Contagion in the stock markets: The Asian financial crisis revisited

This paper presents empirical evidence of herding contagion in the stock markets during the 1997 Asian financial crisis, above and beyond macroeconomic fundamental driven co-movements. We analyze the cross-country time-varying correlation coefficients among the stock prices for the countries of Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Korea, and the Philippines, between crisis and tranquil periods. Macromodels are constructed and implemented to capture the pure contagion effects on the markets. After controlling for the economic fundamentals for the five countries, the paper finds strong evidence of herding contagion.     

Pathways to reduce the environmental footprints of water and energy inputs in food production

With climate change and population growth, the pathways for reducing the environmental footprint of food production are increasingly sought, but poorly understood. This paper sketches the environmental footprints of water and energy use in food production systems. The main objective is to present an empirical application, to help identify the main pathways to reducing the footprints. The agricultural system of rice, wheat, and barley production on selected farms in the southern Murray Darling Basin in Australia is used as a case study. Further insights are gained through a review of the data published in pre eminent journals. Together the analysis indicates that boosting water productivity and improving energy use efficiency in crop production operations are the two possible pathways to reducing the environmental footprints of water and energy inputs in food production. These generic conclusions have implications for water, food and environment policy.     

Impact of employees’ perceived threat of market competition on unethical marketing and selling practices: Moral disengagement and ethical leadership

This study draws on the social cognitive theory to examine the effect of perceived market competition on employees’ unethical marketing and selling practices. The boundary conditions associated with this relationship were examined, and we posit that perceived market competition is related to unethical marketing and selling practices through the mediating mechanism of moral disengagement. We further propose that ethical leadership moderates the relationship between the perceived threat of market competition, moral disengagement, and tendency toward unethical marketing and selling practices. We tested our hypotheses with a sample of 387 employees working in the banking sector in Pakistan. Our results suggest that moral disengagement had a full mediation effect between the perceived threat of market competition and tendency of employees toward unethical marketing and selling practices. Moreover, ethical leadership moderated the relationship between moral disengagement and the tendency of employees toward unethical marketing practices. The research findings indicate that when field employees encounter threat perceptions due to market competition, they have a propensity toward engaging in unethical marketing and selling practices when they can activate moral disengagement. This study also found that ethical leadership negatively moderates the relationship of moral disengagement with employees’ tendency toward unethical marketing and selling practices.     

Heterogeneity in male and female farmers’ preference for a profit-enhancing and labor-saving technology: The case of Direct-Seeded Rice (DSR) in India

Labor-saving and income-increasing technologies may affect women farmers differently from men. However, very few studies explicitly account for women's preferences for new technologies. We carried out a discrete choice experiment with 337 female and 329 male farmers in Maharashtra, India, to measure their willingness to pay (WTP) for direct-seeded rice (DSR) with drum seeder and to understand the gender differences in marginal valuations of key attributes. We used the Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) to collect self-reported data on the role and say of women in different domains of decision making. The respective gender roles of women and men in the family and on the farm are aligned with their preferences. Men have a greater say over how the family spends the cash. Accordingly, men tend to have a higher WTP for attributes that increase income (increase in yield) or reduce cash costs (reduction in seed rate). Women contribute a large share of the labor for transplanting rice, much of which is unpaid work on family farms. Women, therefore, seem to value labor saving more. Women in our sample were more interested in the new technology and had a higher WTP for it.     

Micro-foundations of organizational design and sustainability: The mediating role of learning ambidexterity

This paper builds on prior scholarly works by examining the relationship between organizing paradox (formalization and decentralization), and organizational levels of learning paradoxes, i.e. exploration and exploitation, and firms’ outcomes (organizational creativity, organizational resilience and organizational energy). Using data from 98 executives and 325 senior employees working across a diverse range of firms operating in the Middle East, the findings suggest that organizing paradox (formalization and decentralization) has a positive impact on learning ambidexterity. In addition, we also found that learning ambidexterity has a positive impact on both organizational resilience and organizational energy. Furthermore, the results indicate that learning ambidexterity mediates the relationship between organizing paradox and organizational creativity. These findings provide important insights into the micro-foundation aspects of organizational ambidexterity.     

Covid-19 and heuristic biases: evidence from India

Stock markets worldwide have witnessed high volatility during the year 2020 owing to the eruption of Covid-19. Due to the world’s unprecedented economic challenges, this study could potentially guide financial advisors and individual investors in dealing with pandemics. An association between investors’ perception toward the intensity of Covid-19 and heuristic biases is analyzed using the responses of 290 stock investors of National Capital Region (NCR), India. The data are validated through Cronbach’s alpha, and the model fit is analyzed using EFA. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is employed to investigate the relationship between Covid-19 and heuristic biases. Covid-19 does not have any influence on the overconfidence of investors. A significant positive relationship is found between Covid-19 and the remaining three heuristics, i.e., availability, anchoring, and representativeness. The present study analyzes the association between Covid-19 and specific investors’ bias only and should not be interpreted for causality. The study has the potential to guide investors in understanding the errors they are making while investing during the pandemic and the ways to deal with them. The study could provide insights to the financial advisors in understanding their customers. The implications of the study may include inputs of the errors committed by them during the pandemic. Despite the fact that an enormous amount of literature exists in the field of investors’ sentiment, a scarcity of literature is available that measures the relationship between heuristic biases and the perceived impact of the pandemic. The current study attempts to fill this gap in the literature.

     

Industry 4.0 and circular economy practices: A new era business strategies for environmental sustainability

Amid rising environmental concerns, Industry 4.0 and blockchain technology (BCT) are transforming circular economy (CE) practices and prevailing business models. Recognize the same; this study examines the role of blockchain technology in circular CE practices and their impact on eco-environmental performance, which influences organizational performance. The study collects data from 404 enterprises located in Chinese and Pakistani territories, involved in cross-border supply chain operations. Both countries' sample has great relevance due to the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which possesses several positive fallouts in terms of technology spillovers across firms. Using the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) modeling framework, this study provides three key findings. First, BCT significantly improves the circular economy practices (circular procurement, circular design, recycling, and remanufacturing). Second, CE practices help improve firms' environmental performance and stimulate their financial performance. Third, higher eco-environmental performance significantly boosts organizational performance. This study sets out the foundations for participating countries/firms that simultaneously achieve financial and sustainable goals by integrating blockchain technology in circular economy practices.     

Investigating the Effect of Employee Empathy on Service Loyalty: The Mediating Role of Trust in and Satisfaction with a Service Employee

Abstract

This study examines the indirect effect of employee empathy on service loyalty through the intervening effect of trust in and satisfaction with service employees during service interactions. Data were obtained through a self-administered questionnaire from university students. A total of 410 useable responses were used to perform data analysis. Confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and bootstrapping for indirect effects were conducted to test the hypotheses. The results show a significant effect of employee empathy on trust in service employee and satisfaction with service employee during customer–employee interactions. Also, satisfaction with a service employee showed a significant effect on service loyalty during service interactions. The study enhances the understanding of empathy within banking services during interactions between service employees and customers. It also provides insights for service managers and frontline service employees on how empathy develops customer’s trust and satisfaction with service employee.     

Human capital,knowledge and economic development: evidence from the British Industrial Revolution, 1750–1930

Endogenous growth models raise fundamental questions about the nature of human creativity, and the sorts of resources, skills, and knowledge inputs that shift the frontier of technology and production possibilities. Many argue that the experience of early British industrialization supports the thesis that economic advances depend on specialized scientific training, the acquisition of costly human capital, and the role of elites. This paper examines the contributions of different types of knowledge to industrialization, by assessing the backgrounds, education and inventive activity of major contributors to technological advances in Britain during the crucial period between 1750 and 1930. The results indicate that scientists, engineers or technicians were not well-represented among the cadre of important British inventors, and their contributions remained unspecialized until very late in the nineteenth century. The informal institution of apprenticeship and learning on the job provided effective means to enable productivity and innovation. For developing countries today, the implications are that costly investments in specialized human capital resources might be less important than incentives for creativity, flexibility, and the ability to make incremental adjustments that can transform existing technologies into inventions and innovations that are appropriate for prevailing domestic conditions.     

Gravitating toward the quadruple helix: international connections for the enhancement of a regional innovation system in Northeast Italy

The majority of previous Regional Innovation System (RIS) studies generally provide a rather static overview of the roles of innovation-creating actors. This article explores a single RIS in Trentino in Italy. The case shows that the roles of three actors (i.e., the provincial government, academia/research centers, and firms) are vital in creating the RIS, and that the provincial-level government policy is important in supporting the innovation activities of regional research institutions and firms aimed at developing their international connections. The public-private research collaboration and international connections of these actors are the key determinants of the development of an advanced RIS, but have largely been ignored in the extant RIS literature. This article extends the existing RIS and Triple Helix research to an international dimension, highlighting the complementary role of international connections within the RIS, thus reflecting a shift toward Quadruple Helix.