Nexus between green logistic operations and triple bottom line: evidence from infrastructure-led Chinese outward foreign direct investment in Belt and Road host countries

Government infrastructure investment stimulation through booming natural resources: Evidence from a lower-middle-income country

The dynamics of central government funding to regions depend on local investments. In regional autonomy, local governments are encouraged to be more self-reliant from the central government. For regions with high natural resource yields, they will not encounter difficulties in meeting their fiscal needs. Community welfare can be realized through fulfilling basic needs, one of which is infrastructure development. High-quality infrastructure will be able to contribute to further progress in trade, thus enhancing production efficiency. The objective of this research is to analyze the extent of the influence of central government transfer funds, especially the Natural Resource Revenue Sharing Funds (DBH SDA), on local government investments in infrastructure across 508 districts/cities in Indonesia. The method used is dynamic panel regression using the Generalized Method of Moment (GMM) Arellano-Bond approach. This study finds that the role of DBH SDA is still low in infrastructure spending. The role of the central government remains significant in determining infrastructure spending at the district/city level in Indonesia. This indicates that local governments rely more on other sectors in infrastructure investment. By enhancing the role of DBH SDA through technological advancements, it is hoped that the market value of natural resources can be higher through resource downstreaming. This strategy will have broader impacts, as labor needs can be absorbed not only in raw material production activities but also in the processing technology sector. Furthermore, the utilization of natural resources with modern technology can increase extraction efficiency, support sustainable development, and minimize environmental impacts.

Assessing the drivers and solutions of green innovation influencing the adoption of renewable energy technologies

The degradation of the environment in China is accelerating along with economic expansion. Adoption of renewable energy technologies (RETs) is crucial for reducing the adverse impacts of economic growth on the environment and fostering sustainable development. This study attempts to identify the green innovation drivers and sub-drivers that affect the adoption of RETs in China and provide solutions for boosting their implementation. The study prioritized the drivers, sub-drivers, and strategies of green innovation by combining the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) methods. In the study, the triple bottom line (TBL) approach has been used to determine the economic, societal, and environmental driving forces. The study also suggests strategies for encouraging the use of RETs. The results of the AHP method revealed that economics is the most crucial driver, with a weight of 0.376, followed by environmental (0.332), and social (0.291) drivers. The findings of the SAW method indicated that government green innovation initiatives, consumer initiatives, and industry initiatives are the most significant strategies for deploying RETs in China. This study has important theoretical and practical ramifications for encouraging China to adopt RETs. The suggested approaches can help researchers, business professionals, and policymakers promote sustainable development in China.

Paving the path towards carbon neutrality: revealing the contribution of the "Belt and Road" Initiative in mitigating carbon intensity

This study explores the crucial contribution of the "Belt and Road" Initiative (BRI) in diminishing carbon intensity and facilitating progress towards carbon neutrality, addressing the pressing global issue of climate change. Given its status as the world's foremost carbon emitter, China encounters significant pressure to alleviate its emissions. Launched in 2013, the BRI emphasizes economic development along its route while highlighting environmental protection in the regions involved. Despite extensive analyses of the BRI's economic impact, its environmental consequences have received insufficient attention, hindering a comprehensive evaluation of the initiative and obstructing the constructing of an environmentally optimal road. Empirical findings reveal a substantial reduction in carbon emission intensity in provinces along the BRI route, with robustness tests (change the time window period and dynamic effect) validating result consistency. The BRI achieves this reduction by alleviating congestion, enhancing transportation infrastructure, fostering commuting agglomeration, optimizing energy utilization, and lowering carbon intensity. Further analysis uncovers a mediating chain effect, establishing a conduction mechanism of "BRI brings on transportation infrastructure effect and then leads to travel agglomeration effect and then to congestion improvement effect and then to energy utilization effect and then eventuates carbon intensity reduction." This study offers crucial insights for policymakers aiming to make informed decisions towards the green road construction of the BRI, contributing to global efforts to combat climate change.

Green supply chain management influence on the economic and environmental aspects in China

In China's rapid industrial development, the adoption and impact of green supply chain practices (GSCP) have become pivotal. This research employs a non-radial, non-angle SBM-DEA model to examine the intricate relationship between environmental sustainability and economic advancement. The observation suggests that companies adopting the global sustainable consumption and production (GSCP) framework demonstrate a more substantial alignment with China's sustainable goals. However, this alignment is accompanied by a fundamental conflict between the need for economic growth and the need for environmental caution. This study highlights China's sincere efforts to adhere to global ecological norms, as the environmental outcomes (ENVO) demonstrated. The findings on organizational culture (O.C.) present a complex depiction of China's direction, highlighting the intersection between its longstanding traditions with the pressing demands of modern environmentally sustainable corporate practices. The presence of regulatory variations across provinces highlights the regional differences within the nation, thus causing organizations to adopt adaptable environmental policies. The complex network of supply chains in China and the careful management of financial resources underscore the diverse range of difficulties and opportunities that firms face. This research ultimately provides a comprehensive understanding of the crucial balancing process that characterizes China's path toward environmental sustainability. It highlights the importance of effectively managing these factors, since it is essential for enterprises to achieve enduring and sustainable success.

Nassani A, H. Binsaeed R, Zaman K. Green investing in China's air cargo industry: Opportunities and challenges for sustainable transportation

Aviation cargo remains vital in the economic activities to transported goods from one place to another. The developed and developing countries mainly consider the transaction routes for air transportation for safe and quickest mode. Chinese economy is attracting the global World through its exports. The country's air cargo system is mainly reliant on gasoline and petroleum-based fuels, which harms the country's green transportation agenda. The high use of fuel combustions in the aviation sector needed greenfield investment that helps to use green energy as an alternative sustainable fuel. Further, sustainable aviation insurance and financial coverage are needed to mitigate the adverse negative externalities from air cargo operations. Based on the crucial facts, the study used air cargo operations, transportation fuel combustions, private investment in the transportation and insurance coverage in the pollution damage function for the China economy using data from 1975 to 2020. The research employed a non-linear ARDL Bounds testing strategy to break down the sequence of variables into dynamic positive and negative multipliers. Positive shocks in air freight, insurance services, and greenfield investment have been shown to reduce carbon emissions immediately and over the long term. In the short term, carbon damages are exacerbated by the negative shocks resulting from the use of transportation fuel and the availability of insurance. Moreover, both the positive and negative shocks associated with transportation fuel combustions and air transportation freights contribute to a rise in carbon damage. The variance decomposition analysis validated the asymmetric correlations between the aforementioned variables in the intertemporal environment. Based on the findings, negative shocks from total fuel combustions are expected to impose the greatest carbon damages over the next decade, followed by insurance services and air freight operations. The study concludes that air cargo operations need to be sustainable transacting routes fueled by biofuel energy sources, greenfield investment, and sustainable aviation insurance coverage to achieve the 'green is clean' transportation agenda.

Asian logistics industry efficiency under low carbon environment: policy implications for sustainable development

Logistics is a crucial part of every business. The logistics sector not only contributes significantly to Asian economies but also has far-reaching effects on ecological and social concerns. Therefore, it is important to examine the factors that can affect the logistics performance of the country. Hence, the primary objective of the study is to estimate the impact of CO₂ emissions, ICT, and human capital on the logistics performance of the 20 Asian economies. In order to investigate the relationship between the variables, we have employed the OLS, 2SLS, GMM, and panel quantile regression. The estimates of CO₂ emissions and GHG emissions are significantly negative in 2SLS and GMM methods, implying that environmental pollution hurt logistic performance. The estimates of ICT and education are positively significant, suggesting that increased use of internet and higher education rate are crucial in improving logistics performance. In the panel quantile regression model, the estimates of CO₂, internet, and education are insignificant at most quantiles except at a few higher quantiles. Thus, governments should invest in the development of efficient logistics infrastructure to achieve sustainable development.

The impact of natural resource rent, financial development, and urbanization on carbon emission

There is a shred of evidence of environmental degradation in the form of carbon emissions to behave differently when tested with different macroeconomic variables. This paper aims to examine the long-run and short-run association between natural resource rent, financial development, and urbanization on carbon emission from the context of the USA during 1995-2015 with the help of a contemporary and innovative approach named quantile autoregressive distributed lagged model (QARDL). The stated approach is applied due to the fact that non-linearity is observed for the study variables. The findings indicated that the higher financial development (0.304), natural resource rent (0.102), and urbanization (0.489) have a positive impact on the environmental degradation in the region of USA during long-run estimation in the stated quantiles of the study. This would indicate that higher financial development, urbanization, and natural resources are putting more environmental pressure on the economy of the USA. Similarly, the findings under short-run estimation confirm that past and lagged values of carbon emission, financial development, natural resource rent, and urbanization are significantly determining the current values of the carbon emission. For this reason, it is suggested that the government requires some immediate steps of the USA to control the harmful effect of such financial development, more urbanization, and higher natural resource rent as well. This would indicate the reflection of some green strategies in all three explanatory variables to generate some fruitful environmental outcomes.

Determining the influence of LPI, GCI and IR on FDI: A study on the Asia and Pacific Region

This study examines the impact of the Logistics Performance Index (LPI), Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) and Interest Rates (IR) on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) for the Asia & Pacific region. The study is original as extensive evidence on the impact of LPI, GCI and IR on FDI in the Asia & Pacific region are examined initially. For the years 2007, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018, data was gathered for 33 nations in the Asia and Pacific area. Data analysis was performed using a panel regression model and multiple linear regression. The findings of the study reveal that LPI, GCI and IR are the three major factors influencing FDI inflows into the economies. However, the impact of these factors varies from country to country. The results concluded that LPI positively impacts FDI in India, Korea, Lebanon, and Oman. In contrast, a negative influence was observed for China, Kuwait and the Philippines. GCI positively impacts FDI in China, Korea, Kuwait, Pakistan and the Philippines, while a negative impact was observed in Armenia, India, Lebanon. Furthermore, IR has a positive impact on FDI flows in China and Egypt while in Korea and Lebanon, a negative impact was observed. Therefore, policymakers should focus more on improving the infrastructural requirements and macroeconomic factors while considering the other country-level variables that influence the FDI in flow.

Macroeconomic factors affecting FDI in the African region

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) occurs when one country invests in another. Multiple factors have contributed to fluctuations in FDI flows globally. This study investigates the impact of the Logistics Performance Index (LPI), Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) and Interest Rates (IR) on FDI in the African region. The study is significant because the African region is underdeveloped and with an unstable macroeconomic environment. Data were collected for 26 countries in the African region for the years 2007, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018 and analysed using Panel Regression and Multiple Linear Regression models. The study's findings concluded that LPI, GCI, and IR are three major macroeconomic factors impacting FDI inflows. The results indicated that LPI positively impacts FDI in Gambia, Lesotho and Rwanda, while in contrast, LPI impacts FDI negatively in Mauritius. GCI has a positive impact on FDI in Algeria and Lesotho with a negative impact in Rwanda, Mauritius and Namibia. Moreover, IR has a negative impact on FDI in Algeria, Rwanda and Mauritius with a positive impact in Lesotho. Policymakers should pay more attention to the infrastructure development and management of macroeconomic and other factors affecting FDI.

Prediction of drivers' impact on green supply chain management using deep learning algorithm

Nowadays, for controlling the organizations' environmental impact and attaining performance enhancement in industries, green supply chain management (GSCM) plays a significant role. This work considers four major drivers and five primary dimensions for the deployment of GSCM systems in industries. The five primary dimensions are consumer intrusiveness, restructuring quality of supply chain, risk and security consciousness, and urbanization in the region leather industry, and the four major drivers are the effectiveness, features, significance, and limitations of the restructured GSCM system. Additionally, this paper investigates the primary factors that are used for deploying the GSCM system in leather industries located in the northern part of Tamil Nadu. Initially, the survey questions are prepared based on the concept and distributed to the authorities of industries. For the survey questions provided to various industries, three leather industries properly answered all the questions. Each question is mandatory. Then, the collected data were analyzed using the deep belief network (DBN) to measure the impact of primary drivers in implementing the GSCM system in industries. The performance of the proposed system is analyzed with various existing methods in terms of accuracy, precision, f-measure, etc. The proposed framework's implementation has implications for increasing organizational efficiency, lowering costs, minimizing waste, and encouraging green culture among personnel. This study will aid in the development of policies and a better knowledge of how to implement green innovation methods.

Globalization, industrialization, and urbanization in Belt and Road Initiative countries: implications for environmental sustainability and energy demand

This study investigates the influence of globalization, industrialization, urbanization, and financial development on energy demand and environmental quality. The current study uses annual data from 92 Belt and Road Initiative countries over the sample period 1995 to 2018. After the confirmation of cross-sectional dependency and cointegration among the variables, we applied System Generalized Method of Moment, Driscoll and Karry approach, and Dumitrescu and Hurlin causality test to check the long-run relationship and direction of causality, respectively. The results reveal that globalization, financial development, industrialization, urbanization, and economic growth significantly increase the energy demand and CO2 emissions over the sample period. In addition, the granger causality test confirms a one-way causal relationship between financial development and CO2 emissions, GDP per capita and CO2 emissions, and globalization and energy demand. Moreover, there is a two-way causal relationship between urbanization and energy demand and financial development and GDP per capita. Based on these findings, number of suitable policy recommendations presented in the prospective of Belt and Road Initiative countries.

Intelligent monitoring method of tridimensional storage system based on deep learning

Growing international trade requires more flexible warehouse management to match it. In order to achieve more effective warehouse management efficiency, a shelf status-detection method based on deep learning is proposed. Firstly, the image acquisition of a multi-level shelf containing multiple bays is performed under different time and lighting conditions. Due to the difference in image characteristics between the bottom shelf on the ground and the upper shelf on the non-ground level, the collected images were divided into two groups: floor images and shelf images; and the warehouse status recognition was performed on the two groups separately. The two sets of images are cropped and center projection transformed separately to obtain the region of interest. On this basis, the improved residual network model is used to construct different depot detection models for the two sets of images, respectively, and the above algorithm is verified by actual measurements. In this paper, 102,614 images of 3246 depots with different states of non-ground layer, and 27,903 images of ground layer are collected. They are divided into training set and test set according to the ratio of 4:1, and the accuracy of training set is 99.6%, and the accuracy of test set is 99.3%. The experimental outcomes provide a theoretical method and technical support for the intelligent warehouse system management.

Ecological efficiency evaluation and driving factor analysis of the coupling coordination of the logistics industry and manufacturing industry

The coupling coordination of the logistics industry and manufacturing industry is conducive to the sustainable development of logistics and manufacturing and the stability of sustainable supply chain. The logistics and manufacturing industries are not only the basic industries that support social development, but also the industries with high carbon emissions. This paper constructs the measurement system of coupling coordinating ecological efficiency of two industries based on carbon emission constraints and finds out the driving factors affecting ecological efficiency, which is of great significance to the low-carbon coordinated development of the two industries in the future. Firstly, this paper classifies the carbon emissions from the logistics industry and manufacturing industry as undesirable outputs and evaluates the ecological efficiency of the logistics industry (LEE) and manufacturing industry (MEE) in the three urban agglomerations from 2006 to 2019 by using the unexpected slacks-based measure (SBM) model. Secondly, the coupling coordination method is used to analyze the coupling coordination scheduling of industrial ecological efficiency (MLCC). Finally, the spatial econometric model is used to analyze the driving factors of the MLCC. The results show that during the study period, the coupling coordination of the three urban agglomerations continued to grow, the Pearl River Delta coupling coordination is the highest, the Yangtze River Delta coupling coordination grew the fastest, and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coupling coordination grew slightly slower. The development during the 13th Five-Year Plan period is obviously faster than that during the 11th and 12th Five-Year Plan. The empirical analysis results of spatial econometrics show that the driving factors have an impact on the coupling coordination degree of the three urban agglomerations, but the significance of each factor is different. The driving factors have significant spatial heterogeneity. The three urban agglomerations should formulate low-carbon industry development policies in line with local development according to the actual situation of each region and local conditions.

Research on carbon emission reduction and blockchain investment under different dual-channel supply chains

Based on the consideration that consumers have low-carbon sensitivity and channel preference, a Stackelberg game model dominated by the manufacturer was constructed to study the joint strategies of low-carbon emission reduction and blockchain investment of supply chain members under three models: traditional retailer dual channel, manufacturer's online direct sales dual channel, and third-party e-commerce distribution dual channel. The interaction of different levels of emission reduction and blockchain investment in different dual-channel models was verified through the calculation and simulation analysis of the optimal decision of the supply chain members. The research results showed that the optimal emission reduction of manufacturers and the blockchain investment level of retailers under different dual-channel models are distinguishing, and manufacturers have the highest emission reduction under the dual-channel model of direct online sales; when manufacturers invest the same amount of emission reduction, the traditional retailer dual-channel model can obtain the highest profit. In the process of emission reduction decision-making, there are technology investors and beneficiaries, and the investment level is affected by the dual benefit effect of low-carbon emission reduction and trust and the combined effect of cost input. And the profit of the dual channel of third-party e-commerce distribution is the lowest; the ratio of technology gain to cost investment in the supply chain determines the initiative of low-carbon investment. Meanwhile, there are specific blockchain investment thresholds in different dual-channel modes, and the increase of the threshold value will improve the emission reduction. Besides, emission reduction investment is driven by the manufacturer's profit, and the more the manufacturer's channel accounts for, the higher the emission reduction tends to be. And further from the perspective of profit and emission reduction, it provides a reference for the channel selection and joint emission reduction strategies of the supply chain.

Synergy evaluation of China's economy-energy low-carbon transition and its improvement strategy for structure optimization

Low-carbon economic development and energy transition are interactively linked. The synergetic development of the two subsystems is important to achieve the "double carbon" goal of sustainable development. First, this study proposes a model to measure the current synergy level of China's economy-energy low-carbon transition. Second, an optimization model is developed to improve industry and energy synergy levels through structure optimization. The synergy degree (SD) level of China's economy-energy low-carbon transition increased from 0 to 0.98 between 2005 and 2017. Furthermore, 69.2% of the periods are in a state of asynergy (SD < 0.6). By implementing the industry and energy structure optimization (OPT) scenario, the synergy level by 2035 can be 27.8% higher than the business-as-usual (BAU) scenario. Moreover, light synergy (0.6 ≤ SD < 0.8) could be achieved by 2025, and high-quality synergy (0.9 ≤ SD ≤ 1) by 2033 in the OPT scenario. Conversely, the synergy level can only achieve light synergy until 2035 in the BAU scenario. Compared to energy structure optimization, the low carbonization of the economic structure plays a more significant role in improving the synergy level of the transaction. These findings can provide support for China's policy-making regarding economic and energy transition.

Dynamic and causality linkages from transportation services and tourism development to economic growth and carbon emissions: New insights from Quantile ARDL approach

The present study investigates the pathway toward sustainability in Malaysia while observing the effects of tourism and transportation services on economic growth and carbon emissions. The study applied the quantile autoregressive distributed lag approach during the period 1970-2018, along with Granger causality to explore dynamic and asymmetric causal associations between the proposed variables. The empirical outcomes indicate that the error correction parameters are significant across major quantiles, confirming the presence of steady-state equilibrium in the long run. The results demonstrate that tourism and transportation services contribute significantly to economic growth in the long run; however, their contribution varies at different quantiles. On the other hand, tourism and transportation services were found to mitigate carbon dioxide emissions mainly across higher emission quantiles, confirming the sustainability of the transportation and tourism sector in Malaysia. We also observe a bidirectional causality between model variables. These results suggest important policy implications. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2022;18:1272-1287. © 2021 SETAC.

Impact of psychological contract breach on firm’s innovative performance: A moderated mediation model

Organizations are seeking ways to be more competitive in the market. Globalization also paves the way for additional challenges for firms to compete in today’s knowledge-based economy and competitive corporate settings. The psychological contract breach (PCB) of employees could be a possible reason to slow down the firm’s innovative performance. Based on the social exchange theory, the present study assumes that a PCB negatively affects a firm’s innovative performance. The present study also assessed the mediating role of knowledge hiding (KH) and moral disengagement (MD) in the relationship between PCB and a firm’s innovative performance. This study also attempts to check the moderating role of perceived supervisor support (PSS) in the relationship between PCB and KH and between PCB and MD. For empirical investigation, the present study collected the data from 303 employees of various textile organizations in china through a structured questionnaire method using a convenient sampling technique. The present study applied partial least square structural equation modeling for empirical analyses using Smart PLS software. The present study revealed that a PCB does not directly influence a firm’s innovative performance. However, the results confirmed that KH negatively mediates the relationship between PCB and a firm’s innovative performance. On the other hand, results also confirmed that MD negatively mediates the relationship between PCB and a firm’s innovative performance. The finding also acknowledged that the PSS does not moderate the relationship between PCB and KH. Additionally, the findings confirmed that PSS positively moderates the relationship between PCB and moral disengagement. The present study offers important practical, theoretical, and managerial implications.

Blockchain technology-based sustainable management research: the status quo and a general framework for future application

The problems of data leakage and unreliable information transfer in the management process make sustainability management an inevitable need for future development. Globally, there is increasing attention paid to blockchain technology and particularly its application in addressing sustainable management issues, both from academia and industry. Aiming to deepen the understanding of how blockchain technology could deal with sustainable management issues across different disciplines, this paper investigates the latest research on the application of blockchain technology in sustainable management published from 2017 to 2021. It is found that there is a drastic surge of publications in the recent 2 years. The analysis focuses on authors' origins, the collaboration network of the keywords, countries, and research topics covered. The application of blockchain technology in five key sectors of sustainable management, encompassing energy management, construction management, supply chain management, environmental management, and e-government management, is selected for further analysis detail. Also, a general framework for applying blockchain technology is proposed for broadening its use and dealing with sustainable management issues. The findings show that the identified 108 publications are distributed in 75 different journals, and scholars from China, the UK, and the USA have been working closely in BT-based sustainable management research. Blockchain technology is just emerging in sustainable management, and there is a great potential for applying blockchain technology to improve sustainable management performance and, more importantly, to provide solutions to quite a few long-lasting problems in these sectors. Opportunities for future research are also presented and discussed.

Does health expenditure matter for life expectancy in Mediterranean countries?

This research assesses the effect of health expenditure and sanitation on life expectancy in Mediterranean countries. We also consider other drivers of life expectancy, such as CO₂ emissions and economic growth. The study covers the period 2000-2018, and the recently developed method of moments quantile regression (MMQR) approach was utilised to assess these interconnections. This method is immune to outliers and creates an asymmetric interrelationship between variables. The outcomes from the MMQR unveiled that economic growth, health expenditure, and sanitation enhanced life expectancy in all quantiles (0.1-0.90). Furthermore, in all quantiles (0.1-0.90), the effect of CO₂ emissions on life expectancy was negative. Moreover, as a robustness check, the FMOLS, DOLS, and FE-OLS long-run estimators were applied, and the outcomes validated the MMQR outcomes. Based on the results generated, policymakers in these nations should implement effective environmental and public health measures that will pay off in the long run through improved health as a result of lower emissions of CO₂, as well as increased economic expansion and productivity.

Transportation moderation in agricultural sector sustainability - a robust global perspective

The agriculture sector creates nearly a quarter of the total GHG emissions globally as production and transportation activities in the agriculture sector mostly use fossil fuels, creating carbon emissions. In this regard, it is highly important to study the environmental sustainability of agriculture sector growth by using the theory of environmental Kuznets curve (EKC). Furthermore, this research study is aimed to assess the moderation role of transportation competitiveness in determining the carbon emissions of transportation sector by using agriculture sector value addition. The study uses panel quantile regression technique for data analysis of 121 countries by covering time period from 2008 to 2018. The study results validated the agricultural EKC across four different quantile groups based on carbon emissions of transport sector. The moderation of transportation competitiveness is observed in changing the turning point and flattening of agricultural EKC indicating the early achievement of maturity. The quality of institutions and planned increase of population can help reduce carbon emissions of transportation sector. The moderation of transportation competitiveness implicates the importance of planning and efficiently operating the transportation sector to mitigate carbon emissions.

Mediating Role of Customer Value Co-creation and Internal Branding Between Brand Orientation and Brand Performance: Moderating Effect of Enterprise Innovative Capabilities-Evidence From Agri Product Users

There has been a rejuvenated interest from researchers and scholars regarding the various ways in which organizations can enhance their overall brand performance. Enterprise brand orientation are said to be the main factors that aid in improving brand performance along with internal branding and the customer value co-creation. To assess this relationship, the present study undertook an inquiry to investigate the impact of enterprise brand orientation on brand performance. Moreover, the mediating roles of customer value co-creation and internal branding were also studied. Data was obtained from 358 Chinese consumers of various household, electronic, and textile goods through a self-administered survey. A SEM technique was applied using Smart-PLS to examine the data. The findings suggested that enterprise brand orientation had a significant effect on brand performance. Moreover, it was also observed that internal branding and customer value co-creation also had a predicting role in brand performance. In addition to this, customer value co-creation and internal branding were seen to be strongly mediating the relationships between enterprise brand orientation and brand performance. The study also checked the moderating role of enterprise innovative capabilities on the effect on enterprise brand orientation and brand performance. The theoretical implication entailed the value addition made by the current study in expanding the knowledge on the predictors of enterprise brand equity. The practical implication outlined the steps that could be taken by organizations to improve brand performance through enterprise brand orientation; internal branding and customer value co-creation so that customer satisfaction and enterprise brand performance could be enhanced.

Impact of Perceived Product Value on Customer-Based Brand Equity: Marx’s Theory – Value-Based Perspective

Management research is allocating energies to seek ways to improve organizational performance. Branding has become a significant phenomenon that academicians and scholars have studied. Improving the brand’s overall equity requires strategies that the brand managers must implement. Based on Marx’s theory, the present study attempts to determine the role of product perceived value on customer-based brand equity, brand resonance and customer affective commitment, respectively. Moreover, this study also tries to determine the mediating roles of brand resonance and customer affective commitment in the relationship between product perceived value and customer-based brand equity, respectively. For this purpose, the data were gathered from 310 customers of branding products in China. The present study applied partial least square structural equation modeling for empirical analyses using Smart PLS software. The present study’s findings acknowledge that product perceived value did not directly influence customer-based brand equity. However, results confirmed that product perceived value positively influences brand resonance and customer affective commitment. Furthermore, the outcomes of the present study also concluded that both brand resonance and affective commitment played a mediating role between product perceived value and customer-based brand equity, respectively. Theoretically, the study contributed to the literature by examining the influence of product perceived value on customer-based brand equity. The study also enriched the literature by providing key findings related to the mediating roles of brand resonance and customer affective commitment. Practically, the study is beneficial for the brands and they can enhance product perceived value by improving product design, effectively communicating product benefits, and executing effective promotional strategies.

Internationalization Issues in Chinese Firms: One Belt, One Road-Based Perspective

The underlying aim of this study was to investigate the impact of human resource management (HRM) practices, organizational identity, and brand leadership on employee brand-based equity through the mediatory role of brand knowledge dissemination. A questionnaire was adopted to obtain data from 421 employees working in the construction sector of China. The SmartPLS software was used to analyze the data with the help of a structural equation modeling (SEM) technique. The results revealed that HRM practices and organizational identity had a positive and significant relationship with employee brand-based equity, while brand leadership had no direct impact on employee brand-based equity. The results also revealed that brand knowledge dissemination mediated the relationship between independent variables (HRM practices, organizational identity, and brand leadership) and dependent variable (employee brand-based equity). Theoretically, this paper made a valuable contribution by examining the impact of HRM practices, organizational identity, and brand leadership on employee brand-based equity. In terms of practical implications, this study would obviously help the organizations to improve their employee brand-based equity through HRM practices and organizational identity.

Is Social Distancing Law the New Normal? Forced Shift to Media Online Learning and Its Effectiveness: A Moderating Role of Student Engagement During the Pandemic of COVID-19

The author intends to investigate the role of social distancing laws in the new normal as well as the effectiveness of forced shift to media online learning. This research indicates that student involvement had a moderating influence during the epidemic. This study is based on social learning theory (SLT), which endeavors to emulate the behavior, perceptions, and emotions of other individuals. The data were obtained from various Chinese universities. We gathered data utilizing the stratified sample approach as well as Google Form. A total of 256 students enrolled in a variety of programs at Chinese universities completed a questionnaire for this investigation. The direct, mediating, and moderating effects of the variables were evaluated using partial least square structural equation modeling in this study (PLS-SEM), using the Smart-PLS software 3.0. According to the findings, forced shift to media online learning acts as a mediator between the lack of social interaction, perceived harm, perception of maintaining social distancing, and the law, and the effectiveness of media online learning has a significant effect on the effectiveness of media online learning. In addition, student engagement appears to be a moderator between the forced shift to media online learning and its effectiveness. A future study might concentrate on gaining a deeper understanding of the numerous online engagement-promoting behaviors. Teachers must go above and above to provide themes that enable pupils to connect while learning. Instructors and educational institutions will benefit from the research since it will allow them to define methods for boosting social interaction in online learning and analyze methods for enhancing the efficacy of media in online learning.

Toward Economic Growth and Value Creation Through Social Entrepreneurship: Modelling the Mediating Role of Innovation

The concept of social entrepreneurship emerged as a significant factor that contributes toward public welfare and prosperity. Recent studies showed that social entrepreneurship influences the economic growth and sustainability of the state. Therefore, the underlying aim of this study was to investigate the impact of social entrepreneurship on sustainable economic growth and value creation. This study also undertook to observe the mediating role of innovation in the relationship between social entrepreneurship and sustainable economic growth and between social entrepreneurship and value creation. A questionnaire technique was adopted to obtain data from 343 tour operators in China. The Smart-PLS software was used to analyze the data through the aid of a structural equation modelling (SEM) technique. The results revealed that social entrepreneurship has an effect on sustainable economic growth and value creation. The results also demonstrated that innovation has an effect on sustainable economic growth and value creation. Moreover, it was also observed that innovation mediated the relationship between social entrepreneurship and sustainable economic growth and between social entrepreneurship and value creation. Theoretically, this study made a valuable contribution by examining the impact of social entrepreneurship on sustainable economic growth and value creation and innovation as a mediator. In terms of practical implications, this study would certainly aid the policymakers to devise policies and strategies aim to encourage and promote social entrepreneurship. Moreover, future studies can introduce other mediating and moderating variables in order to gain a deeper insight into the phenomenon.

Digital Economy, R&D Investment, and Regional Green Innovation—Analysis Based on Provincial Panel Data in China

The digital economy plays an important role in promoting regional green innovation. Based on the panel data of 30 provincial administrative regions in mainland China (except Tibet) from 2011 to 2018, this paper constructs a comprehensive development index of the digital economy and explores the potential path of the digital economy affecting regional green innovation through factor analysis and regression analysis. The results show the following: Firstly, the digital economy can effectively promote regional green innovation capability. The causal relationship is mainly realized through scientific research funds and human resources. Secondly, in terms of regional heterogeneity, the role of the digital economy in promoting green innovation and R&D investment in eastern China is stronger than that in central and western China. Thirdly, further analysis showed that the digital economy has a significant nonlinear influence on regional green innovation capability. This feature is mainly reflected in the influence of R&D personnel on regional green innovation. Therefore, the rational allocation of R&D resources is conducive to the development of regional green innovation. Finally, it is suggested to improve the two mechanisms of R&D funds and personnel investment to actuate regional green innovation development.

Teachers Self-Efficacy and Employee Brand Based Equity: A Perspective of College Students

Teachers working in institutions like to affiliate themselves with their organizations taking into account their efficacy toward jobs along with encouraging students in studies. The main objective of the present study is to identify the teachers’ self-efficacy on collective self-efficacy, academic psychological capital, and students’ engagement which consequently affect brand-based equity. The population taken in this study is college students across China, deriving a sample size of 316. The sample has been selected on the basis of the convenience sampling technique. Smart PLS 3.3.5 software has been used in the present study to analyze data for structural equation modeling. The findings of the study had shown that teachers’ self-efficacy does not have any impact on employee-based brand equity, however, significantly affects collective self-efficacy, academic psychological capital, and student engagement. Further, strong and moderate mediations have also been confirmed in the study for collective self-efficacy, academic psychological capital, student engagement between the relationships between teachers self-efficacy and brand based equity, however, collective self-efficacy and academic psychological capital could not find any mediating significance. The results have identified the significant role of teachers’ self-efficacy for collective self-efficacy, academic psychological capital, and student engagement. These empirical findings suggest policy implications for the retention of students in colleges across China.

Psychological and Behavioral Outcomes From the Perspective of Moral Culture: A Study of College Students

Although the issue of moral identity and morality is under investigation for the last many years, there is still a need to investigate its role in how it promotes behavior. This study tends to extend this string of literature and attempted to investigate the mediating role of moral reasoning among the elements of moral culture, prosocial behavior, and psychological wellbeing. For this purpose, college students were selected as participants in this study. For this purpose, a two-wave strategy was followed to collect data. In the first wave of questionnaire distribution, 600 college students were contacted to complete the response. A hidden secret code was allotted to each questionnaire to trace the respondent for the second wave. From the distributed 600 questionnaires, 507 questionnaires were received back. At this stage, demographic characteristics and questions related to both the independent variables were asked from the respondents. While in the next wave, 448 questionnaires were received back from the redistributed questionnaires in the second wave. After discarding the incomplete and partially filled questionnaires (17 questionnaires) there were left 431 useable responses. These responses were used to run the tests through structural equation modeling (SEM) through assessment of measurement and structural model. Results indicate that symbolization promotes positive changes in the psychological wellbeing of the students and prosocial behavior of the college students. Moreover, internalization can promote psychological wellbeing. However, the impact of internalization on the prosocial behavior of college students has not been found statistically significant. Moreover, it can be safely concluded that moral reasoning has the potency to mediate the relationship of symbolization and psychological wellbeing as well as prosocial behavior. Moral reasoning also mediates the relationship between internalization and psychological well-being and prosocial behavior.

Adoption of M-Learning in Business English Course and Its Relationship to Learning Style Preferences: An Empirical Investigation

Learning around the world has been changed with the rapid development in technology which promotes the students to be more flexible and interactive with each other which has been encouraged by the mobile learning environment. Therefore, the current study intends to analyze the impact of inquiry learning, reflective thinking on problem-solving skills, and critical thinking skills with the mediation of peer communication. To carry out the study, data was collected from 378 college students in China by using survey forms. The analysis of the data and validation of the proposed hypotheses were conducted using Smart-PLS and structural equation modeling (SEM) technique. The results revealed that inquiry learning and reflective thinking affect problem-solving skills. However, inquiry learning and reflective thinking did not affect critical thinking skills. Moreover, the study found that peer communication mediated the relationship between reflective thinking, problem-solving skills, and between reflective thinking and critical thinking skills. However, peer communication did not mediate the relationship among inquiry learning as independent variable and problem-solving skills and critical thinking skills as dependent. The study has theoretically contributed by examining the impact of online learning styles on higher-order thinking skill (HOTS) in the M-learning environment. Also, the study greatly advances the literature by investigating the mediating role of peer communication. Practically, the colleges can improve the students HOTS by devising policies and educational programs focusing on learning styles.

Management of Green Economic Infrastructure and Environmental Sustainability in One Belt and Road Enitiative Economies

Green infrastructure has been considered as one potential solution for improving air quality as well as enhancing environmental sustainability in the modern era. Therefore, the study aims to examine the impact of green economic infrastructure on environmental sustainability in one belt and road initiative (OBRI) economies for the period 2007 to 2019. For empirical investigations, the study adopts 2SLS and GMM approaches. The study uses three proxies to measure green economic infrastructure, namely, green logistics, use of the internet, and green technology. Our 2SLS findings demonstrate that green logistics increases CO2 in OBRI, Central Asia, MENA and reduces CO2 in Europe. However, GMM findings report that green logistics increases CO2 in OBRI, central Asia, and MENA and reduces CO2 in Europe. While our 2SLS findings show that internet use reduces CO2 in OBRI and East and Southeast Asia Europe and increases CO2 in MENA. While GMM findings reveal that the use of the internet reduces CO2 in OBRI and Europe and increases in East and Southeast Asia and MENA. While green technology also enhances environmental sustainability in OBRI. Based on the findings, environmental policies can be revised for OBRI economies.

Environmental performance and international trade in China: The role of renewable energy and eco-innovation

Renewable energy and green innovation can enhance environmental performance by encouraging international trade, as anticipated by the current theoretical framework. This study investigates how renewable energy and eco-innovation affect international trade and environmental performance using quarterly data series from 1981 to 2018 for China. The study applies a quantile-based autoregressive distributed lag model. The results indicate that environmental innovation and renewable energy are consistent with environmental quality, while trade openness and urbanization contribute to environmental degradation by stimulating CO₂ emissions. In addition, the quantile causality test showed a bidirectional causality between renewable energy and CO₂ emissions, trade openness and CO₂ emissions, and urbanization and CO₂ emissions. Additionally, the findings lend theoretical support for the formulation of environmentally protective policies to better understand the role of renewable energy in stimulating international trade, which eventually enhances environmental performance. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2022;18:813-823. © 2021 SETAC.

How Organizations Create Employee Based Brand Equity: Mediating Effects of Employee Empowerment

In the present era, organizations are trying to get success in the market by creating a competitive advantage; however, it has been argued in the literature that the fashion of creating competitive advantage through tangible resources is now gaining unpopularity among organizations and there is a shift toward human capital for organizational competitiveness. This study has made an attempt toward this focus and investigated the phenomenon of employee brand-based equity. For this purpose, data have been collected from the manufacturing sector through personally administrated questionnaires. In total, 400 questionnaires were floated. After discarding the partially filled questionnaires, 325 questionnaires were left, which were later analyzed on the basis of the structural equation modeling (SEM) approach by assessing the measurement model and structural model. The outcome of this study revealed that psychological attachment, internal communication, and employee organization fit bring positive change in employee attitudes and it promotes employee brand-based equity. Similarly, it has also been proved that employee empowerment also plays a mediating role.

Effect of Interpersonal Injustice on Knowledge Hiding Behavior: Moderating Role of High-Performance Work Stress

The underlying aim of this study was to investigate the impact of interpersonal injustice on emotional exhaustion and the three main facets of knowledge hiding, i.e., evasive knowledge hiding, playing dumb, and rationalized knowledge hiding. This study also investigates the moderating role of high-performance work stress in the relationship between interpersonal injustice and emotional exhaustion. A questionnaire was adopted to obtain data from 539 employees working in the telecom sector of China. The Smart-PLS software was used to analyze the data through the aid of a structural equation modeling (SEM) technique. The results revealed that interpersonal injustice had a positive and significant relationship with evasive knowledge hiding, playing dumb, and rationalized knowledge hiding. Interpersonal injustice also had a positive relationship with emotional exhaustion, and it was found that emotional exhaustion had a positive relationship with evasive knowledge hiding, playing dumb, and rationalized knowledge hiding. The results also revealed that emotional exhaustion mediated the relationship between interpersonal injustice and knowledge hiding (i.e., evasive hiding, playing dumb, and rationalized hiding). Moreover, it was also observed that high-performance work stress significantly but negatively moderated the relationship between interpersonal injustice and emotional exhaustion. Theoretically, this study made a valuable contribution by examining the impact of interpersonal injustice on knowledge hiding behavior. In terms of practical implications, this study would certainly aid the organizations to support a fair and just workplace culture that encourages knowledge sharing.

The dynamics of public spending on sustainable green economy: role of technological innovation and industrial structure effects

In order to achieve the goal of sustainable green economic development, it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the efficiency of the green economy and compare it with emission reductions. The green economy idea is a much-discussed solution to economic growth. Therefore, this study investigated the impact of government spending on the performance of the green economy of various countries under the "Belt and Road" (BRI) initiative project. The data were analyzed using the BRI economy panel data from 2008 to 2018. The generalized method of moments (GMM) was used to estimate the effect of government expenditures on education and research and development (R&D) on green economic performance index (GEE) in BRI countries. The results reveal that during the study period, BRI countries have experienced an upward transition towards green development, except for Pakistan and Bangladesh; their GEE decreased gradually from 2010 to 2018. Further, the findings of the system GMM revealed that both education and R&D have a positive impact on the green economy. Moreover, the compositional and technological effects of the overall sample were verified with the GMM process. Nevertheless, the sub-sample results revealed a heterogeneous impact on countries with a high per capita GDP. Following the results, useful policy measures for promoting sustainable green economic development have been proposed.

Impact of Social Media News Overload on Social Media News Avoidance and Filtering: Moderating Effect of Media Literacy

In the present era of information technology, people tend to seek out news to enhance their current knowledge and awareness and to gain literacy. The reliance on seeking out news and relevant information has become very necessary to accomplish personal and organizational objectives. The present study has undertaken an inquiry to investigate the impact of social media news overload on news avoidance and news filtering with the mediating and moderating mechanisms of the need for news and media literacy, respectively. For this purpose, data were obtained from 358 Chinese social media users through the aid of survey forms. The data obtained were then analyzed through Smart-PLS software. The statistical technique used for analysis is structural equation modeling (SEM) to determine the validity of the proposed hypotheses. The results of the study indicated that social media news overload has a significant effect on news avoidance, the need for news, and news filtering behavior. It was also observed that the need for news had a significant impact on news avoidance. In addition to this, it was also revealed that the need for news significantly mediated the relationship between social media news overload and news avoidance; however, it did not mediate the relationship between social media news overload and news filtering. Lastly, it was identified that media literacy significantly moderated the relationship between the need for news and news avoidance and it did not moderate the relationship between the need for news and news filtering behavior. This study has made important theoretical contributions by advancing the current literature in terms of the empirical evidence that indicates a significant relationship between social media news overload, news avoidance, and news filtering. Practically, this study contributed by emphasizing the need to encourage and train people to use strategies to seek relevant news in a vast repository of information available through information technology.

Ethical Conflict and Knowledge Hiding in Teams: Moderating Role of Workplace Friendship in Education Sector

Ethical conflicts arise when there is no unity between the team members and shared ethical priorities. This study aimed to identify the relationship between ethical value unity, team knowledge hiding, the relationship between the lack of shared ethical priorities and the team knowledge hiding. Workplace friendship was taken as a moderating variable to check its regulating role between the ethical conflicts and the team knowledge hiding. Data of this study were collected from the staff working in different colleges and universities. There are a total of 480 responses collected through convenience sampling technique and analyzed under a five-point Likert scale. The partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique is used in this study. The key reason was that this approach has the fewest requirements for data normality and is a better tool for evaluating exploratory connections empirically. The output of the measurement model assessment confirms that all measurement scales are reliable. The result indicates that there was a significant and positive relationship between ethical value congruence and knowledge hiding. It was also established that there was a relationship between lack of shared ethical priorities and knowledge hiding. Workplace friendship moderated the relationship between ethical conflicts and team knowledge hiding. This study extends the literature on ethical conflict and knowledge hiding behavior. This study highlights that one of the main reasons for knowledge hiding behavior at the team level in the organization is which helps the business practicians for a design of an effective strategy to mitigate the knowledge hiding behavior in the organization.

Cognitive Loading and Knowledge Hiding in Art Design Education: Cognitive Engagement as Mediator and Supervisor Support as Moderator

The aim of the study is to document a new predictor of knowledge hiding from the perspective of Art design trainers and Art design trainees in virtual training’s and this study tends to add new theoretical insights into the body of literature. For this purpose, this study approached a sample of 500 respondents under a cross-sectional research design and respondents who have participated in virtual trainings or their trainings were at the final stage were recruited through the snowball sampling technique. The useable responses remained at 406 and these have been analyzed through SPSS for demographic analysis and Smart-PLS has been used to test the structural model, while a process macro has been used to test the moderation. Results indicate that cognitive loading has the potency to reduce the knowledge hiding behavior of the trainees. Similarly, it has been observed that cognitive loading increases the cognitive engagement of the trainees, and it moreover reduces the knowledge hiding tendency of trainees. In case of mediation, a partial mediation has been documented through the variance accounted for (VAF) approach while testing moderation. The role of supervisor support has not been found to be statistically significant.

Pulling Off Stable Economic System Adhering Carbon Emissions, Urban Development and Sustainable Development Values

In today's world, sustainability has become a major concern. The current study attempts to look into the impact of six sustainable development values on economic growth and emissions of carbon footprints: freedom, equality, solidarity, tolerance, respect for nature, and shared mobility. The moderating importance of urban development in regulating the relationship of economic growth and carbon footprints has also been investigated in this study. The structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis technique was utilized to confirm pathways and verify path modeling in this work. Overall, 302 responses were selected for data analysis, and data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire with a random sampling technique. The study found that two of the six sustainable development values (tolerance and solidarity) have a beneficial impact on a country's economic growth. However, freedom, equality, respect for nature, and shared mobility are not indicators of a country's economic progress. Similarly, economic expansion helps to mediate the relationship between tolerance, solidarity, and carbon emissions. Although urban growth did not play a moderating role, it has a positive impact on carbon emissions. The current study suggests various implications for long-term development to improve an economy's or country's economic performance. Furthermore, complete emphasis must be paid to sustainable development values, which are more closely linked to economic growth but also help cut carbon emissions. Future research should look into the current model in other countries.

The Impact of Incentives on Job Performance, Business Cycle, and Population Health in Emerging Economies

In the past, different researchers have conducted studies on incentives and how they are linked to employee motivation, influencing emerging economies. This study addresses two gaps as outlined in previous studies. One research gap exists in examining employee loyalty and employee engagement in relation to the business cycle. The other gap is observed in the recommendation that future researchers use different moderators between incentives, the health of employees, and job performance with population health. This focus was explored in the present study by identifying the responses of hospitals and physicians to the business cycle to examine the impact of incentives on job performance and health of workers in public and private sector hospitals in Shandong, Eastern China. Data were collected in the form of questionnaires that consisted of close-ended questions. These questionnaires were then filled out by 171 doctors and 149 nurses working in both public and private sectors in Shandong, Eastern China. The results showed that there is a relation between different variables. Some variables have more impact on other variables such as transformational leadership, which has a significant impact on the job performance and business cycle, whereas monetary incentives also impact job performance and population health, but this impact was lower than that of transformational leadership in terms of how job performance influences emerging economies.

Re-investigating the nexuses of renewable energy, natural resources and transport services: a roadmap towards sustainable development

We investigate the impact of renewable energy and green practices (RE), transportation services and infrastructure (T.S.), GDP growth (GDP), and forestry and natural resources (AFF) on the sustainable tourism development in the Eastern European Countries (EECs). The study employed cross-sectional dependence and and CIPS unit root test to check stationarity along with the dynamic common correlated effect (DCCE) model proposed by Chudik and Pesaran (2015) to test parameters for ensuring robustness. The outcome of DCCE method suggests that renewable energy (RE), Transport Services (T.S.), Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (AFF), and economic growth (GDP) have a significantly positive impact on international tourism in the sampled countries of Europe. Our findings could be insightful for policymakers and understanding the impact of renewable energy and transportation services on tourism development, and thereby help in taking appropriate policy measures in the sampled countries.

The Role of the Digital Economy in Rebuilding and Maintaining Social Governance Mechanisms

The digital transformation has impacted society at different levels, mainly on the economic and governance levels. This paper investigates the impact of the digital economy on social governance mechanisms. Additionally, it captures the indirect effects or mediating forces such as social reforms and a sustainable digital economy. The study followed a positivism philosophy, and it is survey research influencing cross-sectional study. The unit of analysis in the current paper was employees from four different professions as economists, financial analysts, managers, and teachers. The random sampling technique was used as a sampling type, and a questionnaire was used for data collection. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was carried out as a data analysis technique. The research findings revealed that the digital economy has a favorable impact on the social governance mechanism. Likewise, the digital economy positively affects social reforms and a sustainable digital economy. Social reforms also proved to link with a sustainable digital economy positively. The output of the indirect effects and structural model confirmed that social reform played a partial mediation role between the digital economy and sustainable digital economy. Moreover, a sustainable digital economy confirmed a partial mediation between the digital economy and the social governance mechanism. Finally, analysis confirmed a serial mediation among digital economy, social reforms, sustainable digital economy, and social governance mechanism. Therefore, policymakers and government agents should improve the digital economy to have a strong social governance mechanism.

Antecedents of Knowledge Hiding and Their Impact on Organizational Performance

Research on knowledge management has rapidly increased in the last decade, leaving a huge gap on how, why, and what triggers knowledge hiding in inter-organizational setups. Furthermore, the fostering factors for knowledge sharing have also remained unexplored because the employees in an organization are unwilling to share their knowledge with others for several reasons. The current study has attempted to explore the reasons that make employees hide their knowledge from other employees in order to excel. The individual factors considered in this study that make employees hide their knowledge are the lack of rewards for knowledge sharing, internal competition, and psychological entitlement. Furthermore, the interesting consequent factor of knowledge hiding in this study was found to be significant. The moderating role of employees’ social status has a significant moderating effect on the relationship between knowledge-hiding behavior and organizational performance. The population of the study was the managerial employees of financial institutions of China and the sample size taken in his study was 446 via convenient sampling technique. The independent factors in this study found significant results of knowledge-hiding behavior, thus approving the mediating role of knowledge hiding in the organizational performance of the financial institutions of China. The software used in this study for the data analysis was smart PLS and the technique used was partial least square SEM for the measurement of the hypothesis of the study. The study’s findings also have certain implications for policymaking in financial institutions that may hinder knowledge hiding practices and support the uninterrupted flow of knowledge among employees.

Asymmetric and time-varying linkages between carbon emissions, globalization, natural resources and financial development in China

In the real world, economic covariates follow asymmetric and time-varying patterns. Therefore, it is imperative to integrate these effects while estimating environmental and economic relationships. Although prevailing literature reveals various emissions-deriving and eliminating factors, however, there is a dearth of empirical evidence that estimates the asymmetric and time-varying effect of globalization, natural resources, and financial development from a multidimensional perspective in China. In doing so, we employ the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) and cross-wavelet modeling framework to explore the long- and short-run nonlinear and time-variant association between globalization, natural resources, financial development, and carbon emissions from 1980 to 2017. The NARDL method has the benefit of discriminating the long-term and short-term asymmetric carbon emission responses due to a positive and negative shock in our primary variables of interest. Mainly, the findings of NARDL estimations confirm that positive shocks in globalization and financial developments have a significant positive impact on carbon emissions, whereas negative shock in natural resources has a significant positive impact on carbon emissions. Similarly, the outcomes of continuous wavelet transformation and wavelet transformation coherence confirm the causal linkages between covariates; however, this effect varies across different time and frequency domains. These results imply that environmental researchers should consider asymmetric transmission channels and time-frequency associations among variables to devise long-term sustainable policies.

Role of Education and Mentorship in Entrepreneurial Behavior: Mediating Role of Self-Efficacy

Farmers have been very precious for societies for ages. Their active experiments, valuable knowledge about their surroundings, environment, and crops' requirements have been a vital part of society. However, the psychological perspectives have been a hole in the loop of farming. Hence, this study has investigated the antecedents of entrepreneurial behaviors of farmers with the mediating risk of their entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE). The population chosen for this study was the farming community of suburbs of China, and a sample size of 300 was selected for the data collection. This is a survey study, where a structured questionnaire was adapted on a five-point Likert scale. The data were collected from the farming community to know their psychological and behavioral preferences about their profession. This study has produced interesting results that education, training, and intrinsic motivation play a vital role in farmers' ESE, affecting their entrepreneurial behaviors. This study will add to the body of knowledge and provide an eminent path for emerging entrepreneurs to find more mentorship opportunities to overcome the limitations in upcoming endeavors influencing education and training.

Understanding Digital Learning Behaviors: Moderating Roles of Goal Setting Behavior and Social Pressure in Large-Scale Open Online Courses

Pandemic has changed the whole scenario worldwide, not only related to business but also has equally affected the education sector. The classes have gone online from their physical nature, making it more convenient for students to learn. They provide online courses and lectures at the convenience of teachers and students. This study has also been one such effort in identifying the role of technological applications, intentions, and time flexibility in the digital learning behavior of students in China. The sample used in this study was the students taking online courses through their universities. The sample size was 343 students selected through purposive sampling. Smart PLS 3.3.3 has been used for data analysis via structural equation modeling. This study has found that technological applications play an important role in digital learning behavior, positively moderated by goal-setting behavior. Similarly, intentions predict digital learning behavior. Moreover, social pressure has also been found to augment the role of time flexibility in digital learning behavior. These results are very useful for universities that make understanding the online nature of studies more comprehensive.

Sustainable Digital Economy Through Good Governance: Mediating Roles of Social Reforms and Economic Policies

The most powerful and crucial concept today is a sustainable digital economy. This research is aimed to investigate the predictors of a sustainable digital economy in China. In addition, the mediating roles of social reforms and economic policies were investigated between good governance and a sustainable digital economy. This cross-sectional research considered partial least square-structural equational modeling (PLS-SEM) as an analysis technique. The data were collected from 317 managerial staff of the e-commerce industry in China via a self-structured questionnaire. A random sampling technique was applied in the data collection process. Results showed that good governance positively impacts the sustainable digital economy, social reforms, and economic policies. Additionally, an increase in social reforms and economic policies led to a sustainable digital economy in China. Social reforms and economic policies partially mediated the relationship between good governance and a sustainable digital economy. This research contributes to the body of knowledge by identifying components of a sustainable digital economy and examining whether good governance may aid in attaining a sustainable digital economy. Nowadays, research on the sustainable digital economy has got attention from policymakers and researchers around the globe. These outcomes suggest several ways to improve the sustainable digital economy in China. This research is not without limitations, such as cross-sectional and based on responses of the respondents. Several research avenues were discussed and can be influenced by many factors for future perspectives.

Examining the Impact of E-Government on Corporate Social Responsibility Performance: The Mediating Effect of Mandatory Corporate Social Responsibility Policy, Corruption, and Information and Communication Technologies Development During the COVID era

During the Covid-19 era, this research will explore and analyze the link between e-government and corporate social responsibility. In addition, mandatory corporate social responsibility, institutional quality, information and communication technology, and corruption as mediators will also be explored in this study. This research seeks to answer the issue of how e-government affects corporate social responsibility and how other mediating variables might influence this connection. Furthermore, this study developed a total of 13 hypotheses based on these questions, 4 of which have mediating effects. The theoretical underpinning for the proposed study paradigm is provided by stakeholder theory, which has been established based on prior literature. The general philosophy is positivism, and the research has a deductive nature. The information was gathered from 305 managers across four industries: information technology, online services, online education, and logistics and supply chain. Data was collected using a random convenience sampling approach. The Partial Least Square Sequential Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) research analysis approach was applied in this study for the analysis. The measurement step demonstrated that all constructs and indicators are valid and trustworthy enough to be utilized in the future. The results of the structural model evaluation revealed that e-government had a negative influence on corporate social responsibility, with three of the four mediating roles proving to be completely mediated. As a result, the government and relevant stakeholders should take these results into account when formulating e-government policies.

Struggling With Business Corporate Cynical Impression? Powerful Methods of CSR to Enhance Corporate Image and Consumer Purchase Intention

This study focuses on the perception of Chinese students about the image of the company and their purchase intention if the organization has a business cynical impression in the minds of its targeted customers. The study proposed three different types of corporate social responsibility (CSR) to cope up with the organizational cynical impression. These types are Economic and Legal CSR, Philanthropic CSR, and Ethical CSR. The main objective of this study is to determine which CSR type is better to reduce the corporate cynical impression on corporate image and the purchase intentions of consumers. In the study design, the bootstrap approach and AMOS 24 were employed to deal with mediation. The researchers recruited 500 individuals from different educational institutions in China using a simple random selection process. The outcomes of this study indicated that all three types of CSR are successful in mitigating the detrimental effects of corporate cynicism on the image of a firm and the purchase intentions of consumers. A more effective technique of boosting the corporate image of a company and purchase intention of a consumer is via charitable CSR, which may help restore the image of a company and the purchase intention of a consumer that has been affected by corporate cynicism among its target customers.

Performance Analysis of Indentation Punch on High Energy Lithium Pouch Cells and Simulated Model Improvement

In this research, the aim relates to the material characterization of high-energy lithium-ion pouch cells. The development of appropriate model cell behavior is intended to simulate two scenarios: the first is mechanical deformation during a crash and the second is an internal short circuit in lithium-ion cells during the actual effect scenarios. The punch test has been used as a benchmark to analyze the effects of different state of charge conditions on high-energy lithium-ion battery cells. This article explores the impact of three separate factors on the outcomes of mechanical punch indentation experiments. The first parameter analyzed was the degree of prediction brought about by experiments on high-energy cells with two different states of charge (greater and lesser), with four different sizes of indentation punch, from the cell's reaction during the indentation effects on electrolyte. Second, the results of the loading position, middle versus side, are measured at quasi-static speeds. The third parameter was the effect on an electrolyte with a different state of charge. The repeatability of the experiments on punch loading was the last test function analyzed. The test results of a greater than 10% state of charge and less than 10% state of charge were compared to further refine and validate this modeling method. The different loading scenarios analyzed in this study also showed great predictability in the load-displacement reaction and the onset short circuit. A theoretical model of the cell was modified for use in comprehensive mechanical deformation. The overall conclusion found that the loading initiating the cell's electrical short circuit is not instantaneously instigated and it is subsequently used to process the development of a precise and practical computational model that will reduce the chances of the internal short course during the crash.