The relationships among leadership,goal orientation,and service quality in high-contact service industries: An empirical study

High-contact service industries are characterized by close interaction between service employees and customers, and diverse customer needs. Such characteristics pose a great challenge to the delivery of services of superior quality. In this research we conceptually explore and empirically examine several attitudinal and motivational factors of customer-contact employees, and the management style of managers as antecedents to service quality in high-contact service sectors. Based on dyadic data collected from 230 service firms in Hong Kong, we examine the relationships among transformational leadership, transactional leadership, affective organizational commitment, learning goal orientation, performance goal orientation, and service quality. We find that learning goal orientation is more effective than performance goal orientation in fostering service quality in the high-contact service context. We also observe that transformational leadership tends to be more effective than transactional leadership in influencing employee attitude in high-contact service firms. This research pioneers theory-driven examination of service quality in high-contact service firms using data collected from service employees and shop managers for hypothesis testing.     

Revisiting Perceived Risk in the Context of Online Shopping: An Alternative Perspective of Decision‐Making Styles

This study attempts to elaborate the consequences of perceived risk by taking the moderating effects of decision‐making style (i.e., involvement vs. heuristics) into account in the context of online shopping. The integrated model is tested repeatedly in diverse purchasing situations with different Web presentation styles and product categories. The findings indicate that perceived risk toward the Web site/product influences purchasing intention through cognition‐ and affect‐based attitudes. Moreover, the moderating effects of decision‐making style on the relationship between perceived risk and its consequences are conditional. Since perceived risk appears very crucial for promoting online shopping, the results of this study may provide an influential reference for academicians and practitioners when considering the role of perceived risk in Web site marketing. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

宝马学苹果天才

为了保住全球头号豪华汽车制造商的宝座,宝马正重新设计其经销商的运作方式,将增设更多“天才”产品专家,同时减少销售人员. 这是一种更柔和、更轻松的服务理念,因苹果而普及开来.在苹果门店中,有专门的产品专家向顾客解释苹果公司的笔记本电脑及其他产品.顾客可向训练有素的产品专家提问,而无需有议价的压力.一旦他们决定购买,将由销售人员接手.     

THE INTERNALISATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL EXTERNALITIES AFFECTING DWELLINGS: A REVIEW OF COURT CASES IN HONG KONG

In 1960, Ronald Coase suggested that there are many methods to solve the problem of externalities apart from imposing Pigovian taxes. Internalisation is one of those noted in his classic paper, ‘The Problem of Social Cost’. This paper studies the possibility of residents receiving compensation from pollutant generators. Data collected from Hong Kong law reports over the past 20 years show that there is forty‐fold increase in number of water seepage court cases since the first case in 1994. The total amount of compensation has also increased greatly. There are, however, far fewer court cases where residents seek compensation from generators of noise and air pollution. This may reflect a combination of high transaction costs and low expected benefits from such cases.     

论行政管理与以人为本

行政管理与以人为本,是两个不同概念的.行政管理指的是国家行政机关对各级行政部门进行的管理;以人为本指的是在从事某项工作时考虑的对象必须以人为中心,不能脱离人这个根本.可是,在实际工作中,行政管理与以人为本却并非完全相互融合、相互统一,有时甚至是相互对立的.     

请注意，特斯拉还留了一手

特斯拉开放专利给习惯吃独食的汽车业带来了不小震动。但是请注意，特斯拉CEO埃隆·马斯克的声明中明确表示：对方必须是出于利他行为，这给他留下了回旋的余地.     

经济发展需要创新人才

国民经济的持续、快速、协调发展,关键是要在经济增长方式的转变过程中,把加快产业结构的调整和优化作为主要途径.努力造就出一大批高素质的劳动者和创新型人才,这是实现我国国民经济在更高阶段上持续发展的重要保证,也是加快实现全面建设小康社会和逐步实现我国国民经济现代化的重要条件.     

Do Asian stock market prices follow martingales? Evidence from spectral shape tests

This paper examines the martingale hypothesis for five Asian stock markets using the spectral shape tests of Durlauf (1991). Unlike the variance ratio test employed in previous studies (eg, Panet al, 1991), the spectral shape tests are consistent againstall stationary alternatives to the martingale null.The spectral shape tests were applied to daily and weekly returns on the stock indices of Thailand, Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan over a period of 17 years. The results show that the martingale null is rejected for most markets. There is some evidence that the rejections may be due to low frequency or long memory influences.The authors are lecturers, Department of Finance and Banking, National University of Singapore. This paper was presented at the Third International Conference on Asian-Pacific Financial Markets, September 9–11, 1993 in Singapore. We have benefited greatly from the comments of Y K Tse and other conference participants.     

土地产权残缺与西北地区生态环境治理制度创新

西北地区经济发展面对的最大障碍是生态问题。作为生态环境治理制度创新核心的农村土地产权制度创新有助于稳定预期、扩大融资渠道、实现规模经济以及外部影响“内在化”,塑造出新的激励机制激发个人、企业参与生态建设的积极性。