The effect of trust on value on travel websites: enhancing well-being and word-of-mouth among the elderly

Despite older adults’ potential for engagement in e-commerce, there is limited understanding of what makes them achieve well-being while using a travel website. In addressing this research gap relating to older adults’ travel website experiences, this study highlights the important role of trust generating value in the context of travel websites. Specifically, this paper examines the relationships between trust, functional and hedonic values, well-being, and word-of-mouth (WOM). We analyzed 300 older adults in the United States (US) who used travel websites and purchased package tours, employing the structural equation modeling technique. The results show that trust significantly influences both functional and hedonic values, both of which result in well-being. Interestingly, hedonic value has a stronger effect on well-being than functional value, leading to WOM.     

Exploring the Attitudes of Bottled Wine Distributors Toward Wine Producers in the Portuguese Wine Sector

The wine sector has unique features that have not been deeply studied. This study aims to explore the attitudes of bottled wine distributors toward wine producers in the Portuguese wine sector. Eleven interviews (about 60 min each) were carried out with all major wine distributor managers. The transcribed interviews were analyzed using qualitative software. Content analysis shows that distributors develop six main attitudes toward producers: (a) Long-term Relationship, (b) Cooperation, (c) Interdependence, (d) Product Quality, (e) Trust, and (f) Brand Image. Findings may help managers of the wine sector and promote favorable relationships with the distributing customers.     

An alternative approach to evaluating the agreement between financial markets

This research investigates that the price relationship between a stock index and its associated nearby futures markets can be explained by the cost-of-carry model using the concordance correlation (CC) coefficient in the US financial markets. The main purpose of this research is to confirm that the CC coefficient is an appropriate methodology to determine ex post arbitrage opportunities and to maximize ex ante arbitrage profits through the analysis of the price relationship derived from the cost-of-carry model. To increase the robustness of the results and to enable us to generalize our conclusions, this analysis is carried out in consideration of external uncertainty, including the marking-to-market procedure of futures contracts and the transaction cost on the stock index and its futures markets, under several assumptions related to the conditions of transactions. Examining transaction price data on the S&P 500 stock index and its futures markets shows that the CC coefficient gives a good result for ex ante arbitrage profits and is appropriate for analyzing the relationship between the observed stock index futures market price and its theoretical price derived from the cost-of-carry model.     

APPLICATIONS OF BEHAVIOURAL ECONOMICS TO TAX EVASION

The paper reviews recent models that have applied the techniques of behavioural economics to the analysis of the tax compliance choice of an individual taxpayer. The construction of these models is motivated by the failure of the Yitzhaki version of the Allingham–Sandmo model to predict correctly the proportion of taxpayers who will evade and the effect of an increase in the tax rate upon the chosen level of evasion. Recent approaches have applied non‐expected utility theory to the compliance decision and have addressed social interaction. The models we describe are able to match the observed extent of evasion and correctly predict the tax effect but do not have the parsimony or precision of the Yitzhaki model.     

The BYOB of wine phenomenon of consumers in the Australian licensed on-premise foodservice sector

The overall aim of this baseline exploratory study was to explore the behaviour of wine consumers while dining out in the licensed on-premise sector of foodservice outlets in Australia. It examined the incidence and dynamics of the rather unique situation associated with wine in these outlets, namely the “bring-your-own-bottle of wine” (BYOB) phenomenon. A total of 816 respondents provided information regarding their most recent dining out experience. It was found that the BYOB of wine phenomenon is quite prevalent in Australian licensed on-premise foodservice outlets with 26% of all diners reporting that they had engaged in this the last time they dined out. Females engaged in the BYOB of wine to a greater extent than males and cited the lower cost to them as the main reason. Evidence was also found that the main motivating factor for the BYOB of wine phenomenon among diners was their risk perception levels and that it was therefore employed by consumers mainly as a risk-reduction strategy (RRS). This study showed that the BYOB of wine phenomenon should be added to the knowledge base on generic risk-reduction strategies of the on-premise foodservice sector.     

Does Trade Expansion Still Promote Employment in Korea?

According to the Heckscher–Ohlin–Samuelson (HOS) model, trade can be an important source of job gains for developing economies, but, conversely, result in job losses for developed economies. Empirical research to date, however, has provided mixed results regarding the direction and size of the employment effects for both developing and developed economies. This paper attempts to evaluate the employment implications of trade for Korea over the 1975–2000 period. Korea merits attention because it has successfully transformed itself from a developing to a semi‐developed economy during this period. Empirical results show that trade has indeed played an important role in enhancing job opportunities in Korea throughout this period, but its role as a job creator has diminished since 1985, suggesting that such a role could soon end, or even reverse.     

The Roles Incubator Organizations in Hi-Tech Venture Creation in Korea

In order to examine the roles of incubator organizations (places where entrepreneurs work before they start their ventures), ten high-tech venture founders were interviewed. Based on these interviews, their experience at incubator organizations and subsequent performance were analyzed, and 11 hypotheses regarding the characteristics of incubator organizations were formulated. The hypotheses are: high-tech venture are more likely to succeed if their founders have had the opportunity to prepare a business plan, to develop the prototype of a new product, to be acquainted with other disciplines, to work together as a team, and to acquire various kind of capabilities such as market-specific know-how, entrepreneurial skills and financing know-how at incubator organizations. However, it is hypothesized that the opportunity to acquire technological know-how and traditional managerial skills at incubator organizations are not positively correlated with venture success. The technological know-how and managerial skills could be regarded as a necessary but not sufficient condition for successful ventures. As the first study about Korean incubator organizations, the cases and the discussion of the hypotheses provide insights and implications for future studies.     

Development, Present Status and Some Prospects of the Financial Markets in Korea

This paper describes the historical background and the present structure of Korea's financial markets to provide the basic understanding of issues facing the Korean financial system. The financial system in Korea has been introduced and developed to serve specific political or economic purposes, putting the financial markets in a tight control of government. As a result of the government-controlled financial policies market mechanism has oftentimes been ignored or distorted, making the Korean financial market inefficient and not competitive. To increase the efficiency of the financial system the Korean government plans to launch a Big Bang style financial reform. Attention is paid to the ongoing efforts of the Korean government for financial reforms. As the financial reform takes effect in the near future there will be far fewer regulations and government interventions in financial sector.     

Inflation and Structural Change in 50 Developing Countries

This study provides evidence on whether the inflation rate is stationary or nonstationary using quarterly inflation rate data from 50 developing countries. As Johansen [Johansen, Soren. “Testing Weak Exogeneity and Order of Cointegration in UK Money Demand Data,” Journal of Policy Modeling, 14, 3, June 1992, pp. 313–334] put it, “some time series such as the log of prices (P), have the property that even the inflation rate ΔP is nonstationary, whereas the second difference Δ²P is stationarity.” Results from fractional integration analyses provide evidence of long memory and confirm that the nonstationarity threshold of d³0.5 is satisfied in the majority of the cases. Results from recursive analyses indicate that, despite the finding that structural changes influence the behavior of the estimated integration parameters, evidence of long memory and nonstationarity can be found in each subsample as well as the full sample data.     

中国与越南增值税制比较

中越两国都是在建设社会主义市场经济,实现经济体制转轨的大背景下引进增值税这一税种的,现在都已成为各自的第一大税种.同时两国在增值税纳税人、征税对象、税率、增值税类型、计算方法、进项税额的确定等方面都存在诸多差异.从比较中可以得到一些有益的思考,对于推动我国的增值税改革有着借鉴意义.