The role of public space in constructing experience capital: A longitudinal analysis in the hotel context

Public space plays a primary role in shaping customers' hospitality experiences. Yet how public space conditions customers' experiential outcomes in accumulating capital for hospitality organizations remains underexplored. Inspired by the theory of psychological ownership, this research presents an in-depth analysis of the impacts of customers' public space experiences on their experiential outcomes using a longitudinal hotel industry dataset merging information from customer surveys, property performance, and surrounding accessibility insights. Findings revealed the positive effects of customers’ public space experiences on their overall service experiences, the perceived value of the experience, revisit intentions, and recommendation intentions. Moreover, hotel class, other customers, and surrounding accessibility were empirically verified as moderators conditioning the positive impact of public space. These findings offer valuable implications for theory and practice that are worthy of further exploration.     

The antecedents of digital collaboration through an enhanced digital platform for destination management: A micro-DMO perspective

While the tourism sector shifts towards digital transformation, Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) often struggle to adapt to their changing technological environment. This study explores the antecedents of digital collaboration and develops a framework for micro-DMOs to enhance effective destination management through digital technologies. An integrated sequential qualitative approach was adopted by conducting multi-phase interviews, in addition to designing and trialling a real-world trial digital platform. The research provides empirical evidence that digital collaboration is essential for micro-DMOs, necessitating them to transform their current “websites” into digital platforms which act as a hub for business stakeholders to actively be involved in. Antecedents of successful digital collaboration include mutuality, trust, control, and leadership which may be manifested differently from non-digital collaboration. Additionally, the study identifies three aspects for digital collaboration; marketing, networking and knowledge sharing that demands specific attention. Our results have theoretical, methodological, and practical implications for academia, industry and policymakers.     

What is the policy improvement of China’s land consolidation? Evidence from completed land consolidation projects in Shaanxi Province

Land consolidation plays an important role in increasing cultivated land, improving cultivated land quality and the ecological environment, and promoting the coordinated development of urban and rural areas. However, under the conditions of three decades of land consolidation being conducted and changing urban–rural human–land relationship, the areas of improvement in the land consolidation policy of China must be studied. This article analyzes the implementation and distribution characteristics of the land consolidation project completed in Shaanxi Province in 2018. Results show that land consolidation projects in Shaanxi are mainly land reclamation projects, cropland consolidation projects, and high-standard cropland consolidation projects. The increased cultivated land is mainly from land reclamation projects and cropland consolidation projects. The land consolidation projects in Aeolian Plateau Area, Loess Plateau Area, and Da Ba Mountain Area are mainly land reclamation projects. The land reclamation projects in Guan Zhong Plain Area and Qing Ling Mountain Area account for a large proportion. The spatial distribution of rural settlement consolidation projects, and rural settlement consolidation and land reclamation projects are mainly located in Guan Zhong Plain Area and distributed in the boundary area of Guan Zhong Plain Area and Loess Plateau Area. According to the characteristics of land consolidation projects and the changes of urban–rural human–land relationship, China should be prudent in or stop advancing land reclamation to increase cultivated land; cropland consolidation and high-standard cropland construction are vital ways to achieve China’s food security; and rural settlement consolidation should be carefully conducted in remote areas under the background of urbanization.     

Steady state adjusting trends using a data-driven local polynomial regression

Economic variables usually follow a dynamic trend pattern. However, it is difficult to estimate this trend precisely as numerous economically- and statistically-based estimation methods exist. This contribution proposes a data-driven nonparametric trend that is local polynomial, to improve arbitrary trend estimations of commonly used methods concerning the selection of the smoothing parameter and the dependence structure. An iterative plug-in (IPI) algorithm determines the bandwidth endogenously and allows a theory-based interpretation of the length of growth processes. This length of the bandwidth reflects the lengths of the steady state periods. Consequently, the bandwidth identifies the time period of stable economic conditions and can detect economic changes. To demonstrate the power of this estimation approach, an extensive simulation study is performed. Furthermore, examples using US and UK GDP data along with a guide for the optimal choice of algorithms for empirical applications are provided. This proposed method yields new insights for growth dynamics, cyclical movements and their dependence.     

Search efficiency,wage dynamics and welfare

Advances in information technology have improved the job-search process in the labor market. We analyze the effects of this improvement by constructing a search-and-matching model with two sectors: a risky sector with firm-specific productivity shocks and a risk-free sector. The risky sector is characterized by a low level of commitment between employers and workers – either party can end the employment relationship. We show that a better job-search process generates more job matches in the risky sector, and this benefits workers by improving their outside options. The effect on employers is subtle: while it is easier to fill vacancies, workers become more expensive. At the same time, the ease of finding new workers makes it harder for employers to keep their wage promises to workers and increases wage volatility. Our paper contributes to the literature by offering a novel explanation for the observed rise in wage volatility.     

A tale of two countries: Directed technical change,trade and migratory movements

We propose a North-South model that reconciles trade and production strategies, flows of innovators and the path of economic divergence, or convergence, between countries. We explain the mechanisms behind these forces and show how the technological and economic gaps can be reversed if southern countries stop imitating northern goods and, instead, produce complementary goods. Such a strategy of complementarity on production yields the necessary incentives to innovators to engage in research in southern countries, which enhances the catching-up process between countries. It is also shown that migratory movements of unskilled labor between countries are also relevant to understand the dangers and benefits of different trade strategies for economic growth. This paper suggests a positive (negative) correlation between technological innovation in the North (South) and the level of substitutability in production, while under complementarity, technological innovation catches up in the South, therefore fostering the economic catching up process. A positive correlation between inflows of skilled and unskilled labor and substitutability of production between countries is also verified.     

The evolution of corruption and development in transitional economies: Evidence from China

It is widely accepted in the literature, that the level of corruption is negatively and robustly related to economic development. However, skeptics argue that for transitional economies, this relationship may not hold. Economic reform loosens up the control of local officials and can increase corruption; Corruption and per capita income can be positively related. Using panel provincial data of China from 1995 to 2014 on prosecuted cases of corruption, we discover that during the early phase of China’s economic reform (during Zhu Rongji and Hu-Wen administrations), a positive short-run relationship is indeed observed. But, there is a robust negative long-run cointegration relationship between corruption and per capita income. The development of the market economy improves private wage and income in the long-run. The relatively inefficient and low returns to ordinary corruption cannot compete with rising market returns, which lead to dwindling corruption. However, the share of major corruption cases is increasing over time to be able to compete with rising market wages.     

互联网对企业协同创新中知识增值的影响——软创新资源的作用

互联网环境下协同创新中的知识增值运行机制发生重大改变。从知识流视角出发，整合资源基础观与知识基础观，在完善软创新资源概念的基础上，通过对4个案例的深入探索，分析软创新资源各维度对协同创新知识增值的影响。结果表明，互联网的群智性、泛在性等特点可以孕育出软创新资源，进而影响协同创新中的知识增值。其中，软创新资源包括开放型信息资源、协同型关系资源、创新型文化资源以及技术型能力资源4个维度，并分别作用于知识获取、知识转移、知识创造和应用，从而实现知识增值。最后，针对如何最大程度地发挥互联网在促进知识增值方面的作用，提出相关建议。     

Leader Apology in the Employee–Organization Relationship: The Roles of Subordinate Power Distance Belief and Leader Competence

According to the organizational support theory, leaders' words and deeds are not only the products of their own will but also a reflection of organizations' standpoints. We thus focus on leader apology in the case of organizational transgressions and predict that leaders' apologetic acts are likely to influence employees' organization-oriented attitudes and behaviors. Specifically, leader apology is hypothesized to positively influence employees' perception of organizational support, which in turn, is positively associated with employees' helping and risk taking behavior. Furthermore, drawing upon the organizational support theory that delineates the discretion and value perceived in the employee-organization relationship, we further propose that employees' perceived leader competence and power distance belief serve as two contingencies that influence the relationship between leader apology and employees' perceived organizational support. In particular, this relationship is stronger when employees perceive higher leader competence or hold stronger power distance beliefs. Two multi-wave data collected from hospitality employees support these hypotheses. The findings provide a new perspective to comprehending leader apology within the employee-organization relationship wherein leaders are considered as organizational agents. This research extends the existing literature on leader apology that largely focuses on leader apology following leaders’ transgressions and leader-oriented outcomes.     

The failure of Chinese peer-to-peer lending platforms: Finance and politics

We investigate the influence of financial and political factors on peer-to-peer (P2P) platform failures in China's online lending market. Using a competing risk model for platform survival, we show that large platforms, platforms with listed firms as large shareholders, and platforms with better information disclosure were less likely to go bankrupt or run off (platform owners abscond with investor funds). More importantly, failing platforms were much less likely to run off in advance of major political events, but more likely to declare bankruptcy or run off after such events. These effects are more pronounced for politically connected platforms, platforms operating in provinces where local officials have close ties with central government, and in provinces with better local financial conditions. Our study highlights the role of political incentives on government regulatory intervention in platform failures.