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For start-ups or growing firms, to effectively navigate the unpredictable nature of digital development and achieve superior innovative performance, it is crucial to have a workforce comprised of creative and innovative employees. Drawing upon the principles of social information processing theory, this study aims to investigate whether specific combinations of organizational internal and external environments, as well as work characteristics in the digital age, can foster a high level of employee innovative behavior.

By collecting a multilevel and multisource data set comprising 693 employees and 88 CEOs from 88 start-ups or growing firms, this study used fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to examine the distinctive configurations associated with achieving a high level of employee innovative behavior.

The study found that six solutions enabled employees to innovate more effectively, but six solutions led to the absence of employee innovative behavior.

The findings of this study offer important theoretical and practical implications to motivate employee innovative behavior in Chinese enterprises.

First, this study contributes to the literature on employee innovative behavior by addressing the need to explore the impact of the digital context on promoting innovation among employees. Second, this study adds to the existing literature on employee innovation and entrepreneurship by examining multiple organizational contexts and their influence on innovative behavior. Third, this study makes a significant contribution to the field of employee innovative behavior by examining the macroenvironment surrounding digital transformation within enterprises and integrating both internal and external organizational factors.

Corporate entrepreneurship is an important way for organizations to gain competitive advantages and achieve sustainable development. However, few studies pay attention to the influence of CEO strategic leadership on corporate entrepreneurship. Drawing on social identity theory and uncertainty-identity theory, this study aims to investigate whether CEO relationship-focused leadership impacts corporate entrepreneurship through middle managers’ (MMs’) organizational identification and whether the indirect effect is moderated by environmental uncertainty.

Using 192 Chinese samples with 192 firm-level and 716 department-level observations, this study uses multilevel structural equations modeling by Mplus 8.0 to test the theoretical model.

This study finds that CEO relationship-focused leadership positively predicts MMs’ organizational identification and corporate entrepreneurship, and MMs’ organizational identification mediates the relationship between CEO relationship-focused leadership and corporate entrepreneurship. In addition, environmental uncertainty moderates not only the relationship between CEO relationship-focused leadership and MMs’ organizational identification but also the indirect effect of CEO relationship-focused leadership on corporate entrepreneurship through MMs’ organizational identification.

This study enriches the understanding of process and contextualization of CEO strategic leadership influencing on corporate entrepreneurship.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first to explore the influence of CEO relationship-focused leadership on corporate entrepreneurship.

The metaverse has garnered increasing attention from researchers and practitioners, yet numerous firms remain hesitant to invest in it due to ongoing debates about its potential financial benefits. Therefore, it is crucial to analyze how the implementation of metaverse initiatives affects firms’ stock market value – an area that remains underexplored in the existing literature. Additionally, there is a significant lack of research on the contingency factors that shape the stock market reaction, leaving a noticeable gap in managerial guidance on the timing and benefits of investments in the metaverse. To narrow these gaps, we examine whether and when the implementation of metaverse initiatives enhances firms’ stock market value.

Based on 73 metaverse implementation announcements disclosed by Chinese listed firms during January 2021–August 2023, we employ an event study approach to test the hypotheses.

We find that metaverse implementation announcements elicit a positive stock market reaction. Moreover, the stock market reaction is stronger for technology-focused announcements and smaller firms, or when public attention to the metaverse is higher. Nevertheless, firms’ growth prospects do not significantly alter the stock market reaction.

This study extends the nascent literature on the metaverse by applying signaling theory to offer novel insights into the signaling effect of metaverse implementation announcements on stock market value and the boundary conditions under which the effectiveness of the signal varies. Besides, it provides managers with important implications regarding how to tailor the investment and information disclosure strategies of the metaverse to more effectively enhance firms’ stock market value.

This study aims to answer two questions: (a) what obstacles and opportunities do Chinese female entrepreneurs face when doing business? And (b) how do they negotiate their entrepreneurial careers and gender identities in different gender-segregated markets?

This study uses qualitative research methods of participant observation and in-depth interviews with 41 female entrepreneurs in China and the theoretical lenses of gender role theory and doing gender in entrepreneurship.

The study findings reveal that Chinese female entrepreneurs face different obstacles and opportunities in gender-segregated industries. Their experiences vary in industries that are mainly occupied by males and females. On the one hand, women in female-dominated industries may be supported by a feminine working environment that is coherent with their domestic roles. However, they may also be questioned on the cultural impurity implied in some industries, which harms their class-based feminine virtue. On the other hand, women in male-dominated industries may be challenged and marginalized due to their gender. However, some find ways to turn the disadvantaged feminine characters into favourable conditions and break out of the stereotypical gender constraints in doing business.

This study contributes to the literature on gender and entrepreneurship in general. More specifically, it contributes to the study of doing gender in gender-segregated markets, and it also illustrates women’s gendered opportunities and constraints in Chinese society that are affected by the long-lasting traditional gender norms.

Due to the rapid development of automotive industry, China has become the world first in car production and consumption. However, under the pressure of environment pollution, traffic congestion and parking restriction in big cities, the car rental service, as an alternative solution for private car, becomes a new trend. The market is disorganized now. This research aims to use SERVQUAL model to further examine which dimension has great contribution to service quality.

A service quality evaluation scale for the car rental industry in China is designed based on PZB's SERVQUAL model. The reliability and exploratory factor analysis methods are adopted to measure the validity and reliability of the scale from the sampled data. At the same time, the relationship between service quality, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty is discussed with the path analysis method.

The results show that the contribution of empathy to the total service quality ranks the top. At the same time, empathy has a strong impact on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.

It is very important to attract customers depending on personalized services or service providing mode, that is, the empathy.

As a new mode in China, the car rental market is disorganized and has low service quality. The evaluation scale is designed including five dimensions. The analysis results provide guidance on how to improve their service quality to managers in car rental industry in China.