Disentangling the drivers of renewable energy investments: The role of behavioral factors

The scope of this study is to investigate the main determinants of renewable energy investments in Greece. For this reason, we build an appropriate framework to infer the decision‐making process in the renewable energy sources (RES). The main drivers are then categorized under two groups as economic, and behavioral ones. In the next stage, we rely on binomial (logit and probit) and quantile regression analysis to estimate the impact of these factors on investment decisions towards RES. Our findings indicate that investors who gain better access to knowledge and exhibit a more positive attitude towards the contribution of artificial intelligence (AI) on the RES industry have a higher share of renewables in their portfolio. We argue that these investors are willing to invest a higher amount in the RES industry today. At the same time, quantile regression models illustrate that this relationship is nonmonotonic (i.e., inverted U shaped curve), arguing that positive attitudes towards the contribution of behavioral factors on RES are not adequate to encourage investments after crossing a certain point (threshold). Based on the empirical findings, we argue that the message to policymakers and government officials is to promote a faster penetration of low carbon technologies to achieve sustainable economic and social growth.     

Asset pricing with time-varying betas for stocks traded on S&P 500

This study uses a novel approach for capturing time variation in betas whose pattern is treated as a function of market returns. A two-factor model (TFM) is constructed using estimated coefficients of a nonlinear regression. The model is tested against the CAPM and the Fama and French three-factor model in the context of time series regressions. The used stocks are traded on S&P 500. The period spans from 1993 to 2011. The time series regression results depict the superiority of the TFM in explaining portfolio returns including momentum ones. We also provide evidence that the particular portfolios employed at the construction of the new model accommodate different fundamental characteristics and different risk levels.     

The impact of Greek labour market regulation on temporary employment – evidence from a survey in Thessaly,Greece

This paper uses an original data-set for 186 workplaces in Thessaly (central Greece), to study consequences of Greece's strict employment protection law (EPL) and national minimum wage for temporary employment. We find higher temporary work contract rates among workplaces that pay low wages close to the minimum. We also find that EPL ‘matters’, in particular, managers who prefer temporary contracts because temporary workers are less protected definitely employ more. Our findings thus support the view that a firm's HRM decisions regarding internal versus external allocation of tasks are influenced by labour regulation.     

Achieving favourable customer outcomes through employee deviance

This study advances current knowledge by examining how employee deviance and customer participation during a single employee–customer exchange generate favourable customer responses. This work bridges the employee deviance stream with the service encounter literature and illustrates the importance of equity theory in deviant service exchanges between customers and employees. Moreover, results add to the ongoing debate on service nepotism by canvassing the consequences from the customer’s active participation in deviant exchanges which appears to enhance customer perceptions of the exchange. A 3?×?2 between-subjects experimental design was adopted which manipulates three types of pro-customer deviance along with customer’s participation (or not) to the exchange. The dependent variables capture three types of perceived customer justice (cognitive outcomes) and customer’s affective state (affective outcome). Findings illustrate that customers approve employees’ deviance for their own benefit while also indicate favourable outcomes from deviant exchanges with employees such as higher perceived justice and a more positive affective state. The article concludes with a discussion of the theoretical and managerial implications, limitations and research directions that emerge from this study.     

Modeling quality demand with data from Household Budget Surveys: An application to meat and fish products in Greece

In this paper, we employ a method to examine the factors affecting quality choice by Greek households, using cross-sectional survey data. We illustrate the method using the raw data of the 2004/05 Household Budget Survey for meat and fish products. Quality elasticities of total food expenditure and household's age structure are derived. To cope with the zero expenditure problem, Heckman's two-step method is employed. Results generally suggest that several socio-economic factors affect quality demand for meat and fish.