A normative approach to motivating savings behavior: the moderating effects of attention to social comparison information

Research examining the influence of social norms on motivating savings behavior is scarce. The current study tested social norm effects in conjunction with benefit information and the moderating role of attention to social comparison information (ATSCI) when responding to public service advertisements (PSAs) promoting savings behavior. Results from two experiments, testing positive and negative social norm information, respectively, support the argument that lower ATSCI individuals exhibit greater intellectual autonomy and discernment of information, especially regarding norm information, while higher ATSCI individuals generally demonstrate greater social compliance tendencies. Implications for theory development and enhancing savings campaigns are discussed.     

Panel estimates of a two-tiered earnings frontier

This paper uses panel data to estimate a two-tiered instead of a one-tiered frontier model. The innovation is to develop a two-step maximum likelihood procedure yielding consistent estimates of inefficiency, while at the same time accounting for heterogeneity. The model is applied by estimating a ‘two-tiered’ earnings function to obtain indices of worker and firm incomplete labour market wage information using panel data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (1969–84). The estimation preserves the traditional quadratic age-earnings profile, but measures the extent to which employers often pay more than necessary to hire a worker (incomplete employer information), while at the same time, employees often accept wages less than they could otherwise command (incomplete employee information). The results indicate that employees acquire less information than employers. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Generation Y consumers’ selection attributes and behavioral intentions concerning green restaurants

The objectives of this study are to examine the Generation Y consumer segments’ selection attributes and behavioral intentions toward green restaurants. A survey was administered to college students between the ages of 17 and 30 at a university in a Southeastern United States city. This study identified four different consumer segments of Generation Y college students according to their food-related lifestyles. Across the four segments, there were significant differences in selection attributes. In addition, significant differences were identified between the four segments regarding their behavioral intentions toward green restaurants. Finally, the marketing implications for the target groups are discussed.     

Understanding Motivations and Acceptance of Location-Based Services

Location-based services (LBS) provide new opportunities for consumer convenience, just-in-time access to information, and services based upon the context of one’s location. Using a hotel/resort industry context, this study examines the impacts of LBS usage motivations on customers’ intentions and the moderating effects of age, gender, and experience on the relationships between motivations and intentions. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to analyze data collected from 398 hotel/resort customers owning smartphones. The results reveal the importance of utilitarian and social values in a customer’s adoption of LBS. This study provides practical significance to hospitality operators looking to deploy this type of technology to enhance the guest experience and revenue generating opportunities.     

The Korea-Vietnam trade and the bilateral exchange rate: Asymmetric evidence from commodity trade data

The contribution of the current article is to detect the asymmetric impact that exchange rate fluctuations have on Korea's trade with Vietnam. To this end, the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) process is applied to export and import data disaggregated by 25 commodities. We uncover that the ups and downs of exchange rates have an asymmetric impact on some, though not all, types of Korea's commodities exported to and imported from Vietnam in both the long- and short-run.     

Tying in two-sided markets with heterogeneous advertising revenues and negative pricing

We offer a theory of anticompetitive tying in two-sided markets when below-cost or negative pricing is possible. With the coexistence of two consumer groups (one regarding tying and tied goods as complementary and the other as independent), a tying-good monopolist may face difficulties in extracting rent under separate sales and wish to use tying to directly capture the large advertising revenue created in the complementary segment. We uncover two distinct mechanisms by which tying raises monopoly profits but reduces social welfare. Our theory of tying can be applied to real-world antitrust law enforcement, such as the Google Android case.     

Auditors’ scepticism in response to audit committee oversight behaviour

We use two experiments and a survey to examine how audit committee (hereafter, AC) oversight behaviour, particularly AC sceptical attitude and proactive behaviour, affects auditor scepticism, and whether the influence is driven by the risk aspect of auditors’ assessment of AC oversight behaviour. We find that when ACs exercise insufficient scepticism, auditors (junior auditors, managers, and partners) perceive AC oversight as weak, and increase their scepticism. However, AC proactive behaviour does not significantly influence auditor scepticism. Our findings suggest auditors view weak AC oversight as a risk indicator and respond by exercising greater scepticism.     

Does venture capital investment enhance corporate innovation? Evidence from Korea

We examine whether venture capital (VC) investment enhances corporate innovation in Korea. Using a matched sample of 802 firms from 1998 to 2012, we find that after the first round of VC investment, VC-backed firms are more innovative than non-VC-backed firms. Our results suggest that the positive influence of VC investment largely comes from the ability of VC firms to reduce information asymmetry between investors and ventures: VC funds managed by independent venture capitalists significantly enhance corporate innovation, whereas those managed by governmental venture capitalists do not. Furthermore, this positive influence becomes more pronounced where there is greater information asymmetry. Finally, we show that funds with profit-based compensation structures are more likely to encourage corporate innovation than those with fee-based compensation structures.     

The impact of COVID-19 on consumer evaluation of authentic advertising messages

This study investigates the relationship between the COVID-19 threat and consumer evaluation of a product with authenticity appeals in advertisements. We propose that threatening situations like COVID-19 motivate consumers to lower their uncertainty and increase their preference for products with authentic advertising messages. Because individuals react differently to threatening environments according to their early-life experiences, commonly reflected in childhood socioeconomic status, we examined whether childhood socioeconomic status moderates the relationship between threat and consumer evaluation of authenticity in advertisements. First, secondary data from Google Trends provided empirical support for our predictions. In additional experimental studies, participants evaluated different target products in four studies that either manipulated (Studies 2 and 3) or measured (Studies 4 and 5) COVID-19 threat. Our results provide converging evidence that consumers positively evaluate products with authentic advertising messages under the COVID-19 threat. Consumers' motivation to lower their uncertainty underlies the effect of COVID-19 threat on their evaluation of authentic messages (Study 3). This attempt to reduce uncertainty is more likely to occur for consumers with relatively higher childhood socioeconomic status (Studies 4 and 5). These findings suggest that using authenticity appeals during a pandemic could effectively reduce consumers' perceived uncertainty and generate positive consumer evaluations.     

THE IMPACT OF LOCAL FISCAL AND MIGRATION POLICIES ON HUMAN CAPITAL ACCUMULATION AND INEQUALITY IN CHINA

We develop and estimate a spatial overlapping generations model with heterogeneous households to study the feasibility of a recently proposed reform of internal migration policies that offers the potential of decreasing inequality within China. We find that this policy change significantly increases the college attainment of migrant children born in rural areas and, therefore, promises to increase the number of high-skill workers. However, it requires significant tax increases to offset the reduction of the positive fiscal externalities provided by migrants.