The Impact of Ethics Education on Reporting Behavior

We examine the impact of an ethics education program on reporting behavior using two groups of students: fourth year Masters of Accounting students who just completed a newly instituted ethics education program, and fifth year students in the same program who did not receive the ethics program. In an experiment providing both the opportunity and motivation to misreport for more money, we design two social condition treatments – anonymity and public disclosure – to examine whether or to what extent ethical values are internalized by students. We find that when participants are anonymous, misreporting rates are nearly the same regardless of ethics program participation. However, when their reporting behavior is made public to the cohort, participants who completed the ethics program misreported at significantly lower rates than those who did not receive the ethics program. The results suggest that ethics education does not necessarily result in internalized ethical values, but it can impact ethical behavior.     

Friday the 13th and the philosophical basis of financial economics

The Friday the 13th anomaly of Kolb and Rodriguez (1987) is revisited in an international context. Drawing on the philosophy of science approach of Lakatos (1978), the paper argues the importance of “anomalies” and the need for triangulation. Using the FTSE world indices over 1988–2000 for 19 countries, it is found that there is some evidence that returns on Friday the 13th are statistically different from, and generally greater than, returns on other Fridays. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the possibility of an emergent paradigm incorporating work such as Jacobsen and Bouman (1998) and Kamstra, Kramer, and Levi (2000a). Thanks to my colleagues in the School of Business Brown Bag Lunch series, especially Dr. Martin Fellenz and Dr. Patrick Butler, and also to the editor, for valuable suggestions.     

Inflation, inflation uncertainty, and monetary policy in Turkey: 1960–1998

The authors constructed a time series of monthly inflation uncertainty in Turkey from 1960 to 1998 using GARCH models and investigated the link between inflation and inflation uncertainty using Granger tests. The authors found strong statistical support that inflation significantly raised inflation uncertainty in Turkey over the full sample period and three subsamples. The evidence on the effect of inflation uncertainty on average inflation is mixed and depends on the time period examined. An analysis of the political conditions and the record of macroeconomic policy making in Turkey between 1960 and 1998 reveal institutional and political factors that can help explain the empirical results.     

Market Efficiency Anomalies in Korea: Mispricing vs. Omitted Risk Factors

Using a sample of Korean firms, this paper examines whether abnormal returns to various trading strategies based on publicly available information are consistent with mispricing (market inefficiency) or with the fundamental variables proxying for omitted risk factors. Results of various tests indicate that significant abnormal trading profits observed from DeBondt and Thaler';s (1985) contrarian strategy and Ou and Penman';s (1989) and Holthausen and Larcker';s (1992) Pr-strategies are likely to be a result of market mispricing, while those from trading strategies based on firm size, earnings-to-price ratios, and book-to-price ratios are likely to be a result of omitted risk factors.     

A Comparison of Conjoint Analysis Response Formats

A split-sample design is used to evaluate the convergent validity of three response formats used in conjoint analysis experiments. We investigate whether recoding rating data to rankings and choose-one formats, and recoding ranking data to choose one, result in structural models and welfare estimates that are statistically indistinguishable from estimates based on ranking or choose-one questions. Our results indicate that convergent validity of ratings, ranks, and choose one is not established. In addition, we find that people frequently use "ties" in responses to rating questions, and that the option not to choose any of the alternatives ("opt-out") affects some preference estimates.     

An evaluation of unethical business practices in Australia's China inbound tourism market

This paper examines the prevalence of unethical practices within the business sector operating in the China to Australia tourism market. The range and nature of the practices are outlined in the context of the structure of outbound operations in China and inbound operations in Australia, taking account of the roles of the respective governments. The prospective impact of the practices on the growth of the market is evaluated. An estimation is provided of the potentially negative impacts of word‐of‐mouth recommendations on future China to Australia tourism flows. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley &Sons, Ltd.     

Managing Relationships with Environmental Stakeholders: A Study of U.K. Water and Electricity Utilities

In this paper we report a study of the approach of six U.K. water and electricity companies towards managing the relationship with their 'green' stakeholders. Stakeholders are accorded increasing importance in political discourse and stakeholder theory is emerging as a promising framework for the analysis of corporate social performance.We studied the companies' general approach towards green stakeholders, their dealings with specific stakeholder groups and whether they emphasised the consultation or the information aspect of stakeholder management. We found that none of the six companies had a systematic stakeholder approach that extended to all potential green stakeholders. Rather, the importance of specific stakeholder groups seemed to be determined by managers' intuition and by the stance that the stakeholders themselves displayed towards the company.Green stakeholders with an institutional power base – government via legislation, environmental and industry regulators – emerged as the most immediately influential stakeholders. The Environment Agency, the environmental regulator, played an especially important role in the companies' environmental management. Customers and the general public – the source of corporate social legitimacy – were also considered to be important, but their influence was more long term and based on voice, rather than the potential for direct retaliation. Economic stakeholders were generally considered to be not very interested in the companies' environmental performance.     

Waterfall attractions in coastal tourist areas: the Yorkshire coast and Queensland's Gold Coast compared

A comparative study of tourism development on the Yorkshire coast and Queensland's Gold Coast illustrates the importance of waterfalls as attractions, even in beach orientated tourist areas catering mainly for seaside holidaymakers. A relative decline in the importance of the Yorkshire coast waterfall attractions whereas those of the Gold Coast hinterland continue to play a major role is attributed to differences in quantity and quality of these scenic resources, problems of access and the availability of other, and, for many, superior, waterfall attractions within easy reach. Appropriate levels of development at and access to waterfall sites are discussed. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley &Sons, Ltd.     

Food management in tourism: Reducing tourism’s carbon ‘foodprint’

Food production and consumption have a range of sustainability implications, including their contribution to global emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). As some foodstuffs entail higher GHG emissions than others, managing their use in tourism-related contexts could make a significant contribution to climate change mitigation. This article reviews the carbon intensity of selected foods and discusses how foodservice providers could adapt their practices. It shows that even though food management could substantially reduce the GHG emissions of foodservice providers, its application is currently hampered by the complexity of food production chains and a lack of dependable data on the GHG intensity of foodstuffs. Nevertheless, it is possible to make a number of recommendations in respect of how foodservice providers can better purchase, prepare and present foods. Further research is now needed to refine and extend our understanding of the contribution that food management can make to reducing tourism’s carbon ‘foodprint’.