Investors' carbon risk exposure and their potential for shareholder engagement

This article examines the exposure to and management of carbon risks of different investor types. Considering the dual role as portfolio manager and partial owner, we analyze carbon risk for investors both in terms of exposure to portfolio values and in terms of responsibility as shareholder of carbon-intensive firms. We show that among various investor types, the preference for holding carbon-intensive stocks differs substantially, even when considering traditional investment decision parameters. In particular, it is governments whose portfolio values are most threatened by a carbon risk exposure of 49%, but at the same time, they prefer larger ownership shares in polluting firms. In contrast, individual investors, investment advisors, and mutual funds avoid holding stakes in these firms, while revealing only a moderate exposure of their assets to carbon risk. In view of the Paris Agreement, which includes the consistent steering of financial flows towards a low carbon transformation of the economy, our study provides policymakers with important implications regarding the coverage and effects of respective regulations. By identifying the ownership structures of carbon-intensive firms and respective owners' portfolio compositions, we also offer implications for further research on portfolio decarbonization and shareholders' influence of corporate carbon management.     

Emotional support from a digital assistant in technology-mediated services: Effects on customer satisfaction and behavioral persistence

In their traditional role, digital assistants in technology-mediated services provide customers with information, guidance, and suggestions. However, as the opportunities offered by technology and artificial intelligence increase, digital assistants can also provide emotional support, which refers to empathetic, reassuring expressions for customers who have failed or succeeded in fulfilling a task. We show across four experiments that emotional support offered by a digital assistant increases customer satisfaction (Study 1 and 2) and persistence (Study 3 and 4) in using technology-mediated services. The increase in satisfaction occurs via the perceived warmth of the digital assistant, and the increase in persistence via the serial mediation of perceived warmth and satisfaction. Further, the results of a moderated serial mediation show that the effect on persistence only occurs when a digital (but not when a human) assistant provides emotional support in technology-mediated services. Finally, the effect of emotional support on persistence occurs independently of the digital assistant's embodiment. Practitioners learn how to imbue technology-mediated services with a human touch, inducing favorable customer outcomes.     

An application of the airport service quality model in South Africa

Passengers’ expectations of service quality at airports are becoming increasingly important as air traffic grows. This research investigated passengers’ perceptions of airport service quality at O.R. Tambo International Airport, South Africa. An existing model placing the concept of passenger expectations central to measuring an airport’s specific level of performance was applied. The results proved significant in terms of the investment made by the airport in staff training and highlighted areas for improvement. The results show that business travellers and leisure travellers have different opinions regarding the importance of services offered by airports and of the level of performance at ORTIA in particular. Significant differences also occur in the perceptions of frequent travellers and infrequent travellers.     

Corporate Autonomy and Buyer–Supplier Relationships: The Case of Unsafe Mattel Toys

This article analyses supplier–buyer relationships where the suppliers adapt to the buyers’ needs and expectations to gain mutual advantages. In some cases, such closely knit relationships lead to violations of the autonomy of one or both partners. A concept of corporate autonomy (CA) is developed to analyze this problem. Three different facets can be distinguished: rule autonomy, executive autonomy, and control autonomy. A case study of Mattel’s problems with lead-contaminated toys produced in China shows that the CA of buyer and supplier can be restricted as a result of a dysfunctional partnership involving a moral dilemma.     

Tourism as connectedness

Late modernity in developed nations is characterized by changing social and psychological conditions, including individualization, processes of competition and loneliness. Remaining socially connected is becoming increasingly important. In this situation, travel provides meaning through physical encounters, inclusion in traveller Gemeinschaft based on shared norms, beliefs and interests, and social status in societies increasingly defined by mobilities. As relationships are forged and found in mobility, travel is no longer an option, rather a necessity for sociality, identity construction, affirmation or alteration. Social contexts and the underlying motivations for tourism have changed fundamentally in late modernity: non-tourism has become a threat to self-conceptions. By integrating social and psychological perspectives, this paper expands and deepens existing travel and mobilities discussions to advance the understanding of tourism as a mechanism of social connectedness, and points to implications for future tourism research.     

ICT investment and internationalization of the Russian economy

In this paper the influence of ICT investments on the international activities of Russia is analyzed. Firstly, ICT investments are considered as a factor of the international competitiveness of the Russian economy (in comparison with some other countries). Dynamics of both export volumes and openness of national economies are used as the main criteria for comparison. Then, the role of ICT in the development of international activities on the regional level is analysed. Cluster analysis is performed for the set of data on the Russian regions. Finally, the accession of Russia to the WTO is considered in the context of the development of the ICT sector and the international activities of the Russian economy.     

Conservation agriculture practices adopted in southern Brazil

The adoption of conservation agriculture (CA) practices are essential for soil and water conservation. In CA, farmers must adopt no-tillage (NT) with crop rotation to maintain a permanent soil cover. In Brazil, mainly in the South region, for CA to be more efficient, practices such as contour farming and agricultural terraces should also be adopted. Thus, the objective of this study is to determine the extent to which NT has been adopted with crop rotation and others soil and water conservation practices. Data from the Agricultural Census in Paraná State, southern Brazil, were used. For the data analysis, the relationship between the level of adoption of NT and the use of crop rotation, contour farming and agricultural terraces was analyzed. A factor and cluster analysis were performed to distinguish regions in terms of soil and water conservation practices. The results show good overall soil and water conservation practices, although heterogeneity has been observed in the adoption practices between regions. Adoption of NT is high in almost all the studied regions. The conservation practice most widely used with NT is contour farming, whereas the least used is agricultural terraces. Conservation practices for runoff control are being neglected by farmers.     

On the Effectiveness of Social Marketing—What Do We Really Know?

Social marketing continues to play an important role, as societies are facing diverse social problems. Therefore, scientific findings on the effectiveness of social marketing are particularly interesting. A rigorously elaborated, structured, state of the art covering two aspects—not only the currently observed restricted focus on health campaigns, but also the whole spectrum of topics and the diversity of applied methodologies—is needed. Accordingly, this article aims to identify and categorize relevant findings on the effectiveness of social marketing in a tentative holistic model, with a main focus on framing determinants. A research agenda, which includes research propositions on framing determinants in social marketing effectiveness, to enhance scientific progress in the field, is deduced from this state of the art.     

Economics training and hyperbolic discounting: training versus selection effects

This paper contributes to the literature on the effects of economics training on behavior by examining the link between hyperbolic discounting and the number of economics classes taken by a sample of 1310 college graduates at Ohio University. A strong negative correlation is found between economics training and hyperbolic discounting behavior. Regression analysis shows that dynamic consistency is a determinant of taking economics classes. Once the endogeneity of these variables is accounted for, economics training is no longer a statistically significant determinant of hyperbolic discounting. Thus, the selection effect of studying economics outweighs the training effect. Behavioral variables are found to be more important in explaining hyperbolic discounting than demographic variables. The study suggests the importance of controlling for both the selection effect and the training effect for all studies that examine the role of economic training on behavior.     

Just a Question of Selection? The Causal Effect of Profit Sharing on a Firm's Performance

Using German firm panel data, we analyze the productivity effects of profit sharing. Because selectivity should pose a severe problem in this context, we combine matching with a difference‐in‐differences approach. This method enables us to rule out potential bias. Our results suggest that selectivity does indeed matter. Firms with very special characteristics apply profit sharing. We find that these establishments are already more productive before they decide to implement profit sharing. Nevertheless, after accounting for selection, our results show that the introduction of profit sharing leads to a significantly higher productivity in these firms.