The development of an e-travel service quality scale

The purpose of this study is to identify the dimensions of e-travel service quality, and to develop a reliable and valid measurement instrument. The concept of an e-service quality construct is first clarified and the processes involved in scale development are then presented. Five core components of e-travel service quality are identified, namely, information quality, security, website functionality, customer relationships and responsiveness. The reliability and validity of this five-factor scale are verified using empirical data, and it is found that the e-travel quality service scale has strong predictive capability in relation to online customer satisfaction and loyalty intention. Moreover, a second-order factor is constructed due to the high correlation among the five factors. Finally, the managerial implications in regard to the research findings are discussed.     

我国贸易自由化环境效应的实证分析

贸易与环境的关系是当今国际经济学界的研究热点,而贸易自由化的环境效应更是倍受关注。本文在对中外学者有关该问题的研究进行综述的基础上,建立计量回归模型,以二氧化硫(SO2)排放量作为环境污染指标,采用1991-2004年的相关经济数据,对我国贸易开放的环境效应进行了实证研究。研究结果表明:在样本期间内,贸易自由化的规模及结构效应为负,技术效应为正;而综合环境效应是积极的,即规模、结构和技术效应共同作用的结果可以减少污染排放量,有利于我国环境状况的改善。     

我国中小企业的规模效率与融资困境

我国大多数中小企业由于资金数量的限制,难以达到规模效率的要求,同时,中小企业还面临着内源融资短缺和外部融资难的问题。解决中小企业融资问题需要从强化内源融资、税收优惠、财政补贴、建立中小企业融资担保体系和提高中小企业自身素质等几个方面做出努力。     

Measuring the hedonic and utilitarian sources of consumer attitudes

It has been suggested theoretically that consumer attitudes have distinct hedonic and utilitarian components, and that product categories differ in the extent to which their overall attitudes are derived from these two components. This paper reports three studies that validate measurement scales for these constructs and, using them, show that these two attitude dimensions do seem to exist; are based on different types of product attributes; and are differentially salient across different consumer products and behaviors, in theoretically-consistent ways.     

Determinants of firm-level export performance: a case study of Indian textile garments and apparel industry

Drawing on international trade and industrial organisation theories, this paper identifies variables affecting (a) the export decision function, i.e. to export or sell in domestic market, and (b) the export performance function, i.e. the share of exports in output. These functions are estimated for Garment and Apparel producing units in Delhi. The form of business organisation, reflecting access to capital, turns out to be a key determinant in both functions. The estimated marginal impact of identified variables (scale and share of sales expenses) on the probability of exporting in an estimated Probit model declines sharply when moving from single proprietorship to partnership and on to limited companies. On the other hand, every single determinant (scale, share of wages, share of sales expenses and technical efficiency) has been found to have an increasing marginal impact on export performance in an estimated Tobit model when moving across the three forms of business organisation. Empirical results suggest two policy changes to boost export performance. First, given the importance of scale for exports, the existing policy of reserving garments and apparel for exclusive production in small-scale units needs to be scrapped. Simultaneously, it is also necessary to amend current labour legislation applicable to large-scale factory units, as it introduces labour market inflexibility and hence serves as an impediment to the expansion of existing units and the entry of new units.     

The end justifies the definition: The manifold outlooks on the digital divide and their practical usefulness for policy-making

Based on the theory of the diffusion of innovations through social networks, the article discusses the main approaches researchers have taken to conceptualize the digital divide. The result is a common framework that addresses the questions of who (e.g. divide between individuals, countries, etc.), with which kinds of characteristics (e.g. income, geography, age, etc.), connects how (mere access or effective adoption), to what (e.g. phones, Internet, digital TV, etc.). Different constellations in these four variables lead to a combinatorial array of choices to define the digital divide. This vast collection of theoretically justifiable definitions is contrasted with the question of how the digital divide is defined in practice by policy makers. The cases of the United States, South Korea, and Chile are used to show that many diverse actors with dissimilar goals are involved in confronting the digital divide. Each of them takes a different outlook on the challenge. This leads to the question if this heterogeneity is harmful and if countries that count with a coherent national strategy and common outlook on digital development do better than others. It is shown that the effect of a coherent vision is secondary to tailor-made sector-specific efforts. On the contrary, a one-size-fits-all outlook on a multifaceted challenge might rather be harmful. This leads to the conclusion that it is neither theoretically feasible, nor empirically justifiable to aim for one single definition of the digital divide. The digital divide is best defined in terms of a desired impact. Since those are diverse, so are the definitions of the challenge. The best that can be done is to come up with a comprehensive theoretical framework that allows for the systematic classification of different definitions, such as the one presented in this article.     

社会网络的四种功能框架及其测量

通过对文献的系统归纳,本文将社会网络的主要功能归纳为四种,信息获取、互惠合作、结构支持和资源获取。这样的分类框架避免了之前研究中仅测量企业拥有的社会网络而忽视企业动用的社会网络的问题。本文开发了测量社会网络四种功能的量表,并应用验证性因子分析验证了量表的效度。然后在Miles和Snow战略选择框架下,通过305个样本对本文的假设进行了实证验证。     

On hourly wages and weekly earnings in the current population survey

This paper examines hourly wages and weekly earnings in the Outgoing Rotation Group (ORG) and the March Supplement of Current Population Survey (CPS) from 1998 to 2004. The findings suggest that the ORG contains less errors than the March CPS, and that weekly earnings contain less errors than hourly wages. The paper further finds that earnings differ systematically in the ORG and in the March CPS by gender and education levels.     

Effects of Joint Outsourcing on Consumer Welfare

This work models outsourcing under oligopolistic competition with nonlinear costs. I show that in a covered market, if each firm’s marginal cost before outsourcing is lower than the industry’s average cost, outsourcing leads to increased prices and decreased consumer welfare. Joint outsourcing is more profitable if the firms’ equilibrium quantity produced is in the economies of scale part of their cost curve.