Frugal innovation is a resource scarce solution for emerging market firms. Based upon the resource-constrained innovation perspective, this research theoretically explores and empirically examines the drivers and consequences of frugal innovation. The results of a firm-level survey show that two types of frugal innovation (cost innovation and affordable value innovation) positively affect the performance of emerging-market firms. We also address the issues of how emerging-market firms deal with institutional, technological, and market constraints in emerging markets, and we show how these constraints drive frugal innovation. We find that emerging-market firms with higher levels of capability for institutional leverage and bricolage, and firms that face perceived dysfunctional competition, tend to generate more affordable, value-added new products. Overall, these findings have important implications for emerging-market firms seeking to conduct frugal innovation in resource-constrained emerging markets.

As a research topic integrating various subjects and technologies, Metaverse research has been a global concern in recent years. This study explores the hotspots and frontiers of academic research on the Metaverse based on a bibliometric analysis from 2012 to 2021. A keyword retrieval dataset related to Metaverse research was constructed based on expert consultation and manual reading of the literature, retrieving articles and conference papers from the Scopus database. Critical points in Metaverse research are represented in terms of research scale, keyword co-occurrence networks, keyword citation bursts, and international collaborative networks with the application of VOSviewer and CiteSpace’s bibliometric visualization software. The results indicate that Metaverse research is experiencing rapid growth, with countries/regions increasing their production at varying speeds. The results also indicate the three most prolific countries, the United States, China and Germany, for comparison, showing the leading topic as virtual reality in Metaverse research, and we find that there are differences in topic clustering and hotspot evolution among the three countries over the past decade. By determining the current research status and the overall development path of the Metaverse field, the paper intends to provide a reference for the future research development and technical application of the Metaverse.

Influenced by factors such as gendered masculine culture within the engineering fields, female engineering students are facing increasing mental health issues. However, the effect of gender or engineering identity on the mental health distress of female engineering students was not well explored till now. This study adds to the current body of knowledge of mental health distress in female engineering students by proposing and verifying a moderating model based on social identity theory (SIT). The data were collected in June 2022 using a cross-sectional survey questionnaire distributed at five universities in eastern China (N = 376). A stepwise multiple regression analysis was performed to understand the relation between the tension of interpersonal relationships, the mental health distress female engineering students suffer from, and their gender or engineering identity. In our sample, 13.03%, 15.96%, and 14.36% of the female engineering students self-reported moderate to extremely severe stress, anxiety, and depression, respectively. Meanwhile, our results provide empirical evidence for the significantly positive relationship between the female engineering students’ tension of interpersonal relationships and their mental health distress, including stress, anxiety, and depression. Moreover, we found that gender identity can enhance the positive relationships mentioned above, while engineering identity could weaken these relationships. These findings provide empirical evidence for the role of social identity theory in dealing with mental health problems among engineering students. Broadly, the results of this work inform that social identity and professional role identity should be considered when designing interventions to prevent mental health crises among college students.