How does qualitative data collection modality affect disclosure of sensitive information and participant experience? Findings from a quasi-experimental study

Quality & Quantity - Focus groups (FGs) and individual interviews (IDIs) can be conducted in-person or in several different online contexts. We conducted a quasi-experimental study and assessed...     

Sensory Experiences and Expectations of Italian and German Organic Consumers

We explore sensory experiences and expectations of Italian and German organic consumers when purchasing and eating organic food. Ten focus group interviews were performed and the results were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Outcomes indicated that although sensory attributes are not the main purchase drivers, flavor and odor are the most important in driving consumers' choice. Findings also suggested that training consumers' sensory abilities offers new market opportunities to organic marketers. From a marketing perspective, Italian consumers seem to equally appreciate nonsubjective as well as subjective marketing information about organic products, whereas in Germany non subjective aspects appear to be predominant.     

Public or Private Orientation of Pension Systems in the Light of the Recent Financial Crisis

This paper studies the appropriateness of a public or private orientation of pension systems in the light of the recent financial crisis, which has underscored the difficulties and contradictions associated with each system. The different institutional arrangements, in which public or private pension systems are embedded, are key components when assessing their responses to the crisis. Particularly, private pension systems are intertwined with financial markets, while social insurance-based pension systems are linked to the labour market mechanisms. This paper compares the British and French pension systems, as “archetypes” of private-oriented and public-oriented systems, respectively, the first relying on the market and private pension schemes, and the second on mandatory social insurance. This paper shows that the crisis has upheld the founding principles of the public (French) and private (British) pension systems to maintain the existing institutional configurations. At the same time, both systems have strengthened the role played by means-tested benefits and minimum pensions for low-income groups to offset the weaknesses of one or the other system, as emphasised by the crisis.     

Simultaneous estimation of income and price elasticities of export demand,scale economies and total factor productivity growth for Brazil

This article focuses on a growth model in which (unlike other models) low (high) export demand elasticities and the fact that developing countries are importers of capital goods help explaining the slow (high) growth of these countries in the transition and in the steady state. The question arises whether export demand elasticities are low or high. For answering this question, export demand elasticities for the case of Brazil are obtained by estimation of the model. As a by-product of estimating the model, we obtain estimates for total-factor productivity growth and for scale economies. Based on the results from estimation we calculate steady-state growth rates, engine and handmaiden effects of growth as well as dynamic steady-state gains from trade. The model and the results are discussed in regard to several strands of literature.     

Between X and Y: how process tracing contributes to opening the black box of causality

ABSTRACT

This article maps the methodological debate on process tracing and discusses the diverse variants of process tracing in order to highlight the commonalities beyond diversity and disagreements. Today most authors agree that process tracing is aimed at unpacking causal and temporal mechanisms. The article distinguishes two main types of use for process tracing. Some are more inductive, aimed at theory building (i.e. at uncovering and specifying causal mechanisms) while others are more deductive, aimed at theory testing (and refining). The paper summarizes the main added value and drawbacks of process tracing. It ends by providing ten guidelines for when and how to apply process tracing.     

Focusing on volatility information instead of portfolio weights as an aid to investor decisions

When faced with the challenge of forming a portfolio containing a risky and a risk-free asset, investors tend to apply the same portfolio weights independently of the volatility of the risky asset. This “percentage heuristic” can lead to different levels of portfolio risk when the same investor is presented with a more or a less risky asset. Using four experiments, we show that asking investors to choose the return distribution for their portfolio while keeping the exact portfolio weights unknown leads to greater similarity in levels of portfolio volatility (across different levels of risk of the risky asset) than asking investors to choose this distribution while additionally facing the portfolio weights. Higher consistency in risk taking is obtained both between and within test subjects.     

Measuring executive personality using machine-learning algorithms: A new approach and audit fee-based validation tests

We present a novel approach for measuring executive personality traits. Relying on recent developments in machine learning and artificial intelligence, we utilize the IBM Watson Personality Insights service to measure executive personalities based on CEOs’ and CFOs’ responses to questions raised by analysts during conference calls. We obtain the Big Five personality traits – openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism – based on which we estimate risk tolerance. To validate these traits, we first demonstrate that our risk-tolerance measure varies with existing inherent and behavioural-based measures (gender, age, sensitivity of executive compensation to stock return volatility, and executive unexercised-vested options) in predictable ways. Second, we show that variation in firm-year level personality trait measures, including risk tolerance, is largely explained by manager characteristics, as opposed to firm characteristics and firm performance. Finally, we find that executive inherent risk tolerance helps explain the positive relationship between client risk and audit fees documented in the prior literature. Specifically, the effect of CEO risk-tolerance – as an innate personality trait – on audit fees is incremental to the effect of increased risk appetite from equity risk-taking incentives (Vega). Measuring executive personality using machine-learning algorithms will thus allow researchers to pursue studies that were previously difficult to conduct.     

Surveying Lifelong Learning in the German National Educational Panel Study

This article outlines the German National Educational Panel Study, which collects comprehensive data on lifelong learning in a multi‐cohort sequence design, covering early childhood, childhood, adolescence, young adulthood and adulthood. It outlines data collection for all the cohorts and educational phases across the life course whilst focusing on the educational stage ‘Adult Education and Lifelong Learning’. Data can be accessed for academic purposes as scientific use files under data contract.