Purpose This study aims to explore pathways for Chinese manufacturing firms to achieve high-level green innovation, distinguishing driving paths of substantive (substantive green innovation [SGI]) vs symbolic green innovation (SyGI) and elucidating functional equivalence (equifinal paths) among influencing factors, thereby providing a theoretical foundation and practical guidance for enterprises to advance their green transition effectively. Design/methodology/approach Based on the technology–organization–environment framework and using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis, this study examines the driving factors and functionally equivalent pathways for SGI and SyGI levels in manufacturing firms from a configurational perspective. Findings Four pathways to high SGI and three pathways to high SyGI have been identified. High-SGI manifests in the following forms: a resource coupling type environment-dominant path ESG and resource governance path and technology–regulation coupling. Under specific conditions, high-SGI and SyGI are functionally equivalent at the technological, organizational and environmental levels and executives 2019 green perceptions are crucial in this process. Originality/value This study addresses the limitation of existing research that treats green innovation as a homogeneous outcome by distinguishing between SGI and SyGI, thereby accounting for the coexistence of quantitative growth and qualitative differentiation in corporate green innovation. From a resource-allocation perspective, it explores the driving paths and functional–equivalence relationships between SGI and SyGI. This research provides managerial insights regarding resource selection and allocation for firms facing transformation challenges.
Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the nonlinear impact of environmental, social and governance (ESG) administrative embedding on corporate green total factor productivity (GTFP). Design/methodology/approach This study constructs ESG administrative embedding indices based on ESG cognitive embedding and ESG resource embedding and uses the EBM-GML method to estimate corporate GTFP. We empirically test the nonlinear relationship between ESG administrative embedding and corporate GTFP using methods such as fixed-effects models, mediation models and panel threshold models. Findings The study finds that ESG administrative embedding has a significant “poor centering” effect on corporate GTFP, forming a U-shaped relationship and found that there is a disconnect between knowledge and action in the ESG administrative embedding process. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that this nonlinear impact is more pronounced in state-owned enterprises, heavily polluting industries and regions with low marketization levels. Mechanism analysis reveals that the ESG administrative embedding primarily influences corporate green development through shifts in green awareness and green investment behavior. Threshold effect tests reveal that moderate environmental regulations and fiscal interventions can enhance the positive impact of ESG administrative embedding on GTFP, while both excessively low and high ESG rating discrepancies hinder the realization of its green efficacy. Practical implications Government should implement flexible ESG administrative embedding, matching policies to embedding stages, enterprise types and regional marketization levels. Moderate environmental regulation and fiscal intervention are needed, with unified ESG rating standards to reduce divergence. They should also boost synergy between administrative measures and market mechanisms and improve policy coordination to avoid over-intervention and resource misallocation. Social implications This study reveals that irrational ESG administrative embedding cannot effectively drive corporate green transformation, while rational and threshold-compliant administrative embedding helps enterprises balance economic benefits and environmental responsibilities, which provides strong support for China to achieve its dual carbon goals and advance high-quality economic and social development. Originality/value This study extends the scope of ESG to the governmental perspective, constructs an ESG administrative embedding index and uses the “institutional pressure–organizational response” analytical framework of neo-institutionalism theory to reveal a U-shaped relationship between ESG administrative embedding and corporate GTFP. This study provides important evidence for elucidating the governance logic of Chinese-style ESG and evaluating the effectiveness of government administrative interventions in promoting ESG. It makes a significant contribution to the literature on ESG research and corporate sustainable development governance in nonWestern contexts.
Purpose This study aims to explore the relationship between firms’ negative and positive aspiration environmental performance gap (AEPG) and persistent green innovation (PGI). At the same time, this study explored the moderating role of CEO green experience in the APEG–PGI relationship. Design/methodology/approach This study uses panel data of Chinese heavily polluting listed firms from 2008 to 2024 to test hypotheses. Findings There is an inverted U-shaped relationship between negative AEPG and PGI, while there is a U-shaped relationship between positive AEPG and PGI. CEO green experience significantly moderates the relationship between positive AEPG and PGI, but only weakly moderates that between negative AEPG and PGI. Research limitations/implications Because this research focuses on heavily polluting firms, there are limitations in the data’s industry distribution. Another limitation is the inability to differentiate the moderating effect of CEO green experience across various industry contexts. Originality/value While extensive research has been conducted on financial performance feedback, substantial gaps remain in understanding firms’ strategic responses to environmental performance feedback. This study examines the factors influencing green innovation from a dynamic persistence perspective, thereby providing important complements to and extending the literature on performance feedback.
Purpose Unethical pro-leader behavior (UPLB) reflects how followers may violate ethical norms to serve their leaders, constituting a microlevel expression of ethical fading in organizations. While UPLB has begun to attract scholarly interest, its antecedents remain underexplored. Existing studies largely adopt a social exchange perspective, assuming that UPLB stems from reciprocal motives. Draws upon social information processing theory and cognitive dissonance theory, the purpose of this study examines that leaders’ unethical pro-organizational behavior (LUPOB) acts as a contextual signal that fosters moral decoupling in subordinates, which in turn increases their likelihood of engaging in UPLB. Furthermore, the authors propose that trust in leader strengthens this indirect relationship by increasing the perceived credibility and evaluative weight of LUPOB. Design/methodology/approach Using a time-lagged survey and a recall-based experimental study, the proposed model was tested using ordinary least squares regression with the PROCESS 3.5. Findings The findings demonstrate that LUPOB positively influences UPLB via moral decoupling. Trust in leader not only moderates the direct effect of LUPOB on moral decoupling but also strengthens the indirect effect of LUPOB on UPLB through moral decoupling. Originality/value This study advances the understanding of UPLB by identifying LUPOB as a novel contextual antecedent, highlighting moral decoupling as a cognitive mechanism underlying follower misconduct and revealing trust in leader as a critical boundary condition that shapes how followers interpret and respond to unethical leader behavior.
Purpose This study aims to explain variations in corporate carbon emissions by positioning chief executive officers (CEOs) with foreign exposure to environmental exemplars as agents of institutional change, rather than passive compliance actors. Furthermore, this study explores how the external institutional environment and internal priorities moderate the extent to which CEOs’ foreign exposure to environmental exemplars translates into firm carbon reductions. Design/methodology/approach The research focuses on A-share listed firms in China over the period 2008–2022. Hypotheses are examined using panel data, assessing how CEOs’ foreign exposure to environmental exemplars shapes carbon emissions. Findings The findings reveal that CEOs with foreign exposure to environmentally progressive countries significantly reduce corporate carbon emissions, with this effect amplified in state-owned enterprises but attenuated in family firms and those located in regions with a strong clan culture. Further analysis demonstrates that such international exposure actively promotes green mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Practical implications For firms facing carbon emissions risks, hiring a CEO with foreign exposure to countries with high environmental performance can help improve their sustainability profiles. Firms should actively support initiatives that provide executives with opportunities for international exposure, particularly in countries with advanced environmental practices. Governments also have a pivotal role to play by incentivizing firms to prioritize sustainability-oriented leadership. Social implications The study underscores CEOs’ societal role in accelerating low-carbon transitions by bridging global and local sustainability norms. By institutionalizing foreign environmental practices, firms contribute to national climate goals, fostering broader ecological modernization. The findings advocate for inclusive policies that empower peripheral institutional actors while addressing cultural and economic barriers to decarbonization, ensuring equitable participation in global climate action across diverse institutional contexts. Originality/value Drawing on a transposition perspective, this research redefines CEOs as institutional transposers rather than passive recipients of domestic logics. It diverges from static views of CEO demographics by emphasizing dynamic cross-border learning processes. Furthermore, this study elucidates the connection between CEOs’ foreign exposure to environmental exemplars and carbon reductions, introducing institutional transposition via green M&A as the strategic mechanism for this transition.
Purpose Based on tournament theory, this study aims to reveal the role of industry tournament incentives in driving the digital transformation of enterprises. Moreover, this study explores the role of chain mediation in executives' psychological and behavioral responses.Design/methodology/approach A theoretical analysis framework of "external stimulus -> response behavior -> transformation effect" was constructed. The A-share manufacturing companies listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2012 to 2021 were selected as the research samples for OLS regression.Findings The results show that industry tournament incentives have separate and chain-mediating effects on the digital transformation of manufacturing enterprises. Specifically, the two channels that have an impact are executives' digital willingness and digital investment.Practical implications This research addresses the need for more motivation and efficiency in digital transformation in manufacturing companies as a source of decision-making. Additionally, it offers a lesson for manufacturing enterprises to advance their digital transformation - from strategy identification all the way to implementation.Originality/value This study solves part of the challenges of digital transformation at the source of decision-making. The authors introduce the competitive mechanism of industry tournament incentives to the digital transformation's "new track". The mechanism study part of this paper opens the "black box" between industry tournament incentives and the degree of digital transformation. In addition, the authors expanded their research on the factors influencing digital transformation and the economic consequences of industry tournaments.
Purpose This study aims to examine how and when teleworking influences employee online knowledge hiding (OKH) from the perspective of conservation of resources (COR) theory. Specifically, the authors investigate the mediating roles of role ambiguity and affect-based trust, as well as the moderating role of sensation seeking. The findings aim to deepen the understanding of the dark side of teleworking in online knowledge management contexts. Design/methodology/approach A three-wave survey with one-month intervals was conducted among employees from knowledge-intensive enterprises in the Yangtze River Delta region of China. In Time 1, participants reported teleworking, sensation seeking, and demographic variables. One month later, Time 2 measured role ambiguity and affect-based trust. After another month, Time 3 assessed employee OKH. Finally, 305 valid questionnaires were collected and analyzed using hierarchical regression and bootstrapping methods. Findings The results indicate that teleworking positively predicts employee OKH. Affect-based trust mediates the relationship between teleworking and OKH, whereas the mediating effect of role ambiguity is not supported. In addition, sensation seeking moderates the relationship between teleworking and affect-based trust, such that the negative effect of teleworking on affect-based trust is stronger among employees with high levels of sensation seeking. Furthermore, sensation seeking moderates the indirect effect of teleworking on OKH via affect-based trust. Originality/value This study contributes to the teleworking and knowledge management literature by revealing the dark side of teleworking in online contexts. Drawing on COR theory, the authors provide a comparative examination of cognitive and affective resource-loss mechanisms underlying OKH. In particular, the findings highlight the dominant role of affective resource depletion in explaining employee OKH and identify sensation seeking as an important boundary condition shaping employees’ responses to teleworking.
Purpose This study aims to examine whether chief executive officer (CEO) narcissism exhibits a nonlinear effect on corporate carbon reduction in China and investigates how board oversight and board vigilance reshape the trajectory of that relationship.Design/methodology/approach Using a panel of 909A-share listed firms from 2014 to 2023, the study applies two-way fixed effects with Driscoll-Kraay standard errors. Endogeneity and robustness are addressed through instrumental variable estimation, propensity score matching, alternative specifications, nonparametric generalized additive model tests and a series of curve-shape diagnostics.Findings CEO narcissism shows an inverted U-shaped relationship with carbon reduction. At low to moderate levels, admiration motives promote reduction efforts; at higher levels, rivalry motives suppress them. Crucially, strong board vigilance is associated with a qualitative shift in this relationship, tending to reverse the trajectory toward a U-shaped pattern. Specifically, vigilance attenuates the negative curvature and provides suggestive evidence of a possible U-shaped reversal, sustaining more durable carbon reduction performance even at higher narcissism. In contrast, board oversight steepens the curvature and shifts the turning point leftward, amplifying extremes and accelerating the decline in reduction efforts.Originality/value This study integrates the narcissistic admiration and rivalry perspective into Upper Echelons Theory in China. It advances a dual pathway framework that links executive motives to corporate carbon reduction and contributes to board governance by distinguishing board oversight and board vigilance as separate processes with distinct managerial implications. The findings offer actionable guidance for Chinese boards, investors and regulators to align leadership motives with credible decarbonization.
Purpose This paper aims to explore that in contemporary corporate governance, safeguarding the rights and interests of minority shareholders is essential for promoting transparency, enhancing investor confidence, and ensuring the efficient functioning of capital markets. Design/methodology/approach This paper investigates the effect of board informal hierarchy on the protection of minority shareholders. The study empirically analyzes the aforementioned relationship using panel data from Chinese A-share listed companies between 2013 and 2022. The Gini coefficient is used to operationalize board informal hierarchy and the moderating roles of ownership concentration are explored. Findings The results show that board informal hierarchy significantly enhances minority shareholder protection. Moreover, high ownership concentration weakens the beneficial impact of informal hierarchy on minority shareholder protection. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study provides the first systematic evidence on how board informal hierarchy affects the protection of minority shareholders. It also contributes a governance framework that highlights the role of informal hierarchy in strengthening minority shareholder protection.
Purpose This paper aims to provide a comprehensive review of the voice research landscape, highlighting its evolutionary logic and current trends. Design/methodology/approach This study employs CiteSpace to conduct a bibliometric analysis of 225 articles published in top-tier journals indexed in Web of Science (FT50/UTD24) between 1976 and 2025. By examining annual publication distribution, discipline cooccurrence, document co-citation, author-institution collaboration networks, keyword bursts, timezone map and co-word analysis, it systematically reveals the evolutionary logic and hotspot trends in voice research. Findings The findings reveal a marked growth in the volume of voice research, with key contributions predominantly published in journals such as the Journal of Applied Psychology and the Academy of Management Journal. The evolution of this domain can be summarized in four phases, with current research primarily focusing on the outcomes and boundary conditions of voice. Key constructs such as “promotive voice” and “prohibitive voice” have gained prominence, while contextualized and multilevel studies represent emerging frontiers. This study develops an integrated “research perspectives–antecedents–mechanisms–outcomes” framework and embeds it within a contextual layer that captures macro-cultural, organizational and institutional factors. This study also identifies multilevel moderators that shape when and how voice is expressed, heard and enacted. Originality/value Using bibliometric evidence, this review clarifies the field’s trajectory and advances a context-embedded integrated framework with a concise map of multilevel moderators. It offers theoretical insights and actionable implications for organizational leaders and HR practitioners seeking to design channels and climates that convert employee voice into implementation.
Purpose Prior research shows mixed findings regarding digital transformation’s (DT) impact on manufacturing enterprises’ ambidextrous innovation. Integrating the knowledge-based view and absorptive capacity theory, this study aims to argue that inconsistencies come from neglect of multi-level knowledge configurations and examine how enterprise-level knowledge bases (KBs) and industry-level knowledge bases (IKBs) jointly moderate the relationship between DT and ambidextrous innovation. Design/methodology/approach This study explores the impact of DT on exploitative and exploratory innovation in Chinese manufacturing enterprises from 2014 to 2021 and examines the moderating role of KB, IKB and the joint moderating role of KB and IKB. Findings DT positively affects exploitative and exploratory innovation; the breadth and depth of the enterprise KB strengthen this effect; the analytical IKB amplifies DT’s impact on exploitative innovation, while the synthetic IKB enhances DT’s impact on exploratory innovation; and the moderating role of enterprise KB depends on industry knowledge context. Originality/value This study addresses theoretical tensions by unraveling interaction between internal and external knowledge structures and provides insights which enterprises can use to align digital strategies with internal knowledge portfolios and industry knowledge characteristics to boost ambidextrous innovation.
Purpose Sustainability is a vital priority for organizations seeking long-term success. To effectively advance sustainability goals, organizations must harness their workforce’s full potential by encouraging extra-role performance – behaviors that go beyond formal job requirements. This study aims to examine whether, how and when socially responsible human resource management (SR-HRM) affects extra-role performance. Design/methodology/approach Grounded in signaling theory, this study proposes that SR-HRM signals an organization’s commitment to social responsibility, fostering a heightened sense of work meaningfulness among employees, which subsequently enhances extra-role performance. This effect is expected to be stronger when employees attribute altruistic motives to SR-HRM, believing that these practices serve the greater good. Conversely, the effectiveness of SR-HRM diminishes when employees perceive SR-HRM’s motives as egoistic. Using three-wave, time-lagged data from 410 employees across various industries, this study tested the hypothesis. Findings The findings confirm that SR-HRM significantly enhances employees’ sense of work meaningfulness, leading to increased extra-role performance. This effect is more pronounced with altruistic attribution and lessened with egoistic attribution. Originality/value This study enriches the existing literature by exploring extra-role performance through the lens of organizational practices, with a particular focus on SR-HRM within the context of Chinese organizations. By demonstrating how SR-HRM functions as a strategic tool to enhance extra-role performance, the research highlights its potential to support sustainability goals that align with China’s unique socioeconomic landscape and government-led sustainability initiatives. The study offers theoretical contributions by extending the understanding of SR-HRM’s role in shaping employee behavior beyond formal roles in Chinese organizational settings. From a managerial perspective, it advocates for the broader integration of SR-HRM within HR practices in China, offering practical insights into its capacity to foster sustainable growth and contribute to the long-term success of organizations within the Chinese market.
PurposeThis study aims to develop and validate the construct of digital entrepreneurial ecosystem embeddedness (DEEE) to better understand how startups interact with and integrate into both the digital and physical dimensions of digital entrepreneurial ecosystems. It responds to a gap in embeddedness research, which often overlooks the hybrid, ecosystem-level configuration of digital-physical infrastructures and the balance between structural constraints and entrepreneurial agency.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopts a mixed-methods approach. Study 1 analyzes interviews with founders and executives of digital startups in a digital entrepreneurial ecosystem to identify the dimensions of DEEE. Study 2 develops and validates a DEEE scale using two rounds of survey data (n = 500), applying exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory composite analysis. Nomological validity is assessed by testing the relationship between DEEE and startup growth.Findings DEEE is conceptualized as a second-order formative construct composed of two dimensions: geographical embeddedness and digital embeddedness. Findings demonstrate that both dimensions contribute uniquely to a startup's embeddedness within digital entrepreneurial ecosystems and DEEE is positively and significantly associated with startup growth.Originality/value DEEE extends embeddedness theory to digital entrepreneurial ecosystems by conceptualizing embeddedness as a dual-domain, ecosystem-level and agentically enacted configuration. It offers a validated formative measurement for future research.
Purpose Despite the growing body of evidence on the impact of CEO power on firm innovation, the empirical results remain inconclusive. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of CEO power on radical innovation, with a particular focus on the mediation role of slack resources. To gain a deeper understanding of this impact, this paper divides slack resources into absorbed slack resources and unabsorbed slack resources to examine their differentiated mediation effects. Design/methodology/approach The research sample comprised A-share manufacturing firms that were listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges between 2013 and 2022. Bootstrapping analysis was used to test the proposed hypotheses. Further tests were conducted to confirm the robustness of the research results. Findings The research results suggest that absorbed slack resources have a negative mediation effect, whereas unabsorbed slack resources have a positive mediation effect. Further analysis reveals that both kinds of slack resource can mediate the relationships between formal power/informal power and radical innovation. However, the mediation effects of the two kinds of slack resource on different kinds of CEO power differ. Originality/value First, this paper suggests that the impact of CEO power should not be viewed as either wholly positive or negative in isolation, but rather in conjunction with specific resource conditions. Second, this paper provides significant evidence that absorbed slack resources and unabsorbed slack resources play different roles in the relationship between CEO power and radical innovation. Third, this paper provides a detailed analysis of how combinations of different kinds of CEO power and slack resources can drive radical innovation.
Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate how and under what conditions perceived organizational artificial intelligence (AI) adoption influences employees’ knowledge sharing and knowledge hiding behaviors, drawing upon transactional theory of stress and coping. Design/methodology/approach The study gathered survey data from 324 research and development employees in China across three-time points. Using SPSS 25.0 and PROCESS 3.3, the authors validated the hypotheses using path analysis and a bootstrapping-based analytical method. Findings The results suggest that the relationship between perceived organizational AI adoption and employees’ challenge or hindrance appraisals, and their subsequent knowledge behaviors, varies depending on employees’ regulatory focus. Specifically, for employees with a promotion focus, perceived organizational AI adoption tends to be associated with higher levels of challenge appraisal, which are positively related to knowledge sharing behaviors. Conversely, for those with a prevention focus, perceived organizational AI adoption is associated with hindrance appraisal, which is in turn related to knowledge hiding behaviors. Originality/value There is limited research on investigating the influence of perceived organizational AI adoption in the field of knowledge management, especially the impact on individual knowledge strategies of employees. The authors carried out this study to provide evidence of how and when perceived organizational AI adoption affects employee knowledge sharing and hiding.
Purpose Despite the widespread belief that “your future self helps you become that person,” limited attention has been given to examining its applicability within organizational contexts. This study aims to address this gap by investigating how and when individuals’ future work selves influence their subsequent career adaptability. Design/methodology/approach A three-wave online survey was administered to 203 full-time employees in China. Anonymous tracking codes were utilized to ensure participant confidentiality and enable longitudinal data matching. Hypotheses were examined using regression-based analysis. Findings Future work self exerts a positive influence on career adaptability through the mediating role of work meaningfulness. Furthermore, psychological closeness moderates this relationship by strengthening the effect of work meaningfulness on career adaptability. Originality/value This research advances the literature on future work self and career adaptation by identifying work meaningfulness as an underlying mechanism and psychological closeness as a key moderator. The findings offer practical insights for organizations seeking to enhance workforce adaptability by selecting and nurturing employees with a well-defined future work self.
Purpose Although green innovation is central to corporate sustainability strategies, its long development cycles and high uncertainty render it susceptible to failure. Counteracting the negative signals of green innovation failure is critical for the successful implementation of corporate sustainability strategies. Drawing on signaling theory, this study aims to investigate how firms respond to green innovation failure through “talk” strategies (environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure) and “walk” strategies (ESG performance) from a trust repair perspective, while also examining the moderating effects of institutional environments. Design/methodology/approach This study employs ordinary least squares (OLS) regression to empirically examine the effects of green innovation failure on ESG disclosure and performance using data from Chinese A-share listed firms from 2011 to 2019. Findings The findings indicate that green innovation failure leads to greater ESG disclosure and enhanced ESG performance in subsequent periods. Moreover, environmental regulation strengthens the positive impact of green innovation failure on ESG disclosure but has no significant effect on the relationship between green innovation failure and ESG performance. In contrast, Confucian culture weakens the positive influence of green innovation failure on ESG disclosure and performance. Originality/value This study examines how firms restore stakeholder trust after green innovation failure through ESG activities. Grounded in signaling theory and the trust repair perspective, this study argues that firms strengthen ESG disclosure and enhance ESG performance to rebuild trust. This study also highlights the distinct roles of formal and informal institutions in shaping these strategies. These findings offer theoretical and practical insights into how firms proactively manage and recover from green innovation failure.
Purpose Given the critical role of radical innovation for enterprises in developing and emerging countries, radical creativity is the source driver of radical innovation. This paper aims to investigate the mechanisms through which inclusive leadership (IL) affects team radical creativity (TRC), specifically examining the mediating roles of team positive emotion (TPE) and team external knowledge acquisition (TEKA). Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from leader-member dyads within 132 research and development (R&D) teams across 180 science and technology enterprises in China. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to assess construct validity, and hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the hypothesized relationships within the proposed theoretical framework. Findings The empirical results indicate that IL exerts a significant positive impact on TRC. Furthermore, the mediating effects of TPE and TEKA are confirmed. The study also identifies task complexity as a critical boundary condition that moderates these relationships. Enterprises and team leaders can effectively drive the improvement of TRC by adopting an IL style to stimulate TPE and promote external knowledge acquisition. Originality/value This study elucidates the complex interplay between IL, emotional processes and knowledge management in driving radical creativity. By introducing task complexity as a moderator, the research provides a more nuanced understanding of the boundary conditions of IL, thereby contributing to the theoretical integration of leadership and organizational innovation literature.
