Nanjing Audit University

Against the macro-background of balancing development and food security strategies, China has implemented a land-use regulation system centered on farmland protection. However, the economic impacts of such regulation lack sufficient quantitative evaluation. Using farmland retention targets at the county-level in the administrative region and combining them with relevant data, this study employs an Intensity Difference-in-Differences (Intensity DID) approach to examine how land-use regulation affects county-level economic growth and convergence. The findings reveal a U-shaped relationship between land-use regulation and county-level economic growth, suggesting that, at the current stage, the intensity of land-use regulation generally promotes economic growth. Heterogeneity analysis further indicates that county economies in major grain production areas (MGPAs) and main grain-producing counties (MGPCs) experience stronger negative constraints related to the policy, while MGPCs in non-major grain production areas (non-MGPAs) are most sensitive to land-use regulation. China’s county economies exhibit convergence; however, land-use regulation may reduce the growth rate of counties that were underdeveloped in the base period, thereby widening inter-county development disparities. This divergence is manifested in the lack of convergence between the clubs of MGPCs and non-MGPCs. Mechanism analysis suggests that differences in industrial structure, capital investment, and fiscal expenditure constitute the key focal points for addressing the issue. Policy implications indicate that China should strengthen land-use regulation on the premise of rationally determining the functions and scale of various land types, continue to advance market-oriented reforms of land factors, improve the vertical and horizontal interest compensation mechanism for MGPAs, and stimulate the endogenous development momentum of these regions.

With the rapid growth of e-commerce platforms, consumers increasingly make purchase decisions without direct physical interaction, particularly for tactile-dependent categories such as furniture and home décor. Drawing on embodied cognition, this study investigates how visual-based tactile cues influence consumers’ purchase intention on e-commerce platforms. Using experimental methods, two studies manipulate the level of visual-based tactile cues (high vs. low) and examine their effects on purchase intention. The results show that richer visual-based tactile cues significantly increase purchase intention. Contrary to traditional information overload assumptions that additional visual detail may hinder decision-making, this effect occurs through enhanced immersion rather than increased cognitive burden, suggesting that visual-based tactile cues operate as embodied sensory triggers instead of purely informational inputs. Furthermore, cross-modal mental imagery moderates this process in a counterintuitive way: the indirect effect of visual-based tactile cues on purchase intention via immersion is stronger when consumers’ imagery ability is lower, indicating a compensatory role of external sensory cues. By conceptualizing visual-based tactile cues as an innovation in interactive marketing within new media environments, this research offers actionable design implications for e-commerce platforms in enhancing tactile perception through visual presentation and improving conversion effectiveness.

Purpose Entrepreneurs seek to increase their influence and foster consumer engagement by generating content on social media platforms that expresses certainty. However, the impact of the expressive certainty of entrepreneur-generated content (EGC) on consumer engagement is unclear. Through a field study and controlled experiment, this study aims to reveal how the expressive certainty of EGC affects consumer engagement. Design/methodology/approach The proposed research model was empirically tested by analysing the content generated by 220 entrepreneurs on Sina Weibo over the past four years and conducting a randomised controlled experiment in the laboratory. Negative binomial regression and an analysis of variance were used to examine the proposed research model. Findings The results show that the expressive certainty of EGC increases consumer engagement by influencing consumers’ perceptions of leadership. Specifically, EGC with a higher level of expressive certainty makes entrepreneurs appear more confident and powerful and leads consumers to perceive them as stronger leaders, thereby positively influencing consumer engagement. In addition, EGC with a higher level of certainty stimulates more positive consumer engagement when generated via mobile devices than when generated via non-mobile devices. The authors also found that the positive effect of perceived leadership on consumer engagement is moderated by power distance. Among consumers with high power-distance, the indirect effect of expressive certainty on consumer engagement is stronger. Research limitations/implications This study is subject to several constraints that could be solved through future research. Firstly, the field study only focuses on Sina Weibo, a well-known Chinese social media platform and the experimental study focuses only on Twitter, which may limit the generalisation of this research’s results to other social media platforms. Secondly, a more sophisticated approach to data analysis could be considered for future research to ascertain some of the most effective certainty words in EGC, such as text mining and machine learning. Finally, future research could examine the impact of EGC’s expressive certainty on other significant marketing effectiveness variables, such as consumer attitudes and brand loyalty. Practical implications The results suggest that using certainty in content is a way to help entrepreneurs project a high leadership profile. The positive impact of expressive certainty on perceived leadership suggests that entrepreneurs should use more certainty expressions on social media and other communication channels (e.g. brand launches) to make themselves appear more confident and influential, which is beneficial to stimulate consumer engagement with EGC. Specifically, entrepreneurs should generate more EGC with a higher level of certainty via mobile devices, as doing so will increase consumers’ perceptions of authenticity and trust in certainty information, increasing their engagement. Originality/value This study provides a valuable complement to previous research on information dissemination and consumer engagement on social media by exploring the mechanisms by which the expressive certainty of EGC and generating devices affects consumer engagement from the perspective of perceived leadership and indicates practical guidelines for developing EGC on social media.

This study proposes a blockchain-enhanced model to optimize inefficient accounts receivable financing in supply chains. It finds that with favorable conditions, blockchain can increase retailer orders and benefit upstream suppliers when coordinated with tailored contracts.