Do financial distress and liquidity crises affect value and size premiums?

This study investigates the impact of liquidity crises on the relationship between stock (value and size) premiums and default risk in the US market. It first examines whether financial distress can explain value and size premiums, and then, subsequently, aims to determine whether liquidity crises increase the risk of value and size premium investment strategies. The study employs a time-varying approach and a sample of US stock returns for the period between January 1982 and March 2011, a period which includes the current liquidity crisis, so as to examine the relationship between default risk, liquidity crises and value and size premiums. The findings indicate that the default premium has explanatory power for value and size premiums, which affect firms with different characteristics. We also find that liquidity crises may actually increase the risks related to size and value premium strategies.     

The pattern of deaths in road traffic crashes in Sindh, Pakistan

The objectives of this study were to examine the pattern and magnitude of deaths in road traffic crashes (RTCs) in Sindh province of Pakistan. This cross-sectional study used data obtained from government documents and content analysis of daily newspapers' reports on incidents of deaths in RTCs. Results showed that the total annual number of RTCs, fatal RTCs and deaths in RTCs were 2272 (+/-293), 1104 (+/-89) and 1321 (+/-136) respectively. On average, there were four deaths per day in RTCs. The victims were 85% male and the majority were between 15 and 49 years of age. Pedestrians, passengers, motorcyclists and drivers were most commonly the victims. Deaths in RTCs were double in rural areas compared to urban areas. The most common causes of fatal RTCs were by being hit by a vehicle, breakdown and collision of motor vehicles and speeding. The frequent involvement of the men of working age in RTCs may have serious social and economic implications; therefore, the prevention of RTCs, as far as possible, is imperative.     

Decisions,decisions: Cybervetting through the eyes of students

How do students believe employers use social media in vetting job candidates? In this instructional experiment, students evaluated three hypothetical job candidates who had divergent social media presences. Questionable content, even if through an indirect link, was thought to reflect on a candidate's character and was extrapolated to future work performance. Professionally related social media activity boosted perceptions of both the candidate's character and skills. A nonexistent online presence prompted polarized assumptions—most frequently that he/she was asocial, deceptive, or technologically inept. Findings from this activity can inform business educators and help students develop a sharper awareness of how employers might weigh the online profiles of job candidates.     

Regret and nonredemption of daily deals: Individual differences and contextual influences

The growth of online daily deal price promotions and the resulting consumer nonredemption of daily deal coupons is worthy of understanding from a psychological lens of nonconsumption. Whereas there is an emerging literature on daily deals and established literature on barriers to redemption, there exists a gap in where this scholarship intersects. This study provides a conceptual model explaining why consumers purchase daily deal coupons and do not redeem them. We explain consumers’ reasons for buying a daily deal upfront along with their reasons for not using it from theoretical lenses of reasons theory and social motivations theory. On testing the model empirically with qualitative and deepening insight via quantitative methods, the findings reveal that reasons for purchasing daily deals are rooted in individual consumer-level factors (i.e., price-consciousness, buying impulsiveness, and susceptibility to interpersonal normative influence). Further, reasons for nonredemption are explained by contextual elements of the daily deal (i.e., offer distinctiveness, the total number of daily deals sold, restrictions on using the deal, and low discount size). Our findings suggest that post-purchase regret ultimately explains a key reason deals go unused. Marketing implications are offered in the areas of characteristics of daily deal offers.     

Restricting gambling advertising and the third‐person effect

Along with the rapid growth experienced by the gaming industry in the United States has come increasing calls to restrict or ban gambling advertising. To date, little is known about what motivates people to support such restrictions on advertising. However, one recent theory, the third‐person effect, offers a possible explanation. The third‐person effect states that when confronted with negative messages, people will overestimate the messages' effect on others relative to themselves. Additionally, it suggests that it is this misperception that motivates them to take action against such messages. This study investigates whether a third‐person effect occurs for gambling advertising and if this effect is related to pro‐censorship attitudes for lotteries and casinos. The results suggest there is a sizable gap between perceptions of the effect of gambling advertising on one's self versus others, and that the perceived effect on others is related to a willingness to restrict such advertising. © 2000 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.     

Information-sharing in health and social care: Lessons from a socio-technical initiative

Advances in information technology have led to new and innovative approaches in data-sharing, analysis, interpretation, and the potential for real-time responses to changes in health and social care status. However, health and social care information is not only complex but often socially and personally sensitive in ways that do not apply in other domains. This requires adoption of a tailored interdisciplinary (social, ethical, legal, technical and data science) and intersectoral (health and social care, academic and commercial institutions and citizens) approach to technology development. The authors present some important lessons to date from ongoing development of an innovative infrastructure for sharing health and social care data.     

The value relevance of cash flows, current accruals, and non-current accruals in the UK

Cash flow statements have a longstanding history as mandated financial statement disclosures, having replaced funds flow statements. The usefulness of such disclosures with respect to one of the main purposes of financial statements—providing information relevant to the assessment of future cash flows and their uncertainty, and the market value of firms—is still subject to debate. This study investigates whether various partitions of earnings involving combinations of a cash flow measure of performance and measures of current accruals and non-current accruals improve the ability to explain market values in the UK relative to using earnings alone. Using a valuation model-based methodology, and employing a UK sample of non-financial firms for the years 1993 to 2007, our results suggest strong support for the assertion that cash flows can have incremental value relevance relative to either earnings or funds flows. By implication, cash flows can have separate value relevance from total and, in particular, current accruals. There is slightly less consistent evidence that current and non-current accruals can have separate value relevance but, nonetheless, the results are still strongly in favour in this respect. Generally, the main source of increase in explanatory power for market values is the separate inclusion of our cash flow measure in the estimated regressions. As a consequence, we conclude that the statement of cash flows in the UK provides information useful to UK investors in valuing firms. Further, requiring a cash flow statement, as opposed to a funds flow statement, improves the information content of financial statements in the UK.     

Comparative Analysis of Text Data in Successful Face-to-Face and Electronic Negotiations

Various combination of Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning methods offer ample opportunities wherever texts are an important element of an application or a research area. Such methods discover patterns and regularities in the data, seek generalization and in effect learn new knowledge. We have employed such methods in learning from a large amount of textual data. Our application is electronic negotiations. The genre of texts found in electronic negotiations may seem limited. It is an important research question whether our methods and findings apply equally well to texts that come from face-to-face negotiations. In order to confirm such more general applicability, we have analyzed comparable collections of texts from electronic and face-to-face negotiations. We present our findings on the extent of similarity between these two related but distinct genres. In this study we have analyzed similarities in the text data of electronic and face-to-face negotiations. The results show that – in certain conditions – vocabulary richness, language complexity and text predictability are similar.This is an expanded version of a paper published in the Proceedings of FINEXIN 2005 (Workshop on the Analysis of Formal and Informal Information Exchange during Negotiations), 31–42, Ottawa, Canada, May 2005.     

Managing retailer profitability—one customer at a time!

This study examines how customer lifetime value (CLV) can be computed at individual customer level in a retail setting to maximize profitability. The study finds that maximum positive impact to CLV occurs when the customer cross-purchases, shows multi-channel shopping behavior, stays longer with the firm, buys specific product categories and purchases more frequently with the firm. Interestingly, the CLV follows an inverted U relationship with increase in return of prior purchases. Other interesting findings include a surprisingly low correlation between customer loyalty and future profitability and low correlation between stores’ historic revenues and future profitability. Several implications are suggested for retailers to manage and maximize customer profitability as well as store profitability.