Tenure Security and Long‐term Investment on Tenanted Land: Evidence from Colonial Taiwan

We use farm diary data from Taiwan in the 1920s and 1930s to estimate the impacts of a state‐wide tenancy reform on tenants’ investment in the farmland and production outcome. The reform, commencing in 1922, enhanced the tenure security for the tenants by promoting written contracts that extended tenure length from 1 year to 5–6 years, and by establishing government‐sponsored organizations for dispute settlements. Our estimations rely on a difference‐in‐difference framework, where self‐cultivated farms are used as the control group. We find that the reform encouraged tenants to make investments in the irrigation and drainage system of the farms, which is expected to have long‐lasting benefits for production. The improved irrigation/drainage system led to significant efficiency gains for the farms. In contrast, the reform did not affect tenants’ usage of fertilizer much, which benefits production for only a crop season or a year.     

Business group characteristics and affiliated firm innovation: The case of Taiwan

This paper investigates the relationship between business group factors and affiliated firm innovation in terms of patents granted. We examine the following factors for business groups: group affiliation, group diversification, inside ownership, and family ties. In emerging markets, business groups act not only as an internal capital market, but also as a platform for resource sharing among affiliates. We use Taiwan's business groups as a research sample to investigate how these group factors affect affiliated firms' innovation. The findings indicate that firms that are affiliated with business groups innovate better than their unaffiliated counterparts. Group diversification and family ties have positive effects on firm innovation, while inside ownership has no significant positive effect. Our study contributes to the innovation literature by shedding light on business group factors and firm innovation.     

Process innovation capability and subsequent collaborative team performance in travel planning: a knowledge exchange platform perspective

Purpose: Backpacker tourism is flourishing in this century as the high development of Internet technology which enables travellers to search for resources they need easier. The research goal of this study was to exam how virtual skill and collective efficacy affect process innovation capability and subsequent team performance of collaborative design team in a virtual community. Design/methodology/approach: In this study, we formulated the virtual team model from the perspectives of open innovation paradigm and virtual competence, and we collected virtual community participation samples from the online communities. Invitation emails were delivered to numerous trip plan initiators in two well-known online travel communities for filling survey questionnaires for this study. In total, 3000 invitation messages were mailed, of which 373 were returned completed. The model and hypotheses were tested by structural equation modelling. Findings: Virtual competence, including collective efficacy and virtual media skill, is the essential key to facilitate process innovation capability and subsequent team performance success. Besides, knowledge sharing significantly moderates the relationship between process innovation capability and the team performance. Originality/value: Backpackers in the online travel communities have to have not only the willingness to collaborate, but also the abilities of using the correct tool to help with their tasks. When a self-efficacy gets into collective efficacy, it enables the collaborative team to develop with good virtual competencies. Accordingly, trip plan initiator and participants of a virtual team are as expertise contributors between conformity in online communities and online compulsive control tendencies.     

Sorting it out: pile sorting as a mixed methodology for exploring barriers to cancer screening

We discuss a mixed methodology for analyzing pile sorting data. We created a list of 14 barriers to colon cancer screening and recruited 18, 13, and 14 participants from three American Indian (AI) communities to perform pile sorting. Quantitative data were analyzed by cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling. Differences across sites were compared using permutation bootstrapping. Qualitative data collected during sorting were compiled by AI staff members who determined names for the clusters found in quantitative analysis. Results showed five clusters of barriers in each site although barriers in the clusters varied slightly across sites. Simulation demonstrated type I error rates around the nominal 0.05 level whereas power depended on the numbers of clusters, and between and within cluster variability.     

Antecedents of emotional attachment of social media users

Emotional attachment has been documented to be an effective basis for consumer loyalty behaviors in many contexts; however, not much has been offered for new service formats enabled by information technology. This study explores the emotional attachment of social media users in terms of personality traits of users and websites. Drawing on literature on brand personality and brand–self congruence, this research proposes that a match between user’s individual personality and the personality traits of the digital artifacts promotes affective connection to social media websites. The social media, to which the user becomes emotionally attached, therefore becomes part of one’s self-definition and representation in the digital world. Self-expressiveness is also investigated as a motivational driver that helps users form such an emotional bond. Individuals with higher motivation to express themselves are more likely to develop an emotional attachment to social networking sites, exhibit loyal behavior, and experience a stronger effect than self-website congruence on emotional attachment. Results of this research provide support to the proposed relationships. Theoretical and managerial implications are elaborated in the discussion.     

FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT ON GROWTH CONVERGENCE

This paper investigates whether the impacts of financial development on growth convergence vary with the stage of real development. We implement this analysis through the instrumental variable threshold regression approach proposed by Caner and Hansen. Our empirical evidence shows that financial intermediary development leads to long‐run convergence in growth of both economic activity and productivity. Moreover, such convergence‐enhancing effects of financial intermediation are stronger for less‐developed countries than for the more industrialized. In addition, the data reveal that stock market development assists growth convergence only in low‐income countries.     

The effect of outward investment to China on domestic R&D: a two-hurdle model with endogenous ODI

Outward direct investment (ODI) and domestic R&D are interrelated, but empirical evidence is affected by the nature of a firm's data, which are heavily censored. Firm data contain a firm's yes/no decision to invest in China, yes/no decision of R&D, and the decision of R&D intensity. We thus adopt a two-hurdle model and allow the China investment decision to be endogenous in an R&D model in order to examine the effect of ODI in China on domestic R&D investment in Taiwan's electronics industry. In the model, a two-equation simultaneous subsystem is formed, in which three regression equations are specified: a decision of R&D intensity, and a yes/no decision of location to conduct R&D together with a yes/no decision to invest in China Our results indicate that China investment and R&D intensity are positively related such that ODI in China helps to raise significantly a firm's R&D intensity as compared to the estimate if the endogeneity of China investment and the nature of data were not properly accounted.