Significant Negative Moderating Effect Research Articles

FACT OR FICTION? — CLIMATE CHANGE RISK AND TRADE CREDIT

The economic consequences of frequent weather events at the firm level have received considerable attention in recent years. This study empirically investigates the impact of climate change risk on firms’ trade credit, using Chinese-listed firms as research subjects. The results suggested that climate change risk has a negative impact on corporate trade credit by deepening firms’ financial distress and lowering the level of industry competitiveness. Both digital transformation and government transparency were found to have a significant negative moderating effect. Heterogeneity analyses showed that firms without environmental background executives, nonstate-owned firms, and nongreen firms were more significantly affected. Finally, we found that the green, low-carbon city pilot policy had a benign effect on corporate trade credit.

Effect of senior executives' overseas experience on corporate green innovation.

Against the background of increasingly severe environmental problems, green development has gained widespread attention, and green innovation has thus become crucial for enterprises. This study used 2007-2019 data from listed A-share companies in China to evaluate the effect of senior executives' overseas experience on corporate green innovation. The results showed that senior executives' overseas experience could promote green innovation in companies. This positive effect was more significant for private enterprises and high-tech enterprises, especially in eastern China. The CEO pay regulation have a significant negative moderating effect on this positive effect. This study enriches upper echelons theory and provides theoretical support for government agencies to accelerate innovative green development strategies. The results can also provide a decision-making basis for governments to formulate policies to promote enterprises' green development.

Exploring Institutional Pressures, Green Innovation, and Sustainable Performance: Examining the Mediated Moderation Role of Entrepreneurial Orientation

This study aims to understand the multifaceted role of entrepreneurial orientation between institutional pressures, green innovation, and sustainable performance by using institutional theory and the entrepreneurship perspective as a comprehensive theoretical lens. To be more specific, this study not only analyzes the impact of institutional pressures consisting of regulatory, normative, and cognitive pressures on green innovation and the mediating effect of entrepreneurial orientation but also examines the moderating effect of entrepreneurship between green innovation and sustainable performance. Empirical results based on survey data from 483 listed firms in China indicate a positive effect between institutional pressures and green innovation and confirm the mediating effect of entrepreneurial orientation. Meanwhile, between green innovation and sustainable performance, entrepreneurial orientation showed a significant negative moderating effect. Our findings show that institutional pressures can drive corporate green innovation and suggest that entrepreneurial orientation can help achieve green innovation by encouraging them to challenge more innovative environmental practices based on institutional pressure. On the other hand, in firms that have not had enough green innovation, a high entrepreneurial orientation can undermine sustainable performance because it can increase risk.

Financial inclusion, environmental degradation, and the moderating role of ICT: a global perspective.

This study aims to investigate the global perspective on the relationship between financial inclusion and environmental degradation, taking into account the potential moderating role of information and communication technology (ICT). The research utilizes panel data from 131 countries, covering the period of 1995 to 2019. The findings show that financial inclusion has significant and positive impact on carbon emissions, implying that as financial inclusion increases, so do carbon emissions. Moreover, our findings reveal a significant negative moderating effect of the ICT on the relationship between financial inclusion and carbon emissions. This implies that the impact of financial inclusion on carbon emissions is contingent upon the level of ICT development. The robustness of these findings is confirmed through the use of alternative proxies for the explanatory and moderating variables, as well as alternative estimation methods. The outcomes of this study carry significant implications for both policy and practice.

The impact of land resource mismatch and environmental regulation on carbon emissions: evidence from China

Municipalities’ inefficient use of land resources may influence local carbon emissions. The spatial Durbin model is utilized for analysis to look at the direct effect of land resource mismatch on carbon emissions, as well as the spatial spillover effect. The moderating effect model and the threshold effect model are used, respectively, to investigate the moderating and threshold effects of environmental regulation in land resource mismatch affecting carbon emissions. Panel data gathered from China’s prefecture-level cities between 2011 and 2021 are the foundation for this research. The results indicate that: (1) the mismatch of land resources will significantly increase the carbon emissions of local and adjacent areas. (2) Environmental regulation has a significant negative moderating effect on local carbon emissions caused by land resource mismatch. That is, environmental regulation can improve the environmental quality brought by land resource mismatch. (3) The mismatch of land resources presents a significant threshold effect on carbon emissions. When the intensity of environmental regulation reaches a certain threshold, the positive promotion effect of land resource mismatch on carbon emissions shows a decreasing marginal effect. Therefore, the government should keep advancing land marketization reform, strengthen environmental regulation, and create an interactive mechanism for regional cooperation in pollution prevention and control to improve regional environmental quality and promote carbon emission reduction.

Factors Influencing University Students’ Behavioral Intention to Use Electric Car-Sharing Services in Guangzhou, China

Along with reducing traffic congestion, electric car-sharing (ECS) can also solve travel demand, utilize idle resources, and enhance forms of transportation. Accordingly, university students are identified in Guangzhou, China as a promising customer group for ECS companies. Although university students in Guangzhou, China are unique in the context of ECS, few researchers have studied the factors that influence their willingness to use such services. Hence, this paper investigates the key determinants that affect university students’ behavioral intention (BI) to use ECS in Guangzhou, China. Based on an extension of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT), this paper examines the effects of the constructs on BI to use ECS and the moderating role of trust in ECS. Based on results from a questionnaire of 486 university students in Guangzhou, China, conditional value (CV) was the most critical driver of BI, followed by personal attitude (PA) and sustainability (SUST). The moderating analysis showed that taking gender, education, and driving experience of university students as control variables, trust was found to have a significant positive moderating impact on the relationship between PA and BI to use ECS, and a significant negative moderating effect of trust on the relationship between CV and BI to use ECS. The implications of these findings are discussed.

R&D Investment, Executive Incentive, and Financial Performance in GEM: Based on Three-Stage Least Squares Method

China’s GEM (Growth Enterprise Market, also named as ChiNext stock market) enterprises are mainly small and medium-sized enterprises in the start-up stage, which have high-speed growth. This work uses three-stage least squares (3SLS) based on combines system equation to study the impact of technological innovation investment, executive incentive, and enterprise financial performance. The results show that in China’s GEM enterprises, R&D in the current period positively affects financial performance in 1% significance level. R&D of the lag period has a significant negative impact on the financial performance of the current period. Conversely, the financial performance of the current period has a significant negative impact on R&D. While both salary incentive and equity incentive will improve financial performance, executives seem to value short-term interests MORE. Executive equity incentive has a significant negative moderating effect ownership due to ownership structure in GEM is needed to strengthen the control right. This work proposes a new research horizon in GEM in China, and can help the GEM design an effective management mechanism to improve the financial performance of the enterprise.

Global policy uncertainty and working capital management: Does national culture matter?

We explore the influence of global economic policy uncertainty on firms' working capital decisions and examine the moderating role of national culture, specifically uncertainty avoidance, on this link. Drawing on institutional theory, we contend that firms are influenced by their institutional environment's implicit and explicit traits and examine how policy uncertainty affects working capital allocation. Using a large panel of global firms across sixteen countries with over 150,000 firm-year observations and employing contemporary analytics, we find a positive association between policy uncertainty and working capital days, highlighting the need for proactive financial planning during periods of uncertainties. Our findings reveal that a one-standard-deviation increase in policy uncertainty is associated with an increase in working capital days by an average of seven days. Moreover, we find a significant negative moderating effect of uncertainty avoidance, demonstrating that firms in high uncertainty avoidance societies adopt more conservative working capital management strategies during periods of heightened uncertainty. These findings emphasize the importance of considering institutional and cultural factors when optimizing working capital practices during uncertain times. The effect of policy uncertainty is shown to be persistent. Additional heterogenous evidence through the lens of dividend policy, cash reserves, and firm size are offered.

Sustainability orientation and sustainability performance in response to hostile environments in cultural tourism destinations

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to understand how sustainability orientation influences economic, environmental and social sustainability performance and the moderating role of environmental hostility on these relationships. This study aims to deepen the consequences of the strategic commitment to sustainability of tourism firms located in the World Heritage Cities of Cusco, Lima and Arequipa in Peru.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical analysis was conducted on a sample of 238 tourism firms. The authors implemented structural equation modelling technique to contrast the hypothesis.FindingsThe results shows that sustainability orientation has a positive effect on social and environmental performance mainly, but also on both financial and non-financial economic performance. The authors also detect a significant negative moderating effect of environmental hostility, which is accentuated in the case of social and economic-financial performance.Practical implicationsThis study provides interesting practical implications in the tourism sector. Firms should develop a strategic commitment to sustainability, even in hostile environments, to improve their competitive position while reducing the negative impact of their activity on the natural and social environment. Institutions should encourage firms to commit to sustainability to achieve more sustainable and competitive urban tourism destinations.Originality/valueThis study advances the controversial debate on whether sustainability orientation of tourism firms leads to better economic performance. Moreover, from triple bottom line approach, it provides a holistic view of how sustainability orientation affects sustainability performance in all its dimensions. Finally, this paper delves into the complexities and challenges of sustainable urban tourism.

Does pickup service quality explain BOPIS users' store relationship performance? The moderating role of users' service experience consciousness

PurposeBuilding on Stimulus-Organism-Response theory, the current study examines the influence of pickup service quality in buy-online pickup in-store service (BOPIS) on users' perceived relationship investment with the mediating role of users' perceived experience quality and relationship proneness. This research also demonstrates the subsequent impact of BOPIS users' perceived relationship investment on their relationship performance indicators, like their cross-buying behaviors (breadth), frequency of their purchase (depth) and longevity of their relationship (length) with the store. The moderating role of BOPIS users' service experience consciousness in a few proposed relationships was tested.Design/methodology/approachThe research is descriptive, quantitative and cross-sectional investigation. The study employed a purposive sampling technique. It was conducted using data collected using a validated self-administered questionnaire from 786 Indian omnichannel shoppers who have used BOPIS services in the past. The proposed conceptual model was tested using Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling.FindingsThe results indicate that BOPIS users' perceived experience quality and relationship proneness positively mediate pickup service quality and perceived relationship investment. The users' perceived relationship investment subsequently significantly positively impacts different dimensions of their relationship performance with the store (breadth, depth and length). Additionally, BOPIS users' service experience consciousness has a significant negative moderating effect on the direct relationship between pickup service quality and different dimensions of relationship performance.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is conducted in the Indian population, where omnichannel retailing is still nascent.Originality/valueThis study addresses the need to investigate the relationship performance indicators of BOPIS users, like their cross-buying behaviors(breadth), frequency of their purchase(depth) and longevity of their relationship(length) with the store. This study is the first to show that pickup service quality might explain the relationship performance of BOPIS users through their perceived experience quality, relationship proneness and relationship investments. The moderating role of BOPIS users' service experience consciousness in a few proposed relationships was also tested for the first time.

The impact of carbon neutrality policies on the stock market from a supply chain perspective

PurposeThis study explores the impact of carbon neutrality policies on Chinese stock market from a supply chain perspective. Specifically, the carbon policy refers to the Action Plan for Carbon Dioxide Peaking Before 2030 (the Plan) in China.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is based on the resource dependence theory (RDT) and applies the event study methodology to explore the impact. It uses the cross-sectional regression model to reveal the moderating effect of supply chain characteristics on the stock market reaction with a data set of 354 listed companies in A-shares (excluding ChiNext and SME board).FindingsThe promulgation of the Plan shows a significant negative stock market reaction. Customer concentration, out-degree centrality and smart supply chains (SSCs) have a significant negative moderating effect. In-degree centrality and supplier concentration have a significant positive moderating effect. Furthermore, the conclusions concerning out-degree centrality, supplier concentration and SSCs are counterintuitive.Practical implicationsFor policymakers, the study results provide a reference for evaluating the carbon neutrality policy. For managers, this study provides theoretical support for strategically adjusting and designing supply chain structures in the context of advocating peak carbon dioxide emissions and carbon neutrality.Originality/valueThis paper is the first attempt that includes the supply chain structure factors into the impact of carbon neutrality policies on the stock market.

The politician as a CEO, corporate governance and firm value

Using a data set of two important emerging markets namely Taiwan and Pakistan, we investigate an unexplored dynamic of the top leadership i.e. the politician as a CEO and determine their impact on firm value. We show that the presence of the powerful politician as a CEO tends to limit the board power and endorse managerial entrenchment i.e. put their self-interests ahead of the firm's goals, which in turn, damage the firms’ value. We find a significant negative moderating effect of the political CEOs on the relationship of concentrated ownership, board independence and firm value.

In the context of mass entrepreneurship network embeddedness and entrepreneurial innovation performance of high-tech enterprises in Guangdong province

PurposeThe study aimed to analyze the influence of network embeddedness on the innovation performance of high-tech enterprises in Guangdong Province.Design/methodology/approachA conceptual model of the influence of network embeddedness on the innovation performance of high-tech enterprises in Guangdong province is established, which takes the business model as the mediating variable and political association as the moderating variable. Multivariate statistical analysis and the MacKinnon confidence interval method were used to analyze 418 questionnaires.FindingsThe results show that both relational embeddedness and structural embeddedness have significant positive effects on the innovation performance of high-tech enterprises in Guangdong Province. The business model has a partial mediating effect between relationship embeddedness, structure embeddedness, and innovation performance of high-tech enterprises in Guangdong Province, respectively. Political relevance has a significant negative moderating effect on the relationship between the relationship embeddedness and innovation performance of high-tech enterprises in Guangdong Province, but the moderating effect on structural embeddedness and innovation performance of high-tech enterprises in Guangdong province has not been verified.Research limitations/implicationsThe study of this paper also has some shortcomings: very few data research samples exist; the external factors affecting the performance of high-tech enterprises in Guangdong Province need to be further refined. The research scale needs further improvement.Practical implicationsIn this paper, embedding theory, transaction cost theory, resource dependence theory, rent-seeking theory, new institution theory and uncertainty management theory were integrated by system attempt to reveal the mediating and moderating roles of business model and political relevance, respectively, between network embeddedness behavior and entrepreneurial innovation performance of high-tech enterprises. The research conclusions expand the relevant research in the field of entrepreneurial innovation. At the same time, the research results provide theoretical support and reference for the innovative growth of high-tech enterprises and government behavior decision-making in Guangdong province.Originality/valueNetwork embeddedness will have a profound impact on the entrepreneurial innovation performance of high-tech enterprises. Existing research has overlooked discussing this issue from the perspective of internal and external influencing factors within the enterprise. Therefore, this study addresses this issue by (1) introducing the business model as the mediating variable from an internal perspective of the enterprise, (2) introducing political association as the moderating variable from an external perspective of the enterprise and (3) 418 original questionnaires of high-tech enterprises in Guangdong Province were used to test the effect of the study variables.

Consumer food storage practices and methods at the household-level: a community study in Ghana

IntroductionHousehold-level food storage can make food available to consumers, and promotes food security. Nevertheless, attention is mostly devoted to enhancing food storage at the farmer and national levels, neglecting the household level. It is therefore critical to assess food storage practices of households. This study examined food storage practices of households, evaluated expert opinions on household-level food storage, and assessed the effect household characteristics has on food storage and food security.MethodsDzorwulu and Jamestown communities in Accra, Ghana, were chosen as the study locations. The study consisted of a survey, expert interviews and structural equation modeling. For the survey, 400 food household heads selected using systematic sampling method responded to a semi-structured questionnaire. Seventeen (17) experts were also purposively sampled and interviewed.Results and DiscussionThe results showed that, most households stored foodstuffs they often consumed, with generally low storage of fruits and vegetables. Perishable foods such as cassava, tomato, yam, and banana were stored by 37.8, 42, 38.3 and 43.8% of households, respectively, for 1–3 days. Households often stored food within a period of 2 weeks, due to poor storage facilities and lack of food storage knowledge. About 85.8% of households had never received training on food storage. Most households used baskets, bowls, sacks and polyethylene bags to store food at home, and some used refrigerators and deep freezers. Regarding the link between food storage and food security, household heads’ income showed a significant positive moderating effect (p ≤ 0.01), households’ socioeconomic status had a positive effect, while household size indicated a significant negative moderating effect (p ≤ 0.01). The experts asserted that, household-level food storage enhances food security and food safety, and reduces food expenditure and food wastage. The limited food storage knowledge of households should be a basis for intervention to enhance proper food storage practices within households.

Effect of air pollution on the prevalence of breast and cervical cancer in China: a panel data regression analysis.

The association between the prevalence of breast and cervical cancer in Chinese women and air pollution is obscure. The study aims to analyze the correlation between air pollution and the prevalence of breast and cervical cancer, and whether the gross domestic product (GDP) has a modifying effect on the impact of air pollution on the prevalence of breast and cervical cancer. Extracting panel data from 31 provinces and cities between 2006 and 2020, we evaluated the association between breast and cervical cancer prevalence and pollutant emissions from 2006 to 2015 with two-way fixed-effect models. We also analyzed the interaction between GDP and pollutant emissions and further check the robustness of the moderating effect results using group regression from 2016 to 2020. Cluster robust standard errors were used to correct for the heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation. The coefficients of models show that the coefficients of logarithmic soot and dust emissions are estimated to be significantly positive, and the coefficients of their square terms are significantly negative. The robust results suggest that the relationship between soot and dust emissions and breast or cervical cancer prevalence is non-linear, from 2006 to 2015. In the analysis of particulate matter (PM) data in 2016-2020, the PM-GDP interaction term was also significantly negative, indicating that GDP growth weakened the effect of PM on the prevalence of breast cancer and cervical cancer. In provinces with higher GDP, the indirect effect of PM emissions concerning breast cancer is -0.396 while in provinces with lower GDP, it is about -0.215. The corresponding coefficient concerning cervical cancer is about -0.209 in provinces with higher GDP but not significant in provinces with lower GDP. Our results suggest that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between the prevalence of breast cancer and cervical cancer and air pollutants from 2006 to 2015. GDP growth has a significant negative moderating effect on the impact of air pollutants on the prevalence of breast cancer and cervical cancer. PM emissions have a higher effect on the prevalence of breast and cervical cancer in provinces with higher GDP and a lower impact in provinces with lower GDP.

AUDIT COMMITTEE AND FINANCIAL REPORTING QUALITY: THE MODERATING EFFECT OF BOARD INDEPENDENCE OF LISTED DEPOSIT MONEY BANKS IN NIGERIA

The widely publicized corporate accounting scandals perpetrated under the watchful eye of audit committee despite their roles and function-ns in financial reporting processes, casts doubt in the minds of users on its relevance and credibility. This study examines the moderating role of board independence on the relationship between audit committee and financial reporting quality of listed Nigerian deposit money banks from 2012 to 2021. The study utilized correlation research design, extracted secondary data and OLS multiple regression for analysis. The finding reveals that board independence has a significant negative moderating effect on audit committee characteristics and financial reporting quality represented by discretionary loan loss provision, thereby strengthen the nexus. Based on the findings, the study recommends the appointment of more outside directors, holding strategic regular meeting and appointment of members with financial expertise into the audit committee to guarantee independence, assure discussion and handling of complex financial issues which would improve the financial reporting quality.

Impact of the Digital Economy on the Green Transformation of China's Manufacturing Industry

Based on the panel data of 29 provinces and cities in China from 2013 to 2020, the mediating effect model and the moderating effect model are used to empirically analyze the transmission role of technological innovation and industrial structure optimization in the digital economy influencing the green transformation of manufacturing industry, and the moderating role of environmental regulation in the digital economy promoting the green transformation of the manufacturing industry. The results of the empirical study show that the digital economy promotes the green transformation of the manufacturing industry through technological innovation and industrial structure optimization. On the other hand, the intensity of environmental regulation has a significant negative moderating effect on the green transformation of the manufacturing industry promoted by the digital economy.

Psychological impact of COVID-19 pandemic and turnover intention: The moderating effect of employee work engagement

The study aimed to understand the relationship between the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and turnover intention and the moderating role of employee engagement. Data were collected via a structured questionnaire through both hand deliveries of printed questionnaires and Google docs from 187 frontline employees in the Ghanaian public sector. The hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling. There exists a positive and significant relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and employee turnover intentions. Out of the three dimensions of work engagement, vigor had a significant negative moderating effect on the relationship between psychological impact and turnover intentions. This implies that the positive effect of the psychological impact of COVID-19 on turnover intentions is minimized, where employees have high levels of energy and mental resilience while working, thus their vigor is high rather than low. The study contributes to literature on employee work engagement by using the Job demands-resources model to unravel the specific dimension of employee engagement that can minimize the negative impact of COVID-19 on employees’ turnover intention in the public sector in a developing country.

The Relationship between Environmental Regulation, Green-Technology Innovation and Green Total-Factor Productivity—Evidence from 279 Cities in China

This paper employs the SBM-DDF method to measure the index of green total-factor productivity (GTFP), based on the panel data of 279 prefecture-level cities in China from 2007 to 2019, and constructs a spatial Durbin model (SDM) and a threshold effect to empirically test the effects of dual environmental-regulations and green technological innovation on GTFP. The results are as follows: (1) the SDM supports a nonlinear contribution of dual environmental-regulations spillover to GTFP. The relationship between formal environmental-regulation and GTFP is an inverted U-shape, while a U-shaped nonlinear relationship is found between informal environmental regulation and GTFP. (2) Green technology innovation has a significant negative moderating effect on the process of dual environmental-regulations affecting GTFP in local regions, but a positive moderating effect on informal environmental regulation in neighboring regions. (3) There is a significant green technology innovation threshold effect of dual environmental-regulations affecting GTFP. Specifically, the promotion effect of dual environmental-regulations on GFFP gradually increases as the level of green technology innovation increases.

Board Group Faultlines, Slack Resource, and Corporate Carbon Performance

A general consensus has been reached among many countries that low-carbon development is important for the protection of the environment and the mitigation of climate change. In line with the attitude of a responsible country, China urges enterprises to participate in energy conservation and emission reduction through various policies. Based on the faultline theory, this paper considers the data of 124 listed companies in China’s manufacturing industry from 2015 to 2019 as a research sample. From the perspective of corporate governance, this analysis discusses the influence of the aggregation effect of the multiple characteristics of board members on the environmental protection benefits of enterprises, and empirically studies the board group. The relationship between the faultline and the carbon performance of the enterprise is further investigated, and the internal slack resources of the enterprise are further investigated in relation to the board members and the moderating effect. The study found that the existence of the board’s bio-demographic-related faultline has a positive effect on the carbon performance level of enterprises, but it is not statistically significant. The existence of the board’s task-related faultline has a positive effect on the carbon performance level of the enterprise. Further research found that precipitated slack resources have a significant negative moderating effect on the relationship between the existence of boardroom faultlines and corporate carbon performance, and that the relationship had a positive moderating effect, but was not statistically significant. The preceding conclusions not only enrich the research on corporate internal governance in theory, but also provide useful guidance for how to improve corporate environmental protection behavior on a microlevel in practice.