Utility of Ethical Frameworks in Determining Behavioral Intention: A Comparison of the U.S. and Russia

Using Reidenbach and Robin‘s ( Journal of Business Ethics 7, 871–879, 1988) multi-criteria ethics instrument, we carried out the first empirical test of Robertson and Crittenden‘s (Strategic Management Journal 24, 385–392, 2003) cross-cultural map of moral philosophies to examine what ethical criteria guide business people in Russia and the U.S. in their intention to behave. Competing divergence and convergence hypotheses were advanced. Our results support a convergence hypothesis, and reveal a common emphasis on relativism. Americans are also influenced by the justice criterion while Russians tend to emphasize utilitarianism. Rafik I. Beekun (Ph.D., the University of Texas at Austin) is Professor of Management and Strategy in the Managerial Sciences Department at the University of Nevada, Reno. His current research focuses on business ethics, national cultures, and the link between management and spirituality. He has published in such journals as the Journal of Applied Psychology, Human Relations, Journal of Management, Journal of Business Ethics and Decision Sciences. Correspondence regarding this article should be addressed to him: MGRS 28, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557–0206. James Westerman is an Associate Professor of Management at Appalachian State University. He received his Ph.D. in management from the University of Colorado at Boulder. His research interests include person-organization fit, employee ethics, compensation, and selection. Jamal Barghouti (B.Sc., MBA, Ph.D Management) is currently Advisor on Petroleum Affairs, H.H. Ruler’s Court, Dubai. He is also a lecturer at local universities including Dubai University College in human resources management, international business, organizational behavior and business communication. He has about 35 years of experience in the oil industry in the U.S.A., U.K., Russia, and the Middle East.     

Evaluating interpretable machine learning predictions for cryptocurrencies

This study explores various machine learning and deep learning applications on financial data modelling, analysis and prediction processes. The main focus is to test the prediction accuracy of cryptocurrency hourly returns and to explore, analyse and showcase the various interpretability features of the ML models. The study considers the six most dominant cryptocurrencies in the market: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Binance Coin, Cardano, Ripple and Litecoin. The experimental settings explore the formation of the corresponding datasets from technical, fundamental and statistical analysis. The paper compares various existing and enhanced algorithms and explains their results, features and limitations. The algorithms include decision trees, random forests and ensemble methods, SVM, neural networks, single and multiple features N-BEATS, ARIMA and Google AutoML. From experimental results, we see that predicting cryptocurrency returns is possible. However, prediction algorithms may not generalise for different assets and markets over long periods. There is no clear winner that satisfies all requirements, and the main choice of algorithm will be tied to the user needs and provided resources.     

Demand for and Assessment of Audit Quality in Private Companies

Financial statement audits are mandated in most countries, thus making it difficult to distinguish between auditing driven by private incentives versus that driven by regulation. Who would ask for an audit, and how would its quality be assessed in the absence of regulation? Many private companies in Canada get their financial statements audited even though the law does not require it. In this field study, we conduct interviews to discover reasons for demanding an audit, and criteria used to assess their quality. Our study reveals that both internal stakeholders (management, boards, and employees) as well as external stakeholders (customers, banks, and private equity firms) request audits. Users evaluate audit quality based on a variety of criteria such as the auditor's accounting expertise, the absence of errors, the fees involved, risk assessments offered, allocation of effort, internal control, and general business advice. Implications for audit regulations are discussed.     

Mutual fund flows and investors’ expectations in BRICS economies: Implications for international diversification

This paper empirically examines the relationship between different classes of mutual funds, measures of investors’ expectations and business cycle movements in the BRICS markets over the 1996Q1-2017Q3 period. Applying the Panel Vector Autoregressive (PVAR) model in a Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) setting, the results suggest a strong causal relationship between mutual fund flows and measures of investors’ future expectations. In particular, fund flows are forward-looking and assist in forecasting real economic conditions. Moreover, investors choose to invest in riskier funds when economic conditions are good, while they prefer safer options in poor economic situations. These findings have important implications for international diversification.     

Retail Banking and Customer Behaviour: A Study of Self Concept,Satisfaction and Technology Usage

Prior research has investigated the effects of self-image congruence on satisfaction and brand preference. With the help of empirical research, the paper argues that, while self-image congruence may be related to customer satisfaction in a normal context, it may not necessarily affect satisfaction levels when customers are using technology-based self-services. Furthermore, during encounters involving self-service technologies, customers might experience satisfying or dissatisfying incidents which may not be related to their overall satisfaction and brand preference levels. The paper discusses implications for brand managers in the retail banking sector and suggests future research directions.     

Influence of Experiences on Memories,Satisfaction and Behavioral Intentions: A Study of Creative Tourism

To date, few empirical studies have focused on the constituents of creative tourists’ experience and its consequences. This study aims to bridge this research gap by examining the effect of creative tourists’ experience on their memories, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions. Data were collected from 296 creative tourists, selected through purposive sampling, at selected resort hotels in the Malaysian states of Terengganu and Kedah. The results show that creative-tourist experience is a second-order factor with five dimensions, namely escape and recognition, peace of mind, unique involvement, interactivity, and learning. The results of structural equation modeling show that creative tourists’ experience is a good predictor of their memories, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions. The proposed model and findings can greatly help researchers and practitioners understand the concept of creative-tourist experience and its complex relationships with their memories, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions.     

Effects of Illegal Behavior on the Financial Performance of US Banking Institutions

This study investigates whether financial performance is affected by corporate violations of laws and regulations. In a sample of 128 publicly traded banks that were subject to enforcement actions by US regulatory authorities over a 20-year period, we observed a significant negative market reaction pursuant to the violations. However, the market reaction did not vary meaningfully in accordance with the severity or repetitiveness of the violation. The results of this study are in conformity with previous research on industries other than banking, notably with regard to negative market reaction. This confirms that shareholders in the banking industry react in a manner considerably similar to their counterparts in other industries.     

The financial costs of political uncertainty: Evidence from the 2016 US presidential elections

The victory of Mr. Donald Trump came as a surprise to a wide range of market participants. Some of the elements of his economic plan were envisaged to affect all US sectors. This paper assesses the reactions of disaggregated US stock market to the 2016 US presidential election results, and possible deregulation that is to follow after his inauguration. We find that the different US sectors were significantly and varyingly influenced by the election result, and were greatly reactive during the days after the inauguration. This underscores that uncertainty tends to persist and even rises since the President-elect took office.     

Dynamic spillover effects among tourism,economic growth and macro-finance risk factors

Portuguese Economic Journal - This paper examines spillover effects among international tourism growth, economic growth and a group of major macroeconomic and financial variables in the US. The...     

Chinese State Enterprises and their Reform

The far-reaching changes in the economic environment in China since the start of the reform period have directly affected enterprise behaviour and have important implications for future enterprise reform. The growth of market transactions has been accompanied by an increase in competition which has forced State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) to cut costs and upgrade quality. The growing exposure of Chinese enterprises to international markets and foreign business practices has led to an upgrading of their organization and management structure. The multiplication of the sources of external funds for investment has facilitated the establishment of new enterprises and provided enterprises with wider opportunities for diversifying risk. And the rapid growth of the economy has provided room for the non-state sector to expand without a major contraction of the state sector. But many problems still remain, notably with regard to government interference in the day-to-day management of the SOEs, the development of appropriate and effective governance structures, the need for efficiency-enhancing industrial restructuring, and reform of employment relations and the social security system. This article considers these problems and makes recommendations regarding future reform initiatives particularly with regard to loss-making enterprises.