The institutional logics perspective provides a powerful theoretical lens that emphasizes how meanings and practices are intertwined in relatively enduring configurations that can profoundly shape organizational behavior across space and time. In this article, we propose the need for a broader research agenda on the dynamics of institutional logics in the Chinese context, particularly in three aspects. We begin by elaborating on the distinct configuration of logics in China, where state logic is more dominant and often directs other logics, thus shaping organizational behavior differently than its Western counterpart. We then argue for the need to examine (1) the change of logics per se, leveraging China’ market transition, which provides a unique opportunity to observe how existing configurations of logics undergo transformational change and regain coherence; (2) the governance of logics, focusing on the influence of social evaluators and command posts; and (3) the diffusion of the China Model, a distinct configuration of logics and orders, to other countries through the Chinese state’s political and economic campaigns.

This editorial essay introduces three approaches for advancing management research through contextualization in Chinese management research. While the Chinese context offers fertile ground for theoretical contributions, scholars often struggle to effectively leverage contextual elements to extend existing theories. I address this gap by presenting three approaches: the counter-intuitive approach, which challenges established assumptions by identifying relationships that contradict conventional wisdom; the contrasting approach, which reveals paradoxical or opposing effects of organizational phenomena across different contextual conditions; and the theory integration approach, which combines different theoretical perspectives to create richer understanding of organizational phenomena. Using published works on guanxi and social networks as examples, I demonstrate how these approaches help scholars articulate why the Chinese context matters theoretically. These approaches provide researchers with tools to move beyond simply testing Western theories in China toward making substantive theoretical contributions that extend and enrich existing management theories through contextualization.

This study examines how university curriculum reforms that increase course selection flexibility influence entrepreneurial outcomes. Departing from traditional emphasis on educational attainment, we explore how institutional changes in education shape entrepreneurial tendencies among alumni. Leveraging a reform that removed constraints on course selection at a major university, we find that increased educational choice significantly fosters entrepreneurship. Our analysis reveals partial support for the moderating effects of individual, family, and spatial factors: the positive impact of these reforms is contingent on the type of electives and courses taken, with stronger effects observed among alumni with entrepreneurial parents, those born in urban areas, and those from higher socioeconomic backgrounds. These groups leverage specific course patterns to align their educational choices with entrepreneurial aspirations, enhancing their likelihood of pursuing entrepreneurial ventures. However, these findings also underscore the potential for educational reforms to exacerbate inequalities, disproportionately benefiting those with preexisting advantages. By integrating insights on institutional changes, course-taking patterns, and individual moderators, this study advances understanding of the interplay between education and entrepreneurship, offering implications for designing more equitable educational policies.

This editorial essay describes what is phenomenon-based research and why it is important to conduct indigenous Chinese management research. Grounded in the Chinese context, the author identifies emerging new organizational phenomena in the digital age that calls for new theoretical explanations and empirical validation. Adopting an evolution of theories perspective, the author outlines the various paths that can move a new theory explaining an indigenous phenomenon toward becoming a universal theory that can transcend time and space.

Grounded in institutional theory, this study delves into the heterogeneous responses of politically connected top executives (PCTEs) to uniform institutional requirements for corporate environmental responsibility (CER). Specifically, we scrutinized the moderating role of organizational visibility in shaping the association between PCTEs and both environmentally responsible and irresponsible practices. Analyzing data from listed Chinese firms in heavily polluting industries spanning from 2010 to 2018, the findings indicate that PCTEs contribute to an increase in firms’ environmentally responsible activities and a decrease in their environmentally irresponsible activities. Notably, the impact on environmentally responsible activities is significant only for privately controlled PCTEs. Furthermore, the moderating influence of organizational visibility is validated. The implications of these findings for the broader research on political connections and CER are thoroughly discussed.

Family dynamics can significantly influence entrepreneurship, yet the temporal complexities of this relationship remain inadequately explored. This special issue addresses this gap by emphasizing the intricate interplay between internal family evolvability such as generational transitions and identity shifts, cultural continuity, and external adaptability to rapidly changing economic, institutional, and technological contexts in China. We introduce a dual tuning model that highlights how entrepreneurial and family firms (FFs) strategically synchronize their internal and external temporal rhythms to manage conflicts and optimize performance. This lead article reviews existing literature, articulates the dual tuning model, and synthesizes insights from the articles in this special issue to illuminate how Chinese FFs navigate tensions between evolving internal dynamics and external market demands. We conclude by identifying promising future research avenues that leverage this temporal perspective to deepen our understanding of family dynamics and entrepreneurship in China.

Firms adopt different strategies to achieve sustained profitable growth. We argue that the success of sustained profitable growth relies on the alignment between a firm's prior and subsequent strategy. This study views a firm's prior strategy, i.e., growth-oriented vs profit-oriented, as a primary driver of future sustained profitable growth. We adopt the resource-based view to understand the types of resources required for these two strategies. We argue that to achieve sustained profitable growth, growth-oriented firms need to enhance their firm-specific advantages by developing valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable resources such as technology and brand. In comparison, profit-oriented firms must identify versatile resources to capture growth opportunities and manage growth by successfully replicating their profitable operations. Low turnover in senior management could help profit-oriented firms achieve this goal. We find support for the arguments in a sample of 3,802 listed firms worldwide from 1992 to 2019.

Political connections have been tested for correlation with outward foreign direct investment (OFDI). Both theoretical rationale and research evidence are mixed. To advance this debate, we conceptualize political connections as a dual-dimensional construct and hypothesize the differential effects of the breadth and the depth of political connections on OFDI. Employing a sample of 2,374 Chinese listed firms, encompassing 15,647 firm-year observations from 2008 to 2016, we find evidence supporting our hypotheses: (1) the breadth of political connections reduces the likelihood of a firm engaging in OFDI and (2) greater depth of political connections increases the likelihood of a firm engaging in the OFDI. Thus, we advise firms to exercise caution when adopting corporate political strategies for internationalization in general and OFDI in particular.

While the innovation behaviors of family firms (FFs) have attracted burgeoning scholarly attention, few studies have investigated how intergenerational succession, one of the most critical aspects of family dynamics changes among FFs, affects innovation behaviors. Based on the socioemotional wealth perspective (SEW), we have introduced a concept of innovation decoupling that refers to the tendency of prioritizing the symbolic disclosures over substantive changes of innovation and proposed that FFs that have experienced intergenerational succession would exhibit a greater extent of innovation decoupling. By tracking a sample of Chinese publicly listed FFs from 2012 to 2021 while applying the machine learning approach, we have confirmed the proposition and further unveiled that such inclination becomes weaker when the focal FF is influenced by the family affective endowment and the successor with ascribed bureaucratic connections. Overall, this study brings new nuances to the knowledge of the innovation behaviors of FFs by highlighting the inter-firm heterogeneities and impacts of family dynamics.

In the behavioral theory of the firm, decision-makers' interpretation of performance feedback information is the fundamental intermediate step between the evaluation of performance and the consequent strategic decision-making. However, such interpretations can be shaped or even distorted by the cognitive lens taken by decision-makers, such as their time concept in terms of biased cognitions of the importance and imminence of the future over the present. This study focuses on the role of a specific temporal bias (the time concept expressed in languages) in shaping the response to performance feedback. On the basis of the baseline proposition of a positive relationship between the underperformance duration (a temporal dimension of performance feedback) and acquisition behavior, we theorize and empirically examine how the future-time reference (FTR) of languages under different conditions shapes the way firms respond to repeated performance shortfalls. Using a sample of 12,309 firms from 12 countries between 2007 and 2019, we find that the FTR weakens the connection between the underperformance duration and subsequent acquisitions. Moreover, slack resources strengthen, whereas political stability weakens, this moderating effect of FTR on the underperformance duration–firm acquisition relationship.

Given the growing trend of using digital platforms for exporters' internationalization, the management of exporters' online internationalization has become a critical issue. However, academic research in this area remains sparse. Specifically, little is known about when and under what conditions exporters may consider discontinuing the use of a digital platform for exporting, i.e., online de-internationalization. This study develops and tests a theoretical framework for these determinants and the contingencies for exporters' online de-internationalization. Specifically, drawing on the de-internationalization literature, we identify sets of internal and external antecedents of exporters' intention to discontinue the use of digital platforms for exporting. Furthermore, we examine the moderating effect of technological opportunism. Based on a unique sample of Chinese exporters registered on Alibaba.com, the world's largest business-to-business platform, the empirical findings support our proposed determinants of online de-internalization. This article ultimately discusses the theoretical and managerial implications.

Most existing literature treats family culture as a static and deterministic factor with a double-edged effect on the competitive advantage (CA) of family firms while overlooking its dynamic nature. Moreover, limited literature addresses how to solve this double-edged problem. This study fills these gaps by examining how family culture can generate sustainable CA from the lens of the affordance perspective. A three-stage process model is developed based on a longitudinal case study of Baiyun, a Chinese family firm with over a 100-year family history. This model suggests that family firms should intentionally adopt appropriate sensemaking and sensegiving strategies tailored to different stakeholders and dynamic entrepreneurship situations to effectively leverage the natural and designed affordances of family culture. By cultivating efficiency, emotional, and value identifications among internal and external stakeholders, these sensegiving strategies facilitate family collaboration, continuous trust, strategic focus, and extensive ecological synergy, which serve as the key sources of CA. Ultimately, the model emphasizes that the key to managing the double-edged effect lies in the four sensemaking strategies taken by family firm leaders. This study sheds light on the dynamic interplay between family culture, environment, strategies, and CA, offering actionable insights for family firms.

Digital technology enables employees to communicate with each other via virtual platforms. Emoji, particularly smile emoji, has received significant attention in virtual communication research. Drawing upon expectancy violation theory, we propose that in digital communications with followers, leader smile emoji usage has a positive effect on follower satisfaction with leader through perceived leader intimacy. In addition, leader smile emoji usage has a negative effect on perceived leader effectiveness through decreased perception of leader power. We further propose that the effects of leader smile emoji usage hinge on follower power distance orientation such that the negative effects of leader smile emojis usage are more pronounced for followers with high versus low power distance orientation. An experiment and a field study supported our hypotheses. Our research sheds light on the benefits and potential pitfalls of smile emoji usage in leader–follower digital communication.