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This study aims to investigate the antecedents of corporate social responsibility (CSR) from the perspective of competitive dynamics and proposes a correlation of CSR between competing firms because rival firms’ engagement in CSR induces the focal firm’s catch-up to keep pace with them.

Using a sample of Chinese listed companies through the lens of firm dyads, and drawing on the awareness-motivation-capability (AMC) framework, a set of contingencies of firms’ competitive catch-up in CSR are examined, including the visibility of its competitors, the interdependence between the focal firm and its competitors and the focal firm’s resource slack.

The empirical results reveal that a focal firm’s CSR is in a positive relationship with that of its competitors, which is strengthened by the visibility of its competitors, the interdependence between the focal firm and its competitors, and is affected by the focal firm’s resource slack.

These findings uncover the interplay of CSR among competitors, enriching our understanding of its antecedents by extending the AMC framework to the CSR context.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) provides a means to strengthen a firm's competitive position. Companies are able to achieve this through imitating the CSR activities of close rivals within their industry. Visibility of the competitive interconnection between focal and peer firm and resource ability are factors that determine the validity of this approach.

The briefing saves busy executives, strategists and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

Gifting is a typical monetization strategy for live streaming platforms to motivate providers’ live content contribution. However, research regarding the factors that affect individuals’ gifting intention is still at an infant stage. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the factors that affect individuals’ gifting intention during live streaming.

The authors build a model to uncover the factors that affect individuals’ gifting intention from a streamer–content perspective, and the hypotheses are largely validated by online survey data through structural equation model analysis.

Individuals’ perceived attractiveness of the streamers is significantly and positively associated with gifting intention for leisure-related live streaming, whereas individuals’ perceived similarity with the streamers is significantly and positively associated with gifting intention for leisure-related and non-leisure-related live streaming. For live content-related factors, the individuals’ perceived utilitarian value of content is significantly and positively associated with gifting intention for non-leisure-related live streaming, whereas the individuals’ perceived hedonic value is significantly positively associated with gifting intention for leisure-related live streaming. Perceived symbolic value is insignificantly associated with gifting intention for neither type of live streaming.

The research is an original work and significantly contributes to live streaming and PWYW literature, and the findings derived from this study can guide live streaming platforms to regulate individuals’ gifting intentions/behaviors better.

This paper focuses on the commitment of a leading Middle Eastern country – Saudi Arabia – to the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG13, climate preservation. This paper aims to investigate the determinants of greenhouse gas emissions by examining their correlation with economic growth, population growth, renewable energies, forest area, digitalization and monetary policy.

This research observes greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the potential influencing factors during 1990–2023. It employs the autoregressive distributed lag model (ARDL) after testing the stationarity of the variables.

The findings show that population growth, gross domestic product (GDP) growth, percentage of individuals using the internet and forest rents are significant determinants of carbon oxide (CO₂) emissions. Further, methane (CH₄) emissions are significantly associated with population growth, GDP growth, percentage of individuals using the internet and renewable internal freshwater resources. Nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions depend significantly on the percentage of individuals using the internet and renewable internal freshwater resources.

This research helps policymakers in Saudi Arabia and worldwide identify the factors moderating GHG emissions, and accordingly design targeted interventions. These initiatives would substantially reduce GHG and further global climate goals. Additionally, focusing on Saudi Arabia, a significant emerging country in the Middle East, has broader implications. The findings offer insights that extend beyond its borders, providing valuable lessons for governments in the Middle East and worldwide to assess and improve their initiatives toward SDG13. Therefore, monitoring greenhouse gas emissions in this key country boosts global progress toward the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Furthermore, this paper aligns with the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) by leveraging academic and managerial strategies toward sustainability and climate action initiatives.

This study adds to the limited literature on the determinants of GHG emissions in the Middle Eastern region, particularly in Saudi Arabia. In addition to CO₂, it also focuses on CH₄ and N₂O emissions. It shows the beneficial effect of renewable internal freshwater resources. It uses the ARDL model to distinguish between the short- and long-run associations.

With increasing marine resource development, the rapid development of the marine economy, and the continuous decline of the marine natural resource system, the contradiction between marine resources and economic development is becoming increasingly acute. The study of marine resources and economic development has become a hot and challenging issue in marine resource economics research in recent years. The purpose of this study is to analyze the current situation of marine resources and to realize the sustainable use of marine resources.

This study systematically reviews and analyzes the current status of research on marine resources and economic development issues in four main aspects: marine resource management, marine resources and economic growth, marine resources and economic security, and marine resource accounting in the field of marine resource economics.

It is found that compared to the current status of research on land-based resources and economic development, there is a significant lag in both theoretical construction and methodological innovation in marine resources and economic development.

The purpose of this study is to systematically grasp the current status of marine resources research, promote the coordinated development of marine resources and economic growth, and then realize the safe and sustainable development and utilization of marine resources.

In order to encourage the high-water-consumption (HWC) manufacturers to carry out water-saving transformation relying on self-strength or outsourcing to a water-saving service company (WSSC) during production processes, government subsidies are provided according to water-saving efforts (WSE) or investment cost. In this context, the authors derive the participant's equilibrium decisions and the manufacturer's water-saving strategy. Additionally, the effects of subsidies on WSE and stakeholders' profits are discussed.

Mathematical models including optimization model and Stackelberg game model are constructed under different subsidy schemes.

The study finds that (1) there exists a threshold related to the subsidy coefficient for the HWC manufacturer when choosing between self-saving and outsourcing-saving. (2) When the technological competitive advantage between WSSC and manufacturer is within a certain range, government's subsidy promotes HWC enterprises to choose outsourcing-saving. (3) Given a water-saving mode, subsidy on investment cost is more effective for the government to achieve more environmental performance.

First, subsidy endogeneity can be considered to explore the optimal interval for government subsidies to maximize social welfare. Second, in outsourcing-saving, other types of contract can be discussed. Another extension is about model uncertainties. Finally, other policies on improving water efficiency can be also examined.

The paper includes implication for HWC manufacturers to select the best water-saving mode under subsidy, and it allows policymakers to understand the efficiency of proposed subsidies.

Decisions on water-saving efforts, selection of water-saving modes and operational planning are also regarded as business strategies in the paper. Particularly, the influences of different government subsidies are also considered and compared.

This study extends the literature on the effectiveness of e-learning by investigating the role of student engagement on perceived learning effectiveness (PLE) in the context of Indian higher education. Further, the impact of personal factors (Internet self-efficacy (ISE)) and environmental factors (information, system and service quality parameters) on various dimensions of student engagement (behavioral, emotional and cognitive) is studied through the lens of social cognitive theory (SCT).

An online management information systems (MIS) course is delivered to a batch of 412 postgraduate students. An online survey was conducted to measure the factors affecting their PLE. In addition to the survey, a summative assessment is conducted to evaluate the students in terms of their marks to assess their achievements (actual learning). Covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) is used to validate the developed research model.

It is discovered that the IS (information system) quality parameters (environmental factors) positively impact PLE. The ISE affects the PLE through the mediating effect of all the dimensions of student engagement. Furthermore, there exists a positive relationship between PLE and student marks.

This study develops a research model using personal and environmental factors to understand PLE through the lens of SCT and then empirically validates it. The psychological process from the students' ISE to the PLE is explained through the mediating effects of various dimensions of engagement. Further, it is found that the PLE is positively related to student marks.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of religiosity as a deterrent to habitual digital piracy behaviour. Specifically, it will examine the extent to which “religious teaching” affects consumer attitudes towards digital piracy and their habitual digital piracy behaviour in a developing market.

In total, 400 usable samples were collected from large religious organisations in Indonesia using convenience sampling. The latent moderation structural equation technique was used to test the research hypotheses.

The results indicated that: facilitating conditions are a significant driver of digital piracy habit; attitude towards piracy is a significant deterrent of digital piracy and moderates the relationship between facilitating conditions and habitual digital piracy; and religious teaching is a significant deterrent of digital piracy habit, mediated by attitude towards piracy.

This study investigates the influence of Christian religious teaching as a deterrent to digital piracy behaviour. Further, it investigates the mediating and moderating role of attitude in a digital piracy context. The study findings would provide insights for policy makers to deter digital piracy behaviour through the use of religious appeals.

The profound impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the film industry has underscored the growing significance of online movies. However, there is limited research available on the factors that influence the viewership of online films. Therefore, this study aims to use the signaling theory to investigate how signals of varying qualities affect online movie viewership, considering both signal transmission costs and prices.

This study uses a sample of 1,071 online movies released on the iQiyi from July 2020 to July 2022. It uses OLS regression and instrumental variable method to examine the impact of various quality indicators on the viewership of online movies, as well as the moderating effect of price.

After conducting a thorough analysis of this study, it can be deduced that the varying impacts on online movie viewership are attributed to disparities in signal transmission costs. Specifically, star influence and rating exhibit a positive effect on the viewership of online movies, whereas the number of raters has a detrimental impact. Furthermore, there exists an “inverted U-shaped” relationship between the number of reviews and online movie viewership. Additionally, within the consumer decision-making process, both price-cost and price-quality relationships coexist. This is evident as prices negatively affect online movie viewership but positively moderate the relationship between rating, number of reviews and online movie viewership.

The research findings of this study offer valuable insights for online film producers to effectively leverage quality signals and pricing, thereby capturing market attention and enhancing film profitability.