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This study examines the impact of network embeddedness (NE) on innovation performance in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and analyses absorptive capacity as mediator and openness as moderator.

Data were collected from 209 employees of SMEs using a convenient sampling technique. Partial least squares structural equation modeling in SmartPLS was used to analyze the various constructs.

The results exhibit a positive and significant relationship in NE and absorptive capacity. Also, this study found a positive and significant relationship in absorptive capacity and innovation performance. Moreover, absorptive capacity has a positive and significant mediation role in the relationship between NE and innovation performance. Also, openness positively moderated the relationship of NE and absorptive capacity.

SMEs should try to implement the functions of NE, such as interaction with other firms in higher frequency, developing trust among all parties, clear alliance among the partners to enhance innovation performance. Similarly, SMEs should focus on absorptive capacity and openness to enrich innovation performance.

This study adds in the current literature of the chosen constructs and empirically contributes the effects in the manufacturing industry of Jiangsu Province, China.

The authors study and compare the effects of three CEO compensation restricting policies issued by the Chinese government in 2009, 2012 and 2015. This paper aims to shed light on the conditions under which CEO compenstation can be effectively regulated without negatively affecting firm performance.

These policies targeted state-owned enterprises (SOEs), especially central state-owned enterprises (CSOEs). Using these policies as natural experiments, the authors investigate how their effects differ on CEO compensation, firm performance and two known performance-decreasing mechanisms: perk consumption and tunneling activities.

The authors show that restricting CEO pay does not necessarily backfire in terms of deteriorating firm performance. This non-decreasing firm performance can be achieved by restricting perk consumption and tunneling activities while introducing CEO pay regulations.

The authors exploit a powerful experimental setting in the context of China. The evidence contributes to the literature on CEO pay regulations and is relevant to the managerial decisions of policy makers and boards of directors.

The chapter examines various manifestations of the concept of “social capital” in details by sorting them into three categories: individual, collective, and hybrid. Based on the examination of social capital literature, the chapter defines social capital as moral resources that lubricate cooperation among individuals for economic as well as civic reasons. Then the chapter examines social capital in contemporary urban China. The atomizing effect of market economy destroyed previous stock of social capital, but there are not corrective mechanisms to generate new social capital. Therefore urban China is experiencing the paucity of social capital.

Living on the Boundaries: Urban Marginality in National and International Contexts examines the complex, often controversial issues impacting those who live on the margins of society in our densely populated cities. The topic warrants research compiled by an international array of scholars and intellectuals from a wide range of disciplines, including but not limited to sociology, economics, political science, psychology, education, public health, law, criminology, history, urban studies, geography and demography, and urban planning, among others. This volume, from the first chapter to the last, richly details and informs us about the human condition, from multidisciplinary perspectives, about urban life in global contexts. Why is the study of urban life and urban marginality so consequential? The answer is simple. Because of the unprecedented pace of urbanization, a majority of humans now live in highly dense areas, in our cities. It is our cities which project the visual imagery of the stark class divisions in society. By 2050, it is projected that two thirds of the world's population will live in cities. Any volume which attempts to present dynamic issues in global contexts moves us toward resolving many of the conflicting and confounding issues which plague humankind, in the present, and will be with us in the future, if workable solutions are not found. As one reads the ensuing pages, you cannot help but come away better informed, noting the symmetry of complex societal issues of urban marginality across national boundaries.

This paper aims to investigate the friction and wear properties of Cr-Ni-Mo-V steel against 440C stainless steel under both water and water–silica mixture lubricant.

The Cr-Ni-Mo-V steel specimens were taken from a forged steel brake disc with the process of quenching at 900°C and tempering at 600°C. The tribological testing was performed using a contact configuration of ball-on-flat with a liquid cell according to the ASTM standard. Detailed examinations on the worn surface were analyzed using a scanning electron microscope.

The results indicate that the friction coefficient and friction damage of the steel sliding under water–silica mixture are higher than those under water. The friction coefficient decreases with increasing load and increases with the sliding speed for the two lubricants. The mass wear rate presents a rising trend with both sliding load and speed. The wear mechanisms of the Cr-Ni-Mo-V steel sliding under the two lubricants are oxidation wear, abrasive wear and fatigue wear.

Because of the chosen tribological testing approach, the research results could not describe the tribological performance of the brake disc accurately during actual braking process of the high-speed train. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions further.

This study shows that the tribology behavior of the Cr-Ni-Mo-V steel with water or water–silica mixture lubrications helps the industrial firms and academicians to work on the wear of the brake disc in rainwater or wet environment.

This paper aims to investigate how perceived working conditions affect employee performance, including safety compliance and task performance, through employee well-being (i.e. job satisfaction) in the context of the coal mining sector in China.

This paper uses the job demands-resources model to test the relationships between working conditions, including job demands (work pressure as a challenge demand and perceived risks and hazards in the workplace and ineffectiveness of the safety system as hindrance demands), job resources (interpersonal harmony), job satisfaction and performance. This study adopts a two-wave design with a three-month lag to reduce possible common method bias.

Employees who experienced high level of challenge demands, e.g. time pressure workload, reported higher levels of task performance, and this positive relationship seemed to be robust. There is a direct effect of perceived ineffectiveness of the safety system on task performance, while the relationship between perceived risks and hazards and task performance was fully mediated by job satisfaction. Challenge demands, i.e. work pressure, did not impact much on employees’ well-being, and thus job satisfaction did not mediate the relationship between work pressure and performance. Perceived ineffectiveness of the safety system was negatively associated with safety compliance. This result is not surprising since a lack of effective safety system reflects management’s ignorance of workplace safety, which demotivates employees to enact safe behaviors. In contrast, the presence and implementation of an effective safety system would be interpreted by employees as management exhibiting a high level of commitment. Work pressure was positively not negatively related to safety compliance. One possible explanation for this finding is that the effects of work pressure on safety compliance behaviors might be dependent on contextual factors such as safety climate. Interpersonal harmony moderated the relationships between work pressure and employee performance (both safety compliance and task performance) and the relationship between perceived risks and hazards and task performance, but the role of interpersonal harmony appeared more complex. There was no significant correlation between challenging job demands and individual employee performance when there were higher levels of interpersonal harmony. The relationship between perceived risks and hazards, a hindrance job demand and task performance became positive as interpersonal harmony increased but negative as interpersonal harmony decreased.

This paper provides a robust integrative theoretical framework that better explains the various types of job demands and job resources in the working environment of coal mining sector in China and their relationships to employee performance. The findings also offer valuable guidance for managers trying to identify effective ways to enhance employee performance and safety in the workplace.

The purpose of this paper is to put forward the lubrication model of oil bearing and enrich the design theory under the condition of mixed lubrication.

A mixed lubrication model of bilayer porous bearing is established. The effects of the working conditions on the lubrication performance and seepage behavior were analyzed.

Results show that the oil film pressure mainly occurs in the bearing convergence zone and contact pressure mainly occurs near the minimum film thickness. The oil infiltrates into the porous matrix in the contact area and precipitates out to the friction surface at the inlet of the contact area. The oil seepage velocity and dynamic pressure effect at the friction interface can be improved by reasonably matching the load and speed. With the decrease of the external load or increase of the rotating speed, the lubrication performance becomes well.

This study provides a reference for the design and application of oil bearing under harsh working conditions.

National spirit, as a powerful legitimacy trait, shapes the consistency of a firm’s financial decisions, employee engagement and sustainability strategies. Combining this with resource-based view (RBV) theory, the study empirically examines the dual impact of national spirit on corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance.

This paper utilizes data from Chinese A-share listed companies from 2009 to 2022 and employs machine learning methods to construct enterprise-level indicators of national spirit. In addition, the paper scrapes nearly 3 million ESG-related online news articles from the Baidu news website and uses machine learning methods to measure media ESG attention and sentiment.

The findings reveal that national spirit significantly enhances corporate ESG performance, operating through both internal and external channels: promoting social financing and boosting employee morale. Further analysis indicates that the positive influence of national spirit on corporate ESG performance is more pronounced in private enterprises, companies facing higher levels of credit constraints and firms in polluting industries. Additionally, managerial shortsightedness weakens the sustainable value of national spirit, while external media ESG attention and regional ESG governance efforts further strengthen this effect. Furthermore, different dimensions of national spirit exhibit varying impacts on corporate ESG performance.

This study provides new insights for promoting sustainable development systems in emerging economies and understanding the role of national spirit in corporate social responsibility investments.

This paper shifts the study of national spirit from macro-level cultural analyses to a micro-level perspective. It bridges gaps in the literature by providing empirical evidence on the role of national spirit as a soft resource that influences corporate financial behavior and employee morale. This study provides new insights into promoting sustainable development systems in emerging economies and understanding the role of national spirit in corporate social responsibility investments.

This study aims to investigate the microtopography transformation at a low-speed heavy-load interface with the lubrication of powder particles and its nonlinear friction effect on the sliding pair in contact.

Based on the universal mechanical tester (UMT) tribometer and VK shape-measuring laser microscope, comparative friction experiments were conducted with graphite powder lubrication. The friction coefficient with nonlinear fluctuations and the three-dimensional morphology of the boundary layer at the interface were observed and analyzed under different operating conditions. The effects on lubrication mechanisms and frictional nonlinearity at the sliding pair were focused on under different surface roughness and powder layer thickness conditions.

At a certain external load and sliding speed, the initial specimen surface with an appropriate initial roughness and powder thickness can store and bond the powder lubricant to form a boundary film readily. The relatively flat and firm boundary layer of powder at the microscopic interface can reduce the coefficient of friction and suppress its nonlinear fluctuation effectively. Therefore, proper surface roughness and powder layer thickness are beneficial to the graphite lubrication and stability maintenance of a friction pair.

This research is conducive to developing a deep understanding of the microtopography transformation with frictional nonlinearity at a low-speed heavy-load interface with graphite powder lubrication.