Assertive Environmental Advertising and Reactance: Differences Between South Koreans and Americans

In three studies, the authors show that Americans and South Koreans react differently to environmental advertising campaigns featuring assertive messages that threaten autonomous freedoms. The findings uphold their hypothesis that cultural differences determine whether consumers will show reactance to assertive advertising campaigns. Study 1 demonstrates that Americans are less receptive to an assertive recycling message using imperatives such as should, must, and ought and more receptive to a nonassertive message using could, might, and worth. South Koreans do not show the reactance response. Study 2, an energy-saving campaign, conceptually replicates the findings and further shows that perceived threat to freedom mediates the effects. Study 3 uses a realistic setting (i.e., online magazine) to further support the hypothesis that cultural differences affect attitudes toward assertive messages, but adds perceived politeness as an underlying second mediator.     

Relative Importance of Major Job Performance Dimensions in Determining Supervisors' Overall Job Performance Ratings

This study explores the factor structure of job performance and each performance dimension's relative importance in determining supervisors' overall job performance ratings. We found that the optimal factor structure of job performance includes five dimensions: task performance, organizational citizenship behaviour directed toward the organization and individuals (OCB‐O and OCB‐I, respectively), and counterproductive work behaviour directed toward the organization and individuals (CWB‐O and CWB‐I, respectively). The percent‐based relative weight (%RW) is the highest for task performance in determining job performance, followed by OCB and CWB. Interestingly, the %RW of non‐task performance dimensions directed toward the organization (OCB‐O and CWB‐O) is similar to the %RW of task performance but greater than the %RW of non‐task performance dimensions directed toward individuals (OCB‐I and CWB‐I). Copyright © 2018 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hierarchy and conservatism in the contributions of resources to entrepreneurial activity

This study addresses the relationship between the munificence offered by a country’s proximate institutions in terms of a critical financial resource (informal investments) and human resource (entrepreneurship education) and its early-stage entrepreneurial activity. We also examine how this relationship might be moderated by underlying cultural values. Our main thesis is that the positive effects of resource munificence of proximate institutions on early-stage entrepreneurial activity should be attenuated in countries with a more hierarchical and conservative culture. We test our hypotheses using a multi-source dataset that spans 42 countries.     

Price stability through price-level targeting or inflation targeting? A tale of two experiments

Price stability can be attained through price-level or inflation targeting. This paper compares the two monetary policy strategies from both a historical and a theoretical perspective. The Swedish experiment with price-level targeting in the 1930 occurred within a framework that lacked the accountability characteristic of New Zealand's current policy framework for inflation-targeting. Using a simple forward-looking rational expectations framework, we show that price-level targeting offers a better output-inflation variability tradeoff than inflation targeting in the forward-looking New Keynesian framework.     

New Auditors’ Decisions for Released Firms from the Mandatory Auditor Designation Rule: Evidence From South Korea

This study examines the effect of the mandatory designation rule on audit fees charged and audit hours rendered by auditors for firms released from the mandatory auditor designation rule in the Korean audit market. Under the mandatory auditor designation rule, which took effect in 1991, problematic firms are assigned new auditors by the Financial Supervisory Service. Previous studies suggest that this regulation positively affects the quality of audits by promoting auditor independence. Thus, this study hypothesises that firms that have been subjected to mandatory auditor designation improve the quality of their financial reporting, and that auditors hired after the mandatory designation period account for reduced audit risks when determining audit fees and audit hours. This study shows that audit fees and audit hours of firms released from the mandatory auditor designation rule are lower than those of other initial audit engagements. Taken together, this study's findings reinforce the notion that auditors’ perceptions of changes in audit risk yield corresponding changes in the audit fees they charge and audit hours they render.     

Credit ratings and corporate disclosure behaviour: evidence from regulation fair disclosure in Korea

This article provides evidence that firms with high market expectations disclose more information to investors, utilizing the fair disclosure regulation in Korea to proxy for their disclosure choices. This finding is consistent with the argument that in order to retain their dominant positions, highly evaluated firms are more concerned about the market’s perception of them as providers of timely and detailed disclosure. We also find that the impact of market expectations on disclosure is more pronounced for chaebol firms. Combined with prior research on the relationship between firm performance and voluntary disclosure, we provide important implications for the determinants of corporate disclosure     

The regional and global competitiveness of multinational firms

International competitiveness ultimately depends upon the linkages between a firm’s unique, idiosyncratic capabilities (firm-specific advantages, FSAs) and its home country assets (country-specific advantages, CSAs). In this paper, we present a modified FSA/CSA matrix building upon the FSA/CSA matrix (Rugman 1981). We relate this to the diamond framework for national competitiveness (Porter 1990), and the double diamond model (Rugman and D’Cruz 1993). We provide empirical evidence to demonstrate the merits and usefulness of the modified FSA/CSA matrix using the Fortune Global 500 firms. We examine the FSAs based on the geographic scope of sales and CSAs that can lead to national, home region, and global competitiveness. Our empirical analysis suggests that the world’s largest 500 firms have increased their firm-level international competitiveness. However, much of this is still being achieved within their home region. In other words, international competitiveness is a regional not a global phenomenon. Our findings have significant implications for research and practice. Future research in international marketing should take into account the multi-faceted nature of FSAs and CSAs across different levels. For MNE managers, our study provides useful insights for strategic marketing planning and implementation.     

Analysis of product efficiency in the Korean automobile market from a consumer’s perspective

In this study we develop and describe a conceptual and methodological framework to measure technical and allocative efficiency at the product level considering consumer choice, which encompasses overall efficiency. Empirically, we combined data envelopment analysis and a discrete choice model in order to measure efficiency levels. The suggested framework is applied to the Korean automobile market. The relationship between the level of efficiency and market performance is discussed in terms of market share.     

Expanding international trade beyond the RTA border: The case of ASEAN's economic diplomacy

We examine the roles of regional trade agreements (RTAs) not only in regionalization processes but also in globalization of trade. Results from various specifications of the gravity equation model confirm that a country can noticeably increase directional trade through diplomatic relations as well as through membership.