Does a money‐is‐all attitude cause alienation? A cross‐cultural comparison of Korea,the US and Sweden

Money is increasingly being attributed more value in society, although a money‐is‐all attitude decreases social relationships and increases alienation in modern, industrialized societies. This research investigated the influence of this money‐is‐all attitude on alienation based on a cross‐cultural comparison of Korea, the US and Sweden. The money‐is‐all attitude was defined as a perspective in which money is regarded as an indicator of achievement or success. Self‐administered online surveys were conducted with consumers ranging between the ages of 20 to 49 in Korea, the US and Sweden. The money‐is‐all attitude and alienation seemed to be more pervasive in Korea than in the US or Sweden. The money‐is‐all attitude was the factor with the strongest influence on alienation when controlling for socio‐demographic factors. Furthermore, participation in sports activities was an important factor in decreasing alienation levels. The findings of this research imply that materialistic ways of thinking increase alienation and that money cannot contribute to human happiness and well‐being. In addition, active participation in social activities can decrease alienation. The research results suggest that a materialistic, money‐is‐all attitude negatively influences alienation across cultures; in addition, in the US, an affluent consumption‐based country, the money‐is‐all attitude had more explanatory power for alienation than in Sweden and Korea. A change in values to overcome the money‐is‐all attitude is required and the concepts of sufficiency and mindfulness are suggested as alternative life perspectives for the pursuit of well‐being.     

The stock of external sovereign debt: Can we take the data at ‘face value’?

The stock of sovereign debt is typically measured at face value. Defined as the undiscounted sum of future principal repayments, face values are misleading when debts are issued with different contractual forms or maturities. In this paper, we construct alternative measures of the stock of external sovereign debt for 100 developing countries from 1979 through 2006 that correct for differences in contractual form and maturity. We show that our alternative measures: (1) paint a very different quantitative, and in some cases also qualitative, picture of the stock of developing country external sovereign debt; (2) often invert rankings of indebtedness across countries, which historically defined eligibility for debt forgiveness; (3) indicate that the empirical performance of the benchmark quantitative model of sovereign debt deteriorates by roughly 50% once model-consistent measures of debt are used; (4) show how the spread of aggregation clauses in debt contracts that award creditors voting power in proportion to the contractual face value may introduce inefficiencies into the process of restructuring sovereign debts; and (5) illustrate how countries have manipulated their debt issuance to meet fiscal targets written in terms of face values.     

Can a Celebrity Serve as an Issue‐Relevant Argument in the Elaboration Likelihood Model?

While celebrity endorsement has been traditionally perceived as a peripheral cue in the elaboration likelihood model, several conceptual studies suggest otherwise that it may play a significant role in delivering issue‐relevant information when celebrity–product congruence exists. The current study provides empirical evidence that a celebrity indeed serves as an issue‐relevant argument by investigating the interaction effects between endorser–product congruence and product involvement on consumer responses in two different match‐up conditions. Moderated regression analysis results indicated that product involvement strengthened the effect of expertise‐based endorser–product congruence on consumer responses. However, the relationship between attractiveness‐based endorser–product congruence and consumer responses generated insignificant results. Research findings entail that a celebrity persuades consumers through the central route when the expert image in particular fits well with the endorsed product. Further analyses indicated that attitude toward the brand mediated the relationship between attitude toward the advertisement and purchase intention in both match‐up environments.     

Analyzing the Essence of Stakeholder Relationships: What do we Need in Addition to Power,Legitimacy, and Urgency?

This article contributes to the body of stakeholder literature by providing an in-depth analysis of the dynamics of stakeholder relationships as a part of change in value creation. The article presents an argument that the stakeholder salience model as a tool for analyzing stakeholder relationships is not sufficient for understanding business value creation. In the recent stakeholder literature, understanding business value creation has become an important theme. Through an analysis of an empirical case, the article shows how the three stakeholder relationship attributes, legitimacy, power and urgency help to reveal the definitive stakeholders and to capture dynamics of stakeholder relations. However, in the case of strategic change, where the value creation of a firm is in transition, a more profound understanding of stakeholder relationships is needed. As a result of our empirical analysis, six characteristics of stakeholder relationships were identified. To conclude, the question of who and what really counts should be replaced by the question of how value is created in stakeholder relationships.     

Is it ‘you’ or ‘your workplace’? Predictors of job‐related training in the Anglo‐American world

This paper examines the determinants of job‐related training and workplace voice. Using data from a unique 2016 cross‐national survey of Australian, British, Canadian and American employees, the paper contrasts two classic formulations in the literature; (1) the neoclassical/human capital approach which predicts that individual characteristics (such as age and education) which increase the efficiency of learning, will have the largest impact on the allocation of training (i.e. younger and more educated employees will be afforded training) and (2) the traditional institutional approach which favors the structural characteristics present at the industry and firm level, the nature of the job itself and the strategic choices of firms as the major predictors of job‐related training. We find that age – a key factor in the human capital model – plays a significant role in the allocation of training but that education (in keeping with recent evidence) does not. In sum the human capital model provides, at best, only a partial explanation for the differences in training observed across individuals. In contrast, variables invoked by the institutional literature (i.e. occupation level; industry; ownership type; and market structure) are highly significant and account for a much greater proportion of the variance in training observed across workers. Other institutional factors such as the presence of a union and a human resource department were strong positive predictors of job‐related training. But most important were product‐market strategy and employee voice. Respondents working in firms utilizing a ‘high road/high quality’ product/service strategy and with a workplace consultative committee were significantly more likely to receive training than similar workers employed in observably similar firms. This last finding supports the industrial relations view of voice as an important channel by which training is optimally delivered inside the firm.     

The Quest for Societal ROI in the Midst of the Perfect Storm: Can SCM Set the Standard for Twenty‐First Century Business Education?

The Academy's dual role is to discover and disseminate knowledge. For most of our tenure, we have focused on research's role in fulfilling this societal mandate. We continue that discussion here by calling for more “actionable” research—something that the supply chain discipline is particularly well positioned to do. We now extend the discussion to pedagogy. As the two epigraphs denote, society is looking for a return on its investment—even a reinvention of the university. Increased costs, poor student achievement, and disruptive technology create an environment perfect for disruption. Yet, if we do our job well, current and foreseeable technologies cannot provide the same kind of transformative education that can be cultivated through community‐engaged experiential learning. The good news: The supply chain discipline is perfectly positioned to set the standard for twenty‐first century business education.     

The economic impact of the Trans‐Pacific Partnership: What have we learned from CGE simulation?

The Trans‐Pacific Partnership (TPP ) trade agreement, if were it to be successfully implemented, would be one of the largest regional agreements ever seen. It is the only exemplar to date of a “mega‐regional” FTA for which negotiations have been successfully concluded, and a landmark in evolving approaches to Asia–Pacific integration. As such, quantitative assessments of its potential effects are of considerable interest. One of the most widely used techniques for evaluating the economic impact of regional trading agreements is numerical simulation with computable general equilibrium, or CGE , models. There have now been a large number of papers written that use CGE methods to analyse the potential economic impact of the TPP agreement under varying theoretical and policy assumptions. In this paper we provide a synthesis of the key results that have emerged from the literature, and introduce some new simulation results of our own to anchor the discussion.     

When opposites attract? Exploring the existence of complementarity in self‐brand congruence processes

In the psychology of human interpersonal attraction, complementarity is a well‐recognized phenomenon, where individuals are attracted to partners with different but complementary traits to their own. Although scholarship in human–brand relations draws heavily from interpersonal attraction theory, preferred techniques for measuring self‐brand congruence tend to capture it in only one form: the similarity configuration, which expresses the extent to which brand traits essentially resemble or mirror a consumer's own. Hence, the aim of this study is to explore, for the first time, the existence of complementarity in self‐brand congruence. From a canonical correlation analysis of survey data in which respondents rated their own personality traits and those of their favorite brand, the existence of both similarity and complementarity configurations is indeed revealed. Based on this, the study then derives a measure of self‐brand congruence that captures both configurations, and tests its predictive power for a range of brand‐related outcomes. The new measure is found to perform well against existing measures of self‐brand congruence based purely on a similarity configuration, particularly for emotionally based brand‐related outcomes.     

Does the Starting Point Matter? The Literature‐Driven and the Phenomenon‐Driven Approaches of Using Corporate Archival Data in Academic Research

Despite recent and perhaps myopic criticisms of archival data with regard to supporting causal theoretical claims, it would be folly to disregard the exploratory and grounded theory development potential that these substantial, rich, and timely archives hold. The question then becomes one of how academics might tap into such archives. This paper considers this issue from a pragmatic perspective, drawing on the experiences of various academics with extensive experience in constructing data‐access relationships with industry. With the support of scholars who published their work using corporate archival data in leading academic journals, we suggest a phenomenon‐driven approach paralleled with the traditional literature‐driven approach in academic studies. This paper highlights best practices, pitfalls, and future opportunities, with the aim of serving as a guide for intrepid scholars interested in capitalizing on contemporary big data initiatives supported at many firms.     

Testing the asymmetric effects of exchange rate pass‐through in BRICS countries: Does the state of the economy matter?

This paper investigates not only the question of whether there is exchange rate pass‐through (ERPT) but also the extent to which the pass‐through is asymmetric or state‐dependent in the BRICS countries. Using monthly data from 1999:M1 to 2019:M12 and non‐linear smooth transition vector autoregressive (STVAR) model, our results provide evidence of period‐specific ERPT between the upper and lower regime periods, governed by the selected transition variables. The results further suggest that the pass‐through of exchange rate is higher when the economy is experiencing large appreciations and expansions as well as large depreciations and recessions. Theimplication for these findings is that ERPT is strongly affected by the state of the economy.     

EU‐China Collaboration in the Reform of the International Monetary System: Much Ado About Nothing?

The global financial crisis has shown that the current international monetary system (IMS) suffers from an inherent flaw: it depends on US current account deficits for the provision of global liquidity. Under this arrangement, peripheral countries have to accept periodically the debasement of the US dollar. Thus, there are some mutual incentives for the EU and China to reform the current IMS through cooperation. Both are in favour of stable exchange rates, and both are keen to constrain US macroeconomic profligacy. There have been some efforts towards these objectives in the past, especially during the French presidency of the G20 in 2011. However, there has been no significant progress. On the European side, there is not a united and independent Europe which could act as the primary agent of reform. On the Chinese side, Beijing does not see Europe as a reliable partner because the latter is deemed to have a major vested interest in the current regime. As a result, the French government failed to focus the world's attention on the reform of the IMS during G20 Cannes Summit, and the Chinese government has chosen a more unilateral way to internationalise its own currency.     

A Better Model? An Empirical Investigation of the Fama–French Five‐factor Model in Australia

Recently, Fama and French ( 2015a ) propose a five‐factor model by adding profitability and investment factors to their three‐factor model. This model outperforms the three‐factor model previously proposed by Fama and French ( 1993 ). Using an extensive sample over the 1982–2013 period, we investigate the performance of the five‐factor model in pricing Australian equities. We find that the five‐factor model is able to explain more asset pricing anomalies than a range of competing asset pricing models, which supports the superiority of the five‐factor model. We also find that despite the results documented by Fama and French ( 2015a ), the book‐to‐market factor retains its explanatory power in the presence of the investment and profitability factors. Our results are robust to alternative factor definitions and the formation of test assets. The study provides a strong out‐of‐sample test of the model, adding to the comparative evidence across international equity markets.     

What Does Really Matter in the Internationalization of Small and Medium‐Sized Family Businesses?

Internationalization of family businesses is often considered a way to revitalize both the family and the business. However, the debate on its challenges and constraints is still inconclusive. This study explores whether incoming generations' involvement impacts the decision to exploit and explore international opportunities and to what extent altruism and competence‐based trust mediate that relationship. Three propositions are formulated drawing from international entrepreneurship literature and stewardship theory. To validate this framework, a multiple case study on four Italian family firms has been conducted. Implications for theory and practice are finally discussed.     

Can monetary policy survive policy model mis‐specification? Model uncertainty and the perils of “policy model complacency”

The question addressed in this paper is: can monetary policy succeed in stabilizing the economy even when the policy model on which it is predicated is mis‐specified? Using variants of the 3‐equation macroeconomic model, it is shown that this question can be answered in the affirmative. The purpose of the paper is not to encourage indifference toward model uncertainty, however, but rather to warn against the perils of “policy model complacency.” This arises if the success of policy is misinterpreted as successful understanding of the workings of the economy, which makes the policy maker vulnerable to surprises: events with systematic origins in the “true” model of the economy that are not anticipated by the (mis‐specified) policy model. To safeguard against this problem, policy makers should always entertain eclectic views of the workings of the economy. This task is easily accomplished by paying attention to heterodox macroeconomics, which frequently makes predictions that are very much at variance with those of the dominant policy model.     

Who Do Start‐Up Firms Imitate? A Study of New Market Entries in the CLEC Industry

Institutional theory contends firms imitate other firms with ideal traits, whereas the strategic groups literature on imitation suggests firms imitate similar firms. We address this debate by studying 1,067 market entries by founder‐managed start‐ups in the U.S. Competitive Local Exchange Carrier industry from 1996 to 2004. In support of the strategic groups literature, start‐ups imitate entry decisions of and gravitate toward markets that are densely populated by other start‐ups. Though start‐ups avoid markets already densely populated by corporate ventures, they imitate the market entries of corporate ventures. Our discussion of these and other findings provide insights for start‐ups navigating new industries.     

The common sources of business cycles in Trans‐Pacific countries and the US? A comparison with NAFTA

This paper uses both a non‐structural and a structural approach to investigate the drivers of the business cycles in the US and 15 Trans‐Pacific (TP) countries. Our non‐structural analysis, based on a principal component methodology, reveals the shares of variation in macroeconomic variables that are due to factors common to both the US and the TP region, and factors that are region‐specific. We obtain similar measures by using a structural model (an estimated two‐country dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model) that allows for common and correlated shocks across the two regions. The clear and common finding from our analyses is that common shocks explain a substantial amount of macroeconomic variation. Comparison with the NAFTA region, along this dimension, reveals that the US economy is more similar to the TP region (a wider region that also includes Mexico and Canada) than its two neighbours.     

Educating for self‐interest or ‐transcendence? An empirical approach to investigating the role of moral competencies in opportunity recognition for sustainable development

Entrepreneurship education with a focus on sustainable development primarily teaches students to develop a profit‐driven mentality. As sustainable development is a value‐oriented and normative concept, the role of individual ethical norms and values in entrepreneurial processes has been receiving increased attention. Therefore, this study addresses the role of moral competence in the process of idea generation for sustainable development. A mixed method design was developed in which would‐be entrepreneurs were subjected to a questionnaire (n = 398) and to real‐life decision‐making processes in a case assignment (n = 96). The results provide stepping stones for implementing (moral) competencies in entrepreneurship education as a possible avenue to move away from a sole focus on a profit‐driven mentality.     

Do discounted food products end up in the bin? An investigation into the link between deal‐prone shopping behaviour and quantities of household food waste

Household food waste is considered to be the largest share of food waste along the food supply chain. Given that its recoverability is also more challenging compared to food waste in other stages of the chain, most studies on household food waste adopt a pre‐emptive approach by aiming to identify and address consumer beliefs, attitudes and actions that are linked to food waste. In scientific literature, household food waste has often been studied in relation to the habit of purchasing discounted food products (DFP). However, findings have been contradictory. Specifically, while some authors found that deal‐prone consumers are usually of lower income and therefore display a wiser and more attentive attitude towards grocery shopping, other authors reported that the purchase of discounted products was usually linked to compulsive shopping, hence resulting in higher food waste quantities at home. Due to these discrepant findings, a definitive answer on the impact of DFP on household food waste does not currently exist in the literature. This paper analyses the correlation between the purchase of DFP and weekly household food waste quantities. To do so, we examine (a) the results of a food waste diary experiment carried out on a representative sample of 385 households in Italy in February 2017, and (b) the results of a 23‐items Computer Assisted Web Interview survey administered to the same householders, in which shopping habits were investigated. Results revealed no evidence of either a positive or negative relationship between the purchase of DFP and household food waste quantities. Frequency of grocery shopping was the only variable found to have a significant impact on household food waste quantities.