Purpose: This study examines the effect of political networking capability (PNC) and strategic capability on exploratory innovation/exploitative innovation through the mediation of absorptive capability (AC).Design/methodology/approach: Using empirical survey data collected from 153 traditional manufacturing firms (TMFs) in China, the authors apply partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) combined with mediation analyses to test hypotheses.Findings: PNC has a higher impact on exploratory innovation than exploitative innovation through AC. The authors thus provide novel empirical insights into independent variables of firms' ambidextrous innovation and their implementation mechanisms.Research limitations/implications: The authors highlight a unique situation of China and contribute to the literature on PNC and AC. The findings demonstrate that AC plays an important role in configuring government-obtained external resources into new products, thus influencing ambidextrous innovation strategic decisions.Practical implications: TMFs' executives should enhance PNC to obtain more resources to conduct exploratory and exploitative innovation. Government officials and policymakers should strengthen the supervision of TMFs' innovation activities and adopt effective measures to ensure that TMFs could conduct more exploratory innovation as governments expected.Originality/value: This study provides new insights by bridging research gaps in the literature and advances the insights of how TMFs' PNC/strategic capability directly and indirectly fosters exploratory and exploitative innovation via the mediating role of AC in China.

The aim of this study is to adopt the perspective of organisational ambidexterity to explore the relationships between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and innovation performance (IP). Based on the resource-based view and social network theory, this study constructs a theoretical model to investigate the relationship between EO and IP, as well as the mediation of network ambidexterity. The empirical results show that EO has a positive and direct impact on IP. The dimensions of network ambidexterity both mediate the relationships between EO and IP. More importantly, the combined dimension has a stronger effect than the balance.

The objective of this study was to examine how Chinese consumers perceive and evaluate the safety of food purchased online and delivered directly to their doorstep. Additionally, the study aimed to analyze frequency differences in indicator usage across consumer demographic groups. A national survey was conducted, resulting in the collection of 1040 valid questionnaires. Specifically, this study addresses two key research questions: (1) What indicators do Chinese consumers use to evaluate the safety of online food delivery services (OFDS)? (2) Are there variations in indicator usage among different consumer groups? The data were processed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 27.0 and MS Excel 2016. Nonparametric tests and an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) were used to analyze the indicators. The results revealed that “sensory perception” and food package were the commonly employed indicators. However, with the existence of more reliable food safety indicators, consumers rarely utilize them. Moreover, significant variations exist in the use of indicators among consumer groups of different sex, online ordering frequencies, and cohabitation with the elderly. In general, individuals who frequently use food delivery services and reside with older adults are considered “finicky consumers” compared to their counterparts. These findings imply the need for education to foster rationality and discernment among consumers. Furthermore, OFDS providers can leverage these findings to develop tailored strategies that address customer needs and enhance their food safety reputation.