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Online communities frequently create significant economic and relational value for community participants and beyond. It is widely accepted that the underlying source of such value is the collective flow of knowledge among community participants. We distinguish the conditions for flows of tacit and explicit knowledge in online communities and advance an unconventional theoretical conjecture: Online communities give rise to tacit knowledge flows between participants. The crucial condition for these flows is not the advent of novel, digital technology as often portrayed in the literature, but instead the technology’s domestication by humanity and the sociality it affords. This conjecture holds profound implications for theory and research in the study of management and organization, as well as their relation to information technology.

This paper explores an increasingly prevalent element of board-level commitment to sustainability. We propose a theoretical framework under which the existence and associated actions of board-level sustainability committees are motivated by shared value creation, where the interests of a diverse group of stakeholders are satisfied and sufficient profit is achieved. Using hand-collected data, we find that sustainability committees are heterogeneous in focus and vary in their effectiveness. Specifically, we disaggregate the sustainability committee construct based on stakeholder group focus (i.e., community, employee, environment, and consumer/supplier) and find that associations between sustainability committees and performance outcomes are stronger when committees focused on a specific stakeholder group are paired with relevant performance outcomes. We generally find that sustainability committees are effective at impacting relevant strengths, but do not mitigate relevant concerns. These results are consistent with the shared value framework, where committees both generate value by pursuing sustainability-related opportunities and protect value by monitoring, but not necessarily mitigating sustainability-related risks. Univariate tests suggest that effective committees are also larger, more independent, and meet more frequently. Finally, we propose a new method to classify industries based on their sensitivity to certain stakeholder groups and find that the effectiveness of committees focused on specific stakeholders is more pronounced in industries that are sensitive to these stakeholders.

PurposeThe purpose is to understand how the role of quality functions might evolve amidst digitalisation and an increased focus on services. This study focuses on customer feedback and how it can function as activation triggers for developing absorptive capacity, as well as how it relates to the value creation processes.Design/methodology/approachFollowing a qualitative research design, the authors gathered primary data from interviews with quality managers at 17 UK and Swedish firms and triangulated it with secondary information from the firms' web pages.FindingsThe findings show that customer feedback-based activation triggers can support development of absorptive capacity in the quality function if there are established processes for acting on customer feedback. This is often the case for codified feedback, which normally concerns products. However, digitalisation offers new opportunities of engaging in value co-creation, and firms need to develop digital capabilities to manage new technologies and data analytic tools. For personalised feedback (the main category of service-related feedback), established processes are missing.Originality/valueThis study work contributes to knowledge about how quality functions respond to customer feedback on both products and services. It clarifies why the quality function sometimes struggles to contribute to service quality as much as to product quality. From a theory development perspective, the authors contribute to understanding customer feedback-based activation triggers, how they lead to development of absorptive capacity and their relation to value co-creation on a functional level.

PurposeEnvironmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure has gained momentum in corporate reporting. Addressing a research gap on the subject, this paper aims to explore the theories involved in ESG disclosure studies, thereby shedding light on the dominant theoretical approaches and emerging perspectives that inform this type of disclosure.Design/methodology/approachA systematic review of 142 selected accounting studies published up to June 2023 devoted to ESG – and corporate social responsibility (CSR) – disclosure was conducted. The theories underlying these studies were examined through a descriptive performance analysis complemented by a systematic qualitative text analysis using RStudio and QDA Miner software tools.FindingsThe study reveals that five dominant theories stand out among the overall 32 found: stakeholder theory first, followed by legitimacy, institutional, agency and signaling theories. Theories are often combined into an integrated theoretical framework. The findings also show an array of minor constructs – many of them unconventional – that offer fresh perspectives for studying ESG disclosure, such as upper echelons, stakeholder salience, cognitive cost and reputation theories, among others.Originality/valueThis paper provides an original literature contribution by offering a comprehensive overview of the mainstream and niche theoretical perspectives underpinning accounting studies focused on ESG disclosure, with a nuanced scope of discussion on the use of ESG/CSR terms.

In this article, we cumulate previous research findings indicating that cyber-physical production systems bring about operations shaping social sustainability performance technologically. We contribute to the literature on sustainable cyber-physical production systems by showing that the technological and operations management features of cyber-physical systems constitute the components of data-driven sustainable smart manufacturing. Throughout September 2020, we performed a quantitative literature review of the Web of Science, Scopus, and ProQuest databases, with search terms including “sustainable industrial value creation”, “cyber-physical production systems”, “sustainable smart manufacturing”, “smart economy”, “industrial big data analytics”, “sustainable Internet of Things”, and “sustainable Industry 4.0”. As we inspected research published only in 2019 and 2020, only 323 articles satisfied the eligibility criteria. By eliminating controversial findings, outcomes unsubstantiated by replication, too imprecise material, or having similar titles, we decided upon 119, generally empirical, sources. Future research should investigate whether Industry 4.0-based manufacturing technologies can ensure the sustainability of big data-driven production systems by use of Internet of Things sensing networks and deep learning-assisted smart process planning.

While social entrepreneurship (SE) as a field of study has progressed some distance over the past four decades, it is plagued by many unanswered, yet fundamental, questions. The SE literature is filled with an abundance of disputes, controversies, and alternative perspectives. Although this can suggest a healthy and robust discipline, it can also raise questions regarding the legitimacy and relevancy of the field, and uncertainty regarding where it is headed. In this research, we provide a systematic overview of major unresolved issues characterizing the contemporary study of SE in the form of thirteen divides. These divides cover such issues as social value creation, social innovation, nature of the process, agents, entrepreneurial orientation, scalability, venture creation, revenue sources, organizational outcomes, efficacy, and the appropriate disciplinary home. Rather than taking sides on each divide, we discuss how these diverse perspectives can be accommodated based on the process perspective. We present an inclusive approach to SE that provides a common platform for advancing the field while allowing for diverse streams of research.

Blockchain technology, despite its origins as the underlying infrastructure for value transfer in the era of cryptocurrency, has been touted as the main disruptive force in modern businesses. Blockchain has the capacity to chronologically capture and store transactional data in a standardized and tamperproof format that is transparent to all stakeholders involved in the transaction. This, in turn, has prompted companies to rethink preexisting business practices, thereby yielding a myriad of fascinating business models anchored in blockchain technology. In this study, we advance contemporary knowledge of business applications of blockchain by drawing on the theoretical lens of the digital business model and value configuration to decipher how pioneers in this space are leveraging blockchain to create and capture value. Through a comparative, multiple case study approach, we analyzed five companies in mainland China that have rolled out blockchain initiatives. From our case analyses, we derived a typology of five blockchain-inspired business models, each of which embodies a distinctive logic for market differentiation. For each business model, we offer insights into its value creation logic, its value capturing mechanism, and the challenges that could threaten its longer-term viability. Grounded in our findings, we discuss key implications for theory and practice.

We examine how new biotechnology firms (NBFs) select pharmaceutical firms as R&D allies as a function of value creation and value appropriation considerations. We develop a theoretical framework to understand partnering decisions accounting for both, a potential partner's ability as well as incentives to appropriate and create value within an R&D alliance. Our empirical findings show that NBFs are more likely to ally with pharmaceutical firms with the ability to create value, as long as these firms have the incentives to use their skills to create rather than appropriate value. Our study highlights the double-edged sword nature of value creation skills and provides a deeper understanding into the contextual factors that determine when potential R&D partners will perceive such skills as increasing appropriation risks.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to clarify the impact mechanisms and weighting factors of environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices on corporate value through bibliometric analysis and core interpretation of existing literature, further explore whether and under what conditions ESG practices contribute to the corporate value creation, and provide an outlook on future research directions. Design/methodology/approach Bibliometric method is used to analyze literature co-citation, burst detection and keyword co-occurrence, and literature review method is used to condense important ideas from the existing literature. Findings Through the review, analysis and summary of the existing literature, this paper finds that the perspectives of risk, information and strategy reflect the key pathways through which ESG practices play a role in avoiding harm and creating value for companies directly or indirectly. Macro, meso and micro factors moderate the direction and extent of the impact. Moreover, considering the relationship between ESG performance and ESG disclosure is key to understanding some contradictory findings. Research limitations/implications The search terms limit the articles considered, and therefore, the research framework may be incomplete. Moreover, this article is primarily aimed at the research field and lacks guidance at the practical level. Practical implications This paper helps the academic community to deepen its understanding of ESG, moving beyond the question of whether ESG is linked to corporate value to further understand why and under what conditions ESG practices create value for firms. Social implications This paper has great practical significance in motivating companies to actively participate in ESG practices. Originality/value The theoretical framework in this paper reveals the black box between enterprise ESG practices and value creation, and clarifies the research boundary of “the relationship between ESG practices and value creation,” contributing to the future research in this field.

Research Summary In ecosystems, tensions between value creation and appropriation can arise when complementors form relationships with a partner that benefits from network effects. While creating value collectively, these relationships strengthen the network effects, which increase the partner's ability to appropriate value. We posit that complementors strategize their product offerings to benefit from the relationship with the partner while preserving bargaining power by keeping relationships with other partners as outside options. We examine book publishers' product portfolios in the Amazon Kindle e‐book and the printed book ecosystems. Our results illuminate specific product offering decisions by large publishers that are more protective of the printed book ecosystem and less conducive to Kindle's success. This research adds to the literature on interorganizational relationships, platform ecosystems, and managing digital innovations. Managerial Summary How do book publishers deal with Amazon? This paper compares book publishers' product offerings on Amazon's Kindle digital platform and in the physical print channel. We find that publishers offer high demand products as e‐books on Kindle to benefit from logistics savings. Yet, relative to small publishers, large publishers product decisions that support Kindle less, such as withholding some of their greatest revenue generating books. Such decisions could both limit Kindle's attractiveness to the consumers and preserve the economic viability of the print channel as an outside option. These findings improve our understanding of how companies can leverage their product portfolios to both benefit from digital technology efficiencies and maintain their bargaining power vis‐à‐vis digital platforms.