The effect of interior color on customers’ aesthetic perception,emotion, and behavior in the luxury service

This study examined the role of color in a luxury service setting. To understand the effect of color, this study investigated how each dimension of color (hue, saturation, or value) contributed to customers' aesthetic perceptions of a luxury hotel room. We interpreted customers' emotional and behavioral responses to a luxury hotel room painted various colors by applying the S–O–R model. The results showed that muted and bright colors encouraged both classical and expressive aesthetic perceptions within the same hue. Moreover, the results indicated that customers' aesthetic perceptions influenced their approach response through feelings of pleasure and dominance in the luxury hotel context that was moderated by their luxury consumption motivation. This study extends the previous literature by elucidating the process by which color affects customers' aesthetic perceptions, emotional states, and behavioral responses and can inform the composition of a luxury hotel's servicescape, which reflects customers' consumption motivation.     

Information Flows Between the US and China’s Agricultural Commodity Futures Markets—Based on VAR–BEKK–Skew-t Model

The information flow in the volatility and the skewness of returns are two factors closely influences the hedging risks for cross-border transactions. This article adopts a VAR–BEKK–MGARCH model with multivariate skew-t error terms to investigate the mean and volatility spillovers, while accounting for the potential skewness. The model is applied to real returns of corn, wheat, and soybeans futures in United States and China. The empirical results indicate the major role of United States in information transmission, and the increasing volatility spillovers of China to United States in highly marketized commodities and after trading structure changes. The analysis of skewness provides evidences for market inefficiency and implication on the investment decision and trading strategies.     

Too much of a good thing? Consumer response to strategic changes in brand image

The current research investigates a potential disadvantage of building brand associations that resonate with consumers' identities and facilitate consumer–brand bonding. The authors propose a theory of consumer response to changes that either dampen or augment the associations central to brand image (e.g., due to brand acquisitions or repositioning). The results show that consumers with a high degree of self–brand connection respond more negatively than others do to changes that dampen brand associations. Counterintuitively, changes augmenting brand associations can also lead to unfavorable consumer sentiments in certain instances. When brand connection was linked to an ideal self-identity (i.e., self-enhancement motives), changes that augmented the brand image increased the brand's ability to signal an ideal identity. Conversely, when brand connection was linked to the actual self-identity (i.e., self-verification motives), augmenting brand image reduced the perceived similarity between the self and the brand, thus causing brand identification to deteriorate.     

How work design characteristics affect service employees’ work–family conflicts

Despite scholars acknowledging that the five core job characteristics (i.e. skill variety, task significance, task identity, autonomy, and feedback) significantly positively influence employees’ psychological states (i.e. job meaningfulness, job responsibility, and results knowledge), few researchers have empirically studied how these job characteristics and psychological states are related to job involvement and work–family conflict (WFC). Research data were collected by conducting a survey of service employees through a market survey website. A total of 714 valid questionnaires were eventually collected, and structural equation modeling analysis was applied to the data. The results confirmed that skill variety and job involvement have a positive direct influence on WFC, whereas task feedback significantly decreases WFC. Additional analysis suggested that the five core job characteristics indirectly influence WFC through perceived job meaningfulness, responsibility, knowledge of results, and job involvement. The managerial implications for service managers developing employee work design strategies are provided.     

Tourist stereotypes and servers’ attitudes: a combined theoretical approach

Local attitudes towards tourism comprise one of the most researched topics in tourism. However, researchers still need to examine attitudes of specific local groups, acknowledge tourist stereotypes as an influential factor and test different theoretical approaches, to develop a broader understanding and explanation of attitudes. Based on an emic perspective, this study analysed servers’ stereotypes of a specific group of tourists – locally known as chilangos – and associated attitudes in a Mexican resort. By adopting a combined theoretical approach drawn from social exchange theory and integrated threat theory, this study’s results reveal that individuals who depend economically on tourism do not always have positive attitudes and that negative stereotypes on their own are not the strongest predictors of attitudes. By combining both theories’ postulations, the findings show that perceived economic benefits and personal positive contact together account for positive attitudes but that these factors are significantly counterbalanced by negative tourist stereotypes. The practical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Validity of unbalanced growth theory and sectoral investment priorities in Indonesia: Application of feature ranking methods

This study develops a new approach for testing the validity of unbalanced growth theory as well as determining the sectoral priorities for investment in Indonesia over the period 1995–2015. To this end, the high linkage sector(s) is identified through the input–output framework. Afterward, two different approaches, multiple linear regression and multi-layered perceptron (MLP) artificial neural network, are applied to capture the linear and nonlinear relationships between the extracted engine sectors and gross domestic product growth. Given that the detection of sector ranking is crucial for preparing a proper development plan, in the same vein we apply two types of feature-ranking methods (namely, stepwise regression and ant colony optimization (ACO-MLP based). The findings suggest a consistent relationship between the theory and economic growth in both linear and nonlinear models. However, the nonlinear model outperforms its competitor. In general, we find that the manufacturing sector is the most strategic sector in Indonesia, as it has been ranked first in both linear and nonlinear forms. Hence, its development path could be reinforced by more investment in this leading sector and then followed by investment in construction, hotels and restaurants, and agriculture.     

Determining the Key Factors of Customer–Brand Relationship Investment Dimensions: Insights From Malaysian Mobile Phone Users

This study aims to empirically test a scale to measure the dimensions of relationship investment. An exploratory factor analysis and reliability analysis were conducted on a sample of 150 mobile phone customers, whereas a confirmatory factor analysis was conducted on a sample of 539 customers. The results identified 2 dimensions each for customer and brand investment and validated the measurement items for each dimension. Thus, this study offers a sound scale for potential use in future studies and a useful tool for companies to use to diagnose and plan for an effective engagement strategy.     

APPLYING SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS TO INPUT–OUTPUT BASED INNOVATION MATRICES: AN ILLUSTRATIVE APPLICATION TO SIX OECD TECHNOLOGICAL SYSTEMS FOR THE MIDDLE 1990s

The paper discusses, illustrates and possibly contributes to overcoming two methodological problems that emerge in applying Social Network Analysis (SNA) to the study of IO-based innovation flows matrices. The first has to do with the scale-effects these matrices suffer from. The second refers to the need of dichotomising the matrices. Through an illustrative application to six OECD countries in the mid-1990s, the paper shows that, as for the former problem, different relativisation procedures can be, and have been, used, which either tend to alter the actual meaning of standard SNA indicators, or do not properly take into account the actual composition of countries' final demand. As for the latter problem, the paper shows that the choice of discrete cut-offs is extremely sensitive, as comparative results actually change along the continuum of the matrices values. In order to overcome the scale problem, a new relativisation procedure is put forward that measures innovation flows embodied in a unit value basket of final demand and thus properly retains all the information provided by the original matrix of intersectoral innovation (embodied) flows. In addressing the problem of dichotomisation, the paper suggests, as a second best, to work with density distributions that can make the choice of discrete cut-off values less arbitrary.     

Why does the trend extracted by the Hodrick–Prescott filtering seem to be more plausible than the linear trend?

Why does the trend extracted by the Hodrick–Prescott (HP) filtering (HP trend) seem to be more plausible than the linear trend estimated by OLS? This article provides an answer for it. Because the HP filtering is a basic econometric tool, it is necessary to have a precise understanding of the nature of it. This article concludes that the HP trend is calculated by adding the low-frequency component (the long-term periodic fluctuation) of the linearly detrended series to the linear trend, which leads to that the HP trend seems to be more plausible than the linear trend. Other than this key result, this article shows that the HP cycle, which is defined as the residuals of the HP filtering, can be interpreted as the high-frequency component (the short-term periodic fluctuation) of the linearly detrended series. An empirical illustration is also provided.     

Saving,investment and capital mobility in EU member countries: a panel data analysis of the Feldstein–Horioka puzzle

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we reexamine the long-standing and puzzling correlation between national saving and investment in 14 European Union (EU) countries. We employ a panel data set for the period 1970–2015 and we apply recently developed maximum likelihood panel cointegration methodologies. We find that there exists a long-run relationship between savings and investment for this panel of EU member countries, with the savings retention coefficient being low in magnitude but statistically different than zero. Therefore, we argue that there is weak evidence in favour of the Feldstein–Horioka puzzle and that the long-run international solvency condition is maintained in most of these countries. This evidence implies a moderate degree of capital mobility which is consistent with the macroeconomic experience of these countries during the period under investigation.