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Introduction: With the development of the digital economy, a multitude of firms have embarked on the path of digital transformation through information technology (IT). Scholars have called for attention to the mediating or moderating mechanisms of IT capability on firm performance. This study argues that further exploration is needed regarding the relationship between IT capability and firm performance. Methods: This study obtained questionnaire data from 152 IT senior managers of randomly selected manufacturing firms. The data was used to empirically test the proposed hypotheses using hierarchical regression analysis. Results: The results showed that IT capability has a positive effect on firm performance directly and indirectly via knowledge stock and knowledge process. Moreover, organizational culture management moderates the relationship between knowledge stock/knowledge process, and firm performance. Discussion: This study proposes the "resources-knowledge-performance" mechanism, which sheds light on the "black box" of how IT capability affects firm performance. This enriches the research on knowledge from different perspectives and the the research on organizational culture by discussing the moderating role of organizational culture management in the relationship between knowledge stock/process and firm performance. Our research also has important managerial implications to firm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional research on firm performance has predominantly emphasized the role of key departments, often underestimating the potential contributions of non-core departments. This study redresses this oversight by investigating the impact of non-core departments on firm performance. Utilizing a comprehensive 20-year dataset from Chinese A-listed firms and employing the endogenous growth model, we scrutinize the influence of non-core departments on enterprise productivity and organizational growth. Our findings underscore that non-core departments significantly enhance firm performance. Furthermore, we observe a negative coefficient of the interaction term, implying the presence of diminishing returns to scale when amalgamating department diversity with firm knowledge. This suggests that while both department diversity and firm knowledge independently contribute positively to firm performance, their conjoined effect does not necessarily induce a proportionally amplified impact. Moreover, we found that factors such as the company's equity structure, market environment, and the age and education level of executives may moderate the impact of departmental diversity on firm performance. This study enriches the literature by spotlighting the potential of non-core departments in propelling firm success and underlines the imperative for strategies that cultivate interdepartmental collaboration. The implications of these findings propose that firms can leverage the potential of non-core departments for sustainable growth, offering a fresh perspective for future research in organizational development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: business leaders’ social status significantly impacts companies’ strategic direction and performance. Digital transformation, an important tool for companies to enhance competitiveness and resilience, plays an important role in the relationship between executive background and firm performance. Objective: To investigate the impact of celebrity chief executive officers (CEO) on firm performance through digital transformation. Method: Using data from companies listed on the main boards of the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges between 2017 and 2021, this study explored the relationship between celebrity CEOs, digital transformation, and firm performance. Result: Celebrity CEOs significantly enhanced a firm’s digital transformation. However, this effect weakened when controlling shareholders and institutional investors held more shares. Additionally, the study showed that celebrity CEOs can improve firm performance through digital transformation. These findings were robust across a range of sensitivity analyses. Conclusion: This study contributes to understanding celebrity CEOs’ decisionmaking motivations and economic impacts from a psychological perspective while also providing valuable insights for driving digital transformation within companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing evidence that CEOs who have the 'dark triad' of personality traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) detrimentally influence firm performance. However, there is still much we do not know. The present study suggests that the CEO dark triad might directly influence typical performance indicators in different ways: positively affecting external performance indicators (breakthrough sales), but negatively affecting internal performance indicators (organizational performance). We argue that the CEO dark triad can be interpreted differently by those external to the firm versus internally, where managers are much closer to the CEO's dark personality. Our model includes managerial capital as a mediator and competitive rivalry as a moderator, and ultimately tests a moderated mediation model. Using data from 840 New Zealand firms, we find that the dark triad links to outcomes, as expected. While the CEO dark triad is negatively related to managerial capital, managerial capital does positively predict both performance indicators, and partially mediates the CEO dark triad effect. Overall, moderating effects highlight that the CEO dark triad is less detrimental in fiercely competitive business environments, acting as a consistent boundary condition across models. As competitive rivalry increases, the indirect effect of the CEO dark triad on performance decreases. We discuss the implications for understanding the role that the CEO dark triad can play in firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing evidence that CEOs who have the ‘dark triad’ of personality traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) detrimentally influence firm performance. However, there is still much we do not know. The present study suggests that the CEO dark triad might directly influence typical performance indicators in different ways: positively affecting external performance indicators (breakthrough sales), but negatively affecting internal performance indicators (organizational performance). We argue that the CEO dark triad can be interpreted differently by those external to the firm versus internally, where managers are much closer to the CEO’s dark personality. Our model includes managerial capital as a mediator and competitive rivalry as a moderator, and ultimately tests a moderated mediation model. Using data from 840 New Zealand firms, we find that the dark triad links to outcomes, as expected. While the CEO dark triad is negatively related to managerial capital, managerial capital does positively predict both performance indicators, and partially mediates the CEO dark triad effect. Overall, moderating effects highlight that the CEO dark triad is less detrimental in fiercely competitive business environments, acting as a consistent boundary condition across models. As competitive rivalry increases, the indirect effect of the CEO dark triad on performance decreases. We discuss the implications for understanding the role that the CEO dark triad can play in firms.

This study empirically investigates the moderating effect of board activeness on the relationship between the structure of corporate ownership and firm performance. The objective was evaluated using the hierarchal panel regressions with data from non-financial companies of the Pakistan Stock Exchange from 2009 to 2018, operationalizing the ownership structure as state ownership, associated companies, foreign ownership, ownership concentration, institutional ownership, and family ownership, and firm performance as operating performance, financial performance, and stock market performance. The findings of the study revealed that operating, financial, and stock market performance were favorably influenced by the ownership stakes of the state, associated concerns, institutions, and foreigners. Family interests proved to be diverse for the firm performance. The isolated effect of the board consistently uplifted the firm productivity, but its interactional impact with all the ownership stakeholders postulated differential outcomes for internal and external performance. The study provides valuable insights for policymakers and investors to make optimal strategies to manage ownership interests and enhance value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizations today engage in turbulent competition to seize opportunities and cope with challenges by making strategy planning, increasing information technology (IT) investment, and other means. Based on survey data through questionnaires, this paper constructs models to explore the synergistic effects of information strategy (IS) and IT governance (ITG) on firm performance. The results show that, first, ITG and IS as explanatory variables have a significant influence on firm performance. Second, ITG has a positive effect on the relationship between IS and firm performance. This study extends existing research on IS and ITG by exploring the synergistic effects of IS and ITG on firm performance. The conclusion provides management insight and practical guidance for enterprises by actively implementing IS to improve firm performance to transform from the inherent pattern of traditional governance to the new technology governance.

This paper mainly explores the effect of naive independent directors on firm performance. Using hand-collected data on Chinese listed companies, this study finds that the proportion of naive independent directors is positively associated with firm performance, and an increased proportion of naive independent directors reduce the probability of tunneling of controlling shareholders and financial distress. The findings are robust after using alternative explanatory variables and retro-causality tests. Furthermore, the relation between naive independent directors and firm performance mainly existed in firms with lower shareholdings of the largest shareholder and firms with lower financial leverage. Moreover, this paper finds that firm size, corporate ownership type, and equity balance degree are important factors affecting the appointment of naive independent directors. This paper offers further empirical evidence to the existing research related to naive independent directors and provides an effective way to improve corporate board governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: With the development of the digital economy, a multitude of firms have embarked on the path of digital transformation through information technology (IT). Scholars have called for attention to the mediating or moderating mechanisms of IT capability on firm performance. This study argues that further exploration is needed regarding the relationship between IT capability and firm performance., Methods: This study obtained questionnaire data from 152 IT senior managers of randomly selected manufacturing firms. The data was used to empirically test the proposed hypotheses using hierarchical regression analysis., Results: The results showed that IT capability has a positive effect on firm performance directly and indirectly via knowledge stock and knowledge process. Moreover, organizational culture management moderates the relationship between knowledge stock/knowledge process, and firm performance., Discussion: This study proposes the "resources-knowledge-performance" mechanism, which sheds light on the "black box" of how IT capability affects firm performance. This enriches the research on knowledge from different perspectives and the the research on organizational culture by discussing the moderating role of organizational culture management in the relationship between knowledge stock/process and firm performance. Our research also has important managerial implications to firm., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Wu, Li and Surangkana.)

In today's competitive business market, firms that collaborate on a coopetition basis face obstacles in the form of decision-making, dependency, and trust in their competitor partners. This current study is the only one that has examined the relationship between coopetition and firm performance; yet, this relationship appears to be unclear due to the impact of trust and dependency on coopetition. This study investigates the impact of coopetition on firm performance by examining the mediating effects of decision-making and open innovation on firm performance. There are 230 sets of data that were collected from the employees of Chinese small- and medium-sized enterprises through the survey method, and the data were analyzed using Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modeling. The findings of this study indicated that open innovation has a significant mediation effect between coopetition and firm performance, and that decision-making is also an important mediating effect in bridging the relationship between coopetition and firm performance. By considering these mediators, the findings revealed that the coopetition has a significant impact on firm performance through decision-making and has a significant effect on firm performance through increasing open innovation. The findings also revealed that decision-making played a significant role in mediating the relationship between coopetition and firm performance, which in turn specified a statistically significant positive relationship with decision-making that mediated a positive relation. According to the findings of this research, modern business firms should recognize the relevance of coopetition-based open innovation in their business processes to increase their overall performance. This study is significant because it provides a game-changing strategy for the management of businesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the study is to observe the impact of policy intervention on financial sustainability using the structural vector autoregression (SVAR) analysis. The population of the study is the manufacturing sector of Pakistan, which is an emerging economy. Data for 249 firms operating in the manufacturing sector are taken, collected from Datastream from 2005 to 2019, with total observations of 2,400. To conduct the analysis, R software is used for its better visualization. Results show that firm performance, corporate governance, and sectoral policies have a positive and long-term impact on financial sustainability, whereas earning management and financialization not only have a negative impact, but this impact affects the operations of the corporate for a longer period. This study would be helpful for policymakers as it gives a framework for financial sustainability based on the policies and strategies developed by the sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study intended to examine the effect of information technology (IT) investment and corporate governance mechanism on the performance of the Saudi telecommunication sector with mediating role of corporate social responsibility (CSR). A survey method was used to collect data from the targeted Saudi telecom firm. Results show that corporate governance practices, i.e., internal audit, internal audit committee, and internal board size, have a significant and positive relationship with firm performance. Furthermore, IT investment positively affects the performance of Saudi telecommunication firms. Moreover, CSR mediates the relationship among internal audit, internal audit committee, internal board size, IT investment, and firm performance. This study contributes to the body of knowledge regarding IT investment, corporate governance mechanism, corporate social responsibilities, and firm performance of telecommunication firms in emerging markets. Furthermore, this study will help the top management of the telecom firms to improve corporate governance and IT investment, which will be beneficial to enhance firm performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing body of research has focused on the relationship between board diversity and firm performance. A series of empirical literatures have also examined a significant positive correlation between the two. But these results only demonstrate the relationship between the input of 'diversity' and the output of 'firm performance'. Such research is more of a black box because board diversity must act on certain strategies or decisions to affect firm performance. Some scholars try theoretical analysis with the purpose of opening the black box. In order to verify the relevant theoretical analysis results, this study uses the mediating effect analysis model in the field of psychology, through multiple regression, impulse analysis, variance decomposition and other methods, to thus empirically test the mediating effect of technological innovation in the process of board diversification promoting corporate performance. We found that board diversity can improve firm performance by enhancing the level of technological innovation. Among them, technological innovation has played a complete mediating role in the diversity of board members' functional and occupational background, and played a partial mediating role in the diversification of directors' part-time jobs. Technological innovation is a key indicator bridging board diversity and firm performance. This study can explore and explain the inner workings of the significant relationship between board diversity and firm performance, and link research findings on similar phenomena. The research results may make the existing board governance theories more systematic, expand the extension of theoretical research, and provide some empirical research references for academics and practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary purpose of the research is to investigate the mediating role of corporate sustainability in the relationship between the impacts of transformational leadership on the performance of firms. This study also aimed to investigate the moderating role of knowledge-sharing on the relationship of transformational leadership with corporate sustainability. Respondents of the study were the top management of large Chinese automobile sectors, such as Shanghai Automotive Business Corporation (Group), China FAW Group Corporation, Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd., Beijing Automotive Group Co., Ltd., and China North Industries Group Corporation. These are the companies with the biggest market share in the automobile manufacturing industry in China. The data was gathered by using a self-administrative survey questionnaire from 198 individuals operating in different automobile industries in different sectors of China. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) through the Smart PLS 3.3.2 software. The results of this study revealed that transformational leadership has a positive and significant effect on the performance of the firm. Corporate sustainability has a significant positive mediating role in the association of transformational leadership and firm performance. Findings indicated that knowledge-sharing also has a positive moderating role in the association between transformational leadership and firm performance. The findings of this study contribute to the body of knowledge and show that leadership style has a significant effect on firm performance and that knowledgesharing culture in firms is essential for better performance of the firm. Furthermore, firms may improve their performance by improving their sustainability and by creating knowledge-sharing culture. The findings are important, particularly in connection with a developed country like China. The findings have important insights for various stakeholders, i.e., government, regulatory bodies, practitioners, academia, industry, and researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to investigate the impact of capital structure and corporate governance on firmperformance. To test the hypothesis of study, data was collected from annual reports of sugar sector companies listed in PSX. This study data covers from2015 to 2020. The results of study showed that both proxies of capital structure, i.e., D/A and D/E negatively influence the company performance. Whereas two out of three proxies of corporate governance, i.e., board size and chairman/CEO duality negatively indicate association with company performance while audit committee size has a positive impact on the company performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the study is to observe the impact of policy intervention on financial sustainability using the structural vector autoregression (SVAR) analysis. The population of the study is the manufacturing sector of Pakistan, which is an emerging economy. Data for 249 firms operating in the manufacturing sector are taken, collected from Datastream from 2005 to 2019, with total observations of 2,400. To conduct the analysis, R software is used for its better visualization. Results show that firm performance, corporate governance, and sectoral policies have a positive and long-term impact on financial sustainability, whereas earning management and financialization not only have a negative impact, but this impact affects the operations of the corporate for a longer period. This study would be helpful for policymakers as it gives a framework for financial sustainability based on the policies and strategies developed by the sector.

In today’s competitive business market, firms that collaborate on a coopetition basis face obstacles in the form of decision-making, dependency, and trust in their competitor partners. This current study is the only one that has examined the relationship between coopetition and firm performance; yet, this relationship appears to be unclear due to the impact of trust and dependency on coopetition. This study investigates the impact of coopetition on firm performance by examining the mediating effects of decision-making and open innovation on firm performance. There are 230 sets of data that were collected from the employees of Chinese small- and medium-sized enterprises through the survey method, and the data were analyzed using Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modeling. The findings of this study indicated that open innovation has a significant mediation effect between coopetition and firm performance, and that decision-making is also an important mediating effect in bridging the relationship between coopetition and firm performance. By considering these mediators, the findings revealed that the coopetition has a significant impact on firm performance through decision-making and has a significant effect on firm performance through increasing open innovation. The findings also revealed that decision-making played a significant role in mediating the relationship between coopetition and firm performance, which in turn specified a statistically significant positive relationship with decision-making that mediated a positive relation. According to the findings of this research, modern business firms should recognize the relevance of coopetition-based open innovation in their business processes to increase their overall performance. This study is significant because it provides a game-changing strategy for the management of businesses.

The primary purpose of the research is to investigate the mediating role of corporate sustainability in the relationship between the impacts of transformational leadership on the performance of firms. This study also aimed to investigate the moderating role of knowledge-sharing on the relationship of transformational leadership with corporate sustainability. Respondents of the study were the top management of large Chinese automobile sectors, such as Shanghai Automotive Business Corporation (Group), China FAW Group Corporation, Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd., Beijing Automotive Group Co., Ltd., and China North Industries Group Corporation. These are the companies with the biggest market share in the automobile manufacturing industry in China. The data was gathered by using a self-administrative survey questionnaire from 198 individuals operating in different automobile industries in different sectors of China. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) through the Smart PLS 3.3.2 software. The results of this study revealed that transformational leadership has a positive and significant effect on the performance of the firm. Corporate sustainability has a significant positive mediating role in the association of transformational leadership and firm performance. Findings indicated that knowledge-sharing also has a positive moderating role in the association between transformational leadership and firm performance. The findings of this study contribute to the body of knowledge and show that leadership style has a significant effect on firm performance and that knowledge-sharing culture in firms is essential for better performance of the firm. Furthermore, firms may improve their performance by improving their sustainability and by creating knowledge-sharing culture. The findings are important, particularly in connection with a developed country like China. The findings have important insights for various stakeholders, i.e., government, regulatory bodies, practitioners, academia, industry, and researchers.

This study intended to examine the effect of information technology (IT) investment and corporate governance mechanism on the performance of the Saudi telecommunication sector with mediating role of corporate social responsibility (CSR). A survey method was used to collect data from the targeted Saudi telecom firm. Results show that corporate governance practices, i.e., internal audit, internal audit committee, and internal board size, have a significant and positive relationship with firm performance. Furthermore, IT investment positively affects the performance of Saudi telecommunication firms. Moreover, CSR mediates the relationship among internal audit, internal audit committee, internal board size, IT investment, and firm performance. This study contributes to the body of knowledge regarding IT investment, corporate governance mechanism, corporate social responsibilities, and firm performance of telecommunication firms in emerging markets. Furthermore, this study will help the top management of the telecom firms to improve corporate governance and IT investment, which will be beneficial to enhance firm performance.

The objective of this paper is to investigate the impact of capital structure and corporate governance on firm performance. To test the hypothesis of study, data was collected from annual reports of sugar sector companies listed in PSX. This study data covers from 2015 to 2020. The results of study showed that both proxies of capital structure, i.e., D/A and D/E negatively influence the company performance. Whereas two out of three proxies of corporate governance, i.e., board size and chairman/CEO duality negatively indicate association with company performance while audit committee size has a positive impact on the company performance.

This study emphasized the relationship between the Chinese companies' product market competition and organizational performance. This article explored the mediating effect of capital structure and the moderating impact of firm size in achieving better performance of Chinese companies. This study employed a sample of 2,502 Chinese firm observations and identified that market competition positively influenced firm performance. Additionally, capital structure partly mediated the relationship between product market competition and firm performance. Similarly, the present study also tested the moderating effect of firm size (both small and large) on the association between product market competition and firm performance. The results showed that moderating large businesses affects the nexus between product market competition and firm performance. Conversely, small firms' moderating role revealed a substantial adverse impact on the association between product market competition and firm performance. These findings contribute to the literature on the complex implications of market competition on business firms' performance. The results provide insightful and practical implications for future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With environmental issues increasingly becoming prominent in today's business world, firms may need to pay extra attention to developing their environmental strategies and capabilities in response to environmental concerns and achieving sustainable growth. While a broad consensus exists on the value of green innovation, current empirical research on how different types of green innovation strategies may account for the international performance of a firm remains scant. Addressing this gap is important because determining how to better manage a firm's green innovation strategies nowadays has become increasingly important for firms hoping to achieve and maintain their sustainable performance advantages. This study aims to bridge this gap by systematically examining how various types of green innovation strategies (i.e., green product, green process, and green service innovations) can be beneficial to firms in an emerging market economy. This study also examined the important role that potential risks of supply chain play in shaping the relationships between various types of green innovation strategies and firm performance. This study proposes that the effective management of supply chain risks may be important to the successful implementation of green innovation strategies because green innovation has increasingly become a collaborative effort. This study empirically tested the hypotheses by gathering survey data from a sample of 337 firms in China's manufacturing industries. Results demonstrate that the green innovation strategies of firms are positively related to their firm performance. Additionally, the potential risks faced by the firms in efficiently and effectively managing their supply chain significantly moderate the impact of green product innovation and green process innovation strategies on their firm performance. This study not only offers useful theoretical implications for the green innovation strategy research and for better and effective supply chain risk management. It also provides important practical guidelines and managerial actions that practicing managers can implement to accelerate their green innovation strategy, assess the effect of supply chain risks, and thus improve firm performance in the post-pandemic era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to finance plays a central pillar on the sustainable firm growth of developing and developed nations. This study depicts the linkage between access to external finance, firm quality, and firms' performance as measured by labor productivity for sustainable small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs') development by employing the ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and propensity score matching (PSM) techniques to alleviate the selection bias and endogeneity issue on Word bank enterprise survey (WBES) cross-sectional firm-level data of 3,196 Bangladeshi SMEs for 2007–2013 period. Empirical evidence linking access to external finance and labor productivity has been positive and significant. However, our finding explores a negative but significant relationship between exports and SME labor productivity. A further look into the results also exhibits no statistical significance in the interaction effect between firm quality and access to finance on labor productivity. Moreover, the study anticipates novel empirical support that, the disintegration effect of export sales between direct and indirect exports with labor productivity for credit-accessed firms, is also found statistically insignificant. Then, several policies are drawn from the results to gain international competitiveness, and to ensure more external finance channels for enhancing SMEs' performance and sustainable firm growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of artificial intelligence (AI) technology has evolved into an influential endeavor to improve firm performance, but little research considers the relationship among artificial intelligence capability (AIC), management (AIM), driven decision making (AIDDM), and firm performance. Based on the resource-based view (RBV) and existing findings, this paper constructs a higher-order model of AIC and suggests a research model of e-commerce firm AIC and firm performance. We collected 394 valid questionnaires and conducted data analysis using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). As a second-order variable, AIC was formed by three first-order variables: basic, proclivity, and skills. AIC indirectly affects firm performance through creativity, AIM, and AI-driven decision making. Firm creativity, AIM, and AIDDM are essential variables between AIC and firm performance. Innovation culture (IC) positive moderates the relationship between firm creativity and AIDDM as well as the relationship between AIDDM and firm performance. Environmental dynamism (ED) positive mediates the connection between AIM and AIDDM. Among the control variables, firm age negatively affects firm performance, and employee size does not. This study helps enterprises leverage AI to improve firm performance, achieve a competitive advantage, and contribute to theory and management practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The product market competition has become a global challenge for business organizations in the challenging and competitive market environment in the influx of the COVID-19 outbreak. The influence of products competition on organizational performance in developed economies has gained scholars' attention, and numerous studies explored its impacts on business profitability. The existing studies designate mixed findings between the linkage of CSR practices and Chinese business firms' healthier performance in emerging economies; however, the current global crisis due to the coronavirus has made product market completion fierce, which ultimately affects business firms' performance. This study focuses on this logical global challenge, investigates the rationale, and examines product-market completion impact on firms' performance operating in the Chinese markets. The study collected data from the annual reports of Chinese business organizations with A-share listing and registered with the database of China Stock Markets and Accounting Research (CSMAR). The study employed a Generalized Method of Moment technique and investigated the connection between product market competition and Chinese firm performance. The empirical analysis of this study highlights the conclusion that market competition positively and significantly affected business firms' performance. This study specified that product market competition play a dynamic and indispensable role in achieving healthier firm performance in the Chinese markets. This study provides valuable insights on practical implications and future research directions for the scholars to draw interesting results with new study models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study emphasized the relationship between the Chinese companies’ product market competition and organizational performance. This article explored the mediating effect of capital structure and the moderating impact of firm size in achieving better performance of Chinese companies. This study employed a sample of 2,502 Chinese firm observations and identified that market competition positively influenced firm performance. Additionally, capital structure partly mediated the relationship between product market competition and firm performance. Similarly, the present study also tested the moderating effect of firm size (both small and large) on the association between product market competition and firm performance. The results showed that moderating large businesses affects the nexus between product market competition and firm performance. Conversely, small firms’ moderating role revealed a substantial adverse impact on the association between product market competition and firm performance. These findings contribute to the literature on the complex implications of market competition on business firms’ performance. The results provide insightful and practical implications for future research directions.

With environmental issues increasingly becoming prominent in today’s business world, firms may need to pay extra attention to developing their environmental strategies and capabilities in response to environmental concerns and achieving sustainable growth. While a broad consensus exists on the value of green innovation, current empirical research on how different types of green innovation strategies may account for the international performance of a firm remains scant. Addressing this gap is important because determining how to better manage a firm’s green innovation strategies nowadays has become increasingly important for firms hoping to achieve and maintain their sustainable performance advantages. This study aims to bridge this gap by systematically examining how various types of green innovation strategies (i.e., green product, green process, and green service innovations) can be beneficial to firms in an emerging market economy. This study also examined the important role that potential risks of supply chain play in shaping the relationships between various types of green innovation strategies and firm performance. This study proposes that the effective management of supply chain risks may be important to the successful implementation of green innovation strategies because green innovation has increasingly become a collaborative effort. This study empirically tested the hypotheses by gathering survey data from a sample of 337 firms in China’s manufacturing industries. Results demonstrate that the green innovation strategies of firms are positively related to their firm performance. Additionally, the potential risks faced by the firms in efficiently and effectively managing their supply chain significantly moderate the impact of green product innovation and green process innovation strategies on their firm performance. This study not only offers useful theoretical implications for the green innovation strategy research and for better and effective supply chain risk management. It also provides important practical guidelines and managerial actions that practicing managers can implement to accelerate their green innovation strategy, assess the effect of supply chain risks, and thus improve firm performance in the post-pandemic era.

Access to finance plays a central pillar on the sustainable firm growth of developing and developed nations. This study depicts the linkage between access to external finance, firm quality, and firms’ performance as measured by labor productivity for sustainable small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs’) development by employing the ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and propensity score matching (PSM) techniques to alleviate the selection bias and endogeneity issue on Word bank enterprise survey (WBES) cross-sectional firm-level data of 3,196 Bangladeshi SMEs for 2007–2013 period. Empirical evidence linking access to external finance and labor productivity has been positive and significant. However, our finding explores a negative but significant relationship between exports and SME labor productivity. A further look into the results also exhibits no statistical significance in the interaction effect between firm quality and access to finance on labor productivity. Moreover, the study anticipates novel empirical support that, the disintegration effect of export sales between direct and indirect exports with labor productivity for credit-accessed firms, is also found statistically insignificant. Then, several policies are drawn from the results to gain international competitiveness, and to ensure more external finance channels for enhancing SMEs’ performance and sustainable firm growth.

The application of artificial intelligence (AI) technology has evolved into an influential endeavor to improve firm performance, but little research considers the relationship among artificial intelligence capability (AIC), management (AIM), driven decision making (AIDDM), and firm performance. Based on the resource-based view (RBV) and existing findings, this paper constructs a higher-order model of AIC and suggests a research model of e-commerce firm AIC and firm performance. We collected 394 valid questionnaires and conducted data analysis using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). As a second-order variable, AIC was formed by three first-order variables: basic, proclivity, and skills. AIC indirectly affects firm performance through creativity, AIM, and AI-driven decision making. Firm creativity, AIM, and AIDDM are essential variables between AIC and firm performance. Innovation culture (IC) positive moderates the relationship between firm creativity and AIDDM as well as the relationship between AIDDM and firm performance. Environmental dynamism (ED) positive mediates the connection between AIM and AIDDM. Among the control variables, firm age negatively affects firm performance, and employee size does not. This study helps enterprises leverage AI to improve firm performance, achieve a competitive advantage, and contribute to theory and management practice.

The product market competition has become a global challenge for business organizations in the challenging and competitive market environment in the influx of the COVID-19 outbreak. The influence of products competition on organizational performance in developed economies has gained scholars’ attention, and numerous studies explored its impacts on business profitability. The existing studies designate mixed findings between the linkage of CSR practices and Chinese business firms’ healthier performance in emerging economies; however, the current global crisis due to the coronavirus has made product market completion fierce, which ultimately affects business firms’ performance. This study focuses on this logical global challenge, investigates the rationale, and examines product-market completion impact on firms’ performance operating in the Chinese markets. The study collected data from the annual reports of Chinese business organizations with A-share listing and registered with the database of China Stock Markets and Accounting Research (CSMAR). The study employed a Generalized Method of Moment technique and investigated the connection between product market competition and Chinese firm performance. The empirical analysis of this study highlights the conclusion that market competition positively and significantly affected business firms’ performance. This study specified that product market competition play a dynamic and indispensable role in achieving healthier firm performance in the Chinese markets. This study provides valuable insights on practical implications and future research directions for the scholars to draw interesting results with new study models.

Family financing has become a powerful channel for entrepreneurs to obtain entrepreneurial funding. How do family members use intent and quality signals to select new ventures to provide lending support? Building on the signaling theory, this study provides the first quantitative evidence using a sample of 166 samples of family lenders in China. Our findings reveal that psychological capital can support entrepreneurs to obtain family lending. As an intent signal, psychological capital becomes more influential when quality signals, corporate competitive advantage, and firm performance perform more positively. This study emphasizes that family financing support is not only out of love or altruism and extends the literature concerning the influence of positive psychological capital in financial investment decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Organization Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) announced the Opinions on Further Regulation on Party and Political Leaders and Cadres Working Part-Time (Holding Offices) in Enterprises to force the resignation of government officials holding the position of independent director in listed companies (GID). This paper empirically examines the impact of the GID resignation on firm performance using a difference-in-differences (DID) model, which is an exogenous event with a "natural experiment." The study finds that after the promulgation of the Opinions , firms that lose some of their political resources and their corporate performance decreases significantly compared to firms that do not experience GID resignations. A good external governance environment, while somewhat weakening, is not sufficient to offset the negative impact of the loss of political resources on firm performance. This paper further explores the mechanism by which the GID resignation affects firm performance: one important way in which the resignation of GIDs cause the loss of political resources on which the firm's development depends is that the loss of the firm's tax benefits after GID resignation directly leads to a decline in performance; it also leads to a reduction in the firm's financial subsidy income and a reduction in the amount of bank loans, but both of these do not have a significant effect on the decline in firm performance. The study suggests that GIDs play more of a resource-providing "official" role than an "independent director's" supervisory and advisory role in Chinese listed companies. The findings of this paper reveal the phenomenon of "Political-Business Spin" in China, which has some implications for developing countries, represented by China, to improve the independence of the board of directors and the corporate governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research focuses on the influence of COVID-19 on entrepreneurs' psychological well-being (PWB) in China. A start-up's performance is believed to play an important moderating role. This study uses 2 years of tracking data of 303 entrepreneurs from Shandong Providence, China. Based on conservation of resources (COR) theory, this study found that COVID-19 will significantly decrease entrepreneurs' PWB. A start-up's past performance will enhance the negative influence of COVID-19 on entrepreneurs' PWB. This study contributes to the literature on entrepreneurship, COR, and PWB. The findings can also guide entrepreneurs to maintain well-being during the pandemic and post-pandemic era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patent strategy is increasingly recognized as a vital contributor in promoting core competitiveness of an enterprise. A top management team (TMT) has been indicated as one of the key factors driving changes in patent strategy. Based on upper echelons theory, this study examines how TMT characteristics, including, team diversity, emotional intelligence, and safety climate, influence enterprise patent strategic change and, hence, the business outcome. The data from 930 top managers in 228 enterprises showed that the changes in patent strategies are significantly influenced by the characteristics of top managers. These aforementioned internal TMT factors have diverse effects on the speed and scope of the enterprise patent strategic change, which in turn affects firm performance in a positive and negative way, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on exploring the relationship between chief executive officer (CEO) duality and firm performance. We focus on how the size and corporate social responsibility (CSR) of firms moderate this relationship. In terms of size, business organizations are of two types: small and large firms. This study uses datasets of listed Chinese business firms included in the China Stock Market and Accounting Research database. It employs a generalized method of moment's technique to explore the connection between CEO duality and the performance of Chinese business firms through double mediation effects. Our empirical analysis showed that CEO duality has a significant negative relationship with firm performance. We also explored the moderating effects of firm size (small and large) and CSR practices on the relationship between CEO duality and improved performance of Chinese firms. Large firms and CSR practices showed significant and positive moderating effects on the relationship between CEO duality and firm performance. Conversely, with CEO duality, small firms showed a negative moderating influence on firm performance. This inclusive model provides valuable insights into how the dual role of the CEO of a firm affected the performance of Chinese firms through the moderating role of CSR practices and firm size for better business performance. The study offers empirical and theoretical contributions to the corporate governance literature. This research framework might help researchers in designing robust strategies to evaluate the effects on firm performance. Researchers may gain helpful insights using this methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family financing has become a powerful channel for entrepreneurs to obtain entrepreneurial funding. How do family members use intent and quality signals to select new ventures to provide lending support? Building on the signaling theory, this study provides the first quantitative evidence using a sample of 166 samples of family lenders in China. Our findings reveal that psychological capital can support entrepreneurs to obtain family lending. As an intent signal, psychological capital becomes more influential when quality signals, corporate competitive advantage, and firm performance perform more positively. This study emphasizes that family financing support is not only out of love or altruism and extends the literature concerning the influence of positive psychological capital in financial investment decisions.

Patent strategy is increasingly recognized as a vital contributor in promoting core competitiveness of an enterprise. A top management team (TMT) has been indicated as one of the key factors driving changes in patent strategy. Based on upper echelons theory, this study examines how TMT characteristics, including, team diversity, emotional intelligence, and safety climate, influence enterprise patent strategic change and, hence, the business outcome. The data from 930 top managers in 228 enterprises showed that the changes in patent strategies are significantly influenced by the characteristics of top managers. These aforementioned internal TMT factors have diverse effects on the speed and scope of the enterprise patent strategic change, which in turn affects firm performance in a positive and negative way, respectively.

This research focuses on the influence of COVID-19 on entrepreneurs' psychological well-being (PWB) in China. A start-up's performance is believed to play an important moderating role. This study uses 2 years of tracking data of 303 entrepreneurs from Shandong Providence, China. Based on conservation of resources (COR) theory, this study found that COVID-19 will significantly decrease entrepreneurs' PWB. A start-up's past performance will enhance the negative influence of COVID-19 on entrepreneurs' PWB. This study contributes to the literature on entrepreneurship, COR, and PWB. The findings can also guide entrepreneurs to maintain well-being during the pandemic and post-pandemic era.

The Organization Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) announced the Opinions on Further Regulation on Party and Political Leaders and Cadres Working Part-Time (Holding Offices) in Enterprises to force the resignation of government officials holding the position of independent director in listed companies (GID). This paper empirically examines the impact of the GID resignation on firm performance using a difference-in-differences (DID) model, which is an exogenous event with a “natural experiment.” The study finds that after the promulgation of the Opinions, firms that lose some of their political resources and their corporate performance decreases significantly compared to firms that do not experience GID resignations. A good external governance environment, while somewhat weakening, is not sufficient to offset the negative impact of the loss of political resources on firm performance. This paper further explores the mechanism by which the GID resignation affects firm performance: one important way in which the resignation of GIDs cause the loss of political resources on which the firm's development depends is that the loss of the firm's tax benefits after GID resignation directly leads to a decline in performance; it also leads to a reduction in the firm's financial subsidy income and a reduction in the amount of bank loans, but both of these do not have a significant effect on the decline in firm performance. The study suggests that GIDs play more of a resource-providing “official” role than an “independent director's” supervisory and advisory role in Chinese listed companies. The findings of this paper reveal the phenomenon of “Political-Business Spin” in China, which has some implications for developing countries, represented by China, to improve the independence of the board of directors and the corporate governance.

This study focuses on exploring the relationship between chief executive officer (CEO) duality and firm performance. We focus on how the size and corporate social responsibility (CSR) of firms moderate this relationship. In terms of size, business organizations are of two types: small and large firms. This study uses datasets of listed Chinese business firms included in the China Stock Market and Accounting Research database. It employs a generalized method of moment’s technique to explore the connection between CEO duality and the performance of Chinese business firms through double mediation effects. Our empirical analysis showed that CEO duality has a significant negative relationship with firm performance. We also explored the moderating effects of firm size (small and large) and CSR practices on the relationship between CEO duality and improved performance of Chinese firms. Large firms and CSR practices showed significant and positive moderating effects on the relationship between CEO duality and firm performance. Conversely, with CEO duality, small firms showed a negative moderating influence on firm performance. This inclusive model provides valuable insights into how the dual role of the CEO of a firm affected the performance of Chinese firms through the moderating role of CSR practices and firm size for better business performance. The study offers empirical and theoretical contributions to the corporate governance literature. This research framework might help researchers in designing robust strategies to evaluate the effects on firm performance. Researchers may gain helpful insights using this methodology.

This study explores the implications of CEO entrepreneurial orientation for firm performance through corporate dynamic capabilities. It explores the moderating effects of firm industry type on the above indirect effect. Based on 188 matched sample data collected from vice chief executive officers (CEOs) of Chinese firms, this study found that CEO entrepreneurial orientation was positively related to corporate dynamic capabilities and firm performance and that corporate dynamic capabilities mediated the positive relationship between CEO entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance. Firm industry type moderated the direct effect of CEO entrepreneurial orientation on corporate dynamic capability, and the indirect effect of CEO entrepreneurial orientation on firm performance through corporate dynamic capability. Both direct and indirect effects were stronger in manufacturing enterprises. The findings enrich the CEO entrepreneurial orientation literature by extending the existing knowledge on its underlying mechanism and its impact on firm performance, as well as its boundary conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on upper echelons theory, the current study examines how and under what conditions CEO workaholism influences firm performance. Specifically, we propose that CEO workaholism is positively related to collective organizational engagement, which has a subsequent positive effect on firm performance. Top management team (TMT) power distance would moderate the relationship between CEO workaholism and collective organizational engagement in such a way that workaholic CEOs are more likely to stimulate collective organizational engagement when TMTs have a high level of power distance. Findings based on multi-source, multi-wave data from a sample of 122 CEOs in state-owned enterprises and their corresponding TMT members supported the hypotheses. This study is an initial attempt to empirically examine the effects of leader workaholism at the firm level, which answers the call for more research into the intersection of workaholism and leadership and carries implications for organizational management practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on upper echelons theory, the current study examines how and under what conditions CEO workaholism influences firm performance. Specifically, we propose that CEO workaholism is positively related to collective organizational engagement, which has a subsequent positive effect on firm performance. Top management team (TMT) power distance would moderate the relationship between CEO workaholism and collective organizational engagement in such a way that workaholic CEOs are more likely to stimulate collective organizational engagement when TMTs have a high level of power distance. Findings based on multi-source, multi-wave data from a sample of 122 CEOs in state-owned enterprises and their corresponding TMT members supported the hypotheses. This study is an initial attempt to empirically examine the effects of leader workaholism at the firm level, which answers the call for more research into the intersection of workaholism and leadership and carries implications for organizational management practices.

This study explores the implications of CEO entrepreneurial orientation for firm performance through corporate dynamic capabilities. It explores the moderating effects of firm industry type on the above indirect effect. Based on 188 matched sample data collected from vice chief executive officers (CEOs) of Chinese firms, this study found that CEO entrepreneurial orientation was positively related to corporate dynamic capabilities and firm performance and that corporate dynamic capabilities mediated the positive relationship between CEO entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance. Firm industry type moderated the direct effect of CEO entrepreneurial orientation on corporate dynamic capability, and the indirect effect of CEO entrepreneurial orientation on firm performance through corporate dynamic capability. Both direct and indirect effects were stronger in manufacturing enterprises. The findings enrich the CEO entrepreneurial orientation literature by extending the existing knowledge on its underlying mechanism and its impact on firm performance, as well as its boundary conditions.

Although the impact entrepreneurial learning on firm performance has attracted significant attention, a comprehensive understanding by integrating entrepreneurial orientation and individual self-efficacy remain poorly understood. We fill this void by integrating the above variables into a model and examine these relations. Findings from a sample of 411 nascent entrepreneurs support that entrepreneurial learning is positively related to firm performance, and this relationship is fully mediated by entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE). We also found entrepreneurial orientation strengthens the positive impact of entrepreneurial learning on ESE. The findings indicate that ESE must be in place to maximize the effect of entrepreneurial learning on performance, and entrepreneurial orientation is an important contingency in shaping entrepreneurial learning's impact on nascent entrepreneur's self-efficacy.

Although the impact entrepreneurial learning on firm performance has attracted significant attention, a comprehensive understanding by integrating entrepreneurial orientation and individual self-efficacy remain poorly understood. We fill this void by integrating the above variables into a model and examine these relations. Findings from a sample of 411 nascent entrepreneurs support that entrepreneurial learning is positively related to firm performance, and this relationship is fully mediated by entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE). We also found entrepreneurial orientation strengthens the positive impact of entrepreneurial learning on ESE. The findings indicate that ESE must be in place to maximize the effect of entrepreneurial learning on performance, and entrepreneurial orientation is an important contingency in shaping entrepreneurial learning's impact on nascent entrepreneur's self-efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional research on firm performance has predominantly emphasized the role of key departments, often underestimating the potential contributions of non-core departments. This study redresses this oversight by investigating the impact of non-core departments on firm performance. Utilizing a comprehensive 20-year dataset from Chinese A-listed firms and employing the endogenous growth model, we scrutinize the influence of non-core departments on enterprise productivity and organizational growth. Our findings underscore that non-core departments significantly enhance firm performance. Furthermore, we observe a negative coefficient of the interaction term, implying the presence of diminishing returns to scale when amalgamating department diversity with firm knowledge. This suggests that while both department diversity and firm knowledge independently contribute positively to firm performance, their conjoined effect does not necessarily induce a proportionally amplified impact. Moreover, we found that factors such as the company's equity structure, market environment, and the age and education level of executives may moderate the impact of departmental diversity on firm performance. This study enriches the literature by spotlighting the potential of non-core departments in propelling firm success and underlines the imperative for strategies that cultivate interdepartmental collaboration. The implications of these findings propose that firms can leverage the potential of non-core departments for sustainable growth, offering a fresh perspective for future research in organizational development., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Ren and Wang.)

Background: business leaders' social status significantly impacts companies' strategic direction and performance. Digital transformation, an important tool for companies to enhance competitiveness and resilience, plays an important role in the relationship between executive background and firm performance., Objective: To investigate the impact of celebrity chief executive officers (CEO) on firm performance through digital transformation., Method: Using data from companies listed on the main boards of the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges between 2017 and 2021, this study explored the relationship between celebrity CEOs, digital transformation, and firm performance., Result: Celebrity CEOs significantly enhanced a firm's digital transformation. However, this effect weakened when controlling shareholders and institutional investors held more shares. Additionally, the study showed that celebrity CEOs can improve firm performance through digital transformation. These findings were robust across a range of sensitivity analyses., Conclusion: This study contributes to understanding celebrity CEOs' decision-making motivations and economic impacts from a psychological perspective while also providing valuable insights for driving digital transformation within companies., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Wang, Shao, Han and Li.)

A clear picture of the influential drivers of private family firm performance has proven to be an elusive target. The unique characteristics of private family owned firms necessitate a broader, non-financial approach to reveal firm performance drivers. This research study sought to specify and evaluate the themes that distinguish successful family firms from less successful family firms. In addition, this study explored the possibility that these themes collectively form an effective organizational culture that improves longer-term firm performance. At an organizational level of analysis, research findings identified four significant variables: Shared Vision (PNS), Role Clarity (RCL), Confidence in Management (CON), and Professional Networking (OLN) that positively impacted family firm financial performance. Shared Vision exhibited the strongest positive influence among the significant factors. In addition, Family Functionality (APGAR), the functional integrity of the family itself exhibited a significant supporting role. Taken together, the variables collectively represent an effective family business culture (EFBC) that positively impacted the long-term financial sustainability of family owned firms. The index of effective family business culture also exhibited potential as a predictive non-financial model of family firm performance.