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Dear colleagues!

We would like to introduce a Digest of Publications of GSEM. This digest presents the main areas of research and contains information about significant journal articles in economics and management written by authors from Ural Federal University.

Minerals import demands and clean energy transitions: A disaggregated analysis

Islam, M., Sohag, K., Hammoudeh, S., Mariev, O., Samargandi, N.

Energy Economics

(ABDC: A*; AJG/ABS: 3; IF = 9,252; Q1 JIF; Q1 SJR)

Global energy transitions entangled with a paradigm shift from fossil fuel to renewable energy consumption elevates the demand for clean energy technologies, such as solar photovoltaics (PV), wind turbines, electric vehicles (EV) and power storage systems etc., which require significant volumes of minerals as raw materials. We measure the import-demand function of minerals by incorporating the role of renewable energy production capacity for selected OECD countries. We apply the cross-sectional autoregressive distributed lag (CS-ARDL) approach to analyse the panel time-series data due to common correlation, country heterogeneity, non-stationarity and potential endogeneity over the period 1990–2020. Our findings confirm that the overall renewable energy production, including installed solar and wind capacities, fosters the import demands for both the aggregate and disaggregate minerals (copper and nickel) in the long run. We also observe that the copper price elasticity of demand holds the Marshallian demand hypothesis, while the nickel price violates it in the long run. Besides, we find a heterogeneous effect of the income factor on the mineral import demand. Therefore, our findings recommend optimizing mineral resources to reinforce the global agenda of energy transitions toward a decarbonized or a net-zero emissions trajectory by the 21st century.

The dark side of advertising: promoting unhealthy food consumption

Deshpande, B., Kaur, P., Ferraris, A., Yahiaoui, D., Dhir, A.

European Journal of Marketing

(ABDC: A*; AJG/ABS: 3; IF = 5,181; Q2 JIF; Q1 SJR)

Purpose

Scholars have noted the impact of advertising on unhealthy food consumption. However, a systematic literature review (SLR) on this topic is currently lacking. This study aims to find, analyze and synthesize prior literature to set the stage for future researchers and practitioners. It also uncovers research gaps, suggests potential research questions and presents a conceptual framework for use in future research.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper catalogs and synthesizes topic-related literature by using the time-tested SLR methodology. It identifies and analyzes 99 relevant studies that have addressed the impact of advertising on unhealthy food consumption. Research profiling of the selected studies supported the synthesis of key themes in the extant literature.

Findings

The authors identify three key thematic foci: a) viewer attributes pertaining to excessive unhealthy food consumption, b) advertisement attributes pertaining to excessive unhealthy food consumption and, c) unhealthy food consumption regulation. Within these themes, the authors also identify some subthemes, presenting specific advertising and viewer attributes that contribute to unhealthy food consumption. The authors further develop a conceptual framework based on the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model, summarizing the findings of the study. This could aid future researchers and practitioners in their design of certain strategies.

Research limitations/implications

The study uncovers various gaps in the extant literature and suggests potential areas that can be examined by scholars. From a practical perspective, the study recommends certain actionable strategies for policymakers, helping customers to achieve the long-term goal of obesity reduction.

Practical implications

From the perspective of practice, the study recommends certain actionable strategies for policymakers helping customers achieve the long-term goal of obesity reduction.

Originality/value

The current study makes a novel contribution to the research on advertising and unhealthy food consumption by identifying theme-based research gaps in the existing literature, mapping those with potential research questions and presenting a conceptual framework based on the S-O-R model. Based on the findings, the study also proposes five potential research models examining diverse aspects of advertising and unhealthy food consumption to guide interested scholars and practitioners to shape the future research discourse.

Geopolitical risks and mineral-driven renewable energy generation in China: A decomposed analysis

Islam, M. M., Sohag, K., Mariev, O.

Resources Policy

(ABDC: B; AJG/ABS: 2; IF = 8,222; Q1 JIF; Q1 SJR)

Minerals are critical in manufacturing and handling renewable energy technologies, including solar photovoltaics (PV), wind turbines, electric vehicles (EVs), and power storage batteries. However, mineral mining and the supply-related risky situations stunt the mineral import flows of the renewable energy-producing countries. Given this, we scrutinize the role of the decomposed measures of geopolitical risks in the mineral import demand and this demand-driven renewable energy generation in China, covering monthly data from 1996 to 2020. We employ the quantile autoregressive distributed lag (QARDL) technique for measuring the co-integrating association among the variables across different quantiles. We find a significant effect of the decomposed measures of the geopolitical risks on the mineral import and mineral import-augmented renewable energy generation mainly at the extreme quantiles under long memory. In particular, geopolitical risks ‘threats’ and ‘narrow’ parameters negatively affect where the geopolitical risks ‘acts’ and ‘broad’ measures positively influence mineral import demand and this demand-driven renewable energy generation in China. Furthermore, we legitimize our findings across the quantile on quantile (QQ) regression technique. Moreover, our investigation outcome is beneficial for elevating mineral-driven renewable energy generation by preventing geopolitical risks in the context of China.

Paradoxes and coping mechanisms in the servitisation journey

Chaudhary, S., Dhir, A., Gligor, D., Khan, S.J.,
Ferraris, A.

Industrial Marketing Management

(ABDC: A*; AJG/ABS: 3; IF = 8,89; Q1 JIF; Q1 SJR)

Servitisation is conceptualised as product manufacturers' transition towards bundling products and services to offer customers enhanced value. Scholars have raised concerns regarding the potential challenges that firms face during servitisation, often termed servitisation paradoxes. Limited studies have explored the paradoxes experienced during the servitisation journey and the associated coping mechanisms. We utilise the open-ended essay methodology to unravel various paradoxes and coping mechanisms to address the gap. We collected data in two stages—from 69 participants in the first stage and 32 in the second stage. The study's findings reveal three broad paradoxes: the paradox of organising (autonomy and control, efficiency and flexibility, formal and informal information flow, and employee and customer needs), the paradox of learning (prior knowledge and new knowledge), and the paradox of performance (short-term and long-term performance).
In addition, we identify four coping practices: change management, open communication, training programmes and digitalisation. The study augments the prior literature by developing a conceptual framework that elucidates the coexistence of numerous paradoxes and coping mechanisms.

Drivers of productivity change in global value chains: Reallocation vs. innovation

Savin, I. & Mundt, P.

Economics Letters

(ABDC: A; AJG/ABS: 3; IF = 1,469; Q3 JIF; Q2 SJR)

We investigate the role of technological improvement and market share reallocation in determining global changes in sectoral labor productivity. Contrary to previous work that neglects dependencies between suppliers in global value chains, we account for input linkages that impact both channels of productivity improvement. Using sector-level data from the World Input–Output Database, we show that reallocation between countries has a larger effect on productivity change than innovation within countries.

Green stocks, crypto asset, crude oil and COVID19 pandemic: Application of rolling window multiple correlation

Fareed, Z., Abbas, S., Madureira, L., Wang, Z.

Resources Policy

(ABDC: B; AJG/ABS: 2; IF = 8,222; Q1 JIF; Q1 SJR)

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted almost all spares of global social, psychological, and economic life. The emergence of various variants and corresponding variations in daily infection asymmetrically influenced economic indicators. This study extends the existing literature by exploring the hedging potential of crude oil, carbon efficiency index of green firms, and bitcoin during this pandemic. This objective is realized by employing the recently advanced rolling window multiple correlation of Polanco-Martínez (2020). This approach is based on the new p-value corrected method, which has advantages over other correlation methods. The sample observations are based on daily data from 1/22/2020 to 12/20/2021. In the bivariate case, we find a significant positive correlation between COVID-19 and CEI, while a negative impact is observed between COVID-19 and WTI. Similarly, we observe a significant and nonlinear association between COVID-19 and BTC. However, our findings show positive and significant correlations among variables in the multivariate case. The overall findings show that CEI and BTC can be safe havens for investors during this worse pandemic. The study's robust findings can be used to derive important policy implications worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Does infrastructural development allure foreign direct investment? The role of Belt and Road Initiatives

Rehman, F. U., Islam, M. M., & Sohag, K.

International Journal of Emerging Markets

(ABDC: B; AJG/ABS: 1; IF = 3,422; Q2 JIF; Q2 SJR)

Purpose
China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is the most ambitious investment strategy for infrastructural development belonging to the significant potential for stimulating regional economic growth in Asia, Europe and Africa. This study aims to investigate the impact of infrastructure on spurring inward foreign direct investment (FDI) within the purview of human capital, GDP per capita, foreign aid, trade, domestic investment, population and institutional quality in BRI countries.

Design/methodology/approach
In doing so, the authors analyze panel data from 2000 to 2019 within the framework of the system generalized method of movement (GMM) approach for 66 BRI countries from Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Findings
The investigated results demonstrate that aggregate and disaggregate infrastructure indices, e.g. transport, telecommunications, financial and energy infrastructures, are the driving forces in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) in the BRI countries. In addition, control variables (i.e. institutional quality, human capital, trade, domestic investment, foreign aid and GDP per capita) play an essential role in spurring FDI inflows.

Originality/value
The authors’ study uniquely investigates both the pre- (2000–2012) and post- (2013–2019) BRI scenarios using the aggregate and disaggregate infrastructural components from the perspectives of full and clustered sample regions, such as Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The study provides several policy implications.

Biased perceptions of other people's attitudes to carbon taxation

Drews, S., Savin, I., & van den Bergh, J. C.

Energy Policy

(ABDC: A; AJG/ABS: 2; IF = 7,576; Q1 JIF; Q1 SJR)

Beliefs about other people's opinions on climate change influence one's own opinion. Such beliefs can, however, suffer from biases in perception. Using two nationally representative surveys, we examine this issue in a new context, namely of carbon-tax acceptance in Spain. We find that the more one expects the tax to be accepted by others, the more one accepts it personally. But opponents of a carbon tax tend to strongly overestimate the prevalence of their opinion, i.e. they exhibit a so-called false consensus effect. In contrast, despite holding the majority view, tax supporters somewhat underestimate the prevalence of their own view, which is known as pluralistic ignorance. We further test the role of information provision by providing participants with different percentages of people accepting the tax. Overall, we find little evidence that such information provision significantly increases tax acceptance. The impact of information provision on tax acceptance tends to be moderated by the degree of false consensus.

How do energy price hikes affect exchange rates during the war in Ukraine?

Sokhanvar, A., & Lee, C. C.

Empirical Economics

(ABDC: A; AJG/ABS: 2; IF = 2,467; Q2 JIF; Q2 SJR)

The Russia–Ukraine war and new sanctions against Russia have created economic losers and winners. Supply chain shocks are made by two factors: the market’s extraordinary swings and the breadth of commodities exported by Russia and Ukraine including energy and raw material. This paper adopts the cross-quantilogram approach to visualize the effects of energy price shocks on the exchange rate movements during this war. Our findings indicate that energy price hikes are associated with the appreciation of the Canadian dollar against the Euro and Japanese yen. Considering the ongoing war in Ukraine, the best feasible policy responses are discussed.

Financial Inclusion in Developing Countries: Do Quality Institutions Matter?

Zeqiraj, V., Sohag, K., Hammoudehd, S.

Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money

(ABDC: A; AJG/ABS: 3; IF = 4,217; Q1 JIF; Q1 SJR)

This study examines the dynamic impact of institutional quality (control of corruption, government effectiveness, political stability, regulatory quality, rule of law, and voice and accountability) on financial inclusion across seventy-three developing countries. We conduct multiple dynamic-panel-data approaches to address potential heterogeneity, cross-sectional dependency, and endogeneity issues. Our findings reveal that institutional quality promotes both the access to and the use of formal financial services in developing countries. More specifically, economic growth, human development index, domestic credit, financial development index (the depth & access to finance, and the efficiency of financial institutions and financial markets), and remittances significantly contribute to financial inclusion. Our findings also confirm our proposition that human development plays a significant role in driving financial inclusion. This study provides several practical policy implications to developing countries aiming to strengthen their institution-induced financial market deepening.

Financial infrastructure—total factor productivity (TFP) nexus within the purview of FDI outflow, trade openness, innovation, human capital and institutional quality: Evidence from BRICS economies

Rehman, F. U., & Islam, M. M.

Applied Economics

(ABDC: A; AJG/ABS: 2; IF = 1,916; Q3 JIF; Q2 SJR)

BRICS countries’ contribution to the global economy has received wider attention. The critical factor behind their role is financial market reform that stimulates these economies’ productivity growth. This research contributes to constructing a comprehensive index of financial infrastructure and measuring its relationship with BRICS economies’ total factor productivity (TFP) within the purview of outward FDI, trade openness, human capital, innovation and institutional quality during 1990–2019 using the CS-ARDL technique. The findings divulge a significant and positive role of financial infrastructure in TFP both in the long and short runs, while outward FDI, trade openness, human capital, and innovation walk on the same footing in BRICS countries. Moreover, the CS-ARDL-based investigated findings remain the same across the two-way fixed effect with Driscoll and Kraay Standard Error technique. Therefore, BRICS countries’ more promotion of financial dynamics and other ancillary economic, demographic, and technological factors is critical to stepping towards the spectacular growth trajectory

Leveraging blockchain technology for green innovation in ecosystem-based business models: A dynamic capability of values appropriation

Chin, T., Shi, Y., Singh, S. K., Agbanyo, G. K.,
& Ferraris, A.

Technological Forecasting and Social Change

ABDC: A; AJG/ABS: 3; IF = 10,884; Q1 JIF; Q1 SJR)

Stakeholders' pressure for environmental sustainability asks firms to develop ecosystem-based business models (EBMs) driven by a disruptive technology that strategically prioritizes green innovation. Given the infancy of the relevant issues, there is scarce empirical evidence addressing how blockchain technology (BT) as a typical disruptive technology triggers the formation of EBMs with higher levels of platformisation and stakeholder diversity. To address this need, from the dynamic capability view, we identify value appropriation capability (VAC) as a vital catalyst translating BT into realizing green innovation in EBMs. Our results indicate that BT and VAC positively affect green innovation performance, while VAC also mediates the BT-green innovation relationship in EBMs. The main contribution is to offer new insight into the mechanisms between disruptive technology and the evolution towards EBMs through the lens of a previously under-researched dynamic capability, VAC. We also provide feasible, practical guidance for organizations to inspire green innovation and establish sustainable EBMs.

Mineral import demand and clean energy transitions in the top mineral-importing countries

Islam, M., Sohag, K., Alam, M.

Resources Policy

(ABDC: B; AJG/ABS: 2; IF = 8,222; Q1 JIF; Q1 SJR)

The clean energy transitions require a large volume of minerals to handle its diverse technologies, such as solar photovoltaics (PV), wind turbines etc. Therefore, mineral importing countries concentrated on cleaner energy production confront an uprising trend in critical mineral prices due to thriving demands. We quest for the response of the top mineral importing countries' import demand for minerals to the clean energy transitions from 1996 to 2019 within the import-demand function analysis. Using the cross-sectional autoregressive distributed lag (CS-ARDL) method, our findings divulge a significantly positive response of mineral import demand to solar and wind energy productions in the long run. We also find that mineral price elasticity holds the Marshallian demand hypothesis in the mineral-laden solar energy generation while contradicting it in wind energy production. In addition, the oil price substitution effect does not sustain, whereas exchange rate depreciates mineral import demands in the long run. Therefore, our policy implications encompass optimizing the mineral resources for clean energy transitions to materialize the 21st century's global agenda of a decarbonized or net-zero emissions trajectory.

Achieving carbon neutrality in post COP26 in BRICS, MINT, and G7 economies: The role of financial development and governance indicators

Ofori, E. K., Onifade, S. T., Ali, E. B., Alola, A. A.,
& Zhang, J.

Journal of Cleaner Production

(ABDC: A; AJG/ABS: 2; IF = 11,072; Q1 JIF; Q1 SJR)

Pledges and commitments from governments of wealthy nations were made at the COP26 Glasgow summit, thereby rejuvenating hope among nations to confront the climate change challenge. Thus, the study examines the complementarity of financial development and carbon emissions, while accounting for the conditional influence of good governance under three disaggregated indicators – economic, institutional, and political governance for the BRICS, MINT, and the G7 economies. First, the study reveals that financial development depending on the adopted indicator has mixed effects on environmental pollution levels. Specifically, financial development triggers the highest pollution effect via domestic credit to the private sector compared to foreign direct investments, while financial development index reduces environmental pollution. Secondly, economic governance promotes environmental quality by reducing environmental pollution through quality regulation. Third, institutional governance through weaker rule of laws induces pollution, while the control of corruption antagonizes pollution levels. Furthermore, only the voice of accountability supports the pollution-mitigating effect of political governance. On a bloc-to-bloc comparative analysis, governance effectiveness promotes environmental pollution in all the three economic blocs albeit at different magnitudes while the voice of accountability exerts a significant desirable impact on pollution only in the G7 countries. Lastly, renewable energy and trade liberalization exerts a negative and positive influence on environmental degradation respectively.

Does transport infrastructure spur export diversification and sophistication in the G-20 economies? An application of CS-ARDL

Rehman, F. U., & Sohag, K.

Applied Economics Letters

(ABDC: B; AJG/ABS: 1; IF = 1,157; Q3 JIF; Q3 SJR)

This study investigates the effect of transport infrastructure on export sophistication and diversification in the G-20 economies by applying the cross-sectional dependency autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach. The empirical findings demonstrate that transport infrastructure spurs export sophistication and diversification in the short and long run. Besides, outward foreign direct investment, institutional quality and human capital contribute to exporting sophistication and diversification. Our results are robust in the common correlation effect, homogeneity and heterogeneity restrictions in the short- and long-run parameters, respectively.

Towards environmental sustainability: Do financial risk and external conflicts matter?

Ahmed, Z., Ahmad, M., Alvarado, R., Sinha, A., Shah, M.I., Abbas, S.

Journal of Cleaner Production

(ABDC: A; AJG/ABS: 2; IF = 11,072; Q1 JIF; Q1 SJR)

The progress on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) needs constant updating and deepening to improve the design of pro-environmental policies. In this context, recent studies report various drivers of ecological footprint (EF) for better climate control; however, the impacts of financial risk (FNR) and external conflicts (EXF) on EF are not thoroughly investigated. Therefore, this research uncovers the role of financial risk and external conflicts in EF using the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) based model. To this end, some advanced time series methods including the Augmented ARDL (AARDL) and Spectral causality tests are applied for the period from 1984 to 2017 in the context of India. The empirical estimates revealed cointegration among variables of the study. The findings uncovered that reducing financial risk mitigates EF levels and stimulates environmental quality. However, limiting external conflicts does not improve the quality of the environment because the EF levels expand due to a reduction in conflicts. The empirical evidence validated the EKC accounting for both financial risks and external conflicts. Population density is found to alleviate environmental deterioration. Moreover, external conflicts and financial risks Granger cause EF. Lastly, policies are directed to limit the financial risk for reducing the EF.

Knowledge sharing behavior among academics: Insights from theory of planned behavior, perceived trust and organizational climate

Hosen, M., Ogbeibu, S., Lim, W. M., Ferraris, A., Munim, Z. H., & Chong, Y. L.

Journal of Knowledge Management

(ABDC: A; AJG/ABS: 2; IF = 8,689; Q1 JIF; Q1 SJR)

Purpose
Extant literature on knowledge sharing in higher education institutions (HEIs) concentrates on non-behavioral perspectives and indicates that academics continue to hoard knowledge despite being given incentives to bolster knowledge sharing behavior (KSB). This study aims to examine KSB among academics from a behavioral perspective through the lenses of the theory of planned behavior, perceived trust and organizational climate.

Design/methodology/approach
Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to 12 private universities using the drop-off/pick-up approach, resulting in 405 usable responses, which were analyzed using covariance-based structural equation modeling.

Findings
Academics’ salient beliefs – that is, behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs and control beliefs – significantly influence their attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control (PBC). Attitude, subjective norms, PBC, perceived trust and organizational climate directly influence knowledge sharing intention (KSI), whereas attitude, KSI, subjective norms and PBC directly influence KSB. Noteworthily, KSI is a mediator in the relationships between attitude, subjective norms and PBC with KSB.

Originality/value
This study makes a seminal contribution through the novel conceptualization and theoretical generalizability of the theory of planned behavior by which HEIs can reinforce their competitiveness and global position by enhancing KSB among academics using a profound behavioral strategy.

Climate change, food security, and sustainable production: a comparison between arid and semi-arid environments of Iran

Shayanmehr, S., Henneberry, S. R., Ali, E. B., Sabouhi Sabouni, M., & Shahnoushi Foroushani, N.

Environment, Development and Sustainability, 1-33.

(IF = 4,08; Q2 JIF; Q1 SJR)

Climate change is among the most pressing challenges for human advancement in the twenty-first century. Climate change is having a significant impact on the agricultural sector. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the food security status and sustainability of crop production under different climate change scenarios in the arid and semi-arid zones of Iran. To this end, the Statistical Down-Scaling Model (SDSM) and the outputs of the General Circulation Model (GCM) are employed to project future climate parameters under three climate scenarios. The study then employs the Just and Pope approach by using a panel dataset to evaluate the impact of climate change on crop production. Also, the multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) technique is used to assess the sustainability of crop production from an economic, social, and environmental perspective in the context of climate change and baseline conditions. The results of the study show that precipitation has a significant favourable effect on crop yield in both zones. Maximum temperature is positively and significantly related to crop yield in the semi-arid area, while the relationship is negative in the arid region. Future projections reveal that under different climate scenarios, the production of irrigated wheat, dryland wheat, irrigated barley, dryland barley, and potato crops will change by a maximum of approximately 7.57%, 35.70%, 62.86%, 15.90%, and 26.88% in the semi-arid zone and − 24.07%, 29.73%, − 31.33%, − 4.80%, and 25.80% in the arid zone, respectively. The findings imply that climate change will decrease the food security index for all crops in the arid zone, while improving the situation for crops in the semi-arid region. The results also indicate that future climate change can have a significant adverse effect on economic water productivity, economic benefits, and the sustainability of strategic crop production in the arid zone compared to the semi-arid zone. Given that a large part of Iran is covered by an arid climate, designing coherent adaptation actions and mitigation policies need to be prioritized to tackle the negative impact of climate change on food production systems.