An application of six sigma methodology to enhance leisure service quality

Thanks to flourishing development of the service industry for the past few years, its GDP output value is over 73%, which accounts for 58% of the employment population. The leisure service industry, in particular grows by multiple revealing its significant importance. As there is a feature of high homogeneity and substitution in the same trade, the core issue lies on enhancement of service quality in an environment of keen competition. As a result, six sigma (6σ) is applied in this research to improve service quality and increase competitiveness of the leisure industry. First, the service quality model proposed by Parasuraman, A., V. A. Zeithaml, and L. L. Berry (PZB model for short) is utilized to design the items in the service quality questionnaire. Importance and satisfaction of each service item perceived by customers are based for the scale, whose means are further converted to indexes. Thus, a scale-based service performance evaluation matrix with indices of importance as the Y-axis and those of satisfaction as the X-axis is defined. Then, service factors of high importance and low satisfaction are located and defined for improvement in accordance with the index location of each service factor. A measurement model based on the difference between customers’ importance and satisfaction is proposed and a measurement index is defined for an objective evaluation method and procedures. Next, factors of customer dissatisfaction are analyzed and improvement methods are devised. Finally, leisure service quality is monitored by the performance control model.     

Consumption externality, efficiency and optimal taxation in one-sector growth model

In an economy with consumption externalities, existing studies find that a competitive equilibrium is efficient in the long run and remains efficient in transitions if preferences are homothetic. This paper revisits the efficiency issue in an otherwise standard one-sector growth model where consumption externalities affect a utility via their effects on the time preference. We find that even if preferences are homothetic, the externality changes the marginal rate of substitution between now and future and leads to a disparity in the intertemporal elasticity of substitution between the centrally planned economy and a decentralized economy. As a result, a competitive equilibrium is inefficient in transition dynamics. We characterize an optimal tax/subsidy structure that enables the allocation in a decentralized economy to replicate the social optimum.     

Influences on expatriate social networks in China

This study applied social network theory to investigate the factors influencing expatriate social networks and the consequences of expatriate social networks in China. Based on analysis of 171 Taiwanese expatriates in China, this study found that core self-evaluations and extraversion are significant for expatriates in developing expressive and instrumental ties with host country nationals. Moreover, job autonomy assists expatriates in developing instrumental ties with host country nationals. The expressive and instrumental ties of expatriates with host country nationals are significant for overseas adaptation. Finally, instrumental ties with host country nationals are significant for expatriate job performance.     

A qualitative integration of self-determination theory and expectation-confirmation theory using physical education as an example

This study proposes a conceptual model based on both self-determination theory (SDT) and expectation-confirmation theory (ECT) using physical education as an example. It is important to try integrating SDT and ECT together given that satisfaction is a common core in both theories. In the proposed model, need support confirmation is influenced by support expectation and perceived support, while need satisfaction is influenced by support expectation and need support confirmation. Accordingly, being influenced by need satisfaction, self-determined motivation has a positive influence on students’ participation intention in optional PE courses. Finally, the discussion and limitation about the proposed model are also provided.     

Sources of employment fluctuations in Taiwan's industries and regions

This empirical study explores the sources of employment fluctuations in Taiwan's industries and regions over the period 1978 to 2004. The quarterly growth rates of employment in nine industries and four regions are modelled with a structural vector autoregression (VAR), and the employment shocks are measured by VAR residuals. The covariance matrix of the VAR residuals is decomposed using system estimation method that selects the parameters to make the error model close to the covariance matrix and, in turn, to estimate the relative importance of national as well as industry-specific and region-specific shocks. The empirical results show that industry-specific shocks account for the major fluctuations in industries and regions. On average, about 83.95% of an industry's cyclical variations and 56.28% of the volatility in a region may be attributed to industry-specific shocks. National shocks account for little employment volatility in industries. Only the finance and personal service industries are highly sensitive to national shocks.     

Developing physics concepts through hands-on problem solving: a perspective on a technological project design

In a contest featuring hands-on projects, college students were required to design a simple crawling worm using planning, self-monitoring and self-evaluation processes to solve contradictive problems. To enhance the efficiency of problem solving, one needs to practice meta-cognition based on an application of related scientific concepts. The objective of this study, then, was to analyze the physics concepts employed by the students as they completed a hands-on project named “Crawling Worm,” during which they had to overcome problems encountered by the requirements of their design as well as those brought on by competition. Based on the analysis of the participants’ working portfolios and on reviews and interviews by engineering professors, the results of this study show that the crawling worm design competition encouraged the practice of problem solving, and it facilitated the learning of physics concepts such as friction, torque, four bar link, material properties, and so on.     

Exploring the impact of trust and relational embeddedness in e-marketplaces: An empirical study in Taiwan

B2B transaction is a rapid growth section within e-commerce. However, despite the increase in the number of B2B transactions, only a few e-marketplaces have successfully attracted a large number of buyers and sellers. The purpose of this study is to investigate the underpinning forces that influence the organizational decision to adopt e-marketplaces and to improve competitiveness through continuous participation in e-marketplaces. This study applies the technology acceptance model, relational embeddedness, and the trust theory to explore the impact of perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and relational embeddedness on trust associated with e-marketplace providers. This study further tests the impact of relational embeddedness and trust on relationship performance in the context of e-marketplaces. Based on 284 active buyers and sellers in well-known public e-marketplaces, the empirical findings suggest that perceived ease of use positively influences perceived usefulness of e-marketplaces; perceived ease of use influences user trust of e-marketplaces via perceived usefulness; and relational embeddedness leads to enhanced trust in e-marketplace providers, which subsequently leads to better relationship performance. Both relational embeddedness and trust also influence relationship performance directly. This research reveals the importance of perceived usefulness and relational embeddedness on trust associated with e-marketplace providers.     

The impact of military technology transfer on economic growth: international evidence

The purpose of this article is to measure the impact of military technology transfer on economic growth for 67 selected countries during the period 2000 to 2005 through the application of the Malmquist productivity index, which is broken down into efficiency change and technical change. Our main findings are as follows. First, technology diffusion is all-pervading in half of the sampled countries due to pure efficiency and scale efficiency changes. Second, a higher-income level and an excess of arms imports lead to innovative activities. Third, middle-income countries have higher efficiency and pure efficiency changes; these contribute to higher total productivity change. Finally, after separating the impact of capital investment from that of arms imports, the diffusion of military technology has a more positive and substantial impact on economic growth, thereby revealing the presence of externalities between countries.     

Is income converging in China?

This study adopts a flexible Fourier unit‐root test proposed by Enders and Lee (2012) to revisit the tendency towards convergence in real per capita income among provinces after economic reform in China. When a data‐generating process is non‐linear, a Fourier series not only allows for the possibility of an unknown number of structural breaks with unknown forms but also allows for the use of a low‐frequency component to capture multiple changes. Contrary to what the linear statistics suggest, our results from a flexible unit‐root test indicate that China's eastern and western regions are converging to their own specific steady states.     

Pricing and hedging of quanto range accrual notes under Gaussian HJM with cross‐currency Levy processes

This study analyzes the pricing and hedging problems for quanto range accrual notes (RANs) under the Heath‐Jarrow‐Morton (HJM) framework with Levy processes for instantaneous domestic and foreign forward interest rates. We consider the effects of jump risk on both interest rates and exchange rates in the pricing of the notes. We first derive the pricing formula for quanto double interest rate digital options and quanto contingent payoff options; then we apply the method proposed by Turnbull (Journal of Derivatives, 1995, 3, 92–101) to replicate the quanto RAN by a combination of the quanto double interest rate digital options and the quanto contingent payoff options. Using the pricing formulas derived in this study, we obtain the hedging position for each issue of quanto RANs. In addition, by simulation and assuming the jump risk to follow a compound Poisson process, we further analyze the effects of jump risk and exchange rate risk on the coupons receivable in holding a RAN. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 29:973–998, 2009