Controlling shareholder share pledging and the cost of equity capital: Evidence from China

We propose and test the incentive view—that the margin call pressure and ownership-control discrepancy associated with insider share pledging increase investors’ perceived risk, and thus also the cost of equity capital, in an emerging market. Using a controlling shareholder share pledging sample for Chinese listed firms, we find that firms with share pledging have a cost of equity capital that is 23.7 basis points higher than firms without share pledging. Further, share pledging increases the cost of equity capital through the information risks and agency conflicts channels. Cross-sectional analyses show that share pledging has a stronger effect on the cost of equity capital in non-state-owned enterprises, firms without monitoring of multiple large shareholders, firms with controlling shareholders assuming the position of chairperson, and firms with a weak institutional environment. In addition, using the global financial crisis and the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) as quasi-natural experiments, we disentangle the potential confounding effect of firm fundamentals and show that share pledging is positively associated with the cost of equity capital. Overall, the results are consistent with our incentive view that share pledging increases the cost of equity capital in an emerging market.     

The impact of supermarket credibility on purchase intention of novel food

How do consumers make purchase decisions for novel food products? This research demonstrates the importance of supermarket credibility as a heuristic cue influencing consumers’ purchase decisions. We used a 2 (supermarket type: specialty store vs. conventional store) x 2 (food familiarity: novel vs. familiar) x 3 (price: high, average, low) between-subjects design and found that perceived supermarket credibility positively and indirectly mediates the relationship between supermarket type and purchase intention, and this effect is moderated by the interaction of familiarity and price level, suggesting a moderated-moderated-mediation effect. Specifically, the three-way interaction effect on purchase intention is stronger when the price is low in the familiar food condition, while the effect is stronger when the price is high in the novel food condition. In other words, consumers rely on supermarket credibility when buying novel foods, and when risk is higher people rely more on product credibility signaled by price.     

The shocks of natural disasters on NPLs: Global evidence

The relationship between natural disasters and NPLs is of significant importance in the natural disaster economics field. Thus, this research investigates the effects of natural disasters on non-performing loans (NPLs) using panel data covering 101 countries from 1996 to 2017. We introduce interaction terms between natural disasters and different financial risks to represent the moderating effects of natural disasters through such risks. Several conclusions arise from the empirical results. (1) Natural disasters produce significant effects on NPLs both in current year and five-period lag terms. (2) Natural disasters increase NPLs through five kinds of financial risks, and the moderating effects are statistically significant. (3) The effects of natural disasters on NPLs present significant heterogeneity between OECD and non-OECD countries. From these results, we put forward several policy implications.     

International financial stress spillovers to bank lending: Do internal characteristics matter?

The purpose of this paper is to unveil and assess the potential US financial spillover on Gulf Cooperative Council (GCC) bank lending and to check whether bank's internal characteristics shape such an effect or not. For this purpose, a dynamic panel model is estimated using the GMM system using data on an unbalanced panel of GCC banks over the period 2003–2018. We have found evidence of financial stress spillovers on bank lending and that their distributional impacts vary across time, banks size and capitalization. However, the role of banks liquidity in shaping the impacts of financial stress on lending is found to depend on dry-ups/abundance of market funding liquidity. The results are robust to both splitting the sample into pre- and post- crisis periods as well as to the inclusion of additional potential lending supply determinants.     

A key driver for the mixed relationship between loan risk premiums and collateral: Evidence from China

In spite of both ex-ante adverse selection and ex-post moral hazard theories supporting this mixed observable relationship between loan risk premiums and collateral, any plausible explanation for this mixed result still remains conspicuously absent in the literature. Based on a novel Chinese bank loan dataset, we show that collateral is negatively correlated with loan risk premiums, which is consistent with the ex-ante theory. However, after controlling for the purpose of the loan, mixed relationships between collateral and loan risk premiums for different types of collateral are obtained. The specific loan purpose plays an important role in determining loan risk premiums. We demonstrate that the mixed empirical results found in the existing literature to date may result from different economic characteristics of both collateral type and loan purpose, wherein particular liquidity may be of first-order importance in finally helping to demystify the mixed relationships.     

Export promotion programs: A system-based systematic review and agenda for future research

Despite abundant research, we lack systematic knowledge on the effects of export promotion programs (EPPs). Extant research is largely fragmented and shows contradictory results. To fill this void, the present paper systematically reviews 192 articles to develop a system-based taxonomy and conceptual model of export promotion comprising six main components: system inputs, outputs, firm resources and capabilities, strategies, managers’ characteristics, and networks. The review contributes to extant research by taking stock of the current state of knowledge on the role of different EPPs in companies’ internationalization process. Furthermore, it reveals research gaps that chart important directions for future studies.     

Kidnapped mutual funds: Irrational preference of naive investors and fund incentive distortion

This study documents that mutual fund investors in Chinese stock markets confuse factor-related returns (FRR) with active alpha. This revealed preference “kidnaps” mutual funds to chase FRR instead of alpha. The observed distorted incentive is intensified among less sophisticated groups as evidenced by investor type and fund-rating heterogeneity. Investors' biased skill assessment is irrational, even if FRR is a vital part of investors' utility function, as there is performance reversal for funds assessed as top performers. We further showed that a distorted incentive to chase FRR undermines mutual funds' willingness to generate alpha by combating fundamental mispricing. Mutual funds cater to investors' preferences by creating more speculative short-term factor timing and holding more lottery-like stocks. Our findings question the widely held belief of the sophisticated Bayesian-agent paradigm in household financial decision-making and cast doubt on institutions' willingness to address mispricing, as suggested by the efficient market hypothesis.     

Cultural diversity among directors and corporate social responsibility

We examine the relationship between board diversity and a firm's corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance in a novel way. The relation between visible forms of board diversity (gender, ethnic, age diversity) and CSR may arise endogenously due to visible diversity management. In contrast, we focus on cultural diversity (based on directors' ancestry), which is less visible. We demonstrate that cultural diversity, unlike visible diversity, is not considered in director replacements, consistent with cultural diversity not being affected by firms signaling their CSR commitment by ‘looking’ diverse. We show that board cultural diversity is positively related to CSR performance. This result holds when we control for visible board diversity, directors' foreignness and diversity in nationalities, and endogeneity. We also show that CSR performance decreases when a firm increases its visible board diversity at the cost of cultural diversity.     

智能导游服务如何影响游客与智能导游品牌的关系——基于沉浸体验视角

本文基于沉浸理论,探讨智能导游服务对品牌关系的影响机制,检验沉浸体验在智能导游服务特性与品牌关系中的中介作用。本文邀请使用过智能导游服务的游客参与问卷调查,实证研究结果发现:(1)智能导游的心理意象特性对游客的沉浸体验有正向的影响作用;(2)智能导游的心理意象特性对认知、情感、行为意向等层面的品牌关系均有正向影响;(3)沉浸体验在心理意象和品牌关系中起中介作用。研究结论对于智能导游品牌关系构建的理论探索和管理实践具有重要意义和作用。     

高科技企业创业团队的成功特质——基于小米科技创业团队的案例分析

以团队为主体的创业活动现已成为社会经济发展的源动力和新的增长点。对于新创企业而言,一个优秀创业团队需要具备哪方面的能力才能带领企业发展并高效运作,这一话题具有重大的现实意义。本文从团队成员能力、团队文化和团队制度三个要素角度探讨优秀创业团队的特征,建立模型并结合小米科技创业团队进行案例分析。研究结果显示,团队成员能力是企业发展的有力支撑,团队文化是企业发展的持续动力源,团队制度是企业有序运作的保障,三者相辅相成,是优秀创业团队必不可少的重要要素。