Sustainable tourism development and residents’ perceptions in World Heritage Site destinations

Set in Malaysia’s Lenggong Valley World Heritage Site (WHS), this paper uses stakeholder theory to explore the heterogeneity of positive and negative perceptions among residents and their effects on residents’ support for and participation in sustainable tourism development. Data from 221 completed questionnaire surveys revealed heterogeneous negative perceptions across residents’ age, level of education and economic involvement in tourism. Moreover, residents’ positive perceptions had a positive effect on their support for and participation in tourism development. This study contributes to the resident perception literature by using stakeholder theory to conceptualise the heterogeneity of residents’ perceptions and by examining the effects of those perceptions on their support for and participation in tourism development in a rural WHS destination in the developing world. Furthermore, the findings of this study have practical implications for local authorities aiming to improve residents’ support and participation in tourism planning for sustaining tourism development.     

Accruals quality vis-à-vis disclosure quality: Substitutes or complements?

The impact of accruals quality and disclosure quality on stock returns is a topical issue in market-based accounting research. Most of the debate is centred on their incremental ability to predict future earnings. Recent studies suggest that higher information risk proxied by either lower accruals quality or lower disclosure quality results in higher stock returns. This paper examines the relationship between accruals quality and disclosure quality, and investigates whether they are complements or substitutes in explaining the time-series variation in portfolio returns. Applying portfolio groupings, we find a positive association between accruals quality and disclosure quality, suggesting that firms with higher disclosure quality engage less in earnings management and have higher accruals quality. Asset pricing tests show that an accruals quality factor and a disclosure quality factor explain the time-series variation in the excess returns of similar sets of portfolios. This suggests that they contain similar information and confirms the substitutive nature of accruals quality and disclosure quality factors.     

Entrepreneurial Characteristics,Motives, and Business Challenges: Exploratory Study of Small- and Medium-Sized Hotel Businesses

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to gather information about the determinants and characteristics of the owners/managers of small- and medium-sized hotels (SMSHs) and identify various issues in starting up and operating businesses in the United Arab Emirates. The results of this study reveal that the majority of the owners/managers of SMSHs in the United Arab Emirates are male, young and middle age, and relatively new to the tourism industry. The motivations for the business ventures of the entrepreneurs include wanting to be financially independent, become one’s own boss, involvement in family business and the opportunities of the hotel business. Among the key business challenges highlighted by the owners/managers of SMSHs are stiff competition in the hotel industry, increased operating costs, reduced demand, and lack of skilled employees. Several key strategies have been employed to face these challenges. These include offering competitive pricing, improving the marketing and channels of promotion, enhancing the quality of service and providing superior customer service.     

Two decades of XBRL: a science mapping of research trends and future research agenda

eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) is a software standard of significant importance in the current shift in financial reporting. This new standard is representative of the dramatic developments in how financial information is presented and reported. Over the past 20 years (2000–2020), we have witnessed how information systems and technology advancement have continued to shape current practices in accounting, which has resulted in an increasing trend toward Internet reporting, and thus the XBRL adoption. This study investigates the current trends and various characteristics of worldwide research on XBRL using bibliometric analysis, subsequently presenting a plausible future research direction. The Scopus database was searched for articles indexed under the terms “XBRL*” or “Digital Financial Reporting*” or “Internet Financial Reporting*” or “Web financial reporting*”, which yielded a total of 661 documents from the years 2000–2020. We analysed a total of 621 documents as our final sample after excluding those not related to the interest of the study. Our analysis discovered six (6) main research clusters related to XBRL, which are financial reporting, development of XBRL, decision making, XBRL adoption, corporate governance and disclosure, and financial analytics. We also proposed a future research direction within XBRL-related research.

     

The impact of microfinance on poverty and income inequality in developing countries

Economic growth in developing countries provides an opportunity to accelerate progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, in reality, the number of people living in extreme poverty remains unacceptably high. Utilising the experiences of 34 developing countries for the period 2009 to 2016, the role of microfinance on poverty in these countries is examined. The results imply that the degree to which the existing forms of microfinance effectively reduce extreme poverty is less workable in developing countries, particularly when the hardcore poor are likely being deprived of receiving access to microfinance. It is suggested that governments may need to revise the structure and strategy of microfinance to be more hardcore poor oriented. The hardcore poor have needs beyond pure monetary assistance. More hand‐holding types of assistance are needed as most are also poor in respect of literacy, assets, and skills.     

Can Loan Valuation Adjustment (LVA) approach immunize collateralized debt from defaults?

This study focuses on structuring tangible asset backed loans to inhibit their endemic option to default. We adapt the pragmatic approach of a margin loan in the configuring of collateralized debt to yield a quasi‐default‐free facility. We link our practical method to the current Basel III (2017) regulatory framework. Our new concept of the Loan Valuation Adjustment (LVA) and novel method to minimize the LVA converts the risky loan into a quasi risk‐free loan and achieves value maximization for the lending financial institution. As a result, entrepreneurial activities are promoted and economic growth invigorated. Information asymmetry, costly bailouts and resulting financial fragility are reduced while depositors are endowed with a safety net equivalent to deposit insurance but without the associated moral hazard between risk‐averse lenders and borrowers.     

Entrepreneurship in the tourism industry: Issues in developing countries

The tourism industry in Malaysia is one of the most important sectors in terms of its contribution to the growth of the nation. The extensive demand on the tourism industry has stimulated the emergence of many small and medium hotels, resorts, and chalets in Malaysia. According to the literature, small and medium hotels are an extension of the entrepreneurial characteristics of the owners/managers of the hotels. In Malaysia, small and medium hotel entrepreneurs (SMHEs) have not been given much attention. Looking at this gap, this study aims to provide a significant result on entrepreneurship issues in Malaysia. The main objective of this study is to examine the characteristics of small and medium hotel owners/managers and the issues and problems they confront in relation to their survivability in the industry. The result revealed that the majority of owners/managers of small and medium hotels were male, middle-aged and older, with secondary and upper level of education, and whose prior specialisations or knowledge were not related to tourism. With strong self-confidence and independent personality characteristics, the majority started to establish their businesses after the financial crisis in 1997–1998. The result also defined small scale to mean hotels with less than 50 rooms, which had been constructed with limited personal funding and bank loans. Information technology was found to be an important tool to promote their hotels, but conventional techniques such as word of mouth and signboards were still significant. The owners/managers of small and medium hotels were in agreement over their weaknesses in terms of lack of knowledge and skills in running the business. At the same time, they also felt that the government should play a more proactive role in promoting the tourism industry.     

Ecotourism-related products and activities, and the economic sustainability of small and medium island chalets

Environment-related products and activities in the tourism industry are popular among visitors to Malaysia. Such is the case off the coast of East Peninsular Malaysia, where several coral islands offer various ecotourism activities. The present study examines the products and activities offered in the four islands and related issues on the economic sustainability of small and medium island chalets (SMICs). Through the multi-method approach, results show that island hopping and combination tours are the most popular products. Meanwhile, snorkeling, round-island trips, and diving are the most highlighted activities. These ecotourism-related activities are mainly due to the attractiveness of the environment, which has drawn large numbers of tourists to the chalets on these islands. SMICs established their businesses in the late 1990s on the back of growing confidence in the tourism industry in the 1980s. Visitors include almost equal numbers of both local and international tourists. SMICs’ product and activity development are highly correlated with environmental attractions, thus positively contributing to the economic sustainability of SMICs. The present study proposes that the most appropriate business model for SMICs would be that of a small local business community operating in the island. This model would help maintain the sustainability of the island-tourism sector.     

How Visitor and Environmental Characteristics Influence Perceived Crowding

This paper aims to investigate tourists’ perceptions of crowding and factors influencing those perceptions. The effects of visitor socio-demographic characteristics, economic factors, and destination situational characteristics are investigated. Questionnaire data were collected from a sample of 362 tourists at Pantai Cenang Beach, Langkawi Island. The results confirmed the significant effect of visitor socio-demographic characteristics on perceived crowding. Among the economic factors, although the findings did not confirm an effect for level of income, the results showed a positive effect for spending money per day on perceived crowding. Furthermore, the hypothesized effect of situational characteristics on perceived crowding could not be verified. In light of the absence of studies investigating the factors influencing perceived crowding using partial least squares–structural equation modeling, this study contributes theoretically and methodologically to the perceived crowding literature. Moreover, the results can assist the local authorities to understand the perceptions of tourists for future development.