinations for a highly effectual entrepreneurship.

Our findings disclose four highly effectual entrepreneurship paths involving novice–specialist effectual entrepreneurship in a highly uncertain environment, socialite–specialist effectual entrepreneurship in a highly uncertain environment, pure-specialist effectual entrepreneurship and resourceful effectual entrepreneurship, and one path of barefoot noneffectual entrepreneurship in a highly uncertain environment, which reveals the complex nature of environmental uncertainty and entrepreneurs’ means in driving entrepreneurs to adopt effectuation.

Our study makes the following contributions. First, by taking a configurational perspective, we are able to obtain an elaborate view of the combined effects of environmental uncertainty and entrepreneurs’ means on effectual entrepreneurship. Second, we expand prior thinking on the relationship between environmental uncertainty and effectuation. Third, our study offers a more delicate understanding of entrepreneurs’ means in driving effectuation by splitting means into three separate factors.

This research aims to analyze the literature on Quality 4.0 and pinpoint the essential factors contributing to its success. Additionally, the research aims to develop a framework that can be used to create a capable workforce necessary for the successful implementation of Quality 4.0.

By following a systematic approach, the authors could ensure that their literature review was comprehensive and unbiased. Using a set of pre-determined inclusion and exclusion criteria, the authors screened 90 research articles to obtain the most relevant and reliable information for their study.

The authors' review identified essential findings, including the evolution of literature in the field of Quality 4.0 and the systematization of previous literature reviews focusing on training and development. The authors also identified several training barriers to implementing Quality 4.0 and proposed a model for building a competent workforce using Kolb's experiential learning model.

The authors' research offers insights into the training barriers that must be considered when building a competent workforce. Using the framework proposed in the authors' research, consultants and managers can better integrate Quality 4.0 into their organizations.

The adoption of Quality 4.0 has significant social implications and is essential for advancing sustainability. It can improve efficiency, reduce waste, minimize environmental impacts and better meet the needs and expectations of stakeholders.

The authors' study stands out as one of the earliest reviews of the literature on Quality 4.0 to incorporate the theory-context-method (TCM) framework, allowing to provide unique insights into future research directions that had not been previously explored.

Innovation ambidexterity is crucial for fostering growth and gaining a competitive advantage in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Previous research indicates that achieving a balance between exploration and exploitation is a multifaceted phenomenon occurring across various levels. This paper aims to examine the influence of individual, organizational and institutional factors on the ambidextrous innovation of Chinese niche leaders using a configurational perspective.

This study uses secondary data collected from 69 Chinese niche leaders in the new equipment manufacturing industry. The authors use fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to investigate how owner openness, age, digitization, the formal institutional environment and the informal institutional environment jointly influence innovation ambidexterity.

By using fuzzy set analysis, this study categorizes combinations of interdependent factors that promote innovation ambidexterity. In particular, the authors pinpoint three configurations that foster high innovation ambidexterity and two configurations that lack such high levels of innovation ambidexterity. The analysis results suggest that innovation paradoxes in SMEs are linked to a nested system comprising leadership, organizational factors and the institutional environment.

This study elucidates the mechanism of innovation ambidexterity through a configurational perspective. This research proposes and validates a framework that enables SMEs to develop ambidextrous innovation capabilities, thereby integrating organizational ambidexterity theory and shedding light on the intricately complex nature of innovation ambidexterity.

For start-ups or growing firms, to effectively navigate the unpredictable nature of digital development and achieve superior innovative performance, it is crucial to have a workforce comprised of creative and innovative employees. Drawing upon the principles of social information processing theory, this study aims to investigate whether specific combinations of organizational internal and external environments, as well as work characteristics in the digital age, can foster a high level of employee innovative behavior.

By collecting a multilevel and multisource data set comprising 693 employees and 88 CEOs from 88 start-ups or growing firms, this study used fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to examine the distinctive configurations associated with achieving a high level of employee innovative behavior.

The study found that six solutions enabled employees to innovate more effectively, but six solutions led to the absence of employee innovative behavior.

The findings of this study offer important theoretical and practical implications to motivate employee innovative behavior in Chinese enterprises.

First, this study contributes to the literature on employee innovative behavior by addressing the need to explore the impact of the digital context on promoting innovation among employees. Second, this study adds to the existing literature on employee innovation and entrepreneurship by examining multiple organizational contexts and their influence on innovative behavior. Third, this study makes a significant contribution to the field of employee innovative behavior by examining the macroenvironment surrounding digital transformation within enterprises and integrating both internal and external organizational factors.