The Determinants of Firm Profitability Differences in EU Food Processing

This paper decomposes the variance in EU food industry return‐on‐assets into year, country, industry and firm effects using a hierarchical linear model (HLM). The HLM approach accounts for some of the methodological drawbacks of conventional approaches of variance decomposition such as anova and components of variance and additionally allows the estimation of the impact of covariates within each effect level. The results for selected EU countries show that firm effects are far more important than industry structure in determining food industry profitability. In particular, firm size and industry concentration are drivers of profitability while firm risk and age as well as industry growth have a negative influence.     

Enterprise restructuring and bank competition in transition economies

We investigate how bank competition affects the efficiency of credit allocation, using a model of spatial competition. Our analysis shows that bad loans are more likely the larger the number of banks competing for customers. We study further how many banks will be active if market entry is not regulated. Free entry can induce too much entry and thus too many bad loans compared to the social optimum. Finally we analyse how bank competition affects the restructuring efforts of firms. We find that restructuring has positive externalities which give rise to multiple equilibria, with either much or little restructuring activity.
JEL classification: D43, G21, G34, L13, P31, P34.     

How the burdens of ownership promote consumer usage of access-based services

Services that let customers access goods, such as car-sharing, are gaining increasing relevance as an alternative to ownership. These access-based services allow consumers to avoid the “burdens of ownership”, i.e., risks and responsibilities that come with owning a good. However, the interplay between consumers’ risk perception of ownership, access-based service usage, and the subsequent decision to reduce or forgo ownership has not been sufficiently investigated. Based on risk perception theory, we hypothesize the effects of different risk dimensions (financial, performance, social) on the intensity of access-based service usage, as well as the latter’s influence on ownership reduction. Using a unique dataset that links survey and actual usage data of car-sharing users, we test four corresponding hypotheses. The results reveal that access-based service usage is positively influenced by all three ownership risk perceptions. Moreover, a higher usage of an access-based service increases the likelihood that consumers subsequently reduce ownership.     

Consumers’ perceptions of the fairness of price-matching refund policies

This paper examines the antecedents and consequences of perceived price-matching policy fairness. Among the antecedents, we study the effects of the refund depth if a lower competitive price is identified, the degree that the retail product assortment is available at competing retailers, and the consumers’ inference as to the retailer's motive for the price-matching policy. Product assortment uniqueness is identified as a key driver of fairness perceptions, both directly and indirectly through inferred motive. The three experiments show that consumers’ perceptions of the fairness of a store's pricing policy influence their price fairness perceptions, consequently influencing their retail shopping intentions.     

Social Networks Analysis in Accounting and Finance*

Social network analysis (SNA) examines whether interactions between individuals, teams, and organizations result in network structures and patterns that can explain important outcomes, including firm performance, management reporting behaviors, investor beliefs, and audit outcomes. This paper reviews the growing body of work on SNA in accounting and finance research, focusing on 162 articles published between 2000 and 2021, and offers a roadmap that may help move this literature forward. Our survey summarizes the elements of SNA, organizes this literature within a theoretical framework, and provides a thematic discussion of the context and contribution of the selected studies. We also discuss opportunities and challenges for future research. Finally, we include an empirical illustration of the key concepts and tools of SNA. We believe that SNA will continue to offer an interesting avenue for conducting high-impact and cross-disciplinary research in accounting and finance.     

The effect of product touch information and sale proneness on consumers' responses to price discounts

Since price discounts are costly and can negatively affect consumers' perceptions of quality, it is crucial to identify the factors that make them effective in stimulating purchase behavior. Drawing on cue utilization theory, we examine price discount effectiveness in affecting consumers' reliance on the sale cue based on the provided product touch information as an intrinsic cue and individual consumer differences in sale proneness. Two experimental studies indicate that price discount information, product touch information, and sale proneness interact to determine consumers' responses. Perceived quality is the underlying mechanism behind the observed effects. For nonsale-prone consumers, product touch information favorably influences responses to large price discounts by addressing product quality concerns and enhancing purchase confidence, but has no effect for regularly priced or low discounted products. For sale-prone consumers, product touch information is not effective in increasing their responses regardless of the discount size. A qualitative study provides support for these results and highlights the role of perceived quality and purchase confidence. The research contributes to behavioral pricing, cue utilization theory, and sensory marketing and suggests that marketing managers should provide consumers with product touch information when implementing high discounts for products for which prepurchase touch is important.