Integrating Three-Wide Education into HRM for talent development in Chinese enterprises.

Purpose Faced with today’s digital and uncertain environments, especially in dynamic and innovation-driven contexts such as new product development (NPD) projects, traditional project governance often ignores adaptive capabilities needed to sustain organizational effectiveness. This study investigates how adaptive project governance (APG) influences organizational effectiveness (OE), with an emphasis on the mediating roles of trust and coordination. It thereby addresses a critical gap in understanding the trust and coordination mechanisms through which APG shapes OE in digital and uncertain project environments. Design/methodology/approach A structured survey was administered to project management professionals in Chinese enterprises engaged in NPD projects. The measurement instrument was refined based on validated scales and expert review to ensure relevance to agile and digital project environments. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed to evaluate the effects of APG on OE and to test mediation through competence-based trust, benevolence-based trust, intra-team coordination, and inter-team coordination. Findings Governance of projects and self-organizing teams have significant positive effects on OE, both directly and indirectly via competence-based trust and intra-team coordination, confirming their partial mediation roles. However, adaptive development approaches act mainly as enabling conditions rather than direct performance drivers, and benevolence-based trust and inter-team coordination do not exhibit significant mediating effects. Overall, these findings provide empirical evidence on explaining the micro-mechanisms of trust and coordination in translating APG into OE in agile NPD projects. Originality/value This study extends existing adaptive governance research by revealing the micro-foundations (competence-based trust and intra-team coordination) through which APG transforms high-order capabilities into OE. Then, it establishes a priority ordering for effective governance implementation and provides a crucial boundary condition by demonstrating that APG’s iterative component acts merely as an enabler, refining models of agile governance effectiveness in dynamic NPD contexts.

ABSTRACT How to enhance high‐quality development efficiency (HQDE) through the synergy of internal and external factors remains a critical question for listed logistics enterprises. Drawing on panel data from 44 Chinese enterprises from 2020 to 2022, we adopt a configurational approach by integrating the Three‐stage DEA model with Dynamic QCA to explore the driving configurations and their evolution. Guided by the Resource‐Based View, Stakeholder Theory, and Dynamic Capabilities Theory, we identify three configurations that lead to high HQDE: ESG‐led responsible transformation, digital‐driven competitiveness, and policy‐oriented development. The results reveal a shift from digital‐driven and policy‐oriented models toward ESG‐led transformation, highlighting the strategic role of ESG performance and corporate social responsibility. These findings demonstrate that internal capabilities and institutional conditions interact through multiple configurations, and that high HQDE results from dynamic alignment rather than isolated resource advantages.

Strategic Emerging Industries (SEIs) are a critical driver of China’s green transition and high-quality development; however, the Ecological and Environmental Effects of Firm Entry and Exit remain insufficiently explored. Based on micro-level data of Chinese SEI enterprises from 2009 to 2023, this study employs kernel density estimation and a panel fixed-effects model to construct a five-dimensional ecological environment evaluation system under the PSDRP framework and to examine the spatio-temporal evolution characteristics of Firm Entry and Exit and their Ecological and Environmental Effects. The results indicate that SEI enterprises exhibit agglomeration in the Eastern Region and gradual diffusion toward the Western Region, with exit activities showing higher spatial concentration. Firm Entry generates stage-specific constraining effects on the ecological environment, whereas Firm Exit alleviates ecological Pressure and enhances Resilience. Significant regional heterogeneity is observed, forming a pattern of optimization in the Eastern Region, improvement in the Central and Western Regions, and greater adjustment challenges in the Northeast Region. This study provides empirical evidence for differentiated and coordinated industrial–environmental policy design.

ABSTRACT Continuous promotion of energy intensity (EI) reduction in the manufacturing industry is vital for achieving energy consumption and carbon emission reduction goals. This study expands the traditional specialized industrial agglomeration (IA) research perspective and establishes upstream‐IA and downstream‐IA types via industry linkages. Using microscale data for Chinese manufacturing enterprises from 2007 to 2015, through the agglomeration externality channel, we empirically assess the effects and paths of three IA types on enterprise EI and find the following: First, the specialized‐IA, upstream‐IA and downstream‐IA types significantly reduce enterprise EI, and the upstream‐IA type yields the greatest efficiency enhancement effect. Second, the analysis of the mechanism underlying agglomeration externalities reveals that the paths through which the specialized‐IA type affects EI are labour pooling, intermediate input sharing and knowledge spillover; the paths through which the upstream‐IA type operates are intermediate input sharing and knowledge spillover; and the path through which the downstream‐IA type operates is labour pooling. Third, the effect of IA is particularly significant in the sample of nonexporting enterprises and energy‐intensive enterprises. Fourth, the specialized‐IA, upstream‐IA and downstream‐IA types reduce EI without reducing production, thus achieving synergy between efficiency enhancement and consumption reduction.

Purpose Exaptation is an important source of enterprise innovation, and its antecedents have attracted extensive attention. Drawing on the knowledge ecosystem theory, organizational learning theory, knowledge-based view and dynamic capability theory, this study focuses on how ambidextrous learning (AL) (exploratory and exploitative learning) affects exaptation and examines how knowledge scope (KS) and knowledge reconstruction ability (KRA) moderate the relationship between AL and exaptation. Design/methodology/approach Hypotheses were tested via hierarchical linear regression (SPSS) on 354 firm-level questionnaires from Chinese enterprises. Findings The results revealed that exploratory and exploitative learning improve exaptation, whereas KS and KRA, respectively, enhance the relationship between AL and exaptation. Further analysis demonstrated that the interaction between KS and KRA significantly strengthened the relationship between exploratory learning and exaptation, while the interaction failed to enhance the relationship between exploitative learning and exaptation. Practical implications The study suggests that high-tech firms should engage in both exploratory learning external and exploitative learning activities to promote exaptation. Moreover, leveraging KS and KRA can enhance exaptation. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature on AL outcomes by empirically exploring the effects of exploratory and exploitative learning on exaptation, thus extending the application field of the organizational learning theory. Additionally, by revealing the contingency effects of KS and KRA, this study enriching the research on knowledge-based view and dynamic capabilities theory. Furthermore, the research findings can provide helpful implications for enterprises to achieve exaptation effectively.

Impact of productivity revolution on Chinese enterprises’ outward foreign direct investment (OFDI)

The impact of fintech on innovation quality: Evidence from Chinese enterprises

With the rapid advancement of agricultural modernization, ensuring production safety has become a pressing concern, yet the mechanisms through which government regulation fosters safe production remain underexplored. This study addresses this gap using a two-stage survey design: first, panel-tracked survey data collected from 2021 to 2024 are used to document the evolution of regulatory perceptions among agricultural enterprises; second, a cross-sectional analytical design based on three survey waves conducted in 2024 is employed to examine the effect mechanisms using structural equation modeling method. Drawing on survey data from 485 Chinese agricultural enterprises in 2024, the findings show that four regulatory types—normative, punitive, incentive, and service—promote safe production both directly and indirectly through dual pathways: knowledge acquisition (cognitive–technical capacity building) and risk awareness (preventive attitudinal orientation). Mediation comparison analysis reveals that these two mechanisms exert equivalent effects across all regulatory pathways, indicating complementary rather than competing roles. Theoretically, the study advances regulatory pluralism and dual-mediation frameworks in organizational safety research; practically, it offers guidance for policymakers to design integrated regulatory portfolios and for managers to strengthen both knowledge systems and risk-aware cultures.

The article examines current challenges of innovation management in agricultural enterprises in the context of sustainable development, focusing on the role of consulting in international practice and the specifics of China’s agricultural sector. The study analyzes theoretical approaches based on sustainable development, Agriculture 4.0, and AKIS, systematizing technological, organizational, institutional, socio-economic, and environmental factors of innovation adoption. International experience in agricultural consulting as a mechanism of knowledge transfer and digital integration is explored. Based on the analysis of Chinese enterprises, key features of China’s innovation model are identified. An integrated innovation management model is proposed, substantiating the use of performance indicators to assess innovation and consulting effectiveness.

Purpose This study analyses the growth patterns of listed Chinese companies in China during the 2000s and 2010s. Two key questions are considered: firstly, does finance affect firm growth in China? And, secondly, do private enterprises grow more quickly than state-owned enterprises? Design/methodology/approach A multi-year longitudinal approach is taken in order to provide a time-sensitive analysis of growth. Financial data were obtained from Compustat Global. The sample includes publicly listed non-financial companies in China’s two domestic stock exchanges – located in Shenzhen and Shanghai – between 1999 and 2022. Hypotheses were developed in order to test whether finance affects growth and also to determine whether private enterprises, which tend to be smaller and younger, grew faster than state-owned enterprises, which tend to be larger and older. Findings Growth was positively affected by investment opportunities, and constrained by debt, supporting the view that financing continues to be a critical factor in China. In the 2000s, companies at both ends of the size spectrum, namely the smallest and largest, outgrew companies in the middle. In the 2010s, smaller, younger companies continued to grow rapidly, while growth in larger, mature companies significantly slowed. Given the former are more likely to be private than state-owned enterprises (SOEs), this indicates that Chinese private enterprises have retained their vitality, despite ongoing constraints to their finance. SOEs continued to grow, but at a slower rate, indicating China’s economy is shifting to a more dynamic private sector, alongside an established, but slower-growing, state sector. Claims that the state sector is pushing out private enterprises are not supported. Practical implications China is becoming more of a private economy, and the mixed models proposed by the Chinese government are becoming less representative of the country’s actual economic structure. Future growth in China will increasingly be driven by private enterprises. State-owned enterprises, even where they dominate certain sectors, will contribute less to economic growth and activity. Originality/value The longitudinal use of financial and firm data over more than two decades provides a long-term perspective on firm growth in China. Studies taking a longer-term time-based consideration of firm growth and changing patterns are rare in the literature, but important for China due to continued economic growth, change and restructuring. The paper confirms ongoing issues around financing of growth firms and provides evidence that the private sector has outgrown the state sector since 2011.

Purpose The service sector, traditionally seen as less technology-intensive, is now actively pursuing digital transformation. However, the role of peer effects in this process and their impact on financial and innovative performance remain unclear. This study aims to investigate the existence and mechanisms of peer effects in the digital transformation of service firms and their consequences for financial and innovative outcomes. Design/methodology/approach Using empirical data from listed Chinese service enterprises, this study employs ordinary least squares regression to examine industry and geographic peer effects in digital transformation. Text analysis is used to measure the extent of digital transformation. Findings Results reveal a significant industry peer effect in digital transformation, primarily driven by rivalry-based imitation. This effect enhances short-term and long-term financial performance but diminishes exploratory innovation. In contrast, geographic peer effects are not significant. These findings highlight the critical role of competition in shaping digital transformation strategies within the service sector. Originality/value This study advances the literature on peer effects, digital transformation and service innovation by exploring the mechanisms of peer effects in less technology-intensive service sectors and identifying their impact on financial and innovative performance. The findings provide valuable insights for practitioners and scholars seeking to manage peer influence for short-term and long-term performance while addressing challenges to exploratory innovation in the service sector.

This research extends the Pecking Order Theory to an international business setting, providing novel insights into corporate finance within a global context. The study posits that firms prioritize internal financing through retained earnings before seeking external financing, such as debt or equity. By integrating attributes of internationalization, this research examines how the degree of internationalization of multinational firms influences their financing decisions, with a focus on the moderating role of international business factors. Analyzing data from 785 companies listed on the Hong Kong main board from 2010 to 2020, the study reveals that the breadth of internationalization supports the traditional pecking order, while the depth of internationalization encourages a reverse pecking order. Legal distance negatively moderates this relationship, while the structure of the financial system has a positive moderating effect. The findings suggest that multinational enterprises (MNEs) with greater overseas resource allocation exhibit enhanced flexibility in financing decisions, particularly in foreign markets with robust investor protection and efficient direct finance mechanisms.

Focusing on the role of government industrial funds in bridging the equity gap, in this paper, we examine how the establishment of government industrial funds (GIFs) affects enterprise innovation and the underlying mechanism of the guiding and synergistic effects on social capital. By conducting an empirical study employing a fixed-effect model comprising panel data of Chinese industrial enterprises covering the recent period of 2014 to 2024, we found that GIFs play a positive role in promoting local enterprise innovation. We also provide supporting evidence that China’s GIFs are effectively designed in bridging the equity gap, which hinders innovation, and that they are productive in alleviating the structural friction of the venture capital market. The findings of this study also offer some new evidence regarding the influence of fund-level characteristics on the innovation-promoting effect of GIFs, which has not been previously explored for the Chinese context. Our research also reveals the “seeding” role and “patient capital effect” of GIFs, which guide social capital to gather towards early-stage and long-term funds, improve the structural supply shortage in the local venture capital market, and thereby alleviate the financing gap for corporate innovation. The focus on early-stage and long-term capital is an innovative perspective of this paper. Our results also indicate that private capital, as an important participant in government industrial funds, can positively moderate the innovation-promoting effect of government industrial funds. The impact of funds’ internal governance mechanisms on their innovation-promoting effect is also one of the unique contributions of this paper.

ABSTRACT This article explores the relationship between green transformation and the firm performance of Chinese enterprises listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets over the period of 2006–2022. Our study findings indicate that green transformation positively and significantly influences the firms’ financial performance. These outcomes suggest that investment in green transformation or adoption and implementation of green practices assists firms in establishing a green image, which in turn attracts the attention of different stakeholders, including green investors and green consumers, ultimately enhancing the firm's performance. Our baseline outcomes remain unchanged after accounting for a series of robustness checks, including alternative indicators of green transformation, endogeneity tests, sample change checks, and heterogeneity analysis. In a nutshell, our outcomes suggest that, along with the implementation of environmental protection law, the government should provide subsidies to the firms in order to promote green transformation.

ABSTRACT Extant research has given insufficient attention to the influence of supplier integration on sustainable supply chain practices (SSCPs), while also neglecting the contingent role of governance mechanisms. Using boundary theory and resource–capability–performance (outcome) theoretical framework, this study applies hierarchical linear regression and bootstrapping to analyze survey data collected from 235 Chinese manufacturing enterprises, testing a theoretical model and series of hypotheses. The findings reveal that supplier product integration directly promotes SSCP, while supplier process integration indirectly contributes to SSCP through supplier product integration. Moreover, contractual and relational governance mechanisms strengthen the impact of supplier product integration on SSCP but reduce the effect of supplier process integration. The study highlights the relevance of boundary theory in advancing SSCP and emphasizes the need for firms to integrate suppliers under varying governance mechanisms to enhance sustainability outcomes.

This paper studies how strategic political game conflicts between large countries affect firms’ decisions to import technologically complex products and engage in outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) by building a three-phase decision-making theoretical model and testing. It is found that the importation of technologically complex products by high-technology firms under strategic political game conflicts leads to a reduction in future OFDI, which is obvious when the pyhsical and institutional distance between the host country and the home country is large. Lower labour productivity and higher fixed costs are the main channels through which the import of technologically complex products under the conflict of the great power political game leads to a reduction in future OFDI by high-tech firms. Imports of technologically complex products by non-state-owned firms in the context of great power political game conflicts lead to a greater reduction in future OFDI than those for state-owned firms. As a result, firms will reduce imports of technologically complex products in order to increase OFDI under games of conflict between major powers, and firms will have an incentive to promote bilateral and multilateral cooperation.

Mineral resource security is crucial to national security and energy transition. Africa, with its abundant reserves of key minerals, has become a strategic location in the global mineral supply chain. In recent years, Chinese mining companies have leveraged the Belt and Road Initiative to increase their investment in African mining, gaining a significant development advantage. However, influenced by internal and external factors, geopolitical risks continue to rise. This paper analyzes the three core risks faced by Chinese mining companies venturing into Africa: rising economic nationalism leading to policy tightening, political instability in Africa causing a deterioration in the investment environment, and intensified competition among major powers impacting cooperation. Based on practical cases, it proposes targeted countermeasures and suggestions from three dimensions: mitigating nationalist sentiments, responding to political changes, and enhancing competitive advantages, providing a reference for Chinese mining companies to avoid risks and achieve sustainable development.

Purpose On June 29, 2025, Chinese customs authorities announced the conditional resumption of Japanese aquatic product imports. By examining the impact of perceived value and perceived risk on consumer purchasing intent for Japanese imported aquatic products as well as the recovery mechanisms for purchasing intent following crisis events, this study expands the application scope of rational choice theory. It provides targeted references for corporate marketing, government regulation, and trust rebuilding, offering theoretical and empirical support for restoring Sino-Japanese aquatic product trade, rebuilding market trust, and informing decision-making among relevant stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach An online survey was conducted with 549 consumers. Based on the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), an extended TRA model was constructed by integrating consumer perception and trust restoration theories to analyze purchase intentions for imported Japanese aquatic products. Findings Results indicate that the perceived value of Japanese imported aquatic products significantly positively influences purchase intention, whereas perceived risk significantly negatively impacts purchase intention. Subjective norms and attitudes mediate consumer perceptions and purchase intention, with chain mediation occurring between these variables. Trust restoration strategies negatively moderate the paths of “perceived risk of Japanese imported aquatic products → Subjective norm” and “perceived risk of Japanese imported aquatic products → Attitude.” That is, trust restoration strategies effectively reduce consumers' perceived risk, thereby restoring their purchase intentions. Research limitations/implications First, the sampling scope was confined to Shanghai, resulting in insufficient geographical representativeness of the sample, which may affect the generalizability of the conclusions. Second, some variables were measured using three-item scales; although these passed the reliability and validity tests, they may limit the robustness of the results. Third, the theoretical basis for including age, sex, education level, and income as control variables in the statistical model remains insufficient. Fourth, as Japanese imported seafood products had not yet entered the Chinese market during the research phase, consumer purchasing behavior could not be examined. Practical implications Through a collaborative mechanism involving corporate governance oversight and third-party certification, we will rebuild the foundation of trust in the Sino-Japanese aquatic product trade. This will facilitate the gradual recovery of trade volume, encourage industry associations to serve as bridges, promote technical exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and Japanese aquatic enterprises, elevate the overall quality and safety standards of the industry, and drive the establishment of unified quality evaluation and safety traceability standards within the aquatic product sector. These efforts will enhance the credibility and competitiveness of the industry. Social implications This research not only provides a reference for enterprises to formulate marketing strategies but also offers decision-making support for government departments to improve regulatory systems and ensure stable market operations. This has significant practical implications for promoting the healthy development of the China-Japan aquatic products trade. Originality/value This study provides a reference for relevant enterprises in formulating marketing strategies and holds significant practical implications for promoting the healthy development of the Sino-Japanese aquatic product trade and restoring consumer purchase intention.

Social enterprises (SEs) engage in business activities to address social issues and fulfill social missions. Existing literature has mainly focused on a resource-oriented perspective, assuming that SEs either have or do not have resources. Therefore, we know very little about SEs in non-munificent institutional environments. Drawing on resource dependence theory and the bricolage framework, this study analyzes how SEs in China strategically select organizational structures to navigate legitimacy and resource challenges. Findings reveal that nonprofit SEs often employ social bricolage to enhance community engagement and visibility, while certified SEs leverage diverse partnerships for resource acquisition. In contrast, for-profit SEs face unique challenges in building organizational legitimacy but can access private sector resources through their business-oriented status. This research underscores the importance of tailoring strategies to maximize legitimacy and resource mobilization in the pursuit of social impact.