Tactical deception in covert selling: A persuasion knowledge perspective

In two studies, we examine consumers' perceptions of covert personal selling in relation to their product evaluation and salespersons' self-disclosure of the selling motive. Study 1 suggests that positive product evaluation can moderate the perceived deceptiveness of an overt selling attempt, but not that of its covert counterpart. Study 2 provides further evidence of consumer resistance against covert selling, even when the salespersons disclose their identities prior to consumers' purchase decisions. This research sheds further light on the compelling negative ramifications of tactical deception in covert marketing communications.     

The virtual takeover: The influence of virtual reality on consumption

Looking to current trends, this paper explores the influence of Virtual Reality (VR) on consumption. Specifically, we focus on the influence that VR has on consumer spending by suggesting that identities created in VR will influence consumption behaviour in the real world. While other forms of technology allow consumers to create alternative identities, we suggest that the unique aspects of VR, bolstered by forthcoming advances, will make identities created in VR relatively more self-important and more salient in real world consumption. We also propose implications for marketing research and practice.     

Ethical perceptions of Hong Kong Chinese business managers

This paper investigates ethical perceptions among Hong Kong Chinese managers of themselves and peers according to age, location of education and employment (local vs. multinational), based upon responses to thirteen potentially unethical situations.The major conclusions of the study are: (1) there is little consistency among perceptions of ethical situations; (2) Hong Kong managers perceive their peers as more unethical than themselves; (3) ethical perceptions in some situations are affected by age and to a lesser extent, place of education; and (4) significant interactions were found between age and the nature of employer, as well as between the place of education and the nature of employer.To conclude, the management implications of these findings are discussed.Miss McDonald has for the past five years been Assistant Professor of Marketing and Human Resource Management on the South East Asian postgraduate business programmes of the University of East Asia, Macau. Her commercial experience is in the fields of Advertising, Personnel Consultancy, and Industrial Relations.Dr. Zepp teaches Statistics and Operations Research at the University of East Asia. He was a lecturer at the Ohio State University (USA), where he received his doctorate. He spent 8 years in Africa, teaching at the University of Maiduguri (Nigeria), and the National University of Lesotho. He was an American Fulbright Professor at the Universite d'Abidjan (Ivory Coast), and a statistical consultant to the government of Haiti.     

Wealth effects of the Basle Accord on small banks

This paper examines the share price reactions of small commercial banks to the announcement of the Basle Accord. Previous studies document that large banks have negative price reactions to the announcement of the accord. Findings here show that small banks have positive share price reactions. Our overall evidence gives some support to the notion that small banks had excessive capital before the Basle Accord, and the Accord created wealth effects in the banking industry.     

Property Tax and Housing Returns

This paper evaluates the effects of property tax on housing. While land tax and capital gains tax are widely used for curbing hoarding of land and speculation, its effectiveness is inconclusive. The imposition of a capital gains tax will impair the liquidity of property transaction, lower the rate of return on property investment, and reduce revenue from land sales which represents an important tax resource for the communities. This paper shows that a capital gains tax is capitalized into housing prices. Individuals tend to postpone the purchase of houses because of transaction taxes. Using an impulse response function, we show that a transaction tax has a dynamic negative impact on housing returns. While this paper focuses on Hong kong, for the purpose of comparison Singapore and Taiwan are also discussed.