The Impact of Environment Uncertainty and Effectual Flexibility on Entrepreneurial Resource Combination： The Moderating Effect of Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy

Entrepreneurial resource combination is widely recognized as a key enabling factor to a new venture＇s survival and growth, but how and why resources are integrated remain elusive. Borrowing from the theory of resource combination proposed by Sirmon, Hitt and Ireland （2007）, this study empirically examines how environmental uncertainty impacts entrepreneurial resource combination. We also examine the mediating effect of effectual flexibility on the relationship between environmental uncertainty and entrepreneurial resource combination to see how new ventures utilize flexibility to neutralize the threat of environmental uncertainty. The moderating effect of entrepreneurial self-efficacy is also examined to see how entrepreneurs＇ self-cognition affects these relationships. Examining data from 287 new ventures, we find that both environmental dynamism and environmental hostility have significantly positive influence on entrepreneurial resource combination （including entrepreneurial resource cohesion and entrepreneurial resource coupling）. We also find that flexibility mediates the relationship between environmental uncertainty （including environmental dynamism and environmental hostility） and entrepreneurial resource combination. Empirical studies also show that entrepreneurial self-efficacy positively moderates the relationship between environmental dynamism and flexibility but negatively moderates the relationship between environmental hostility and flexibility. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Capturing uncertainties of the underwater acoustic environment based on an ocean-acoustic coupled model

Considering the uncertain effects of temporal and spatial changes in the marine en- vironment on the underwater acoustic environment, we established an ocean-acoustic coupled numerical model and performed a parallel calculation. This model incorporated acoustic calcu- lations into the dynamic ocean, thereby achieving a dynamic forecasting and assessment of the acoustic environment. Furthermore, we adopted the ensemble prediction method to predict the vertical structure of temperature in a classic cross-section, the sound speed of the cross-section of the investigated sea area, and transmission losses. We gave the prediction errors of the sound speed profile as well as the 90% probability interval of transmission losses and the uncertainty histograms of the sound speeds, transmission losses, and sonar ranges at different depths and frequencies. The results reflected the influence of marine temporal and spacial variations on the uncertainties of the underwater acoustic environment, and the results also quantified the uncertainties of the underwater acoustic environment parameters. The experimental results indicate that the method used in this study is able to delineate and quantify the uncertainties of the underwater acoustic environment caused by marine dynamic changes.