Kwangtae Park

Purpose: This study examines how the dual forces of personal data utilization and data protection influence users’ continuance intentions in digital services. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on technology threat avoidance theory, the moderated technology acceptance model, and privacy preference models we construct a research model linking privacy data utilization, data protection, and continuance intention. The study utilizes questionnaire data of 209 Internet users in China and employs a structural equation model, with the sophistication of the technological environment, primarily user privacy preferences and IT maturity level, serving as moderating variables. Findings: The findings reveal that both privacy data utilization and data protection exert positive effects on users’ continuance intentions. However, both relationships are negatively moderated by privacy preferences and IT maturity levels. Users with stronger privacy preferences exhibit greater caution, and, contrary to our hypothesis, users in more advanced IT environments tend to dampen the positive effects of data usage and protection on continuance intentions. Originality/value: This study contributes to a deeper understanding of the privacy paradox and threat-avoidance theories by considering both data utilization and protection and examining IT maturity levels and user privacy preferences.

The global COVID-19 outbreak has led to significant challenges for supply chain management, while insights on how to configure the supply chain network to respond to this crisis are limited. Therefore, the present research extends the understanding of supply chain resilience by investigating whether supply chain concentration has influenced the shock of COVID-19 on firm performance. This study assesses four sub-dimensions of supply chain concentration: supplier, customer, product, and region. Based on a large-scale sample of Chinese listed manufacturing firms, we employed a difference-in-difference approach to investigate whether supply chain concentration ameliorated or exacerbated the shock of COVID-19. The results indicate that treatment groups (firms with lower supplier, customer, product, and region concentration) have experienced a considerably more significant performance deterioration than control firms. Overall, this study paves the way for future research and offers vital insights into the redesign of supply chains in response to COVID-19 and similar crises.

Purpose: This study conceptualizes the digital transformation (DT) strategy in a supply chain context, identifies its drivers from intra- and inter-organizational perspectives and examines the effect of the DT strategy on the strategic agility and financial performance of Chinese manufacturing firms.Design/methodology/approach: The authors constructed a theoretical model by synthesizing the diffusion of innovation and organizational information processing theory (OIPT) and provided a set of hypotheses. The authors empirically tested the arguments using partial least squares structural equation modeling using data from a sample of 200 manufacturing firms in China.Findings: The findings indicate that while supply chain connectivity positively affects DT adoption and DT routinization, data analytics capability and organizational learning positively influence DT adoption but not DT routinization. The mediation analysis also shows that DT strategy has significant direct effects on financial performance and a stronger indirect influence on financial performance via improved strategic agility.Research limitations/implications: This study responds to repeated calls for a new understanding of supply chain DT strategy. In addition, the study offers important contributions to the literature by identifying the potential discord between the existing DT strategy and the supply chain context and proposes a new framework that provides essential theoretical underpinnings.Originality/value: This study enriches the literature by conceptualizing and validating the dimensions, driving factors and performance implications of DT strategy in strategic supply chain management.

This study examines the relationship between inventory performance and credit ratings and explores how this relationship is affected by supply chain concentration in the context of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Financial indicators and bond rating data for SMEs in China’s manufacturing sector are obtained from two large public data sources, and hierarchical ordered logistic regression analysis is used to investigate our research questions. The findings show that inventory performance is positively associated with SME credit ratings and that this relationship is positively moderated by customer concentration but negatively moderated by supplier concentration. This study provides valuable theoretical contributions to the interface of supply chain and finance research and offers important managerial implications that SMEs can follow to increase their credit ratings.

Supply chain finance (SCF) has attracted considerable attention being an innovative business model that allows firms, especially small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to convert illiquid assets into cash without incurring additional liabilities. However, its effects on SME performance and risk have been insufficiently studied. The competitiveness of SMEs depends on performance enhancement and risk mitigation. Thus, this study constructs a scaled-decile rank transformation of account receivable turnover to gauge the degree to which a supplier implements SCF, thereby examining the relationship between SCF, performance, and risk. We collect data on 4,679 SMEs from the Chinese manufacturing sector. Thereafter, hierarchical linear regression, a complex form of multiple linear regression analysis, is employed to test the hypotheses. The results indicate that an SME’s SCF adoption positively impacts its performance but negatively impacts its risk. To further explore cross-sectional variability, we investigated the buyer-supplier relationship’s moderating role. Results show that an increase in customer concentration strengthens both the positive effects of SCF on performance and the negative effects of SCF on risk. Overall, our study contributes to the literature on the interface of operations and finance in supply chains by exploring the multiple facets of SCF adoption and highlighting the moderating role of buyer-supplier relationship in SCF and SME competitiveness. Finally, we provide managerial implications for SMEs and financial service providers by validating the value of SCF implementation and the buyer-supplier relationship management in forging competitive advantages.

The present study examines the relationship between a technology-intensive venture’s R&D capability and innovation success under the moderating influence of firm lifecycle stage and involvement of the CEO. Utilising a sample of 291 technology-intensive Korean SMEs, we find this relationship is strengthened during the growth lifecycle stage of the firm, and especially under the involvement of the CEO in the R&D process.

Despite the important role of suppliers in R&D activity, the supply chain relationships involved in R&D value creation have been under-investigated in previous research. Supplier involvement in R&D necessitates a model that examines how the buyer–supplier relationship influences the relationship between R&D investment and a company’s market value. With a large-scale sample of 4,704 firm-year observations within the Chinese manufacturing sector, this study investigates the relationships among R&D investment, supplier-base concentration, and firm value. The results indicate that there is a non-linear, inverted U-shaped relationship between R&D intensity and Tobin’s q, with the specific shape of this relationship dependent on supplier-base concentration. By highlighting the moderating effect of supplier-base concentration on the curvilinear relationship between R&D investment and firm value, this study contributes to the existing literature on technology, innovation, and supply chain management by shedding new light on value creation achieved through the interface between R&D and supply chains in the context of emerging markets. Our findings emphasise the importance of supplier relationship management to ensure successful R&D value creation activity in the manufacturing sector.

Successful companies depend on the development and integration of innovation and productivity. Incorporating theoretical insights based on the absorptive capacity of the firm, we examine the relationship among absorptive capacity, labour productivity, and firm performance. Based on a mediating model linking absorptive capacity to firm performance via labour productivity within an international context, we find that labour productivity plays a partial mediating role between absorptive capacity and firm performance. By highlighting the mediating influence, this research provides empirical evidence of how firms increase operational efficiency to enhance performance and build competitive advantage.