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This study delves into the nuanced relationship between financial constraints, ownership structures (state-owned and foreign) and innovation engagement within China’s A-share market, aiming to uncover how these dynamics vary across different industries and regional contexts.

By retrieving data from various datasets in China (2010–2022), this study analyzed the effectiveness of each variable, employing various dimensions to reflect innovation engagement among Chinese listed companies. Meanwhile, for the measurement of financial constraints, this study tested all four typical ones and opted for the KZ Index, as it is the most suitable for China’s A-share market. Then, by fixing the industry and year effects, the study examined the main and moderating effects. At last, in order to address endogeneity issues and capture the dynamic nature of innovation activities, this study follow the suggestion of Khatib (2024) and employed the two-step system Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimation.

The results demonstrate that while the government has introduced many policies to promote innovation, state-owned ownership does not consistently enhance innovation engagement as expected, especially when firms are in financial dilemma. Particularly, in Hi-tech industries, foreign ownership demonstrates greater interest and confidence in the innovation capabilities of China’s A-share market. Findings also reveal significant regional heterogeneity in the moderating role of ownership structures. While state-owned and foreign ownerships have a buffering effect against financial constraints in the eastern and western regions, but this effect is notably different in the middle part, even though it is China’s political heartland.

The findings offer a different insight for policymakers and corporate strategists, suggesting that targeted financial and regulatory policies that leverage specific ownership structures can foster innovation in different ways, particularly in financially constrained environments. However, how to stimulate innovation vitality in the middle part of China still requires further research.

Gamification has been constantly demonstrated as an effective mechanism for employee engagement. However, little is known about how gamification reduces cyberloafing and the mechanism by which it affects cyberloafing in the workplace. This study draws inspiration from self-determination and social bonding theories to explain how game dynamics, namely, personalised challenges, social interactivity and progression status, enhance tacit knowledge sharing behaviour, which, in turn, reduces cyberloafing. In addition, the study also examines the negative moderating effect of fear of failure on the positive relationship between game dynamics and tacit knowledge sharing.

Using a sample of 250 employees from information technology organisations, the study employed a 3-wave study to examine the conditional indirect effects.

The results ascertain that tacit knowledge sharing plays a central role in the relationship between gamification and cyberloafing. Further, game dynamics positively influenced tacit knowledge sharing, which in turn reduced cyberloafing. Especially, social interactivity and progression status greatly reduced cyberloafing behaviour when the fear of failure was low.

This study is one of the initial studies that suggest gamification as a progressive tool to reduce workplace cyberloafing behaviours. It utilises a problematisation approach to analyse and criticise the in-house assumptions regarding cyberloafing prevention measures. Further, the study proposes a conceptual model explaining the link between gamification and cyberloafing through alternate assumptions.

The purpose of this study is to examine how the childhood trauma experiences of CEOs influence firms’ internationalization.

The research used a difference-in-difference method with constructing a treatment group whose chief executive officer (CEO) experienced the great famine in China between the ages of 7 and 11, and a control group whose CEO was born within three years after 1961.

The study reveals a significant inverse correlation between CEOs’ childhood trauma experiences and firm internationalization. However, this correlation is weaker in the case of state-owned enterprises and firms led by CEOs with overseas work experience.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to extend the theoretical framework to elucidate firms’ internationalization by introducing childhood trauma theory into the field of international business literature. Second, the authors link the literature on the effect of CEO explicit traits and psychological traits on firm internationalization by exploring how CEOs’ childhood trauma experience shapes their risk aversion, which, in turn, influences firm internationalization. Third, the authors address the call for examining the interplay of CEO life experiences by scrutinizing the moderating effect of CEO overseas work experience on the association between CEOs’ childhood trauma exposure and firm internationalization.

Given innovation's significance, this research examines the link between empowered leadership and frugal innovation. The research also explores how collaborative cultures and organizational commitment mediate empowered leadership's effect on frugal innovation.

Quantitative method is used with the approach of hierarchical regression to test the hypotheses with data obtained from Pakistani small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through the questionnaire from 288 participants.

The results of this study show that empowered leadership has a considerable impact on the firm's capacity for frugal innovation. Additionally, this study shows that organizational commitment and collaborative culture significantly moderate the association between empowering leadership and frugal innovation.

Future studies should examine mediating factors, including employment experience, education and perceived organizational support, and moderating variables like employee psychological empowerment and leadership styles.

This research advises SMEs in developing nations to utilize frugal innovation since they cannot afford to spend extensively on technologies that add creativity and innovation to goods and services.

This study advances how leadership both directly and indirectly helps organizations strengthen their capacity for frugal innovation through the mediating roles of collaborative culture and organizational commitment.

Following the adoption of performance-based budgeting (PBB), the government has consistently striven to enhance performance information quality. However, long-term empirical evidence on how efforts to reform PBB have shaped the quality of performance information across various public sector organisational contexts is still lacking. This study aims to examine the effects of PBB reform on the quality of performance information in various public sector organisational settings by employing contingency theory.

This research systematically tracked renewal rates and trends of performance indicators over time, particularly during the period when new practices aimed at enhancing the quality of performance indicators were introduced. It compares various organisational complexities, including budget size, types of output deliveries and tasks performed, to identify patterns and mechanisms that influence the quality of performance indicators in budget documents from 2011 to 2022 across ministries and agencies. The study integrates the analysis of both macro and micro factors related to reform developmental stages and organisational complexity.

This empirical investigation identifies the increasing number of performance indicators as the reform process advances. However, the prevailing low renewal rates present an anomaly compared to previous studies. Capacity constraints and rigid rules have made organisations reluctant to change or significantly modify their indicators for budget decision-making. A comparative analysis of quality trends across different organisational complexities and time periods reveals a gradual shift toward more results-oriented indicators, with varying degrees of improvement. This suggests how organisations adapt to and respond to PBB reforms over time, with quality improvements either persisting and advancing or diminishing after the initial implementation phase.

This study has limitations, as factors such as governance structure, political climate, bureaucratic culture and fiscal constraints may restrict the generalisability of the findings. To better understand these trends, it is essential to identify the optimal renewal rates of performance indicators and explore how changes in the quality of performance information affect its use and consequence in budget decision-making.

We emphasise the necessity of tailored reform strategies that consider varied organisational complexities to achieve better reform progress. At the operational level, the preparation of implementation guidance and the evaluation of performance indicators should be customised to reflect organisational complexities. This contextual factor significantly contributes to the learning processes of organisations. The continuous refinement of PBB practices in absence of proper evaluation can result in adjustments that are merely symbolic. Such modifications risk undermining stakeholder trust in the potential benefits of the reforms and may be perceived as an additional administrative burden. To further clarify these trends, it is essential to identify the optimal renewal rates of performance indicators and explore how changes in the quality of performance information affect its use and consequence in budget decision-making.

Longitudinal research is critical to understanding how the quality of performance information evolves through successive PBB cycles as organisations refine their measurement practices. Public sector reforms are dynamic, unfolding over time and progressing through different stages, influencing organisations in various ways at each phase. Therefore, it is crucial to consider time-related factors when studying the process and impact of PBB reforms. This approach is complemented by contingency theories to assess the outcomes of PBB reforms across different stages and organisational contexts. Indonesia, as a case study, offers a typical example for developing countries, characterised by capacity constraints, low stakeholder involvement, high informality, hierarchical structures and strong incremental budgeting practices.

The present study seeks to examine the impact of ethical leadership on employees’ voice behavior and internal whistleblowing in organizations. Specifically, the study investigates the mediating role of moral emotions in the link between ethical leadership and employees’ reporting behaviors such as voice behavior and internal whistleblowing.

This research utilized a sample of 200 employees from various private companies in Pakistan, gathering data via questionnaires to validate the hypotheses. We employed Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to evaluate the model and conducted a mediation analysis using 5,000 bootstrap samples.

This research found that ethical leadership positively impacts employees' moral emotions, encouraging them to voice concerns and report misdeeds. Additionally, the study affirms a direct and positive connection between ethical leadership and employees' reporting behaviors, including voice behavior and internal whistleblowing.

The findings of the study emphasized the development of ethical leadership in organizations by highlighting the critical role of ethical leadership in enhancing moral emotions, voice behavior, and whistleblowing in organizations. It highlights the necessity of promoting moral behavior to enhance organizational effectiveness and the need for ethical leaders to foster an open environment in organizations that encourages whistle bellowing and reporting of unethical practices in organizations.

The current paper extends knowledge of ethical leadership based on the social cognitive theory of morality by considering that moral emotions serve as a strong motivational cognition between ethical leadership and reporting behaviors. Particularly, by examining the mediating role of moral emotion, this study provides a deeper understanding of the underlying mechanism through which ethical leadership influences reporting behaviors of employees at workplace.

This study investigates the diversification benefits of multiple cryptocurrencies and their usefulness as investment assets, individually or combined, in enhancing the performance of a well-diversified portfolio of traditional assets before and during the pandemic COVID-19.

This paper uses two optimization techniques, namely the mean-variance and the maximum Sharpe ratio. The naïve diversification rules are used for comparison. Besides, the Sharpe and the Sortino ratios are used as performance measures.

The results show that cryptocurrencies diversification benefits occur more during the COVID-19 pandemic rather than before it, with the maximum Sharpe ratio portfolio presenting its highest performance. Furthermore, the results suggest that, during COVID-19, the diversification benefits are slightly better when using a combination of cryptocurrencies to an already well-diversified portfolio of traditional assets rather than individual ones. This serves to improve the performance of the maximum Sharpe ratio portfolio, and to some extent, the naïve portfolio. Yet, cryptocurrencies, whether added individually or combined to a well-diversified portfolio of traditional assets, don't fit in the minimum variance portfolio. Besides, the efficient frontier during COVID-19 pandemic dominates the one before COVID-19 pandemic, giving the investor a better risk-return trade-off.

To the best of the author's knowledge, this is the first study that examines the diversification benefits of multiple cryptocurrencies both as individual investments and as additional asset classes, before and during COVID-19 pandemic. The paper covers all analyses performed separately in previous studies, which brings new evidence regarding the potential for cryptocurrencies in portfolio diversification under different portfolio strategies.

This study aims to outline the research field of initial public offerings (IPOs) pricing and performance by combining bibliometric analysis with a systematic literature review process.

The study uses over three decades of IPO publication records (1989–2020) from Scopus and Web of Science databases. An analysis of keyword co-occurrence and bibliometric coupling was used to gain insights into the evolution of IPO literature.

The study categorized the IPO research field into four primary clusters: IPO pricing and short-run behaviour, IPO performance and influence of intermediaries, venture capital financing and top management and political affiliations and litigation risks. The results offer a framework for delineating research advancements at different stages of IPOs and illustrate the growing interest of researchers in IPOs in recent years. The study identified future research potential in the areas of corporate governance, earning management and investor sentiments related to IPO performance. Similarly, the study highlighted the opportunity to test multiple theoretical frameworks on alternative investment platforms (SME IPO platforms) operating under distinct regulatory environments.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper represents the first instance of using both bibliometric and systematic review to quantitatively and qualitatively review the articles published in the area of IPO pricing and performance from 1989 to 2020.

Unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB) harms organizations’ long-term development; hence, all sectors of society view it as highly concerning. Optimizing leadership and curbing this behavior is a key managerial challenge. This study takes the relationship between temporal leadership and UPB as its object and examines the direct and indirect paths of temporal leadership’s influence on UPB based on the conservation of resources theory. It further dissects the mediating mechanism of emotional exhaustion and the regulating mechanism of job complexity and constructs the mechanism through which temporal leadership affects UPB.

Data gathered from a sample of 380 employees in 24 provinces and cities were employed for empirical testing using validated factor analysis, hierarchical regression analysis, and a bootstrap method.

The results show that temporal leadership inhibits UPB, while emotional exhaustion partially mediates the relationship between temporal leadership and UPB. That is, temporal leadership inhibits pro-organizational unethical behavior by alleviating emotional exhaustion. In addition, job complexity negatively moderates the relationship between emotional exhaustion and UPB and positively moderates the mediating role of emotional exhaustion between temporal leadership and UPB.

First, although the data used in the study were collected at two different times, they were obtained through self-assessment; therefore, the subjective component and the potential problem of common method bias is evident. Second, the study’s sample size and types of respondents are limited.

1. This study found that temporal leadership can inhibit UPB by reducing employee emotional exhaustion. Therefore, organizations should place greater emphasis on the time factor. 2. In terms of emotional factors, organizations should actively focus on the impact of emotional exhaustion on employees' UPBs. 3. In management practice, managers should adjust their leadership modeling behaviors according to the different degrees of job complexity to replace UPBs with conscious and rational behaviors.

The study reveals how temporal leadership affects UPB and provides a theoretical basis for organizations to mitigate employees' UPB by optimizing their leadership style.

Current research on temporal leadership primarily focuses on the positive predictive effects on individual behaviors and attitudes (Zhang and Ling, 2016), but neglects its effects on negative behaviors. This study’s results complement research on the relationship between temporal leadership and employees' negative behaviors and responds to the call by Zhang and Ling (2015) to conduct research related to temporal leadership in China. On the other hand, current research on employees’ UPB largely focuses on its causative factors, while less research has been conducted on the disincentives for UPB, which to some extent limits systematic and sound research on UPB.

The purpose of this study is to examine the nonlinear relationship between executive stock options and strategic risk taking and to investigate the moderating effect of CEO characteristics (CEO age and tenure). This study aims to analyze whether the impact of executive stock options on strategic risk-taking is moderated by CEO compensation and characteristics.

This study is based on a sample of 90 French firms for the period extending from 2008 to 2021. To deal with the nonlinear relationship, the author adopts a dynamic threshold model.

The results reveal that the impact of CEO stock options on firm strategic risk-taking is nonlinear and moderated by CEO age and tenure. Using research and development (R&D) as a measure of risk taking, the author show a positive relationship between executive stock option and R&D below the threshold value of stock option, CEO age and tenure and it becomes negative above.

Stock options, CEO age and tenure shows that CEO characteristics and compensation structure are major determinants in defining the direction of the nonlinear relationship between CEO stock options and firm strategic risk-taking.

The author extends through this paper the existing research on executive stock option, strategic risk-taking and CEO characteristics using a nonlinear dynamic estimator that caters to the problems of endogeneity. Insights from the findings provide boards and regulators with a better understanding of structuring CEO compensation.