Fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis Research Articles

Assessing Green Practices on Eco-Friendly Hotel Customer Loyalty: A Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling and Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis Hybrid Approach

With a global focus on environmental sustainability, hotels worldwide are actively transitioning their services from conventional to eco-friendly practices. This study aims to comprehensively understand the factors that contribute to visitors’ satisfaction in eco-friendly hotels and how this satisfaction influences customers’ future reactions towards such environmentally conscious establishments. Employing the Stimulus-Organism-Response theory, this study collected data from 277 respondents using a robust quantitative research strategy. A combined approach of Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) and Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) was employed, to uncover deep insights into visitors’ satisfaction and their reactions towards eco-friendly hotels. The PLS-SEM results reveal significant associations between customers’ satisfaction towards eco-friendly hotel services and service quality, green practices, perceived value, and environmental sensitivity. Moreover, this study highlights a positive correlation between satisfaction and crucial outcomes like revisit intention (RVI), willingness to pay a premium (WTPP), and word-of-mouth intention (WOMI). Complementing these findings, the fsQCA analysis uncovers intricate causal relationships among antecedents that influence customer satisfaction in eco-friendly hotels. By offering critical marketing insights, this study provides guidance for hotels, the tourism industry, and policymakers on attracting customers to eco-friendly hotels, to meet the increasing demands for environmental sustainability.

TED Talks and entrepreneurial intention in higher education: A fsQCA approach

Higher education institutions are aware of the importance of entrepreneurship education in reflecting real-life scenarios and increasing students' professional opportunities. Universities attempt to nurture students' entrepreneurial skills and awaken their entrepreneurial intention through specific or transversal entrepreneurship courses in a wide variety of degree programs. By using active learning techniques, such as TED Talks, students can improve their entrepreneurial intention. However, the potential of TED Talks to stimulate students' entrepreneurial skills and intention has not yet been studied from a multicausal perspective. This study contributes to the entrepreneurship literature by describing an educational experience based on active learning at a Spanish university. TED Talks were introduced to stimulate entrepreneurial intention in undergraduate students (n = 25) and master's degree students (n = 32). The impact of the experience was assessed using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). Given this approach, no single characteristic was found to lead to high (or low) levels of entrepreneurial intention in students. Instead, combinations of factors were found to cause this outcome. The findings show different student profiles that lead to high and low entrepreneurial intention. The findings thus confirm the multicausal nature of entrepreneurship in higher education institutions.

Research on generation paths of production safety accidents in urban gas pipeline networks: A fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) based on Chinese data

The production safety accidents in urban gas pipeline networks of China have shown a frequent trend in recent years, which has become the main obstacle to the high-quality development of urban gas industry. In this paper, based on 38 typical accidents that occurred in mainland China from 2012 to 2022, the fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) method was applied to explore the accident generation paths. We identified seven condition variables and one result variable, then six condition configurations were derived through the fsQCA method to classify the accident generation paths into four types: "illegal operation", "Equipment failure", "third-party activities damage", and "multiple risk coupling". The results show that: (1) Interrupting the generation paths of accidents caused by illegal operation and multiple risk coupling not only requires local governments and regulatory departments to strengthen safety supervision, but also requires gas enterprises to improve their safety management organizational structures and safety production management systems; (2) Strengthening daily inspection, maintenance, and risk monitoring of urban gas pipeline networks is the core of curbing accidents caused by equipment failure; (3) Deepening cooperation between gas enterprises and third-party units is the key to prevent and control accidents caused by third-party activities damage; (4) Local governments and gas enterprises should strengthen cooperation to improve the effectiveness of accident prevention and control by building the risk synergetic governance model. This study provides theoretical guidance for preventing production safety accidents in urban gas pipeline networks of China.

DOES N-ACETYLCYSTEINE SUPPLEMENTATION DURING AN ALTITUDE TRAINING CAMP ENABLE TRAINING QUALITY AND SUCCESSFUL PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES? A COMPARATIVE CASE STUDY

INTRODUCTION & AIMS Elite athletes regularly incorporate training at altitude into their programs to enhance performance. However, the additional stress of exposure to a hypoxic environment needs to be carefully managed by coaches and sport scientists. Supplementation with antioxidants, such as N-acetylcysteine (NAC) may support the athlete’s immune system to cope with this stress. Preliminary evidence also suggests NAC may further promote haematological adaptations to hypoxia. Combined, the potential health and adaptive benefits of NAC warrant further investigation. Conducting ecologically valid and scientifically robust research in an elite sporting setting can be challenging due to small sample sizes, an inability to experimentally manipulate training, and the inherent complexity of the training environment. To account for these challenges, a comparative case study approach was used. METHODS Thirteen swimmers completed a three-week ‘Live-High, Train-High’ camp in Flagstaff, USA (elevation 2,100m). Beginning four days prior to the camp commencing, swimmers where randomly assigned in matched groups to consume NAC (1,200mg per day; n = 6) or a placebo supplement (n = 7) for 14 days. With each athlete defined as a case, fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis was used to examine the configurational effects of attributes (i.e., antioxidant support, sufficient ferritin, maintained body mass) previously associated with successful altitude training camps on physiological and performance outcomes. RESULTS NAC was not a solely sufficient or necessary attribute for increased haemoglobin mass. Higher consistency in haemoglobin mass was observed with high training quality. NAC and high training quality contributed to performance improvements. CONCLUSION Swimmer responses were highly individual with successful physiological and performance outcomes achieved by some, irrespective of having attributes that can impair adaptation to altitude training. Subjective training quality provided important contextual information. Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis is a novel approach in sports science to evaluate the interrelationship of attributes that can impact performance.

Multiple Realization Pathways of County-level Medical Alliances to Improve Service Capacity:A Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis

Multiple Realization Pathways of County-level Medical Alliances to Improve Service Capacity:A Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis

Towards greener hospitals: The effect of green organisational practices on climate change mitigation performance

Healthcare organisations have a significant carbon footprint due to their substantial energy consumption and waste generation. The existing literature has mostly focused on examining the isolated impact of specific green organisational practices on individual dimensions of environmental performance. Hence, policy makers and practitioners still lack a holistic view of how combinations of green organisational practices can mitigate the impact on climate change of healthcare organisations. Drawing on the practice-based view (PBV) of strategy, the study first examines the extent to which the adoption of imitable, individual green organisational practices impacts on the whole climate change mitigation performance of publicly owned hospitals. Second, it explores possible combinations of green organisational practices that can lead to high levels of climate change mitigation performance. Focusing on the illustrative case of publicly owned acute care hospitals in the English National Health Service and employing a two-stage Data Envelopment Analysis and a fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA), the analysis shows that the adoption of the practice of green energy procurement can, in isolation, positively lead to high climate change mitigation outcomes. Moreover, high performance levels can be achieved through multiple configurations of green organisational practices. Therefore, the findings suggest that the effectiveness of green organisational practices on climate change mitigation performance of hospitals depends on how practices are combined, rather than on their single effects, and indicate the presence of a complementary as well as a substitution effect between practices.

Beyond Regression: Unpacking Research of Human Complex Systems with Qualitative Comparative Analysis

This study underscores the effectiveness of Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) when compared to conventional regression analysis (CRA) in the investigation of complex human systems. Utilizing historical secondary cross-national data from Lipset & Man (1960) spanning 18 countries, where CRA may be impractical, the research emphasizes the superior performance of QCA, specifically utilizing both crisp set QCA and fuzzy set QCA. The dataset includes variables such as democracy survival and its precursors, such as gross national product per capita, urbanization, literacy rate, and industrial labor force. In contrast to conventional regression results indicating an insignificant relationship between democracy survival and its antecedents, crisp set QCA identifies two distinct combinations of antecedents associated with high levels of democracy survival, albeit with limited solution coverage. Meanwhile, fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) reveals five combinations of antecedents linked to robust democracy survival, providing adequate solution coverage and consistency. These findings suggest that fsQCA excels in capturing the intricacies of real-life scenarios in human complex systems, offering more robust empirical solutions compared to crisp set QCA and conventional regression. As a result, researchers may find value in integrating fsQCA into their new projects focused on human complex systems.

Necessity- and opportunity-based female entrepreneurship across countries: The configurational impact of country-level institutions

This study proposes an integrative framework for analyzing the interdependence of multiple institutional supports for necessity- and opportunity-based female entrepreneurship across countries. The proposed framework incorporates three streams of national institutional systems to capture cross-country variations in national economic institutions, social welfare systems, and socio-cultural attitudes that jointly promote both types of female entrepreneurship. We conducted a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis of data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, which covered 150 country-year observations for 65 countries between 2011 and 2014. The findings suggest that while the two types of female entrepreneurship are associated with different configurations of national institutional supports, there are multiple equifinal pathways for each type to prosper. This study enriches the literature on female entrepreneurship by explicating its institutional embeddedness across countries, thus providing policymakers with important policy implications for supporting female entrepreneurship.

Multinational enterprises' R&D commitments in Chinese provinces: A configurational approach

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) are increasingly off-shoring some of their R&D to emerging markets, including China. Much of the extant literature on MNEs' investments in R&D facilities abroad analyses technological and institutional factors at the national level, typically using regressions to examine how host-country institutions influence foreign MNEs' outlays. It, therefore, tends to downplay the importance of sub-national and non-technology-related institutions, and how configurations of home- and host-country institutions interact to influence R&D commitments abroad. Drawing on the global factory model and the Varieties of Capitalism approach, we identify five causal conditions that may influence MNEs' R&D commitments abroad. Conducting an abductive fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, we find four combinations of causal conditions are sufficient to explain substantial R&D commitments in different Chinese provinces. The combination of local corruption and provincial R&D intensity is important, as are the MNE's home-country stock-market capitalization to GDP ratio and minority investor protection. We contribute to the literature on MNEs' investments abroad by extending the importance of sub-national institutions to include those not directly related to technology. We also reveal how combinations of institutions (rather than individual ones acting independently) from the MNE's home and host contexts explain MNEs' R&D commitments in Chinese provinces.

How do local governments respond to central mandate in affordable housing policy? A qualitative comparative analysis of forty-one Chinese cities

Countries in developed and developing worlds have faced growing challenges to solve affordable housing shortages for lower-income households, prompting the adoption of various types of mandates to compel local implementation of affordable housing policy. A large volume of literature has focused on whether and how such top-down mandate indeed improves local supply of affordable housing. Insufficient understanding has been provided regarding the multi-faceted nature of local strategic responses to a top-down housing mandate. This research addresses this intellectual gap with an empirical study of local strategic behavior in response to the affordable housing mandate that was announced by the central government during the Twelfth Five-Year Plan (2011–2015). Through systematic content analysis of local news reports on affordable housing from 41 Chinese cities from various provinces, we describe the multiple-dimensional characteristics of local policy actions as cities were compelled to complied with the mandate. We further employ a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis method to investigate how top-down political pressure combines with local policy interpretation, resource mobilization capacity, and local public pressure lead to more diverse policy actions in affordable housing. This research enriches the understanding of how city governments respond to top-down housing mandate, as well as offers valuable policy implications for affordable housing policy.

How women hold up half the sky? A configurational analysis of women’s political leadership participation?

Purpose Existing research has examined the results of women’s political leadership participation (WPLP) and the reasons for the lack of advancement of women to management positions. However, little research has been adopting a more comprehensive framework and configuration perspective to investigate the determinants of WPLP. By integrating institutional theory and institutional complementarities theory, this study aims to construct an institution–culture–structure framework to investigate the multiple driving mechanisms of WPLP. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis method and a sample of 66 countries, the authors identify multiple equifinal combinations of conditions related to high and not-high levels of WPLP. Findings According to the results, the authors summarize five pathways influencing WPLP. These pathways include education and culture-driven pattern, political institutions-driven pattern, political institutions and structure-driven pattern, integrated-driven pattern and political institutions and culture restrictive pattern. Originality/value The authors shed new light on the driving mechanism of WPLP and contribute to research on making full out of women’s leadership.

Spillover effects and influencing factors of tourism eco‐efficiency for sustainable development: A case study of cities in the Yangtze River Delta

AbstractTourism often brings about negative environmental impacts. Tourism eco‐efficiency (TEE) and its spatial coordination are of great significance for sustainable tourism development and environmental protection in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD). TEE index system was established and applied in this study. The inter‐city TEE spatial correlation network is established by the modified gravity model and analyzed by social network analysis (SNA). Spatial Durbin model (SDM) was used to analyze the spatial spillover effects of the two centrality indicators of the network. Based on fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis, we analyzed TEE enhancement configuration. The results show that: TEE in 26 cities in the study area has improved overall; the phenomenon of unbalanced development within the region still exists. In addition, the TEE of each city in the spatial correlation network of TEE in the YRD urban agglomeration is connected with each other, and there is a significant negative spillover effect. TEE is mainly affected by the level of economic development, industrial status of the tourism industry, tourism industry concentration, tourism investment level, tourism resource endowment, urban landscaping, and information development level. The combination of these factors and TEE can form five configuration patterns for TEE enhancement. This study combines SNA and SDM for the first time, and the conclusions obtained can more deeply describe the spatial correlation between different urban eco‐efficiency in the YRD. Aiming at the sustainable development of regional tourism, this study provides help for strengthening the protection of tourism ecological environment in the YRD.

Mission Statement Components and Social Enterprise Sustainability: Findings from a Mixed-Method Approach

Mission statement components are crucial for the sustainability of social enterprises. Based on content analysis and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), we investigate the link between mission statement components and sustainability in a sample of 148 Chinese social enterprises. Our findings indicate that social enterprises’ mission statements are both socially and commercially focused. An individual mission statement component does not constitute a necessary condition for the high sustainability of social enterprises, but products or services and enterprise philosophy play a universal role in this regard. There are four configurations of mission statement components that lead to high social enterprise sustainability. This study helps to reveal the complexity of the impact of mission statement components on social enterprise sustainability.

Exploring the drivers of supply chain sustainability: An internal and external configuration perspective

AbstractThe global supply chains sustainability and viability has been severely impacted due to the emergence of black swan events such as COVID‐19. Previous studies have examined how to enhance supply chain sustainability from a single internal capability perspective or an external relationship perspective, few studies have examined the combined effects of internal and external factors to enhance supply chain sustainability. To fill this research gap, this study investigates the multivariate relationship from internal capabilities and external relationships mutually complementary perspective to improve supply chain sustainability. Grounded on dynamic capabilities theory and relational view, we put forward the supply chain dynamic capability construct under the internal perspective, and relationship construct with supply chain members under the external perspective. Based on the configuration theory, 270 data from enterprises were analyzed using fsQCA (fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis), and the results shows that: first, there is no necessary condition for generating high supply chain sustainability, which means that individual factors do not lead to high supply chain sustainability; second, this study identified two paths to achieve high supply chain sustainability: capability‐driven and relationship‐driven, which reflects the multiple paths and complex mechanisms to achieve high supply chain sustainability; third, this study finds the important role of supply chain dynamic reconfiguring capability in forming high supply chain sustainability. These results can provide some theoretical guidance for enterprises to improve supply chain sustainability and achieve high quality economic development.

How policy promotes the integration of culture and tourism? A fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis based on the Policy Instrument Theory.

Crafting pertinent policies to facilitate the high-level integration of culture and tourism has now become a vital agenda within the current discourse in China. However, relatively little is known about the actual implementation of various policies to achieve a high-level integration, especially how combinations of policy instruments are deployed in the process of realization. Based on the Policy Instrument Theory, this study uses fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis on a sample of 31 provincial administrative regions in China to investigate the influence of typical policy instruments on the integration level of tourism and culture. The results show that each single policy tool is not necessary for high-level integration of culture and tourism. On the contrary, only through an organic combination of different policy tools can affect the integration level. This study also summarizes five policy instrument configurations, which can be grouped into four driving modes of culture-tourism integration: the environment-driven supply-demand coordination mode, supply-driven demand-environment coordination mode, supply-driven mode, and supply-driven environment coordination mode. This study considerably provides critical theoretical and practical insights into the integration of culture and tourism from the perspective of governmental policies.

An FsQCA Exploration of Multiple Paths to Sales Performance: Evidence from China

ABSTRACT Purpose Sales performance is one of the critical roles in boosting firm performance, making motivating salespeople a concern for many managers. However, few existing studies on sales performance improvement from the holistic perspective exist. Based on triadic reciprocal determinism, this paper explores the combinations of the factors that may influence sales performance. Methodology/approach Based on matching questionnaires from 154 salespeople and their supervisors, this paper employs fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to delve into the inherent complexity of factors influencing sales performance. Findings The results revealed that a combination of personal (family motivation, challenge stress and hindrance stress), behavioral (adaptive selling behavior) and environmental factors (organizational innovation climate and business environment) determine sales performance. Specifically, three paths lead to high sales performance, and one path leads to non-high sales performance. Significantly, the path with an organizational innovation climate can explain high sales performance more effectively than other paths. Research implications This paper makes a valuable contribution to the literature on B2B sales literature by exploring triadic reciprocal determinism. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first fsQCA attempt to address sales performance based on Chinese samples. Practical implications This paper offers an essential basis for sales managers to plan sales strategies. The sales managers could refer to the three paths leading to high sales performance to achieve sales targets. Further, the one path leading to non-high sales performance should be avoided in strategy decision-making. Originality/value/contribution The paper examines different approaches to achieving high and non-high sales performance using the fsQCA method, which offers a unique and relevant perspective on B2B sales literature.

Understanding stakeholders’ intention to use construction robots: a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis

User acceptance is crucial for successfully adopting robotic technologies in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) sector. Previous studies have focused on domestic, service, and industrial robots, leaving the construction domain unexplored. In this study, we set out to empirically understand how various dimensions of technology, environment, robot, and user lead to AEC stakeholders’ intention to use construction robots. We apply the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis approach to capture the complexity of human behavior and the interdependencies across dimensions. For the data collection, we sampled 216 cases in Switzerland, Germany, and Austria evaluating three scenarios of human–robot interaction. Our analysis identifies three distinct user profiles—the lifelike robot user, the utilitarian robot user, and the lifelike-utilitarian robot user. The results show that human–robot peering may be a fundamental solution to increase user acceptance. By testing the effect of user characteristics, we also discover a lifelike-utilitarian type of robot that is more appealing to female AEC stakeholders. The study contributes to the construction robotics literature by providing tailored design and implementation strategies. It points to future research avenues such as user experience and social factors for exploring the impact of robotics and artificial intelligence in AEC.

Why are social media users susceptible to health misinformation? A perspective from complexity theory

PurposeHealth misinformation on social media threatens public health. A critical question that sheds light on the propagation of health misinformation across social media platforms revolves around identifying the specific types of social media users susceptible to this issue. This study provides an initial insight into this matter by examining the underlying psychological mechanism that renders users susceptible to health misinformation.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, we developed an integrated model of susceptibility to health misinformation, drawing on the motivation-opportunity-ability theory and the elaboration likelihood model. We collected the data from a sample of 342 social media users in China. Furthermore, the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis was adopted to examine the proposed model and uncover the causal recipes associated with susceptibility to health misinformation.FindingsThe results indicated that there are three configural types of users that are susceptible to health misinformation: the health-consciousness core-driven type, the popularity-driven core type and the dual-driven type characterized by both high health consciousness and information popularity. Among these, high health-consciousness and the reliance on information popularity-based pathways emerge as pivotal factors influencing susceptibility to health misinformation.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the social media literature by identifying various psychological traits that lead to social media users’ susceptibility to health misinformation. Additionally, the study provides comprehensive guidance on how to mitigate the spread of health misinformation.

The transnational engagement of Afghan diaspora organizations: Drivers of diaspora specialization

AbstractThis article delves into the engagement of Afghans in Europe in diaspora organizations (DOs) and examines the factors influencing the varying levels of transnational involvement aiming Afghan DOs (ADOs). Through a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) of 85 ADOs across Austria, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom, this study explores intricate configurations leading to transnational activities. Drawing from a diverse range of qualitative data sources, this study deciphers different causal pathways underlying diasporic transnational activities. The results show that although individual conditions do not singularly drive transnational activities, the analysis identifies specific configurations where external funding notably shapes these transnational activities. Particularly, the research reveals that organizations in Germany and the Netherlands have stronger transnational ties to their country of origin compared to ADOs in Austria and Sweden, which focus primarily on local activities.

An integrated structural equation modeling and fuzzy qualitative comparative analysis model for examining green procurement adoption drivers

This research examines the factors that influence the implementation of green procurement in small and medium enterprises (SMEs), namely top management commitment, regulations, costs, pressure from consumers, and transformational leadership as moderation. The research employs a quantitative approach with 206 samples from the Indonesian SME industry. It utilizes Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and Fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (FsQCA). The data set includes factors such as top management commitment, regulations, costs, consumer pressure, and transformational leadership as moderation variables. The results show that management commitment, regulations, costs, and customer pressure influence green procurement. The role of the moderating variable shows that transformational leadership only strengthens the influence of costs on green procurement and regulation on green procurement. Meanwhile, the influence of top management commitment to green procurement and customer pressure on green procurement shows that transformational leadership does not strengthen these variables. The research’s novelty lies in combining SEM and FsQCA to analyze the causal relationships among variables influencing green procurement in SMEs. It highlights the importance of understanding and effectively managing these relationships for organizations adopting green procurement practices.