Purpose-This study aims to explore the relationship between green technological innovation, digital transformation and corporate resilience at the micro-level, as well as the heterogeneity of this relationship under different levels of environmental regulation and industry competition. Design/methodology/approach-Conducting empirical analysis on microdata from Chinese listed corporations spanning from 2010 to 2021, this study aims to explore the impact mechanism of green technological innovation on corporate resilience. Findings-Green technological innovation exhibits a U-shaped relationship with corporate resilience among Chinese listed firms. Digital transformation steepens the curve and brings forward the turning point, enhancing resilience sensitivity. Dual heterogeneity emerges: stringent environmental regulation and intense industry competition postpone the turning point while steepening the curve, unlike weak regulation and concentrated markets. This reflects one mechanism: re-source-constraining contexts deepen early-stage friction yet magnify eventual resilience gains. The findings suggest differentiated strategies: firms in competitive settings should pursue green innovation as a long-term investment with digital leverage, while those in concentrated markets should emphasize capability accumulation and steady investment. Research limitations/implications-This study suggests staged management for green tech innovation: cost control and risk assessment in the early downward phase of the curve, shifting to achievement promotion and branding in growth stages. Digital transformation accelerates U-shaped benefits via resource optimization, while stringent environmental regulation delays the turning point but amplifies eventual resilience gains through policy leverage. Limitations include overlooking firm-level heterogeneity (e.g. size, ownership, industry) due to data/model constraints, and Chinese A-share sample restricting generalizability. Future research could use multi-group analyses and cross-country comparisons to probe nonlinear effects and boundaries. Practical implications-During the initial stages of implementing green technological innovation, managers should proceed with caution, actively promote digital transformation and pay attention to the heterogeneous impacts of environmental regulation and industry competition intensity. Social implications-The findings highlight green technological innovation's role in bolstering societal sustainability by enabling resilient firms to reduce environmental degradation and resource depletion. Corporations adopting these strategies contribute to cleaner ecosystems, lower carbon emissions and equitable resource distribution, fostering community well-being and public health. Policymakers should promote digital tools to accelerate the realization of U-shaped benefits, while recognizing that stringent environmental regulation delays the turning point yet amplifies eventual resilience gains, ensuring inclusive green transitions that create green jobs and mitigate climate inequities. These mechanisms may in turn support collective resilience, contributing to global sustainable development goals and long-term social stability.
Purpose Despite extensive research on team voice, little is known about how collective motivational orientations are associated with differentiated forms of team voice through team-level emotional processes. Drawing on regulatory focus theory (RFT) and emotions as social information (EASI) model, this study aims to examine how team regulatory focus is associated with team voice through team passion and investigates the moderating role of servant leadership. Design/methodology/approach Using a three-wave, time-lagged team survey of 120 teams in China, the authors find that team promotion focus is positively associated with team harmonious passion, which in turn is positively associated with team promotive voice, whereas team prevention focus is positively associated with team obsessive passion, which in turn is positively associated with prohibitive voice. In addition, servant leadership strengthens the positive associations between harmonious and obsessive passion and their corresponding forms of team voice. Findings By uncovering the motivational-affective mechanisms underlying differentiated team voice, this study extends research on team voice, team passion and regulatory focus, while offering practical insights into how organizations can foster constructive team voice through motivational climates, collective emotions and supportive leadership. Originality/value First, it complements dominant safety-, climate- and relational-based explanations by identifying team regulatory focus as a foundational motivational antecedent of differentiated team voice. Second, it introduces team passion as the affective mechanism through which collective motivation is translated into promotive and prohibitive voice, thereby extending both RFT and the EASI model to the team level. Third, it identifies servant leadership as a critical boundary condition that facilitates the translation of collective passion into constructive team voice, integrating motivational, affective and leadership perspectives into a unified framework.
Purpose This study reconceptualizes “expatriate failure” as assignment misalignment, grounding the construct in labor mobility theory. This study aims to examine how misalignment emerges from systemic friction within the expatriation process, shaped by team dynamics, global operational demands and macro-level shifts, rather than from individual expatriate deficiency alone. Design/methodology/approach This comparative qualitative study draws on interviews conducted in two historically and industrially distinct settings: German equipment-manufacturing subsidiaries in 2006–2007 and German automotive-component subsidiaries in 2023–2024. The earlier setting serves as a benchmark rather than the first wave of a longitudinal design. The analysis examines assignment misalignment at the macro (institutional and market conditions), meso (organizational governance and assignment-team coordination) and micro (stakeholder experience) levels. Participants comprised German expatriates, parent-country superiors and HR managers and Chinese host-country subordinates. Findings The two samples show a contextual contrast between the predominantly cultural and interpersonal difficulties reported in the 2006–2007 equipment-manufacturing setting and the stronger institutional and organizational pressures reported in the 2023–2024 automotive-component setting. Because period and industry vary together, the findings do not establish a pure time effect. They indicate how macro-meso misalignment and assignment-team dynamics can affect expatriates’ authority, knowledge transfer and coordination of assignment goals. Originality/value This study develops assignment misalignment as a post-entry process in which managerial human capital cannot be fully converted into locally usable authority, knowledge and coordination capacity. It proposes macro-meso misalignment as a conditional mechanism and identifies managerial discretion and relational embeddedness as potential conditions that can mitigate institutional and organizational tensions.
Purpose Based on the self-determination theory, this study aims to examine the mechanisms and boundary conditions through which the use of artificial intelligence sales technology (AIST) shapes sales performance. Design/methodology/approach Study 1 conducted a questionnaire survey of 396 sales employees and their supervisors in China’s real estate industry. Study 2 adopted a time-lagged research design involving 324 sales employees in various industries and their immediate supervisors. Regression analyses with Mplus 8.3 were performed to test the hypotheses. Findings The empirical results indicate that the use of AIST indirectly influences sales performance through the mediating roles of the satisfaction of three basic psychological needs – autonomy, competence and relatedness. Furthermore, salespeople’s performance goal orientation attenuates the positive relationship between AIST usage and the satisfaction of salespeople’s needs for competence and relatedness. Originality/value This study advances the emerging literature on the effectiveness of AIST usage by revealing the psychological pathways through which AIST influences sales performance and offers practical insights for strengthening AI–human collaboration in the workplace.
Purpose This study aims to explore the dual effects of work–family integration enactment (WFIE) on emotional exhaustion. Drawing on the conservation of resources (COR) theory, it examines the mediating roles of work–family conflict (WFC) and work–family positive spillover (WFPS), together with the moderating role of family role salience (FRS), to provide enhanced understanding of how WFIE influences employee well-being. Design/methodology/approach A three-wave survey was conducted with 204 employees in China. Structural equation modeling was employed to test the hypothesized moderated dual mediation model, assessing the relationships between WFIE, WFC, WFPS, emotional exhaustion and FRS. Findings The results reveal that WFIE has a dual effect on emotional exhaustion. It increases emotional exhaustion through WFC while reducing it through WFPS. Importantly, the mediating effect of WFC is significantly stronger than that of WFPS, indicating that resource loss outweighs resource gain in shaping emotional exhaustion. Additionally, FRS strengthens the loss-based pathway, such that employees with high FRS experience a stronger positive association between WFIE and WFC. Originality/value Employing COR theory, this study constructs a theoretical framework that specifies the dual pathways through which WFIE affects emotional exhaustion, thereby expanding the understanding of work–family boundary management. Furthermore, it investigates the boundary conditions of this process by examining the moderating role of FRS, which enhances this work’s contribution to the literature on work–family integration and employee well-being.
