Insider trading and firm-specific return volatility

Roll (J Financ 43:541–566, 1988) argues that firm-specific stock return volatility may result either from informed trading or from noise trading that is unrelated to information. In this paper we provide evidence that insider purchases are inversely related to the idiosyncratic volatility of stocks. We also find that stock idiosyncratic volatilities are generally inversely related to future 6- and 12-month returns. Our results are primarily driven by the timing of insider sales rather than insider purchases. The results are consistent with an information-based explanation of firm-specific return volatility.     

Dual Agent Distortions in Real Estate Transactions

This article investigates price distortions in dual agent real estate transactions. Consistent with the literature, we find that, on average, dual agent has a null effect on sale price. However, dual agent distortions on sale price emerge after controlling for the ownership of the property. Dual agent is associated with a 6.35% price premium on agent‐owned properties, but a 25.10% price discount on government‐owned properties and a 5.14% discount on bank‐owned properties. In addition, market conditions also play an important role in such price distortions.     

Interfirm Alliances in the Small Business: The Role of Social Networks

In light of the increasing importance of strategic alliances in shaping competition, this study explored whether the social network of small firm executives can be leveraged to facilitate the establishment of interfirm alliances. Analyses are based on a mail survey of 149 small manufacturing firms in the northeast United States. Results indicate that the social networks of senior executives account for 11–22 percent of the variance in the degree to which firms engage in alliances, depending on the type of alliance. Results also show that the number of interfirm alliances is positively related to several networking properties (propensity to network, strength of ties, and network prestige). Findings are discussed in the context of network theory, social embeddedness, and the overall implications for management researchers and practitioners.     

Ethical ideology and ethical judgment regarding ethical issues in business

Differences in ethical ideology are thought to influence individuals' reasoning about moral issues (Forsyth and Nye, 1990; Forsyth, 1992). To date, relatively little research has addressed this proposition in terms of business-related ethical issues. In the present study, four groups, representing four distinct ethical ideologies, were created based on the two dimensions of the Ethical Position Questionnaire (idealism and relativism), as posited by Forsyth (1980). The ethical judgments of individuals regarding several business-related issues varied, depending upon their ethical ideology.Tim Barnett is Assistant Professor of Management at Louisiana Tech University. He has published in such journals asPersonnel Psychology, theJournal of Business Research, andHuman Relations. His research interests include ethical decision making and ethical issues in HRM.Ken Bass is Assistant Professor of Management at East Carolina State University. He has articles published in several journals, including theJournal of Personal Selling and Sales Management. His research interests include ethical decision making, ethical strategy, and methodology.Gene Brown is Associate Professor Marketing at Louisiana Tech University. He is published in such journals as theJournal of Retailing, the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Business Research, Psychology and Marketing, and Industrial Marketing Management. His main interests include personal selling, retailing, ethics, and methodology.     

How Productive Are Economics and Finance PhDs?

This article analyses the research productivity of more than 200 individuals in academe with a PhD in economics and finance from (mostly) Australian universities. We find the number of publications accumulates linearly with experience, while citations increase exponentially, pointing to network effects. Panel regressions indicate: (1) the key role of experience in determining research outcomes; (2) the usual quadratic approach substantially under-estimates the role of diminishing returns to experience; (3) the university where an individual works is mostly unimportant for publications and citations. ‘Prime academic age’, when research has maximum impact, is attained about 11 years after the PhD.     

How hedonic and perceived community benefits from employee CSR involvement drive CSR advocacy behavior to co-workers

This study seeks to determine how organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) can be influenced by employee perception of the benefits arising from their involvement with corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. The work is significant because of growing investment in CSR activities involving employees and increased firm expectations of employee dissemination of CSR information. A unique model examined how two types of perceived benefits, accruing to US-based employees from their CSR engagement, impacted OCB. The variable of co-worker-directed CSR advocacy was used as a unique measure of OCB. An integrative theoretical framework combined social exchange theory with organizational citizenship behavior to provide a more comprehensive understanding of relationships. The first employee benefit tested was hedonic value, while the second was perceived community value. CSR reputation was modeled as a mediating variable. Data were collected via two scenario-based experiments based at each respondents’ workplace. Analytical techniques included analysis of co-variance and structural equation modeling using partial least squares. While both types of benefit had a significant effect on co-worker-directed CSR advocacy, the pathways differed. Perceived community value had a stronger effect on the mediating variable of CSR reputation, and consequently a significant indirect effect on the dependent variable. In contrast, hedonic value directly affected co-worker-directed CSR advocacy with CSR reputation playing no mediating role. This study contributes to the CSR literature through better understanding of the processes leading to the organizational citizenship behavior variable of co-worker-directed CSR advocacy. This dependent variable extends previous conceptualizations of OCB.     

The Market for Economics and Finance PhDs

This paper presents new information about the post-graduation activities of those with a PhD in economics and finance from an Australian university. Approximately 40 per cent have an academic job, while the other 60 per cent work elsewhere or engage in other activities. The analysis includes origin‒destination networks for both the academic and non-academic markets, the determinants of earnings and measures of overqualification and underemployment. The findings of the paper can provide guidance for those completing or contemplating PhD studies.     

A robust textual analysis of the dynamics of Hong Kong property market

Market sentiments influence the dynamics of Hong Kong’s macro-critical property market, but the unobservable nature of market sentiments makes it difficult to systemically assess this sentiment channel. Using text mining techniques, this paper sets up a news-based property market sentiment index and a Google Trends-based buyer incentive index for Hong Kong and studies the sentiment channel of transmission in the Hong Kong property market. The news-based property market sentiment index can reflect the change in sentiments in past key events, with the sentiments in the primary market tending to lead that of the secondary market during the low housing supply period. For the Google Buyer Incentive Index, we find that it has value-added in forecasting (or nowcasting) the official property price index. In mapping out the sentiment channel using a structural vector-autoregressive model, we find that an improvement in market sentiments could stimulate buyers’ incentives, which then together would affect property prices and transaction volumes.     

Strategic crackdown on organized crime by local governments

Economics of Governance - This study examines strategic crackdown policies on organized crime between states or nations. In particular, we consider how organized crimes in different regions can...