Attitudes towards corporate social responsibility and perceived importance of social responsibility information characteristics in a decision context

This study addressed the questions of perceived importance of social responsibility information (SRI) characteristics in a decision context, as well as the attitudes of institutional investors toward social responsibility involvement. The results showed that SRI presently disclosed in company annual reports did not have any significant impact on institutional investors' decisions. However, if SRI were presented in quantified, financial form, and were focused on product improvement and fair business practices, such information would be perceived as more important for investment decisions. Attitudes toward corporate social responsibility also suggested that institutional investors were not totally opposed to company involvement in social activities. Hai Yap Teoh is associate professor in the Department of Accountancy, The University of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. He has published extensively in local and international journals including Accounting, Organizations and Society and The International Journal of Accounting Education and Research. His major areas of research interest include corporate social responsibility and reporting.Godwin Shiu is teaching fellow in the Department of Accountancy, The University of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. He is also doing a master's degree in accountancy.     

Price competition and market transparency: evidence from a random response technique

Surveys can increase market transparency when information asymmetries are present—but this will only happen when respondents answer questions truthfully. Sometimes, however, it might not be in the respondents’ best interest to provide truthful information on their firm or market. This will be especially true when other firms can exploit any information they provide. Understanding when, and under what conditions, respondents answer questions truthfully is important to researchers studying these markets and to policymakers using firm surveys to identify ways of improving the business environment. Using data from two countries in South Asia, this paper uses a random response technique to identify respondents that do not answer truthfully. We label these respondents as ‘reticent’. We show that respondents become more reticent when their firms face intense price competition. We argue that this is because intense competition gives respondents a greater incentive to misreport information to reduce market transparency.     

BUYERS,SELLERS, AND MIDDLEMEN: VARIATIONS ON SEARCH‐THEORETIC THEMES

We study exchange that is bilateral but indirect—it involves chains of intermediaries, or middlemen—in markets with frictions. These frictions include search and bargaining problems. We show how, and how many, intermediaries might get involved in a chain, and how bargaining with one depends on upcoming negotiations with those downstream. The roles of buyers, sellers, money, and prices are discussed, allowing us to clarify some neglected connections between different branches of search theory. Pursuing one such connection, with monetary economics, we show how bubbles can emerge in intermediation, even with fully rational agents and perfect foresight.     

Business and regulators partnerships: Government transformational leadership for constructive conflict management

Regulations are often thought to be impediments to collaboration between governments and businesses; however, governments and businesses are increasingly forming partnerships to help them negotiate regulation issues and more broadly work together. This study argues that governments, by exercising transformational leadership, lay the foundation for the cooperative approach, in contrast to the competitive and avoiding approaches, to conflict management that in turn results in effective partnerships. Findings from 146 pairs of government regulators and business support the hypothesis, though the evidence for the ineffectiveness of avoiding conflict was not statistically significant. Specifically, structural equation analysis results support the model that transformational leadership fosters cooperative approach to conflict and reduces competitive conflict management that in turn result in respectful, effective partnerships that develop industries.     

Profitability, Ownership Structure and Technical Efficiency of Enterprises in the People's Republic of China: A Case of Manufacturing Industries in Shanghai

This paper studies the relationship between accounting profits and technical efficiency of manufacturing enterprises in Shanghai during the period 1989–1992 and examines which factors affect the profitability of manufacturing enterprises. We first estimate the average technical efficiency of four major manufacturing industries in Shanghai. Then, we test for the presence of ownership effects of technical efficiency on profits of those enterprises in these four industries.     

Environmental Requirements,Knowledge Sharing and Green Innovation: Empirical Evidence from the Electronics Industry in China

Building on the Porter hypothesis, which posits that regulatory stringency triggers innovation and thereby allows firms to achieve the dual purpose of environment protection and enhanced business performance, the present research develops an integrative model that explores the determinants of green innovation with a focus being placed on knowledge sharing. Data were collected from 203 green innovation project leaders from electronics manufacturers operating in China. The results indicate that knowledge sharing mediates the relationship between green requirements and new green product success as well as that between green requirements and green product and process innovations. Interestingly, the empirical analysis rejects the hypothesized positive influence of green requirements on green product and process innovations as well as that on new green product success, while confirming that there exists a direct and positive association between green requirements and knowledge sharing. The direct positive impact of knowledge sharing is the strongest on green process innovation. This study provides a theoretical basis for investigating the possible determinants in the causal links between green requirements and green innovation success and establishes that knowledge sharing and green process innovation may be the points where leverage can be applied to best secure innovation success. Implications of the findings on environmental policy and law design are also discussed to see how the regulatory role of the government can be better positioned to facilitate compliance and innovation. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Application of an environmental psychology model to in-store buying behaviour

Although the influence of the environment on behaviour has long been acknowledged by many environmental psychologists, not many studies have been done in a retailing context, and so far no study can provide a framework to determine how environmental cues might impact on store patronage. The main objective of this study is to explore the relationship between environment and human behaviour in a retailing context by adopting the Mehrabian Russell Model (M-R Model) so as to test the predictability and applicability of the model through measurement of the information load, the emotional states induced and the approach-avoidance behaviour of shoppers in two types of CD stores in Hong Kong. The findings show that in-store environment stimuli (expressed in terms of information rate) are positively related to the level of pleasure experienced in the store. In turn, environment-induced emotional states in the store are positively related to in-store shopping behaviour. Therefore, shopping behaviour favourable to retailers can be induced through manipulation of the store's atmospheric elements. The findings show that the in-store environment is dynamic in nature and the model is not as simple as that predicted by Mehrabian and Russell in a one-way direction. In-store behaviour also has positive effects on the pleasure felt in the store and the in-store rating of environmental stimuli.     

Investigating the different approaches to importance–performance analysis

Importance–performance analysis (IPA) is an analytic technique that generates a two-dimensional importance–performance grid, where the values of importance and performance across attributes are plotted against each other. This technique is used to assist service and other firms in prioritizing areas for service improvement when resources are limited. This study contributes to service theory by first performing a comprehensive literature review of four different and commonly used approaches to IPA. Survey data from the ports sector are then used to elucidate the value and the distinctiveness of these four different approaches, and it is also shown how the underlying theoretical assumptions led to somewhat varying, and contradictory interpretations. Subsequently, novel guidelines for integrating results from these four different approaches are proposed. The study advances service theory by detailing the integration of the different approaches to make sense of the importance and performance of diverse service attributes. The integrative approach developed in this paper also provides practitioners with clearer guidance for the application of IPA.