Five decades of the Journal of Consumer Affairs: A bibliometric analysis

This study presents a retrospective of the Journal of Consumer Affairs (JCA) using bibliographic analysis between 1967 and 2019. The results indicate that both the number of JCA's publications and citations grew markedly over time. The dominant contributors to the journal are authors affiliated with U.S. institutions. Trends show increasing organizational diversity and collaboration among authors. The journal's central themes are consumer perception, consumer behavior, financial behavior, consumer spending patterns, financial literacy, consumer decision‐making processes, and marketing practices. Statistically significant relationships exist between the following article attributes and citations based on our negative binomial regression analysis. Age has a negative association with citations, but the direction of association turns positive when considering non‐linearity. A positive association exists between the number of authors, references, and U.S. affiliation. A negative relationship exists with article order, non‐academic author, top institution affiliation (FT100), funding, lead article, title length, and conceptual article.     

TOWARDS AN ECONOMIC FRAMEWORK FOR EVALUATING POTENTIAL BENEFITS FROM RESEARCH INTO WEED CONTROL

A dynamic economic model for estimating benefits from research into alternative tactics for weed control is developed, by treating weeds as renewable negative resources. Research benefits are evaluated as the change in steady-state profit resulting from research-induced changes in various parameters of the system. The model is illustrated by application to research aimed at the control of wild oats in wheat in Australia, whereby it was found that the magnitude of benefits depended not only on the level of research-induced change but also on demographic behaviour of the weed. Research leading to reductions in seedling survival, potential fecundity or recruitment gave higher benefits than the manipulation of weed competitiveness or seed mortality. Reduced seedling survival gave the highest benefits in most cases, but achieving such improvement by improving herbicide efficacy may have a high marginal cost given that the tactic is already well-researched. Thus it is concluded that research into reducing potential fecundity could be more worthwhile, since it also gave high benefits but is relatively unexplored.     

Citation footprints on the sands of time: An analysis of idea migrations in strategic management

We elucidate the intellectual progression of the strategic management field by examining knowledge flows to and from the Strategic Management Journal (SMJ) during the period 1980–2009. We provide a detailed mapping of the evolution of the intellectual structure of the field and identify its input‐output dependency relationships with other fields. Analysis of citation data using three analytic techniques: log‐multiplicative model, pathfinder analysis, and entropy analysis allow us to discern strategic management's influence on and engagement with other disciplines. The results show that, within the intellectual universe of strategic management, SMJ has played a central role, both as a source and storer of knowledge. We notice that, over time, there has been a decline in practitioner orientation, greater communication with finance and sociology, and increasing linkages with international business and entrepreneurship. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

EVALUATING DEMAND FOR DEER HUNTING: A COMPARISON OF METHODS

This study compares two methods of estimating hunters' demand for deer hunting in an area in Southwest Manitoba. Benefits to hunters are calculated from estimated demand using the concept of consumers' surplus. Methods used to estimate demand are: (1) a travel-cost approach and (2) an interview on hunters' willingness to pay for hunting. The results from the two methods are not identical. Likely reasons for this and suggestions for further research are discussed. Although the two methods probably measure different things and may be subject to different errors, it is felt that use of both methods provides a useful check on the validity of results
Cette étude compare deux méthodes d'estimation de la demande de la chasse au chevreuil dans un terrilore donne du sud ouest Manitoba. En utilisant le principe de l'excédent aux consommateurs, les bénifices aux chasseurs sont déduits à partir de la demande estimée. Les méthodes utilisées afin d'estimer cette demande sont: (1) le coût de transportation, et (2) une entrevue afin de sonder le degré d'acceptance de payer pour chasser. Les résultats obtenus par ces deux méthodes ne sont pas identiques. Les raisons probables de tels résultats et les suggestion apportées en vue de recherches futures y sont discutées. Malgre que ces deux méthodes calculent probablement des entilés différentes et q'elles sont sujettes a des erreurs differentes, l'on croit que utilisation de pair de ces méthodes apporte une vérification fort utile de la validité des résultats     

On a Class of Asymptotically Risk-Efficient Sequential Procedures

A class of sequential procedures is developed for the point estimation of the parameter(s) of a population under a family of loss functions plus cost function of the general form. Condition on the initial sample size is determined which ensures the asymptotic ‘risk-efficiency’ of the proposed class. By means of various examples, it is shown that many sequential point estimation problems can be handled with the help of the proposed class.     

Contemporary Accounting Research: A Retrospective between 1984 and 2021 using Bibliometric Analysis*

This study critically evaluates research published by Contemporary Accounting Research (CAR) between 1984 and 2021 using bibliometric analysis. We examine the following: (i) CAR's publication quality and the factors associated with its citations and (ii) CAR's scope regarding research diversity, methods, authors geographical dispersion, and collaborative networks. The methodology permits observation of finer collaboration details and research patterns not apparent by simply categorizing the data. We use tools such as performance analysis, coauthorship analysis, bibliographic coupling, and regression analysis. The bibliometric analysis shows improvement in CAR's CiteScore and source-normalized impact per paper over time, consistent with publishing high-quality research. Our analysis reveals that authors' geographical affiliations, research subject areas, and research methods are not systematically associated with citations across our various subsamples. A notable exception is that research on audit topics generates more citations than studies examining financial accounting topics. Other factors significantly and positively associated with citations include article age, article length, number of authors, order of author names, and number of references. We also show that CAR has become more diverse regarding author affiliations, subject areas, and research methods than most leading accounting journals. Only Accounting, Organizations and Society emerges as more diverse, thereby serving as a benchmark for CAR in the future. CAR should consider focusing on high-interest areas to boost citations and tightening its acceptance criteria.     

Human capital aggregation and relative wages across countries

Most of the growth accounting literature relies on an aggregate production function to determine the contribution of factors of production relative to that of total factor productivity (TFP) in explaining differences in incomes across countries. I show that the importance of TFP in accounting for cross-country income differences depends crucially on how skilled and unskilled labor are aggregated. Further, cross-country evidence on the relationship between relative wages and relative endowments of skilled and unskilled labor suggests that the two types of labor should not be aggregated into a single factor of production. Growth accounting decomposition using a commonly used nested-CES aggregate production function that allows skilled and unskilled labor to be used as separate factors of production results in a significantly greater role for TFP in accounting for income differences across countries than that found by past studies. The finding that different aggregate production functions lead to significantly different conclusions about the role of TFP in accounting for cross-country income differences calls for a more general approach to understanding such differences.     

Spiritual Climate of Business Organizations and Its Impact on Customers’ Experience

This study examines the notion of ‹spirituality’ as a dimension of human self, and its relevance and role in management. Major thesis of this research is that spirituality of employees is reflected in work climate. This may in turn affect the employees’ service to the customers. In the first part of the study a Spiritual Climate Inventory is developed and validated with the data from manufacturing and service sector employees. In the later part, hypothesis of positive impact of spiritual climate on customers’ experience of employees’ service is examined and found to be substantiated empirically.

Risk-Efficient Irrigation Strategies for Wheat

Agricultural production is risky. When farmers are risk-averse, they are likely to put a premium on production methods that reduce perceived risks. Irrigation is generally believed to be a risk-reducing input. By using the concept of stochastic dominance, risk-efficient irrigation policies for wheat grown in central India are identified and quantitative estimates of benefits due to risk reduction are obtained. Such benefits were found to be of a large order of magnitude. The more common methods such as mean variance analysis tended to over-estimate the benefits.     

A framework for risk criteria for critical infrastructures: fundamentals and case studies in the Netherlands

Critical infrastructures are complex societal systems. For that reason, risk criteria for critical infrastructures are also ‘part’ of the risk criteria for complex societal systems. The questions to be resolved are: (1) are the societal risk criteria of complex systems defined and quantifiable; and (2) is it known how the risk criteria of critical infrastructures relate to the risk criteria of the complex system as a whole. In other words, what certainty is there that the risk criteria of critical infrastructures meet the risk criteria of complex systems as a whole. A complex system in this respect may be a society as a whole, e.g. a nation.