First, the purpose of this study is to examine the impact of situational variables, scarcity and serendipity, on online impulse buying (OIB) in Chinese social commerce (SC) environment. Second, the study further assesses the moderating role of five dimensions of hedonic shopping value. Data were gathered from 671 online shoppers who come from two metropolitan cities of China, Beijing, and Shanghai. Structure equation modeling utilized was generated by AMOS 23 version to test the study hypotheses. The results confirm that situational factors positively influence the online impulse buying among Chinese online shoppers in SC environment. Four dimensions of hedonic shopping value (social shopping, relaxation shopping, adventure shopping and idea shopping) positively moderate the relationship between serendipity and OIB; value shopping is insignificant with moderation effect. The finding is helpful to the online retailers and SC web developers by recommending them to take the scarcity and serendipity in their consideration. These factors have the potential to motivate the consumers to initiate the hedonic shopping aptitude to urge to buy impulsively. Unlike the previous work which remained unsuccessful in incorporating all factors into one study, this study has incorporated irrational and unplanned consumption along with rational and planned one in the same research.

While the notion of digitalization and sustainability has become prominent in current research, more can be done to bridge these two concepts and explain the interaction between them. Plenty of literature has focused on the impact of digital technology applications and business model innovations on environmental performance but has not considered the counterforce of environmental performance on digitalization. We investigated this question from the perspective of digital ecosystem architects to explore more organic relationships. By analyzing data from 1083 listed firms from 2014 to 2019, we found various effective paths for architects to participate in the digital ecosystem and determined that improved environmental performance has led to more efficient convergence. Digital servitization adopted by private architects contributes to financial performance, whereas the addition of digital infrastructure enables public architects to play a greater role. This is reflected in the discovery that firms with “high” environmental performance can improve their financial performance far more significantly with the help of digital servitization compared to other firms. However, digital infrastructure development can benefit all firms almost indiscriminately. We encourage firms and governments to work together to strengthen digital infrastructure, build digital ecosystems, and focus on environmental performance while transitioning to digital servitization.

Purpose: This paper aims to examine how integration modes impact the acquirer knowledge diffusion capacity of overseas mergers and acquisitions (M&As) effected by emerging market firms and the role played by the global innovation network position of the acquiring firms in affecting this relationship.Design/methodology/approach: Through the use of structural equation modelling and bootstrap testing, the hypotheses are tested by drawing upon a sample of 102 overseas M&As effected by listed Chinese manufacturing companies.Findings: The results show that acquirers from emerging countries are unable to increase the knowledge diffusion capacity unless they choose the right post-merger integration mode. This paper also finds that the relationship between integration mode and knowledge diffusion is channelled through the centrality and structural holes of acquirers in the global innovation networks. When considering the combinations of different resource similarities and complementarities of the acquired firms, differences emerge in the integration model and network embedded path of acquirers in emerging countries.Practical implications: Emerging market multinational enterprises should consider post-merger integration as a crucial facilitator to the crafting of global innovation network positions that promote knowledge diffusion. The choices of integration mode and brand management autonomy should be matched with the resource similarities and complementarities that exist between the acquirer and target firms.Originality/value: Based on the resource orchestration theory and by focussing on network centrality and structural hole as the crucial links, this study provides a nuanced understanding of the relationship between post-merger integration and knowledge diffusion and sheds light on latecomer firms from emerging countries.

The existing literature highlights the role of digital technology innovation in driving the international performance of enterprises. However, it has largely overlooked the nonlinear relationships that emerge from their quest for contributing towards global sustainable development goals. Our study explores the nonlinear influence of digital technology innovation on firms’ international performance, further investigating how this relationship may be moderated by sustainability readiness, as measured through sustainable technological capabilities and sustainable certification standards. Using a double fixed effects model on a sample of 269 Chinese listed digital enterprises from 2012 to 2019, our findings reveal a U-shaped relationship between digital technology innovation and internationalization performance, which is more pronounced for firms with superior sustainable technological capabilities. However, the influence of sustainable certification standards is less noticeable. We further identify notable differences between the digital service and digital manufacturing sectors, thereby enriching our comprehension of the complex relationships between digital innovation, sustainability readiness, and international performance.

The rise of China’s outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) in Africa has promoted the continent’s economic growth but generated controversy in the West. What drives Chinese investment in the continent with abundant natural resources but poor institutions/governance? While the topic is important, studies on the issue in the literature have been limited. This paper attempts to close the gap by testing hypotheses of the role of resources and institutions with panel data in 2003–2013. Estimates suggest that the Chinese investment is not biased toward resource-rich and institution-poor countries but similar to Western investment, and China’s OFDI is largely profit-driven, just like investors from other countries. Institutional supports from the Chinese government, however, seems to be important to China’s OFDI in Africa.

Purpose: Deglobalization and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have severely hindered multinational enterprise (MNE) investment. At the same time, digital technology is seriously challenging it with traditional production factor flows. Few studies have realized that the impact of digitalization is not limited to either transaction costs or the location-boundness of firm-specific advantages (FSAs), but extends to profound changes in the fundamental essence of MNEs. There is still limited understanding of this body of knowledge as a whole, including how its subtopics are interrelated. This study took the production factor change perspective to review MNE theory in the digital era. Therefore, this study aims to identify any upcoming and undeveloped themes in order to provide a platform suited to direct future research.Design/methodology/approach: This paper presents a summary and a review of 151 articles published between 2007 and 2020. Such review was conducted to systematically explain the connotations and influential mechanisms of digital empowerment on MNE theory. This was achieved by using the CiteSpace citation visualization tool to build a keyword co-occurrence network.Findings: The research findings pertain to how digitalization expands, breaks through, and even reshapes traditional MNE theory from four distinctive angles: the influential factors of internationalization, the process of internationalization, competitive advantage, and location choice. The findings are followed by the presentation of future research directions.Originality/value: This paper presents an examination of MNE theory in the digital era from the perspective of production factor change. In doing so, it identifies significant theoretical innovation opportunities for future scholarly research priorities.