THE IMPACT OF THE INSIDER TRADING SCANDAL ON THE INFORMATION CONTENT OF THE WALL STREET JOURNAL'S “HEARD ON THE STREET” COLUMN

We examine the impact of a scandal on the information content in the “Heard on the Street” column of the Wall Street Journal. Following the scandal in 1984, the column is found to have a reduced impact on stock prices for both buy and sell recommendations. However, the stock price response to information later published in the column before the publication day is smaller for the post-scandal period. This result suggests that after the scandal, editors and authors may have become more cautious in guarding against information leaks in the column. The scandal does not appear to have changed the impact of the column on trading volume.     

Stochastic innovation and product market organization

Summary This paper analyzes how different types of product market organization affect firms' R&D investments in a stochastic innovation framework. Product market competition determines payoffs to successful and unsuccessful firms. Restrictions on the research project success probability distribution are identified that yield an invariance result for expenditure per R&D project. The impact of the number of firms (n) on the amount of market R&D is shown to be sensitive to product market organization. For a major process innovation, firms undertake more R&D projects under Cournot product market competition than under Bertrand competition, forn sufficiently large. A numerical example is used to illustrate welfare tradeoffs.Tom Lyon, Herman Quirmbach, Ferenc Szidarovszky, Mark Walker and two anonymous referees gave us helpful comments and suggestions on prior versions of this paper. Lucy Atkinson provided expert research assistance on numerical computations. Special thanks to Ted Bergstrom who gave us valuable suggestions about the first proposition.     

The Shifting of FHA Discount Points: Actual Vs. Expectations

This study extends the earlier studies by Zerbst and Brueggeman (Z&B) and Colwell, Guntermann and Sirmans (CGS) with regard to the shifting of FHA discount points by the seller to the buyer in the form of a higher selling price. The study extends the earlier studies by reducing the estimation problems of the CGS model and further developing the Z&B model to incorporate expected discount points built into the asking price. The results presented indicate that 100% of the points are not being shifted. Reasons for the less-than-full shifting are given.     

Destination diversification as an indicator of activity compatibility: An exploratory analysis

Abstract

The concept of activity packages has long been recognized as an important basis for planning outdoor recreation activities. Recent studies suggest, however, that because of definitional and methodological problems, little has been accomplished in helping park planners assess the degree to which activities can be planned together. In this study, we explore the relationship between participation in recreation activities and the number of facilities at which activity takes place. The results suggest that this relationship can be used as a reliable indicator of the degree to which recreation activities are perceived to be compatible. The analyses also suggest that households generally tend to perceive compatibility among recreation activities in the same way regardless of their socioeconomic status. The implications of these findings are considered and shown to be important within the context of park planning.     

User preferences for web site attributes: A study of the Hong Kong Disneyland

The Hong Kong Disneyland will be open in 2005 and the theme park is very likely to have an official web site. In order to determine the nature of a model/ideal official web site that would serve the promotional purpose, this study is conducted with two objectives. First, the study makes an attempt to understand the information types that the target markets, namely local Hong Kong residents, Western visitors and Chinese visitors, would like to have on the future Hong Kong Disney web site. Secondly, this research examines whether e‐ticketing is feasible for the web site. Using a questionnaire and a convenience sampling method, 198 responses were received. Empirical results indicate that the respondents all agreed that the suggested attributes should be listed in the web site. In addition, no significant difference was found among different groups of respondents on homepage information. However, significant differences were found among the interviewees’ views regarding products/services information, and ticketing information. To communicate effectively, the adoption of EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) is recommended in a value‐chain system for achieving successful e‐commerce.     

Representational predicaments at work: How they are experienced and why they may happen

Representational predicaments reflect unfavorable perceptual or attributional incongruence between subordinates and superiors about the employees’ work, and adversely affect morale. Critical incident interviews were held with 63 Hong Kong Chinese employees from over 50 organizations. Stories about undervaluation of contextual performance were compared with stories about duly appreciated contextual performance, and stories about negative spotlighting (disproportionate emphasis on shortcomings or mistakes) were compared with stories about fair treatment of mistakes. Subordinates attributed undervaluation of contextual performance to: the superior’s unfamiliarity with the employee’s work, the superior’s perception that the work was of marginal importance, the subordinate’s lack of empowerment to report contextual performance, the lack of considerate attention by the superior, and the subordinate’s felt need to keep a low profile. Underlying factors were inhibitions against employee voice, leadership styles characterized by lack of benevolence and lack of individualized consideration, and absence of close subordinate-superior relationships. Subordinates attributed negative spotlighting to: the superior’s abusive behavior, prejudicial and hostile attitudes, or insistence on one “right way”; rivalry between the superior and the subordinate; and the absence of legitimate channels for upward feedback. Underlying factors were absence of just grievance procedures, and leadership styles characterized by authoritarianism, which could be compounded by lack of benevolence and lack of moral restraint, leading to abusive supervision. Cross-cultural research could establish whether large power distance and other cultural and institutional factors render Asian employees especially vulnerable to representational predicaments.