Ensuring safe and efficient evacuation in university dormitories is crucial for minimizing risks during emergencies. This study develops a comprehensive safety evacuation scheme evaluation model by integrating the entropy weight method (EMW) and the technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS). The model aims to provide an objective and systematic approach to evaluate and rank evacuation schemes for university dormitories. A set of evaluation indicators, encompassing building scale, building design and layout, emergency equipment and facilities, personnel factors and emergency management, evacuation effectiveness and safety, management and support, is established. The EWM is employed to calculate the weight of each indicator, reflecting its relative importance. The TOPSIS method is then applied to measure the closeness of each evacuation scheme to the ideal solution, enabling comparative ranking. A case study conducted in 8 university dormitories validates the model’s practicality and effectiveness. The results demonstrate that the proposed model offers a robust decision-making tool for university administrators, aiding in optimizing evacuation plans and enhancing safety during emergencies.

Many commercial enterprises fall into corporate social responsibility (CSR) decoupling, we consider that it can be mitigated by corporate responsible competitiveness (CRC), which is an attempt to directly embed social values into main products. Taking social enterprises as the sample, we have identified five antecedents of CRC using grounded theory, and explored the joint effect of these five factors to form CRC based on fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). Accordingly, we construct a strategic choice matrix for enterprises, in which we indicate three types of CRC and their conditions to discuss how CRC addresses CSR decoupling. Ultimately, this research offers scholars a new opportunity to solve CSR decoupling, and extend our understanding of the relationship between social value and a firm's main products. Meanwhile, our configurations and strategic choice matrix provide new opportunities and paths for CSR strategies implementation, providing a reference for the research of CSR.

While co-working space remains a widely discussed topic, mainly involving space functions, job satisfaction of freelancers, social interactions, and space ecosystems, very few studies track the actual interdependencies across actors during self-organisation and document the evolution pathways. To fill the research gaps, this study explores co-working spaces’ self-organisation modes and their evolutionary outcomes from a business ecosystem perspective. We develop a three-layer mode to exhibit a similar self-organising process and highlight the impact of initial conditions and path dependency on two different ecosystems (entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems). Our findings reveal that (1) both entrepreneurial and innovative co-working space ecosystems show similar self-adaptation modes at the individual and organisational levels and (2) differences exist between the two types of co-working spaces in relation to the influence of initial conditions on the trajectories and evolution outcomes. This study contributes to contemporary research on co-working space ecosystem self-organisation and their evolutionary paths and helps us better understand how co-working spaces navigate challenging situations through self-adaptive activities. Some practical suggestions for the sustainable development of co-working spaces are also provided.

Purpose-The platform supply chain involves different types of stakeholders, and the formation of mutually beneficial symbiotic cooperative relationship among the stakeholders is the key to the smooth operation and development of the platform supply chain. Design-In this paper, based on the analysis of mutually beneficial symbiotic cooperation behaviours of stakeholders in platform supply chain, a three-party evolution game model of stakeholders' cooperation behaviours in platform supply chain based on mutually beneficial symbiosis mode is established to analyse the evolution paths of cooperation behaviours of stakeholders, and the cooperative behaviors of the three participants are analyzed by system dynamics simulation. Research limitations-The results show that: (1) manufacturing enterprise, platform service provider, and customer can spontaneously form a stable state of mutual cooperation (ecological cooperation, ecological cooperation, ecological cooperation). (2) The initial willingness of the stakeholders will affect the evolution direction of platform supply chain cooperation in the mutually beneficial symbiosis mode, and also influence the strategic choices of other stakeholders. (3) The degree of synergy, the degree of symbiosis, the ecological cooperative outputs, and the coefficient of distribution of ecological incomes play a positive role in the platform supply chain stakeholders to reach cooperation. (4) Platform empowerment cost coefficient, enterprise adaptation cost, cooperation risk coefficient, and resource spillover income are the blocking factors for stakeholders to participate in platform supply chain ecological cooperation.

Emerging evidence shows that employees can deliver and sabotage entrepreneurs' environmental performance. Hence, exploring how entrepreneurs can influence employees to maintain and improve environmental performance with work and non-work factors is crucial for managerial and policy interventions. We contribute to the literature by examining the moderating effects of value systems (thus, the opposing bipolar dimensions of self-enhancement-self-transcendence and conservation - openness to change values) and social context on the relationship between Social Entrepreneurship Orientation (SEO) and employee green behavior. Using time-lagged matched data for entrepreneurs and employees (N = 420) from spa hotels in Ghana, our findings show that SEO positively relates to employee green behavior. While this finding is amplified by the moderators, social context recorded a marginal impact. Regardless, social entrepreneurs' inclination toward the environment influences the corporate behavior of employees, and hotels can seize a favorable social context to enhance their bargaining power on environmental products.

Improving the value chain of firms is major source of competitive advantage. Traditionally, firms use their knowledge of customer preferences to propose value to products. Often, these products do not meet customer expectations. While customers are part of a firm's value chain, other actors could provide solutions to existing product issues or launch a new product. Hence, narrowing down on the role of multiple actors can help managerial interventions improve value chain performance. This study explored the impact of supply chain integration practices (internal integration, supplier integration, consumer integration) on value chain performance with the boundary condition of information sharing. A sample of 271 actors in the value chain from pineapple firms in Ghana was used to test hypotheses. As predicted, supply chain integration practices related positively to value chain performance but the effect size differs. These positive relations are amplified by information sharing. The results imply that firms can reconceive products and markets with actors linked to productivity in the value chain. This study is among the earliest to investigate how supply chain integration practices improve value addition to products in the context of pineapple production, processing and consumption.

Although co-working spaces have attracted significant attention as a type of platform organisation in the sharing economy, little is known about why some spaces faced with an analogical environment demonstrate obvious differences in recovery abilities after sudden shocks, such as the one caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. To understand this novel phenomenon, we collected data from the Chengdu high-tech zone and employed grounded theory and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to identify the possible causal configurations for high levels of resilience in small and medium-sized platform organisations. Our findings reveal that (1) there are five antecedent configurations that multi-morphologically lead to the same outcome; (2) compared with other antecedent conditions, networking ability and diverse value co-creation with customers play more important roles in the formation of a high level of co-working spaces' resilience; (3) under certain circumstances, a substitutional relationship exists between industrial experience and communication ability; and (4) when the endogenous factors of organisations (e.g. their abilities and resources) coincide with complex external environments, organisational resilience is expressed. In this manner, our study contributes to the organisational resilience literature and research on co-working spaces. Some practical suggestions for the sustainable development of co-working spaces are also provided.

Purpose Drawing on the reciprocity principle of social exchange theory situated within Service-dominant Logic, this study aims to examine how customers’ perception of knowledge sharing in co-production, their inherent scepticism and prosocial orientation relate to their willingness to co-create and provide feedback on services. The authors also explored the interplay between these factors to identify conditions in configurations comprising scepticism, which may help navigate its adverse effects. Design/methodology/approach The authors surveyed 556 online and offline mobile payment service users. They used a combination of partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to assess the relationships among variables, and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to identify configurations associated with feedback behaviour. Findings The study determined that customer perception of co-production knowledge sharing is positively associated with willingness to co-create and feedback behaviour. Additionally, prosocial orientation positively affects this relationship, while scepticism has an adverse effect. Willingness to co-create mediates the relationship between customer perception of co-production knowledge sharing and feedback behaviour. The fsQCA findings revealed configurations for potentially navigating doubts regarding feedback. To encourage valuable customer feedback, businesses may consider promoting a collaborative and supportive atmosphere, emphasising shared advantages or building trust even among hesitant and doubtful individuals. Originality/value This study uniquely examines how both prosocial tendencies and scepticism relate to customer feedback behaviour in co-creation by using a hybrid PLS-SEM/fsQCA approach to identify co-existing conditions in configurations comprising scepticism that may help navigate its adverse effects and leverage customer feedback for business improvement.

Mobile payment systems in developing economies face challenges in adoption and engagement, owing to infrastructural constraints, cultural affinity towards cash, and limited financial literacy. This study delves into the role of user-perceived co-production equity, which is a sense of fairness and influence in service development, in shaping user behaviour in mobile payment systems. We conducted the study on 436 mobile payment users through online and offline surveys, applying PROCESS and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analyses. The findings of this study underscore the importance of a fair co-production process, which positively influences service recommendations, resilience to disruptions, and sustained usage over time. User relationship satisfaction partially mediates these relationships, whereas service credibility strengthens them. Fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis confirms that co-production equity is a necessary condition for user advocacy and continuance intention. We propose a strategic framework for service providers and policymakers, advocating for a shift towards genuine user co-production characterised by transparency, robust feedback mechanisms, and community engagement initiatives. This user-centric approach not only fosters trust and drives adoption but also significantly mitigates churn rates, navigates cultural barriers, and fosters sustained user engagement, thereby advancing financial inclusion in developing countries.

Purpose This paper aims to explore how firms enter or exit B Corp certification faced with the tension between local and B Corp institutions, providing a better understanding of the unique impact of institutional complexity on B Corps' decision-making. Design/methodology/approach This paper applies multi-case analysis to 20 Chinese firms in various stages of B Corp certification, including eight certified B Corps, six decertified firms and six candidates. The qualitative data was used to code separately for two research questions. Findings The study findings reveal that: (1) Participants who can obtain expected social and economic benefits by innovating their operational mode to efficiently deal with this tension attempt to continuously pursue B Corp certification. A self-renewal model was developed to show how firms hybridize the two institutional logics; (2) Participants who find it hard to mitigate this tension tend to compromise with the local institution and conform less with the B Corp institution due to high opportunity and accounting costs, low short-term benefits and collective culture. Originality/value By highlighting the different responses of firms to institutional complexity, this study contributes to B Corp research, social identity theory and institutional complexity, providing practical implications for B Lab strategies in China.

Purpose Drawing upon the institutional theory, the present study investigated whether or not small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in East Africa benefit from the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and how the latter influences the internationalization of the former. Design/methodology/approach An in-depth interview was conducted by using 26 SME managers/owners who are engaged in international activities in the “Belt and Road” countries. The sample was chosen from four East African countries across three industries. The theoretical framework emerged from the grounded theory analysis of the primary data. Findings The authors found that the BRI as a formal institutional force generates both direct and indirect influences on SMEs' internationalization. Three key driving forces, namely partnerships, specialized services and innovativeness underpin the internationalization of SMEs. Additionally, sectoral analysis of the similarities and differences in responses reveals no remarkable differences in the drivers and impact of the BRI on SMEs in all the three industries investigated. Research limitations/implications The internationalization process of East African SMEs could be augmented through formal institutions like the BRI, and the internationalization of SMEs along the “Belt and Road” countries mimic an integrative approach. The theoretical framework demonstrates significant potential for further benefits that SMEs may obtain through the BRI by taking advantage of certain BRI opportunities and adopting crucial strategies to internationalize rapidly. Originality/value This is the first study to employ a qualitative approach to study the influence of the BRI at the firm-level. Specifically, the paper covered the hub of BRI countries in East Africa. Hence, the study makes substantial theoretical and policy contributions to the literature.

Among the various factors affecting creativity and innovation, workspace environment has not been fully considered by most organizations. The literature on innovation shows that few empirical studies have investigated the influence of workspace environment on creativity and innovation. Using Ucommune (i.e., one of the largest makerspaces and entrepreneurial ecosystems in China) as an example, this research explored to what extent workspace environments affect individual and team creativity and innovation in organizations. The main results include that physical and non‐physical environments contribute positively to employees’ individual and team behaviors. In addition, individual behavior can help improve employee creativity and enhance team behavior, but the direct impact of individual behavior on innovation is insignificant. Finally, team behavior can enhance organizational innovation. The findings thus provide empirical support for the increasing importance of the impact of workspace environments – especially their physical aspects – on creativity and innovation.

What barriers constrain the international trade of sub-Saharan African (SSA) small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) along the Belt and Road? This study examines the perceptions of international trade barriers expressed by managers and executives of SMEs in SSA. A questionnaire survey was conducted among 435 SMEs. The study focused on SMEs involved in international trade with China and other nations along the Belt and Road and are operating in the manufacturing, construction, trade, and service industries. The data was analyzed using a structural equation modeling technique. Analysis of the data revealed four significant barriers: organizational capability barriers, information/knowledge barriers, networking barriers, and governmental barriers. Furthermore, the study uncovered that SMEs in the three sectors experience varying extents of perception of the identified barriers. Surprisingly, we did not find resource-specific barriers and political-legal barriers to significantly influence the international trade of SMEs along the Belt and Road. This implies that SMEs internationalizing along the Belt and Road may not be subject to similar traditional trajectories experienced by their counterparts internationalizing outside the Belt and Road region. We discussed the theoretical, policy, and practical implications of this study.

In this paper, the quasi-synchronization problem of uncertain complex dynamical networks (CDNs) based on event-triggered communication strategy under time-varying topology is investigated. Considering the interference of the external perturbation on the communication network, a periodic time-varying network topology for CDNs is proposed, which only needs to require a directed spanning tree for the union of all sub-networks in a period. Meanwhile, a new event-triggered communication strategy is proposed to decrease of the frequency of information transmission between adjacent nodes for quasi synchronization task of CDNs. Next, a new adaptive fuzzy control is designed to achieve quasi-synchronization and deal with the parametric uncertainty in CDNs. Then, based on Lyapunov theory and inequality techniques, the quasi-synchronization criteria are proposed for CDNs with parametric uncertainty and time-varying topology. Furthermore, the excluding Zeno behavior for the event-triggered communication strategy is strictly proven. Finally, two simulation examples are presented to attested the proposed theoretical results. (c) 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Drawing upon the cognitive evaluation theory, this study examined the relationship among the three dimensions of paternalistic leadership, namely, authoritarianism, benevolence, and morality on both employee creativity and intention to stay. Data from 344 subordinates and 132 leaders/supervisors were collected from 32 SMEs in the manufacturing industry of Ghana. The findings of the study revealed that while authoritarian leadership has a negative relationship with creativity, benevolent leadership impacts positively on both creativity and intention to stay. No significant relationship was recorded between moral leadership and creativity, as well as authoritarian leadership and intention to stay. Moreover, psychological empowerment was found to mediate the relationship among benevolent leadership, creativity, and intention to stay, as well as between moral leadership and intention to stay. The study provides a fresh practical and theoretical perspective on the underlying mechanism pertaining to the relationship among paternalistic leadership, creativity, and intention to stay.

In this article, the sampled-data-based event-triggered synchronization control for fractional and impulsive complex networks (CNs) with time-varying delay is investigated and a class of more general network structure based on the switching topologies at impulsive instants is considered. First, a class of novel fractional-order integral inequalities is produced to obtain depend-delay synchronization criteria and estimate Lyapunov–Krasovskii functions. Then, a sampled-data-based event-triggered control is designed, which can ensure synchronization of fractional and impulsive CNs (FICNs) with time-varying delay. Next, by using the Lyapunov direct method, some criteria are obtained to guarantee the synchronization of FICNs. Numerical simulations are given to demonstrate that the designed sampled-data-based event-triggered synchronization strategy can effectively not only achieve synchronization of FICNs but reduce the frequency of controller update compared to the previous related works.

While many studies examine the impact of weak formal institutions on nascent entrepreneurial activity, little attention is paid to how weak formal institutions affect the other three phases of the entrepreneurial process, i.e., intentions to start a business, new business activity, and established business. To fill this gap, this study examined how weak market and state institutions influence different phases of the entrepreneurial process. This study used data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, the Index of Economic Freedom and the World Governance Indicators for 74 countries from 2008 to 2016, and applied multilevel modeling to conduct an empirical analysis. We found mixed effects of weak formal institutions on different entrepreneurial phases. In particular, weak market institutions restrict all phases of the entrepreneurial process, i.e. entrepreneurial intentions, nascent entrepreneurial activity and new business activity and established business. Weak state institutions facilitate new business activity and established business phases of the entrepreneurial process.

Value co-creation (VC) is generally considered as having mutually beneficial implications for all actors involved. Nonetheless, emerging evidence on value co-destruction and its consequences on the wellbeing of co-creating actors implies that narrowing down on specific fallouts of this process is needed for managerial interventions. This paper contributes to the value-co-creation literature by exploring the relationship between customer participation in VC on some difficult to detect employee service behaviors: workaholism and fear-based silence. The extent to which employee trust (TRS) in employee – hotel relationship moderates these relations is assessed. While the findings from 422 frontline employee-customer data within luxury hotels in Ghana support a negative effect of VC on fear-based silence and workaholism, TRS buffered these effects. We recommend that VC in service failure and recovery be approached with tact, compassion, and forgiveness.

Consensus about the universality of the power law feature in complex networks is experiencing profound challenges. To shine fresh light on this controversy, we propose a generic theoretical framework in order to examine the power law property. First, we study a class of birth-and-death networks that is ubiquitous in the real world, and calculate its degree distributions. Our results show that the tails of its degree distributions exhibits a distinct power law feature, providing robust theoretical support for the ubiquity of the power law feature. Second, we suggest that in the real world two important factors, network size and node disappearance probability, point to the existence of the power law feature in the observed networks. As network size reduces, or as the probability of node disappearance increases, then the power law feature becomes increasingly difficult to observe. Finally, we suggest that an effective way of detecting the power law property is to observe the asymptotic (limiting) behaviour of the degree distribution within its effective intervals.

Xiaojun Zhang, Zheng He, Liwei Zhang, Lez Rayman-Bacchus, Yue Xiao, Shuhui Shen School of Mathematical Sciences, School of Management and Economics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, P. R. China 3 School of Mathematical Sciences, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, P. R. China 4 Business School, University of Winchester, Winchester, UK Corresponding author. E-mail: sczhxj@uestc.edu.cn; hezh@uestc.edu.cn