Who spends more online? The influence of time,usage variety,and privacy concern on online spending

The paper tests the influence of adoption time, online time, usage variety, and privacy concern on online spending. Findings support the hypothesis that online time, adoption time, and usage variety, the three dimensions of Internet usage experience, have a positive and significant influence on the amount of money consumers spend online, and privacy concern has a negative and significant influence. The control variables included in the model are gender, age, education, and income. Gender, age, and education did not influence online spending. However, income has a significant effect on online spending. Theoretical and strategic implications and recommendations for future research are presented.     

On the determinants of national saving: An extreme-bounds analysis

On the Determinants of Saving: An Extreme-Bounds Analysis. — We use extreme-bounds analysis to examine the reliability of estimates of various determinants of national saving. Results from the cross-sectional data are discouraging, for few of the standard determinants identified in the theoretical and empirical saving literature can pass robustness tests. However, our panel analysis is much more encouraging. We found agricultural share in total output, public saving, budget balance, and the current account balance are indeed robust. Furthermore, when we applied a modified form of sensitivity analysis, we found that seven variables are very robust. Generally, the most commonly specified determinants of saving provide limited guidance in understanding and predicting saving behavior.     

Maintenance of Cross-Sector Partnerships: The Role of Frames in Sustained Collaboration

The finance industry is required to respond to public criticism of perceived immoral behaviour. To create legitimacy, financial firms not only undertake corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, but also support such activities with precise justifications. In this paper, we study CSR justifications appearing in annual and sustainability reports from the Swedish finance industry. Our objective is to investigate the ethical character of CSR justifications in the finance industry. This is an interesting topic, both because CSR carries ethical meaning and because CSR justifications play a role in actual business activities. A secondary aim of this article is to test whether decoupled corporate claims about CSR can be recoupled, which would potentially help companies to act responsibly. The observed CSR justifications avoided the fundamental question of whether the finance industry does in fact have responsibilities, and they did not manifest awareness of stakeholders’ demands for CSR. Seemingly value-based CSR activities often lacked ethical justifications. These characteristics do not harmonize with the responsible image that the contemporary finance industry wants to portray. Our counterintuitive finding is that amorality prevails in the justifications that banks give for undertaking CSR activities.     

An organizational capability perspective on multi-unit franchising

Previous research on multi-unit franchising (MUF) has primarily focused on agency and transaction cost perspectives. The present study develops and tests an organizational capability (OC) model of the franchisor’s choice of MUF. According to the OC view, the franchisor gains a competitive advantage by exploration and exploitation of firm-specific resources and capabilities. We hypothesize that, if the franchisor expects to obtain a competitive advantage resulting from higher exploration and exploitation capabilities when using MUF as opposed to single-unit franchising, the franchisor will more likely choose MUF as a governance mode of the franchise system. Based on empirical data from the German and Swiss franchise sectors, the results of the regression analysis support these hypotheses. Our main contribution to the franchise literature is the development of an OC model of the franchisor’s choice of MUF that complements the existing organizational economics ?explanation of MUF.     

The Impact of Formal and Informal Distance on Gender Equality Approaches: The Case of a British MNC in Saudi Arabia

This study explores the forces that promote and hinder gender equality efforts of a multinational corporation (MNC) operating in the Middle East. Specifically, we draw from a case study to document the formal and informal pressures exerted on a British MNC operating in Saudi Arabia to better understand the multiple forces that influence gender equality approaches in the host country. Our findings suggest that while formal institutions such as the legal requirements and localization policies support gender equality, informal forces that are rooted in the cultural norms and traditions are formidable in hindering such efforts and in reinforcing the status quo. The insights generated from our study have the potential to inform public policy makers and organizational decision makers to locate the right policy tool to promote gender equality. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Herding in Chinese stock markets: a nonparametric approach

The paper reports new evidence of herding in the Chinese A-type and B-type markets by employing nonparametric kernel regression. We find statistically significant evidence of herding in A-type market under both extreme high and low market returns. Herding in B-type market, which predominantly consists of foreign investors, indicates only weak evidence of herding. We do not find any statistically significant evidence of herding in the pre-2001 sample of B-type market, when only foreign investors could do the trading. Lack of knowledge and experience of local investors may be attributed to the presence of herd behaviour in the Chinese markets.     

Does Shariah compliance make interest rate sensitivity of Islamic equities lower? An industry level analysis under different market states

This paper examines the sensitivity of the Dow Jones Islamic market index and its corresponding industry equity indices to changes in the level, slope and curvature of the U.S. term structure of interest rates over the period 1996–2015 using the quantile regression approach. The empirical results reveal that the Islamic stock market has a considerable negative exposure to interest rate risk, although a declining time pattern of interest rate sensitivity is observed. The unexpected changes in the level factor of the U.S. yield curve, closely linked to long-term interest rates, are identified as the most important interest rate factor in explaining the variability of Islamic equity returns. Furthermore, the interest rate exposure tends to be stronger during extreme bearish conditions in the stock market, possibly due to the greater pessimism and risk aversion under these market circumstances. It is also shown that Islamic equities are not different from their mainstream counterparts in terms of interest rate sensitivity, indicating that the Islamic stock market does not provide a cushion against interest rate risk.     

Testing interaction effects of the dimensions of market orientation on marketing program creativity

Despite the plethora of research on market orientation, our understanding of how different dimensions of market orientation interact with each other in generating new intelligence for marketing programs is limited. In this paper, we develop and test a model that examines the interaction effects of the three dimensions of market orientation—customer orientation, competitor orientation, and cross-functional integration—on generation of marketing program creativity, composed of novelty and meaningfulness dimensions. In empirically testing such effects, we illustrate how to use two-stage least squares (2SLS) estimation. We find significant positive interaction effects between customer orientation and competitor orientation and between competitor orientation and cross-functional integration in predicting marketing program novelty. We also find that competitor orientation and cross-functional integration significantly and positively interact with each other in improving marketing program meaningfulness. Our empirical results provide implications and directions for market orientation research.     

Patient empowerment strategies for a safety net

The Milwaukee County General Assistance Medical Program implemented strategies to improve the delivery of care to its patients that include patient education and a Nurse Telephone Line. The partnership between a county-funded program and an academic health center has been very productive and resulted in improvements to the program that benefit underserved patients. The outcomes of these educational strategies are described.