The theory of planned behavior in e‐commerce: Making a case for interdependencies between salient beliefs

To provide more specific explanation of consumers' purchase intention on the Internet, this study expanded the original theory of planned behavior (TPB) by decomposing belief constructs and by including interdependency terms between salient beliefs. The findings of this study supported the existence of interdependencies between salient beliefs in TPB. Also, the decomposition of attitude components is expected to provide on‐line retailers with more clear‐cut information about customers' evaluative criteria for e‐tailers when they make a purchase decision on the Internet. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Strategic brand management for higher education institutions with graduate degree programs: empirical insights from the higher education marketing mix

ABSTRACT

Intense competition for student enrollment has created a strong need for higher education institutions, especially those that offer graduate degree programs, to differentiate themselves. This article introduces the concept of strategic brand management as an avenue for higher education differentiation and discusses how higher education institutions with graduate degree programs can strategically manage their brands (i.e. corporate and product) through the higher education marketing mix (i.e. prominence, prospectus, program, price, people, premium, and promotion). Using a closed-ended survey and partial least squares structural equation modeling of a sample of students enrolled in a graduate degree program (e.g. MBA), the study finds that the utilitarian elements (i.e. prominence, prospectus, program, and price) of the higher education marketing mix have a positive direct impact on the product brand (e.g. MBA brand) and an indirect impact on the corporate brand (e.g. university brand) of these types of higher education institutions. However, hedonic elements (i.e. people, premium, and promotion) of the higher education marketing mix do not produce any significant impact on either the corporate or product brands of these institutions. Implications from these findings to theory, practice, and future research avenues conclude.     

Implications of Singapore's CPF Scheme on Consumption Choices and Retirement Incomes

Singapore has a unique policy of allowing the use of mandatory social security contributions to finance homeownership. An intertemporal model of housing demand is employed to demonstrate analytically that the CPF scheme can distort an individual's intertemporal and intratemporal consumption choices, and induce Singaporeans to demand more housing than they would otherwise. The withdrawals for housing have also affected the adequacy of CPF balances for financing retirement. Pegging the rate of return on CPF balances to a long‐term rate is the long‐term solution to curbing excessive withdrawals for housing, and ensuring the adequacy of CPF savings for financing retirement.     

Bank Interest Rate Adjustments: Are They Asymmetric?

This paper is concerned with the asymmetric adjustments between three Australian bank interest rates: a bank bill rate, a loan rate and a deposit rate. A multivariate asymmetric error-correction model is applied to capture the interplay of long-run relationships between the levels of the rates and short-run relationships between the changes in the rates. The empirical analysis, for the sample period 1990:01–2000:04, shows that interest rate adjustments, in response to positive and negative shocks, are asymmetric in the short run, but not in the long run. In particular, the results suggest that banks adjust their loan and deposit rates, in response to a change in the bank-bill rate, at a faster rate during periods of monetary easings (negative changes) than during periods of monetary tightenings (positive changes).     

Reduced-form Models with Regime Switching: An Empirical Analysis for Corporate Bonds

Empirical evidence shows that there is a close link between regime shifts and business cycle fluctuations. A standard term structure of interest rates, such as the Cox et al. (1985 Econometrica, 53, 385–407; CIR) model, is sharply rejected in the Treasury bond data. Only Markov regime-switching models on the entire yield curve of the Treasury bond data can account for the observed behavior of the yield curve. In this paper, we examine the impact of regime shifts on AAA-rated and BBB-rated corporate bonds through the use of a reduced-form model. The model is estimated by the Efficient Method of Moments (EMM). Our empirical results suggest that regime-switching risk has significant implications for corporate bond prices and hence has a material impact on the entire corporate bond yield curve, providing evidence for the approach of rating through the cycle employed by rating agencies.     

An analysis of members' perspectives of service quality in Hong Kong tourist association membership system

The objectives of the study were (1) to evaluate members' satisfaction and expectation towards the quality of services provided by the HKTA membership system; (2) to identify the performance “gap” between members' satisfaction and expectation in the HKTA membership system; and, (3) to explore the impact of members' satisfaction level in participating in the HKTA membership system. A comprehensive survey was conducted and a Simple Random Sampling plan was used to survey 600 members. It was found that 28 out of 32 attributes had negative performance “gaps.” The likelihood of participating in HKTA activities was dependant on the members' satisfaction in “Increase social awareness,” “Opportunities to liaise with business associates” and “Upgrading staff through training courses.” The implications of the findings were discussed and recommendations were proposed.     

National economic disparity and cross-border acquisition resolution

This paper explores the effects of national economic disparity on the completion or abandonment of cross-border acquisitions by combining behavioral perspectives of risky decision making and theories of organizational learning. Using a sample of 2445 cross-border acquisitions announced between 1985 and 2008, we show that an acquisition is less likely to be completed when the acquirer is from a more developed country vis-a-vis the target than when the acquirer is from a less developed country. Furthermore, the higher the economic development level of the acquirer’s country relative to that of the target, the less likely the deal is to be completed. We also find that the time elapsed between the acquisition announcement and completion dates is shorter as the economic development level of the acquirer’s country relative to that of the target is higher.     

Investors' evaluations of price-increase preannouncements

Several firms preannounce their price increases with the expectation that such announcements will be evaluated favorably by investors. However, little is known about the actual effect they have on shareholder value. Accordingly, the authors present the first systematic empirical examination of investors' evaluations of 274 price-increase preannouncements (PIPs). Results show that whereas the average increase in abnormal returns following a PIP is 0.51%, almost 41% of the PIPs result in negative abnormal returns. To explore this heterogeneity, the authors propose a conceptual framework that focuses on three key pieces of information that investors can use when evaluating a PIP: information on the nature (time to implementation and magnitude) of the preannounced price increase, the stated attribution for the preannounced price increase (demand and/or cost based), and information on prior PIP occurrences by the firm and its competitors. Results indicate that PIPs with greater time to implementation, higher own precedence and greater competitive precedence result in lower abnormal returns, while PIPs with higher magnitude and PIPs with an explicit demand attribution result in greater abnormal returns.     

Factors affecting investment intentions: A consumer behaviour perspective

The purpose of this study is to examine investors’ decision-making from the perspective of a consumer using constructs commonly found in the consumer behaviour field. An investment intentions model incorporating product knowledge, product involvement, risk and uncertainty avoidance, and mediated by perceived risk and uncertainty, was developed and analysed using structural equation modelling. The research found that product knowledge and product involvement had the greatest impact on intentions, suggesting the applicability of these constructs in finance research. Perceived risk was the only mediating construct. The model explained more than 60 per cent of the variation in intentions. A major contribution of this research came from the development of an investment intentions model to examine retail investors’ investment decision-making processes from a consumer behaviour perspective. It helps practitioners to develop a better understanding of the factors that impact on their clients’ intentions to invest in the stock market. This study is the first to include a set of consumer behaviour constructs in an investment intentions model that was not examined before, despite the close relationship between behavioural finance and consumer behaviour that includes elements of psychology and sociology in individual decision-making.