The Effect of Technical and Functional Quality on Guests’ Perceived Hotel Service Quality and Satisfaction: A SEM-PLS Analysis

Numerous models on perceived service quality are discussed in literature besides SERVQUAL including technical and functional quality model. Functional quality attributes have been well studied but studies about technical quality attributes are rather limited. This article aims to integrate existing frameworks and propose antecedents towards perceived service quality and resulting customer satisfaction. A total of 204 questionnaires were collected from the guests staying at hotels in Malaysia. Partial least squares (PLS-SEM) method was employed to test the proposed relationships. Findings from the study support the significant relationship between functional quality, technical quality, overall perceived service quality and guest satisfaction. Furthermore, the first order constructs on the designated second order constructs support that both functional quality and technical quality as second order reflective constructs with five and three first order dimensions respectively. Practical implications and limitations of the study are discussed in detail.     

UK brokers' characteristics: does size matter?

This study provides one of the first insights into how UK brokers' institutional characteristics may impact on the forecasting performance of their financial analysts. The study focuses on brokerage house size and finds it to be a significant factor explaining cross sectional variation in forecasting performance. This is consistent with evidence from several recent US studies (Jacob et al. 1997; Clement, 1999). It is likely that this broker-size effect reflects the resources (human, IT) available to brokers' analysts to support them in their activities. It may also reflect larger brokers' superior access to company managers and information. However, this broker-size effect appears to be significant only for forecasts made at horizons of one year or less. The sign of the earnings change being predicted also has a significant impact: for observations where earnings changes are negative, the broker-size effect is larger than for positive changes, though the effect is significant for both cases. In addition, the form of the model employed here suggests diminishing marginal returns to broker size. More generally, this study reiterates the importance of controlling for the most commonly cited explanatory variables for forecast accuracy, and there is evidence that the heavy industry sectors may be more difficult to forecast, echoing the conclusions of UK studies from the 1980s.     

Celebrity Endorsements in Advertisements and Consumer Perceptions: A Cross-Cultural Study

ABSTRACT

We studied consumer perceptions of celebrity endorsements from a cross-cultural perspective. In empirically examining consumer perception of celebrity endorsement, we used Hofstede's cultural dimensions to develop research propositions and examined these propositions through focus group discussions involving consumers from India and the United States. Findings indicated that specific differences and similarities exist in how consumers across India and the United States perceive celebrity endorsements. There is a positive, although moderate, impact of celebrity endorsements on attention and exposure of consumers. Implications for marketers as well as suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Intraday Seasonalities and Macroeconomic News Announcements

Using a data set consisting of more than five years of 5‐minute intraday stock index returns for major European stock indices and US macroeconomic surprises, conditional means and volatility behaviour in European markets were investigated. The findings suggest that the opening of the US stock market significantly raises the level of volatility in Europe, all markets responding in an identical fashion. Furthermore, US macroeconomic surprises exert an immediate and major impact on both the European stock markets’ intraday returns and volatilities. Thus, high frequency data appear to be critical for the identification of news impacting the markets.     

Fear Linkages Between the US and BRICS Stock Markets: A Frequency-Domain Causality

Abstract

We employ a spectral causality approach to uncover short-, medium-, and long-run causal relations between the US implied volatility index and the five individual implied volatility indexes of BRICS markets from 16^th March 2011 to 31^st January 2018. We show that the volatility causal relations differ between the short and long run in many cases. Although the results indicate the dominant role played by US uncertainty in shaping uncertainty in all BRICS markets, there is also evidence of a feedback effect from Brazil, Russia, and China to the US that differs across the spectrum. The implications for hedging and risk management practices are explored.     

Interpersonal relations in China: Expatriates’ perspective on the development and use of guanxi

The literature on social networks identifies relationship building through guanxi as an effective way for Western organizations to reduce their liability of foreignness in China. Even though it is individuals rather than organizations who build these relationships, the focus in previous literature has been on organizational outcomes, and only a handful of studies have attempted to explain how expatriates perceive guanxi relations are built and maintained. To help address this issue, we conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 36 Western expatriates working in China. Our findings suggest that guanxi is perceived to be an informal process that is used to build trust between individuals, which in turn can reduce the uncertainty around contract enforcement in China. We also find that the process for building guanxi between parties is initiated by the individual whose organization has less market power. Finally, the findings suggest that firms should be cautious if they elect to use agents as intermediaries to help connect to, and build relations with buyers and sellers.     

Awareness of Islamic banking products among Muslims: The case of Australia

The purpose of this study is to examine the awareness of Muslim Australians of Islamic banking, particularly profit-and-loss sharing agreements. A sample of 300 Australian Muslims were surveyed utilising a short questionnaire containing specific questions relating to the willingness of respondents to purchase profit-and-loss sharing Islamic banking products. The results indicate that the majority of the respondents are interested in purchasing these products, but are not properly informed about how they function. It was common to find respondents who were keen to purchase Islamic banking products, but only if credit facilities were available. This is contrary to Islamic Shari'ah law, and suggests a lack of understanding of the principles of Islamic finance.     

Child Labour Use and Economic Growth: An Econometric Analysis

We present a simple dynamic theory of child labour, human capital formation, and economic growth that is consistent with some of the main features of child labour and economic development. The model supports a number of testable hypotheses, which we investigate econometrically in a systems approach. Using panel data from 64 countries in the period 1960–1980, the econometric results match the theory well. The incidence of child labour is negatively related to parental human capital and education quality, but is positively correlated with education cost. Further, countries with higher amounts of child labour tend to have lower stocks of human capital in the future. There is also a convergence phenomenon between the level and growth of human capital. The lower the current stock of human capital, the higher is current child‐labour use and the faster is the growth rate of human capital.