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In the era of digital economy, business model innovation (BMI) has become an important way for companies to achieve digital transformation and gain new competitive advantages, but there is still a lack of research on the impact mechanism of BMI. Based on the social network theory perspective, this paper explores the influence of external social network (ESN) on BMI and the mediating role of business model boundary-spanning search (BMBS) and the moderating role of slack resources (SR). Through the survey and data analysis of 201 Chinese companies, this paper found that ESN has a significant positive impact on BMI. In addition, BMBS played a partial mediating role between ESN and BMI. At the same time, SR positively moderates the relationship between BMBS and BMI and the mediating effect of BMBS. The findings enrich the study about the influencing mechanism of BMI and provide insights into the BMI practice of companies in the context of digital transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable development has received more attention in recent years due to growing ecological and environmental concerns. Thus, eco-innovation becomes a topic of increasing interest and generates a large amount of publications. This paper uses extensive data from Web of Science and Scopus to examine the evolution of eco-innovation research and also uses meta-analysis to delve deeper into the determinants. The findings reveal that (1) the number of publications has increased steadily over three stages—slow budding, steady development, and rapid growth—with an overall average growth rate of 16.0%; (2) increasing countries/regions are studying eco-innovation, primarily in developed countries, but the contribution from developing countries is also growing; (3) the most published journals are Journal of Cleaner Production, Sustainability, Business Strategy and the Environment, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, and Ecological Economics; (4) keyword analysis reveals determinants of eco-innovation is a long-term hot topic; (5) meta-analysis concludes that innovation capability and environmental regulations can significantly affect eco-innovation; and (6) high economic development level can effectively enhance eco-innovation by improving R&D, knowledge, and innovation capability. Compared to large firms, eco-innovation by small and medium-sized firms is more influenced by cooperation and government. This paper suggests the government should construct more financial institutions to relieve firms' investment pressures, as well as a property right protection mechanism and corresponding innovative knowledge reward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the interrelationship between institutional investors' information competition, accounting information transparency, and corporate governance in the context of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2008 to 2020. Institutional investors are considered informed traders due to their access to valuable information and professional research teams. They play a critical role in reducing information asymmetry between listed companies and investors, influencing investment decisions. Previous research has primarily focused on the impact of institutional investors' shareholding on accounting information transparency, but less attention has been paid to the influence of their information competition. This study addresses this gap by examining the competition among institutional investors to acquire exclusive information and the effect on the transparency of corporate accounting information. The study finds that when information competition is low, institutional investors with larger shareholdings tend to decrease the transparency of financial information to gain a private information advantage. Additionally, the paper explores the mediating factors that influence the quality of management disclosure, which is affected by institutional investors. The research contributes to the understanding of institutional investors' information competition, accounting information transparency, and corporate governance. It reveals that agency cost is a critical linkage factor for institutional investors to influence accounting information transparency to obtain an information competition advantage. It also highlights the impact of stock liquidity and non-Big Four independent audits on the degree of information asymmetry resulting from information competition. Furthermore, the paper suggests that the competitive rivalry between institutional investors determines their tendency to disrupt the market information environment and increase information asymmetry to gain private information advantages. This behavior contradicts the concept of developing institutional investors to foster a healthy and orderly capital market in China. The paper emphasizes the need for regulators to guide and regulate the market behavior of institutional investors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the post-epidemic era, China's digital economy is booming. Especially in the new "dual circulation" development pattern, it has gradually become a new driving force and major pillar for promoting high-quality economic development. This paper mainly researches the indirect ways in which the digital economy empowers economic development from the perspective of China's domestic economic cycle. On this basis, it builds a framework for the mechanism of action. Through the test of the multiple mediation model, it is found that the contribution of the parallel mediation effect of production factors marketization and digital financial inclusion is more than 50%, while the effect of consumption structure upgrades is only about 4%. It is worth noting that the chain mediation effect of production factors marketization and digital financial inclusion acting through industrial structure upgrades on economic development is highly significant at the 1% level. Meanwhile, these three factors interact with each other two by two and constitute a chain-mediated path which is all significant at the 5% level. Therefore, in the context of the digital economy, accelerating the development of new industries to optimize the industrial structure, smoothing the flow of production factors, and improving the digital financial system to tap the consumer market will become the focus of promoting high-quality economic development in China in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent breakthrough of a net energy gain from a fusion reaction renders tangible several avenues for fusion energy. This article argues that fusion has the potential to be the next General-Purpose Technology (GPT) due to its several non-electricity applications. Following the evolutionary theory of technological change, this paper analyzes the evolution of fusion technologies at two different levels. At the micro level, this paper analyzes a possible evolution path for the fusion industry and for other industries that will be impacted by the developments of fusion, such as transportation and aerospace. At the macro level, this paper analyzes a possible evolution path for the diffusion of fusion within each national innovation system and across countries, a global commission. Both levels of analysis share the need for managed co-opetition via open science, where competitors cooperate under the supervision of national or international agencies. This article concludes with several perspectives that provide insightful contributions for policymakers, practitioners, and politicians interested in understanding how the evolution of fusion technologies will likely affect the funding of research and development and the direction and progress of technological change, and it illustrates the dynamic relation between a GPT and economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrating artificial intelligence (AI) systems into administrative procedures can revolutionize the way processes are conducted and fundamentally change established forms of action and organization in administrative law. However, implementing AI in administrative procedures requires a comprehensive evaluation of the capabilities and limitations of different systems, including considerations of transparency and data availability. Data are a crucial factor in the operation of AI systems and the validity of their predictions. It is essential to ensure that the data used to train AI algorithms are extensive, representative, and free of bias. Transparency is also an important aspect establishing trust and reliability in AI systems, particularly regarding the potential for transparent representation in rule-based and machine-learning AI systems. This paper examines the potential and challenges that arise from integrating AI into administrative procedures. In addition, the paper offers a nuanced perspective on current developments in artificial intelligence and provides a conceptual framework for its potential applications in administrative procedures. Beyond this, the paper highlights essential framework conditions that require continuous monitoring to ensure optimal results in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The acceleration of digital technology development is an important strategic choice to realize the transformation of green innovation. Prior research focuses on the mechanism by which artificial intelligence technology promotes economic growth but ignores the impact of digital technology on green innovation performance. Using panel data on 30 regions in China from 2003 to 2019, this paper examines the impact of digital technology on green innovation performance. The results are as follows: (1) Digital technology can significantly promote green innovation performance. After a series of robustness tests, the conclusion is still valid. (2) Digital technology improves green innovation performance through the green technology upgrading effect, cost reduction effect, and green resource allocation optimization effect. (3) Heterogeneity test results show that in regions with high human capital, high R&D intensity, and strong environmental regulation, the improvement effect of digital technology on green innovation performance is more obvious. These findings not only enrich the literature on digital technology and green innovation performance but also serve as a reference for governmental departments as they optimize their strategy for developing digital technology and achieving green economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new corporate governance model for SOEs with Chinese characteristics was implemented in China in 2016, in which a 4 + 1 (Chinese Communist Party committee, shareholders' meeting, board of directors, board of supervisors + managers) corporate governance structure was formed by integrating the Party organization into the traditional Western 3 + 1 structure (shareholders' meeting, board of directors, board of supervisors + managers), and it was a major breakthrough of the modern enterprise system with Chinese characteristics. With this brand-new institutional arrangement as a quasi-nature experiment, the propensity score matching (PSM) and differences-in-differences (PSM-DID) methods have been used in this paper to empirically test the impact of the corporate governance model with Chinese characteristics on accounting information disclosure of state-owned enterprises (SOE). It has been found in the study that the corporate governance model with Chinese characteristics has improved the transparency of accounting information of SOEs in China, but no significant contribution to the quality of accounting information has been identified. Samples are subdivided in view of the influence of the hierarchy and internal governance of Chinese SOEs. In central government-owned enterprises or those with a low level of internal control, the new governance model plays a more prominent role in enhancing the transparency of accounting information. The study verifies the positive effect of the corporate governance model with Chinese characteristics in improving the level of accounting information disclosure. Also, the study has practical significance in enhancing the corporate governance system with Chinese characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examined the impacts of financial inclusion and banking innovation on economic growth in Nigeria using monthly and quarterly data from 2009 to 2021. The paper expanded the frontier of knowledge by adopting a monthly and quarterly approach using mixed data sampling (MIDAS) and autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) to ascertain the level of consistency of the impact of financial inclusion and banking innovation on economic growth and identify the banking channel which has the strongest impact on economic growth. Data on the variables were sourced from 2021 editions of the Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin and the World Development Indicator. The findings showed that financial inclusion and banking innovation channels such as ATM and mobile transactions had a positive impact on economic growth across the ARDL and MIDAS approaches. The impact of the value of POS and web transactions was also significant, but their results were not consistent across the two techniques, while the value of cheque transactions does not impact economic growth using the ARDL approach. The results also showed that the value of POS transactions had the strongest impact on economic growth, followed by ATM, mobile, and web transactions respectively. As a result of these findings, the paper concluded that financial inclusion and banking sector innovations have an important role to play in fostering economic growth in Nigeria. Finally, the paper is unique as it is the first to compare the consistency of findings across the MIDAS and ARDL approach on the study objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge management strategies (KMSs) and intellectual capital have received widespread attention due to their important contribution to the growth of ambidextrous innovation capability (AIC). Yet, there is still a relative paucity of empirical research on the associations between KMSs, intellectual capital, and AIC in the SME context. Thus, this paper is empirically aimed at examining the associations among KMSs and AIC and further explores how intellectual capital mediates these relationships in SMEs. We analyze survey data from 170 Iranian SMEs using structural equation modeling. The results mainly show that the direct improvement in AIC caused by the personalization strategy of knowledge management is greater than the codification strategy of knowledge management. Moreover, the intellectual capital acts as a mediator of the effects of the codification and personalization strategies on AIC. Hence, one practical implication of this paper is that SMEs should pay attention to their personalization strategy as the most effective strategy for promoting ambidextrous innovation and provide guidelines on the interaction between KMSs and intellectual capital to foster their AIC. In addition, this paper offers new insights on the role of KMSs implemented through intellectual capital in organizational ambidexterity, which extends the ambidexterity literature in the context of SMEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultural and creative clusters (CCCs) have been a crucial driving force to generate economic, cultural, and social impacts. However, few studies have investigated theories about how the spatial clustering of CCCs differs from that of traditional technology-based clusters (TBCs). To address this gap, we adopted the systematic literature review methodology to conduct a comprehensive comparison between CCCs and TBCs by drawing on the knowledge-based view (KBV). Based on our review of the literature, we argue that, as a boundary-specific resource, the local cultural knowledge (LCK) plays a central role in the development of CCCs. The paper explores the creation, diffusion, and utilization of LCK, facilitating the development of CCCs through three dimensions: urban regeneration, cultural preservation, and well-being promotion. Moreover, we further propose a triple-helix model of three interactive mechanisms among these three dimensions, namely gentrification, identification, and holistic sustainability. Three research propositions for developing successful CCCs are proposed. The paper concludes that the creation, diffusion, and utilization of LCK foster regional economic renewal, cultural preservation, and social welfare in a harmonious way. Some policy implications are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this work is to develop and analyze the role of grass root level innovations in improving the livelihood of rural or semi-urban ecosystems in India through entrepreneurial framework based on user need finding and user-involved design. The paper uses an analytical study through user need finding to develop an ecofriendly carry bag–making machine targeted for livelihood generation leading to self-sustained rural and semi-urban low-income-group ecosystems. A stratified random sampling strategy and a factor-based analysis using analytical hierarchical processing (AHP) and fuzzy AHP are applied for inferential analysis to obtain factor scores of each latent variable leading to the best innovation pathway. The best grass root innovations come through the inferential analysis of responses directly gathered from the sector which is most affected. Such an innovation gets significant acceptability when the most affected strata gives direct feedback pertaining to the innovation that may lead to the creation of a sustainable livelihood ecosystem. Solution to two major practical problems, viz., (a) creating regular stable employment opportunities to people in the bottom of the pyramid and (b) reducing the pollution due to single-use plastic carry bags by providing better alternatives have been proposed through a grass root innovation approach. The study investigates the direct role of product innovation led through opinion of stake holders directly involved that results in providing a sustainable and long-term livelihood through the proposed entrepreneurial framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In economics, several theories have focused on the study of decisions made by economic agents. Recent branches in economics have even revealed some controversies with the theoretical findings of the basic neoclassical model. Indeed, the growing uncertainty characterizing certain contemporary risks leads to various biases in the economic agents' behaviors. The relevance of decisions under uncertainty calls into question the assumption of absolute rationality of the neoclassical economics. In this context, the COVID-19 pandemic is causing an unprecedented human crisis. This paper aims to provide a theoretical examination of the behaviors of economic agents faced with uncertainty and catastrophic situations. In its first contribution, this study provides a theoretical overview of behaviors under uncertainty. In its second contribution, the paper highlights the need for a prospective approach in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. Hence, we delve into the theoretical foundations of a prospective approach to health. All around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic approved the need for rethinking the preparation of "public health" systems to deal with pandemics. A good response to the present and a better preparation for the future require a revision of behaviors in terms of international cooperation and monitoring of Sustainable Development Goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fierce market rivalry between companies has forced a need to search for new ways of competing. One such way is to innovate the company's business model innovation with the use of new technologies. In order to do so, companies often take advantage of relationships with different market actors. Although the existing literature provides some general insight on this matter, there is still a significant research gap concerning the use of specific market actors by companies characterized by BMI based on new technologies. The aim of the paper is to assess the role of relationships developed by companies characterized by BMI based on new technologies with different types of entities. In order to achieve the aim of the paper, it was decided to perform both qualitative and quantitative research. For the qualitative research, a focus study with 12 participants was performed, and for the quantitative study, a computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) with representatives from 483 companies was carried out. The data collection method included not only primary sources (interviews with managers) but secondary sources (e.g., company materials) as well. The main conclusion drawn from the presented research is that it is beneficial (in terms of technology as well as performance indicators — profits, sales, market share, and ROI) for companies characterized with BMI based on new technologies to develop relationships with various types of entities. These various types should not only include suppliers or buyers, but competitors, the company's internal and external units, universities and research centers, financing agencies, and government or local government administration as well. The results presented in the paper add significant value to the existing knowledge. Not only is the paper one of a few which touch on the matter of relationships developed by companies characterized by BMI based on new technologies, it also provides new information. It adds a new block to the theories of open innovation and resource-based view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In rural areas of China, the ancestral hall is a unique traditional cultural icon, exerting a long-lasting influence on rural development. However, the institutional structuring effect of ancestral halls on rural economies in the current century has been ignored. The impact of ancestral halls on the regional economy of the town level in Fujian Province is explored in this paper using data from the China Statistical Yearbook and ancestral halls from Fujian's provincial cultural heritage protection list. Based on the research, it is evident that the quantity and size of ancestral halls correlate positively with economic growth. The ancestral hall promotes economic growth through its endogenous institutional shaping function as a vital vehicle for institutional capital. This article argues that during the rural revitalization process, practitioners, and policymakers should maximize the use of traditional cultural institution elements to foster rural institution evolution and thus establish a mechanism for effective rural social governance and entrepreneurial innovation. This paper fills the gap of comprehensive research on specific cultural icons in economics and provides empirical sample of the knowledge economy research for further exploring the interactive relationship between entrepreneurship and knowledge inheritance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the application of robust experimental research methodologies that help to provide a better understanding of the mechanisms of the Theory of Change, for which training programs and/or matching grants improve job creation in micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs and SMEs). The literature on both interventions, such as training and matching grants, recognizes methodological flaws that hamper achieving enough statistical evidence to test the aforementioned Theory of Change. A better understanding of the interventions and the mechanisms to create jobs has become critical to ensure the resurgence of the global economy after the COVID-19 pandemic and to face the threat of the upcoming industrial revolution. This paper proposes seven methodological meliorations in impact evaluation that will help to set improvements alongside the full process of a project: designing superior policies and programs, implementing projects, supporting the finer assessment of interventions, and establishing the subsequent advancement of science in testing solutions for job creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to measure and explain the business activities of small and micro enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam. The paper is approached based on management practice perspectives in enterprises to test the hypothesis about the relationship between business practices and the outcome of SMEs, simultaneously determining the factors affecting the business practice level of owners/managers of the SMEs. The data were collected from two different sources: (i) face-to-face interviews with 168 owners/managers about their application of business practices, and (ii) business outcomes of the firms collected from corporate income tax reports provided by tax authorities. The results show mean business practice scores of the firms of 15,87 (out of 26), which has a positive correlation with the profit of the firms. Furthermore, it shows that business practice scores depend on the competitive level, education of managers, and type of business. This paper also highlights the importance of the competitive effect, human capital, and types of business on business practices. Finally, implications and ideas for future research are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Jordanian economy is a small and opened economy, where imports occupy a considerable amount of the balance of payments' current account. The Jordanian government continuously tried to reduce imports and increase exports; however, its efforts did not achieve the targeted goals. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of imports on economic growth in Jordan; i.e., we will determine whether imports have a positive or negative effect on the economic growth in Jordan. We will use a time series analysis to investigate the effect of total imports as a percentage of GDP on the Jordanian GDP per capita. The data covered the period from 1992 to 2017. The importance of this paper lies in evaluating the effect of imports on the Jordanian economy's path towards a competitive economy. The time series analysis indicated that there is no cause-and-effect relationship between imports and economic growth, with the exception of imports from India having an elasticity of less than one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an important part of China's education, the cause of studying in China is an important embodiment of China's cultural soft power and educational competitiveness and has been paid attention to by governments at all levels in China for a long time. However, China's share of international students in the international study market is still low, international voice and competitiveness still need to improve, and Chinese cultural education throughout the whole process of international students' training cultivates and enhances international students' cultural values for improvement; international students' intention to study abroad is of great significance. Based on the results of 574 questionnaires of resource-based enterprises, under the framework of theory of planned behavior (TPB), by introducing attitude toward the behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control as mediating variables, this paper constructs a theoretical model of the influence of international students' cultural values on their intention to study in China, proposes hypotheses based on this, and uses structural equation models to test them. The results show that the cultural values of international students have a direct effect on their intention to study in China. Among them, self-improvement values have the greatest influence, followed by conservative values, and open values have the least influence. Self-improvement values, open values, and conservative values have a positive effect on attitude toward the behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavior control and influence the intention of international students to study in China through their intermediary role. The results of this paper are important. First, TPB is innovatively introduced to discuss the influence of cultural values of international students on their intention to study in China, and SEM model has tested the mechanism of cultural values through the intermediary variable layer; secondly, it helps the national and local Ministry of Education and universities to focus on the cultural values of international students, better formulate relevant policies for international students, enhance the identity of international students with Chinese culture, and enhance their intention to study in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's current water pollution intensive industries are showing a trend of upstream. If their pollutants flow downstream, which will increase the environmental risks of downstream areas. Based on the county data of the seven major river basins in China from 2004 to 2013, this paper uses 2SLS (two-stage least squares) method empirically verifies the existence of the backflow effect of pollutants. The results show that the backflow effect of pollutants is mainly caused by the competition between the upstream and downstream local governments, and the central government's environmental monitoring system for key polluting enterprises can restrain the phenomenon to a certain extent. The backflow effect of pollutants mainly occurs in domestic enterprises rather than foreign-invested ones. To control river basin pollution, the central government should carry out top-level design on the tax, financial and environmental policies of the river basin economic belt, and strictly control the environmental pollution caused by competition among local governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces an indicator for identifying innovation clusters that transcend traditional sectoral taxonomies and integrate the creation and use of knowledge in regional economic systems. Such clusters can be expected, based on the literature, to provide fertile ground for feedback mechanisms between knowledge supply and demand, hence contributing to circular cumulative growth dynamics through interactive learning. However, when it comes to operationalising the study of innovation, the creation and use of knowledge have been treated as distinct processes in related work. It is this gap that this paper seeks to address. Applying principal component analysis on location quotients of manufacturing employment data and patent microdata for 152 EU regions, we generate a mapping of co-located innovation-related activity that highlights the complex techno-economic structures of regional economies. Our analysis reveals clusters which include industries traditionally labelled as 'high-tech', as well as clusters that reflect centuries-old trajectories of geographically concentrated production specialisation. This research sheds new light on the co-location of innovation-related activity in regional economies and provides insights for policymakers and practitioners seeking to foster innovation and economic development in the context of evolving knowledge and production eco-systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the infusion of information and communications technology (ICT) in legal domain, of late, the attempts of reforming the judicial landscape have been forthcoming. In this vein, the paper seeks to present the possibility of harnessing natural language processing (NLP) for instituting legal automated (teller) machines (LAMs) in India as an innovative application of legal informatics in a developing country. Literature on legal informatics with a focus on NLP is scanned to drive home the key argument in the paper. Institutionalization of LAMs in a developing country like India would go a long way in expediting the automated judicial arbitration system apart from providing easier and accessible alternatives to the aggrieved parties. However, it is important that the required political will and sustained leadership is there to provide the required wherewithal for the institutionalization of LA(t)Ms in the country. As an innovation in the field of legal informatics, LAM is the first of its kind both in terms of its ideation and in terms of the academic output till date. It is anticipated that academia would be interested to conceive of improvising LAMs in different contexts post-screening of the ecosystemic determinants therein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The digital technologies introduced in recent years have transformed consumption practices, particularly in the tourism industry, which is currently struggling to survive during the coronavirus pandemic. The objective of this paper is to develop an academic structure to identify the impact of business innovation practices on performance and firm survival strategies, and to understand what new technologies are being used to mitigate the pandemic's impact and to establish innovative practices that lead to sustainable business performance. Given the dynamic nature of the subject area, both quantitative and qualitative approaches have been adopted. Firstly, the paper employs a three-round Delphi survey with 15 senior executives of Taiwanese leisure tourism–related industries to develop measurement techniques. Secondly, based on the Delphi survey's results, the study utilizes document analysis of website content and case documents of Asia's leading online travel agencies (OTAs) during the pandemic. The results demonstrate that the business model of OTAs is to fill the gap in the free travel market with live-stream conferences that offer information quality and innovation practices that are more flexible, down-to-earth, and content marketing–oriented than traditional travel agencies. Furthermore, OTAs can strategically and financially ally themselves with suitable partners when facing major crises to strengthen their competitive advantage and create survival opportunities. Finally, AR/VR, AI, and big data (digital transformation) are integrated into daily operations to enhance service quality, close information gaps, increase the sense of travel security, and promote the decentralization of the travel industry. The research has practical implications for travel agency managers and policymakers, and the paper concludes by discussing challenges and future directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the evolution of technologies around the world, a new era of smart communities is evolving. Research on smart communities has risen in the past years. Smart communities consist of smart objects that sense the environment and intelligently interact with the environment to deliver the right service to stakeholders. Smart banking is an example of a smart community where different types of sensors can be used to capture real time data for decision-making in the banking sector. The data are heterogeneous in nature, thus hindering exchange between different devices and systems. To allow seamless communication among the different systems and devices, a data model providing shared comprehension is desirable. Knowledge models such as ontologies are seen as a promising way to represent data and promote semantic interoperability. Ontologies additionally enable reasoning of collected data and enhance decision-making. After analyzing existing ontologies in the banking sector, it was observed that none really fitted an IoT-enabled smart banking environment. In this paper, we thus propose an ontology entitled Bank_IOT for such an environment that promotes cooperation between customers and different partners. A motivation scenario justifying the need for such an ontology has been additionally described in the paper. Competency questions have been defined with respect to the scenario and SWRL rules are generated for reasoning purposes. Bank_IOT has been evaluated based on different metrics and SPARQL queries for answering the competency questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With better access to e-commerce and its adoption in rural China, farmer entrepreneurship has thrived and released renewed vigor and vitality in rural areas, serving as a reference for global poverty reduction and rural entrepreneurship. This paper probes into the relationship between e-commerce adoption, social networks, and farmer entrepreneurship to find a mechanism of e-commerce to promote farmer entrepreneurship. This research uses household survey data from the Chinese General Social Survey of 2017. The cross-sectional research method with a sample size of 1306 was adopted in this study to establish links between various constructs. This study used secondary data that had already been collected on the subject. In this research, the quantitative secondary data analysis method was applied to numeric data arithmetically analyzed. The findings indicate that, first, e-commerce has significantly boosted farmer entrepreneurship, particularly in less-developed regions, where the effect is slightly more robust (the central and western regions). Second, the size and heterogeneity of social networks partially mediate the relationship between e-commerce adoption and farmers' entrepreneurial decision-making at the state level. In addition, the current data analysis has not verified the logical relationship between e-commerce adoption, the strength of ties, and farmer entrepreneurship. Thirdly, social network size and heterogeneity have a greater mediation effect than the regional subsample study results. This paper adds to the current theoretical approach about farmer entrepreneurship, e-commerce adoption, their relationship with social network size, heterogeneity, and strength of ties based on the Chinese General Social Survey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study has two theoretical and empirical objectives. In the theoretical field, the evolutionary evaluation of innovation ecosystems (IEs) in order to reach a consensus in determining the actors, and the structural evaluation of them in line of providing a comprehensive structuring model are considered. From an empirical perspective, three objectives are defined: (1) mapping and pathology of Mashhad's gold and jewelry innovation ecosystem (MGJIE), (2) determining the effective policies of quadruple helix aiming to increase performance of MGJIE, (3) formulating a renewal plan of MGJIE. To meet the theoretical objectives, 95 papers were selected from Web of Science database. Selected articles were content analyzed to identify actors of IEs and also to propose them appropriate structure. To meet the first empirical objective, 15 interviews were conducted to identify the time span of various stages of the MGJIE's lifecycle as well as each cycle's drivers and barriers. To meet the second empirical objectives, 52 questionnaires were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Then, policies identified along with the opinions of experts were used as the basis for formulating a renewal plan. The findings in the theoretical field can be used by all researchers of IEs, and experimental findings can also be used as a model for the renewal of them in countries with moderate economic development such as Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against the backdrop of the transformation of China's main social contradiction into "the contradiction between people's growing need for a better life and unbalanced and insufficient development," narrowing the welfare gap between urban and rural residents has become an important tool to promote economic development and social stability. Based on Peking University's Digital Inclusive Finance Development Index, this paper measures the level of welfare disparity between urban and rural residents using provincial economic data from 2013 to 2020 and explores the impact of digital inclusive finance development on the welfare disparity between urban and rural residents. The results of the study show that: (1) the welfare disparity between urban and rural residents in most Chinese provinces (cities) has been decreasing year by year, with the northeastern and eastern regions having smaller levels of welfare disparity between urban and rural residents, while the central and western regions have larger levels of welfare disparity between urban and rural residents. (2) The development of digital inclusive finance is conducive to narrowing the welfare gap between urban and rural residents in each province (city) in China. From the three sub-indices of digital inclusive finance, the breadth of development has the greatest impact on narrowing the welfare gap between urban and rural residents, followed by the depth of use, and finally the degree of digitalization. (3) A test of regional heterogeneity reveals that the development of digital inclusive finance can significantly reduce the welfare differences between urban and rural residents in the central and western regions, while the impact on the welfare differences between urban and rural residents in the eastern and northeastern regions is not significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the financial determinants that influence research and development (R&D) investments, using a sample of 3588 Chinese listed firms over the period 2009–2021. Based on a concise theoretical framework, three hypotheses are proposed, with a particular emphasis on the role of commercial credit in driving R&D investment. Then, a multi-model identification strategy is adopted to control for sample selection bias and the endogeneity issue. This paper concludes that commercial credit and bank loan both act as impediments to firms' R&D investment, irrespective of investment selection or intensity. In contrast, internal financing is beneficial to firms' R&D investment. Moreover, some firm-level characteristics, such as firm size, age, capital intensity, productivity, ownership, and geographical location, matter for firms' R&D investment. The findings have important policy implications for new emerging economies that seek to implement financial reform and innovation-driven strategies. Firstly, more efforts are needed to broaden financing channels and reduce financing discrimination against small- and medium-sized enterprises. Secondly, governmental authorities should undertake the responsibility of supervising credit rating agencies to ensure that they adhere to principles of transparency, fairness, and equity. Finally, policymakers should take an active role in advancing innovation-driven strategies by increasing financial support and enhancing the endogenous driving force of innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, there has been a surge in interest in eco-innovation among SMEs. So, there is a need to gain a better understanding of the most recent advances in academic research as well as recent practical organizational efforts. This was accomplished through a systematic review of the eco-innovation literature pertaining to small and medium businesses (published between 2002 and 2020). To conduct this systematic literature review, we used data from one of the most comprehensive databases, the Scopus database. This study analyzed 80 articles from a total of 205 articles. The data selected for this paper is guided by the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) flow diagrams. This paper provides a descriptive overview of a selected article in the field of eco-innovation, analyzing the growth trend of published articles, popular methodologies used, most productive regions, top journals, and industries in which eco-innovation is studied mostly. This study also identifies the key research areas in the body of literature, classifying the main factors influencing and impeding the adoption of eco-innovations, the prevailing theories, as well as the effects and outcomes of eco-innovation adoption in SMEs. The findings of this study provide crucial information on eco-innovation for academicians and professionals, enabling them to advance the research agenda in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of the domestic economy, especially since the 11th Five-Year Plan period, the Guizhou tourism industry has welcomed development opportunities and rapid growth. Tourism has become the pillar industry of Guizhou and explores how to transform from a large tourism province to a strong tourism province. This paper aims to study the economic impact of the Guizhou tourism business environment based on the computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. Along with that, this study also analyzed the economic impact of the tourism business environment in Beijing and Shanghai. From the perspective of input and output, this paper regards the tourism business environment as a constraint for the development of tourism, and affects the output level of tourism activities. Considering the future changes in the comprehensive technical efficiency of Guizhou tourism, we use the CGE model to simulate the economic impact of the future tourism business environment. The study found that different business environments have a significant impact on Guizhou's macroeconomy and tourism-related sector economy. This article contributes to further studies analyzing the economic impact of the tourism business environment. Even the slightly deteriorating tourism business environment may have a great negative economic impact, which provides a theoretical basis for the urgency of continuously improving the tourism business environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The association between economic growth, trade openness, and macroeconomic stability resides to be one of the notable issues in both hypothetical and policy framework. Most of the empirical evidence has given mixed and indecisive results. This paper examines the impact of trade openness on economic growth and macroeconomic stability for BRICS countries over the period of 1990 to 2017, using pooled mean group ARDL model and Dumitrescu and Hurlin (2012) individual Wald causality analysis. Our findings reveal that openness positively impacts economic growth, inflation, and real effective exchange rate in the long run in all three models. However, other variables in the estimated model were also significant, but their coefficient was negative in the long run. The results of causality analysis find bidirectional causality between openness and economic growth, openness and inflation, and openness to the real effective exchange rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyze the impact of foreign aid on economic growth in Ethiopia using time series data over the period 1974–2017. Autoregressive distributed lag approach to co-integration and error correction model was applied to investigate the long-run and short-run impact of foreign aid on economic growth. The model results revealed that foreign aid has a negative impact on economic growth in both the long run and short run. The negative and significant error correction term shows that the short-run disequilibrium adjusts to its long-run equilibrium by 84.6% each year. The paper suggested that more effort has to be made to improve the negative impact of foreign aid, mainly because of the existence of poor institutional arrangements that contribute the funds to unproductive sectors. The government has to ensure a close monitoring and consistent management strategies, which are used to avoid misallocation and mismanagement problems and has to ensure that foreign aid is linked to the productive sectors to optimize the benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the comparative analysis of different attributes of Google and Facebook business model and their novel features for handling innovative business framework. We have compared Google and Facebook business model on different key attributes and also discussed the statistical analysis of business models using Google business analytics platform. We have argued performance analysis of these models. One important point which we discuss and analyze in this paper is that a business model is not about just building revenue generating machine, but it is indeed more than that. It explores the strategy and business approaches of both the models of revenue generating line of attacks. Our research contributes a considerate understanding of Google and Facebook architectural model and its influence on business framework. Statistical enactment and results are analyzed, precisely when big data and media are applied. This paper also provides better understanding of the digital marketplace for both of the platforms and its earning methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the role government can play in promoting CSR. Corporations are an integral part of the large economy of any given society or country whereby these corporations operate. The government's role is critical in promoting CSR activities or agendas because CSR is voluntary without mandatory legislation. The method used in this paper is a normative literature review and secondary data procedures. The research results show the need for developed and developing countries to share CSR's best practices and build human institutions capable of enhancing CSR agendas by creating awareness, soft laws, partnering, and mandating business enterprises to be transparent in solving society's problems wherever they operate. Governments in some developed nations have taken a far-reaching agenda in promoting CSR, especially the UK, European Union, the USA, and other developing countries in East Asia. However, developing countries are lagging behind in developing CSR agendas but should not simply copy from developed countries but adopt CSR's agenda susceptive to their multiple nations' sustainable and equitable developments. The result also shows that the lack of good governance and transparency in abundant natural resources in developing countries in the south has led to corrupt elites diverting CSR activities funds for their self-interest and not their local communities. Some developing countries still see CSR as an act of philanthropy, not as means for sustainable and equitable development for economic growth, hence the lack of transparency surrounding CSR by the various government and their elites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The independence of the judiciary and the legislature from the executive can promote the reallocation of labor, innovation, and human capital and thus the improvement of structural change and intra-industry productivity, the two main components of structural transformation. At the same time, structural transformation can foster the emergence of strong institutions through improved incomes and living standards. The objective of this paper is to analyze the interaction between democratic separation of powers and structural transformation in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We use data from the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) and the Africa Sector Database (ASD) and a vector autoregression (VAR) model on a panel of 18 SSA countries to illustrate our point. Our results show that the dependence of the legislative and judicial branches on the executive branch negatively affects structural change and intra-industry productivity. Moreover, judicial independence causes structural change, intra-industry productivity, and legislative independence at the same time, while legislative independence only causes structural change. On the other hand, structural change and intra-industry productivity are found not to cause judicial and legislative independence. These results suggest that judicial and legislative independence is likely to promote structural transformation, while improving the quality of democratic institutions is not directly related to economic performance in SSA. This study promotes the independence of these two branches of government by reducing educational inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the constant increase in China's stock pledge transactions, controlling shareholders' equity pledges may result in inadequate investment, which government regulatory authorities, investors, and financial management departments should be aware of. Taking China's A-share listed companies from 2013 to 2019 as a sample, this paper examines the impact of controlling shareholder pledge on equity capital cost. It is found that the equity capital cost of listed companies increases significantly after controlling shareholder pledge, and high-quality audit reports help reduce the influence of controlling shareholder pledge on it. In addition, the mechanism test shows that controlling shareholder pledge impacts the equity capital cost by reducing stock liquidity and increasing the tunneling behavior of large shareholders. Further research shows that under controlling shareholder pledges, improving the quality of information disclosure can help reduce the equity capital cost, while stock price risk can increase the equity capital cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Responsible research and innovation (RRI) has gained significant traction in recent decades. However, the previous discussions on RRI have overlooked the economic dimension of innovation, which is encompassed by the perspective of Neo-Schumpeterian economics (N-SE). This paper aims to bridge the gap between the theories of responsible innovation (RI) and RRI and the underlying assumptions of N-SE. We seek to clarify the concept of responsible (research and) innovation — R(R)I. N-SE inherently recognizes the involvement of diverse stakeholders, including society and the public sector, as entrepreneurs driving and implementing innovation while assuming responsibility for its effects and consequences. In this respect, N-SE aligns with the responsible innovation concept discussed within the R(R)I framework. The paper addresses the fundamental question: What are the shared areas of interest between R(R)I and N-SE? This exploration enhances our understanding and facilitates the practical implementation of R(R)I in the context of N-SE, thereby promoting ethical, socially beneficial, and sustainable technological advancements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although institutions are recognized as an important factor for achieving economic growth and improving environmental quality, little is known about their effect on environmentally adjusted efficiency, which is critical for both. Employing a two-stage double bootstrap data envelopment analysis, the paper firstly estimates the bias-corrected environmentally adjusted scores for the European Union over the period 2000–2018. They were then regressed to explore the main and interaction effects of different types of institutions on efficiency by using a bootstrapped-truncated regression. The results show that unlike better public governance and stringent enforcement of the rule of law and protection of private rights that brought efficiency gains, more economic freedom and less powerful government unfavorably affected environmentally adjusted efficiency. A significant interaction effect between political and legal institutions slightly reinforced the favorable effect of the former and decreased the importance of the latter on efficiency. The results provide a new empirical insight into the ongoing debate on the role of environmental regulation–driven changes in an economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the nexus between financial inclusion and economic growth in Tunisia. It uses three dimensions of financial inclusion; the first is the access to financial services, the second is the availability of financial services, and the third is the usage of the financial services, while GDP per capita is used as a proxy for economic growth. The paper finds a low level of financial inclusion index in Tunisia by using the autoregressive distributed lag model (ARDL) for cointegration. The paper finds a negative relationship between the majority of financial inclusion indicators and economic growth during the period 2005–2017. This fact emphasizes that more efforts need to be done to enhance and extend financial inclusion in Tunisia through financial literacy, costumers protection, providing financial services to rural areas, and engagement of low-income people in formal financial services, especially via the informal sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the rapid advancement of intelligent process, few studies investigate the impact of intelligence on the efficiency of technological innovation, and none focus on examining the mechanism underlying this impact or investigating whether this effect exhibits heterogeneity. Accordingly, this paper uses panel data from 30 regions in China from 2005 to 2016 to test the impact of intelligence on technological innovation efficiency and the mechanism underlying this impact. The paper further investigates the heterogeneity of this impact given different levels of government attention, different levels of R&D intensity, and different geographical locations. The results show that first, on the whole, intelligence can significantly improve the efficiency of regional technological innovation. This conclusion remains valid after robustness testing and instrumental variable regression. Second, the results concerning the mechanism by which intelligence impacts the efficiency of technological innovation show that intelligence improves the efficiency of regional technological innovation through human capital accumulation, knowledge spillover, and optimization of the allocation of innovation factors. Third, further analysis shows that the beneficial effect of intelligence on regional technological innovation efficiency is obviously heterogeneous. In areas featuring high levels of government attention, R&D intensity, and geographical advantages, the beneficial effect of intelligence on technological innovation efficiency is more obvious. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]