Understanding how technology paradoxes affect customer satisfaction with self‐service technology: The role of performance ambiguity and trust in technology

This study examines the role of consumer technology paradoxes within the context of self‐service technology and the routes by which these paradoxes influence customer satisfaction evaluation. Analysis of survey data from online banking customers indicates that three paradoxes operate in this context: control/chaos, fulfill needs/create needs, and freedom/enslavement. The study reveals further that the effects of these paradoxes on customer satisfaction are mediated by consumer performance ambiguity and consumer trust in technology. Theoretical and managerial implications of consumer paradoxical experiences for technology‐based services are discussed. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The economic performance of cities: A Markov-switching approach

This paper examines the determinants of employment growth in metro areas. To obtain growth rates, we use a Markov-switching model that separates a city's growth path into two distinct phases (high and low), each with its own growth rate. The simple average growth rate over some period is, therefore, the weighted average of the high-phase and low-phase growth rates, with the weight being the frequency of the two phases. We estimate the effects of a variety of factors separately for the high-phase and low-phase growth rates. Growth in the high phase is related to both human capital and industry mix, while growth in the low phase is related to industry mix only, specifically, the relative importance of manufacturing. Overall, our results strongly reject the notion that city-level characteristics influence employment growth equally across the phases of the business cycle.     

The impact of securities regulation on the earnings properties of European cross-listed firms

The objective of this study was to determine if the securities regulation in a foreign country is related to the earnings quality of European firms cross-listed in Europe. The study compared the post-listing earnings quality of 112 European firms cross-listed in 13 European stock exchanges during 1989–2001 to those of a controlled sample of non-cross-listed firms. Earnings quality was assessed by the use of reporting discretion to manage earnings. The regulatory strictness was represented by three indices of securities regulation.Empirical results provide some support to a positive association between earnings quality and the foreign securities regulation, suggesting that the foreign regulatory requirements have little or no effect on the reported earnings of European firms cross-listed in European exchanges.     

EXAMINATION OF A PATH MODEL RELATING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE WITH FIRM PERFORMANCE

This article draws on the resource‐based view of the firm to investigate the mechanisms through which information technology (IT) impacts firm performance. Research suggests that the relationship between IT and firm performance may be both direct and indirect. In this study, a path model is tested that proposes a firm's IT infrastructure resources as having both a direct impact on organizational performance, as well as an indirect effect that is propagated through its impact on an intermediate organizational resource, a firm's logistics information system (LIS). The results suggest that positive firm performance may be derived directly from an organization's superior IT infrastructure, as well as indirectly, through its enabling impact on LIS's. These findings contribute to our understanding of the nature of the relationship between IT and firm performance by exploring the value of IT at both the process and organizational levels.     

The economic crisis and accounting: Implications for the research community

Introducing a group of essays and articles on the implications of the current economic and financial crisis for accounting practice and research, this article provides an overview of some of the principal issues and themes. Noting that very little research has been done on the management accounting implications of such crises, particular consideration is given to exploring the significance of and potential for research on this topic. Drawing on unpublished research and personal experiences, the importance of having a wider understanding of an organization’s information environment is stressed.     

Accounting colonization: Three case studies in further education

The colonizing power of accounting in the public domain was linked to coercive institutional processes [Broadbent J, Laughlin R. Developing empirical research: an example informed by a Habermasian approach. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal 1997;10(5):622–48]. To further explore processes of accounting change in the public domain, three linked case studies were undertaken, from a Habermasian standpoint, at a local Learning and Skills Council and two Further Education Colleges in England. Adopting a critical constructionist methodology, three interpretations of the data were developed suggesting that aspects of accounting were colonizing, implicated in legitimation and rationality crises and implicated in ambivalent managerial roles. A double hermeneutic, based in phenomenology, was then undertaken to critique the theory which underpinned these interpretations, leading to the development of an extended theory of colonization to include coercive (mock obedience; real obedience), instrumental (devious compliance; dialogic compliance) and discursive processes (discursively pathological; discursively benign). The way accounting colonization is theorised has implications for the critical theme of how desired accounting changes might be identified and initiated.     

Forecasting Real Inventories and the Anomaly of Money Illusion

While the transmission mechanism of inventory behavior in the business cycle has been studied, less effort has been devoted to applied forecasting of inventory change. Inventory fluctuations have accounted for a sizable portion of the changes in U.S. GDP during recessions over the past fifty years. In this paper, we report on out-of-sample forecasts of manufacturing and trade inventories generated by regression and neural network methodology. Our forecasting model is Metzlerian in approach, in that the divergence between actual and targeted sales is hypothesized as the primary cause of inventory imbalance. Our forecasts also rely on the slow adjustment of inventory investment to sales surprises. However, the likely presence of money illusion is a caveat to users, and we address several distortions it introduces to inventory management measures.     

GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN RISK MANAGEMENT

Global supply chains face a multitude of risks. A review of the recent literature reveals a few structured and systematic approaches for assessing risks in supply chains. However, there is no conceptual framework that ties together this literature. The purpose of this paper is to integrate literature from several disciplines ‐ including logistics, supply chain management, operations management, strategy, and international business ‐ to develop a model of global supply chain risk management. The implications for stakeholders and how future research could bring more insights to the phenomenon of global supply chain risk management are also discussed.     

Cash Marketing Styles and Performance Persistence

Much agricultural economics research has been dedicated to determining the best time for producers to sell their commodities. Unlike this past research, we look at how producers actually sell commodities. The extent to which producers display an active or mechanical marketing style is measured using individual farmer sales. The activeness of a producer's marketing strategy is measured by how much the timing of their strategy varies from year to year. Results show no relationship between activeness and net prices received. Furthermore, the results show no evidence of performance persistence by individual producers.