Increasingly huge executive-employee pay gap has attracted wide attention, hence it is therefore crucial to control it at a reasonable level. Using a sample of 23,563 firm-year observations in China covering 2010-2021, we examine the U-shape relationship between the political connection, an informal institution, and the executive-employee pay gap. The U-curve reveals that political connections are beneficial whereas excessive can be harmful, and the best measure controlling the executive-employee pay gap is to keep political connections between the district level and the city level. Under different institutional environments, on the one hand, firms with higher percentages of overseas experienced CEOs are more motivated to narrow the pay gap and promote equity, on the other hand, media attention could also help reduce the pay gap, especially for traditional newspaper media. Our findings have important implications for the local government that rational political connection helps reduce excessive executive-employee pay inequity, as well as the significant role of media by creating an open and permissive environment.

Non-labor income is a crucial factor influencing time allocation, and prior studies have primarily concentrated on the linear association between non-labor income and labor hours. Utilizing micro-survey data from the CFPS in 2018 and 2020 and employing the panel threshold model, this paper empirically identifies a double threshold with the wage rate as the threshold variable. This finding reveals a non-linear relationship between non-labor income and labor hours. The two thresholds categorize the relationship into three intervals. In the first interval, non-labor income significantly promotes labor hours, while in the second and third intervals, non-labor income significantly decreases labor hours, exhibiting slightly varying degrees of influence. In general, the relationship between non-labor income and labor hours demonstrates an irregular inverted U-shaped pattern. Upon dividing the workers in the sample into three groups based on the two thresholds, it is observed that wage rates exhibit a positive correlation with non-labor income.

Strategic entrepreneurship (SE) emphasizes synchronous advantage-seeking and opportunity development, an important mode for enhancing the core competitive advantage of scientific and technological innovation in enterprises and realizes sustainable innovation in a dynamic and uncertain environment. Through a questionnaire survey of 308 small- and medium-sized science and technology innovation enterprises in the Chinese Pearl River Delta region, this study explores how managers’ cross-border capability (MCC) affects the SE of science and technology innovation enterprises. Research shows an inverted U-shaped relationship between the MCC and SE of scientific and technological innovation enterprises. Organizational learning (OL) plays an intermediary role in the relationship between MCC and SE, while attention to policy positively adjusts the inverted U-shaped relationship between the MCC and SE of science and technology innovation enterprises. The regulatory effect of cross-border efforts on the relationship between MCC and SE of scientific and technological innovation enterprises is insignificant; however, they positively regulate the role of MCC in OL, which can positively impact the SE of scientific and technological innovation enterprises through OL. This study has implications for optimizing the internal and external resources of the organization, promoting the capture of innovation opportunities, and constructing competitive advantages for scientific and technological innovation enterprises.

The digital economy exerts both positive and negative influences on urban sustainable development, yet there is a notable gap in the existing research concerning its impact on energy intensity and the underlying mechanisms. this study pioneers the investigation of a nonlinear relationship between the digital economy and energy intensity, revealing a significant inverted U-shaped relationship. Specifically, we observe a noteworthy reduction in energy intensity when the digital economy index surpasses 0.286. Our empirical findings indicate that the digital economy not only directly influences energy intensity but also exerts an indirect impact through initiatives such as the promotion of green innovation and the agglomeration of high-tech industries. Importantly, the promotional effects of the digital economy exhibit heterogeneity with respect to geographical location, resource endowment, and urban scale. This paper contributes to the theoretical understanding of information technology in urban green development by analyzing the mechanisms of the digital economy at the urban level and its intricate impact on energy intensity.