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1 – 10 of over 1000Junmin Xu, Alvin Chung Man Leung, Wei Thoo Yue and Qin Su
A substantial amount of research has examined the firm value impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Nevertheless, the findings have been inconsistent, prompting…
Abstract
Purpose
A substantial amount of research has examined the firm value impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Nevertheless, the findings have been inconsistent, prompting researchers to identify contingencies under which the impact varies. This study examines how information technology (IT)-enabled knowledge capabilities moderate the relationship between CSR and firm value.
Design/methodology/approach
We conducted the ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis on a sample of S&P 500 companies spanning from 2010 to 2017. We employed additional methods to test the robustness of the results, including the generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator and the two-stage least squares (2SLS) method.
Findings
The results show that IT-enabled absorptive capability (IT-AC) and IT-enabled social integration capability (IT-SIC) positively moderate the CSR–value relationship. Further, their moderating effects vary in distinct ways when environmental dynamism changes, hinting at the distinct underlying rationales behind the moderating roles of IT-AC and IT-SIC.
Research limitations/implications
This study improves the understanding of the business value of CSR and IT. It has limitations in generalizability due to the use of secondary data.
Practical implications
This study provides practical guidelines to managers about how to strategically leverage IT resources for the creation of CSR value.
Social implications
Encouraging businesses to enhance their CSR efforts and uphold sustainability extends beyond our immediate benefit and impacts future generations as well. However, due to an imbalance between costs and returns, companies often refrain from being wholeheartedly devoted to CSR. Our insights on guiding companies to derive more value from CSR can inspire their greater investment in CSR. Meanwhile, companies can obtain additional returns from deployed IT.
Originality/value
This study extends the IT business value literature by revealing how IT generates firm value in the context of CSR. It also adds critical insights into the mixed findings in previous research regarding the CSR–firm value link. The study’s findings offer useful guidance on the strategic deployment and utilization of IT resources to facilitate the creation of CSR value.
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Zhu-Jun Wang, Yang-Yang Sun, Zhen‐Song Chen, Geng‐Zhong Feng and Qin Su
The emergence of the Software-as-a-service (SaaS) licensing model dramatically changes how enterprise software is released. Especially, it is favored by small and medium…
Abstract
Purpose
The emergence of the Software-as-a-service (SaaS) licensing model dramatically changes how enterprise software is released. Especially, it is favored by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) because of the cost-friendly feature. In contrast, many large enterprises (LEs) own relatively abundant budgets and prefer the on-premise software to fulfill demands through customization. Considering the differentiated cost-acceptance level among customers, this study aims to address the versioning problem of the enterprise software faced by software firms.
Design/methodology/approach
A two-point distribution model is formulated to calculate the maximal profits software firm earned from both LEs and SMEs under three strategies (On-premise, SaaS and Hybrid). Then through profit comparison, this paper obtains the optimal versioning strategy and corresponding feasible conditions. Finally, the optimal solutions are derived concerning social welfare.
Findings
A significant finding is that moving to SaaS becomes necessary for the software firms in product releases since the on-premise strategy will not be optimal. Based on this, this paper discovers that when LEs own a cost-acceptance level close to that of SMEs, the hybrid strategy is the only optimal choice. When LEs become less sensitive to costs, the hybrid strategy is suggested if the customization cost falls below the threshold. Otherwise, the SaaS strategy becomes the optimal option. The conclusions explain why some software vendors transit to “cloud companies” thoroughly and provide practical insights for software firms’ future decisions.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first information economics study to consider consumer cost sensitivity in discussing enterprise software versioning. The differentiated cost-acceptance level is introduced to describe the customer utilities, and the results uncover the necessity of moving to SaaS under diversified customer composition. This work provides significant theoretical value and practical insights.
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Amir Ikram, Qin Su, Muhammad Fiaz and Ramiz Ur Rehman
The purpose of this paper is to highlight the characteristic role of specialized markets and traders in the internationalization of emerging economies by examining the linkages…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to highlight the characteristic role of specialized markets and traders in the internationalization of emerging economies by examining the linkages between supply chain management (SCM) and industrial clustering in China.
Design/methodology/approach
Multi-method approach was employed as primary data were collected from a case study of Shaoxing textile cluster, and was supplemented with secondary data to triangulate the findings. The proposition that competitive advantages of industrial clusters facilitate effective SCM was explored.
Findings
The authors reveal that China’s cost advantage is manifested in the entire value chain. The provision of business friendly amenities as a result of synergetic benefits of vertical and horizontal integration of supply clusters promotes competitiveness of SMEs and region as a whole. Moreover, specialized markets and international traders found to play significant role in sustainable cluster development.
Research limitations/implications
As with fieldwork and case studies, generalization should be drawn with care. Systematic synthesis of relevant case studies is recommended.
Practical implications
The study endorses the construction of local supply chains and suggests implementation of cluster strategy by focusing on environment-specific execution of triple helix model.
Originality/value
The article elaborates the linkages between cluster theory and SCM both within cluster and between interspersed clusters. It also explains how specialized markets and global players are enabling concentrated supply networks. The paper recommends extension of “Triple helix + 1 model” by making local community part of the underlying framework.
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Paul Kivinda Muisyo, Su Qin, Thu Hau Ho, Mercy Muthoni Julius and Tsirinirinantenaina Barisoava Andriamandresy
The purpose of this research is to examine how firms can build collective organisational citizenship behaviour towards the environment (OCBE) from green human resource management…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to examine how firms can build collective organisational citizenship behaviour towards the environment (OCBE) from green human resource management (GHRM) practices. The study tests how the three main aspects of GHRM, namely green abilities, green motivation and green opportunities, give rise to the enablers of green culture (EGC). The study further tests how each of the EGC (leadership emphasis, message credibility, peer involvement and employee empowerment) leads to the development of OCBE at the organisational level of analysis.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from Taiwanese manufacturing companies with a target of departmental heads. The authors managed to get 284 valid responses and analysed the data using path analysis on Stata12.
Findings
The study findings suggest that GHRM practices that include developing green abilities, green motivation and green opportunities support the development of the EGC. The EGC include leadership emphasis, message credibility, peer involvement and employee empowerment. It was, however, found that green abilities do not support the development of message credibility. It was further found the EGC lead to the development of collective OCBE except for peer involvement.
Originality/value
The authors propose an original concept of EGC in the context of Taiwanese manufacturing firms. This paper is amongst the pioneer papers to test the OCBE at organisational level. The authors also develop an integrated conceptual framework upon which firms can use in order to build OCBE at organisational level. Previous studies have examined OCBEs at employee/individual level.
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Paul Kivinda Muisyo, Qin Su, Hammad Bin Azam Hashmi, Thu Hau Ho and Mercy Muthoni Julius
Employee green behavior can lead to a firm's green performance. However, green management research has not accorded adequate attention to the mechanism underlying green…
Abstract
Purpose
Employee green behavior can lead to a firm's green performance. However, green management research has not accorded adequate attention to the mechanism underlying green creativity. This study aims to investigate the influence of green human resource management (GHRM) practices on green creativity at both individual and collective levels.
Design/methodology/approach
Through a multisource, multiwave survey data obtained from employees of 3- to 5-star hotels in Kenya, the present study investigates how GHRM practices influence individual and collective green creativity. For the data analysis, we employed multilevel structural equation modeling using MPlus 7.2.
Findings
The study findings show that GHRM practices influence individual and collective green creativity. The proposed mediating role of the enablers of green culture (EGC) in these relationships was confirmed. Moreover, environmentally specific servant leadership moderated the relationships between GHRM and individual and collective green creativity.
Research limitations/implications
The study recommends that hotel management should embrace GHRM practices to nurture green creativity at the employee and team levels. The hotels management is further persuaded by the findings of this study to pay attention to the four EGC (leadership emphasis, message credibility, peer involvement and employee empowerment) which play a key role in enhancing green creativity among hotel employees.
Practical implications
The study recommends that hotel management should embrace GHRM practices to nurture green creativity at the employee and team levels. The hotels' management is further persuaded by the findings of this study to pay attention to the four EGC (leadership emphasis, message credibility, peer involvement and employee empowerment) which play a key role in enhancing green creativity among hotel employees.
Originality/value
We develop and propose an integrated conceptual framework by which hotels can deploy to nurture green creativity at individual and team levels. We anticipate that our study findings will elicit further research into the mechanisms that reveal the nexus between GHRM and other employee green performance outcomes in the hotel sector.
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Paul Kivinda Muisyo, Su Qin, Thu Hau Ho and Mercy Muthoni Julius
The rising public concern for the natural environment is compelling business entities to revise their business models toward green management. Most manufacturing firms have…
Abstract
Purpose
The rising public concern for the natural environment is compelling business entities to revise their business models toward green management. Most manufacturing firms have realized that green innovation is a critical factor that drives their success. However, green human resource scholars have overlooked this research line despite the potential contribution it can advance in green management scholarship. This paper empirically models the extent to which green innovation culture (GIC) moderates the relationship between green human resource management (GHRM) and green competitive advantage (GCA). The paper has two-fold objectives. First, to investigate the effects of GHRM and GIC on the firm's GCA and second, to model the extent to which GIC moderates the link between GHRM practices and GCA of manufacturing firms in Zhejiang Province of China.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 324 Chinese employees from the manufacturing sector. The authors captured data from all levels of the organization. The authors made three models equations: two direct and one interactive. The authors then applied structural equation modeling (SEM) using AMOS 24 to test the study models and hypothesis.
Findings
The findings suggest that GHRM practices, which include recruitment and selection, training and development (green abilities); performance management and reward and compensation (green motivation); and employee involvement and leadership (green opportunities) have a significant positive effect on the firms GCA. The findings also indicate that firms that GIC, which include green product innovation (GPDI) and green process innovation (GPRI), promotes the firm's GCA. The paper further reveals that firms that combine GHRM and GIC attain higher GIC than those which practice GHRM only.
Originality/value
This paper draws a roadmap on how the top management in manufacturing firms can drive the firm's operations toward a higher GCA. It's the pioneer paper to suggest the combination of GHRM and GCI for enhanced GCA.
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Paul Muisyo, Qin Su, Thu Hau Ho, Mercy Muthoni Julius and Muhammad Shahjahan Usmani
The available literature demonstrates that green human resource management (GHRM) practices enhance the firm's green performance. However, the studies fail to show how GHRM…
Abstract
Purpose
The available literature demonstrates that green human resource management (GHRM) practices enhance the firm's green performance. However, the studies fail to show how GHRM practices give rise to green culture and how such green culture influences the green competitiveness of a firm. Anchored on the Ability Motivation Opportunity (AMO) theory, this study investigates how firms can build green competitive advantage from GHRM. The study focuses on four enablers of green culture (EGC): leadership emphasis, message credibility, peer involvement and employee empowerment. The study tests the mediating role of each EGC in the relationship between GHRM and green competitive advantage (GCA). The study findings provide managers with a deeper understanding of how GHRM supports the development of the EGC and how they explain the firm's GCA.
Design/methodology/approach
Data was collected from a large-scale survey of Malaysia's manufacturing firm. We managed to collect 96 valid and useable questionnaires.
Findings
We find that GHRM practices give rise to EGC and the EGC mediate the relationship between GHRM and GCA.
Originality/value
The study presents the EGC in the green competitiveness context and goes further to test its mediating role in the GHRM–GCA relationship. We also develop a novel conceptual framework that manufacturing firms can deploy to attain green competitive advantage.
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Paul Kivinda Muisyo, Qin Su, Mercy Muthoni Julius and Syed Far Abid Hossain
The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of GHRM practices on employer branding among firms in developed and developing economies.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of GHRM practices on employer branding among firms in developed and developing economies.
Design/methodology/approach
This study applied a cross-sectional survey for 234 respondents. The sample was derived from multiple databases consisting of firms in developed and developing countries.
Findings
The analysis indicates that green competence building practices and green performance management practices are positively related to environmental reputation and hence employer brand. Green employee involvement is exceptional because it has a more positive influence on environmental reputation in developed economies.
Originality/value
This study is cross-national in nature and compares GHRM practices in developed and developing economies.
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Can-you Wang, Cheng-long Li and Qin Su
The purpose of this paper is to study the price decisions and profits of two firms in a competitive market in which one platform firm considers whether to adopt a consumer…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study the price decisions and profits of two firms in a competitive market in which one platform firm considers whether to adopt a consumer customization strategy.
Design/methodology/approach
This study develops the consumer’s utility function, which captures consumers’ behavioural and emotional factors in the self-customizing process, and it adopts a game theory approach to analyze the equilibrium price and equilibrium profit for each firm.
Findings
The results show that increased sensitivity in consumer customization might not benefit the platform, especially when the size of the consumer group deriving positive additional utility from the self-customizing process is small. Interestingly, if the consumer customization sensitivity is high, increasing sensitivity can benefit both firms by relaxing competition between them, while it can hurt consumer surplus. The study also further identifies the conditions under which platforms can adopt a consumer customization strategy.
Research limitations/implications
Two major limitations of the study are that the model does not involve price discrimination or explore the value of adopting a consumer customization strategy in a vertically differentiated market.
Practical implications
This study offers managerial insights for the platforms that intend to invest in a consumer customization strategy, including providing a more simple, more efficient self-customizing process for consumers; empowering consumers to broadcast their creations to a large network by social media technologies; addressing how to determine what consumers really need and want; and so on.
Originality/value
Little research has been performed to analyze the impacts of adopting a consumer customization strategy on pricing decisions in a duopoly market by capturing consumers’ behavioural and emotional factors. While this study explores the above research issue, it also illustrates the effect of the adoption of a consumer customization strategy from a consumer surplus perspective.
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Qin Su and Weiyan Liu
The purpose of this paper is to examine the issue of optimal pricing strategies for two substitutable products from the same product platform and the effects of variations in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the issue of optimal pricing strategies for two substitutable products from the same product platform and the effects of variations in product architecture.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors design a product line which consists of two substitutable products and use a traditional market segmentation research framework to analyze the pricing and product design strategies.
Findings
It is concluded that profit tends to rise in a centralized supply chain at the expense of market share of the integral product. In a decentralized supply chain, one product will reduce its market share so as to enhance the degree of modularity. Although enhancing the extent of integration of a product will bring in more flexibility during the design of the product line, this will do so at the expense of the market share of the other product.
Originality/value
The authors find that the two products form a product line and share a common module belonging to the platform, so any changes in the modules (changes in product architecture) not only affect the product in question but also the other one in the product line.
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