The antecedents and consequences of job stress of flight attendants – Evidence from Taiwan

This study investigates the relationships between the antecedents of job stress, such as work-to-family and family-to-work conflicts, and consequences, such as job satisfaction, organizational commitment and turnover intentions, of flight attendants who are typically characterized as undertaking ‘emotional labor’. Using a sample of flight attendants collected from Taiwanese airline companies, the study reveals evidence of the following linkages; family-work conflict → job stress → job satisfaction → organizational commitment → turnover intention.     

Credit valuation adjustment of cap and floor with counterparty risk: a structural pricing model for vulnerable European options

This study develops a structural pricing model based on the Black 76 formula for the evaluation of the credit value adjustment (CVA) of OTC traded caps and floors, which is mandated as an integral part of Basel III. The proposed structural pricing model improves the existing structural pricing models for vulnerable European options by allowing payments to be made after the exercise of the options. Five crucial determinants of caps’ and floors’ CVAs are identified by the proposed structural model, they are: the cap’s/floor’s tenor, the writer’s total asset value, the correlation between the cap’s/floor’s underlying and the writer’s total asset value, the volatility of the writer’s total asset value, and the writer’s aggregate liabilities. Numerical examples are given to demonstrate the effects of the crucial parameters. Compared to the market practice of CVA calculation based on reduced-form models, the five crucial parameters are the unique features of the proposed structural model.     

Relationships between process quality,outcome quality,satisfaction, and behavioural intentions for online travel agencies – evidence from Taiwan

Instead of using the SERVQUAL-type scale, this study conceptualizes e-service quality by two dimensions – process quality and outcome quality – and explores the relationships between process quality, outcome quality, satisfaction, and behavioural intentions in the context of online travel agencies. Using an empirical survey consisting of 240 Taiwanese respondents who have purchased online travel agents' products, the results reveal that process quality and outcome quality have significantly direct and positive effects on satisfaction. In addition, there exists a significant influence of satisfaction on behavioural intentions. While supporting the quality–satisfaction–behavioural intentions relationship overall, this study specifically provides more insights into the construction and effects of e-service quality.     

Target Costing,Business Model Innovation,and Firm Performance: An Empirical Analysis of Chinese Firms

Market orientation theory was used to relate the implementation of target costing systems and business model innovation to firm performance using a sample of 189 electronics and information industry manufacturers in China. As expected, the implementation of target costing was positively associated with both business model innovations and firm performance. Further, the diversity of product development teams was also crucial. It positively moderated the association between target costing and business model innovation. Finally, the business model innovation was positively related to firm performance. Copyright © 2012 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

To improve investors' valuation of accounting earnings in emerging markets: evidence from Taiwan

The valuation of accounting earnings is related to the level of earnings management used by the firm. In emerging markets where earnings management is typically pervasive, investors lose confidence in accounting earnings and thus tend to under‐value earnings. Using data from Taiwan, we show that better governance characteristics are associated with improved investor valuation of accounting earnings. Under weaker governance structures, such as excessive control on the part of majority shareholders, small board size, and chief executive officer/chairman of the board duality, the market tends to under‐value accounting earnings. Reducing controlling shareholders' ownership, increasing board size, and reinforcing the monitoring function of the board improves investors' ability to value accounting earnings. Copyright © 2010 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Good deeds earn chits? Evidence from philanthropic family controlled firms

This study examines whether charitable family controlled firms have lower default risk. Using Taiwan data that provide clear information about firms’ benevolent intention and avoid endogeneity issue of risk and charitable activities, we show that charitable family controlled firms have lower default risk, which is proxied by value-at-risk and expected shortfall measures. Our finding shows that charitable activities bring benefits of lower risk to shareholders. This study also provides various channels that can lower default risk for the charitable firms. That is, these firms appear to have higher credit ratings, engage less in earnings management, and have higher worker productivity. This study argues that the benevolent mindset of decision makers at firms help lower default risk.     

Foreign direct investment,input prices,and host country welfare

This paper analyzes a multinational firm’s foreign direct investment decision, through either greenfield investment or cross‐border merger and acquisition, into a host country with an input monopoly that adopts either uniform pricing or discriminatory pricing. The optimal foreign entry mode could differ under each pricing policy. Under Cournot competition, firms’ technological gap and the initial local market structure are critical to the choice of foreign entry mode, whereas product substitutability is important under Bertrand competition. In the presence of foreign entry, this paper also examines the welfare effects of input price discrimination for the host country.     

Optimal access regulation with downstream competition

We analyze the setting of access prices for a bottleneck facility where the facility owner also competes in the deregulated downstream market. We consider a continuum of market structures from Cournot to Bertrand. These market structures are fully characterized by a single parameter representing the intensity of competition. We first show how the efficient component pricing rule should be modified as the downstream competitive intensity changes. We then analyse the optimal access price where a regulator trades off production efficiency and pro-competitive effects to maximize total surplus.