Evaluating risks-based communities of Mafia companies: a complex networks perspective

Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting - This paper presents a data-driven complex network approach, to show similarities and differences—in terms of financial risks—between the...     

Cross-national differences in stakeholder management: Applying institutional theory and comparative capitalism framework

Drawing upon the research in institutional theory and comparative capitalism, the present study investigates how cross-national differences in the political, business, and economic institutional contexts of the United States, Italy, and Japan are associated with the ways in which companies in each of these countries prioritize and engage in their stakeholder engagement activities (SEAs). Using Porter and Kramer's framework, which classifies corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities as falling into four categories (good citizenship, mitigating harm from value chain, transforming value chain activities, and strategic philanthropy), we investigate how companies in the United States, Japan, and Italy prioritize and engage in these four SEAs. An analysis of data collected from 340 companies across these countries reveals that while companies in each of these three countries undertake the four types of SEAs, the prioritization and prevalence of the four types of SEAs vary from one country to the other, in ways that align with the prevailing institutional contexts of each country. The results contribute to a more nuanced understanding of why and how companies' approaches to CSR differ across countries. From a practitioner's perspective, the findings highlight the cultural specificity of CSR, implying that despite the global nature of CSR, the implementation of CSR needs to be tailored to a country's context.     

The rise of smart consumers: role of smart servicescape and smart consumer experience co-creation

ABSTRACT

Rapid technological advancements have led to the emergence of smart services and smart consumers. This study focuses on smart consumers who voluntarily engage in value creation activities, in order to conceptualise smart experience co-creation (SEC) and the smart servicescape. Drawing on the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) framework, a model is proposed and tested around the impacts of smart servicescape dimensions (aesthetics, superior functionality, social presence, perceived interactivity and perceived personalisation) on smart consumer experience co-creation. SEC is conceptualised as a second-order construct consisting of cognitive, hedonic, social/personal, and pragmatic/economic first-order dimensions. Results show that the technological environmental cues of the smart servicescape (S) collectively influence smart experience co-creation (O), and this co-created experience eventually influences consumers’ service brand equity and word-of-mouth (WOM) intentions (R). A major novelty of this study lies in uncovering the relationship between experience co-creation and service brand equity. Findings have theoretical and managerial implications for smart services.     

How do successful scholars get their best research ideas? An exploration

We interview 24 marketing professors to ask how they got the ideas for 64 of their papers. More than three-quarters of the papers were inspired by holes in the literature, by a “stylized fact” that the current literature cannot explain, or by an interaction with a manager. The rest fall into several smaller categories that to a large extent can be seen as special cases of the three big ones. We describe how papers from each of the three big categories help move the literature forward. We also illustrate the range of situations contained in each category by way of several examples. Among the authors we interview, most do not use a single source. As these authors become more senior, managerial contacts play an increasing role, while the balance between literature and stylized facts appears to be unchanged.

     

Has local informational advantage disappeared?

This study examines how changes in the information environment affect the informational advantage of geographically proximate agents. The long‐term advantage of local agents disappeared at the turn of the millennium. This is accompanied by the reduction in local bias of institutional investors and equity analysts. However, institutional investors continue to trade local stocks disproportionately more often than non‐local stocks; moreover, their local trades outperform non‐local trades in the short term—even for large and liquid stocks. Our results are consistent with improvements in the information environment shortening the horizon of proximity‐based informational advantage.     

Demographic Transition and Economic Development in Karnataka

The universal process of population change has significant attainment of social and economic implications at global level. Demographic transition is not only consisting of population growth tendency but much more along with economic consequences Karnataka is in the third stage of demographic transition and this scenario is marked with opportunities and challenges. This paper examines the demographic trends of Karnataka by using different Census data collected from Census reports and time series data over the time period of 1991–2014 collected from SRS. The fertility and mortality levels in the state have declined considerably. The districts in the Karnataka state have shown considerable increment in HDI from decade to decade. The study used the bound testing approach to co-integration; Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model was also applied for analyzing the long run relationship whereas Error Correction Mechanism (ECM) was applied for analyzing the short run link of the demographic variables with economic growth. The study exhibited that the demographic transition positively affected the economic growth in the long run and negatively in the short run.

     

Motivators and barriers to sustainable food consumption: Qualitative inquiry about organic food consumers in a developing nation

The present research attempts to qualitatively explore the motivators and barriers of organic food consumption in the Indian context. The data were collected using semistructured in‐depth interviews and analyzed using grounded theory. The theoretical sampling technique was used to interview 34 consumers who have purchased organic food in the past. The findings reported health consciousness, environmental consciousness, social identity, consumer ethnocentrism, and concern for farmers as the factors that motivate organic food purchase among consumers. The factors such as high prices of organic food, unavailability, trust issues, and limited marketing communications from the firms were identified as major barriers to organic food purchase and consumption. The study is one of the initial attempts to qualitatively explore the consumers' motivation for organic food consumption in the Indian context. The findings will help policymakers to devise suitable strategies so that they can effectively target the organic food choices by understanding the motivators/barriers, and promote the sustainable lifestyle in the society, as food consumption plays a crucial role in achieving environmental sustainability.     

Economic Properties of Statistical Indices: The Case of a Multidimensional Gini Index

This paper seeks to construct a Gini index of the distribution of standard of living. Since standard of living has various dimensions, we need a multidimensional Gini index (MGI). The literature on index numbers contains two distinct approaches: the statistical and the economic. In the context of MGIs the statistical approach (which obtains the indices from conditions based on statistical or data-related considerations) seems to be open to the criticism that it sometimes yields indices that violate economic norms. However, the economic approach (where the indices are derived from norms based on economic theory) also does not seem to have succeeded so far in obtaining an MGI satisfying the various normative requirements that have been proposed in the literature. This paper shows that it is possible to obtain an MGI from the statistical approach ensuring, at the same time, that the economic norms are satisfied. In this sense it is an attempt to bring the two disparate traditions in index construction referred to above closer to each other. The index that is developed here does not appear in the existing literature. Moreover, the literature does not seem to contain any other MGI satisfying all of the proposed economic norms.

     

Manifestations of rural entrepreneurship: the journey so far and future pathways

Management Review Quarterly - Rural entrepreneurship has manifested into a diverse and progressive field of research in the last two decades. It has seen research amalgamating from different fields...