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This study aims to explore entrepreneurship in new business ventures created by athletes, with a particular focus on the role of network relationships influenced by passion. The aim is to examine how both domain-specific and entrepreneurial passion contribute to the formation and development of interpersonal and inter-organizational relationships for new ventures initiated by athletes.

The research uses a multiple case study methodology, analysing two in-depth case studies of athletes who transitioned into entrepreneurship within their respective sports. The first case focuses on Roberto Ricci, a former windsurfer who founded a global company producing and selling surfing apparel and equipment. The second case examines Enrico Fulgenzi, a professional racing driver who created a racing team that provides racing services internationally.

This study underscores the pivotal role of passion in new business creation, suggesting that passion facilitates the establishment and development of both personal and inter-organizational relationships as the business evolves.

This study provides a fresh perspective on entrepreneurial passion within the sports industry. By applying the market-as-network theoretical framework, it highlights how passion drives the creation of personal and business relationships in new ventures.

This study aims to deepen our understanding of how chatbots’ empathy influences humans–AI relationship in frontline service encounters. The authors investigate the underlying mechanisms, including perceived anthropomorphism, perceived intelligence and psychological empowerment, while also considering variations between different stages of the customer journey (before and after purchase).

Data collection was conducted through an online survey distributed among 301 customers who had experience using AI-based service chatbot in frontline service encounters in China. The hypotheses were examined through structural equation modeling and multi-group analysis.

The findings of this study revealed the positive impacts of emotional and cognitive empathy on humans–AI relationship through perceived anthropomorphism, perceived intelligence and psychological empowerment. Furthermore, this study verified the moderating effect of the customer journey stages, such that the impacts of anthropomorphism and intelligence on humans–AI relationship displayed more strength during the pre- and post-purchase phases, respectively.

This research offers practical implications for companies: recognize and enhance empathy dimensions in AI-based service chatbot to empower human–AI relationships; boost customer empowerment in human–AI interactions; and tailor anthropomorphic features in the pre-purchase stage and improve problem-solving capability in the post-purchase stage to enrich user experiences.

This study extends relationship marketing theory and human–AI interaction frameworks by investigating the underlying mechanisms of the effect of two-dimensional empathy on human–AI relationship. This study also enriches service design theories by revealing the moderating effect of customer journey stages.

This study examines why long-term relationships between expert users and smart voice assistants (SVAs) develop. It postulates that the five dimensions of experience (i.e. sensory, affective, intellectual, behavioural and relational) generate feelings of love for SVAs. The formation of love is examined considering three components: passion, intimacy and commitment. These feelings encourage users to continue employing and to generate long-term relationships with SVAs.

Data from a survey of 403 USA expert users of SVAs provide the input for structural equation modelling.

The results show that three dimensions of experience influence users’ passion towards SVAs: affective, intellectual and behavioural. Moreover, passion can convert the effect of users’ experiences into intimacy and commitment. Finally, intimacy and commitment increase users’ intentions to continue using SVAs.

The findings obtained make three original contributions. First, this study is the first to analyse expert users of SVAs and the post-technology adoption stage. Therefore, it introduces a new case of relational marketing in smart technologies. Second, this study contributes by applying a new theoretical perspective that evaluates the importance of users’ experiences with SVAs. Third, it takes an interpersonal approach to explore user-SVA interactions, revealing that users can develop human-like love feelings for SVAs.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-10-2022-0570

This study aims to investigate the dual impact of anger on decision-making, addressing the gap in understanding its paradoxical nature in entrepreneurial contexts.

Using an integrative approach, this study synthesises insights from the appraisal theory of emotion, affect infusion model, emotional intelligence framework, broaden-and-build theory and resource-based view to provide a comprehensive review and analysis of entrepreneurial anger and its psychological foundations.

Anger exhibits a paradoxical duality influencing entrepreneurial decision-making and behaviour. This duality manifests across several dimensions. Cognitively, it can sharpen focus or lead to fixation; emotionally, it may energise or overwhelm; motivationally, it can spur action or provoke recklessness; volitionally, it may enhance determination or induce impulsivity; and behaviourally, it can lead to strategic assertiveness or reactive aggression.

Although this theoretical examination reveals the paradoxical nature of entrepreneurial anger, future empirical studies are needed to explore its temporal evolution, cross-cultural variances and interactions with other emotional states. This research should help validate the proposed dimensions and implications of entrepreneurial anger in real-world settings.

Understanding the paradoxical nature of entrepreneurial anger is vital for entrepreneurs. recognising its dual properties allows them to mitigate the anger’s negative consequences while leveraging its potential as a strategic asset. To transform anger into a strategic asset, entrepreneurs need to augment their self-awareness, hone emotion regulation skills and cultivate deliberation-based decision-making approaches. At an organisational level, entrepreneurs should foster a culture where emotions are openly acknowledged and addressed, as well as constructively managed. This can help turn anger into an entrepreneurial performance driver.

By promoting a deeper understanding of entrepreneurial anger, this research can foster healthier entrepreneurial ecosystems where emotions are acknowledged, understood and managed effectively, leading to more sustainable and harmonious entrepreneurial ventures.

This work offers a holistic conceptual analysis of entrepreneurial anger elucidating its paradoxical properties and implications.

Digital innovation has become an important driving force for organizational development. It is an important factor to improve the cooperative behavior of project performance, but the related research ignores the influence of digital innovation of construction projects on the cooperative behavior of all participants. Therefore, this study discusses the comprehensive influence of digital innovation on cooperative behavior in construction projects and provides references for formulating reasonable digital innovation strategies.

This study constructs a theoretical model according to the logical thread of “digital innovation → capital → cooperative behavior,” and discusses how construction project participants can improve their cooperative performance through digital innovation. And bring the institutional environment into the research framework as a regulating variable. Subsequently, this study uses the survey data of 276 construction employees from China to verify and analyze the theoretical model by structural equation model (SEM) and explains the action path and boundary conditions of “digital innovation-cooperation behavior.”

(1) Digital innovation has a negative impact on the cooperative behavior of all participants in the construction project; (2) As a complete intermediary variable, human capital helps to amplify the positive impact of digital innovation on cooperative behavior and (3) The institutional environment plays a positive regulatory role between digital innovation and human capital. The discussion of the results can guide the construction project organization and management personnel to formulate reasonable digital innovation strategies.

This study investigates the influence mechanism and boundary conditions of digital innovation on the cooperative behavior among the participants in construction projects through empirical research. These research results enrich the related literature of digital innovation in theory, expand the research scope of project cooperation and fill the gap in studying how digital innovation affects cooperation behavior from the perspective of construction projects. And by discussing the role of digital innovation, scholars can deepen their understanding of the antecedents of human capital. In addition, by examining the regulatory role of the institutional environment, the boundary conditions of digital innovation are discussed.

In the current digital transformation era, guiding employees toward realizing self-leadership has become a critical strategy for enterprises to mitigate the risks of external uncertainty. This study explores the intrinsic relationship between enterprise social media (ESM) communication visibility and self-leadership on the basis of communication visibility theory (CVT) and conservation of resources theory (COR) to support the sustainable growth of employee self-leadership.

Data were collected from 332 Chinese employees across three stages. Hierarchical regression analysis and the bootstrap method were employed to test the hypotheses.

Network translucence and message transparency positively affect self-leadership. Relational energy and job control mediate the relationship between communication visibility and self-leadership. Moreover, response expectations weaken the positive relationship between relational energy and self-leadership as well as between job control and self-leadership.

Managers can use ESM to provide work and social support for employees’ job control and social network development to achieve long-term maintenance of employees’ self-leadership. At the same time, within the context of ESM use, moderately reducing response expectations can offer situational support for employees to achieve self-leadership.

This research sheds light on the internal mechanism by which ESM communication visibility affects self-leadership and explores the key boundary conditions that impact how self-leadership is formed. These findings expand the understanding of self-leadership development in the context of ESM use and offer new technical insights for guiding and fostering sustainable employee self-leadership.

This study aims to examine the impact of different subtypes of trust on the willingness of companies to share knowledge. To measure improvement in work performance, three perspectives of interpersonal trust, institution-based trust and their combined effect on fostering trust are examined.

A comparative analysis and quantitative measurement are used in this study (with a sample size of 147) to determine which knowledge-sharing channels need to be established to increase effectiveness and efficiency.

This study found that both interpersonal and institutional trust can positively influence employees' willingness to share personal knowledge. Despite this, the combination of these two types of trust cannot outperform the scenarios in which one type of trust can reach its maximum. As a result of institutional trust, trustees are more likely to trust others when they feel protected.

Trust may take on multiple dimensions in different business contexts and industries. In this study, the limited sample size and domain may only reveal some of these aspects of trust, which may not be representative of other contexts.

Few researchers have examined the degree of trust and its impact on knowledge dissemination using relevant parameters. Their focus is solely on the interaction between interpersonal trust and knowledge sharing. As a result of this study, the concept of “trust” was quantified, with more tangible metrics to provide better estimates when assessed in different business contexts.

This study empirically investigates how source factors of the streamers affect swift guanxi between the streamers and consumers and their subsequent impacts on consumers’ purchase intentions in live stream e-commerce in China.

Drawing on source credibility theory (Weiss, 1974) and source attractiveness theory (McGuire, 1985), our study hypothesizes that the expertise, similarity, familiarity and likability of streamers are such source factors. For this empirical investigation, the study conducted online surveys with 428 adult Chinese consumers with previous purchasing experience on live-streaming platforms.

The study found positive effects with source expertise, familiarity and likeability on swift guanxi and purchase intentions; however, we found no such positive effect for source similarity. Overall, our findings suggest that source factors can have significant effects on swift guanxi and that swift guanxi constructed with source factors can have subsequent effects on purchase intentions.

This study conceptualizes and empirically tests the role of streamer credibility and attractiveness in live stream e-commerce.

Online social shopping is used by hundreds of millions of people every day. However, knowledge regarding its effects on behaviour, such as how interpersonal intimacy relations (IIRs) influence Pin decisions in Pinduoduo, called Temu in overseas markets, is limited. This study uses the theoretical lens of social capital to identify the main factors affecting the Pin and explore its underlying mechanism.

This paper conducted 4 studies, and 941 participants were recruited via Questionnaire Star software, an online survey platform in China. The research hypotheses were tested using linear regression, mediation modelling, two-way ANOVA and one-way ANOVA.

In four studies, the authors demonstrated that people with high IIRs are more willing to participate in a Pin than those with low IIR. Within a certain price range, the impact of the discount is invalidated because people with high IIR are motivated to help others. Among people with high IIR, the willingness to help others is also influenced by the cost of helping.

Within a certain price range, social attributes stimulate non-rigid shopping needs. This study expands the previous research on IIRs and provides guidance and a reference for social network marketing companies.

Debate persists regarding the transformation between team task conflict and relationship conflict. Based on conflict spiral and team effectiveness theory, this study aims to explore whether and when these conflicts transform over time.

To address endogeneity in existing research and to test theoretical model, the authors conduct a two-stage structural equation modeling meta-analysis using a cross-lagged panel model based on 32 longitudinal studies (N = 2361).

The meta-analytic results are as follows: (a) Early team task conflict leads to an increased subsequent relationship conflict while controlling for another form of conflict at each time point (Time 1 and Time 2). This relationship is positively moderated by team size and negatively moderated by interdependence, but not moderated by time lag. Specifically, task conflict generates higher levels of relationship conflict in larger teams or teams with lower interdependence. (b) While controlling for another form of conflict at each time point, early relationship conflict within teams does not significantly relate to task conflict over time. Team size, interdependence and time lag do not significantly moderate this relationship.

These findings help scholars better understand team conflict transformation processes and present managerial implications for practitioners. The limited sample sizes precluded the exploration of more moderators and the interactions among them.

The uniqueness of this paper is related to its effort in clarifying the temporal precedence of two forms of conflict, reconciling previous inconsistencies in conflict transformation by exploring moderators and addressing endogeneity in existing research.