Liangliang Liu, Miaomiao Lv and Wenqing Zhang
The purpose of this paper is to analyze whether and how intergovernmental fiscal transfers (IFTs) affect technological innovation.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze whether and how intergovernmental fiscal transfers (IFTs) affect technological innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
China’s provincial panel data from 2007 to 2019 are used in an empirical study to examine the effect of IFTs on technological innovation and the role of fiscal spending policy in the relationship between the two by using the spatial Durbin model.
Findings
Results show an evident spatial correlation for the effect of IFTs on technological innovation, indicating that IFTs have a significant negative influence on technological innovation in local and surrounding regions. IFTs also inhibit technological innovation by negatively affecting science and technology spending and education spending.
Research limitations/implications
These findings can aid policymakers in advancing technological innovation by improving the system of fiscal transfers and optimizing the structure of fiscal spending.
Originality/value
Although the determinants of technological innovation have been analyzed, no studies have investigated the effect of IFTs on technological innovation. Thus, this paper aims to address this gap.
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Miaomiao Wang, Xinyu Chen, Yuqing Tan and Xiaoxi Zhu
To explore how the blockchain affects the pricing and financing decisions in a low-carbon platform supply chain.
Abstract
Purpose
To explore how the blockchain affects the pricing and financing decisions in a low-carbon platform supply chain.
Design/methodology/approach
Considering the dual roles of the e-commerce platform as a seller and an initiator, a typical game-theoretical method is applied to analyze the behavior of supply chain decision-makers and the impact of key variables on equilibriums.
Findings
When loan interest rates are symmetric, whether blockchain is used or not, the e-commerce platform financing mode will always produce higher wholesale price and unit carbon emission reduction, while the retail price is the opposite. Higher unit additional income brought by the blockchain can bring higher economic and environmental performances, and the e-commerce platform financing mode is superior to bank financing mode. The application of blockchain may cause the manufacturer to change his/her financing choice. For bank financing, with the increase of loan interest rates, the advantages brought by blockchain will gradually disappear, but this situation will not occur under e-commerce platform financing.
Originality/value
Blockchain is known for its information transparency properties and its ability to enhance user trust. However, the impacts of applying blockchain in a low-carbon platform supply chain with different financing options are not clear. The authors examine the manufacturer's strategic choices for platform financing and bank financing, whether to adopt blockchain, and the impact of these decisions on carbon emissions reduction, consumer surplus and social welfare. The research conclusion can provide reference for the operation and financing decisions of platform supply chain under the carbon reduction target in the digital economy era.
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Miaomiao Li, Guikun Cao, Haibo Li, Zhaoxing Hao and Lu Zhang
The purpose of this study is to explore how government subsidies influence technology innovation in new-energy enterprises in the new era of Industry 4.0. Specifically, this study…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore how government subsidies influence technology innovation in new-energy enterprises in the new era of Industry 4.0. Specifically, this study investigates the mediating effect of digital transformation and the moderating effect of a top management team (TMT) with digital experience.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a sample of 225 listed new-energy companies, with annual information, patent data, and financial data for the years 2010–2020, this study employs panel fixed effect regression models to obtain the results.
Findings
This study finds strong evidence that government subsidies promote the technology innovation of new-energy enterprises, and digital transformation partially mediates the effect of government subsidies on technology innovation. In addition, a TMT's digital experience moderates the effect of government subsidies on digital transformation, but has no significant moderating effect on the relationship between digital transformation and technology innovation. Further analysis shows that subsidies make a sustained contribution to both digital transformation and technological innovation over the next two years. The digital subsidies have a stronger role in promoting digital transformation and further technological innovation through digital transformation.
Practical implications
The Chinese government needs to continue to intermittently increase subsidies for new-energy enterprises, and focus on guiding enterprises' digital transformation. Chinese new-energy enterprises should pay attention to the importance of having TMTs with digital experience, make full use of government subsidies, actively implement digital transformation, and improve their innovation levels.
Originality/value
A new conceptual framework is proposed to examine the relationships between government subsidies, digital transformation, a TMT's digital experience, and technology innovation. This paper provides an important theoretical basis and practical reference for improving the technology innovation ability of Chinese new-energy enterprises, and the high-quality development of renewable energy in the context of Industry 4.0.
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Miaomiao Chen, Alton Y.K. Chua and Lu An
This paper seeks to address the following two research questions. RQ1: What are the influential user archetypes in the social question-answering (SQA) community? RQ2: To what…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to address the following two research questions. RQ1: What are the influential user archetypes in the social question-answering (SQA) community? RQ2: To what extent does user feedback affect influential users in changing from one archetype to another?
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a sample of 13,840 influential users drawn from the Covid-19 community on Zhihu, the archetypes of influential users were derived from their ongoing participation behavior in the community using the Gaussian mixture model. Additionally, user feedback characteristics such as relevance and volume from 222,965 commenters who contributed 546,344 comments were analyzed using the multinomial logistic regression model to investigate the archetype change of influential users.
Findings
Findings suggest that influential users could be clustered into three distinctive archetypes: touch-and-go influential users, proactive influential users and super influential users. Moreover, feedback variables have various impacts on the influential user archetype change, including a shift toward creating higher-quality content and fostering increased interaction, a shift toward generating lower-quality content and decreased interaction but improved speed and having mixed effects due to differences in information processing among these archetypes.
Originality/value
This study expands the existing knowledge of influential users and proposes practical approaches to cultivate them further.
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Jielin Yin, Yijing Li, Zhenzhong Ma, Zhuangyi Chen and Guangrui Guo
This study aims to use the knowledge management perspective to examine the mechanism through which entrepreneurship drives firms’ technological innovation in the digital age. The…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to use the knowledge management perspective to examine the mechanism through which entrepreneurship drives firms’ technological innovation in the digital age. The objective is to develop a multi-stage integrated theoretical model to explain how entrepreneurship exerts its influence on firms’ technological innovation with a particular focus on the knowledge management perspective. The findings can be used for the cultivation of entrepreneurship and for the promotion of continuous technological innovation activities.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a case-based qualitative approach to examine the relationship between entrepreneurship and technological innovation. The authors first analyze the case of SANY and then explore the mechanism of how entrepreneurship can promote a firm’s technological innovation from the perspective of knowledge management based on the technology-organization-environment framework. An integrated theoretical model is then developed in this study.
Findings
Based on a case study, the authors propose that there are three main processes of knowledge management in firms’ technological innovation: knowledge acquisition, knowledge integration and knowledge creation. In the process of knowledge acquisition, the joint effects of innovation spirit, learning spirit, cooperation spirit and global vision drive the construction and its healthy development of firms’ innovation ecosystem. In the process of knowledge integration, the joint effects of innovation spirit, cooperation spirit and learning spirit help complete the integration of knowledge and further the accumulation of firms’ core knowledge resources. In the process of knowledge creation, the joint effects of mission spirit, learning spirit and innovation spirit encourage the top management team to establish long-term goals and innovation philosophy. This philosophy can promote the establishment of a people-oriented incentive mechanism that helps achieve the transformation from the accumulation of core knowledge resources to the research and innovation of core technologies. After these three stages, firms are passively engaged in the “reverse transfer of knowledge” step, which contributes to other firms’ knowledge management cycle. With active knowledge acquisition, integration, creation and passive reverse knowledge transfer, firms can achieve continuous technological innovation.
Research limitations/implications
This study has important theoretical implications in entrepreneurship research. This study helps advance the understanding of entrepreneurship and literature on the relationship between entrepreneurship and technological innovation in the digital age, which can broaden the application of knowledge management theories. It can also help better understand how to develop healthy firm-led innovation ecosystems to achieve continuous optimization of knowledge and technological innovation in the digital age.
Originality/value
This study proposes an integrated theoretical model to address the issues of entrepreneurship and firms’ technological innovation in the digital age, and it is also one of few studies that focuses on entrepreneurship and innovation from a knowledge management perspective.