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This study aims to use corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting focused on poverty alleviation in China as a case to demonstrate a unique interplay between the state and private enterprises. It illustrates how CSR reporting has influenced both the mechanisms and outcomes of their interactive relationship, contributing to the construction of symbolic power.

Drawing on Bourdieu’s theory of symbolic power, this study explores how symbolic power has been constructed and reinforced between the state and private enterprises. It highlights the unique role of CSR reporting in facilitating an alignment between private enterprises objectives and state goals, ultimately reinforcing symbolic and social order. The empirical materials examined are the CSR reports prepared by the top 20 private enterprises in China from 2017 to 2022.

Major private business enterprises in China actively engage with the state’s objectives on poverty alleviation as reflected through their CSR reporting practices. This engagement is evidenced by shifts in keywords, dominant language and reporting structure, which closely align with the state’s stance on the issue. As a result, these enterprises receive heightened public recognition, which in turn helps reinforce the symbolic power and its influence on corporate behaviour.

This paper contributes to the CSR accounting literature by revealing a strategic role of CSR reporting that extends beyond conventional compliance levels commonly observed in Western liberal democratic societies. It serves as a function that facilitates interaction between the state and private enterprises in a symbolic power relationship, where both parties mutually benefit from the alignment of interests in poverty alleviation and social positioning.

Members' knowledge contribution behavior has positive significance for maintaining the activity of the knowledge community, as well as for improving knowledge interaction efficiency and member viscosity. With the development of the mobile Internet, knowledge communities based on social platforms have become more convenient and popular. This study aims to explore what and how factors influence members' knowledge contribution behavior in social knowledge communities from the perspective of social distance.

Based on the theory of reciprocity and on the theory of self-efficacy, hypotheses and research models are proposed. In the empirical study, WeChat learning group is selected as the research case. The empirical investigation (N = 244) collects research data through questionnaires.

I-intention and we-intention both have positive influence on members' knowledge contribution behavior. Knowledge self-efficacy positively moderates the influence of we-intention and affects knowledge contribution behavior. In addition, I-intention is positively affected by expected knowledge benefit, expected emotional benefit and expected image benefit, while costs have no effect. We-intention is positively influenced by affective commitment, continuance commitment and normative commitment in relationship strength, as well as affiliation to the contributing climate.

This paper aims to discuss I-intention, we-intention, and their roles in members' knowledge contribution behavior. It is a beneficial development for existing research to combine the characteristics of new style communities with systematical analysis of knowledge contribution behavior. Findings may provide enlightenment to the social knowledge community on diversity development and differentiated marketing strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the level of natural gas consumption that can be adjudged as capable of improving the growth of the Nigerian economy, to investigate whether natural gas consumption is at optimal level in Nigeria and to examine the nature and rate to which natural gas consumption affects economic growth in Nigeria at low and high regimes.

The tool used to achieve the objectives of the paper is the smooth transition regression (STR) model.

The findings of the paper are that the relationship between natural gas consumption and economic growth in Nigeria is asymmetric, where the natural gas consumption threshold value in the country is 9085.36 standard cubic meters, whereas the level of its consumption in the country is below the optimal level. Further, in both low and high regimes, natural gas consumption has been found to have a positive and significant impact on economic growth in Nigeria.

The policy implication of the paper is that natural gas consumption in Nigeria should not be less than 9085.36 standard cubic meters and the country should intensify efforts to increase the level of natural gas consumption, as it is below the optimal level and its consumption bolsters the growth of Nigerian economy.

What is new in this paper is its ability to use the STR model. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, such methodology has not been adopted before in such a relation.