Good timing: The economics of optimal stopping

This paper presents an economic interpretation of the optimal “stopping” of perpetual project opportunities under both certainty and uncertainty. Prior to stopping, the expected rate of return from delay exceeds the rate of interest. The expected rate of return from delay is the sum of the expected rate of change in project value and the expected rate of change in the option premium associated with waiting. At stopping the expected rate of return from delay has fallen to the rate of interest. Viewing stopping in this way unifies the theoretical and practical insights of the theory of stopping under certainty and uncertainty.     

Exploring transport to arts and cultural activities as a facilitator of social inclusion

This paper explores the relationship between travel and social inclusion in relation to a relatively rarely examined group of travel destinations—arts and cultural activities. This paper examines travel behaviour to arts and cultural activities and how this relates to social inclusion. Research literature associated with these issues is examined and then an analysis of a household travel survey in Melbourne, Australia, is undertaken to explore how travel to arts and cultural activities varies by income, car ownership and location. The paper outlines a range of evidence linking participation in arts and cultural activities and positive outcomes for social inclusion. Arts and cultural activities do not fit well into traditional household travel survey definitions of trip purposes. There is also no definitional difference between travel to activities and ‘participation’ or ‘attendance’ in arts and cultural activities. This is unfortunate since social outcomes may vary by participation or attendance. Travel survey analysis shows that like other activities trip rates to arts and cultural activities increase with income. However higher participation is demonstrated for zero- and one-car households, which contrasts with previous research of work, education and social travel. Higher participation is also demonstrated for those living in inner parts of the city. The paper suggests that most travel to arts and cultural activity is quite localised and hence much travel may be led by the diversity and range of local opportunities provided. These are particularly high in inner parts of the city. A high share of travel is also demonstrated for older people, who are thought to have the time and desire for greater participation in arts and cultural activities.     

Task‐Relationship‐Self: A Framework for Understanding Service Encounter Behaviors

Research conducted over past decades has investigated selected service encounter behaviors from either a customer or service provider perspective. However, a comprehensive, dual‐perspective framework is lacking. Such a framework is needed to organize knowledge of these behaviors, and thereby provide structure, clarity, and parsimony to the field. This paper describes a three‐tier framework of service encounter behavior that was developed by applying grounded theory principles to interviews with customers, service employees, and other stakeholders. These informants described many ways in which they behave when executing service exchanges, dealing with service difficulties, and managing themselves in the process. Using an iterative inductive approach, a conceptual framework was developed in which specific (Tier 1) behaviors were placed within broader (Tier 2) categories, and these lower classification levels were, in turn, interpreted within a conceptual space defined by the (Tier 3) dimensions of task, relationship, and self. This framework was then elaborated and refined by reference to the psychology and marketing literature, a set of 157 audio‐recorded service interactions, and an expert panel study. The paper includes comparisons between the framework and those previously proposed, propositions regarding service encounter processes and outcomes, and implications for future research and practice.     

Editorial: Trust and HRM: Current insights and future directions

Over the last 20 years, HRM has been identified as one of the most influential organisational contexts in which to explore trust, and yet scholars have been slow to look systematically at both the systems and practices that underlie this assertion. Organisations make choices regarding both the design and implementation of HRM policies and practices, with research considering the impact on trust for both key single policy areas and bundles of policies. We outline the previous dominance on teleological approaches compared with a dearth of more deontological perspectives which would highlight moral and ethical considerations implicit in definitions of trustworthiness. We review the contribution of five new articles to further our understanding of trust and HRM and identify future research and practice agendas.     

UK Building Societies: ‘Deregulation’ change myths

An academic and official orthodoxy has it that late 1970s and 1980s UK Building Societies ‘deregulation’ (part of wider financial services/banking ‘deregulation’) foreshadowed great change in the nature of the industry and its markets and, so, in the task for management (change from stewardship to strategic management requiring greatly enhanced capability and from regulation protected marketplace, and permitted industry cartel, to open aggressive competition). In this article the orthodoxy is challenged and is exposed as being largely in the nature of myth through statements of building society finance directors in semi-structured interviews and financial data concerning the profitability nexus and markets.     

Relationship between the mode of land redistribution,tenure security and agricultural credit use in KwaZulu-Natal

Data collected from interviews with new landowners in KwaZulu-Natal in 1999 show that households on four government-assisted projects had less tenure security than households that acquired land via private transactions. Households in government-assisted projects also used less agricultural credit and had less liquidity and less wealth. The probability of households using agricultural credit increased with more secure tenure, more household wealth (number of durable goods), higher liquidity and higher levels of household education. It is recommended that more emphasis be placed on redistributing land through the private market and encouraging the creation of management committees or joint enterprises to utilise the land settled by large groups of beneficiaries. This would be a first step towards making tenure more secure, most notably in the government land reform projects. More secure tenure would improve the creditworthiness of emerging farmers, thereby creating incentives for investing in improvements and complementary inputs to raise agricultural performance.     

Run length and the predictability of stock price reversals

Survival analysis is used to estimate time‐varying probabilities of price reversals using daily data for the Australian All Ordinaries Price Index. Lagged price changes lead to persistence (shortening) in a price run if they are of the same (opposite) sign as the run. An increase in the number of runs observed in the previous 30 days also increases the probability of price reversal. The predictive accuracy of the models is assessed using a probability scoring rule. Consistent with market efficiency, the estimated models are less accurate than the random walk model in predicting the length of individual price runs out‐of‐sample.