Corporate Participation Research Articles

Value Tensions in OpenStreetMap: Openness, Membership, and Policy in Online Communities

The social life and long-term trajectories of online peer production communities are shaped and animated in part by value tensions that arise when distributed, heterogeneous participants are brought together into collaboration. This study of OpenStreetMap (OSM) draws upon values-based approaches to investigate how peer production communities enact their values and navigate tensions between them. We examine how conflicts within the community over the rise of corporate participation in OSM provided a stage for the articulation and enactment of community values, shedding light on the broader dynamics and trajectory of the platform and its participants. The contributions of this work include reflections on how increasing corporate participation in OSM intersects with discourses about the emancipatory potential of emerging mapping technologies, insights into the challenges of scaling membership in peer production communities, and exploring the role of values in understanding the social life and governance of online communities.

Impact of the regional financial reform on corporate financialization: Evidence from China

This study employs the data of Chinese A–share listed companies from 2007 to 2022, considers the implementation of the regional financial reform pilot zone policy as a quasi-natural experiment, and tests the impact of this reform on the financial asset holdings of nonfinancial firms by using a difference-in-difference model. Based on the findings, the regional financial reform restrains the financialization of nonfinancial firms through two paths: 1) promoting profit equalization, which reduces the return gap between real and financial investments; and 2) balancing the allocation of credit resources, which curbs corporate participation in shadow banking. Further analysis showed that the governance effect of the regional financial reform is especially prominent for firms in regions with lower administrative, market development, and financial development levels, especially in the central and western regions. In the economic consequences test, we found that the dampening effect of the regional financial reform on corporate financialization can promote real investments, especially innovation investments. These findings not only enrich the research on the determinants of corporate financialization and the economic consequences of the regional financial reform, but they also provide insights for financial reforms in other emerging economies.

Study on the Construction and Communication of China's Vocational Education Brand in Africa from the Perspective of Foreign Aid

As the world's second-largest economy and the largest developing country, China is playing an increasingly important role in aiding vocational education in Africa. This study, from the perspective of foreign aid, explores the current state, challenges, and strategies of China's branding and communication in vocational education in Africa.Through various means such as intergovernmental cooperation, corporate participation, and non-governmental organizations, China has achieved significant results in aiding vocational education in Africa. However, there are still multiple challenges in branding and communication, including improving education quality, innovating communication strategies, cultural adaptability, fund and resource allocation, cooperation and coordination, and brand image maintenance. To address these challenges, China needs to strengthen teacher training, introduce advanced teaching methods, use new media platforms to accurately target audiences, respect cultural differences, scientifically allocate funds and resources, establish cross-departmental cooperation mechanisms, and enhance brand promotion.By implementing these strategies, China can further enhance the effectiveness and impact of its vocational education aid to Africa, contributing more to the economic development and social progress of African countries. At the same time, this will also help improve China's international image and soft power, and promote the further deepening and development of China-Africa.

Impact of Corporate Volunteers’ Participation in Volunteer Tourism

Sustainable development has become the focus and goal of governments around the world. In the past, economic development was the primary goal, which has caused serious environmental and social problems and has threatened the safety of mankind and its descendants. The "United Nations Sustainable Development Goals" is a project that companies have been paying much attention to with the environment with social, and governance (ESG) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) new trends. The development of corporate volunteers has become a key factor in the success of corporate social responsibility. Therefore, business operators must understand accurately how to strengthen the positive connection between corporate volunteers and brand attachment. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship model between corporate volunteers in Taiwan participating in volunteer tourism, experience value, and brand attachment. We used a purposeful non-probability sampling procedure at a 95% confidence interval and a sampling error of 0.5% (n = 388). Data collection tools included structured questionnaires distributed both online and on paper, targeting individuals who had participated as corporate volunteers and completed domestic volunteer travel. The results indicated that both older and younger corporate volunteers in Taiwan were involved and had profound travel experience in volunteer tourism. Older corporate volunteers exhibited a stronger brand attachment. The current workplace in Taiwan is dominated by middle-aged employees, providing volunteer tourism activities with their expertise. Volunteers tend to engage in a meaningful experience deeply while ensuring that young volunteers value motivation and benefits. Additionally, corporate volunteers found happiness, relaxation, and satisfaction in volunteer tourism activities. The most memorable experiences that influence corporate participation in volunteer tourism are related to local culture and novelty factors.

Factors influencing marine ecological environment governance toward sustainability: a case study of Zhejiang Province

At present, the marine ecological environment is facing enormous pressure from human activities, and there is an urgent need for coordinated governance by multiple entities to ensure that the marine ecological environment can continuously meet the needs of sustainable development. Marine ecological environmental governance plays multiple roles in the sustainable development of the ocean characteristics. Most existing studies have explored this field from the perspective of the government and public, while failing to adequately account for the factors influencing enterprises’ participation in marine ecological environmental governance. This paper is an effort to provide some empirical research on the influencing factors of enterprises’ participation in marine ecological environmental governance. Based on existing literature, empirical research (213 middle managers were surveyed from 68 coastal enterprises in Zhejiang, China), this study extracts eight core factors that influence corporate participation in marine ecosystems and uses the Fuzzy Decision-making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory approach (Fuzzy DEMATEL). Furthermore, experts from Chinese backgrounds elucidated the complex interdependencies among the factors, based on which key influencing factors were identified. The empirical results indicate that government attention and support, legal and regulatory requirements, and cost-benefit accounting have a positive net effect on corporate participation in marine ecosystem management; when these factors are improved, they drive improvements in other factors(Corporate Capital Capability, Corporate Social Responsibility, Government Enforcement and Appraisal, The Attention of Corporate Leaders, Corporate Internal Management System). Additionally, interviews with Chinese business people support the robustness of the findings and suggest that policymakers cannot ignore government enforcement and assessment efforts. Overall, the study findings can help advance corporate participation in marine environmental governance.

Management tone and corporate social responsibility: Evidence from Chinese listed companies' involvement in rural revitalization

This study delves into the correlation between management tone in annual reports and corporate engagement in rural revitalization by analyzing data from publicly listed Chinese companies between 2016 and 2022. Our investigation reveals a significant positive correlation between an optimistic management tone and elevated corporate involvement in rural revitalization efforts. The findings underscore that a management's positive and forward-looking stance can stimulate enhanced corporate contributions toward rural development, with a more pronounced effect observed in case of non-state-owned entities and those under financial constraints. Furthermore, evidence suggests that the manipulation of management tone negatively affects corporate engagement in rural revitalization. These insights accentuate the critical role of management tone in shaping corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, particularly within the realm of rural development. The study has strategic implications for corporate governance and communication, given that management tone can influence CSR activities and strategies, and suggests policy avenues for encouraging corporate participation in rural revitalization.

Research on the optimal desertification combat mode considering the governance cycle

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the most effective approach for governments and enterprises to combat desertification by considering the governance cycle. The focus is on understanding how the government can incentivize enterprises to actively engage in desertification combat efforts.Design/methodology/approachBoth the government and the enterprise are treated as rational entities, making strategic choices for joint participation in combating desertification. Recognizing the dynamic nature of the desertification combat area, differential game models are employed to identify the optimal mode for combating desertification.FindingsThe findings underscore the significant influence of the governance cycle duration on the selection of desertification combat modes for government and enterprise. A cooperative mode is best suited to a short governance cycle, while an ecological subsidy mode is optimal for a longer cycle. Enhancing governance technology and shortening the governance cycle are conducive to combating desertification. Reducing taxes alone may not be an effective control strategy; rather, the government can better motivate enterprises by adopting tax rate policies aligned with the chosen governance mode.Originality/valueThis research contributes by elucidating the impact mechanism of the government cycle’s length on the desertification combat process. The results may offer valuable insights for governments in formulating strategies to encourage corporate participation in combating desertification and provide theoretical support for selecting optimal desertification combat modes.

IMPACT OF META VERSE ANNOUNCEMENT DATE ON STOCK PRICES

Purpose-The developing metaverse, a virtual world poised to transform online interaction, has raised an important question: how does a company's participation influence its financial standing? This study focuses on the e-commerce behemoth Amazon and its prospective entry into the metaverse. Our major goal is to determine whether a statement by Amazon on their metaverse plans causes a significant impact in their stock price. By examining past stock data with any potential metaverse announcement dates, we hope to determine whether Amazon's excitement about the metaverse translates into an actual financial benefit. This study dives deeper by examining the specifics of the announcement (assuming it occurs). Does the level of commitment and investment mentioned affect the stock price reaction? Finally, this study aims to bridge the gap between the hoopla surrounding the metaverse and its real-world ramifications for corporations such as Amazon. Approach: Event Definition: The event of interest is the particular day on which our selected companies makes a public declaration about entering the metaverse. This date will be critical to our analysis. Event Window: We'll set a timetable around the announcement date. This window will most likely consist of two parts: Estimation Window: The period preceding the announcement, we have selected 110 days, helps set a baseline for Amazon's stock price performance and eliminates the impact of unrelated market movements. Event Window: This time period, we have selected as 10 days before and after following the announcement allows us to monitor any potential changes in stock price due to metaverse news. Findings: Stock Price Change: The investigation may discover a statistically significant boost in companies stock price following a metaverse announcement. This suggests that investors reacted positively to the announcement, maybe seeing the metaverse as a new growth prospect. No Change or Negative Change: Alternatively, the investigation may discover no substantial change, or even a decline in stock price following the announcement. This could suggest investor concern about companies capacity to capitalize on the metaverse, as well as a general market correction during the event window. Impact of Announcement Specificity: The study may find that the level of depth and commitment conveyed in the announcement influences stock price movement. A more thorough and ambitious proposal may elicit a better positive response from investors. Industry-Specific Effects: The research design might be expanded to compare company's stock price movement to those of other companies in different industries following metaverse announcements. This could reveal whether particular industries have a stronger stock market reaction because of their deeper relationship to the metaverse. Limitation: For starters, the metaverse is a very new concept, so any announcement by worldwide companies may focus on future projects. This makes it difficult to estimate the long-term financial impact on the company's stock price. Furthermore, the specifics of the announcement itself (assuming it occurs) are critical. A vague announcement with few specifics may have a lower impact on the stock price than a well-defined plan with realistic investment figures. These constraints underscore the need for additional research as the metaverse and corporate participation in it evolve.

Citizens’ legitimacy judgements on multi-stakeholder governance models: The spillover effects of corporate political activity and social trust.

Recent years have witnessed increasing corporate participation in multi-stakeholder governance models to decide on social issues. Insufficient academic attention has been paid to how citizens legitimise this alternative, which has no democratic endorsement. Citizens do not know enough about these governance models and use heuristics, which produce spillover effects, to form legitimacy judgements about them. Based on institutional and sensemaking theories and with insights from the social psychology literature, we provide empirical evidence for the possible spillover effects derived from a similarity-based heuristic, from citizens’ perceptions of corporate political activity (CPA) tactics, and from a trust heuristic, represented by social trust.The study focuses on residents living near an industrial complex with environmental risks. The results were obtained using structural equation models and corroborate the spillover from social trust but not from perceptions of the CPA tactics deployed by the firms in the complex. However, these perceptions are indirectly related to citizens' legitimacy through social trust. We present some theoretical and practical implications of citizens’ legitimacy of multi-stakeholder governance models.

Competition Behind Competition: State-Sponsored Awards, Political Tournaments, and Corporate Participation in Poverty Alleviation in China

Research has thus far suggested mixed effects of awards on the behavior of nonwinning firms. We draw from research on interorganizational spillover to study under what conditions state-sponsored awards motivate nonwinning firms to increase their efforts. We contend that, when government officials—an important institutional agent—are under competitive pressure from their own rivals to pursue the state goal, they are more motivated to promote the awards and trigger peer emulation, resulting in interorganizational spillover following the bestowal of awards. In turn, nonwinning firms with a greater need for government-controlled resources are more responsive to the spillover effect promoted by local officials. We test our theory with government awards to firms in China’s state-initiated poverty alleviation program. Analysis of Chinese publicly listed firms from 2016 to 2019 shows that following antipoverty award announcements, nonwinning firms improved their poverty alleviation effort more when their local government officials faced stronger competitive pressure in poverty reduction from their own close-rival officials. Notably, such spillover effects did not occur when local officials faced low competitive pressure. Our study contributes to research on interorganizational spillover and awards as well as how the state can encourage firms to tackle grand challenges.

A study on the dynamic impact of carbon emission trading on green and high-quality development.

As a pivotal element in market mechanisms, carbon trading is increasingly recognized as crucial for achieving China's Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality Goals. This study introduces a comprehensive dynamic model, integrating carbon trading, emissions, economic growth, and green technology innovation, to offer a holistic understanding of the interplay between these domains. Utilizing principles from nonlinear dynamics and chaos theory, the model is adept at simulating various scenarios and assessing the effectiveness of government policies in stabilizing these complex systems. In-depth analysis provided by this research sheds light on the nuanced impact of carbon trading policies on sustainable development. Key findings highlight (1) Carbon trading's essential role as a catalyst in propelling sustainable and high-quality growth. (2) A strong positive relationship is observed between the sophistication of the carbon trading mechanism and its effectiveness in stimulating green technology innovation and fostering high-quality green development. Notably, carbon trading's influence on green technology innovation markedly enhances the efficacy of carbon emission reduction strategies. (3) Government regulations are instrumental in augmenting carbon prices, thus incentivizing increased corporate participation in emission reduction and enhancing the overall impact of carbon emission reduction. Nevertheless, the study identifies a critical threshold in regulatory intensity, beyond which there is a risk of system destabilization ( ). These findings underscore the imperative for developing an integrated national carbon emission trading market, prioritizing sustainable growth strategies and diligently pursuing China's environmental objectives.

Educational cooperation in the perspective of tripartite evolutionary game among government, enterprises and universities.

Government-enterprise-university synergy (GEUS) is an effective way to mobilize government, enterprises, and universities to collaborate on education, but these three parties involved in GEUS may, out of bounded rationality, choose to collaborate in ways that benefit themselves and harm others. To guide the three parties to better cooperation, this study creates an evolutionary game model among the three parties and evaluates the applicability and validity of the model by selecting the educational cooperation data in Beijing. It is shown that participation in education cooperation is the best course of action for all three parties. The intensity of willingness to participate in the GEUS is on the order of high to low for universities, enterprises, and the government. If the three parties wish to accomplish education collaboration sooner, they can increase default payments, boost government revenues, raise corporate participation in distribution, and reduce government and government spending. These results highlight the inherent regularities of GEUS and provide concrete implementation strategies to improve the efficiency of education cooperation.

Competition Behind Competition: State-sponsored Awards, Political Tournaments, and Corporate Participation in Poverty Alleviation in China

Competition Behind Competition: State-sponsored Awards, Political Tournaments, and Corporate Participation in Poverty Alleviation in China

Joining multi‐stakeholder initiatives to fight climate change: The environmental impact of corporate participation in the Science Based Targets initiative

AbstractThis study theorizes and empirically tests whether firms' decisions to join multi‐stakeholder initiatives, targeting climate mitigation, lead to improved environmental performance. We focus on firms' participations in the Science Based Targets initiative, a multi‐stakeholder initiative meant to support firms in setting greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets in line with the thresholds defined by the Paris Agreement in 2015. The study hypothesizes that participation reduces firm's concerns about uncertainty and encourages investments in timeous internal climate change activities. We used the coarsened exact matching methodology to create a matched sample of European and North American listed firms participating in the initiative and comparable, non‐participating firms over a 3‐year period from 2015 to 2017. The results showed that firms' participation led to lower levels of GHG emissions compared to similar non‐participating counterparts, especially when they committed to the initiative with the intention to follow the proposed indications.

Liberalization for Sale: Corporate Demands and Lobbying over FTAs

Firm-based approaches to international trade have revolutionized the study of trade politics. Corporate participation in political processes is costly, limiting access to large, productive, well-resourced, and often internationally engaged firms. This implies a pro-trade bias in corporate lobbying demands over trade policy. I examine this relationship in the case of three free trade agreements passed by the United States Congress in 2011. I combine public statements from firms on the FTAs with corporate lobbying activities and find that both lobbying firms and those that lobbied and publicly disclosed their policy positions were more productive than the typical publicly traded firm. Likewise, firms with income from foreign affiliates were more likely to be politically active than others. These results contribute to a vibrant body of research into the complex relationships firms hold with policies governing access to international markets.

Notarial Protection of Digital Rights of Corporate Participants

The paper is devoted to the study of methods for notarial protection of digital rights of corporate participants. The work examines the concept and types of digital rights, possible transactions that can be concluded at the external corporate level with digital assets, including cryptocurrencies and tokens, and assesses the legal regulation of the circulation of NFTs. The paper examines the risks of concluding smart contracts to which organizations are parties, and also evaluates their security and warranty, and examines the prospects for attracting a third-party arbitrator in the person of a notary in order to protect the rights and legitimate interests of the parties. The notary has long established itself as an effective mechanism for extrajudicial protection and protection of the rights of citizens and legal entities, and the presence of notaries’ own electronic infrastructure and a multi-level liability insurance system allows us to consider the notarial form of protection as an effective means of maintaining a balance of interests and the legality of concluded transactions. The issue of protecting digital rights is rapidly attracting more and more attention in civil science. The implementation of smart contracts on the Internet has revealed a number of problems, such as the impossibility of making changes to the concluded agreement and the influence of vice of will on the entire chain of relationships arising in blockchain technology. In terms of corporate participation in digital transactions, there are also many questions raised regarding verifying that the representative is properly authorized to enter into a transaction and that all procedures for approving the transaction and notifying interested parties have been followed. Since digital assets are classified as property, they are subject to civil law consequences related to this category of objects of civil rights.

First-mover advantage and the private value of public science

Technical progress increasingly relies on the use of scientific knowledge. But if much of this knowledge is in the public domain, can it be a source of private value? We find that average private returns to using public science are small, especially in crowded technical fields. This is consistent with the view that the expected profit from an input that competitors can easily access is low. However, private value is higher when a firm is the first to use science, partly because it can secure broader patents relative to later users. Corporate participation in scientific research is a strong predictor of first use, consistent with the view that participation in science raises familiarity with relevant scientific advances.

Are Chinese residents willing to pay for green express packaging and to participate in express packaging recycling?

The rapid development of e-commerce has resulted in a significant increase in express packaging, causing serious environmental pollution and resource waste problems. To achieve green governance of express packaging, both government regulations and corporate participation must be implemented. However, the crucial role played by consumers who ultimately use express packaging should not be overlooked. This paper adopts a consumer-oriented perspective and utilizes first-hand survey data, along with principal component analysis, probit regression, and conditional value evaluation methods to explore whether residents are willing to pay for green express packaging and participate in express packaging recycling. The results show that consumers’ choice of green express packaging is mainly influenced by four factors, including packaging quality factors, political and environmental factors, other packaging factors, and commodity factors. Notably, 70% of residents surveyed are willing to pay a premium for green express packaging, with the average premium being CNY 2.46 or 15.8% of the total cost for green express packaging. Furthermore, residents are likely to participate in express packaging recycling if they are given an economic incentive of CNY 0.93 or 6.9% of the cost per packaging. Based on these findings, this paper provides targeted policy recommendations to address relevant issues.

Is carbon emission trading a green blessing or a curse for firm performance in China? A quasi-experiment design and exploring the spatial spillover effect.

This paper conducts quasi-experiment design with Chinese listed companies microdata to investigate the effect and mechanism of corporate participation in carbon emission trading market on firm financial performance by using the staggered difference-in-differences method. We show that: a) corporate participation in carbon emission trading market can enhance firm financial performance; b) an increase in green innovation ability and a decrease in strategic choice variance both partially mediate the relationship between carbon emission trading and firm performance; c) executive background heterogeneity and external environmental uncertainty moderate the relationship between carbon emission trading and firm performance in different directions; d) our further study indicates that carbon emission trading pilot policy has a spatial spillover effect on firm financial performance in the neighboring provinces. Therefore, we recommend that the government and enterprises make an effort to further stimulate the vitality of corporate participation in carbon emission trading market.

Has corporate involvement in government-initiated corporate social responsibility activities increased corporate value?—Evidence from China’s Targeted Poverty Alleviation

Poverty remains the biggest challenge facing the world today. In 2016, the Chinese government launched a national campaign to eradicate poverty by 2020, among which Chinese listed companies have made significant contributions to. This paper focuses on the targeted poverty alleviation (TPA) and investigates the relationship between corporate participation in TPA and its corporate value. As compared to firm’s own corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, participating in government-initiated CSR activities can better enhance corporate value. This is especially so when firms engage in penetrative “integrated poverty alleviation” rather than the direct approach of “donative poverty alleviation”. This paper adopts the Mediating Effect Model to explain the relationship between corporate participation in TPA and their corporate value, with the shareholding ratio of institutional investors, government subsidies and corporate reputation as mediating factors. Findings suggest that corporations’ active implementation of TPA actions can increase the shareholding ratio of institutional investors and government subsidies and improve corporate reputation, thereby significantly increasing their corporate value. However, the impact of participation in TPA on corporate value is limited by factors including the nature of property rights, the intensity of competition in the industry and the degree of marketization. The impact is generally more significant in state-owned enterprises, areas with lesser industry competition and higher marketization. This study provides a fresh perspective for theories related to CSR, poverty eradication and corporate value of listed companies.