External pressure or internal culture? An innovation diffusion theory account of small retail businesses’ social media use

COVID-19 put unprecedented external pressure on small businesses to adopt or increase use of social media while not all small businesses are internally ready for this rapid change. This study investigated the roles of external pressures and organizational culture of openness and learning in driving small retail business owners'/managers' social media use decisions by impacting their perceived usefulness and barriers, based on the innovation-decision process model from the diffusion of innovations theory and the theory of reasoned action. An online survey with structured measurements was administered to 411 U.S. small retail business owners/managers. Results from structural equation modeling revealed that external pressures positively influenced small business owners'/managers’ perceived usefulness and barriers and social media use intention. In addition, the culture of openness and learning positively influenced the perceived usefulness while mitigating the perceived barriers, thereby directly and indirectly influencing the social media use intention. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

Regional integration: an empirical assessment of Russia

Using a statistical model of commodity trade, we quantify the evolution of regional economic integration within Russia during 1995–1999, and explore potential determinants of this evolution. Our integration measure exhibits rich regional variation that, when aggregated to the national level, fluctuates substantially over time. In accounting for this behavior, we draw in part on theoretical models that emphasize the potential role of openness to international trade and regional disparities in income in threatening economic integration. Controlling for a host of additional regional- and national-level variables, we find a strong negative correspondence between openness to international trade and internal economic integration.     

贸易开放度与中国经济增长关系的地区差异研究

为了探求中国的开放政策是否促进了经济增长，以及开放政策对不同区域的作用是否存在差异，本文在相关文献回顾的基础上，运用中国大陆地区28个省、自治区和直辖市（海南、重庆、西藏除外）1984-2004年的相关数据，采用Panel Data模型对贸易开放度与中国经济增长的关系问题进行了实证研究。研究的结论认为开放的对外经济贸易政策促进了中国的经济增长；井且通过研究发现这一促进作用存在着地区差异，对于中西部地区来说，促进作用更大。     

共同富裕、贸易开放与中国的代际收入流动性

本文利用2002-2018年期间的中国家庭收入调查数据,系统考察了贸易开放对中国代际收入流动性的影响及其作用机制。研究结果表明:(1)从整体上来看,贸易开放显著促进了中国的代际收入流动性,经内生性处理和稳健性检验,这一结论是成立的。(2)贸易开放主要通过促进子代教育、职业向上流动显著提高代际收入流动,但通过激励企业创新、提高子代个人努力程度的两个机制作用不显著。(3)贸易开放显著提高了男性子代的代际收入流动性,对女性子代的影响不显著,与此同时,还具有明显的“弱势群体”特点,显著提高了受教育水平较低子代、低收入家庭子代的代际收入流动性,有助于这类子代跳出“代际低收入传承陷阱”。本文研究提示贸易开放提高了中国的代际收入流动性,有利于促进共同富裕。在继续提高贸易开放水平的同时,应进一步重视提高低收入家庭子代的受教育水平,关注女性子代的收入问题。     

Purchasing natural personal care products in the era of fake news? The moderation effect of brand trust

Natural personal care products are gaining popularity due to their benefits in terms of health and well-being. However, consumers are wary of these products and are guided by the fake news circulating about them. Since natural product consumption offers several personal and environmental benefits, it would be worthwhile to understand consumers’ tendency to let fake news influence their consumption decisions. Accordingly, the current study examined the association of fake news and purchasing behaviour towards natural personal care products, utilising Stimulus-Organism-Behaviour-Consequence (SOBC) as the theoretical framework. The study proposed openness to change as the stimulus, perceived benefits and perceived risks as organismic internal states, purchase intentions as the behaviour, and the propensity of believing and acting on fake news as the consequence, which is further associated with system trust. The model was tested by analysing data collected from 390 existing consumers, considering the moderation effect of brand trust and controlling the effect of age and gender. The findings confirmed that openness to change is associated with perceived benefits and risks. Furthermore, perceived benefits and system trust are associated with purchase intentions, which are, in turn, associated with the propensity of believing and acting on fake news. The study presents several novel contributions to theory and practice.     

海关支持综合保税区高水平开放高质量发展研究——以江苏省综合保税区为例

2019年1月12日,国务院印发了《关于促进综合保税区高水平开放高质量发展的若干意见》(国发〔2019〕3号,以下简称《若干意见》),推出21项政策措施加快推进制度创新、促进综合保税区(以下简称“综保区”)升级发展。文件出台后,各地综保区围绕“五大中心”的建设目标,在海关及其他相关职能部门的支持下,加强政策宣传,推动改革创新,强化考核评价,努力推动各项政策落地。为了更好地推进综保区高水平开放高质量发展,课题组对江苏省综保区发展情况开展全方位调研,并且以江苏省综保区为例,对当前制约综保区发展的原因,特别是影响《若干意见》实施效果的原因进行了深入分析,按照制度型开放的要求,从管理机制、发展目标、监管模式等角度提出合理建议,探索新时期海关支持综保区高水平开放高质量发展的路径。     

The role of openness in the fuzzy front-end of service innovation

The early stages of innovation involve high levels of uncertainty, leading to it being labelled as the “fuzzy-front end” (FFE). Although openness has been identified as pivotal to innovation performance in the open innovation literature, little effort has been put into exploring its role in the FFE. Specifically, this study examines ‘openness competence’ within the FFE–i.e., the ability of a FFE team to explore, gather and assimilate operant resources from external sources by means of external searches and inter-organisational partnerships. The aim is to investigate the impact of openness competence on front-end uncertainty reduction and service innovation success. Data were obtained from a survey of 122 IT-based service innovation projects implemented by IT service provider firms in Thailand. The results suggest that openness competence positively influences both the degree of uncertainty being reduced during the FFE and the overall success of service innovations. These findings offer several implications for research on open innovation and the FFE as well as encouragement to managers to apply a more open approach to the FFE of their service innovation projects.     

中国贸易开放度、贸易结构与通货膨胀不确定性关系

完全预期到的通货膨胀在理论上并不会对真实经济活动产生实质性的影响,通货膨胀的真正危害在于它的不确定性。随着贸易开放的不断扩大和深化,影响中国通货膨胀的不确定性的因素变得更加复杂。本文利用EGARCH模型估计了中国的通货膨胀不确定性,并在此基础上利用协整分析方法检验了贸易开放度、贸易结构与通货膨胀不确定性的关系。研究表明:贸易开放度的提高对通货膨胀不确定性具有负向的影响;贸易结构的变化对通货膨胀不确定性具有正向的影响。     

我国保险业对外开放的现状及经济效应分析

保险业是我国金融业对外开放的排头兵,改革开放以来,保险业取得巨大进步,目前我国已成为全球第二大保险市场.但外资保险机构在华的发展仍相对缓慢,存在市场份额较小、区域布局不平衡等问题.使用跨国面板数据实证分析发现,扩大金融保险业的开放有利于经济增长;使用制度变量实证发现,良好的制度环境特别是稳定的政权和政府高质量监管有利于...     

制造企业如何从事件中提升创新质量——基于事件系统理论的企业成长案例研究

基于事件系统理论,应用探索性案例研究方法,以两家本土知名制造企业为纵向研究案例,揭示创新氛围、创新能力、创新开放度在创新质量提升中的作用,可为其它制造企业提供指导。研究发现：事件空间、事件强度影响制造企业创新能力,企业在被动性事件中通过利用性创新能力识别创新机会,在主动性事件中通过探索性创新能力获取创新机会和资源;创新氛围有助于促进利用性创新能力向探索性创新能力转变,创新开放度有助于提升主动性事件对创新质量的促进效果;在制造企业成长历程中,被动性事件和主动性事件的交互作用形成创新质量提升的正反馈,被动事件变少、主动事件变多,创新质量得以提升。研究结论对中国本土制造企业如何在复杂动态的事件环境中进行创新管理、促进创新质量提升具有一定实践启示。