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The Industry 4.0 (I4.0) revolution originated in developed countries and has now been promoted worldwide as a powerful tool for improving productivity. However, adopting I4.0 technologies poses significant challenges, especially for emerging economies that are far from the I4.0 frontier. In the context of emerging economies, this paper aims to explore the impact of adopting I4.0 technologies on firms’ total factor productivity (TFP) and its mediation channels.

Using panel data for 2,928 firms in China’s manufacturing industry during the period 2010–2022, this study adopts fixed effects regression model to test the theoretical hypotheses. Endogeneity issues are addressed by the instrumental variable approach and propensity score matching.

The results show that adopting I4.0 technologies can significantly improve emerging economy firms’ TFP, and this effect is achieved by promoting technological innovation and alleviating financial constraints. Furthermore, the findings indicate a heterogeneity in the effects of I4.0 technology adoption. When top managers are long-term oriented, firms are state-owned, industry competition pressure is low or regional manufacturing innovation capability is strong, the positive impact of I4.0 on TFP is weakened.

This paper is one of the first attempts to offer empirical evidence about whether and how the adoption of I4.0 technologies boosts TFP growth among firms in emerging economies. The study expands on the organizational performance consequences of I4.0 adoption and provides implications for decision-makers in developing countries in implementing I4.0.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of intelligent manufacturing on audit quality and its underlying mechanism as well as the variation in this influence across different types of organizations.

This research utilizes a difference-in-differences (DID) method to examine how enterprises that apply intelligent manufacturing choose auditors and impact their audit work. The study is based on 15,228 observations of Chinese-listed A-shares from 2011 to 2020.

(1) There is a strong correlation between intelligent manufacturing and audit quality. (2) This positive correlation is statistically significant only in state-owned enterprises (SOEs), those that have steady institutional investors and where the roles of the CEO and chairman are distinct. (3) Enterprises that have implemented intelligent manufacturing are more inclined to employ auditors who possess extensive industry expertise. The auditor's industry expertise plays a crucial role in ensuring audit quality. (4) The adoption of intelligent manufacturing also leads to higher audit fees and longer audit delay periods.

This paper validates the beneficial impact of intelligent manufacturing on improving corporate governance. In addition, it is recommended that managers prioritize the involvement of skilled auditors with specialized knowledge in the industry to ensure the high audit quality and the transparency of information in intelligent manufacturing enterprises.

This study builds upon previous research that has shown the importance of artificial intelligence in enhancing audit procedures. It contributes to the existing body of knowledge by examining how enterprise intelligent manufacturing systems (IMS) enhance audit quality. Additionally, this study provides valuable information on how to improve audit quality in the field of intelligent manufacturing by strategically selecting auditors based on resource dependency theory.

This study aims to explore the impact of ecosystem-related digital decoupling capability (DDC) and digital integrative capability (DIC) on manufacturing firms’ radical service innovation (RSI) and the moderating effect of strategic flexibility, specifically resource flexibility (RF) and culture flexibility (CF).

This study employed empirical survey data collected from 238 Chinese manufacturing firms to test all hypotheses through hierarchical multiple regression analyses.

DDC and DIC have positive effects on RSI, with DDC exerting a stronger impact. RF and CF strengthen the positive effect of DIC on RSI, whereas CF diminishes DDC’s positive effect on RSI, and RF does not moderate this effect.

Manufacturing firms should prioritize developing ecosystem-related DDC and DIC to drive RSI, especially DDC. Managers should improve firms’ RF and CF when leveraging DIC to drive RSI. However, they should minimize the negative impact of CF when leveraging DDC to drive RSI.

This study shifts the service innovation capabilities from the firm to the ecosystem level, opening a new perspective for exploring RSI’s driving mechanism. With RF and CF as the moderators, the findings reveal the contingent impact mechanism of ecosystem-related digital capabilities on RSI, which provides profound insights into the complex role of strategic flexibility in the new contexts.

This research examines the impact of the National Rural E-commerce Comprehensive Demonstration Project (NRECDP) on poverty reduction and income growth in rural China.

The study develops a theoretical framework, which considers the role of geographical, technological, institutional and cultural factors for the e-commerce poverty alleviation (e-CPA) model. Empirically, this study applies the difference-in-differences (DID) model and the event study approach to evaluate the effectiveness of NRECDP on the basis of large-scale county-level and household-level panel data spanning 2010 to 2020.

The study found that the NRECDP, as a government-led, information and communication technology (ICT)-enabled, market-based program, has led to a significant increase in per capita output of primary industry employees, as well as in the disposable income of rural residents, especially those in national-level poverty-stricken (NP) counties. The interventions of the NRECDP achieved these positive outcomes through transportation and Internet infrastructure improvement, ICT adoption and human capital accumulation in impoverished towns and villages in remote rural areas. These effects are larger in the eastern region of China, followed by the central region, whereas the weakest effects were found in the western region. However, we found little evidence of the NRECDP increasing household developmental expenditure.

The study findings have important practical and policy implications for rural e-commerce development and self-sustained poverty alleviation solutions. The research revealed the significance of government NRECDP interventions for increasing rural income, reducing living costs, and empowering the rural population in its multiple social roles, namely, as consumers, producers, employees and microentrepreneurs. The local cultural context may also play a role in ICT adoption and entrepreneurship cultivation with a downstream effect on the effectiveness of e-CPA practices. Policymakers would need to ensure a supportive entrepreneur-friendly environment for rural e-commerce development and continue implementing progressive policies for poverty alleviation.

This study explores poverty alleviation issues in China by developing for the first time a multi-faceted framework that is subsequently tested by both county-level and household-level large-scale observations. Also, it is the first study to provide nationwide empirical evidence on the effectiveness of e-CPA in narrowing down the spatial and digital divides in China. In addition to the impact of geography, technology and governmental support, this study also sheds light on the role of culture in the adoption and diffusion of digital technologies and as a source of local entrepreneurial opportunities.

This paper aims to investigate the relationship linking hard technology innovation with the high-quality development (HDP) of SRDI firms. SRDI firms are typically classified as medium-sized to moderately scaled businesses renowned for their specialized, refinement, differentiation and innovation (SRDI), with a focus on providing exceptional products or services to gain a competitive advantage in specific market segments. These firms are dedicated to expanding market share and enhancing innovation capacities both locally and globally. The research also aims to scrutinize the contextual effects of digital transformation within this framework.

Hard technology innovation consists of three essential components: innovative characteristics, newly developed technology-based intellectual property rights and the volume of R&D initiatives. The evaluation of HDP was performed utilizing the entropy method, with a specific emphasis on assessing value creation and value management capabilities. Subsequently, this study explores the impact of technological innovation on the HDP of firms using a dual-dimension fixed effects model.

Every aspect of hard technology innovation is essential for promoting the HDP of businesses. The digital transformation of businesses exerts a heterogeneous moderating influence in this process. This is evident in the constructive impact on the connection between innovation attributes and the volume of fruitful R&D initiatives, as well as the HDP of firms. Conversely, the moderating effect is deemed insignificant in the association between new technology-based intellectual property and HDP.

This research delves deeper into the underlying mechanisms that underlie the promotion of HDP through hard technology innovation, thereby expanding the scope of our exploration on the HDP of SRDI firms. It establishes a theoretical framework and practical directives for achieving enhanced development quality amidst the evolving landscape of digital transformation within firms.

This study aims to provide a timely review of hospitality and tourism live streaming (HTLS) research, aiming to understand the intellectual foundation in the past and identify opportunities for future research.

This study collected 56 papers from journals in the Social Science Citation Index database or the Australian Business Deans Council journal quality list and adopted a hybrid systematic literature review combining bibliometric analysis and the theory-context-characteristics-method framework-based approach. Additionally, a cross-tabulation analysis was conducted to compare the research on two specific forms of HTLS – tourism e-commerce live streaming (TEcLS) and travel live streaming.

The study found that the current research lacks in-depth theoretical insights, focuses on China as the national context and viewers as the research subject, mainly uses online surveys and lacks first-order knowledge. Moreover, it identified five research themes, including the impact of HTLS on viewer behavior, purchase behavior in HTLS and introduction of HTLS, within which eight categories of research constructs, such as viewer-related, streamer-related and relationship-related, are applied.

In terms of research, the study reveals various gaps in the existing literature and provides potential research directions to advance the field. As for practice, it offers valuable strategies for practitioners to optimize their marketing efforts using HTLS.

This study provides an up-to-date review of the HTLS field through a systematic and reproducible method. It offers critical discussions and suggestions for academic research and industry practices.

This study examines how leaders’ narcissistic rivalry (LNR) affects the in-role performance (IRP) and proactive customer service performance (PCSP) of employees in the hospitality industry. Specifically, this study investigates the mediating role of psychological distress and the moderating role of locus of control (LOC) in the aforementioned relationships.

This study administered a multi-wave, multi-source questionnaire survey with 323 employees working in 11 full-service hotels in China. Statistical analyses were performed using the PROCESS macro in SPSS 26 software and structural equation modeling using Mplus 8.3 software.

The authors' results suggest that LNR can negatively affect hospitality employees’ IRP and PCSP and that these relationships are mediated by psychological distress. Additionally, the impact of LNR on psychological distress can be lessened by internal LOC.

This study contributes to the literature on leader narcissism by investigating how LNR affects IRP and PCSP among hospitality employees. Drawing on conservation of resources theory, this study also identifies a novel mediating mechanism (psychological distress) connecting LNR to hospitality employees’ service outcomes. Furthermore, this study reveals the moderating role of LOC in the relationship between LNR and psychological distress.

Voting power in crediting organisations plays a huge role in determining a country's fiscal power and access to capital, determining who has power and access to capital when it comes to crisis management. In this chapter, I explore the impact it played during the COVID-19 pandemic to highlight the need to democratize global capital when it comes to global crisis management. Parallels will be drawn between the pandemic and the climate emergency to demonstrate how the democratic deficit in global capital translates to disastrous policymaking in the medium and long term for all parties. In response to this, I argue for the democratisation of global capital and highlight how the New Development Bank can provide the necessary force for this essential shift. Pre-empting the common antagonism regarding pooling national sovereignty to supernational organisations and richer countries unilaterally surrendering their privileged position, I will also highlight how continued poor crisis management threatens all nations' national sovereignty in the long-term, given the existential threats of the climate emergency and future pandemics.

This study aims to consolidate existing research on digital technology in business education, focusing on adoption determinants, theoretical frameworks and implementation challenges.

A hybrid literature review was conducted. The first phase involved a keyword co-occurrence analysis of 254 Association of Business Schools-ranked journal articles from the Web of Science database to identify key research themes. To deepen the analysis, the second phase included a content analysis of the 24 most globally cited articles, each with a minimum of 65 total global citations.

The review reveals that studies primarily focus on factors influencing digital technology adoption, including institutional support, perceived usefulness and ease of use. Researchers frequently cite theoretical models such as the technology acceptance model and the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology. Identified challenges include concerns over technology effectiveness, resistance to change and the influence of cultural and generational differences on technology use.

The findings guide educators and policymakers in formulating strategies for effective technology adoption, emphasizing alignment with educational goals and addressing cultural barriers.

Understanding generational and cultural impacts enables the creation of inclusive digital education strategies that cater to diverse student needs.

This study synthesizes fragmented literature, offering new insights into the integration of digital technologies in business education.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the validity and utility of two theoretical approaches to understanding the relationship between strategic orientations, innovation and firm performance and to examine the role of innovation in the relationship while avoiding circular arguments. The universalistic approach suggests that strategic orientations have independent and parallel effects on firms’ performance, and that innovation does not influence this relationship. The holistic approach proposes that strategic orientations in a complementary and interrelated view have both direct and indirect effects on firms’ performance through innovation.

A meta-analytic path analysis applying two-stage structural equation modeling (TSSEM) was conducted on data from 132 primary studies and 33,063 observations.

The holistic approach was demonstrated to be superior due to its more explanatory power in linking more complex relationships through simultaneous direct and indirect effects and its capacity for including the interrelatedness and complementarity of strategic orientations. It was found that innovation has a full mediating role in the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and firm performance, and a partial mediating role in the relationship between market orientation (MO) and learning orientation (LO) and firm performance.

The study used observed variables instead of latent variables for meta-analytic path analysis, which may reduce some sources of endogeneity. However, causal inference is not possible due to the nature of meta-analysis. The scope of the final sample was limited by some studies not reporting the estimates of correlations between constructs.

Managers can improve an organization's chances of success in the marketplace by adopting a holistic view of strategic orientations focusing on customer satisfaction, learning from the external environment and pursuing new market opportunities. Furthermore, an organization can gain a competitive advantage through innovation by creating products and services that are different from what is currently available in the market. To be successful, an organization must not only create innovative products and services but also market them effectively to consumers.

This study is the first to meta-analytically assess the explanatory value of two theorized models linking strategic orientations, innovation and firm performance. It also clarifies the role of innovation in the relationship between strategic orientations and firm performance.