Positive psychological capital and emotional labor in Korea: the job demands-resources approach

This study examined the effect of organizational justice perception on service employees' positive psychological capital and the influence of positive psychological capital on surface and deep acting. Drawing on the job demands-resources (JD-R) model and the literature on positive work environment, the indirect effects of perceived distributive and procedural justice on surface and deep acting through service employees' psychological capital were hypothesized. Using data from 263 flight attendants of the largest airline company in South Korea, the results indicated that perceived distributive and procedural justice were positively related to service employees' psychological capital, which, in turn, fostered deep acting but not surface acting. Deep acting was negatively related to emotional exhaustion, while surface acting showed a positive relationship. Emotional exhaustion, in turn, increased turnover intention. This study offers contributions to our understanding of positive psychological capital and implications for emotional labor in service management. Limitations and future research directions are discussed.     

Price clustering on the limit-order book: Evidence from the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong

We examine the clustering pattern in trade and quote prices on the electronic limit order book of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (SEHK). Earlier research into clustering focuses on transaction prices only. We study clustering on quote prices over a maximum of five queues on the limit order book. We observe an abnormally high frequency of even and integer prices in trade and quote prices for all tick size groups on the SEHK. The deeper quotes display stronger clustering than the best quotes, indicating that the farther away the quotes are from the best queue, the less information they carry. Our analysis further reveals that an extremely fine tick size itself works as a binding constraint to hinder the price resolution process. We also find that short sale prohibition imposed on the majority of stocks listed on the SEHK causes a significant bias in clustering towards the ask side of the limit order book. This implies that a short sale prohibition impairs efficient price discovery in the market.     

Price convergence in US cities: a cointegration approach with two structural breaks

This article investigates how the price indices of major cities of the US respond to the shock from a city and from monetary policy. We find that the crisis of Bretton Woods system in 1968 and the oil crisis in 1974 should be incorporated as structural breaks in monetary policy variables and price indices. Using cointegration technique with structural break in our aggregated data, we find that the average half-life is 1.75 years, which is closer to what some of others found in disaggregated data, and that the interest rate is an effective tool for controlling cities’ price in short run.     

How store format choices and market structure affect agglomeration economies and competition among chain stores in the US supermarket industry

This article studies how store format choices and market concentration affect agglomeration economies and competition among chain stores. Using data on supermarket chains in Arizona, Georgia and Illinois, we decompose a store’s sales into parts stemming from local market conditions, such as demographics, and parts stemming from competition measures, which can be of its own chain’s stores or of other chains’ stores. Our results show that local market conditions are still a key factor in generating store sales. In more concentrated markets of Georgia and Illinois, a supermarket chain suffers from business-stealing among its own stores – agglomeration economies not sufficient to offset competition among its stores – but ironically tolerates the presence of other chains’ stores. Can a retail chain favourably tip the balance of agglomeration economies and competition? We find the answer by looking at the two big corporations in Arizona – Bashas Markets Inc. and Kroger Co. – which own two and three store formats, respectively, catering to distinct consumer segments, and thus promoting agglomeration economies while minimizing competition among their own stores.     

Real Exchange Rate Dynamics in the Asian Economies: Can Regime Shifts Explain Purchasing Power Parity Puzzles?

Abstract

We show that the strong version of the purchasing power parity (PPP) hypothesis holds in most of the US dollar real exchange rates using cointegration method that accounts for breaks in the models. The break dates in seven of the Asian currencies coincide with the two rounds of currency depreciation recorded during the 1997–1998 financial crises. We obtain a mean half-life estimate of about 10 months for PPP to converge to its long-run equilibrium level. Our confidence intervals based on persistence profile approach for the half-lives is much narrower than previous evidence might indicate. Taken together, these results show that mean reversion is stronger than commonly thought.     

Shock amplification in financial networks with applications to the CCP feasibility

We find central clearing counterparty amplified shocks are due to financial institutions     

Cross ownership of wireline and wireless communications carriers: synergy or collusion?

This paper examines whether the ‘cross ownership’ of wireline and wireless communications carriers is socially beneficial or harmful, and therefore should be allowed or regulated. We analyze a generic model of cross ownership of the firms which produce different but inter-related services. We show that, first, if both of the wireline and wireless industries are monopolistic, cross ownership results in social gains when the two services are complements, and social losses when they are substitutes. Secondly, if the wireless industry is sufficiently competitive, there’s little or no welfare loss from cross ownership. Finally, we briefly address the effect of network externality on the welfare consequences of cross ownership.     

Beyond absorptive capacity in open innovation process: the relationships between openness,capacities and firm performance

The literature has shown that open innovation (OI) can be a winning strategy in improving firm performance. However, in order to adopt and implement it, managers need to resolve practical problems, such as understanding the role played by OI capacities and openness on firm performance. In response to these needs, this study aims to investigate the hierarchical relationships between openness, OI capacities and performance using a structural equation model approach. This paper also attempts to compare the levels of openness between firms in different industries to discover similarities and differences in OI phenomena. The analysis of data obtained from a survey of Korean firms shows significant interrelations between openness, OI capacities and firm performance. Our results go further in developing understanding of the building blocks on which successful OI is built and particularly suggest that desorptive capacity which underpins the out-bound OI process, is in turn strongly supported by knowledge management capacity. It is hoped that the results of this study can enrich our understanding of the OI mechanism and provide managerial and policy implications.