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Based on the density dependence theory, this paper attempts to explore how two types of interdependence among firms located in the same national high-tech zones (NHTZs) – mutualism and competition – affect entrepreneurship in the NHTZs. The authors suggest that increasing firm density can help enhance legitimacy and form mutual networks. However, as the competition becomes fierce, the above positive relationship will weaken when the firm density exceeds a certain level. In addition, the authors are interested in whether the age of NHTZs would affect their sensitivity to legitimacy and competition and whether firm density affects entrepreneurship.

This article formulates two hypotheses from the theoretical deduction. The hypotheses are examined using the ordinary least squares (OLS) regression with a unique, unbalanced panel dataset of Chinese NHTZs spanning from 2014 to 2021. Considering potential endogeneity risk among the variables, the authors attempt to lag variables and ultimately find the results are still robust.

Drawing upon the density dependence theory, the empirical results show firm density is conducive to promoting entrepreneurship, while the positive relationship between community density and NHTZs' entrepreneurship gradually weakens as the firm density surpasses a certain level. The dynamics between mutualism and competition have different impacts on NHTZs' entrepreneurship. In addition, the results demonstrate that the linkage between firm interdependence and entrepreneurship is stronger for younger NHTZs. Firm density has an impact on entrepreneurship through legitimacy and excessive competition effects.

On the one hand, the research period of this paper is 2014–2021, as the China Torch Statistical Yearbook only started to publish operating revenues in 2014, so the data period of this paper is relatively short. More research can be done in the future when more data is disclosed. On the other hand, the qualitative analysis cannot be conducted because of the limited data and materials. In future research, the qualitative analysis of entrepreneurial activities in NHTZs, such as questionnaires or case studies, needs to be supplemented, which will be an interesting direction.

Most existing research has not distinguished the differences between NHTZs (Wang et al., 2019), especially the differences in legitimacy and access to resources caused by the age of NHTZs. This article considers the heterogeneity between NHTZs, which helps to provide theoretical and practical evidence for a transition economy like China to make trade-off decisions on balancing absorbing new entrants with promoting the efficient allocation of resources based on the density and age of NHTZs.

Drawing upon density dependency theory, this paper enriches the literature on agglomeration and entrepreneurship with a new perspective and extends the study to NHTZs.

First, this paper provides new evidence on how agglomeration affects entrepreneurship from an ecological perspective with the help of mutualism and competition interdependence. Most studies have explored the role of agglomeration in entrepreneurship, focussing on social networks, knowledge spillovers or resource endowments (Acs et al., 2013; Capozza et al., 2018; Yu, 2020). Drawing upon density dependency theory, this paper enriches the literature on agglomeration and entrepreneurship with a new perspective and extends the study to NHTZs. Second, the emphasis of science parks has been primarily on qualitative or case studies (Salvador et al., 2013; Guo and Verdini, 2015; Xie et al., 2018). We have diversified the quantitative research between agglomeration and entrepreneurship by using panel data from Chinese NHTZs from 2014 to 2021. Third, most existing research has not distinguished the differences between NHTZs (Wang et al., 2019), especially the differences in legitimacy and access to resources caused by the age of NHTZs. This article considers the heterogeneity between NHTZs, which helps to provide theoretical and practical evidence for a transition economy like China to make trade-off decisions on balancing absorbing new entrants with promoting the efficient allocation of resources based on the density and age of NHTZs. Finally, this paper meticulously investigates the profound influence and underlying mechanisms of firm density within NHTZs on entrepreneurship. It discerns two distinct mechanisms at play: the legitimacy effect and the impact of excessive competition resulting from firm density. This comprehensive analysis significantly contributes to our comprehension of the intricate interplay between firm density and entrepreneurship, shedding light on the dynamics of competition and mutual benefits.

The study examines the IPO resilience grounded on the firm’s intrinsic factors.

We examine the association of IPO performance and post-listing firm’s performance with issuers' pre-listing financial and qualitative traits using panel data regression.

IPOs floated in the Indian market from July 2009 to March 31, 2022, evince the notable influence of issuers' pre-IPO fundamentals and legitimacy traits on IPO returns and post-listing earning power. Where the pandemic’s favorable impact is discerned on the post-listing year earning power of the issuer firms, the loss-making issuers appear to be adversely affected by the Covid disruption. Perhaps, the successful listing equipped the issuers with the financial flexibility to combat market challenges vis-à-vis failed issuers deprived of desired IPO proceeds.

High initial returns followed by a declining pattern substantiate the retail investors to be less informed vis-à-vis initial investors, valuers and underwriters, who exit post-listing after profit booking. Investing in the shares of the newly listed ventures post-listing in the secondary market can shield retail investors from the uncertainty losses of being uninformed. The IPO market needs stringent regulations ensuring the verification of the listing valuation, the firm’s credentials and the intent of utilizing IPO proceeds. Healthy development of the IPO market merits reconsidering the listing of ventures with weak fundamentals suspected to withstand the market challenges.

Given the tremendous rise in the new firm venturing into the primary market and the spike in IPOs countering the losses immediately post-opening, the study examines the loss-making and young firms IPOs separately, adding novelty to the study.

Online food delivery has been prevalent in recent years worldwide, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, and people's consumption behaviors have changed significantly. This study aims to investigate the consumption behavior of young adults using online food delivery platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic and focuses on the dominant factors influencing their decision to use online food delivery platforms.

Semi-structured interviews including 14 young adults aged 18–25 living in Hong Kong were conducted to collect data about their perspectives on online food delivery platforms in five areas. This research adopted the stimulus-organism-response model (S-O-R model) to analyze how the factors influence young adult users' loyalty and satisfaction with online food delivery platforms.

Thematic analyses revealed that young adults were attracted to online food delivery platforms for their numerous benefits. They had a high frequency of usage and significant spending. Usability, usefulness, satisfaction and loyalty influenced young adults' behaviors on online food delivery platforms. Participants were overall satisfied with their experiences, but platforms still had room for improvement.

Few prior studies investigated the factors affecting the consumer experience and behavioral intention of online food delivery for young adults in Asia. This study contributes to understanding young adults' experiences and problems with online food delivery platforms. It provides practical insights for system engineers and designers to improve the current services and for the governments to enhance the existing regulatory loopholes.

For a better understanding of the preferences and differences of young consumers in emerging wine markets, this study aims to propose a clustering method to segment the super-new generation wine consumers based on their sensitivity to wine brand, origin and price and then conduct user profiles for segmented consumer groups from the perspectives of demographic attributes, eating habits and wine sensory attribute preferences.

We first proposed a consumer clustering perspective based on their sensitivity to wine brand, origin and price and then conducted an adaptive density peak and label propagation layer-by-layer (ADPLP) clustering algorithm to segment consumers, which improved the issues of wrong centers' selection and inaccurate classification of remaining sample points for traditional DPC (DPeak clustering algorithm). Then, we built a consumer profile system from the perspectives of demographic attributes, eating habits and wine sensory attribute preferences for segmented consumer groups.

In this study, 10 typical public datasets and 6 basic test algorithms are used to evaluate the proposed method, and the results showed that the ADPLP algorithm was optimal or suboptimal on 10 datasets with accuracy above 0.78. The average improvement in accuracy over the base DPC algorithm is 0.184. As an outcome of the wine consumer profiles, sensitive consumers prefer wines with medium prices of 100–400 CNY and more personalized brands and origins, while casual consumers are fond of popular brands, popular origins and low prices within 50 CNY. The wine sensory attributes preferred by super-new generation consumers are red, semi-dry, semi-sweet, still, fresh tasting, fruity, floral and low acid.

Young Chinese consumers are the main driver of wine consumption in the future. This paper provides a tool for decision-makers and marketers to identify the preferences of young consumers quickly which is meaningful and helpful for wine marketing.

In this study, the ADPLP algorithm was introduced for the first time. Subsequently, the user profile label system was constructed for segmented consumers to highlight their characteristics and demand partiality from three aspects: demographic characteristics, consumers' eating habits and consumers' preferences for wine attributes. Moreover, the ADPLP algorithm can be considered for user profiles on other alcoholic products.

The purpose of this article is to examine the expectations, challenges and tensions officers describe while engaged with public schools to demonstrate that officers engage with students in public schools in a conscious, goal-oriented process to establish and maintain useful relationships.

Data collection involved 104 semi-structured interviews (including follow up interviews) and 31 focus groups, conducted between 2014 and 2018 with police officers working in rural areas of a province in Atlantic Canada.

Utilizing the concept of social capital, we analyze practices of investments alongside the understanding of rurality as socially interconnected and the rural school as a particular site of interconnectedness for police officers. We demonstrate how, while accumulating social capital, officers face role tension and fundamental barriers when trying to integrate into rural school communities.

By demonstrating the specificities of building social capital in schools and community environments in a rural setting, we contribute to understandings regarding the unique opportunities and challenges faced by police in rural schools in integrating effectively into schools and responding to youth-specific problems.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of social movements engendered by the Arab Spring crisis on the relationship between corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD) and corporate governance attributes, particularly board composition, considering the importance of governance after the Arab Spring event.

Content analysis was used to examine the extent and nature of CSRD in annual reports of Jordanian companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange covering the period 2009–2016. A dynamic regression model using panel data is then undertaken for a sample of 114 listed companies over the period to analyse the potential impact of board composition on the level of CSRD.

The results reveal that there was a significant increase in the level of CSRD post-the Arab Spring crisis; and that governance appears to be a key driver. Specifically, board age, directors educated in business and/or accounting-related fields and foreign members are found to have a significant positive relationship with CSRD.

Looking at the Arab region pre- and after the Arab Spring helps to complete the global picture of how company governance can lead to improved CSR performance. Specifically, this region has been behind in developing rules and codes that include CSR. The results show that having a diverse board, with directors with expertise specific to the context, increases the effectiveness of stakeholder management through CSRD. The results, therefore, offer valuable insights for companies, policymakers and for the development of regulations.

The study aims to investigate the effect of corruption and crime on the investments by firms in emerging economies (EEs).

The study adopts the generalised methods of moments (GMM) estimator and data across 57 EEs.

The study shows that crime management, corruption and external quality assurance drive-up investments. Additionally, investments decline with firm age and crime incidence. Corruption and crime managements increase investments by exporting firms more than non-exporting firms investments. Also, external auditor services benefit investments by large firms more than small-medium firms.

There is a need for EEs to implement policies that will curtail corruption and create a level playing field and sustainable firm growth. EEs firms must be innovative to expand their productive investments and grow over time. Also, EEs firms should seek external quality certification, invest in internal security and monitor goods in transit.

The purpose of this study is to model the theory of the low-velocity impact (LVI) process on sandwich beams consisting of flexible cores and face sheets reinforced with functionally graded carbon nanotubes (CNTs).

A series of parameters derived from molecular dynamics are used to consider the size scale in the mixture rule for the combination of CNTs and resin. A procedure involving the use of the first-order shear deformation theory of the beam is used to provide the displacement field of the sandwich beam. The energy method and subsequently the generalized Lagrange method are used to derive the motion equations. Due to the use of Hertz’s nonlinear theory to calculate the contact force, the equations of motion are nonlinear. Validation of the problem is carried out by comparing natural frequencies with other papers.

The influence of a series of parameters such as CNTs distributions pattern in the face sheets, the influence of the CNTs volume fraction and the influence of the core thickness to the face sheets thickness ratio in the issue of LVI on sandwich beams with clamped-clamped boundary conditions is investigated. The result shows that the type of CNTs pattern in the face sheet and the CNTs volume fraction have a very important effect on the answer to the problem, which is caused by the change in the value of the Young’s modulus of the beam at the contact surface. Changes in the core thickness to the face sheets thickness ratio has little effect on the impact response.

Considering the important application of sandwich structures in vehicles, aviation and ships, in this research, sandwich beams consisting of flexible core and CNTs-reinforced face sheets are investigated under LVI.

This study aims to investigate the responses of young Chinese consumers with different cultural characteristics to negative brand information about electric vehicles.

The current study is quantitative research with an experimental method. It shows two different levels of severity for negative publicity and asks participants to self-report through questionnaires.

Chinese young consumers, being collectivist and of high uncertainty avoidance, tend to search for and spread information; consumers with low power distance search and share information more under low information severity. In addition, information search positively affects brand attitude under lower severity; negative word-of-mouth intention negatively affects brand attitudes at both severity levels.

The current study examines the influence of personal cultural values on information searching and negative information dissemination among young consumers, providing insights to complement previous studies. Furthermore, it explores how such exposure influences young consumers’ brand attitude and intention to purchase. Limitations include simple sample scopes and single-product stimuli.

This research highlights the importance of cultural dimensions in shaping young consumers’ responses to negative publicity. Marketers worldwide should consider cultural influence and develop specific strategies to address negative information about different products. Understanding customers’ unique characteristics and preferences can help marketers effectively tailor their approaches to counter negative publicity.

This study originally provides a supplement to prior studies on cultural dimensions and consumer behavior and provides suggestions to marketers on young Chinese consumers.

This study's main goal is to expand the theoretical perspective and discuss the unique influence of age and tenure on R&D teams' incremental innovation outcomes. We answer scholars call for additional research on age-related processes by testing pathways through which older employees can benefit organizational performance. The current study advances the literature by relating to the context-related process of cohesion and investigating its moderating influence on the relationship between team antecedents (i.e. age and tenure) and incremental innovation.

This research sample consists of 108 R&D teams operating in six mature high-tech organizations located in Israel. The participating entities design and manufacture state-of-the-art innovations in the semiconductors, communications and information technology sectors. The number of teams in each participating entity was 35, 21, 21, 19, 7 and 5, respectively. The sample consisted of 443 R&D employees and 212 team leaders/managers. The total sample comprised 655 participants. Team members filled out questionnaires to assess the independent variables. The dependent-variable questionnaire focusing on the team's incremental innovation accomplishments was completed by two managers for each team.

We found a negative association between team members' age and incremental innovation. Hypothesis 2, which predicted a positive association between team members' tenure and incremental innovation, was marginally supported. The interaction between team members' age and team members' tenure on incremental innovation was marginally supported. Hypothesis 4, which predicted that the negative association between team members' age and incremental innovation would be mitigated when the level of team cohesion is low, was supported. Hypothesis 5, which assumed that the positive association between team members' tenure and incremental innovation would be stronger when the level of cohesion is high, was supported.

This research's results regarding the negative influence of R&D employees' age on incremental innovation are crucial for managers and team leaders in the high-tech industry. Following the age stereotype, many of them avoid recruiting and assigning older employees to R&D teams dealing in innovation creation and development. They should expand their perspective and consider additional attributes in order to assign the employees that best match the team's mission. The results show that R&D teams produce high and similar levels of incremental innovation when the level of team members' tenure is high, regardless of their age.

This study benefited from a relatively high number of respondents and teams from leading high-tech organizations, a high response rate and a research design that made it possible to establish a linkage between data on the independent variables and data on incremental innovation collected from separate independent sources. The data on the dependent variable—incremental innovation—was based on independent assessments made by two managers for each team. The study's measurements were based on leading studies on innovation.