In recent years, the digital economy has developed rapidly in China. Its advantages in alleviating farmers' credit constraints, information constraints and facilitating risk diversification may be conducive to farmers' adoption of integrated pest management (IPM) technology. Based on survey data from 1108 kiwifruit growers, this article empirically analyzes the impact and mechanism of digital economy participation on farmers' adoption of IPM technology. This study revealed that digital economy participation can significantly promote farmers' adoption of IPM technology. Different dimensions of digital economy: digital production, digital sales, and digital finance can significantly promote farmers' adoption of IPM technology, with the impact effects in descending order being digital sales, digital finance, and digital production. Participation in the digital economy can promote farmers' adoption of IPM technology through premium incentive, improving farmers' technical cognition level, and enhancing their risk resistance. In terms of the sub-dimensions of the digital economy, premium incentive is the primary mechanism for digital production and digital sales, while risk resistance is the dominant mechanism in digital finance. Moreover, digital economy participation has a greater impact effect on the adoption of IPM technologyamong younger farmers, those with higher education, and those with larger planting areas. This article emphasizes the importance of farmers' participation in the digital economy for the diffusion of IPM technology and provide insights from the digital economy for countries that are actively promoting IPM technology. Policymakers should encourage farmers to participate in the digital economy and provide convenient conditions for this. © 2026 Society of Chemical Industry.

Digital infrastructure and industrial integration: An assessment of the coupling coordination effect between digital and real economy in China

How the integration of technology and finance empowers the collaborative development of digitalization and greenization of Chinese cities

Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven hyper-personalisation has reconfigured digital marketing by embedding predictive analytics and automated decision-making into everyday consumer interactions. While these systems enhance marketing efficiency and engagement, they simultaneously intensify concerns regarding surveillance, behavioural manipulation, and erosion of consumer autonomy. Existing global scholarship recognises these risks; however, limited context-specific analysis interrogates how such dynamics unfold within emerging regulatory environments. This study addresses that gap by critically examining how AI-driven hyper-personalisation reshapes consumer privacy in South Africa and evaluating the adequacy of its regulatory framework in comparison with international standards such as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). A desktop-based systematic literature review was conducted using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) framework to synthesise peer-reviewed studies published between 2019 and 2025. The findings reveal that AI-driven personalisation systems operate through opaque algorithmic profiling mechanisms that weaken informed consent and shift control away from consumers. Although South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) establishes foundational data protection principles, it lacks AI-specific provisions addressing explainability, automated decision-making, and effective consumer redress. In contrast, while the GDPR and CCPA provide more explicit safeguards, enforcement and technical interpretability challenges persist even within these jurisdictions. The study argues that the regulatory disparity between South Africa and more mature digital economies exposes local consumers to heightened risks within transnational digital marketing ecosystems. It concludes that strengthening AI-specific governance, enhancing institutional audit capacity, and embedding ethical design principles are necessary to reconcile technological innovation with consumer rights in both South African and global contexts.

ABSTRACT This study examined the structural relationships among self-discrepancy, body satisfaction, and fit satisfaction (both psychological and physical) in male consumers’ use of virtual fitting systems (VFS). The study also analysed how these factors influence purchase intention in online apparel shopping. A structural equation model was tested with 108 men in their 20s–30s who had avatar-based fitting experience. Results showed that psychological fit satisfaction significantly predicted physical fit satisfaction (β = 0.60, P < 0.001), self-discrepancy negatively affected body satisfaction (β = –0.53, P < 0.001), and body satisfaction positively influenced purchase intention (β = 0.43, P < 0.001). These findings highlight the role of avatar-based self-perception, cognitive priming, and body schema integration in shaping fit evaluation and purchasing behaviour. The study suggests that VFS platforms can serve not only as fit assessment tools but also as cognitive aids for managing self-image. Implications for personalised avatar design and male-targeted digital commerce strategies are discussed.

ABSTRACT As artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly understood as a political infrastructure and a decision-making technology with the potential to reshape institutions and reconfigure power relations, media coverage plays a key role in shaping public understanding of its risks and opportunities. This study examines how mainstream media outlets in the Global North and Global South politically frame AI, emphasising the implications for digital governance and public opinion. Building on prior work that analyse AI coverage but leaves its political and emotional dimensions underexplored, the research presents a comparative analysis of 6,829 news articles (2010–2024) across twelve newspapers from Europe, North America, Africa, and Asia and Oceania, combining topic modelling and sentiment analysis. The results reveal three temporal phases: an incipient phase (2010–2016), politicisation through crises (2017–2021), and exponential acceleration (2022–2024), with salient inflection points following the Cambridge Analytica scandal (2018) and the launch of ChatGPT (2022). Fifteen thematic frames emerged, dominated by Social Media and Tech Impact (16.03 per cent), Technology and the Digital Economy (12.54 per cent), and China–US Relations and Trade (11.41 per cent). Media outlets in the North display higher levels of pessimistic coverage , with 41.7 per cent of headlines classified as negative. In contrast, media in the South express a more optimistic tone, with 51.5 per cent of headlines being positive. The study demonstrates that media narratives about AI are shaped by geopolitical disputes, differing risk perceptions, and asymmetries in technological power, stressing the need for fair, transparent and ethical AI regulation.

Introduction Public search behavior provides a high-frequency external attention signal for understanding changes in market expectations in the digital economy. During periods of macroeconomic adjustment and investment uncertainty, search attention may capture shifts in public concern, information demand, and expectation formation. Methods Using Douyin search data on the theme of “investment” in Shandong Province from 4 June 2022 to 1 August 2025, this study constructs a Public Investment Search Network based on the Visibility Graph algorithm. The analysis examines temporal fluctuation, phase-based evolution, network topology, community differentiation, topological indicators, degree distribution, and robustness under alternative network constructions. Results The results show clear phase-based aggregation and divergence in public investment attention. The network exhibits a heavy-tailed degree distribution and small-world-like characteristics. Attention evolves through a cyclical process of concentration, dispersion, and rebalancing under the combined influence of policy stimuli, market fluctuations, and information diffusion. Changes in clustering coefficient, modularity, volatility, and Shannon entropy further reveal the self-organizing features of public investment search behavior. Discussion The findings suggest that the public investment search network provides a structural representation of collective attention and offers supplementary information for monitoring market signals and changes in public expectations. The study describes the structure of public investment-related attention rather than directly testing firm-level investment responses. Future research may combine search-network indicators with firm-level investment, innovation, or financial data to further examine how external attention signals are incorporated into corporate decisions.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly reshaping telecommunications, yet Indonesia still lacks a unified framework to guide sector-wide adoption. This study addresses that gap by proposing a National AI Roadmap Framework (NARF) and an AI Readiness Assessment Model (ARAM) tailored to the needs of emerging economies. Using a mixed-methods design, the study combines literature review, expert interviews, industry surveys, and benchmarking against 15 international operators. The results show that Indonesian operators have moved beyond isolated experimentation toward advanced AI maturity, but progress remains uneven. Strengths are evident in strategic leadership and foundational deployment, while persistent gaps remain in talent readiness, data governance, technology integration and autonomous network capability. To address these issues, the study develops a five-phase implementation roadmap that links readiness assessment, policy action and operational scaling. The study makes two main contributions. First, it offers a structured and transferable framework for assessing and planning AI adoption in telecommunications. Second, it provides evidence-based guidance for aligning operator transformation with national digital policy goals. Economic projections indicate that large-scale AI adoption in telecommunications could contribute approximately IDR 285.4 trillion to Indonesia’s GDP by 2035. These findings position AI-enabled telecommunications as a strategic pillar of Indonesia’s digital economy transformation.

Background: Digital transformation has reshaped the business landscape, making digitalization a key driver of competitiveness. This shift is important for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), given their strategic role within Indonesia's economic. Although MSMEs contribute substantially to national GDP and employment, many remain unable to leverage digital technologies to drive performance improvements fully. Prior empirical investigations have produced mixed findings regarding the influence of Digital Entrepreneurial Orientation (DEO) on firm performance, suggesting that factors such as Social Media Capability (SMC) may play a mediating role in explaining these inconsistencies. Objective: This study examines (1) how Digital Entrepreneurial Orientation (DEO) affects SME performance; (2) DEO's impact on Social Media Capability (SMC); (3) the effect of SMC on SME performance; and (4) how SMC mediates the DEO-SME performance relationship. Method: This study used SEM-PLS to analyze survey data from 100 West Java MSME owners or managers involved in digital operations. This research examined relationships among digital entrepreneurial orientation (a firm’s approach to digital opportunities), social media capability (the use of social media tools), and organizational performance. Results: The analysis demonstrates that DEO exerts both direct and indirect effects on SME performance, with SMC functioning as a significant conduit between the two. Specifically, firms that cultivate stronger social media capabilities are better positioned to translate their digital entrepreneurial orientation into tangible gains in innovation output, customer engagement quality, and operational efficiency. Conclusion: The results confirm that both DEO and SMC contribute meaningfully to MSME performance outcomes, validating the complementarity between the Resource-Based View and Dynamic Capability Theory. From a pragmatic point of view, the study indicates that it is important to introduce digital capacity-building programmes to encourage innovation, risk-taking, and proactive digital behaviour in the evolving digital economy, thereby improving MSMEs' competitiveness. Keywords: Digital Entrepreneurial Orientation; Dynamic Capability; Indonesia; SME Performance; Social Media Capability

The rising demand for a sustainable industrial development has led to the implementation of digitalization and Circular Economy (CE) methods. This review examines the combination of Industry 4.0 technologies (i.e., Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), big data analytics, cyber-physical systems, blockchain, additive manufacturing, and cloud computing) with CE principles to enhance the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) performance in industrial firms. This research explores the impact of digital technology on resource efficiency, waste reduction, closed-loop production, prolonging product life, and sustainable supply chain management. The results demonstrate that the synergistic integration of Industry 4.0 and CE provides a significant enhancement in environmental sustainability by reducing emissions and resource consumption, economic performance improvement by increasing operational efficiency and value recovery, and social sustainability improvement by improving workplace safety, transparency, and skill development. The assessment also points to important implementation challenges, including technological complexity, cybersecurity concerns, significant investment requirements, and gaps in labour capability. Finally, future research directions including empirical TBL assessment, digital product passports, human-centric industry 5.0 techniques and policy frameworks are outlined. The report provides an integrated framework for industries to achieve sustainable, resilient and competitive growth through digital-circular transformation.

ABSTRACT Against the backdrop of technological disruption and macroeconomic volatility, the importance of corporate digital evolution in promoting risk-taking is a critical issue for companies seeking growth and innovation. This article investigates the causal link between corporate digitalization and risk-taking propensity using a panel of Chinese Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) constituents from 2012 to 2022. Baseline estimates establish a robust positive relationship, demonstrating that digital integration significantly elevates corporate risk tolerance, and this result remains consistent after robustness checks. Mechanism analyses identify the alleviation of capital constraints and the augmentation of operational agility as the primary transmission channels driving this effect. Furthermore, cross-sectional tests reveal distinct structural asymmetries: the risk-enhancing utility of digitalization is attenuated by severe economic policy uncertainty, yet strictly amplified within private entities, technologically intensive sectors, and firms located in eastern provinces. This research clarifies the fundamental way in which corporate digital transformation affects risk-taking, offering theoretical guidance for GEM-listed firms developing digital strategies and supplying empirical grounds for macroeconomic policies aimed at integrating the digital and real economies.

ABSTRACT This study provides city-level causal evidence on the economic effects of data trading infrastructure. Treating the staggered establishment of data trading platforms (DTPs) across Chinese cities between 2014 and 2023 as a quasi-natural experiment, we estimate a multi-period difference-in-differences model using a balanced panel of 298 prefecture-level cities from 2000 to 2023. The baseline estimate indicates that DTP establishment increases night-time light intensity – our primary proxy for urban economic vitality – by 3.610 units, robust across all sensitivity specifications. Event-study analysis validates parallel trends, and a randomization-inference placebo test yields an empirical p-value below 0.001. A Bartik instrumental variable strategy produces a 2SLS estimate of 9.421 (p < 0.05), which we interpret as complementary given a moderately relevant first stage (F = 2.71). Mechanism tests reveal that DTPs promote innovation and digital economy employment. A dose–response analysis shows that each additional year of platform operation increases vitality by 0.876 units on average, but the marginal effect turns negative in cities with below-median internet penetration. These findings establish that DTPs can serve as effective institutional vehicles for data factor marketization, but their economic returns are contingent on complementary digital infrastructure investments.

This study examines motivational and capability barriers to internet non-adoption in Thailand’s near-saturated digital economy. Using the 2025 Q4 ICT Household Survey conducted by Thailand’s National Statistical Office, the analysis focuses on 20,633 adult non-adopters who report either motivational or capability-related barriers. The dependent variable distinguishes capability non-adoption, defined as lack of skill or awareness, from motivational non-adoption, defined as lack of perceived need or privacy/security concerns. Weighted logistic regression with normalised population weights, PSU-clustered robust standard errors, and average marginal effects is used to estimate associations between household ICT access, age, education, employment, smartphone access, and barrier type. Motivational barriers account for 56.2% of the two-category non-adopter population and capability barriers for 43.8%. Although motivational reasons are the more common, household ICT access is positively—if modestly—associated with capability rather than motivational barriers (average marginal effect +1.7 percentage points): capability-constrained non-adopters are concentrated in connected households, the compositional signature predicted by the second-level digital divide. Age does not significantly moderate this association. Among older non-adopters, education, employment, and smartphone access are negatively associated with capability barriers, while household ICT access is not. The findings suggest that in post-access digital economies, household connectivity is insufficient for digital market inclusion; individual-level skills and device access become central to expanding effective digital market reach.

ABSTRACT Based on resource orchestration theory, this study investigates how technology for social good (TSG) affects business model innovation (BMI) through the mediating role of dynamic capabilities (DC) and the moderating role of entrepreneurial orientation (EO). Analyzing a sample of 200 Chinese technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), we employ confirmatory factor analysis, hierarchical regression, and the bootstrap method to test our hypotheses. Empirical results show that TSG significantly and positively promotes BMI. DC partially mediate this relationship, and EO positively moderates the direct link between TSG and BMI. These findings advance the theoretical understanding of BMI drivers and provide implications for SMEs’ sustainable development in the digital economy.

AI recommendation systems are reshaping sustainable consumption in digital marketplaces, yet the psychological mechanisms governing consumer adoption remain underexplored in emerging economies. This study investigates consumer intention to adopt AI recommendation systems for sustainable consumption in Vietnam, drawing on an integrated framework combining the Information Systems Success (ISS) model, human-computer interaction (HCI) principles, UTAUT2, and Cognitive Dissonance Theory (CDT). Algorithmic trust and affective attitude are positioned as dual mediating pathways, with the AI-Environment Paradox incorporated as a formal moderating boundary condition. A structured survey of 403 e-commerce users was analyzed using PLS-SEM. System quality emerges as the strongest predictor of cognitive trust, while personalization exerts the greatest influence on attitude. Attitude is the dominant driver of behavioral intention, substantially outperforming trust and social influence. Performance expectancy and facilitating conditions yield negligible effects, reflecting the post-normalization of AI usage among digitally native consumers. Notably, the AI-Environment Paradox operates asymmetrically, attenuating the trust-to-intention pathway while amplifying the attitude-to-intention link through compensatory pro-environmental reasoning, a pathway-specific moderation effect that extends CDT into the domain of AI-assisted sustainable consumption. These findings reframe adoption logic for sustainable AI commerce and carry actionable implications for platform design, personalization strategy, and ecological communication in high-penetration digital economies.

ABSTRACT Within a digital economic framework, investors can access information more easily, narrowing information gaps across internal and external stakeholders, and mitigating information asymmetry in the financial market. Using data from 2013 to 2023 for Chinese A-share listed firms on the Shenzhen and Shanghai Stock Exchanges, this study examines the effects of the digital economy on stock price crash risk. The results show that the digital economy significantly reduces stock price crash risk. Specifically, a one standard deviation rise in the digital economy results in an approximately 10% decline in share price crashes. This result is still robust after resolving endogeneity concerns and conducting extensive robustness tests. Further tests indicated that the digital economy mitigates crash risk by promoting digital transformation and improving agency efficiency. In addition, heterogeneity analyses reflect that the mitigating role of the digital economy is more pronounced for enterprises located in areas with better-developed digital infrastructure, enterprises receiving greater government attention, and firms without internal control deficiencies.

Driven by the digital economy and national policies, the digital transformation of publishing groups has been continuously advanced. Most existing studies on the digital transformation of publishing groups adopt qualitative case descriptions or static analysis, lacking clear transformation paths and driving mechanisms. Based on the principles of system dynamics, this study constructs a transformation framework consisting of four subsystems: resource base, empowerment support, value output and environmental regulation, to reveal the internal logic and driving mechanism of the digital transformation of publishing groups. With the annual report data of Phoenix Media from 2020 to 2024 for parameter calibration and empirical simulation, this paper realizes the dynamic simulation and quantitative test of the transformation process. The research finds that the benefits of digital transformation show an accelerated growth trend after the initial investment stage. Through sensitivity analysis, it is identified that digital talent reserve is a more influential key leverage than investment in content assets. Accordingly, this paper puts forward resource optimization strategies for the high-quality transformation of publishing groups from the perspectives of dynamically adjusting resource input, strengthening talent echelons and optimizing organizational collaboration.

The ability to secure high quality healthcare and access at an affordable cost for the entire population is the principal health objective of many countries on the path to the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study addresses the critical, yet understudied, impact of formal and informal financial inclusion on health, directly supporting the objectives of SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being). The study employs and modifies South Africa's National Income Dynamic Study microdata by combining all five waves to create panel data. A random effects ordered probit model is used since it is possibly the best approach for panel data on self-rated health outcomes as it takes into consideration the existence of an additional normally distributed cross-section error term which captures individual specific effects. Results for formal financial inclusion dummy variable are statistically significant and positive, suggesting that individuals with access to formal financial services such as savings and credit have a higher probability of reporting better health outcomes. However, results for informal financial inclusion dummy variable are statistically significant and negative, implying that higher reliance on informal finance like stokvel savings and mashonisa credit shifts individuals toward the lower outcomes of health. Given the mixed outcomes of the impact of formal and informal financial inclusion on health, this study recommends policies that could integrate informal savings and credit into the formal digital economy and address structural barriers that limit the effectiveness and efficiency of the financial system.

ABSTRACT Based on a year-long ethnographic research into everyday life in Santiago’s dense high-rises, this paper analyses the emergence of everyday digital economies among building occupants through messaging applications. In this context, novel neighbor-based commercial interactions have, to some extent, overturned the impersonal character of Chilean verticality. Infused with a communitarian ethos, these transactional encounters reshape residents’ perceptions of neighborliness in dense, heterogeneous vertical settings, fostering a sense of togetherness reminiscent of traditional neighborhood imaginaries, while enabling residents from diverse backgrounds to generate unexpected relationships. I therefore argue that consumption practices within these buildings add complexity and nuance to the experience of living in verticalizing South American cities. Specifically, they reveal alternative ways in which seemingly rigid residential structures are transformed through ordinary inhabitation as neighbor relations become more digitalized. In doing so, this paper contributes to the expanding interest in understanding vertical ordinariness in the region.

ABSTRACT The UAE’s rapid development of Artificial Intelligence (AI), IT security, and cybersecurity technologies has given rise to complex commercial disputes relating to data breaches, automated decision-making, contractual obligations, and digital system failures. Traditional litigation often finds it difficult to deal with such issues, and commercial arbitration is a better mechanism to deal with such technical and confidential issues. The present study adopts a qualitative analytical approach to examine arbitration treatment of AI-related, IT security, and cybersecurity disputes in the UAE. The results reveal the benefits of arbitration, such as its confidential nature, arbitrability, procedural flexibility, expertise, and the international enforceability of arbitration awards; electronic and AI-assisted arbitration tools contribute to efficiency improvements. Some challenges still exist in terms of the protection of cybersecurity, algorithmic accountability, and digital evidence. Arbitration has been found to be a valuable instrument to achieve legal clarity and as an effective complement to the UAE’s booming digital economy.