ABSTRACT Digitalization and sustainability are increasingly pursued jointly, yet empirical evidence on whether their integration within business model innovation is associated with firm performance remains limited. This study examines the relationship between twin transformed business model innovation (TTBMI) and firm success, considering digital competitive advantage (DCA) and sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) as distinct mediating pathways and environmental turbulence as a boundary condition. Drawing on dynamic capabilities theory, the resource‐based view, and contingency theory, we analyze cross‐sectional survey data from 565 German firms using partial least squares structural equation modeling. The findings show that TTBMI is strongly and positively associated with both DCA and SCA, but only modestly with firm success directly. Both competitive advantages partially mediate this relationship, with DCA exhibiting the stronger downstream association with firm success. Environmental turbulence significantly but modestly moderates the focal relationships. Customer turbulence moderates the relationships between TTBMI and firm success, DCA, and SCA to a similar extent; competitor turbulence shows its strongest interaction with the TTBMI–firm success relationship, and technological turbulence significantly moderates only the TTBMI–SCA relationship. The study contributes by distinguishing two domain‐specific value‐creation pathways and by showing that their relevance varies across environmental conditions. For managers, the results suggest evaluating twin transformation initiatives not only through immediate financial outcomes but also through their contribution to digital and sustainable competitive advantages.
ABSTRACT Carbon trading is increasingly recognised as a market‐based instrument for climate mitigation with important strategic implications for firms' competitiveness, capability development and legitimacy within global value chains. However, firm‐level engagement remains uneven, particularly in emerging economies. This study examines how land‐based firms in Indonesia form strategic intentions to participate in carbon trading under conditions of institutional uncertainty. Drawing on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and integrating institutional and legitimacy perspectives, the study reconceptualises intention as a strategic orientation shaped by organisational and institutional contexts rather than as a direct predictor of implementation. Data were collected through 18 semi‐structured interviews conducted between December 2022 and February 2023 with senior executives from land‐based firms in Indonesia. The interviews were analysed using thematic analysis supported by NVivo. The findings indicate that senior executives generally described organisational attitudes towards carbon trading as being strongly influenced by economic considerations, while institutional pressures shaped strategic decision‐making. Regulatory ambiguity, high transaction costs and limited organisational capabilities emerged as key constraints on perceived behavioural controls, thereby reducing firms' intention to engage. By integrating TPB with institutional and legitimacy perspectives, this study extends the TPB at the organisational level and offers insights into the conditions under which carbon markets may encourage substantive, selective or symbolic forms of engagement.
ABSTRACT This study shifts attention from reported sustainability performance to recorded environmental misconduct in family firms. Building on stewardship theory and the socioemotional wealth perspective, we examine whether family executive representation (FER) is associated with environmental violations among Chinese listed family firms. Using 13,029 firm‐year observations from 2239 Chinese listed family firms during 2008–2022, we estimate ordinary least squares models with firm‐level controls, year and industry fixed effects, and firm‐clustered standard errors. The results indicate that higher FER is significantly associated with fewer environmental violations. This association is generally consistent across a broad set of additional tests, including alternative variable measures, endogeneity checks, and alternative estimation approaches. We further show that higher internal control quality (ICQI) and greater analyst coverage strengthen the negative association between FER and environmental violations. These findings suggest that internal control systems and external monitoring may condition the environmental relevance of family executives' long‐term orientation and reputational concerns. By examining recorded environmental violations rather than broad CSR or ESG indicators, this study offers a more direct view of environmental misconduct and contributes to family business, corporate governance, and sustainability research in an emerging‐market context.
ABSTRACT Small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) face mounting pressure to align their operations with sustainability imperatives, yet the mechanisms through which blockchain technology enables Sustainable Renewable Energy Governance (SREG) remain poorly understood across different institutional contexts. Grounded in the Technology‐Organization‐Environment (TOE) framework and Institutional Theory, this study examines how Decentralization Benefits, Cost Efficiency, Stakeholder Trust, and Regulatory Support shape SREG, with Environmental Risk Perception as a mediator and Institutional Quality as a proposed moderator. Drawing on survey data from 362 SME managers across Bangladesh ( n = 211) and Malaysia ( n = 151), the study employs PLS‐SEM, Measurement Invariance of Composite Models (MICOM), Multi‐Group Analysis (MGA), Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA), and fuzzy‐set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA). Findings reveal that Cost Efficiency, Stakeholder Trust, Regulatory Support, and Environmental Risk Perception are significant direct predictors of SREG, while Decentralization Benefits operate indirectly through heightened risk perception. Notably, Institutional Quality does not significantly moderate the risk perception–governance relationship in either country context, suggesting that blockchain‐enabled governance mechanisms function largely independently of the surrounding institutional environment. Multi‐group analysis confirms that structural relationships are broadly stable across the two country samples. Configurational analysis further reveals that SREG emerges through a near‐complete conjunction of enabling conditions rather than multiple equifinal pathways. These findings enrich TOE and Institutional Theory by identifying boundary conditions of institutional moderation in technology‐enabled sustainability transitions and provide actionable guidance for SME managers and policymakers in emerging Asian economies.
ABSTRACT Using China's staggered regional carbon emissions trading (CET) pilots as a quasi‐natural experiment, this study examines organizational responses to regional CET exposure and patterns of multidimensional ESG adjustment among listed state‐owned enterprises (SOEs). Based on 13,750 firm‐year observations from 2010 to 2023, we estimate a staggered difference‐in‐differences model. Regional CET exposure is associated with a 0.764‐point increase in ESG scores, equivalent to 0.16 standard deviations. It is also positively associated with green technological innovation and internal control quality, providing evidence consistent with technological adaptation and governance and compliance adaptation. Pillar‐level estimates indicate uneven adjustment: the environmental effect is positive but modest, the social effect is not statistically detectable, and the governance pillar has the largest and most precise estimate. The ESG effect is stronger at higher levels of capital intensity, R&D investment, and executive compensation incentives, and differs significantly across high‐ and low‐carbon industries and by Managerial Formal Political Connections (MPC).
