PurposeUnder extensive pressure from normal market competition, frequent technological change and extreme exogenous shock, firms are facing severe challenge nowadays. How to withstand discontinuous crises and respond to normal risks through improving resilience (RE) is an important question worth researching. Thus, drawing on the strategic entrepreneurship theory, the purpose of this study is exploring the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and RE, and combining digitization to discuss the role of digital business capability (DBC), digital business model innovation (DBMI) and environmental hostility (EH).Design/methodology/approachBased on survey data from 203 Chinese firms, using the methods of linear regression and bootstrap to test our hypothesis. Furthermore, fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (FsQCA) is used to identify previously unknown combinations which lead to strong/weak RE in digital context.FindingsFirst, EO positively influenced DBC and RE. Second, DBMI promoted RE, DBC and DBMI served as sequential mediators that linked EO and RE. Third, EH positively moderated the effects of EO on RE. Further the study revealed that different configuration of DBMI and dimensions of EO and DBC can explain RE.Originality/valueThe study explains mechanism of RE from perspective of digitization. The conclusion is good for further consolidating strategic entrepreneurship theory, and providing a new frame for firms to build the ability of antifragile.

Understanding the complex interaction between urbanization and the eco-environment is necessary for rapid and quality urbanization, eco-environmental protection, and the harmonious coexistence of humans and nature within a region. Based on panel data from Hebei Province between 1985 and 2019, we suggested a symbiosis hypothesis of urbanization and the eco-environment (SHUE) and used the distance coordination coupling model, the Tapio decoupling model, and the symbiosis model to quantitatively determine the interaction relationship between urbanization and the eco-environment. We found that (1) the improved ‘Northam curve’ of urbanization in Hebei Province met the logistic equation. (2) During the study period, the coordinated coupling degree (CCD) of urbanization and eco-environment exhibited an overall upward trend, while the coupling type gradually changed from the endangered imbalance recession type to the coordinated development type. (3) The decoupling types showed strong and weak decoupling fluctuations, with a high frequency of strong decoupling; the growth rate of the urbanization index was higher than that of the eco-environment index; and there was a positive effect between urbanization and eco-environment indicating positive urbanization. (4) The research results verified SHUE. The symbiosis mode of urbanization and eco-environment was mainly asymmetric mutualism, with the two demonstrating mutual promotion and mutualism. However, in 2016–2019, the symbiosis mode became parasitic, urbanization development enforced upon the eco-environment. The study constructed a set of quantitative method to systematically discuss the interaction relationship from two dimensions: coupling and decoupling. The results provide reference for the coordinated development of urbanization and eco-environment in Hebei Province and consequentially enrich this research field.

Although big data analytics capability (BDAC) leads to competitive performance, the mechanism of the relationship is still unclear. To narrow the research gap, this paper investigates the mediating roles of two forms of resource integration (resource optimization and resource bricolage) in the relationship between two forms of BDAC [big data analytics (BDA) management capability and BDA technology capability] and competitive performance. Supported by Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) and the cross-sectional survey data from 219 Chinese enterprises, the results show that the resource bricolage plays a significantly mediating role in the relationships between BDA management capability and competitive performance as well as in the relationship between BDA technology capability and competitive performance. Furthermore, the mediating effect in the former relationship is stronger than that in the latter relationship. Additionally, BDA technology capability only has a direct effect on resource bricolage, while BDA management capability has a stronger effect on resource optimization than that on resource bricolage. Finally, resource bricolage has a stronger impact on competitive performance than resource optimization. These findings contribute to understanding how enterprises could apply different forms of BDAC to other kinds of resource integration to achieve outstanding competitive performance.

This paper investigates how investors respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly regarding their intention to invest in sustainability-related investment (SRI) funds. We conduct two experiments online with participants who have experience with stock and fund investments. The first one includes 292 participants, which aims to explore investors’ attitudes and investment intention of different sustainability-related components, and the second one includes 432 participants, which aims to examine how the COVID-19 pandemic affects individuals’ attitudes and investment intention. Our results show that investors tend to invest in SRI funds when the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic is salient. Specifically, we find that although investors perceive environmental issues to be more important than economic and social issues, their investment intention of economic-focused SRI funds significantly increases in response to the COVID-19 pandemic threat. These findings suggest that fund managers can focus on particular types of investors when designing SRI funds, such as active investors with a preference for technical analysis and young female investors with a high level of income and education.

This study explores the relationship between firms’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) and their “green” technology innovation in the context of a developing country with a high level of economic growth (China). Using data from listed companies, green patent authorization data from the State Intellectual Property Office, and social responsibility rating data from Rankin’s CSR Ratings of China from 2009 to 2017, we find that a higher CSR rating is highly positively correlated to green technology innovation as measured by number of green patents granted. Results indicated that corporate social performance plays a contributory role in green technology innovation. We also find that unabsorbed slack resources enhance the positive relationship between CSR rating and the number of green technology patents.