Developing a Risk Group Predictive Model for Korean Students Falling into Bad Debt

Using direct loan data for 2012 to 2014 from the Korea Student Aid Foundation, we develop a risk group predictive model for borrowers defaulting on their loans. We used a logistic regression model and the Cox proportional hazards model to develop the risk predictive model. We verified the validity of the models using a receiver operating characteristic curve and a validation dataset. The present study shows that area under the receiver operating characteristic curves is similar for the models and that the major influencing factors for defaulting on their loans are household income, whether a national grant was received, age, whether more than two accounts are overdue, field of study and the monthly repayment amount. The risk group predictive model in this study will be the basis for more efficient management of direct student loans.     

Labor Unions and Income Smoothing

We study labor unions, an important stakeholder group that has not been a focus of the earnings smoothing literature. We posit that managers strike a balance between sheltering resources from employees’ profit sharing demands and catering to employees’ aversion to downside risk by smoothing earnings. We then hypothesize that a strong labor union would intensify managerial incentives to smooth earnings. Consistent with our hypothesis, we find that union strength is positively associated with earnings smoothing activities through management of both accruals and R&D expenditures.     

If Nothing is Achieved: Who Pays for the Brexit?

The United Kingdom will depart from the European Union in March 2019. Numerous open questions remain about details and conditions especially with regard to post-Brexit EU-UK trade relations. In case of a negotiation failure, a “hard Brexit” could cause considerably high costs on both sides of the Channel. In the short run, companies will be charged more than 15 billion euro as tariffs. In the long run, UK-EU trade could be reduced up to 50 percent.     

Online travel information value and its influence on the continuance usage intention of social media

This study tests an empirical model formulated by extending the Triandis model to examine the structural relationships among online travel information value (OTIV), near- and long-term consequences, affect, social factors, facilitating conditions, affective community commitment (ACC), current usage, and continuance usage intention (CUI) among travel-related social media users in Korea. Data were collected through an online survey using the national panel system. A total of 403 respondents were selected based on whether they had traveled at least once within the last 12 months and used at least one social media daily. Eight hypothesized relationships out of eleven were supported. Specifically, as an antecedent of the Triandis model, OTIV had a strong effect on near- and long-term consequences and affect. In addition, the effect of ACC on CUI was stronger than that for current usage. We presented theoretical and practical implications and proposed avenues for future research.     

The effects of employees’ business ethical value on person–organization fit and turnover intent in the foodservice industry

Given the growing importance of ethical values and social responsibilities in the workplace, the purpose of this study was to investigate interrelationships among employees’ business ethical value, person–organization fit and turnover intent in the foodservice industry. A total of 788 employees in Korea participated. The results showed a positive relationship between employees’ perceptions of business ethics and their person–organization fit. Participants expressing a high person–organization fit were less likely to leave their positions. These findings have important implications for creating and facilitating an ethical business environment in the foodservice industry. Limitations and future research directions are also discussed.     

The impact of IT use on migration intentions in rural communities

The main goal of this study is to identify potential factors that close the urban-rural digital gap, as well as to determine how one's ‘degree of personal IT use’ enhanced through digital gap bridging efforts affects rural-urban migration intention. To accomplish the goal, an integrated structural model was established. A questionnaire was developed and distributed to residents in rural areas in Korea. Of 302 responses collected, 272 were usable. PLS (Partial Least Squares) were used for analysis. Main effects and moderating effects were both investigated. Perceived usefulness for job and perceived playfulness turned out to be the strongest variables influencing personal IT use in the rural area. However, influence of interpersonal norm and social norm were not significant. Elder people having positive perception of IT use are less likely to leave for urban areas. More educated people tend to more optimistically evaluate the value of IT use; however, they are more likely to leave for urban areas. Lower income families tend to have less negative perception of IT use as their degree of IT use increases. The findings stress the importance of rural adult education and extension, as well as IT infrastructure construction. The contribution of this study is to provide the ground work for a government or policy maker with the purpose of closing the digital gap and minimizing rural-urban immigration in selecting which group to target.     

Incentives for Voluntary Disclosure of Quality Information in HMO Markets

This study examines incentives for voluntary disclosure of quality information by health maintenance organizations (HMOs). Economic theory predicts complete voluntary disclosure without mandatory rules. This article introduces plans' selection motives to avoid high-risk consumers as a deterrent of full unraveling; if disclosure is expected to attract high-risk members, plans have incentives to withhold information. The empirical analysis shows that while market unraveling was an important mechanism to bring disclosure, it was not complete, and plans in markets with high-risk consumers were less likely to disclose. This study suggests that market unraveling may not arise if risk selection incentives are prevalent.     

Brand familiarity as a moderating factor in the ad and brand attitude relationship and advertising appeals

Studies examining the effects of advertising appeals have yielded conflicting results. Some have found that an emotional appeal is more persuasive than an informational appeal, while others have demonstrated the opposite. The objective of the current study was to explore a theoretical explanation for the conflicting results in advertising appeal research. The findings of this study support the theory that brand familiarity determines the effectiveness of advertising appeal. The study results additionally support the theory that attitudes toward the ad predict the consumer’s attitude toward the brand. In addition, the study found that brand familiarity moderates the strength of the relationship between ad attitude and brand attitude. Other aspects and the implications of these findings are discussed in this paper.     

Optimal Trade Policy with Horizontal Differentiation and Asymmetric Costs

This paper examines the optimal export policy under Bertrand competition when the products exhibit horizontal differentiation and production costs are asymmetric. The focus of this paper is on the product‐differentiation effect in the determination of the optimal export policy. We show that given that the equilibrium characteristic of a foreign firm's product R&D lies to the left‐hand side of its initial level , since the foreign firm has a unit cost advantage and the efficiency of its R&D technology is sufficiently low, a rise in the export subsidy of the domestic country increases a domestic firm's profits and then welfare by extending the degree of horizontal differentiation between the two products. Thus, the optimal export policy under Bertrand competition may turn out to be an export subsidy rather than an export tax. This result is in sharp contrast to that of Eaton and Grossman (1986 ).