Role of Shopping Values and Web Atmospherics in E-Satisfaction and Repurchase Intention

Expected to touch US$55 billion in 2016, the e-commerce market in India presents an unprecedented growth opportunity for retailers. Existing studies have identified factors influencing shoppers’ online behaviour pertaining to the developed economies. Hence, it becomes pertinent to validate these antecedents for the economies like India. The article addresses this gap by examining the role of shopping values and web atmospherics, on e-satisfaction of Indian shoppers. Using multiple regression analysis, it also examines the influence of e-satisfaction on repurchase intention. The findings suggest that effectiveness of information content has the most significant impact on e-satisfaction. Web entertainment, utilitarian values and web informativeness are the other influencing factors. Contrary to the earlier studies, this study didn’t find any influence of hedonic shopping values on shoppers’ satisfaction. Also, e-satisfaction was found to have a positive influence on repurchase intention of e-shoppers. The article suggests select strategies that can be adopted by e-retailers.     

Ownership structures of U.S. joint ventures in the 1980S

A firm's choice between sole and joint ventures in a foreign market is subject to various market-specific and firm-specific influences. This study draws upon the transaction cost and bargaining power theoretical frameworks to identify and measure some of these influences. A logistic regression model was employed to examine the relative influences of the main and interaction effects of the independent factors on ownership structures employed for new foreign subsidiaries by U.S. firms in the 1980s.     

Learning from Neighbours

When payoffs from different actions are unknown, agents use their own past experience as well as the experience of their neighbours to guide their decision making. In this paper, we develop a general framework to study the relationship between the structure of these neighbourhoods and the process of social learning.
We show that, in a connected society, local learning ensures that all agents obtain the same payoffs in the long run. Thus, if actions have different payoffs, then all agents choose the same action, and social conformism obtains. We develop conditions on the distribution of prior beliefs, the structure of neighbourhoods and the informativeness of actions under which this action is optimal. In particular, we identify a property of neighbourhood structures—local independence—which greatly facilitates social learning. Simulations of the model generate spatial and temporal patterns of adoption that are consistent with empirical work.     

Queues with batch poisson arrivals and hyper-exponential service time distribution

Summary We consider in this paper the transient behaviour of the queuing system in which (i) the input, following a Poisson distribution, is in batches of variable numbers; (ii) queue discipline is ‘first come first served’, it being assumed that the batches are pre-ordered for service purposes; and (iii) service time distribution is hyper-exponential withn branches. The Laplace transform of the system size distribution is determined by applying the method of generating functions, introduced in queuing theory byBailey [1]. However, assuming steady state conditions to obtain, the problem is completely solved and it is shown that by suitably defining the traffic intensity factor,ϱ, the value,p ₀, of the probability of no delay, remains the same in this case of batch arrivals also as in the case of single arrivals. The Laplace transform of the waiting time distribution is also calculated in steady state case from which the mean waiting time may be calculated. Some of the known results are derived as particular cases.     

The Global Preference for Dividends in Declining Markets

Investors globally prefer dividend‐paying stocks over nondividend‐paying stocks more in declining than in advancing markets, even accounting for firm‐level growth opportunities, size and risk effects. Dividend‐paying stocks outperform nondividend‐paying stocks, from 0.63% (China) to 3.79% (Canada) more per month in declining than in advancing markets. In declining markets, dividend‐paying firms outperform by more than any underperformance in advancing markets. The results are robust across dividend taxation regimes, legal environments, emerging and developed markets, periods prior to and after the 2008 global financial crisis, the exclusion of the dividend declaration month and in respect to segmented or integrated international capital markets.     

Are Donor Countries Giving More or Less Aid?

The volume of foreign aid has increased during the last four decades, albeit with interruptions in certain years. Over time, the major recipients have changed: while the share of aid to Asia has diminished since the 1980s, that destined for sub‐Saharan Africa has grown. There is some evidence that, since the late 1990s, debt relief has assumed a larger share of the increased aid flows to sub‐Saharan Africa. The share of technical cooperation—a component of aid that is viewed as being driven by donors—has risen. More recently, there has been an increased emphasis on providing budget support to recipient governments, especially in the form of debt relief. Donor harmonization, national ownership of development plans, and sound policies on the part of the recipients are crucial for the aid to be effective in reducing poverty.     

Customer Experience in Online Shopping: A Structural Modeling Approach

Online retail's rapid growth in India has triggered both untapped growth opportunities and challenges to maintain consumer “stickiness” to retailer websites. In this context, online customer experience (OCE) has emerged as a strategic differentiator for sustainable competitive edge. However, there is a paucity of empirical research in this field. Therefore, drawing on extant literature and qualitative research of online shoppers, this study proposes an integrated model of OCE with antecedents, components, and outcome variables. Data for this study were collected from Indian online shoppers; the data are empirically tested along with the moderating effect of time availability on OCE. Results of the study largely support the model and contribute to knowledge creation on OCE in the Indian context and to strategy development for online retailers.     

Corporate governance,life cycle,and payout precommitment: An emerging market study

We analyze the role of firm‐level corporate governance in determining the precommitment payout policy of emerging market firms and investigate whether there is a precommitment life‐cycle effect. Unlike previous studies of U.S. firms, we find evidence of precommitment only among relatively well‐governed firms, which combine good governance with large dividend payouts to shareholders and large debt‐related repayments to creditors. We also document a strong precommitment life‐cycle effect. Firms in the growth and mature stages of their life cycle tend to use both debt and dividends to precommit to investors, with an increasing proportion of dividends in total payout measures. Our results are robust to an array of control variables, alternate payout proxies, market setting, and firm‐level corporate governance, and it addresses potential endogeneity concerns in the sample.