Subject pool effects among the general population and students: a choice experiment example

Rising costs of conducting research coupled with limited budgets are forcing researchers to use samples of convenience. Students represent one such sample, but are students an appropriate population? The objective is to ascertain how students’ willingness to pay (WTP) differs from the general public’s WTP. Students and county residents are surveyed. Results suggest the study’s goal may determine if student responses are generalizable to the general population. The samples are similar in many characteristics, but WTP amounts vary. The student samples show some inconsistencies. If the goal is general behavioural inferences, the results provide support for the use of students. If the goal is to estimate specific WTPs for use in policy analysis, the use of students may not be advisable.     

What explains the low profitability of Chinese banks?

This paper analyzes empirically what explains the low profitability of Chinese banks for the period 1997–2004. We find that better capitalized banks tend to be more profitable. The same is true for banks with a relatively larger share of deposits and for more X-efficient banks. In addition, a less concentrated banking system increases bank profitability, which basically reflects that the four state-owned commercial banks – China’s largest banks – have been the main drag for system’s profitability. We find the same negative influence for China’s development banks (so-called Policy Banks), which are fully state-owned. Instead, more market-oriented banks, such as joint-stock commercial banks, tend to be more profitable, which again points to the influence of government intervention in explaining bank performance in China. These findings should not come as a surprise for a banking system which has long been functioning as a mechanism for transferring huge savings to meet public policy goals.     

Worldviews and leadership: Thinking and acting the bigger pictures

Leadership is about ideas and actions. Put simply, it is about implementing new ideas into creative actions to achieve desired results. Doing so, however, is far from simple. We know leadership requires considerable skills and abilities. It requires knowledge and insight—about one's organization or entity, its people, goals, strengths and market niche. Yet, something more is needed. Leadership also requires a kind of awareness beyond the immediate, an awareness of the larger pictures—of paradigms that direct us, beliefs that sustain us, values that guide us and principles that motivate us, our worldviews. This article will, first, briefly examine how the concept of worldviews is used in leadership study and the contexts in which it arises. Second, it will critically look at worldviews, recognizing that they are not always coherent and that our belief systems are often fragmented and incomplete. Third, it will argue for the relevance of the concept worldview in leadership study as a way to explore various visions of life and ways of life that may be helpful in overcoming the challenges we face today. Fourth, it will examine how national and global issues impact worldview construction, especially among the millennial generation. Our conclusions set some directions for leadership action in light of worldview issues.     

Are Corporate Career Development Activities Les Available to Female Than to Male Expatriates?

Despite the growing interest in female expatriates, few empirical studies have focussed on corporate career development activities available to women. Given the faltering corporate support for female business expatriates in general, one may presume that such organizational activities are less available to women than to men. To test this proposition, a large number of Western female and male business expatriates assigned to Hong Kong responded to a mail survey. Controlling for differences between the two gender groups, three significant gender differences were found, all indicating a lower availability of these corporate activities to women than to men, partially supporting expectations. These corporate career development activities were fast track programs, individual career counseling and career planning workshops. Implications of these findings for globalizing firms as well as for their female employees are discussed in detail.     

The relationship between the migration experience and risk perception: A factor in the decision to become an entrepreneur

This study examines the proposition that the migration experience influences perceptions of risk and, as such, the ‘migrant condition’ is a factor in explaining relatively high rates of entrepreneurship among immigrants in many host countries. The study analyses data obtained from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Spain 2009 Survey with regard to perceptions of risk in beginning a new venture. The study finds that immigrants to Spain, irrespective of their origin or ethnicity, are less likely than native Spaniards to perceive business creation as a risky situation. Moreover, the findings suggest that the perception of risk has a significant impact on the decision to engage in business start-up activity.     

Post-Crisis Gender Gaps: Women Workers and Employment Precariousness

The Gender Gap Index (GGI) is very useful when it comes to international comparisons, and it offers diverse and interesting approaches to equality, human wellbeing, and development. The central goal of this paper is to demonstrate the way in which this index is indirectly related to the distribution of public expenditure in different strategic sectors of economic development. When reducing healthcare and education expenditures in order to service the external debt due to institutional investors of the shadow financial system (SFS), the gender gap widens because of the austerity policies implemented by the state. This contributes to deepening of the unpaid work within the household, alongside widening the gender gap.     

Financial Inclusion and Financialization: Latin American Main Trends after the Great Crisis

In recent decades, the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have promoted policies and programs for financial inclusion (FI). This article studies the meaning of the inclusion proposal as well as the main results. The most important argument of this policy is the increase of local savings as the basis of investment and growth. Although this objective has not been achieved, inclusion remains a current policy. In reality, FI has been driven by an underlying agenda, as has been the case of other policies from the same sphere of interests that the Washington Consensus authored at the beginning of the 1990s. Although this denomination has been abandoned due to the loss of prestige it has achieved in the region, its main objectives continue to be promoted by many governments. Also, FI has been a vehicle for deepening financialization.     

Factors Affecting Individual Decisions Based on Business Legitimacy

In this paper, we study customer's legitimacy preferences from the perspective of individual social profiles. By doing this, we aim to determine the influence of the social context on decision-making processes that derive from organizational legitimacy perceptions. Through data collected from a sample of 258 individuals, we relate five individual characteristics to four business legitimacy typologies using regression analysis techniques. Results show that individuals with higher social consciousness are prone to make decisions about organizations that take into account moral and regulatory legitimacy perceptions. However, low-trust customers and customers with high decision visibility are more likely to assess organizations based on cognitive and pragmatic legitimacy considerations.     

Visual attention,buying impulsiveness,and consumer behavior

Buying impulsiveness is frequently triggered by point-of-sale information. In order to impact consumer behavior, this information must be visually noticed. In this study, researchers propose that consumers’ level of buying impulsiveness impacts their visual attention to point-of-sale information (i.e., signs, displays). Specifically, individuals scoring high on the buying impulsiveness scale (BIS) fixate less on point-of-sale information. This was tested in two experiments where participants’ task was to rate their purchase likelihood for ornamental plants. Both experiments demonstrate that consumers with high BIS fixate less on in-store signs but more on displays than low BIS consumers. High BIS participants’ visual attention to informational signs positively impacts their purchasing behavior while their visual attention to the displays does not. Theoretical contributions to consumer behavior literature and implications for retail marketing efforts are discussed.     

The preference for scarcity: A developmental and comparative perspective

Human adults often show a preference for scarce over abundant goods. In this paper, we investigate whether this preference was shared by 4‐ and 6‐year‐old children as well as chimpanzees, humans’ nearest primate relative. Neither chimpanzees nor 4‐year‐olds displayed a scarcity preference, but 6‐year‐olds did, especially in the presence of competitors. We conclude that scarcity preference is a human‐unique preference that develops as humans increase their cognitive skills and social experiences with peers and competitors. We explore different potential psychological explanations for scarcity preference and conclude scarcity preference is based on children's fear of missing out an opportunity, especially when dealing with uncertainty or goods of unknown value in the presence of competitors. Furthermore, the results are in line with studies showing that supply‐based scarcity increases the desirability of hedonic goods, suggesting that even as early as 6 years of age humans may use scarce goods to feel unique or special.