Managerial ownership,board monitoring and firm performance in a family‐concentrated corporate environment

Using data from Hong Kong, a market that has family‐concentrated ownership structure, we examine the relation between managerial ownership, the board of directors and firm performance. We first conduct analysis on the managerial ownership and firm performance to derive the turning points where either ‘convergence of interest’ or ‘entrenchment’ effect of managerial ownership is dominant. Based on these estimated turning points, we find that at low and high level of ownership, effective board mitigates the entrenchment effect associated with managerial ownership; at medium level of ownership, board effectiveness is less demanded. These findings suggest that managerial ownership and board monitoring are substitutes in mitigating the agency problem between managers and shareholders. We also find that effective board curbs the excessive compensation by entrenched managers to themselves at low level of managerial ownership.     

Website quality and users' intention to use digital libraries: Examining users’ attitudes,online co-creation experiences,and eWOM

This research aims to examine how the website quality affects the intention of digital library users to use the website by considering factors of user's attitudes, online co-creation experiences, and electronic word-of-mouth. The statistical population of the research is composed of the users of Astan Qods Razavi digital library, which is one of the oldest digital libraries in Iran. Data was collected from 402 participants who use the library and analyzed in SPSS and PLS softwares. Construct validity was assessed and confirmed using convergent validity and divergent validity. Data reliability was assessed and confirmed using Cronbach's alpha and composite reliability. The research confirms that website quality affects the attitudes of users towards the website and their intention to participate in online co-creation and eWOM. The effects of user's attitudes to the online co-creation experience, eWOM, and intention to use the library, as well as the effects of the online co-creation experience and eWOM on the intention to use the digital library were also confirmed. Considering the results of the research, it is recommended to digital libraries to provide an efficient user-friendly website designed to increase user participation and establish close contact with them and in this way increase their intention to use digital library services.     

Drivers of eWOM engagement on social media for luxury consumers: Analysis,implications, and future research directions

The rapid industrialization and growth across the world have fostered the consumption of luxury fashion brands. Electronic word-of- mouth on social media (eWOM) is fast becoming an effective and germane strategy to engage luxury consumers through posting pictures, sharing reviews, and communicating information on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Extant research has not examined the antecedents and drivers that lead to eWOM behavior. We leverage self-congruity theory and through its focal lens, our study addresses this research gap through a survey conducted with 453 consumers in Mexico, Latin America's fastest growing market. Our results indicate that need for status, susceptibility to normative influence, and luxury brand involvement, moderated by authentic pride and social media influencers lead to eWOM behavior on social media. We also demonstrate that luxury brand involvement and susceptibility to normative influence mediate the relationship between need for status and eWOM behavior on social media. The study provides important implications to managers and researchers by suggesting long-term actionable strategies for growth that can help luxury firms develop a sustainable competitive advantage over rivals and competitors.     

Financial consequences of adding bricks to clicks

Many e-commerce retailers are adding “bricks to clicks” – that is, opening an offline channel in addition to their digital sales channel(s). Taking the perspective of such an online pure player, this research assesses the effects of offline channel additions on the financial performance (e.g., sales, profits) and customer behavior (e.g., basket size, return rate) in the extended channel network as well as the initial online channel of the retailer. Across two studies, one at the zip code level and the other at the customer level, we find that the channel addition of a fashion and lifestyle retailer is synergistic in terms of increasing not only overall sales but also profits. At the same time, the new offline channel does not significantly cannibalize the existing online shop, as new customers are attracted through the channel addition. The effects of channel additions, however, are influenced by characteristics of customers gained before the channel addition and of the trade area around the newly opened stores: among existing customers, those who bought more in the online channel do not react as positively to the addition of an offline channel, and trade areas with socioeconomic characteristics that are often viewed as disadvantageous for digital retailing (e.g., an older population, lower average income) show a stronger positive sales effect of a brick-and-mortar addition. The attractiveness of the offline channel for these customer segments highlights that adding bricks to clicks might be most attractive for those customers who were previously unwilling to purchase from an online-only retailer.     

Attachment styles and customers' long-term relationships in a service context

The main objective of this study is to use attachment styles theory to explore long-term relationships in a service context using the mobile market as a case study. Attachment theory focuses on the primary link between maternal loss or deprivation and later personality development. This theory was extended to adult life and commercial contexts. Three attachment styles (secure, avoidant, and anxious) were used as the independent variables. Commitment and trust, as constructs of any relationship, were employed as the mediating variables, while intention to stay and cooperation were adopted as the dependent variables, as indicators of long-term commercial relationships. A random sample of 1024 members of an online panel participated in the online survey. Structural equation modelling was performed to measure the validity of the constructs through confirmatory factor analysis, and to assess the hypothesized model as a single theoretical structure using path analysis. Associations were found between most of the study variables. Significant mediation effects were found between attachment styles and long-term relationship indicators, intention to stay, and cooperation, with trust and commitment as the mediators. This study employs a unique theoretical model that has not been previously tested. The model and findings demonstrate that primary psychological structures play a role in creating and maintaining long-term relationships.     

Impact of empathy with nature on pro-environmental behaviour

Existing studies show the role of empathy with nature in improving attitudes toward the environment. This article demonstrates that induced empathy with nature can improve environmental behaviours and commitments. We find that environmental commitment and behaviour are positively affected by empathy with nature and establish a causal model between empathy with nature and pro-environmental behaviour. We further investigate the relationship between self-construal (interdependent or independent), empathy with nature (existing or non-existing) and pro-environmental behaviour. The results indicate that participants who have empathy with nature display stronger pro-environmental behaviour, particularly in the private domain. Commitment to the environment plays a mediating role in this relationship and self-construal plays a moderating role. Specifically, for individuals with interdependent self-construal, empathy with nature promotes pro-environmental behaviour, whereas for individuals with independent self-construal, empathy with nature has no statistically significant effect on pro-environmental behaviour.     

Tourist accommodation,consumption and platforms

The expansion of mediated accommodation on peer to peer (P2P) platforms, such as Airbnb, has generated extensive economic impact and structural changes in all the destinations involved. This study proposes an innovative analysis which estimates the economic impact associated with the expenditure of tourists staying in traditional hotel establishments in comparison to the impact of those staying in tourist housing mediated through P2P platforms. This research analyses fieldwork based on 1343 surveys carried out in the city of Granada, one of the main tourist destinations in Spain. Through the application of the input–output methodology we found that tourists staying in tourist housing mediated through P2P platforms generate a greater impact as a consequence of longer average stays and more heterogeneously distributed consumption. Their average expenditure is similar to that of tourists in hotels, but the indirect impact generated is greater. Consequently, we can better comprehend the economic impact associated with these platforms and their real effect. Public planners have to consider this information as part of the regulation and restriction of this activity.     

Integrating strength-weakness analysis into strategic planning

Strength-weakness assessment, which must be performed as a part of any strategic planning process, is presented in terms of a process, termed SWA, that involves managers in making the critical informational choices that are implicit in strategic assessments of strengths and weaknesses. The process is illustrated in terms of its underlying premises, their implications, its benefits, and an illustrative substantive framework that can be used to guide the process.     

Capital expenditure decision making in small firms

A number of studies have been conducted to determine the extent to which large firms utilize sophisticated techniques in capital expenditure decision making. This research effort focuses on financial decision making procedures of small firms, exploring the techniques utilized to evaluate investment opportunities, methods employed to adjust for risk, purposes of expenditures and concern for profitability, and the source and cost of funds. In light of the recent debate on the capital shortage issue, small firms were also asked what type of tax reform they deemed most desirable to stimulate capital investments.