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Counter-hedonic entertainment, characterized by evoking negative emotions in consumers, has emerged as one of the most popular and profitable forms of entertainment in Western countries. However, this entertainment type is not as popular in China as in Western countries. This study examines whether the free trial of counter-hedonic entertainment can promote the consumption of such entertainment and explores the moderating effect of contextual factors on this relationship.

This study investigates the promotional effectiveness of the free trial strategy on counter-hedonic entertainment through a quasi-experiment involving the broadcasting of a large-scale free counter-hedonic program. This study has analyzed the counter-hedonic consumption data from 31 major cities in China and employed econometric modeling to test the hypotheses.

Results show that the free trial of counter-hedonic entertainment can promote the sales of entertainment with similar categories. The follow-up moderation analyses show that the positive effect is amplified on days with less sunlight and for consumers with abundant (vs scarce) financial resources, thereby providing evidence to support the underlying drivers of the positive effect – the need for arousal and confidence frame. Meanwhile, the free trial of counter-hedonic entertainment also has a long-term effect after airing.

Based on existing research on consumers’ counter-hedonic consumption motivation, this study confirms the effectiveness and boundary conditions of the free trial strategy in promoting counter-hedonic entertainment consumption for the first time. The results also offer actionable insights for counter-hedonic entertainment marketers and practitioners.

With the development of a new generation of digital technologies, digital transformation (DT) has become an inevitable trend for enterprises to achieve development in various industries. Nevertheless, the contradiction between the “fragmented” use of digital technologies and the “systematic” transformation of the industry leads to the underperformance of DT in the construction industry. Whilst previous studies have examined why DT is needed and how separate digital technologies can be used in construction projects, they failed to specify effective tools that can help enterprises identify key resources that facilitate DT from the organisational perspective.

This study established an objective assessment framework for evaluating the digital transformation capability (DTC) of construction enterprises in identifying limitations in their transformation efforts. This study also established a management entropy quantitative model and a comprehensive capability evaluation model of DT to analyse the DT performance of construction enterprises from the internal and external perspectives. Data were collected from 95 listed enterprises in China’s construction industry in 2020 as a case study.

This study concluded that enterprise profitability provides a strong endogenous driving force for DT. Research and development capabilities and DT proficiency of enterprises are the most critical factors in facilitating DT. In addition, China’s construction enterprises' DT was characterised by uneven development and low orderliness. The lack of a unified digital integration platform is key to cracking the dilemma.

This paper systematically identified key DTC in construction enterprises and proposed an objective framework for measuring DTC to enhance the DT performance of these enterprises.