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This study aimed to verify the impact of e-commerce live streaming interactivity on consumer engagement behavior. Specifically, the multiple dimensions of interactivity and tie strength together form a high-level consumer engagement behavior.

Data collection was carried out in the form of a questionnaire survey. Data from 416 respondents were analyzed by structural, followed by further test by fsQCA method.

Perceived controllability, perceived responsiveness and perceived mutuality positively influence tie strength, and tie strength promotes consumer engagement behavior. Moreover, we found a configuration effect between interactivity and tie strength and revealed four configurations that can affect high-level engagement behavior.

First, the SEM results show that the three dimensions of perceived interactivity positively impact tie strength: perceived controllability, perceived responsiveness, and perceived mutuality. And perceived personalization has no positive impact on tie strength. Second, the relevant results show that tie strength positively impacts consumer engagement behavior. Third, we find that the relationship between perceived interactivity and consumer engagement behavior may not be asymmetric, so the alternative combination of causal conditions may produce the same results. The fsQCA results revealed four configurations that can affect the level of consumer engagement behavior. And tie strength is the core condition.

This study provides specific solutions for e-retailers and live streaming platforms to promote consumers' participation in engagement behavior in e-commerce live streaming.

This study transforms the linear impact of interactivity on consumer engagement behavior into a configuration effect for the first time, and enriches the live streaming commerce and consumer engagement behavior literature.

This study aims to propose a moderated mediation model to investigate the moderating effects of environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance on the relationship between inefficient investment and firm performance and the mediating effect of firms that participate in institutional research on the relationship between investment efficiency and performance. This study also analyses the heterogeneity of the corporate nature, intensity of industrial research and development (R&D), industrial competition and regional marketization.

This study uses a panel data fixed-effects model to conduct a regression analysis of 1,918 Chinese listed firms from 2016 to 2020. A Fisher’s permutation test is used to examine the differences between state-owned and nonstate-owned firms.

Inefficient investment negatively impacts corporate performance and higher ESG performance exacerbates this effect by attracting more institutional research which reveals more problems. State-owned enterprises perform significantly better than nonstate-owned enterprises in terms of ESG transformation. Industrial R&D intensity, competition and regional marketization also mitigate the negative effects of inefficient investment on corporate performance.

This study suggests that companies should consider inefficient investments that arise from agency issues in corporate ESG transformation. In addition, state-owned enterprises in ESG transformation should take the lead to achieve sustainable development more efficiently. China should balance regional marketization, encourage enterprises to increase R&D intensity, reduce industry concentration, encourage healthy competition and prevent market monopolies.

This study combines the agency and stakeholder theories to reveal how inefficient investments that arise from agency issues inhibit value creation in ESG initiatives.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical historical analysis of the business (mis)behaviors and influencing factors that discourage enduring cooperation between principals and agents, to introduce strategies that embrace the social values, economic motivation and institutional designs historically adopted to curtail dishonest acts in international business and to inform an improved principal–agent theory that reflects principal–agent reciprocity as shaped by social, political, cultural, economic, strategic and ideological forces

The critical historical research method is used to analyze Chinese compradors and the foreign companies they served in pre-1949 China.

Business practitioners can extend orthodox principal–agent theory by scrutinizing the complex interactions between local agents and foreign companies. Instead of agents pursuing their economic interests exclusively, as posited by principal–agent theory, they also may pursue principal-shared interests (as suggested by stewardship theory) because of social norms and cultural values that can affect business-related choices and the social bonds built between principals and agents.

The behaviors of compradors and foreign companies in pre-1949 China suggest international business practices for shaping social bonds between principals and agents and foreign principals’ creative efforts to enhance shared interests with local agents.

Understanding principal–agent theory’s limitations can help international management scholars and practitioners mitigate transaction partners’ dishonest acts.

A critical historical analysis of intermediary businesspeople’s (mis)behavior in pre-1949 (1840–1949) China can inform the generalizability of principal–agent theory and contemporary business strategies for minimizing agents’ dishonest acts.

Sustainable development is inseparable from rational and responsible use of resources and promotion of green entrepreneurship. The contemporary green development agenda encompasses climate, economic, technical, social, cultural, and political dimensions. International efforts to greening the global development are conducted by the major economies, including China as the world’s largest consumer of energy and the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases. China is aware of its environmental problems, as well as of its part of the overall responsibility for the accomplishment of the sustainable development goals. By means of the decarbonization efforts, the latter are integrated both into the national development agenda (the concept of ecological civilization) and China’s international initiatives (the greening narrative within the Belt and Road Initiative). Over the past decade, China has made a breakthrough on the way to promoting green entrepreneurship and greening of its development (better quality of air and water, renewable energy, electric vehicles, and organic farming). On the other hand, emissions remain high, agricultural land loses productivity, and freshwater resources degrade due to climate change. In conventional industries (oil, coal mining, and electric and thermal energy), decarbonization faces an array of impediments. In this chapter, the authors summarize fundamental provisions of China’s approach to building an ecological civilization and measures to reduce emissions and achieve the carbon neutrality status within the nearest decades. The analysis of obstacles to the decarbonization of the economy and possible prospects for the development of green entrepreneurship summarizes China’s practices for possible use in other countries.

This study aims to explore and address critical aspects of IoT adoption within supply chains by identifying the key enablers and barriers, examining the drivers and challenges, and assessing the benefits and drawbacks associated with IoT implementation. Additionally, the study aims to provide insights into how organizations can leverage IoT to enhance supply chain performance across economic, operational, social, and environmental dimensions.

This study employed a systematic literature review strategy to identify relevant research published between 2009 and 2024. Using the Scopus database, an initial search yielded 369 publications. Preliminary selection criteria were then applied to narrow down the articles for further detailed evaluation. This process led to an in-depth review of 123 publications, from which data were meticulously extracted, organized into tables and analyzed. Finally, the authors developed a categorization system based on the scope and temporal aspects of IoT implementation.

This study developed a comprehensive model that identified six themes influencing IoT implementation in supply chains: pre-implementation enablers and barriers, drivers and challenges during implementation, and post-implementation benefits and drawbacks. Recommendations were mapped into four performance dimensions: environmental, social, operational, and economic. The analysis showed that IoT can enhance supply chain risk management, process integration, sustainability, collaboration, resilience, and performance measurement. Key technologies aiding IoT implementation include blockchain, radio frequency identification (RFID), enterprise resource planning (ERP), and cloud computing.

This study is one of the few to conduct a comprehensive review of widely cited papers on IoT adoption in supply chains. It systematically summarizes the enablers, barriers, drivers, challenges, benefits, and drawbacks associated with such adoption. Furthermore, it proposes a distinctive model designed to assist organizations in successfully implementing IoT technologies, thereby filling a critical gap in the existing literature.

In smart cities striving for innovation, development, and prosperity, hydrogen offers a promising path for decarbonization. However, its effective integration into the evolving energy landscape requires understanding regional intricacies and identifying areas for improvement. This chapter examines hydrogen transport from production to utilization, evaluating technologies’ pros, cons, and process equations and using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) as a Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) tool to assess these technologies based on multiple criteria. It also explores barriers and opportunities in hydrogen transport within the 21st-century energy transition, providing insights for overcoming challenges. Evaluation criteria for hydrogen transport technologies were ranked by relative importance, with energy efficiency topping the list, followed by energy density, infrastructure requirements, cost, range, and flexibility. Safety, technological maturity, scalability, and compatibility with existing infrastructure received lower weights. Hydrogen transport technologies were categorized into three performance levels: low, medium, and high. Hydrogen tube trailers ranked lowest, while chemical hydrides, hydrail, liquid organic hydrogen carriers, hydrogen pipelines, and hydrogen blending exhibited moderate performance. Compressed hydrogen gas, liquid hydrogen, ammonia carriers, and hydrogen fueling stations demonstrated the highest performance. The proposed framework is crucial for next-gen smart cities, cutting emissions, boosting growth, and speeding up development with a strong hydrogen infrastructure. This makes the region a sustainable tech leader, improving air quality and well-being. Aligned with Gulf Region goals, it is key for smart cities. Policymakers, industries, and researchers can use these insights to overcome barriers and seize hydrogen transport tech opportunities.

This paper aims to highlight unconventional or underused theories that can be considered for the study of hospitality and tourism consumers. The authors discuss how these theories can be applied.

This research paper is conceptual and descriptive in nature. The authors address the proposed theories by applying the Delphi method.

Theories such as dramaturgical theory, persuasion theory, script theory, customer inspiration theory and segmented assimilation theory are underused but can be applied to studies of hospitality and tourism consumers’ behavior. They can be helpful for understanding various aspects of consumer behavior, such as their decision-making, motivations, attitudes and perceptions, in hospitality and tourism.

Consumer behavior is more diverse and complex in the post-pandemic era. The authors draw attention to theories that are underused but have explanatory power with regards to hospitality and tourism consumers’ behaviors. These non-conventional theories can provide new theoretical perspectives and offer new insights.

The construction and real estate sectors are vital to national economies, but traditional construction methods often lead to challenges such as safety risks, noise and environmental pollution. While intelligent construction is believed to mitigate these issues, there is a lack of solid empirical evidence on whether it truly benefits the general public. This paper seeks to explore the societal benefits of intelligent construction from the public’s perspective, addressing this research gap.

The research adopts a two-step approach. First, topic mining is conducted to identify topics closely related to the public’s daily life, such as environmental impact, construction traffic management and construction technologies. These topics are then analyzed through sentiment analysis using a bidirectional long short-term memory model with attention mechanism to determine whether the public has a favorable view of these aspects of intelligent construction, indirectly demonstrating the benefits to the public.

The primary topics identified include “industry development,” “technology enterprise,” “construction equipment,” “intelligent technology,” “environmental protection,” “robots” and “construction traffic management.” Sentiment analysis shows that public sentiment is overwhelmingly positive across all topics and regions, with “environmental protection,” “construction traffic management” and “robots” receiving the most favorable reactions.

This study provides empirical evidence of the societal benefits of intelligent construction from the public’s viewpoint using social media data. The results highlight the need for continued promotion and adoption of intelligent construction due to its positive impact on society.

Motivated by the ongoing debate around transparency in empirical research and the reproducibility of scientific discoveries, this study aims to quantify the presence or absence of evidential value in published findings within the field of servitization research. Specifically, it evaluated whether the findings of published articles on the relationship between servitization and firm performance were free from p-hacking and selective reporting practices.

A total of 76 studied on this relationship were synthesized. For the main p-curve analysis, only one significant p-value was extracted from each article, ensuring compliance with the requirements of the p-curve method. Specifically, the analyzed p-values were independent of one another and exhibited a uniform distribution.

Both the main p-curve analysis results and robustness tests support the conclusion that this branch of the literature does have evidential value based on the published findings. Furthermore, approximately 60 studies included in the main p-curve analysis reported a significance level of p < 0.025 regarding the relationship between servitization and firm performance.

This research contributes to the ongoing debate on transparency in servitization research and advances the current understanding of the relationship between servitization and firm performance.

Utilizing the extended transportation-imagery model, this study categorizes three storytelling elements into six distinct factors – character types, influencer-character congruence, imaginable titles, concrete details, replication difficulty and artistic processing – to explore how these factors enhance influencer engagement.

This study utilized a quantitative research design, analyzing 1,660 influencer-created videos over a six-month period. Narrative elements were examined through manual coding, and their impact on live comments was assessed using negative binomial regression to identify key factors driving audience engagement.

Research results show that non-fictional characters, imaginable titles and concrete details significantly increased live comments. Conversely, high replication difficulty negatively influenced engagement. Notably, influencer-character congruence and artistic processing showed no significant effect.

This study advances the extended transportation-imagery model by integrating narrative elements with live comments, offering new perspectives on real-time audience engagement. The findings deepen our understanding of how storytelling techniques enhance the effectiveness of influencer marketing. From a managerial standpoint, this research provides strategic insights for influencers and brands to refine their content strategies, ultimately boosting audience engagement.