A study focusing on American expatriates’ learning in host countries

This study examines the learning process and situations while expatriates are living and working in a foreign country. The survey was conducted on 70 American expatriates via individual e‐mails and the World Wide Web. The study found that expatriates gained the culture of their host country through reflective learning. Cross‐cultural training programs should be examined based on expatriates’ actual needs. Finally, several learning situations that would be helpful in reducing expatriates’ cultural difficulties are: previous cross‐cultural experience, language competency, long‐term relationships with the host people, and information about the host country originating from the home country as well as the host country.     

Network collaboration and performance in the tourism sector

This study used the partial least squares (PLS) and structural equation modeling (SEM) tool to examine factors influencing collaboration among tourism operators in an island economy. It also measures the impact of collaboration on network performance. Statistical results confirm that communication and commitment impact on collaboration while collaboration in turn positively influences performance. Collaboration also mediates partially the impact of communication and commitment on performance. The results, besides indicating the suitability of the PLS in statistical analysis, has also contributed to a better understanding of tourism networks in an island economy in Penang which hitherto has not been tested. Findings are useful for policy makers, tourism associations and practitioners to enhance Malaysian tourism. Limitations and suggestions for future research are also included.     

Social shopping promotions from a social merchant's perspective

Taking advantage of Web 2.0's user-participation and social networking capabilities, social shopping intermediaries have emerged as a promising online liaison between merchants and consumers by offering group discount deals to price-sensitive customers and early technology adopters. Our study compares the two most popular types of social merchants—restaurants and healthcare services—in terms of seven key factors that influence a merchant's sales using a Groupon promotion. We find that these two types of social merchants show significantly different characteristics for successful promotions. Based on a new proposed lifetime value model for social shopping promotions, this study also discusses its applicability with an illustration of the model and presents guidelines for social merchants who want to achieve the maximum lifetime value from a social shopping promotion. Finally, we discuss implications of our study for social merchants and social shopping intermediaries.     

Bid-Rigging in Auctions for Korean Public-Works Contracts and Potential Damage

This research is an empirical study to find solid statistical evidence of collusion inauction for construction contracts and to gauge the possible effects of bid-rigging onauction prices in Korea. Using limited information contained in sketch bid data, weshow that local construction firms enjoy statistically significant incumbency premiumsin their incumbent sites. Thus, it is inferred that contractors engage in complementarybidding, in which all bidders, except one, submit high bids so as to lose. The statisticalevidence of the incumbency effect is also confirmed in long-running civil engineeringconstruction contracts, which are carried out over several years. Utilizing the transitionfrom a cooperative to non-cooperative regime, we also estimate the potential damage ofstructural bid rigging in public-works contracts by year, contractor and construction type. The estimated overcharge ratio based on a forecasting approach is 15.5% of the total expenditures from January 1995 to June 1998. We also present potential damage estimates by the firm. The estimated overcharge by contractor offers a guideline for the proper allocation of the total overcharges to construction contractors in case contractors are charged with bid-rigging and found guilty.     

并行工程中机械产品设计的价值分析

介绍了并行工程中的技术经济评价方法.应用该方法成功地对IS系列离心清水泵进行了改型设计.其中仅联轴器部件,泵盖两项改进便降低生产成本13.6%,节能4%,提高效率2.1%.由于机械产品设计阶段建立技术经济评价模型存在诸多困难,因此本文在这个领域的研究与应用具有理论与实践意义.     

The impact of a new term auction facility on Libor–OIS spreads and volatility transmission between money and mortgage markets during the subprime crisis

During the subprime crisis, the U.S. Federal Reserve was concerned about widening spreads between overnight interbank lending rates such as the overnight index swap (OIS) and term London Interbank Offer Rate (Libor). Among the tools it used to counter the impact of the crisis, the innovative term auction facility (TAF) attracted much attention. We investigate the impact of the TAF on the Libor–OIS spread. We find that the TAF has clear initial and sustained expectation effects on the three-month Libor–OIS spread, but no real initial or short-term funding effects, which casts doubt on the usefulness of the TAF in reducing risk spreads. Since the subprime crisis also spilled across the interbank, commercial paper, and jumbo mortgage markets, we further examine the lead–lag relation between Libor–OIS, commercial paper, and jumbo spreads and the volatility transmission effects between them. For the period before the crisis, we find that the three markets behave largely independently. For the subprime crisis period, however, we find multidirectional lead–lag relations and one-way volatility transmission between these markets.     

The relationships of financial literacy with both financial behavior and financial well-being: Meta-analyses based on the selective literature review

This study conducted meta-analyses of the relationships between financial literacy and both financial behavior and financial well-being. Peer-reviewed articles published on financial literacy in the field of consumer studies were collected by July 29, 2020. Fourteen articles were eligible for the meta-analyses. The results showed positive relationships of financial knowledge with desirable financial behavior and financial well-being. Our comparison of objective and subjective financial knowledge indicated that subjective knowledge had stronger relationships with both financial behavior and financial well-being than objective knowledge. These two types of knowledge also had different paths to financial well-being in that subjective knowledge had both direct and indirect effects on financial well-being through financial behavior, whereas objective knowledge only had an indirect effect. The relationship between financial knowledge and financial behavior appeared stronger in cross-sectional data than in longitudinal data. The implications of these results and possible directions for future consumer science research were discussed.     

Effect of Health and Wellness Values on Festival Visit Motivation

Understanding the motivation to visit particular tourist destinations and festivals is important for building effective tourism marketing strategies. This paper explores the effect of existing health and wellness values on the motivation to visit a festival using a field survey at the Goomeri Pumpkin Festival, a typical Australian festival which uses the natural environment, traditions and local produce to provide 21 events during the festival. The study focused on establishing the relationship between health and wellness values and festival attendees' motivation. Qualitative research with random sampling was selected to collect the data. The results revealed high levels of health and wellness values among the participants as well as social interaction, family togetherness, cultural exploration, novelty, natural environment, relaxation, previous food festival experience and food as motivations. Findings of this paper can contribute to festival tourism marketing especially to demonstrate that health-related interests can be significant catalysts for attracting festival attendees.     

False discoveries in volatility timing of mutual funds

This paper examines the volatility timing of US mutual funds by controlling the false discovery rate to find out how many funds are truly countercyclical (procyclical) timing funds. Empirical results show that, given the whole universe of our sample funds, the percentages of countercyclical and procyclical volatility timing funds are about equal. We also find that while the standard approach, which simply counts the number of significant positive (negative) timing coefficients, does not incorporate false discoveries in volatility timing, it provides quite accurate volatility timing results. Finally, we find that the performance measures for an equally weighted portfolio of procyclical timing funds are greater than for an equally weighted portfolio of countercyclical timing funds in the in-sample test, consistent with our expectation that procyclical timers earn higher returns because they take on more risk. However, the countercyclical timing portfolio outperforms the procyclical timing portfolio in the out-of-sample test.