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Purpose Supply chain flexibility is crucial for firms to respond to uncertain circumstances caused by environmental factors, such as the diversity of customer demands, problems of product safety, and adjustments of industrial policies. To investigate the approach to enhance supply chain flexibility, the purpose of this paper is to propose that both internal and external information integration contribute to reactive and proactive supply chain flexibilities, which elicit high operational performance. Design/methodology/approach Using a sample of 84 food companies that have been listed three years in China and content analysis based on their annual reports, evidence was collected to test the hypotheses through hierarchical regressions. Findings The results reveal that external information integration results in both reactive and proactive flexibilities, which further improve operational performance. Internal information integration positively affects both reactive and proactive flexibilities, but its mediating role was not determined in the study. Originality/value The research provides insights into how supply chain flexibility mediates the effect of supply chain information integration on operational performance in the context of the Chinese food industry.

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Corporate social responsibility (CSR) captures an organization's commitment to and engagement with multiple stakeholders; integrates economic, social, and environmental concerns into sustainable policies; and enhances employee perceptions, emotions, long-term value creation, and financial success. Most researchers have reported linear relationships between CSR and employee attitudes. Here, we test a new theory: After surpassing an upper bar, employee-perceived CSR exponentially stimulates their organizational pride. Organizational pride has a positive and linear direct impact on job satisfaction and affective commitment, respectively. Perceived CSR exponentially excites job satisfaction and affective commitment indirectly through organizational pride. Data collected from 296 managers and employees in 12 diverse companies in China support our theory. Policymakers must develop a sustainable policy, nourish a conducive environment, and pursue CSR as a competitive advantage because at a high level, perceived CSR exponentially reaps intangible rewards, creating the positive Matthew Effect in CSR and sustainable policy.There are four types of data: nominal (category), ordinal (order), interval (equal distance), and ratio (equal distance with an absolute zero) data. Our measure of CSR is an interval scale (equal distance) with an artificial zero (0) but is not a ratio scale (an interval scale with an absolute zero). 3 We would like to thank anonymous reviewer B for this excellent comment. We provided information for the exponential term of perceived CSR here.

Rigour is required in examining the empirical validity of theories in organizational management, and is often considered to be the opposite of creativity in the development of knowledge about managing organizations. In this article, we argue that rigour is necessary in the enterprise of organizational management research. Moreover, it can actually be a contributor to creativity. The issue is not rigour versus creativity, but rather how rigour can foster creativity. We show that rigour in both theory and methodology can foster creativity. Rigour in theory provides the logical thinking that is the foundation that allows the development of sound theory. This can be achieved in various ways, including theory building, mathematical modelling, causal modelling, and theory analysis. Rigour in methodology can assist creativity in quantitative integration. The contribution of rigour to creativity is evidenced by the recently created statistico-organizational theory and other new advancements in the field of structural contingency research.