The contribution of 3D computer modeling education to twenty-first century skills: self-assessment of secondary school students

International Journal of Technology and Design Education - In this study, the contribution of the 3D computer modeling to the twenty-first century’s common competencies was evaluated from the...     

Do the global stochastic trends drive the real house prices in OECD countries?

This paper demonstrates that in the long-run the main determinants of the real housing prices for a panel dataset comprising the quarterly observations of 12 OECD countries are the real GDP per capita and the real interest rate along with the global stochastic trends.     

Analysing money demand relation for OECD countries using common factors

This article investigates the existence of a long-run money demand relation for a panel data consisting of 13 OECD countries. The analysis is based on the most recent data. The existence of a long-run money demand relation is tested with two new meta-analytic panel cointegrating rank tests which are robust to cross-sectional dependence. Cross-sectional dependency in the data generating process is modelled by unobserved common factors. The observed data are decomposed into idiosyncratic and common components, and these two components are analysed separately to find out the driving forces of the long-run stationary relationship. The evidence shows that the long-run money demand relation is driven by the cross-unit cointegration. Finally, the long-run relation is estimated by taking the common factors into account.     

Employee Turnover Intention in Travel Agencies: Analysis of Controllable and Uncontrollable Factors

High turnover rates have long been a problem and costly in many industries. Numerous studies have focused on the reasons for employee turnover; however, most have focused on the hospitality industry but scarce in travel agencies. Thus, this research aimed to examine the situation in travel agencies in Hong Kong. A sample of 200 frontline staff was selected by convenience sampling. The results indicated that five independent variables, namely, general job satisfaction, job hopping, job security, training opportunity and promotion opportunity are significantly related to turnover intention. The managerial implications of these findings and future research directions are also discussed. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An Examination of Social Media Marketing in China: How do the Top 133 Hotel Brands Perform on the Top Four Chinese Social Media Sites?

The purpose of this study is to evaluate hotel companies’ social media marketing efforts using the “6Is” social media monitoring framework. More specifically, in this study we set out to understand how hotels disseminate information, engage with consumers, and distribute products through social media. We investigate the presence of the top 133 hotel brands in China on the top domestic Chinese social media sites in order to identify to what extent the hotel industry in China recognizes the potential of this marketing tool. The findings indicate that the majority of the hotels actively and consistently use the Sina Weibo and Wechat platforms for their social media marketing.     

Sex‐role conflict at work: its impact on consumption practices of working women in Turkey

Changing social norms regarding the role of women in society is fostered by women's participation in the workforce. Hence, changing role of working women in business life leads the transformation of gender stereotypes and roles. Women alter their gender role orientation according to the requirements of male‐dominated business life; however, the unchanged role in private life leads to sex‐role conflict. This study investigates the role of consumption as a key component of identity in the process of managing sex‐role conflict in a non‐Western cultural context. In‐depth interviews were conducted with working women with various cultural and educational backgrounds. According to the findings of the study, women are forming compatible identities, which reduce the perceived sex‐role conflict and consumption patterns are changing to suit the requirements of their new ways of living.     

Children's perception of food and healthy eating: dynamics behind their food preferences

Childhood obesity epidemic has been a popular topic for research as it has become a major health concern in many countries. As the focus of earlier studies has been predominantly on food marketing to children, there is still limited research on what other factors, apart from food marketing, influence their food preferences and eating habits. Bringing in children's perspectives as well as those of parents and guardians, this study aims to fill this gap by shedding light on further dynamics that can be influential on children's preferences. Through a qualitative inquiry, focus groups and individual interviews were conducted with children between the ages of 7 and 11. Aiming to investigate both meanings and practices, these sessions also included interactive and participatory research methods such as drawing, word games and role playing. Moreover, in-depth interviews were carried out with teachers and mothers to gain an understanding of their perspective on the topic. The findings show the different appeals and social influences behind children's food preferences, among which sensory and fun appeals as well as the influence of parents come forward. By revealing these different appeals of food and social influences, the study brings a new perspective to the discussions on childhood obesity and food marketing.     

Business groups and the incorporation of firm-specific shocks into stock prices

Firm-specific information has a damped effect on business group-affiliated firms’ stock prices. Such firms’ idiosyncratic stock returns are less responsive to idiosyncratic commodity price shocks than are the idiosyncratic returns of otherwise similar unaffiliated firms in the same country and commodity-sensitive industry. Using global commodity shocks means we assess responses to common idiosyncratic shocks of the same magnitude, frequency, and observability. Further identification follows from difference-in-difference tests exploiting successful and matched exogenously failed control block transactions. We conclude that business group firms’ stock prices provide less firm-specific information to capital providers and managers.     

Global economic sustainability indicator: analysis and policy options for the Copenhagen process

The traditional discussion about CO₂ emissions and greenhouse gases as a source of global warming has been rather static, namely in the sense that innovation dynamics have not been considered much. Given the global nature of the climate problem, it is natural to develop a more dynamic Schumpeterian perspective and to emphasize a broader international analysis, which takes innovation dynamics and green international competitiveness into account: We discuss key issues of developing a consistent global sustainability indicator, which should cover the crucial dimensions of sustainability in a simple and straightforward way. The basic elements presented here concern genuine savings rates—covering not only depreciations on capital, but on the natural capital as well—, the international competitiveness of the respective country in the field of environmental (“green”) goods and the share of renewable energy generation. International benchmarking can thus be encouraged and opportunities emphasized—an approach developed here. This new EIIW-vita Global Sustainability Indicator is consistent with the recent OECD requirements on composite indicators and thus, we suggest new options for policymakers. The US and Indonesia have suffered from a decline in their performance in the period 2000–07; Germany has improved its performance as judged by the new composite indicator whose weights are determined from factor analysis. The countries covered stand for roughly 91% of world GDP, 94% of global exports, 82% of global CO₂ emissions and 68% of the population.