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Based on upper echelon theory and signaling theory, we aim to examine the impact of returnee executives on firms’ relative exploratory innovation focus and the moderating effect of economic policy uncertainty on this relationship.

Using panel data of Chinese listed companies from 2009 to 2020, we obtained empirical evidence to support our arguments.

Returnee executives positively influence firms’ relative exploratory innovation focus. This means that firms with returnee executives will shift the focus of their innovation activities toward exploratory innovation more than exploitative innovation. In addition, we find that economic policy uncertainty strengthens this relationship.

First, by showing how returnee executives positively influence firms’ shift in focus to exploratory rather than exploitative innovation, we expand our understanding of firms’ trade-offs between exploratory and exploitative innovation. Second, this study examines how returnee executives influence the relative importance that firms place on exploratory and exploitative innovation, allowing us to build a realistic and nuanced view of how returnee executives influence firms’ strategic choices. Finally, this study expands the strategic leadership literature and responds directly to the call for studies focusing on how institutional environmental conditions and executive characteristics work together to shape firm outcomes.

The purpose of this study is to provide insight into how innovation that outperforms peers (IOP) affects corporate financial misconduct. To this end, on the basis of fraud triangle theory, we develop a theoretical relationship between the two and argue that IOP has an inhibitory effect on corporate financial misconduct.

On the basis of empirical data from Chinese listed companies from 2007–2023, we conduct a series of tests to examine whether, how and under what circumstances IOP affects corporate financial misconduct.

IOP does inhibit corporate financial misconduct. This result is validated in a series of sensitivity tests. Further analysis shows that IOP inhibits corporate financial misconduct by reducing executives' incentives to engage in fraud, reducing the opportunity under which executives are involved in fraud, and inhibiting executives' tendency to rationalize fraud. In addition, the results of cross-sectional tests show that the negative impact of IOP on corporate financial misconduct is more significant when the firm is a high-tech enterprise, with a greater balance of power among shareholders, lower supplier concentration and greater consumer confidence.

First, by examining the impact of IOP and corporate financial misconduct, we enrich and extend the literature on the antecedents of corporate financial misconduct. Second, by theoretically and empirically validating the relationship between IOP and corporate financial misconduct, we extend the literature related to the economic consequences of IOP. Finally, we extend fraud triangle theory to a wider range of applications and provide new perspectives and strategies for further research and intervention in corporate financial misconduct.

This study was conducted to investigate the impact of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and internal design on the performance of students in university dormitories in Tehran and North Cyprus.

Using a survey questionnaire, 298 students living in student dormitories in Tehran and North Cyprus were surveyed for data collection.

Research has shown that the academic performance and well-being of students are heavily impacted by factors related to IEQ and internal design. The study conducted in Tehran and North Cyprus has identified the most effective components of IEQ and internal design for student dormitories. The study suggests that proper ventilation, furniture design, temperature control and lighting design are key factors that significantly affect IEQ and internal design. Control and lighting design are key factors that significantly affect IEQ and internal design.

Originality: The study utilizes a comparative study designed to analyze the differences and similarities between the two locations.

With the development of a new generation of digital technologies, digital transformation (DT) has become an inevitable trend for enterprises to achieve development in various industries. Nevertheless, the contradiction between the “fragmented” use of digital technologies and the “systematic” transformation of the industry leads to the underperformance of DT in the construction industry. Whilst previous studies have examined why DT is needed and how separate digital technologies can be used in construction projects, they failed to specify effective tools that can help enterprises identify key resources that facilitate DT from the organisational perspective.

This study established an objective assessment framework for evaluating the digital transformation capability (DTC) of construction enterprises in identifying limitations in their transformation efforts. This study also established a management entropy quantitative model and a comprehensive capability evaluation model of DT to analyse the DT performance of construction enterprises from the internal and external perspectives. Data were collected from 95 listed enterprises in China’s construction industry in 2020 as a case study.

This study concluded that enterprise profitability provides a strong endogenous driving force for DT. Research and development capabilities and DT proficiency of enterprises are the most critical factors in facilitating DT. In addition, China’s construction enterprises' DT was characterised by uneven development and low orderliness. The lack of a unified digital integration platform is key to cracking the dilemma.

This paper systematically identified key DTC in construction enterprises and proposed an objective framework for measuring DTC to enhance the DT performance of these enterprises.

Given the heavy pollution feature of the construction industry, construction corporations need to adopt an effective environmental governance strategy. The quality and quantity of environmental information disclosure (EID) implementation, as an essential part of a corporate environmental governance strategy, is impacted by the characteristics of the top management team (TMT). This paper aims to analyze the relationship between the demographic characteristics of the TMT (i.e. gender, age, tenure, educational level, and duality) and corporate EID.

Using data from listed construction corporations generated between 2014 to 2018 in China, this study employs the Tobit regression model to test the research hypotheses. Also, this study applies a novel analytical approach, necessary condition analysis (NCA), to conduct a series of additional tests.

The results reveal that tenure and educational level are significantly and positively related to EID, while gender, age, and duality in the executive role are not significantly related to EID. When considering the TMT size as a moderator, the TMT age is positively related to the corporate EID, and the size of the TMT acts as a moderator to weaken the positive effect of the TMT age on the EID. The NCA results show that TMT gender, age, tenure, and educational level are necessary when the levels of EID exceed 40%.

Our findings suggest that TMT characteristics have a relatively significant effect on corporate EID levels, which extends EID research to the construction industry. Corporate planners can endeavor to shape TMT characteristics to improve EID levels. The results of NCA provide insights into what TMT characteristics construction corporations need to satisfy in their pursuit of transparent EID, as well as the levels at which these characteristics are desired.

Despite the knowledge transfer in project contexts which has been extensively studied by scholars, the study on inter-organizational knowledge transfer in international construction projects is still scattered and unsystematic. This research aims to explore the key factors influencing inter-organizational knowledge transfer of international construction projects and analyze how these factors interact to create a synthetic framework that enhances the effectiveness of knowledge transfer (EKT).

At first, eight factors influencing inter-organizational knowledge transfer within international construction projects were identified, which were from the four dimensions of subject, relationship, channel and context, namely cultural distance, connection strength, organizational climate, intercultural competence, information technology capability, transmit willingness, receive willingness and richness of transfer channels. Then, a conceptual model was developed and 13 hypotheses were formulated, which were derived from a literature review and in-depth survey. After that, data from 353 respondents were collected and analyzed, and the hypotheses were tested by structural equation modeling analysis and bootstrapping test.

The results suggest that cultural distance hinders transfer willingness, which further affects EKT. Connection strength affects EKT by positively influencing transfer willingness and channel. Besides, organizational climate and intercultural competence positively influence transfer willingness and further affect EKT, while information technology capability affects the richness of transfer channels.

This research gives a thorough examination of the determinants influencing inter-organizational knowledge transfer of international construction projects, thus formulating available approaches that project managers and personnel can employ to effectively facilitate EKT.

The construction industry has been investigating “where Henry Ford is in the industry system.” Given that listed construction enterprises are the backbone of the promotion of the high-quality development of the industry, their research and innovation are of considerable importance. This study aims to comprehensively assess the research and development (R&D) status quo and trends within various types of construction enterprises in order to identify effective strategies to enhance R&D efficiency in the construction industry.

Based on the data won from annual reports and the CSMAR database for the period 2016–2020, this study examines 104 listed construction enterprises in China. By applying both the data envelopment analysis (DEA) method and the Malmquist productivity index, this research compares and analyzes the static and dynamic differences in R&D efficiency across different types of construction enterprises.

Results suggest that the magnitude of change in the Malmquist decomposition index of 104 listed construction enterprises gradually narrowed, but the comprehensive technological level remained relatively low. Although state-owned enterprises had an advantage in scale efficiency, meaning they could maximize output with given inputs, their technological progress efficiency, also known as the degree of technological innovation, was significantly lower than that of private enterprises. As one finding, state-owned enterprises in comparison with private enterprises experience significant R&D inefficiency. It represents the main cause of their low degree of technological innovation and efficiency.

This study assesses the R&D efficiency of listed construction enterprises in China from the perspective of different market segments, state-owned and private enterprises and suggests approaches to improve strategies for various corporate types. Thus, the study’s new findings contribute to addressing the challenge of low R&D levels in the construction industry in the fields of engineering, construction and architectural management.

Interorganizational knowledge sharing (IKS) is an important strategy for organizations to obtain exterior knowledge resources to enhance innovation and value co-creation in megaprojects. However, little research has deeply investigated multiple attributes of organizational motivations and the combinatorial effects of these motivations on facilitating IKS. Based on resource dependency theory, this study examined the net and combinatorial effects of four types of motivations (i.e. image motivations, reactive motivations, project-based co-creative economic motivations and cross-project co-creative economic motivations).

Questionnaire surveys were administered to 244 practitioners with over 10 years of experience in construction megaprojects. The collected data were analyzed using a partial least square-structural equation model (PLS-SEM) and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA).

The findings of PLS-SEM support that image and project-based co-creative economic motivations positively drive IKS. The results of fsQCA reveal three types of efficacious configurations, including comprehensive benefits-integrated driven, short-term benefits-dominated driven and long-term benefits-dominated driven configurations.

This study provides insight into broadening the understanding of multidimensional organizational motivations for IKS and fostering the configurational perspective to their effects with the idea that one size does not fit all. Managers should develop effective interventions considering the combination of various motivations and use multi-layered incentive structures that reward both immediate project-specific outcomes and long-term relationship-building efforts.

Effective green supply chain management (GSCM) has become a potentially valuable tool of securing competitive advantage and improving operational performance (OP) as competition is no longer exists between the firms but within green supply chains. The aim of this empirical study is to determine the link between GSCM practices (GSCMPs) and OP within the manufacturing sector of Bangladesh mediated by perceived competitive advantage (PCA). GSCMPs were divided into three further dimensions: green eco-design (GED), green supply chain partnering (GSCP) and internal green orientation (IGO).

The study selected 376 individuals as respondents who work as the top-level managers and the members of the Board of Directors at different Bangladeshi manufacturing firms through purposive sampling. A partial least square-based structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was utilized to identify the relationships between the three dimensions of, GSCMPs, and the single dependent variable, OP.

The study identified that two factors, GED and GSCP, have significant positive relationships with OP. On the other hand, another factor, IGO has a statistically insignificant relationship with OP. Regarding the mediating effects, the study identified that PCA can fully mediate the insignificant relationship between IGO and OP, and partially mediate the significant relationship between GSCP and OP. On the contrary, PCA has no mediating effect on the relationship between GED and OP.

This empirical study is an effort that examined the role of GSCMPs on the OP in the Bangladeshi manufacturing context. It is believed that this empirical investigation will prompt future theoretical studies and empirical experiments to enrich academia. Further, the findings of this study can serve as foundational guidance for policymakers and/or managers studying the formulation and implementation of GSCMP-related policies and strategies.

The objective of this investigation is to discover the impacts of energy security (ES) pursuit on climate risk (CR). Notably, we also evaluate the role of institutional quality in signifying the effects of ES on CR.

Six metrics to assess the availability, acceptability, developability and sustainability of energy security are used while we consider nine dimensions of climate risk. We employ several econometric methods, namely the panel-corrected standard error (PCSE) and feasible generalized least squares (FGLS), to a global sample of 65 countries during the 2014–2021 period. Furthermore, long-term impacts are estimated using the dynamic fixed effects (DFE) estimate, which is applied using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) technique.

The estimation outcomes demonstrate that the pursuit of ES mitigates CR. By using a variety of econometric methodologies and using additional explanation factors, we obtain reliable conclusions. The outcomes propose that the favourable impacts of ES initiatives are more likely to exist in the long run. Notably, ES impacts are more substantial in nations with well-designed institutional systems.

Our study is critical since the findings offer pertinent implications for policymakers and authorities in designing appropriate policies regarding energy security initiatives on the path towards climate resilience and environmental sustainability.

Our work adds to the body of literature by considering various cross-country characteristics, with a focus on variations in the degree of energy security. Our study adds to the previous paper on the effects of climate modification by pointing out the way those heterogeneities shape the magnitude of harm attributed to climate shifts. Specifically, we examine how these differences influence climate modification’s effects on the threat to power safety and the effectiveness of policy strategies. By using this method, we can offer more individualized policy implications that consider variations across nations in the formulation of policies.