Social finance as cultural evolution, transmission bias, and market dynamics

Social Wellbeing, Board-Gender Diversity, and Financial Performance: Evidence From Chinese Fintech Companies

The main goal of this study is to investigate the relationship between female representation on board of directors and financial performance, using evidence from Chinese fintech companies, which are providing financial services using cutting-edge technologies. This research used fintech firms listed on the Shanghai and Shenzen Stock Exchange from 2010 to 2019 to test the research questions using regression analyses by SPSS v26. According to the data, the Blau index has a large and negative influence on Tobin's Q, which demonstrates that gender diversity harms the performance of Chinese enterprises. Furthermore, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is found to have a significant and positive moderating influence on Tobin's Q, implying that the adoption of CSR converts a negative to a positive effect. Diversified board members can improve the organization's control and monitoring operations, and female-represented board of directors can participate in the CSR activities that contribute to the organization's performance. The study contributes to the research of gender diversity by providing evidence that women on board of directors enhance firm performance, and the moderating function of CSR is examined with the link of female participation on the board of directors and financial performance.

Exploring Key Factors for Contractors in Opening Prefabrication Factories: A Chinese Case Study

Adoption of prefabrication is essential for improving the urban built environment. However, the existing prefabrication market in China is far from mature. As the stakeholder who conducts construction activities, the contractor is facing a dilemma of lacking steady prefabricated components supply. In this circumstance, a potential solution is that contractors open their own prefabrication factories to guarantee stable component supply. The aim of this research is exploring the key factors for contractors to open prefabrication factories. Firstly, a total of 28 influencing factors were identified from literature. Then, the identified factors were divided into four categories: policy environment, market environment, technological environment, and enterprise internal environment. Through interviews with experienced professionals, a total of 19 factors were selected for future analysis. Based on the 19 factors, a questionnaire was designed and distributed to the experts to rate the degree of mutual influences. The collected data were analyzed using Ucinet6.0 software, and the adjacency matrix and the visual models were established. Finally, through the analysis of node centrality, betweenness centrality, and closeness centrality, the four key influencing factors were determined including mandatory implementation policy, precast concrete component's price, market demand, and contractor's strategic objectives. The results of this study could assist contractors in making decisions of opening their own prefabrication factories toward more sustainable environment.