Tests of Weak‐Form Efficiency of the Dhaka Stock Exchange

Abstract:   Conflicting evidence on weak form efficiency of the Dhaka Stock Market appears to stem from the use of monthly versus daily data, structural changes after the 1996 market crash, and the use of tests with or without heteroscedasticity adjustment. Heteroscedasticity‐robust tests indicate short‐term predictability of share prices prior to the crash, but not afterwards. Although a heteroscedasticity‐robust Box‐Pierce test was used by Lo and MacKinlay (1989) in their simulations, our study appears to be the first to apply this test to stock prices. Typical rejection of weak‐form market efficiency by the usual autocorrelation tests may be reversed by a heteroscedasticity‐robust test.     

MEASURING CUSTOMERS' PERCEPTIONS OF LOGISTICS SERVICE QUALITY OF 3PL SERVICE PROVIDERS

Despite its importance, with the major exception of Mentzer and colleagues, the development and measurement of the Logistics Service Quality construct (LSQ) has been relatively under researched. This paper reports the testing and validation of the LSQ instrument (Mentzer, Flint, and Kent 1999) in the context of the third‐party logistics industry in the UK. The 3PL setting was considered a logical progression for testing the instrument versus the original in‐house logistics service provider. The study is based on a cross sectional mail survey of the customers of third‐party logistics service providers.     

Consumer ethics: moral ideologies and ethical beliefs of a micro-culture in the US

This study explores the ethical ideologies and ethical beliefs of African American consumers using the Forsyth ethical position questionnaire (EPQ) and the Muncy–Vitell consumer ethics questionnaire (MVQ). The two dimensions of the EPQ (i.e. idealism and relativism), and gender were the independent variables and the four dimensions of the MVQ (i.e. illegal, active, passive and no harm) were the dependent variables. A sample of 283 students from a historically black university was used to explore the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. Findings suggested that consumers who scored higher on the idealism scale and lower on the relativism scale were more likely to reject questionable activities. On average, females expressed more willingness to reject questionable activities than males.     

Organizational Ethics in Developing Countries: A Comparative Analysis

Relationships with one’s employees, co-workers, or superiors create ethical dilemmas. Employees’ judgments and ethical perceptions have been extensively studied in Western cultures, but not in developing countries. The purpose of this investigation is to examine employees’ self-reported work-related ethics and compare them to their perceptions of co-workers’ and top managements’ along various morally challenging situations in three developing countries’ organizations. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Oman, known as the Gulf countries, were selected as the research setting – and provided the sampling frame – for this study. The results suggest that respondents perceived all ethically challenging situations as unethical and had significant differences among themselves regarding the ethical perceptions of self, as compared to perceptions of peers’, and top managements’. Discussion of the results and implications are provided.     

Relationship between employees’ beliefs regarding training benefits and employees’ organizational commitment in a petroleum company in the State of Qatar

The study examined the relationship between the beliefs of senior staff Qatari national employees regarding training benefits as measured by the benefits of employee training, and employees’ organizational commitment as measured by the three‐component model of organizational commitment. This relationship was assessed through a quantitative associational research design. From the study site, Qatar Petroleum, a total of 283 responses were analysed using stepwise regression analysis. The findings suggest that there is a positive relationship between employees’ beliefs regarding training benefits and employees’ organizational commitment.     

The dimensions of assortment: A proposed hierarchy of assortment decision making

Abstract

The merchandise assortment plays a fundamental role in retailing; it conveys the positioning of the retailer, and is a key determinant of image and patronage. However, existing literature covering a 50-year period is somewhat fragmented. A key problem with the literature is that it does not distinguish between different levels and dimensions of assortment, causing potential ambiguity in their interpretation in the modern retailing context. The lack of standardised terminology could potentially inhibit future assortment research in, for example, assortment measurement. In reviewing the literature, the critical dimensions of assortment are clarified with conceptual definitions and a hierarchical classification of assortment being proposed. Further, the assortment research is examined, identifying an imbalance between operational and strategic assortment research. As retail assortments expand and saturate, the need for assortment measurement research is argued with associated implications for retail management.     

The Link Between Small Business Governance and Performance: The Case of the Ghanaian SME Sector

ABSTRACT

The present study set out to examine corporate governance practices of SMEs in Ghana and whether there is any linkage between these governance practices and financial performance. We employed two levels of interaction to achieve our objectives: The first is an interview for a general understanding of governance issues in the SME sector and the subsequent design of a questionnaire for an exploration of the linkages between governance issues and firm financial performance by employing a linear model. The study reveals that governance structures in SMEs are jointly influenced by credit providers and business ethical considerations. The regression results show that board size, size of audit committees, corporate ethics and the proportion of outsiders on the audit committees have negative impact on financial performance while independence of the board and the presence of audit committees enhance firms' financial performance. The findings have some policy implications in that it shows that exporting SMEs are relatively profitable. It is recommended that in an attempt to promote exports, the legal and regulatory environment should be conducive for these firms.     

Exploring factors influencing US millennial consumers’ use of tap-and-go payment technology

ABSTRACT

Although mobile payment (MP) represents a possibility for traditional brick-and-mortar US retailers to enhance the quality of customer service, mobile payment adoption in the US has lagged, with research regarding this phenomenon in the US seemingly in its embryonic stage. The current study contributes to the literature on mobile payment adoption in the US by investigating the factors on US millennial consumers’ use of mobile payment technology, operationalized in the study as tap-and-go payment systems. The study mirrors a study of the acceptance of mobile shopping technology among German consumers, with some extension. The study incorporated mobile payment risk perception, system trust, and socio-cultural influence into an extended technology acceptance model (TAM) to explore this issue. Results from a survey conducted among 357 US Millennials indicate that perceived ease of use of MP (PEOUMP); perceived usefulness (PUMP); and risk perception all influence attitude toward mobile payment (AttMP). System trust, socio-cultural influence, and AttMP all influence MP use intention. The paper discussed the limitations of the study and future research directions.     

How does past behaviour stimulate consumers' intentions to repeat unethical behaviour? The roles of perceived risk and ethical beliefs

Repeated unethical behaviour by consumers is a serious challenge for participants in business transactions, including consumers, retailers, and those responsible for market supervision. Due to the inherent risk of such behaviours, we examine perceived risk to uncover the psychological mechanism by which consumers consider past behaviour (PAB) when deciding to repeat unethical behaviour. We divide perceived risk into two categories, material risk (MAR) and nonmaterial risk (NMR), based on two kinds of ethical evaluation and explore their mediating effects in the process through which PAB influences consumers' intentions to repeat unethical behaviour (CIRUB). We check the moderating effect of consumers' ethical beliefs on the relationship between PAB and CIRUB. We use survey data from four typical ethical scenarios to test the proposed structural relationships. Direct positive effects of PAB on consumers' intentions are observed in all four scenarios. NMR has stable, positive mediating effects in all scenarios. MAR is found to have negative mediating effects in two scenarios (switching price tags and using an expired coupon) and a positive effect in one scenario (copying software). However, no effect is observed in the benefiting from a cashier's mistake scenario. Finally, ethical beliefs are proven to positively moderate the relationship between PAB and consumers' intentions in the first two scenarios, but not the last two. This study also discusses the implications of the findings and offers suggestions for future research.     

Consumer's Perception of Website Service Quality: An Empirical Study

With the increasing penetration of the Internet, service quality has become one of the key areas of concern for online shopping sites. Website service quality has become a vital factor in making e-commerce successful because comparing the features of products in the online environment is easier, practically free of cost, and saves on time in comparison to conventional offline markets. To empirically explore the critical factors that determine perceptions of the service quality of online shopping sites, researchers adopted the eTailQ scale suggested by Wolfinbarger and Gilly (2003 Wolfinbarger, M., and M. C. Gilly. 2003. eTailQ: dimensionalizing, measuring and predicting etail quality. Journal of retailing 79 (3):183–98. doi:10.1016/s0022-4359(03)00034-4.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Web layout, web info, customer service, fulfillment, and privacy emerged as the critical factors affecting website service quality. Findings of the study are expected to provide valuable insights to academicians in better conceptualizing the constructs and also help marketing practitioners in fine-tuning their strategies by addressing the peculiar needs of the Indian online shoppers.