Consumer willingness-to-pay to reduce the probability of retail foodborne pathogen contamination

The US Department of Agriculture applies a cost-of-illness approach to value reductions in morbidity, which may understate the projected benefits from proposed food-safety improvements by ignoring costs such as pain, suffering and worry. We use a national survey with a hypothetical food-choice experiment to estimate a more comprehensive measure of consumer willingness-to-pay for food-safety improvements. Our approach differs from previous evaluations of food-safety improvements because we: (1) provide the respondent with information about the promised change in the probability of pathogen contamination in retail food packages rather than changes in the probability of becoming ill, (2) elicit changes in respondents’ subjective probability of becoming ill, and (3) elicit predicted changes in the quantity demanded for products that have enhanced food-safety properties. We estimate the consumer’s choice between a safety-enhanced and an existing product, the change in subjective probability of contracting foodborne illness associated with the enhanced product and the change-in-demand for the enhanced product in a manner that recognizes the correlation among unobserved elements. The aggregated results suggest benefit estimates that are significantly larger than previous estimates for similar improvements.     

On the propensity to issue contingent convertible (CoCo) bonds

In this paper, we analyze the determinants of CoCo bond issuance. We find evidence that banks that issue CoCos are typically large. Moreover, in the case of BRICS and other emerging economies, we find evidence that banks are also highly leveraged, aiming to meet the Basel III rules and replace debt with equity funding. Also, we study the strength of the regulatory component in the CoCo issuance through analysis of tax deductibility in the UK, countercyclical capital buffer, subsamples of global systemically important banks and Basel III implementation.     

社会排斥对地位消费行为倾向的影响

情境因素会导致消费者心理状态发生变化,对他们后续消费行为产生影响。基于自我肯定理论,本文探讨了社会排斥这一情境因素对消费者地位消费行为倾向的影响机理,认为消费者需要借助地位消费行为带来的自我肯定效用,以提升由社会排斥导致的自我价值感知威胁而诱发的自尊感知下降。以MBA、公司员工、在校本科生为被试,通过四项实验研究,本文发现,社会排斥能对消费者的地位消费行为倾向产生促进作用;此促进作用通过自我价值感知和自尊感知的链式中介效应传导;遭遇社会排斥后,若获得其他途径的自我肯定机会,则此促进作用会减弱。     

上级发展性反馈对下属知识共享的影响机制：一个有调节的中介模型

文章从上级与下属互动的视角出发，构建并验证了一个有调节的中介模型，探讨上级发展性反馈对下属知识共享影响的过程机制及边界条件，重点检验组织自尊的中介效应以及人与组织匹配的调节效应。通过对两阶段分时序所收集到的417份样本数据的统计分析，结果表明：上级发展性反馈对下属组织自尊水平具有显著正向影响；下属组织自尊不仅对其知识共享具有显著正向影响，而且部分中介上级发展性反馈对其知识共享的促进作用；人与组织匹配调节上级发展性反馈与下属组织自尊的关系，人与组织匹配程度越高，上级发展性反馈对下属组织自尊的积极影响越明显；人与组织匹配还调节组织自尊在上级发展性反馈与下属知识共享关系间的中介效应，人与组织匹配程度越高，该中介效应越显著。     

Drivers of brand community engagement

Brand community engagement is evolving as a prominent relationship marketing variable that yields promising outcomes for the firms. Drawing upon the relevant premises of social exchange theory, this paper proposes a theoretical model portraying the role of online brand community based benefits (experience based and self-esteem based) and the community relationship investment in predicting the levels of brand community engagement.Data collected through a survey questionnaire technique from 925 members of the firm created online brand communities was employed to test the measurement and structural theory using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling respectively. The empirical results reveal that the customers’ experiential and self-esteem based benefits drive their brand community engagement. The perceived community relationship investment of the members also drives their brand community engagement positively. The sequential structural model also supported a positive impact exerted by brand community engagement on brand community commitment and brand loyalty. Additionally, it is observed that the focal brand ownership moderates the effect of community benefits and community relationship investment on brand community engagement.This study contributes to the nascent academic research on online brand communities and to the existing understanding of the brand community managers in managing customer engagement in online brand communities, thereby of profound theoretical and managerial relevance.     

Quantifying the vulnerabilities of China’s corporate sector with contingent claims

This paper measures and analyzes the default risk and debt sustainability of China’s non-financial corporate sector both on an aggregate level and within a sector by employing the contingent claims approach (CCA). Our results suggest that the vulnerabilities of Chinese firms are heterogenous in terms of investment source, ownership group, corporate form, industry type, and geographic unit etc. First, foreign capital enterprises have a lower default risk than domestic capital enterprises. Within domestic capital enterprises, state-owned firms have the lowest default risk, whereas private and collective firms are most unsustainable despite that they have the highest returns on assets. Second, state-controlled firms, private stock limited firms, and Chinese foreign cooperative firms are least vulnerable in the state-owned corporate sub-sector, the private corporate sub-sector and the foreign corporate sub-sector, respectively. Third, all industries except the coal industry are sustainable by industry type. Fourth, the vulnerabilities of local state-owned sub-sectors are diverse across China’s administrative regions. Moreover, we provide robustness tests which support our findings. In Sum, our study shed key light on ensuring the soundness of China’s non-financial corporate sector and thereby maintaining the stability and sustainability of the Chinese economy.     

Consumers’ preferences,attitudes and willingness to pay for bio-textile in wood fibers

The bio-textile products made from certified wood fibers are an important product innovation able to diversify the wood product portfolio of enterprises and to increase environmental sustainability. In this paper, we estimate Italian consumers' willingness to pay for three bio-textile products made from certified wood (socks, T-shirt and shirt). Data were collected face-to-face to a sample of 696 consumers through Contingent Valuation. The results from the Cameron and Huppert model show a significant premium price, ranging from 64% to 128% depending on the products, and that respondents with a higher environmental concern are more willing to pay for bio-textile products. Nevertheless, the price turned out to be a key determinant, evidencing how it can constitute a barrier to a more sustainable consumer behaviour. These results are important for the European wood-based industries’ businesses, currently based on stagnant market of traditional wood products, since they indicate there is room for a profitable diversification in bio-textile products. An increased market of bio-textile products can contribute to reduce the fossil fuel dependency of the European Union economy.     

游客对旅游地教育服务的支付意愿研究

为有计划性、引导性的倡导使用者付费的理念,建立公开透明、科学合理的定价机制,运用条件价值评估法(CVM)对全国12个省12个旅游景区的中国游客进行了实地抽样调查,分析游客对教育服务项目的支付意愿。基于2 800份有效问卷数据,获得了受访者支付意愿的分布形态和规律,构建了游客支付意愿与其影响因素之间关系的模型。结果显示:49.40%的游客愿意支付教育服务费用,平均支付额度为28.6元;游客的年龄、婚姻状态、学历、职业、收入与其教育服务支付意愿之间存在显著性关系,旅游地游客教育水平也直接影响游客的支付意愿,而性别与其支付意愿没有显著的差异。同时,游客的年龄、学历、职业、收入对支付方式的影响较大,64.1%的游客想通过门票支付,27.5%的游客想通过小费支付。     

Private Sector Participation in the Provision of Quality Drinking Water in Urban Areas of Ghana: What Do Households Want and Can Afford?

This study conducts a survey among households in three cities in Ghana on how water delivery should be managed. The contingent valuation method was used to estimate the willingness to pay for improved water delivery under private sector participation. Results indicate that most households will remain connected to their current water supplies if private sector is engaged to improve water delivery at higher monthly water bills. Given that the mean household monthly water bill of GH¢10.82, the results indicate that there is demand for water quality improvement, and private sector engagement is likely to provide these services. However, this policy measure marginalises the poor in terms of access to water. Therefore, private sector participation in water delivery may require a complementary programme to promote access to water.     

Contingent valuation of urban public space: A case study of Ljubljanica riverbanks

The article presents an economic valuation of the Ljubljanica riverbanks area, which is an urban cultural landscape with distinct qualities of international importance. For this purpose, we combined a classical contingent valuation with a closed-form version of discrete choice method, where the protest responses have been removed. By using econometric analysis, we obtained the willingness-to-pay (WTP) value and established its determinants. It was ascertained that residents derived more utility from implementation of the targeted development scenario than visitors. Thus, a discriminatory contribution scheme similar to the one with respect to the mean WTP could supply substantial revenue for further targeted development, while still providing ample consumer surplus for both residents and visitors. The present analysis represents one of the method’s very few applications to urban landscape in Central and Eastern European countries.