An investigation of the influence of cinema environment on advertising effectiveness

Many advertisers are looking to cinema advertising as a nontraditional medium to reach consumers. Although several scholars have examined the effectiveness of this advertising vehicle, there is a dearth of empirically grounded research on how to improve such effectiveness. This study, based on the reactance and the equity theories, is probably the first academic project investigating how to manipulate an advertising environment in a real movie theatre to maximize advertising effectiveness. Results indicated that audiences in a distractive environment held a more positive attitude toward cinema advertising in general, but those in a restrictive environment were more likely to remember the advertised brands. In addition, the provision of ticket price information improved audiences’ acceptance of cinema advertising, but did not enhance recall. Moreover, the influence of ambient scent emitted into the atmosphere in a cinema room on ad recall dissipated when movie viewers became accustomed to such stimuli. Based on these findings, theoretical discussions and recommendations for practising managers were made.     

Lessons from the recent economic crisis: the Australian household stimulus package

This paper provides an impact evaluation analysis of the 2009 Australian Household Stimulus Package, which was composed by three main cash payments: the Back to School Bonus, the Single Income Family Bonus and the Tax Bonus for Working Australians. Using panel data from the 2008 and 2009 HILDA surveys, the results show that these cash payments reduced the risk of poverty and stimulated consumption expenditure. Nonetheless, only the Back to School Bonus and the Single Income Family Bonus were really important in achieving these goals, while the Tax Bonus for Working Australians did not contribute to stimulate consumption and failed to reduce the risk of poverty. Thus, the analysis confirms the crucial role of governments to protect the most vulnerable groups avoiding a dramatic deterioration of social outcomes and favoring a fast economic recovery when interventions are timely and well-targeted.     

农业农村双创工作的成效机制研究

[目的]近年来,创新创业的热潮大力兴起,如何对农民双创工作的成效机制进行研究,成为文章研究的重点。通过对农民双创工作中的创业者特征、创业者关系、政策适应与农业农村双创收益机理的研究,找出创业企业绩效演变机理。[方法]收集2017年2—5月重庆24个地区1 855位农民的调查问卷,采用专家评价法对双创收益、创业培训、创业者社会关系和创业政策适应的测量项目进行因子分析。[结果]对农民双创收益的影响因素进行分析讨论,得出学历水平、创业动机、创业风险意识、创业经营模式以及创业培训均对双创收益的提升有促进作用;创业者特征回归分析中R~2值由0.22提升为0.32,ΔR~2的值为0.34,说明自变量对因变量有预测作用;创业者特征对双创收益值为0.329,说明创业者的特征越高,其创业的绩效就越高;创业政策回归分析中R~2值由0.12增加到0.22,ΔR~2的值为0.14,说明自变量对模型有预测能力,且政策越全面有效,对农民的双创收益提升效果越好;创业者社会关系回归分析中R~2值由0.098提升为0.175,ΔR~2由0.175增长为0.433,说明创业者的社会关系越好,农民的双创收益越高。[结论]研究结果说明农业农村双创工作中创业者特征、创业者社会关系以及政策适应可提升创新创业机制的完善,提升双创收益。     

LearnSmart,adaptive teaching,and student learning effectiveness: An empirical investigation

Facing the growing number of digital natives entering the classroom, business professors look for innovative ways to enhance the student learning experience. The authors focus on the online interactive learning tool LearnSmart (McGraw-Hill, New York, NY), and examine its impact on student learning effectiveness by testing the direct and indirect relationships among perceived competence, perceived challenge, instructors, perceived value, and satisfaction with LearnSmart. Constructionism served as the theoretical foundation for this study. About 215 students at a public university in the United States took the survey and 197 valid responses were received. Regression analysis results showed that the use of LearnSmart improved students' perceived competency, thus increasing their perceived value of using LearnSmart, as well as their satisfaction with LearnSmart. Perceived value was also found to mediate the impact of perceived competency on satisfaction with LearnSmart, and the instructor played a significant role in facilitating and improving student learning. Perceived challenge impacted student's perceived value of using LearnSmart, but it did not influence satisfaction with LearnSmart.     

浅析大学生职业生涯规划大赛的有效作用

做好职业生涯规划对促进大学生就业有积极的作用。大学生缺乏自我规划意识,自我定位不清晰,对职业信息缺乏全面了解,生涯决策行动被动等问题日益引起高校和社会的普遍关注。职业生涯规划大赛是鼓励高校大学生做好职业规划的一种重要形式,但是由于各种原因,它的有效作用在学习和实践过程中会受到限制和削弱,因此有必要深入分析原因,既治标,更治本,促使高校职生涯规划大赛的有效作用得到不断提升。     

The effectiveness of fear appeals in ‘green’ advertising: An analysis of creative,consumer, and source variables*

This study focused on the effectiveness of fear appeal messages used to arouse a threat in green advertising. An experiment recruited 175 participants to test the influence of the advertising appeal (fear vs. non-fear appeal), source (for-profit vs. non-profit organizations), and involvement with the environment on attitude toward the ad (A_ad), attitude toward the product (A_p) and purchase intention (PI). Results revealed that a fear appeal in a green ad negatively affected A_ad and A_p and that participants who were highly involved with the environment were more likely to have positive attitudes toward the green ad and advertised green product as well as a stronger intent to purchase it. The source type in the green ad did not affect ad effectiveness and involvement with the environment did not moderate the effects of either appeal or source.     

Integration of financial and management accounting systems: The mediating influence of a consistent financial language on controllership effectiveness

Two fundamental options exist for management accounting system (MAS) design: Either financial records can be used as a database for management accounting (integrated accounting system design), or the MAS can be based upon a separate system, i.e., a third set of books beside financial and tax accounting records. Since the 1990s, many German-speaking firms have changed from the second to the first option, which has instigated a highly controversial debate.Our paper contributes to this debate by empirically analyzing (1) whether the integration of financial and management accounting has a positive impact on controllership effectiveness, and (2) what causal inferences relate both variables. We use structural equation modelling for a sample of 149 dyads surveyed from German top 1500 firms. We identify no significant effect of the technical aspects of MAS integration, but a fully mediating influence of a consistent financial language on controllership effectiveness. Our results thus imply that consistency with financial reporting is an important property of MAS design from management's point of view.     

Role of Shopping Values and Web Atmospherics in E-Satisfaction and Repurchase Intention

Expected to touch US$55 billion in 2016, the e-commerce market in India presents an unprecedented growth opportunity for retailers. Existing studies have identified factors influencing shoppers’ online behaviour pertaining to the developed economies. Hence, it becomes pertinent to validate these antecedents for the economies like India. The article addresses this gap by examining the role of shopping values and web atmospherics, on e-satisfaction of Indian shoppers. Using multiple regression analysis, it also examines the influence of e-satisfaction on repurchase intention. The findings suggest that effectiveness of information content has the most significant impact on e-satisfaction. Web entertainment, utilitarian values and web informativeness are the other influencing factors. Contrary to the earlier studies, this study didn’t find any influence of hedonic shopping values on shoppers’ satisfaction. Also, e-satisfaction was found to have a positive influence on repurchase intention of e-shoppers. The article suggests select strategies that can be adopted by e-retailers.     

Organisational consequences of asymmetries in task dependence: the moderating role of HR practices

This study integrates recent advances in interdependence theory with the literature on commitment‐based HR practices. New research on interdependence theory suggests that differences, or asymmetries, in task dependence among organisational members can cause interests to diverge. Prior research has shown that this can negatively affect interpersonal relations, individual outcomes and team processes. However, these insights gained on the dyadic, individual and team levels of analysis have not yet been explored at the organisational level and, until now, no research had yet connected these advances in interdependence theory to the field of HRM research. Hence, the current study investigates (a) whether asymmetries in task dependence do (or do not) matter at the organisational level and affect organisational effectiveness, (b) why this relationship may work by assessing a key mediator, namely, trust climate and (c) if and how these relationships can be altered by commitment‐based HR practices. Our moderated‐mediation model was tested and fully supported by a multi‐source data set of 8,390 employees from 67 organisations.     

Corruption: what are the effects on government effectiveness? Empirical evidence considering developed and developing countries

This study analyses the impact of corruption on government effectiveness for a sample of 130 countries. The findings suggest that less-corrupt countries have better quality of public service, better quality in the formulation and adoption of policies and greater credibility and government's commitment to such policies. The findings also suggest that the effect of corruption on government effectiveness is higher in developed countries. Moreover, the estimates also reveal that countries with the most indebted governments and with higher inflation rates have less-efficient governments, and an increase in rule of law represents a good strategy to improve government effectiveness. In turn, regarding developing countries, the findings show that countries with more democratic regimes have a higher degree of government effectiveness.