Some comments on the possibility of “Methodological indeterminacy”

This article is an attempt to analyze the implications for research in the human sciences of the topic of “indeterminacy”. Reviewing an aspect of the issue from the philosophy of social science, the author argues that the debates at the philosophical level often overlook or underestimate the importance of methodological approaches. While the philosophical issue of indeterminacy remains a vexing problem in the social sciences since it was raised by Quine, the article argues that at least a partial resolution of the issue is possible if it is viewed within the context if differing methodological approaches.     

A cross-cultural comparison of the ethics of business students

The ethical tendencies of university business students from the USA, Denmark, and New Zealand were examined by analyzing their reactions to ethical dilemmas presented in a set of ethical problem situations. These dilemmas dealt with coercion and control, conflict of interest, physical environment, paternalism and personal integrity. Findings indicate that students' reactions tended to be similar regardless of their country. A comparison of these findings to practicing managers indicated that students and practicing managers exhibit a similar degree of sensitivity to ethical dimensions of business decision-making. Implications are drawn for business education and further research. Steven Lysonski is an Associate Professor at Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is a former member of the marketing faculty at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, NZ and the University of Rhode Island at Kingston. In addition to presenting research to more than 30 academic conferences, he has published widely in such journals as the Journal of Marketing, The European Journal of Marketing, the International Journal of Advertising, the Journal of Product Innovation and Management and Psychological Reports. His research interests focus on product management, international issues of marketing, and ethical implications of marketing. William Gaidis is an Assistant Professor at Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He has published articles in the Journal of Marketing, the Journal of Consumer Affairs, and other journals and academic conferences. His research interests focus upon decision-making, strategic-implementation problems, and business ethics.     

Forging relationships with services: The antecedents that have an impact on behavioural outcomes in the life insurance industry

The extent to which service quality is linked to satisfaction, value and behavioural outcomes continues to be debated in the literature. This research investigated two models involving the linkages between service quality, satisfaction, perceived value, repurchase intention and willingness to recommend to others. The life insurance industry was chosen as the industry for investigation since it is virtually a pure service with little tangibility and high credence properties. Data were collected in Singapore in response to concerns about broadening understanding of these variables cross-culturally. Results of path analysis indicate that service quality has an indirect relationship with behavioural outcome measures via satisfaction and value. The study found that satisfaction was positively associated with customers' re-purchase intentions but its relationship with customers' willingness to recommend to others was relatively weak. This finding has important marketing implications as word-of-mouth has previously been found to have significant influence on customers' purchase decisions.     

Accruals Management, Investor Sophistication, and Equity Valuation: Evidence from 10–Q Filings

The release of the full set of financial statements in Form 10–Q provides investors with the data necessary to estimate the discretionary portion of earnings, thereby allowing them to better assess the integrity of reported quarterly earnings. We thus expect a negative association between unexpected discretionary accruals estimated using 10–Q disclosures and stock returns around 10–Q filing dates. Consistent with our expectations, we document a negative association between unexpected discretionary accruals and cumulative abnormal returns over a short window around the 10–Q filing date. Furthermore, this association varies systematically with investor sophistication. Finally, results from portfolio tests indicate that this association is economically as well as statistically significant. One interpretation of our findings is that accruals management has substantial valuation consequences, which are quickly impounded into stock prices.     

Proposal for a Social Accounting Matrix which Fits into the Next System of National Accounts

This paper shows that all flow accounts which may become part of the next system of national accounts (SNA) can be embedded easily in a social accounting matrix (SAM) framework. In fact, a SAM format has several advantages when compared to the traditional T-accounts for the institutional sectors. The SAM allows for more flexibility in selecting (a) the most relevant (different) classification in each account, and (b) the most relevant (different)valuation principle in each account. Compared with most currently available SAMs, the national accounting flaws matrix in this paper adds a complete supply and use system, more detail in the current institutional sector accounts, a produced capacity account recording the destination of investments by production activity, flow-of-funds matrices, an ‘other’ changes in assets account and a changes in balance sheet account. This framework is illustrated with an example for The Netherlands.     

The valuation discount of multi-segment firms in Australia

This paper refines the Berger and Ofek (1995) methodology to estimate the valuation discount of multi-segment firms in Australia between 1988 and 1998. Evidence is found that based on earnings before tax, the sample of multi-segment firms traded at a 29 per cent greater discount than a comparable portfolio of single segment firms over the sample period. To explain the results further analysis shows that the valuation discount was driven by poorly performing multi-segment firms rather than multi-segment firms per se. This raises questions about studies that conclude that diversification is value destroying.     

Do Investors Learn? Evidence from a Gold Market Anomaly

This study finds evidence that supports the investor learning hypothesis using data from the gold market. Consistent with conventional wisdom, the prior returns on an equally-weighted portfolio of gold-producing stocks are found to predict gold returns. However, the predictive power is shown to have diminished since the first public discussion of the anomaly, a finding consistent with the investor learning hypothesis.