Toward a method for the rapid collection of public concerns and benefits of emerging energy technologies

Abstract

The speed and scale with which new technologies emerge sometimes force decision makers to act without the benefit of thorough risk analyses and environmental and social impact analyses. Insights from interested and affected parties (IAPs) can be tapped to alert decision makers to expected risks and benefits associated with emerging technologies. One of the methodological challenges has been to identify IAPs with relevant knowledge of the emerging technology. Here we show how Facebook’s marketing tool can be employed to reach IAPs with experience and knowledge in a new energy technology and recruit them to a survey instrument. We demonstrate the approach in the context of hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas in the United States. A $200 1-week Facebook ad produced a diverse sample of 379 IAPs from 36 states that identified 41 benefits and 80 risks. This knowledge can be used to steer the direction of analyses for impact assessments. Comparison to a similar study showed a surprising number of differences, suggesting that larger samples are needed.     

Testing the Tracking Efficiency of Commodity Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) across the Bearish and Bullish Market Regimes: Evidence from Indian Gold ETFs

Commodity exchange traded funds (ETFs) help investors gain exposure to the underlying commodity in digital form. The present article attempts to examine the performance characteristics of 12 gold ETFs in India across the bear and bull markets. ETFs’ sensitivity to their underlying asset (gold prices) is observed to be lower during the bearish market regime, and, as such, the tracking error is found to be higher during the bearish market regime. Further, volume is reported to bear a significant positive impact on the tracking ability of ETFs whereas volatility and pricing deviation are found to negatively impact the tracking ability of ETFs.     

What drives the adoption and consumption of green hotel products and services? A systematic literature review of past achievement and future promises

The current study utilises the time-tested systematic literature review (SLR) method to identify and analyse 76 studies addressing the consumer adoption of green hotels. The results of the research profile analysis show that the literature on consumers' adoption and consumption of green hotel products and services is expanding and gaining more recognition from researchers working in Asian contexts, particularly China, Taiwan and India. Moreover, the qualitative thematic analysis yields four key themes, (a) consumer behaviour variables addressed, (b) antecedents and mediators of green hotel adoption, (c) moderators of the relationship and (d) methodological considerations, for which limitations and future research directions are identified accordingly. The main novelty of the study lies in the development of a unified framework of consumer adoption and consumption of green hotel products and services that calls for a multitheoretic examination of the issue. This review is among the first to consolidate the growing literature on consumer adoption and consumption of green hotel products and services.     

Do Vendor Cues Influence Purchase Intention of Online Shoppers? An Empirical Study Using S-O-R Framework

The purpose of the current research is to understand the influence of vendor cues like brand reputation. Brand familiarity and offline presence on trust and attitude of online shoppers and consequently on online purchase intention. Data was collected through a web based survey. The findings of the study reported that vendor offline cues have a strong and positive impact on the online purchase intentions of the shoppers. Further, this study also contributed by proving that the trust has a strong relationship with purchase intention as compare to attitude.     

Monetary policy synchronization in the ASEAN-5 region: an exchange rate perspective

In light of the long-standing vision of economic and monetary integration in the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region and the importance of coordinating monetary policies to achieve it, the objective of this article is to assess the monetary policy synchronization among the founding members of the ASEAN, that is, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Due to the importance of exchange rate movements to monetary policies, we approach this issue from a currency exchange rate perspective. Specifically, multivariate trend–cycle decomposition is employed to investigate common trends and common cycles among the exchange rates of these countries during the period 1976–2012. Our analysis reveals that the real exchange rates of Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand share common cycles in the short term and have common trends in the long term, but the Indonesian currency does not share these relationships. Thus, our results augur well for the synchronization of monetary policies among Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. In contrast, the relatively turbulent dynamics of the Indonesian rupiah evident in frequent bouts of stark depreciation separated by periods of steady depreciation over the past three decades raise questions regarding the readiness of Indonesia for participating in a monetary alliance with the ASEAN-4 nations.     

Selective swap arrangements and the global financial crisis: Analysis and interpretation

This paper explores the logic inducing the FED to extend unprecedented swap-lines to four emerging markets in September 2008. Exposure of US banks to EMs turned out to be the most important selection criterion for explaining the “selected four” swap-lines. This result is consistent with the outlined model. The FED swap-lines had relatively large short-run impact on the exchange rates of the selected EMs, but much smaller effect on the spreads. Yet, all the swap countries saw their exchange rate subsequently depreciate to a level lower than pre-swap rate, calling into question the long-run impact of the swap arrangements.     

Adoption of digital banking channels in an emerging economy: exploring the role of in-branch efforts

The aim of this qualitative study is to analyse the role of in-branch efforts of banks on migrating customers from branch banking to digital banking in India. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with bank executives representing senior management from public and private sector banks in India. Qualitative content analysis technique was used to analyse the data. Varieties of responses received during interviews were clubbed into four main themes based on data reduction, display, and conclusion-drawing processes. In-branch communication with customers, digital transformation of the branch, customer-centric initiatives, and redefined role of branch staff hold the potential to bridge the customers’ migration to digital banking. The paper suggests that the key identified factor in improving digital banking acceptance in India is the requirement of integrated cultural and organisational changes at the bank’s level to gain the customers’ confidence and trust in digital banking.

     

Risk Taking and Performance of Public Insurers: An International Comparison

We investigate how investor protection, government quality, and contract enforcement affect risk taking and performance of insurance companies from around the world. We find that better investor protection results in less risk taking, as do higher quality government and greater contract enforceability. However, we find only limited evidence that these factors influence firm performance. We conclude that better overall operating environments result in less risk taking by insurers without the concomitant decline in performance. These results imply that better investor protection environments benefit policyholders and outside stockholders by preventing corporate insiders from expropriating wealth from policyholders and outside stockholders.     

Strategic Role of Trade Credit in Chain Coordination for the Traditional Farm Business Enterprises in Punjab,India

Abstract

Rice being a staple cereal, government purchases paddy (unhusked rice) from the primary wholesale markets in the surplus agrarian Punjab State and milled rice is distributed through the public distribution system in rice deficit States. Commission agents (CAs) in the primary wholesale markets that operate on a fixed commission basis constitute a strategic link between farmers and the procurement agencies/millers. To ensure adequate supplies of paddy for their own businesses CAs advance trade credit to the client farmers who need a regular flow of credit (during both the seasons annually that is not always possible to raise from the formal sources) for the purchase of operational inputs, on farm investments and various consumption purposes. So mutual interdependences, hereditary characters of the business enterprises and close proximities have enabled the chain partners to build up close personal relationships in the repeat business transactions. Farmers sell paddy through the preferred CAs during the post-harvest period, and personal relationships play a pivotal role in chain coordination while captive relationships ensure timely payments. For advancing trade credit, CAs' preferred choices are the medium and large sized farmers due to lower risks while the small sized farmers are less preferred because of their weak asset positions and payment uncertainties that increase the operational costs of trade credit. CAs make amicable adjustments to the utmost so that farmers do not shift away from their preferred CAs. CAs do not share any market risk, however, when paddy payments from the government to farmers get delayed they at their personal levels meet the requirements for cash contingencies of the client farmers. Knowledge gained from this study provides managerial and policy insights on the supply chain management mechanisms for the supplies of an essential input and its timely recoveries.