Celebrity endorsement in tourism: Attention,emotional arousal and familiarity

Celebrity endorsement in tourism is utilised by global marketing practitioners to attract tourists to visit destinations. Despite this, studies are yet to assess the efficacy of two specific types of celebrity endorsement, a celebrity from the host country (host celebrity) vs. a celebrity from the country-of-origin (origin celebrity). Utilising the match-up hypothesis, this research applied a quasi-experimental design, consisting of a mixed method approach, which combined eye-tracking and self-report data. Convergent results across three studies demonstrate that an origin celebrity elicits a higher intention to visit, mediated by the emotional arousal evoked from the endorsement. Eye-tracking analysis demonstrated that an origin celebrity elicits a higher degree of visual attention and emotional arousal when the advertised scenery is familiar. However, this promotion effect disappears in unfamiliar scenery. This research contributes to an evolving debate on celebrity endorsement in tourism, revealing the psychological and physiological mechanisms underpinning the effectiveness of destination marketing campaigns.     

论数据权益的刑法保护——民刑交错视角下的法益保护论探讨

关于“数据权益的刑法保护”问题，在理论层面上，可从“刑法解释论”和“刑法立法论”两种路径进行探讨。“刑法解释论”探讨路径以现行《刑法》罪名体系为出发点，主要任务是揭示哪些罪名的犯罪构成之设置是以“数据权益”为规范保护目的；“刑法立法论”探讨路径是在刑法立法层面上探讨立法者为在刑法政策上实现数据权益的刑法保护这一目的，动用刑罚禁止何种行为类型才具正当性的问题。然而，两种探讨路径都将依赖于“数据权益”的内涵确定以及法益格的认定问题，换言之，是刑法法益理论在数据权益刑法保护问题上的具体运用。《民法典》第127条并非是关于数据的确权性规定，且在民法理论界关于数据权益的法律属性存在诸多争议的状况下，“数据权益”内涵不明、法律属性不清导致其并不具备作为刑法保护客体的“法益”格。当前刑法理论界存在的关于“数据权益”的刑法类法益保护模式探讨路径，是对刑法法益保护方式的误读，并未触及“数据权益刑法保护”之规范层面问题的实质。“数据安全”法益观的探讨路径则不仅混淆了现象层面与规范层面上的“数据犯罪”概念的界分，也由于没有论证“数据安全”如何能够构成刑法的保护法益，而导致结论过于武断。在理论探讨上，应该明确作为行为客体的物理层面上的“数据”概念与作为保护客体的法益层面上的“数据权益”概念之间的区别，据此明确“数据权益的刑法保护”在规范层面上是否构成新问题。     

The impact on stock prices of deferral and elimination of internal control audit requirement for small firms

This paper examines the cumulative market reaction to the events related to deferral of internal control audit requirement under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and its elimination under the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 for nonaccelerated filers (small firms). We document that small firms experienced negative cumulative abnormal returns around these events; and the differences between the cumulative abnormal returns for small firms and the two control groups (accelerated and large accelerated filers) were negative and significant at the 1% level. These results support the notion that market participants value the reliability of financial information irrespective of the firm size. Within the small firms, we find no firm characteristic significantly explains the market reaction to the events considered. That is, all small firms lost market value in reaction to the events that delayed and eliminated their internal control audit requirement.     

Video mining: Measuring visual information using automatic methods

Marketers are becoming increasingly reliant on videos to market their products and services. However, there is no standard set of measures of visual information that can be applied to large datasets. This paper proposes two standard measures that can be automatically obtained from videos: visual variation and video content. The paper tests the measures on crowdfunding videos from a leading online crowdfunding website, and shows that the proposed measures have explanatory power on the funding outcomes of the projects. These measures can be effectively implemented and used for large datasets. Further, researchers can apply these measures to other sets of visual information, and marketers could use the research to guide their video design and improve their video marketing effectiveness.     

社保基金持股与企业盈余质量:A股上市公司的证据

本文利用中国A股上市公司2006-2015年的数据,研究社保基金持股对上市公司盈余质量的影响。我们用上市公司财务重述作为测度盈余质量的指标,发现社保基金持股能够显著降低企业发布财务重述的概率,这表明社保基金对上市公司盈余质量的提高具有促进作用。并且,社保基金的这一治理作用在国有企业、内部治理水平较差以及市场化程度较低地区的上市公司中更加显著。通过双重差分模型和安慰剂检验等方法弱化了内生性问题之后,以上结论依然成立,说明社保基金持股和盈余质量提升之间存在因果关系,我们称之为社保基金的公司治理作用。进一步研究发现,社保基金可以通过抑制控股股东资金占用、增加机构调研次数等途径提升被持股公司的盈余质量。本文有助于认识和评估社保基金持股对于上市公司的监督与治理作用。     

Ketchup with your fries? Utilizing complementary product displays to transfer attention to a focal product

Does placing a display of complementary condiments (e.g., ketchup, mustard, buns,etc.) next to a display of hamburgers make shoppers more likely to attend to the hamburgers? Prior work has established that in-store marketing strategies play an important role in drawing attention to products in a retail setting. Building on this research, the present study develops a framework to better understand how shoppers in a natural retail environment attend to displays of complementary products, and how this attention transfers to a focal product. The results suggest that assortment complexity of a display positively affects initial attention capture.. Further, initial attention capture leads shoppers to spend longer evaluating the complementary products in the display, which, in turn, increases evaluation and choice of the focal product. As such, our framework indicates that complementary product displays can be effective at increasing attention to and choice of an associated focal product.     

Women “in motion”: the kinaesthetic viewing experience in Chinese viral advertising films

ABSTRACT

Visual imagery provides aesthetic experiences for viewers, and viral advertising films address viewers’ experience of movement which has not been analysed. Developing visual analyses, this study uses phenomenological approaches and the concept of kinaesthetic empathy, defined as the ability of viewers to react to movements, also in film. It considers Chinese Wei movies (“microfilms” or viral advertising films) with reference to examples by Audi and Swarovski as representatives of China's post-socialist marketing culture. Women in these films are presented as “in motion,” yet still are often delimited by traditional gender stereotypes. These films are potentially ambivalent ideological carriers that encourage women to reinvent themselves through consumption within traditional gender roles but may also suggest the pursuit of different experiences as movement is abstract, transitory and cannot be commodified.     

Visual merchandising of pastries in foodscapes: The influence of plate colours on consumers’ flavour expectations and perceptions

The aim of our research is to find out how pastries should be visually merchandised in retail environments most effectively. In particular, we want to answer the question whether the colour of the surface (black vs. white) against which pastries are presented influences consumers’ expectations (sensory and hedonic), i.e., before tasting (stage 1) and perceptions (sensory and hedonic), i.e., after tasting (stage 2). In addition, we seek to detect any differences in sensory and hedonic evaluations as well as purchase intentions between stage 1 and stage 2.For this purpose, we conducted two studies on a special type of pastries, i.e., macarons: first, based on our observational research, we selected the most popular macaron flavours (colours): pistachio (green), raspberry (pink), coffee (light brown), chocolate (dark brown), lemon (yellow), and vanilla (off-white); second, we carried out a between-participants experiment among 432 participants.Our results reveal that customers seem to show a high degree of identification of the actual flavour in stage 1, with some doubts related to the colours light brown, yellow, and dark brown. Moreover, the assessment of the sensory attributes of crunchiness, creaminess, and sweetness, as well as the hedonic value and purchase intent appear to be higher in stage 2 than in stage 1. Furthermore, no main effects of the plate colour on the evaluations of greasiness, crunchiness, creaminess, and sweetness, as well as the hedonic value and purchase intent in stage 1 and stage 2 could be found. However, while the expectation of greasiness for the macaron colours green, pink, light brown, lemon, and off-white is higher when served on a black plate, for the colour dark brown, the expectation of greasiness is higher when served on a white plate. Finally, managerial implications for retailers, like, bakeries, pastry shops, restaurants, or caterers, are provided, the limitations of our research are mentioned, and avenues for further research are given.     

Object detection based on visual memory: a feature learning and feature imagination process

ABSTRACT

Visual memory plays an important role for the human’s visual system to detect objects. The features of an object stored in the visual memory have much lower dimensions than the features contained within an image. We simulate the visual memory as a feature learning and feature imagination (FLFI) process to build an object detection algorithm. The method is constructed by a bottom-up feature learning and a top-down feature imagination. The proposed object detection method is tested using publicly available benchmark data sets, and the result indicates that it is fast and more robust.     

The impact of shareholders and creditors rights on IPO performance: An international study

This paper examines the impact of cross-country variation in shareholders' and debt holders' rights on post-IPO performance and survival of newly listed stocks across the globe. Using a sample of 10,490 initial public offerings (IPOs) in 40 countries between 2000 and 2013, we find that post-IPO performance and survival is better in countries with stronger shareholder protection, but the impact of creditor protection is negative i.e. stronger creditor protection leads to poor post-IPO performance and survival. This effect is driven by rules requiring creditors’ consent for company reorganization and the mandatory replacement of incumbent managers. Reputable IPO advisors exacerbate the positive impact of shareholder rights and the negative impact of creditor rights.