Can Experiences With a Country's Foods Improve Images of That Country?

ABSTRACT

This study examines how experience with other countries’ foods affects people's images of those countries, as well as the strength of such images. The findings show that foods are effective cultural elements that can enhance country images. People who have eaten a country's foods reveal more favorable country images than those who lack such experiences. Country images are even more favorable when people have more positive and many food experiences. Furthermore, positive country image effects are greater for people in opposite-hemisphere countries than for those in neighboring countries. Finally, people who prefer certain attributes of a country's foods provide more favorable ratings for related product attributes from that country, indicating affect transfer from food experiences to other product categories. These findings have key implications, especially for policy makers and researchers who seek effective ways to improve country images.     

中国物流行业的盈余管理研究

系统研究了中国物流行业的上市公司盈余管理的相关问题,发现了物流行业盈余管理的一些相关特征并明确了其盈余管理程度较高的事实.     

A dynamic analysis of executive stock options: Determinants and consequences

We investigate the determinants of executive stock options (ESOs) and their impact on risky investment and subsequent firm performance in a dynamic setting. We find that, first, the dynamic response of ESOs to growth opportunity and risk is positive and lasts for two to three years. Second, the dynamic response of risky investments to option compensation is positive but converges to zero after three years. More importantly, the positive effect of ESOs on risky investments is observed when CEOs' personal risk-aversion is taken into account. Third, accounting performance responds positively to the risky, option-induced investment, but the dynamic effect lasts only for one year. Meanwhile, when managers undertake more risky investments than what ESOs imply, accounting performance responds negatively to the over-investment.     

Motivation for emergency and retirement saving: an examination of Regulatory Focus Theory

Can Regulatory Focus Theory be used to better understand consumers' saving attitudes and behaviours? The theory posits that prevention‐ and promotion‐oriented personality traits may influence financial decision making. Using secondary and experimental survey data, two research questions were examined: (1) Are promotion‐ and prevention‐related saving goals, in combination with promotion‐ and prevention‐oriented personality traits, related to attitudes towards saving behaviour? (2) To what extent does the match between these goals and traits affect actual saving behaviour? Findings confirmed that promotion‐oriented consumers were less likely to save for prevention goals, while the opposite was true for prevention‐oriented individuals. Further, consumers' saving goal and personality trait‐based regulatory focus were found to influence cognitive attitudes towards saving. The discussion focuses on how these findings and theoretical perspectives may predict and influence consumers' financial decision making.     

An examination of recreational divers' underwater behaviour by attitude–behaviour theories

The increasing demand for dive tourism activities has resulted in concerns over scuba divers' incremental impacts on the underwater marine environment. Hence, there is a need to better understand the antecedents of scuba divers' underwater behaviour. This study applied theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and norm activation theory (NAT) of altruistic behaviour in examining the relationship between diving attitude, perceived behavioural control, subjective norms and personal norms (PNs) with responsible underwater behaviour among scuba divers. Using the combination of purposeful and convenience samplings, data were collected from divers (N?=?413) who visited the top five most attractive islands in Malaysia. The results supported the use of TPB as a basis for explaining the underwater behaviour of divers. Among the four constructs examined, attitude and PNs were found to be of paramount importance in influencing pro-environmental behaviour. This study also validated the exploratory dimensions that constitute the measurement constructs for scuba diving attitude and responsible underwater behaviour. Scuba diving stakeholders should emphasise continuous education and an integrated programme of marine conservation to enhance divers' attitude and personal commitment towards pro-environmental behaviour. These are crucial for the sustainability of the scuba diving industry.     

Residents' Perception of the 2008 Beijing Olympics: Comparison of Pre‐ and Post‐Impacts

The purpose of this study is to explore any significant differences in residents' perception of the impacts before and after the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The findings of this study revealed that residents' perception of the positive impacts (community investment and improvement of city infrastructure) varied over two points in time, while two negative factors (inflation and tax increase) demonstrated little perceptual change. Residents had high expectations of the benefits that the Olympics would bring to the community, yet those expectations were not met. In fact, the problems caused by the Olympics were neither greater nor lesser than they expected. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Performance Ratings and Career Advancement in the US Federal Civil Service

Abstract

A strong link between performance and rewards in the U.S. federal civil service could raise top performers to positions of power and responsibility and motivate employees to greater productivity. Federal employees, the general population and scholars all express doubts about the strength of that link, however, though few have estimated it empirically. Using random-effects panel data models on a one per cent sample of federal personnel records for 1988–2003, we examine whether performance ratings meaningfully influence promotion probabilities and annual salary increases. With an average annual promotion rate of 17.8 per cent over this period, we estimate that employees with ‘outstanding’ and ‘less than fully successful’ ratings were one-fourth more likely and one-fifth less likely, respectively, to receive promotions than those with ‘fully successful’ ratings. Average salary impacts were smaller but still significant. Patterns held up across agencies and stages of the federal careers. Performance ratings continued to affect career advancement one or two years later. We speculate on whether these links are strong enough to motivate performance and advance the most qualified federal employees.     

Confidence intervals for the quantile of treatment effects in randomized experiments

In this paper, we explore partial identification and inference for the quantile of treatment effects for randomized experiments. First, we propose nonparametric estimators of sharp bounds on the quantile of treatment effects and establish their asymptotic properties under general conditions. Second, we construct confidence intervals for the bounds and the true quantile by using the approach in Chernozhukov et al. (2009). Third, under additional conditions, we develop a new approach to construct confidence intervals for the bounds and the true quantile and refer to it as the order statistic approach. A simulation study is conducted to investigate the finite sample performance of both approaches.     

Heterogeneous Agents and the Indifference Pricing of Property Index Linked Swaps

Swap spreads predicted by the traditional risk-neutral valuation models are much lower than the quoted market spreads for property index linked swaps (Patel and Pereira, Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, 36:5–21, 2008). This paper attempts to develop a utility indifference-based model for evaluating the reservation spreads of swap receivers and payers based on the principle of expected wealth utility equivalence rather than the traditional risk-neutral argument. Under the proposed model framework, this paper addresses the determination of the swap spreads. When the incompleteness of real estate markets and heterogeneity of representative agents are taken into consideration, it is shown that the agents’ risk preferences and heterogeneous beliefs about expected future property returns are the remarkable determinants for the swap spreads. Our model also identifies market power and the settlement rules in the event of counterparty default as important factors in determining the swap spreads. Our model provides a possible interpretation for the difference between the spreads predicted by the traditional models and the actual market spreads.     

Exchange Rate Changes and the Operating Performance of Multinationals

Using a sample of 261 US multinationals over the period 1984–2002, we examine the relation between exchange rate changes and the profitability of foreign operations. We find that the impact of exchange rate changes on foreign operations’ profitability is not statistically significant in the majority of industries. Furthermore, according to our variance components analysis, exchange rate changes explain less than 2% of the variation in foreign operations’ profitability for most industries. We also find that the impact of exchange rate changes on foreign operations’ profitability is generally weak for non‐US multinationals from Australia, Canada, Japan and the UK. Our evidence is consistent with the finding of prior studies that the impact of exchange rate changes on firm value is not significant for most multinationals.