Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Value: the Moderating Effect of IT Investment

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies are widely initiated to bolster brand images and firm performance. However, previous research shows incoherent results between CSR investment and corporate performance. We posit that the inconsistency may be due to the missing component of IT, which serves as an important moderating factor to help firms develop better infrastructures to realize their CSR objectives. Drawing from the strategic alignment model, we theorize that the alignment between CSR initiatives and IT investment is important. Strategic fit between IT and CSR initiatives can improve firm performance whereas misfit may lead to inferior performance. We plan to test our theorizing with firm-level panel data of the S&P 500 companies. We hope that we can enrich the literature on business values of CSR by identifying IT as a significant contingency. We also hope to provide extensive insights into the IT-business strategic alignment theoretically and practically

Leveraging CSR-related Knowledge for Firm Value: the Role of IT-enabled Absorptive Capacities

To better address social concerns, many companies embrace CSR strategies that are believed to exert a profound influence on firm performance. However, limited research explores whether and how IT plays a role in various types of CSR initiatives. To shed light on this question, we posit how well the firms leverage CSR-related knowledge for value creation heavily depends on their IT-enabled absorptive capacities, which strongly enable knowledge-related processes. Drawing upon the theory of absorptive capacity, we further theorize distinct types of CSR initiatives need to be complemented by different IT-enabled absorptive capacities to enhance firm performance. To test our hypotheses, we have collected detailed archival panel data of the S&P 500 companies and mapped their IT-enabled absorptive capacities to specific IT applications. Our research will not only contribute to the ongoing debate on the business value of CSR by justifying IT-enabled capabilities as significant but long-neglected contingencies, it will also highlight the importance of strategic use of IT to create firm value

Failure Of Hearing Acquisition in Mice With Reduced Expression of Connexin 26 Correlates With the Abnormal Phasing of Apoptosis Relative to Autophagy and Defective ATP-Dependent Ca2+ Signaling in Kölliker’s Organ

Mutations in the GJB2 gene that encodes connexin 26 (Cx26) are the predominant cause of prelingual hereditary deafness, and the most frequently encountered variants cause complete loss of protein function. To investigate how Cx26 deficiency induces deafness, we examined the levels of apoptosis and autophagy in Gjb2loxP/loxP; ROSA26CreER mice injected with tamoxifen on the day of birth. After weaning, these mice exhibited severe hearing impairment and reduced Cx26 expression in the cochlear duct. Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) positive cells were observed in apical, middle, and basal turns of Kölliker’s organ at postnatal (P) day 1 (P1), associated with increased expression levels of cleaved caspase 3, but decreased levels of autophagy-related proteins LC3-II, P62, and Beclin1. In Kölliker’s organ cells with decreased Cx26 expression, we also found significantly reduced levels of intracellular ATP and hampered Ca2+ responses evoked by extracellular ATP application. These results offer novel insight into the mechanisms that prevent hearing acquisition in mouse models of non-syndromic hearing impairment due to Cx26 loss of function

Supramolecular adhesive hydrogels for tissue engineering applications

Tissue engineering is a promising and revolutionary strategy to treat patients who suffer the loss or failure of an organ or tissue, with the aim to restore the dysfunctional tissues and enhance life expectancy. Supramolecular adhesive hydrogels are emerging as appealing materials for tissue engineering applications owing to their favorable attributes such as tailorable structure, inherent flexibility, excellent biocompatibility, near-physiological environment, dynamic mechanical strength, and particularly attractive self-adhesiveness. In this review, the key design principles and various supramolecular strategies to construct adhesive hydrogels are comprehensively summarized. Thereafter, the recent research progress regarding their tissue engineering applications, including primarily dermal tissue repair, muscle tissue repair, bone tissue repair, neural tissue repair, vascular tissue repair, oral tissue repair, corneal tissue repair, cardiac tissue repair, fetal membrane repair, hepatic tissue repair, and gastric tissue repair, is systematically highlighted. Finally, the scientific challenges and the remaining opportunities are underlined to show a full picture of the supramolecular adhesive hydrogels. This review is expected to offer comparative views and critical insights to inspire more advanced studies on supramolecular adhesive hydrogels and pave the way for different fields even beyond tissue engineering applications.Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)National Research Foundation (NRF)This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (22105131, 21671136, and 51861145311), the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2020A1515010379), the Shenzhen Science and Technology Project Program (JCYJ20190808144413257 and JCYJ20190808145203535), the Shenzhen Key Projects of Technological Research (JSGG20200925145800001), and the International Postdoctoral Exchange Fellowship Program (PC2021046). This work is also supported by the Singapore Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) AME IRG grant (A20E5c0081) and the Singapore National Research Foundation Investigatorship (NRF-NRFI2018-03)

Biomimetic nanozyme-decorated hydrogels with H₂O₂-activated oxygenation for modulating immune microenvironment in diabetic wound

Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) remain a devastating threat to human health. While hydrogels are promising systems for DFU-based wound management, their effectiveness is often hindered by the immune response and hostile wound microenvironment associated with the uncontrollable accumulation of reactive oxygen species and hypoxia. Here, we develop a therapeutic wound dressing using a biomimetic hydrogel system with the decoration of catalase-mimic nanozyme, namely, MnCoO@PDA/CPH. The hydrogel can be designed to match the mechanical and electrical cues of skins simultaneously with H2O2-activated oxygenation ability. As a proof of concept, DFU-based rat models are created to validate the therapeutic efficacy of the MnCoO@PDA/CPH hydrogel in vivo. The results indicate that the developed hydrogel can promote DFU healing and improve the quality of the healed wound as featured by alleviated proinflammatory, increased re-epithelialization, highly ordered collagen deposition, and functional blood vessel growth.Ministry of Education (MOE)National Research Foundation (NRF)This research work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant 22105131), the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (Grant 2022A1515011677), the International Postdoctoral Exchange Fellowship Program (Grant PC2021046), the National Research Foundation Singapore under Its Competitive Research Programme (Grant NRF-CRP26-2021-0002), and the Ministry of Education Singapore under the Research Centres of Excellence Scheme (Institute for Digital Molecular Analytics and Science)