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Based on upper echelon theory and signaling theory, we aim to examine the impact of returnee executives on firms’ relative exploratory innovation focus and the moderating effect of economic policy uncertainty on this relationship.

Using panel data of Chinese listed companies from 2009 to 2020, we obtained empirical evidence to support our arguments.

Returnee executives positively influence firms’ relative exploratory innovation focus. This means that firms with returnee executives will shift the focus of their innovation activities toward exploratory innovation more than exploitative innovation. In addition, we find that economic policy uncertainty strengthens this relationship.

First, by showing how returnee executives positively influence firms’ shift in focus to exploratory rather than exploitative innovation, we expand our understanding of firms’ trade-offs between exploratory and exploitative innovation. Second, this study examines how returnee executives influence the relative importance that firms place on exploratory and exploitative innovation, allowing us to build a realistic and nuanced view of how returnee executives influence firms’ strategic choices. Finally, this study expands the strategic leadership literature and responds directly to the call for studies focusing on how institutional environmental conditions and executive characteristics work together to shape firm outcomes.

Economic policy uncertainty has increased around the world since the financial crisis of 2007–2008. While scholars have devoted a lot of time and energy to investigating the impact of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on firm innovation, they have not reached consistent research conclusions. This study aimed to clarify the above research differences by exploring the impact of EPU on firms' relative exploitative innovation emphasis, so as to provide a more comprehensive and granular understanding of the relationship between EPU and firm innovation.

This study obtained 17,165 firm-year data points from 3,107 listed companies in China. It analyzed the above data with a fixed effects model. In addition, this study used an instrumental variables method to solve potential endogeneity problems.

Based on real options theory and contingency theory, the authors proposed and found that EPU has a significant positive effect on relative exploitative innovation emphasis. In addition, the authors proposed and found that this effect is more pronounced in industries with high technological uncertainty, low competitive intensity, and low state monopolization.

This study is the first to explore why firms prefer exploitative innovation over exploratory innovation from the perspective of EPU. In doing so, this study expands and enriches the EPU literature and the innovation literature. Furthermore, by introducing the moderating role of industry environment, this study deepens the authors' understanding of how complex interactions between industry and institutional environments work together to shape firm strategic choices, and especially firm innovation. Finally, the conclusions of this study have important practical implications for shareholders to take measures to balance exploitative innovation and exploratory innovation to achieve better development.

The purpose of this study is to provide insight into how innovation that outperforms peers (IOP) affects corporate financial misconduct. To this end, on the basis of fraud triangle theory, we develop a theoretical relationship between the two and argue that IOP has an inhibitory effect on corporate financial misconduct.

On the basis of empirical data from Chinese listed companies from 2007–2023, we conduct a series of tests to examine whether, how and under what circumstances IOP affects corporate financial misconduct.

IOP does inhibit corporate financial misconduct. This result is validated in a series of sensitivity tests. Further analysis shows that IOP inhibits corporate financial misconduct by reducing executives' incentives to engage in fraud, reducing the opportunity under which executives are involved in fraud, and inhibiting executives' tendency to rationalize fraud. In addition, the results of cross-sectional tests show that the negative impact of IOP on corporate financial misconduct is more significant when the firm is a high-tech enterprise, with a greater balance of power among shareholders, lower supplier concentration and greater consumer confidence.

First, by examining the impact of IOP and corporate financial misconduct, we enrich and extend the literature on the antecedents of corporate financial misconduct. Second, by theoretically and empirically validating the relationship between IOP and corporate financial misconduct, we extend the literature related to the economic consequences of IOP. Finally, we extend fraud triangle theory to a wider range of applications and provide new perspectives and strategies for further research and intervention in corporate financial misconduct.

This study aims to re-examine the impact of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on firm innovation. Studies on how EPU affects firm innovation have been inconclusive. The authors clarified the curvilinear relationship between EPU and firm innovation and examined the moderating effects of managerial pay gaps, specifically vertical pay disparity and horizontal pay dispersion.

This study’s analyses used data collected from Chinese listed companies from 2007 to 2019.

The authors found an inverted U-shaped relationship between EPU and firm innovation. Furthermore, vertical pay disparity strengthens the curvilinear relationship, while horizontal pay dispersion weakens it.

First, politicians should avoid adjusting economic policies too frequently because the high EPU levels created by frequent adjustments can inhibit business innovation. Second, firms should be aware that EPU creates opportunities for leapfrogging. In particular, firms can incentivize executives to take advantage of the valuable growth opportunities presented by EPU by widening vertical pay disparities and avoiding excessive horizontal pay dispersion.

First, the authors analyze not only the positive effects of lower EPU on firm innovation but also the negative impacts of higher EPU to examine EPU’s “double-edged sword” effect on firm innovation. Second, the investigation of vertical pay disparity and horizontal pay dispersion as moderating variables sheds new light on the equivocal research findings regarding the EPU–firm innovation relationship and clarifies the boundary conditions of the double-edged sword effect of EPU on firm innovation.

The phenomenon of defamilization of family firms is gradually increasing for the growth of family firms, that is, nonfamily executives are increasingly present in the executive teams of family firms. Although previous scholars have identified various determinants of family firms' defamilization, whether and when innovation underperformance affects the decision to defamilize family firms has not been explore. This study aims to fill the aforementioned research gaps.

This study empirically tests the theoretical view based on the data of Chinese A-share family listed companies from 2009 to 2017.

The authors found that innovation underperformance drives family companies to increase the percentage of nonfamily executives in their executive teams. Further, the authors found that family firms are less willing to hire nonfamily executives with an increase in socioemotional wealth, particularly when founders of such businesses serve as directors or are major shareholders, even when they are not directors.

This study shows that innovation underperformance and socioemotional wealth are important predictors of family firms’ defamilization decisions.

Whether and when the innovation aspiration shortfall (e.g. innovation performance lower than aspirations) will affect emerging economy firms (EEFs)' international expansion remains an important unanswered theoretical and practical question.

Based on performance feedback theory, this study explores the impact of innovation aspiration shortfall on EEFs' international expansion and the moderating role of CEO origin.

This study finds that innovation aspiration shortfall has a positive impact on EEFs' international expansion. This study also uncovers that EEFs are less likely to implement international expansion in response to innovation aspiration shortfall when the CEO is a founder than when the CEO is a non-founder, and EEFs are more likely to implement international expansion in response to innovation aspiration shortfall when the CEO is an outsider-CEO than when the CEO is an insider-CEO.

This study proposes that the interaction between innovation aspiration shortfall and CEO origin can be a useful predictor of EEFs' international expansion.

Based on the tournament theory and the principal agent theory, this study aims to empirically investigate how top management team (TMT) vertical pay disparity (the pay disparity between the CEO and non-CEO executives) influences firm innovation performance.

This study empirically tested the hypotheses based on a sample of listed high-tech companies in China during the period between 2007 and 2018.

TMT vertical pay disparity promotes innovation performance; CEO power undermines the positive effect of TMT vertical pay disparity on innovation performance; the negative moderating effect of CEO power is mitigated by board age and gender and educational levels, whereas the proportion of female directors has no such effect at any significant level.

This study uniquely contributes to the theoretical and empirical development of tournament theory and the principal agent theory.

Drawing on the gender self-schema theory, upper echelons theory and the literature on international business, this study aims to examine the impact of board gender diversity on firms' internationalization speed.

In this study, secondary data of 886 listed Chinese manufacturing firms from 2009 to 2018 are studied using the ordinary least squares regression model as the baseline method, an instrumental variable method is adopted for endogeneity control and both fixed and random effect models are adopted for the robustness test.

Board gender diversity reduces firms' internationalization speed, and the negative effect between board gender diversity and internationalization speed is stronger when the average age of female directors is older and weaker when female directors have international experience or financial background.

First, Chinese firms need to increase or decrease board gender diversity to match the board to firms' internationalization strategy. Increasing board gender diversity may be a more appropriate choice for firms that are expanding rapidly internationally, and vice versa. Second, when introducing female directors to international firms, it is essential to address other characteristics of these directors beyond their gender.

First, the authors contribute to the literature on board gender diversity using Chinese manufacturing firms as our research sample, which provides new insights into the economic consequences of increasing the number of female directors. Second, this research contributes to the literature on firms' internationalization speed. Third, the authors capture in more detail the economic consequences of increasing board gender diversity in the context of China.

Many studies have examined the antecedents of firms' strategic change on a micro and meso level, but few studies have explored it from the macrolevel (e.g. economic policy uncertainty) perspective. This research draws attention to the impact of economic policy uncertainty on firms' strategic change.

This research empirically tests hypotheses based on a sample of listed firms in China during the period between 2010 and 2017.

Based on real options theory, the authors theorize and find that economic policy uncertainty will negatively affect firms' strategic change through the mediating effect of CEO turnover. Moreover, organizational inertia will strengthen the negative impact of economic policy uncertainty on CEO turnover and will weaken the positive impact of CEO turnover on firms' strategic change.

First, this research contributes to the strategic change literature by demonstrating the important impact of economic policy uncertainty on firms' strategic change. Second, this research expands the literature on the economic consequences of economic policy uncertainty. Third, this research clarifies the path and boundary conditions of economic policy uncertainty affecting strategic change by introducing the mediating effects of CEO turnover and the moderating effects of organizational inertia.

Die westdeutsche Tourismusentwicklung der jüngeren Vergangenheit ist gekennzeichnet durch ein etwa gleichbleibendes Aufkommen von rund 16 Millionen inländischen Erholungsreisenden pro Jahr. Zwar konnte der Inlandstourismus mit den enormen jährlichen Steigerungsraten der Reiseintensität ins Ausland (1976 – 81 = ?+ 3,3 %) bei weitem nicht Schritt halten, er stellt jedoch trotzdem einen wichtigen Wirtschaftsfaktor für die gesamte Bundesrepublik, insbesondere in bestimmten Landesteilen (z.B. Oberbayern), dar.