The contextual relevance effect on financial advertising

The contextual relevance effect is an important factor for the effectiveness of financial services advertising that corresponds to the message effects such as ad recall (R_AD), perceived contextual relevance (PCR), message involvement (MI) and attitude towards the ad (A_AD), created during the process. Thus, this study examines whether the contextual relevance effect increases R_AD, PCR, MI and A_AD. The results reveal that the contextual relevance effect increases R_AD, PCR, MI and A_AD. Moreover, MI mediates PCR on A_AD. Implications based on the findings demonstrate the importance of contextual relevance as a metric for financial services advertising effectiveness.     

Late for a very important date: financial reporting and audit implications of late 10-K filings

Delays in financial reports often reflect issues related to period-end accounting and audit processes. We investigate the impact of filing delays in connection with auditor characteristics on the quality of financial statements in a sample of firms that filed Form 10-K after the statutory due date. We find that late filing firms are associated with lower financial reporting quality compared to timely filing firms matched by propensity scores, where financial reporting quality is measured by the absolute value of performance-matched discretionary accruals and the probability of a late filing being restated in subsequent periods. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the adverse consequences of late filings can be largely mitigated by having a Big 4 auditor. The differential audit quality stems primarily from Big 4 auditors in large offices and is more pronounced when an auditor may need to draw on additional resources in a limited period.     

Up in smoke: demarketing and consumer smoking cessation

The concept of demarketing refers to the use of marketing techniques to reduce or eliminate demand for a product or service. A review of the demarketing literature relating to health and specifically antismoking initiatives indicated that, while research on this topic exists, much of it is not grounded in an acceptable attitudinal or behavioural theory. After determining the importance placed by a sample of 18–24‐year olds on nine demarketing initiatives, two dimensions were identified that best explained this construct. Items within these dimensions were summed and averaged to form single variables, which were then used to form the attitudinal component of the Model of Goal Directed Behaviour. The findings showed that two of these variables – one that captured product packaging aspects and another that consisted of place and price items – significantly influenced the desire to quit and indirectly influenced the intention to quit. Anticipated positive emotions, frequency of quitting attempts and perceived control over quitting also positively influenced the desire and/or intention to quit. The article concludes with a discussion that interprets these findings from a theoretical and practical perspective and suggests directions for future research.     

Behavioral theories and the pricing of IPOs’ discretionary current accruals

The main purpose of this paper is to provide additional evidence about the effect of discretionary current accruals on the pricing of IPOs. This paper seeks to discriminate between two alternative explanations for the prior findings: (1) behavioral biases coupled with limited arbitrage; and (2) the sample- and period-specific nature of the results in the prior literature. The IPOs from 1962 to 1998 were used to obtain the following results. First, there was not a negative association observed between discretionary current accruals and subsequent price performance for the 1926–1971 period. Second, analysis reveals that the pattern of cross-sectional evidence is inconsistent with the predictions made by behavioral theories. Third, in the 1972–1998 period, evidence of predictable negative performance attributable to IPO discretionary current accruals is limited to NASDAQ firms. These findings are difficult to reconcile with the explanation of behavioral biases coupled with limited arbitrage.     

Monte Carlo theoretical trials of methods for assessing statistical significance for differences between adjusted odds ratios

Odds are generally defined as the number of successes divided by the number of failures in a given number of trials. An odds ratio is the ratio of one odds divided by another. Odds ratios can be adjusted to reflect associations with the outcome independently of the influence of associations with other variables. These are adjusted odds ratios. There are several well known methods for comparing odds ratios and testing for statistically significant differences between them. Analogous methods for adjusted odds ratios are not well known or well documented. One method for comparing adjusted odds ratios is explained by Hosmer and Lemeshow (Applied logistic regression, 2000). This method is used for the odds ratios for two variables from the same data set. The purpose of this analysis was to apply this method to a different situation: comparing odds ratios for the same variable from two different data sets. Monte Carlo trials were used to assess the performance of the method and these indicated the method performed well.     

Intergroup contact and reduction of explicit and implicit prejudice toward immigrants: a study with Italian businessmen owning small and medium enterprises

A field study was conducted to test the effectiveness of intergroup contact (Allport, The nature of prejudice, 1954) as a predictor of explicit and implicit attitudes toward immigrants and to examine the processes driving its effects. Participants were Italian businessmen owning small and medium enterprises in Northern Italy who had daily contact with their immigrant workers. We tested a model in which contact ameliorated explicit attitudes, measured as support for social policies toward immigration, through reduced negative outgroup stereotypes. Furthermore, we predicted that contact would have a direct, unmediated effect on improved implicit attitudes toward immigrants, assessed with an Implicit Association Test (Greenwald et al., J Personal Soc Psychol 74:1464–1480, 1998). The results were fully consistent with predictions, thus providing strong support for the contact hypothesis at both an explicit and at an implicit level. The lack of correlation between explicit and implicit attitudes supports dual-process models, suggesting that the two types of attitudes are formed through different processes. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Organizational climate for innovation and creative teaching in urban and rural schools

Due to the impact of knowledge-based economies, all countries strive to foster creative education. Research has demonstrated that creativity is influenced both by individual characteristics and by the environment. Previous research examining creative teaching by teachers in Taiwan has typically focused on the relationships between creative teaching and innovative personal characteristics, school leaders’ behaviors, and internal motivation. The purpose of this study was to move beyond prior research to investigate the relationship between creative teaching behaviors and innovation-fostering elements of the organizational climate in schools. In addition, we examined the impact on teacher creativity of urban versus rural school location.     

公共服务战略管理中的公众参与：原因、机制与意义

公共服务战略管理是战略管理途径在公共服务领域的运用,是制定公共服务战略并实施和评价战略的过程,以此更好地满足公共需求。公众是公共服务最直接的受众,应该把公众纳入公共服务战略管理的研究框架之中。同时,适当的公众参与对公共服务的有效供给及公共服务战略绩效的提高有着十分重要的作用。