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The authors ask the question if firms would continue the efforts to improve their social responsibility and how that continued efforts would impact their financial performance over time. This study’s approach helps better understand the effects of changing social responsibility on firms’ stock performance over time.

The authors investigate the relationship between firms’ evolving social responsibility and their stock performance changes.

This study’s findings suggest that more socially responsible firms tend to perform better. In addition, improvements in companies’ social responsibility measures are associated with better stock performances.

Existing literature uses firms’ social capital scores at a single point in time and does not account for the changes in firms’ social effort over time. By using Media Corporate Responsibility Magazine’s 100 best corporate citizens ranking for a 10-year period from 2009 to 2018, we construct a unique data set that includes the firm’s social responsibility levels for 10 years.

In the era of the digital economy, the digital innovation ecosystem is an important vehicle to alleviate enterprises' resource and capability constraints and thus improve their digital innovation performance. Embedding digital innovation ecosystems for survival and development opportunities has become a new strategic choice for enterprises. However, how digital innovation ecosystem embeddedness affects the digital innovation performance of complementary enterprises has not yet been fully revealed. This study examines whether digital innovation ecosystem embeddedness affects the digital innovation performance of complementary enterprises through ambidextrous capabilities (exploration and exploitation) and the moderating role of strategic flexibility.

A field survey was conducted in China, collecting survey data from 578 complementary enterprises in advanced manufacturing industries embedded in digital innovation ecosystems. This study applies multiple regression analysis to verify the relevant hypotheses.

The results confirmed that (1) digital innovation ecosystem embeddedness has a significant positive effect on complementary enterprises' digital innovation performance; (2) Ambidextrous capabilities play a partial mediating role in the relationship between digital innovation ecosystem embeddedness and complementary enterprises' digital innovation performance. (3) Strategic flexibility positively moderates the effect of digital innovation ecosystem embeddedness on ambidextrous capabilities and digital innovation performance.

The findings, intended to guide enterprises that complement the digital innovation ecosystem to achieve digital innovation and performance improvement, highlight the importance of eco-embedded strategies, ambidextrous capabilities and strategic flexibility.

The finding enriches antecedent research on digital innovation performance and provides practical insights for firms to embed themselves in digital innovation ecosystems to improve performance.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of capital structure changes by target firms on the outcome and ex post performance of firms targeted by proxy contests.

The influence is examined by using predictions of control‐driven model developed by Harris and Raviv and signaling theory of debt in capital structure.

The results are consistent with the predictions of both control‐driven model and signaling theory. Significant differences are found between two groups of target firms – management victory targets and dissident victory targets. Specifically: management victory targets feature proxy contests that are accompanied by leverage increasing changes in target firms' capital structure; the same group also realizes better long‐run stock performance compared to dissident victory targets; and the long‐run abnormal stock performance of management victory targets is significantly positively related to the increases in leverage in the capital structure during proxy contest period.

This paper is the first to directly address the relationship between leverage change and the outcome and long‐run performance of proxy contest targets, thus confirming both the defensive and the signaling role of debt on firm's capital structure decision.

The purpose of this paper is to construct a two-stage risk management framework for international construction projects based on the meta-network analysis (MNA) approach. A plethora of international construction studies seems to assume risks as independent and therefore, risk intervention strategies are usually critiqued as ineffective.

In the risk assessment stage, a multi-tiered risk network structure was developed with the project objectives, risk events, risk factors and stakeholders, and critical risk factors were selected based on a series of calculations. In the risk intervention stage, targeted risk intervention strategies were proposed for stakeholders based on the results of the first stage. A highway construction project in Eastern Europe was selected as a case study.

The results showed that 17 risk factors in three categories – external, stakeholder-related and internal – are critical, and the project manager, construction management department, supplier and contract department are the most critical stakeholders that affect the entire project performance. Based on the critical risk factors and project stakeholders, targeted risk intervention strategies were proposed. The risk assessment results of MNA were found to be more reliable and consistent with the project conditions than the risk matrix method; the risk intervention strategies of MNA can effectively address project objectives.

This study modeled risk priorities based on risk associations and put forward a new method for risk management, supplementing the body of knowledge of international construction. The results of this study are of critical importance in management practices.

This study aims to research the development trend, research status, research results and existing problems of the steel–concrete composite joint of railway long-span hybrid girder cable-stayed bridge.

Based on the investigation and analysis of the development history, structure form, structural parameters, stress characteristics, shear connector stress state, force transmission mechanism, and fatigue performance, aiming at the steel–concrete composite joint of railway long-span hybrid girder cable-stayed bridge, the development trend, research status, research results and existing problems are expounded.

The shear-compression composite joint has become the main form in practice, featuring shortened length and simplified structure. The length of composite joints between 1.5 and 3.0 m has no significant effect on the stress and force transmission laws of the main girder. The reasonable thickness of the bearing plate is 40–70 mm. The calculation theory and simplified calculation formula of the overall bearing capacity, the nonuniformity and distribution laws of the shear connector, the force transferring ratio of steel and concrete components, the fatigue failure mechanism and structural parameters effects are the focus of the research study.

This study puts forward some suggestions and prospects for the structural design and theoretical research of the steel–concrete composite joint of railway long-span hybrid girder cable-stayed bridge.

Pesticide overuse has caused a series of negative impacts on environment and human health. The purpose of this paper is to examine the farmers’ behavior of pesticide overuse and to identify the underlying determinants, based on the survey data from Shandong Province, China.

A two-stage semiparametric approach and the binary probit model were employed in this study to analyze the marginal pesticide productivity and investigate the determinants of the pesticide overuse.

Results suggest that the marginal pesticide productivity is negative, indicating a serious overuse of pesticides in the surveyed area. Both market factors and government regulation have impacts on farmers’ use of pesticides.

This study estimates marginal pesticide productivity with an innovative methodology, and explores the role of market factors and government regulation in regulating farmers’ behavior of pesticide use, especially in a typical vegetable growing area and targeting a specific type of vegetable.

In addressing the housing deficits for the less privileged citizens, the South African government began constructing social housing after coming to power in 1994. However, the construction of these houses is bedevilled with many issues; prominent among them are poor quality of the constructed houses. This study seeks to develop a quality management framework for achieving quality and efficiency in public-sector housing construction, a hallmark of the country's procurement goals.

Telephone interviews were conducted with construction professionals involved in constructing government social houses across South Africa, chosen randomly. The data gathered were analysed using the content analysis method.

The study found that the most significant cause of poor quality government-constructed social housing is multifaceted, categorised into project management-related, procurement-related, contractor-related, corruption-related and political-related.

Failure to develop and implement a quality management framework on government-constructed social housing leads to poor quality social housing.

The study has identified quality-related issues and has developed a Quality Management (QM) framework for the stakeholders involved in the construction of the houses to guide them in the project implementation process to ensure project success and quality standards.

To solve the above problems and ensure the stability of the ad hoc network node topology in the process of wireless signal transmission, this paper aims to design a robust adaptive sliding film fault-tolerant controller under the nonlinear distortion of signal transmission in an amorphous flat air-to-ground wireless ad hoc network system.

This paper designs a robust adaptive sliding film fault-tolerant controller under the nonlinear distortion of signal transmission in an amorphous flat air-to-ground wireless ad hoc network system.

The simulation results show that the amorphous flat wireless self-organizing network system has good nonlinear distortion fault-tolerant correction ability under the feedback control of the designed controller, and the system has the asymptotically stable convergence ability; the test results show: the node topology of the self-organizing network structural stability is significantly improved, which provides a foundation for the subsequent realization of long-distance transmission of ad hoc network nodes.

Because of the chosen research approach, the research results may lack generalizability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions further.

The controller can extract the fault information caused by nonlinear distortion in the wireless signal transmission process, and at the same time, its feedback matrix K can gradually converge the generated wireless signal error to zero, to realize the stable transmission of the wireless signal.

Knowledge sharing is critical to creating value in platform ecosystems. However, participants refrain from sharing knowledge and even engage in free-riding behavior, thereby causing the value co-destruction of the platform ecosystems. To encourage knowledge sharing among participants, it is essential to analyze the influencing factors and decision-making mechanisms of knowledge sharing in the platform ecosystems.

The study investigated the issue of knowledge sharing among participants in platform ecosystems, based on the stochastic differential game model. Considering the uncertain factors, the Nash non-cooperative game, Stackelberg leader-follower game, and cooperative game models were proposed. By utilizing system dynamics and numerical simulations, the key influencing factors and mechanisms of knowledge sharing were deeply explored, consequently providing game solutions to achieve the Pareto optimality of the ecosystem.

Participants' innovation capability and the marginal benefits of knowledge-sharing positively impact knowledge-sharing decisions, while the environmental knowledge decay rate has a negative influence. The platform subsidy mode enhances the knowledge-sharing effect, and the collaborative cooperation mode can realize the Pareto optimization of the system.

The research findings will provide theoretical support for fostering knowledge innovation and sustainable development of platform ecosystems. Managers should cultivate an innovative environment, establish fair reward mechanisms, and utilize subsidies to promote knowledge sharing, leading to higher value creation.

Utilizing the stochastic differential game model, the study proposed various game-theoretic frameworks to analyze participants' knowledge-sharing strategies. The integration of system dynamics and numerical simulations provides a practical approach to understanding the key influencing factors and decision-making processes.

Nature and occurrence of food-borne pathogens in raw and processed food products evolved greatly in the past few years due to new modes of transmission and resistance build-up against sundry micro-/macro-environmental conditions. Assurance of food health and safety thus gained immense importance, for which bio-sensing technology proved very promising in the detection and quantification of food-borne pathogens. Considering the importance, different studies have been performed, and different biosensors have been developed. This study aims to summarize the different biosensors used for the deduction of food-borne pathogens.

The present review highlights different biosensors developed apropos to food matrices, factors governing their selection, their potential and applicability. The paper discusses some related key challenges and constraints and also focuses on the needs and future research prospects in this field.

The shift in consumers’ and industries’ perceptions directed the further approach to achieve portable, user and environmental friendly biosensing techniques. Despite of these developments, it was still observed that the comparison among the different biosensors and their categories proved tedious on a single platform; since the food matrices tested, pathogen detected or diagnosed, time of detection, etc., varied greatly and very few products have been commercially launched. Conclusively, a challenge lies in front of food scientists and researchers to maintain pace and develop techniques for efficiently catering to the needs of the food industry.

Biosensors deduction limit varied with the food matrix, type of organism, material of biosensors’ surface, etc. The food matrix itself consists of complex substances, and various types of food are available in nature. Considering the diversity of food there is a need to develop a universal biosensor that can be used for all the food matrices for a pathogen. Further research is needed to develop a pathogen-specific biosensor that can be used for all the food products that may have accuracy to eliminate the traditional method of deduction.

The present paper summarized and categorized the different types of biosensors developed for food-borne pathogens.