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This study focuses on how entrepreneurial bricolage (EB) drives both competitive advantage (CA) and sustainability performance (SP).

Relying on structural equation modeling, data were collected from 200 small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) manufacturers in Ghana.

The results indicate that EB drives both CA and SP positively. SL positively moderated the relationship between EB and CA, while the moderating role of SL in the relationship between EB and SP was not supported.

The study concludes that EB can enhance SP, a notion prior study grossly overlooked.

As the backbone of the social open innovation (SOI) system, social enterprises (SEs) are the key drivers of social value creation (SVC). However, at the micro-level, research in this area is lacking, as attention is scantly paid on the comprehensive capabilities of renewable energy enterprises, their industrial heterogeneity and heterogeneous social connections, including bricolage and utility innovation. Drawing from the social resource-based view theory and institutional theory, the research investigates SOI effect on SVC, the moderating role of social ties (ST) and entrepreneurial bricolage (EB) mediation.

The research methodology encompassed several key steps. Initially, a research framework was constructed based on a comprehensive literature review. Subsequently, data were collected by surveying 133 middle to senior-level managers. To assess the proposed hypotheses, a structured equation modeling analysis was conducted using a two-stage approach, which involved partial least squares and hierarchical regression techniques.

The study reveals that SOI affects SVC significantly, and SOI positively impacts EB. Furthermore, political ties strengthen the positive impact of SOI on EB. Moreover, EB positively impacts SVC. Additionally, EB mediates the relationship between SOI and SVC.

Firstly, the measurement of variables relies on a subjective approach. Future research could employ a quantitative comprehensive index evaluation method of assessment, thereby providing additional validation for the authors' findings. Secondly, although cross-sectional data can be utilized to explore the relationships between variables, there may be inherent biases in the results. Therefore, longitudinal data collection in future research would enable the observation of the long-term effects of SOI and EB on SVC and ST. Thirdly, it would be beneficial to examine other potential factors that could contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms linking SOI to SVC.

First, the study underscores the significance of EB in the interplay between SOI and SVC. By embracing innovative approaches and fostering collaborations, SEs can harness EB as a powerful tool for achieving their social missions while overcoming resource constraints. Second, it is imperative for managers to foster a conducive environment for SVC within their organizations, characterized by network ties and partnerships. Simultaneously, they should proactively drive ST initiatives and remain attuned to evolving changes in external environmental laws and regulations. Third, the Malagasy government is actively advocating for social interventions and the establishment of social milieus reminiscent of corporate social responsibility.

This study emphasizes the importance of ST and recognizes the pivotal role of EB in generating social value within an ecosystem that supports SOI. SEs can create lasting positive impacts on society (e.g. improving access to electricity) by embracing these principles and collaborating with stakeholders.

These findings serve to enhance the underlying theoretical context of social entrepreneurship, propose nuanced insight into the methodologies for implementing SVC within the context of renewable energy enterprises and make significant contributions to the ongoing progress of research in the domains of open innovation and social entrepreneurship.

Business ecosystem is described as a web of loose relationships, thereby posing some challenges to coordination. In attempt to ensure coordination in business relationships, scholars have proposed relational and contractual governance mechanisms. Hence, this study aims to examine the effects of governance mechanisms on coordination in the pharmaceutical business ecosystem (BE), with the potential mediating effects of closeness and opportunistic behavior.

The study adopted quantitative approach with cross-sectional survey research design to collect data from the business ecosystem of pharmaceutical company X in Ghana. A structured questionnaire based on a five-point Likert scale was employed to collect data. Analysis was based on 173 institutions (both local and international) selected from pharmaceutical BE. Various validity and reliability checks were conducted before the presentation of the actual analysis, which was conducted using ordinary least squares (OLS) regression in Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS).

The results of the study revealed that both relational and contractual governance have a direct positive effect on coordination between pharmaceutical BE members and the focal firm. The effect of contractual governance on coordination is however, partially mediated by opportunistic behavior. Finally, closeness also fully mediated the effect of relational governance on coordination.

The study builds on the governance mechanisms in exchange relationship, which was hitherto largely limited to the dyadic and triadic business network, partnerships and strategic alliances studies. The contribution to BE literature provides further understanding into transaction cost economics and relational exchange theory, which was dominantly applied in dyadic relationships ties such as partnerships, alliances and networks.

The purpose of this paper is to ascertain how perceived service quality mediates employees’ customer orientation and customer satisfaction in the public utility sector.

The study focused on the commercial customers (small and medium-scale enterprises– (SMEs)) of Electricity Company of Ghana Ltd. There were 350 SMEs sampled for the study, and each had no more than 99 employees. Respondents were either owner-managers or employee-managers. Structural equation model (SEM) was used in estimating the effects among the variables studied.

Most public institutions have a built-in customer base, and therefore places less emphasis on employees’ customer orientation. This notwithstanding, findings revealed that employees’ customer orientation behaviors significantly impacted customers’ perceived service quality and satisfaction toward public institutions. Similarly, customers’ perceived service quality influenced their satisfaction toward public institutions. SMEs serve as an engine for economic growth in an economy, and therefore public institutions must consider their peculiar needs in the delivery of service to them.

This study pointed out that, employees’ customer orientation behaviors of public institutions have an influence on customers’ perceived service quality and satisfaction. Previous studies on these concepts have largely focused on the private sector, where there are lots of competition. This study also specifically studied commercial customers (SMEs) of public institution, which is quite novel, especially in relation to the concepts studied. And the contribution of SMEs to economic growth makes their study even much more important.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a new finite difference method for solving the seismic wave propagation in fluid-solid media, which can be described by the acoustic and viscoelastic wave equations for the fluid and solid parts, respectively.

In this paper, the authors introduced a coordinate transformation method for seismic wave simulation method. In the new method, the irregular fluid–solid interface is transformed into a horizontal interface. Then, a multi-block coordinate transformation method is proposed to mesh every layer to curved grids and transforms every interface to horizontal interface. Meanwhile, a variable grid size is used in different regions according to the shape and the velocity within each region. Finally, a Lebedev-standard staggered coupled grid scheme for curved grids is applied in the multi-block coordinate transformation method to reduce the computational cost.

The instability in the auxiliary coordinate system caused by the standard staggered grid scheme is resolved using a curved grid viscoelastic wave field separation strategy. Several numerical examples are solved using this new method. It has been shown that the new method is stable, efficient and highly accurate in solving the seismic wave equation defined on domain with irregular fluid–solid interface.

First, the irregular fluid–solid interface is transformed into a horizontal interface by using the coordinate transformation method. The conversion between pressures and stresses is easy to implement and adaptive to different irregular fluid–solid interface models, because the normal stress and shear stress vanish when the normal angle is 90° in the interface. Moreover, in the new method, the strong false artificial boundary reflection and instability caused by ladder-shaped grid discretion are resolved as well.

The purpose of this paper is to draw on triadic reciprocal determinism and social exchange theory to examine how “induced-type” and “compulsory-type” union participation influence union commitment and job involvement, and how union participation in the west differs from that in China. It also examines whether the role of both organizational justice and employee participation climate (EPC) functions in the Chinese context.

Cross-sectional data are collected from 694 employees in 46 non-publicly owned enterprises, both Chinese and foreign, in the Pearl River Delta region of China. A multi-level moderated mediation test is used to examine the model of this research.

Union participation is positively related to organizational justice, union commitment and job involvement. In addition, organizational justice acts as the mediator among union participation, union commitment and job involvement. Specifically, the mediating role of organizational justice between union participation and union commitment, and between union participation and job involvement, is stronger in high-EPC contexts than low-EPC contexts.

Instead of examining the impacts of attitudes on union participation, as per most studies in the western context, this research examines the impacts of union participation in the Chinese context on attitudes, including union commitment and job involvement. It also reveals the role of both organizational justice and EPC in the process through which union participation influences union commitment and job involvement.

During the powder bed fusion process, thermal distortion is one big problem owing to the thermal stress caused by the high cooling rate and temperature gradient. For the purpose of avoiding distortion caused by internal residual stresses, support structures are used in most selective laser melting (SLM) process especially for cantilever beams because they can assist the heat dissipation. Support structures can also help to hold the work piece in its place and reduce volume of the printing materials. The mitigation of high thermal gradients during the manufacturing process helps to reduce thermal distortion and thus alleviate cracking, curling, delamination and shrinkage. Therefore, this paper aims to study the displacement and residual stress evolution of SLMed parts.

The objective of this study was to examine and compare the distortion and residual stress properties of two cantilever structures, using both numerical and experimental methods. The part-scale finite element analysis modeling technique was applied to numerically analyze the overhang distortions, using the layer-by-layer model for predicting a part scale model. The validation experiments of these two samples were built in a SLM platform. Then average displacement of the four tip corners and residual stress on top surface of cantilever beams were tested to validate the model.

The validation experiments results of average displacement of the four tip corners and residual stress on top surface of cantilever beams were tested to validate the model. It was found that they matched well with each other. From displacement and residual stress standpoint, by introducing two different support structure, two samples with the same cantilever beam can be successfully printed. In terms of reducing wasted support materials, print time and high surface quality, sample with less support will need less post-processing and waste energy.

Numerical modeling in this work can be a very useful tool to parametrically study the feasibility of support structures of SLM parts in terms of residual stresses and deformations. It has the capability for fast prediction in the SLMed parts.

The purpose of this paper is to verify the feasibility of lunar capture braking through three methods based on particle swarm optimization (PSO) and compare the advantages and disadvantages of the three strategies by analyzing the results of the simulation.

The paper proposes three methods to verify capture braking based on PSO. The constraints of the method are the final lunar orbit eccentricity and the height of the final orbit around the Moon. At the same time, fuel consumption is used as a performance indicator. Then, the PSO algorithm is used to optimize the track of the capture process and simulate the entire capture braking process.

The three proposed braking strategies under the framework of PSO algorithm are very effective for solving the problem of lunar capture braking. The simulation results show that the orbit in the opposite direction of the trajectory has the most serious attenuation at perilune, and it should consume the least amount of fuel in theoretical analysis. The methods based on the fixed thrust direction braking and thrust uniform rotation braking can better ensure the final perilune control accuracy and fuel consumption. As for practice, the fixed thrust direction braking method is better realized among the three strategies.

The process of lunar capture is a complicated process, involving effective coordination between multiple subsystems. In this article, the main focus is on the correctness of the algorithm, and a simplified dynamic model is adopted. At the same time, because the capture time is short, the lunar curvature can be omitted. Furthermore, to better compare the pros and cons of different braking modes, some influence factors and perturbative forces are not considered, such as the Earth’s flatness, light pressure and system noise and errors.

This paper presents three braking strategies that can satisfy all the constraints well and optimize the fuel consumption to make the lunar capture more effective. The results of comparative analysis demonstrate that the three strategies have their own superiority, and the fixed thrust direction braking is beneficial to engineering realization and has certain engineering practicability, which can also provide reference for lunar exploration orbit design.

The proposed capture braking strategies based on PSO enable effective capture of the lunar module. During the lunar exploration, the capture braking phase determines whether the mission will be successful or not, and it is essential to control fuel consumption on the premise of accuracy. The three methods in this paper can be used to provide a study reference for the optimization of lunar capture braking.

How to foster voice behavior has always been a hot topic in organizational research; however, the mechanism through which performing decent work affects employee voice behavior remains to be fully understood. To address this deficiency, the current study investigates how basic need satisfaction may relate to perceived decent work and voice behavior and the moderating role of gender. Our research draws upon self-determination theory and social information processing theory.

The theoretical model was tested using two-wave investigation data collected from a sample of 349 employees and 85 supervisors in Southwest China.

Decent work perception was positively related to voice behavior, and this relationship was partially mediated by basic need satisfaction. In addition, the relationship between decent work perception and basic need satisfaction as well as the indirect effect of decent work perception on voice behavior via basic need satisfaction was stronger for men than for women.

This study highlights the pivotal roles of basic need satisfaction and gender in the consequences of decent work perception in the workplace. The authors provide new insights into the relationship between decent work perception and voice behavior and inspire scholars to elucidate other explanatory mechanisms in this link.

This study aims to reveal the mechanism through which union commitment influences job performance in China, focusing on the mediating role of employee participation and the moderating role of affective commitment.

In this study, a cross-sectional design was employed to collect data from 596 union members in 33 unionized enterprises in China's Pearl River Delta region.

The results demonstrate that union commitment is positively related to both employee participation and job performance. Moreover, employee participation mediates the positive relationship between union commitment and job performance. In addition, affective commitment strengthens the relationship between union commitment and employee participation and the mediating effect of employee participation.

This study indirectly identifies the impact of a union on organizational performance from an individual-level perspective. It also provides new evidence for union construction in order to obtain support from corporate executives in China.

This study makes an important contribution to the literature by proposing and examining the mediating role of employee participation and the moderating role of affective commitment in the underlying mechanism between union commitment and job performance.