Psychological Constructs Underlying Farmers’ Decisions to Diversify or Specialise their Businesses – An Application of Theory of Planned Behaviour

We use the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to explain how underlying psychological constructs influence farmers’ decisions to extend their farm businesses to income‐generating ventures outside conventional agricultural production. The analysis contrasts the influence of psychological constructs on this decision with those on decisions to specialise in a single farm enterprise or to have multiple farm enterprises. This is one of the first studies to introduce psychological constructs into the study of farm diversification. It is based on a sample of 929 Swedish farms participating in the official Swedish Farm Economic Survey. These data are supplemented with a detailed postal questionnaire to the participating farmers, generating a response rate of 73% and an effective sample size of 679 farmers and their businesses. Data are analysed with factor and multinomial logistic regression analyses. Results show that psychological constructs in TPB (attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control) influence farmers’ decisions regarding the strategy they adopt. Attitude and subjective norm are found to be especially influential in these decisions. Given the prominent role agriculture still has in rural development policy, where the development of new ventures in farm businesses is perceived as the engine for rural economic growth and employment, these findings have clear policy implications.     

Pricing to market with trade liberalization: The role of market heterogeneity and product differentiation in India’s exports

This paper studies the links between pricing to market (PTM) and trade liberalization using data for India’s exports (at the 4-digit level of classification) during the economic reforms period (1992–2005). We estimate a PTM model for exports to the G3 and three other emerging markets (Brazil, China and South Africa), distinguishing homogeneous from differentiated goods and correcting for changes in the level of protection faced by India’s exporters (import tariffs in destination markets), inflation and openness in the export destination market, a macroeconomic policy index partly reflecting changes in exporter’s costs, the share of the exporter in the destination market and the share of the product in the exporter’s total exports. We find that market heterogeneity changes the level of PTM, but PTM does not significantly differ between homogeneous and differentiated products. Indian exporters practice PTM by absorbing exchange rate changes into their mark-up in G3 markets, where they face tougher competition, but fully pass-through exchange rate changes in emerging markets. On the contrary, Indian exporters seem to be taking advantage of trade liberalisation in destination markets by marginally increasing exporter currency prices into emerging markets but not into the G3. However, in the case of differentiated goods, we find this effect of trade liberalisation for both G3 and emerging markets.     

Data frequency and exchange rate pass-through: Evidence from India's exports

This paper studies the pricing behavior of Indian exporters using both annual and monthly data in order to uncover the role of data frequency in determining variation in the degree of short and long-run exchange rate pass-through (ERPT). Export price data during the post-1991 economic reforms period is disaggregated at the two-digit industry level and using a novel methodology in the ERPT literature (cointegration for heterogeneous panels) cross-industry differences in adjustment are identified. We observe that there is clear evidence of incomplete ERPT to prices in India's export markets, after having controlled for the level of exchange rate volatility and domestic inflation as an indicator of variations in marginal cost. The empirical results indicate that monthly data reflect more incomplete ERPT to destination market prices, relative to annual data, in which all the short run rigidities are more likely to have been adjusted. Thus studies that use higher frequency data are more likely to find incomplete ERPT in the short-run, even in the context of an emerging market economy. In the long-run, incomplete ERPT subsists in a few industries for both data frequencies.     

Stress at the top: myth or fact? Causal explanations from a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA)

Stress and its associated health issues are a serious concern, because they not only affect employees but also organizations through related costs. The common perception is that being at the top of a hierarchy is associated with higher levels of stress because of the increased responsibilities, challenges, and demands. The present study examines this perception by applying a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis. The study investigates how the top position, authority, number of subordinates, workload, and a sense of control, alone or in combination, lead to stress or its absence. The results show that there are several recipes for stress and that being (or not being) in the top position is neither a sufficient nor a necessary condition for stress (or absence of stress). One of the recipes, however, indicates that being in the top position might be conducive to stress. This finding shows that the position an individual has in the hierarchy does not determine stress. The present study also shows that the absence of a sense of control is almost always a necessary condition for predicting stress and is present in all recipes for the absence of stress. The results can inform managers about the conditions that cause stress and enable managers to think about solutions that can lead to good mental health in their organizations.     

The role of ethics in gathering corporate intelligence

This paper analyzes business people's attitudes towards the tactics used for gathering competitive corporate intelligence both within their own and their competitors' corporations. Business people in large corporations are highly motivated to gather such intelligence. Their attitudes towards the ethicality of specific practices, however, are influenced by the corporate culture, their perceived effectiveness of the techniques, and their perception of the competitors' tactics. Interestingly enough, the most popular technique for securing information is socializing with competitors in nonbusiness settings. Business people generally view their competitors negatively, believing that they go to much further lengths than does their own corporation in gathering competitive intelligence. William Cohen is Professor and Chairman of the Marketing Department at California State University, Los Angeles. He has won the Outstanding Professor Award 1982–83 and Freedom Foundation of Valley Forge Medal for Excellence in Economic Education 1985. He is the author of some 15 books in marketing and business of which the most recent is Developing a Winning Marketing Plan.Helena Czepiec is Associate Professor at California State University, Hayward. She is the author of several articles which appeared in various journals on marketing and advertising.     

The consumer monoculture

‘Development’ and the globalization of consumption is leading to a breakdown of biological and cultural diversity, erosion of food security, an increase in violence and devastation for the global biosphere. We urgently need to shift away from economic globalization and homogenization towards localization and diversification.     

Financial markets, the pattern of industrial specialization and comparative advantage: Evidence from OECD countries

Due to underlying technological and organizational differences, industries differ in their need for external finance. Since services provided by the financial sector are largely immobile across countries, the pattern of industrial specialization should be influenced by the level of financial development. Among OECD countries we find a strong causal effect of the financial sector on industrial specialization. Further, the financial sector is a source of comparative advantage in a way consistent with the Hecksher-Ohlin-Vanek model. Results are also presented on which aspects of financial systems are important for specialization and comparative advantage.     

Behavioural factors in young people's fruit consumption

This study aims to find out the determinant factors affecting fruit consumption behaviour in Portuguese young people, based on the Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) model, and determine if this model explains differences according to gender, age and rural/urban environments. This research is innovative because it tests the HAPA model with young people, and because it adds social support to the HAPA model as an extra predictor of young people's behaviour. To gather the data, a questionnaire survey was applied in two public schools, one in a rural area and the other in a city. The survey was answered by 266 Portuguese young people, aged 15–21 years, from the 10th to the 12th grades. Authorization for the survey was given in advance, from the Ministry of Education, schools and parents, after which the survey was performed. Before applying the questionnaire, two pre‐tests were carried out, each with ten participants and with similar characteristics to the population studied. This study analyses action self‐efficacy, outcome expectancies, action planning, risk perception, intention, maintenance self‐efficacy and social support variables. The result was obtained through a two‐step process, by determining the measurement and structural model, using Smart PLS 2.0. The results show that young females have more factors determining fruit consumption, with greater social support for action self‐efficacy, greater maintenance self‐efficacy through action self‐efficacy, and greater perception of risk regarding fruit consumption. In terms of age, young people over 16 years present greater outcome expectations for the intention, greater perception of risk and action self‐efficacy for fruit consumption. The multi‐group analysis referring to differences between young people living in rural or urban environments did not show proof of the model giving a better explanation of one situation or the other. It can be concluded that the HAPA model is appropriate to the investigation of behaviour factors that influence young people's fruit consumption. The results also indicate that in the scope of the behaviour analysed the proposed model gives a better explanation for females and for those over 16 years.     

Volatility transmission patterns and terrorist attacks

The objective of this study is to analyse volatility transmission between the US and Eurozone stock markets considering the financial market responses to the September 11, March 11 and July 7 terrorist attacks. In order to do this, we use a multivariate GARCH model and take into account the asymmetric volatility phenomenon, the non-synchronous trading problem and the turmoil periods themselves. Moreover, a graphical analysis of the Asymmetric Volatility Impulse-Response Functions (AVIRF) is introduced, which takes into consideration the financial market responses to the terrorist attacks. Results suggest that there is bidirectional and asymmetric volatility transmission and show the different impacts that terrorist attacks had on both markets.