Validation of Consumer Styles Inventory for consumer decision making styles

The Consumer Styles Inventory (CSI) developed by Sproles and Kendall, Journal of Consumer Affairs, 1986, 20: 267–279, is one of the most widely used instruments to classify consumers by their decision making styles. With changes in consumption culture attributable to the coexistence of global and local consumer culture in the past few decades, it is essential to reaffirm that the CSI measurement instrument is valid for contemporary consumers and can be applied in various contexts. This study, therefore, aimed to present a set of CSI validation procedures using contemporaneous participants and targeting two groups of participants in the United States. Two sets of exploratory factor analysis using the main data set (n = 390) were performed and confirmatory factor analysis was applied to the main data set and the cross-validation data set (n = 172). Results from both the exploratory factor and confirmatory factor analyses seem to validate the eight underlying consumer characteristics of CSI.     

Unveiling the cloak of deviance: Linguistic cues for psychological processes in fake online reviews

Although fake online reviews have been gaining more attention from both academics and practitioners, little effort has been made to explore the linguistic characteristics of the psychological processes related to fake reviews. This research proposes four linguistic cues (i.e., affective, cognitive, social, and perceptual) related to a reviewer’s psychological processes and explores their relationships with fake reviews while examining the influence of time distance and reviewer location on these reviews. The results of logistic regression analysis of 43,496 reviews from Yelp.com suggest that affective, social, and perceptual cues are significantly related to fake reviews with the presence of the significant effects of time distance and reviewer location. Further, the results of post-hoc analysis confirm that the effect of photos on fake reviews is limited. This study contributes to the body of knowledge on online reviews and interpersonal deception theory, providing valuable implications for practitioners in the hospitality and tourism industry.     

Current issues in PhD supervision of accounting and finance students: Evidence from Australia and New Zealand

This paper reports on the current trends in accounting and finance PhD supervision in Australia and New Zealand. By examining the various supervision styles adopted by students and supervisors, we identified various tensions, including the influence of performance outcomes that may hinder the vibrant spirit of inquiry that should be intrinsic to the PhD journey and to future academia. Our findings demonstrated both supervisor and student preference for more structured (contractual or directorial) styles of supervision. Changes consistent with this preference include group supervision, the closer alignment of student research topics with supervisor interests, and the preference for certain research paradigms and a focus on journal publications. While students and supervisors regard these changes as key elements in addressing the performance demands associated with PhD outcomes, they present challenges for attaining a balance between product (thesis/contribution to knowledge) and process (students' journeys towards scholarship), together with supervisors' roles therein.     

External auditors' willingness to rely on the work of internal auditors: The influence of work style and barriers to cooperation

The extent to which external auditors rely on the work of internal auditors is an important judgment. Recently, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has recommended that external auditors “rely (more) on the work of others” to reduce the greater-than-expected costs associated with compliance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act. Reliance decisions, however, are complex decision tasks that require professional judgment and may be influenced by a number of factors, both external (environmental) and internal (cognitive and affective), including the auditors' working style and pervious experiences related to barriers to external/internal auditor cooperation (e.g., previously experienced low versus high internal auditor objectivity and/or competence). We experimentally examine these influences in our research reported herein. Consistent with expectations, external auditors' work styles significantly influenced the extent of planned audit testing, internal auditor reliance judgments, and interpretation of analytical procedures results. Auditors' perceptions about internal auditors' competence and objectivity, developed over years of interaction, also influenced these judgments, and interacted with work styles. Inconsistent with expectations, auditor rank (senior versus manager) did not influence judgments.     

新形势下非公有制企业人力资源工作方式方法研究

进入新经济时代,非公有制企业人力资源工作者遇到了许多新情况和新问题.对此,文章对新形势下非公有制企业人力资源管理的方式方法提出了见解.     

机械图样常见错误剖析

从图形表达、线型运用、尺寸标注、剖面线的表述和工艺结构等方面,剖析了常见的机械图样错误,并举例进行正误对比,提出了改进措施。     

Strangers on the board: The impact of board internationalization on earnings management of Nordic firms

The internationalization of firms has led to boards becoming more international as well. In this study, we investigate the consequences of board internationalization. In particular, by drawing on research on language and board dynamics, we identify theory-based reasons why board internationalization could increase, or decrease, earnings management practices. We use agency theory, stressing how board internationalization may positively or negatively affect monitoring quality of boards. Next to agency theory, we use theories explaining how language differences in the boardroom complicates communication and how differences in language structures (referred to as linguistic relativity in the literature) affect directors’ perception and detection of earnings management practices. Using a sample of 3249 firm-year observations representing 586 non-financial listed Nordic firms during 2001–2008, we find that the presence of non-Nordic foreign directors on the board is associated with significantly higher levels of earnings management. Our analysis indicates that this effect is driven by language-related factors, as well as by the level of foreign board members’ accounting knowledge.     

Las incapacidades de aprendizaje organizacional y su relación con los estilos de aprendizaje organizacional en la Mipyme

In this study, we examined 200 micro, small and medium enterprises from Durango City, Mexico, in order to find the possible relationship between learning disabilities and organizational learning styles, and its impact on organizational learning. To achieve this we applied a measuring instrument to the aforementioned companies, it was duly adapted to the context, tested and validated, and the responses were analyzed using a linear regression model, which used the seven learning disabilities as predictors of the four learning styles. We found statistically significant evidence that there is a relationship between learning disabilities and learning styles in the studied enterprises.     

Co-alignment of supplier quality management practices and cognitive maps – A neo-configurational perspective

Much of the previous research on the ‘purchasing practice–performance link’ rests on the notion of “net effects,” which assumes that specific practices independently of each other impact outcomes. This study challenges this core tenet by adopting a neo-configurational perspective, exploring how different combinations of factors (called “configurations”) affect outcomes. Another limitation of extant studies on the ‘purchasing practice–performance link’ is the narrow focus on practices; more recent behavioral supply management research finds the behavior of managers to be critically influenced by cognitive maps—the lenses through which managers perceive, simplify, and interpret the world. Focusing on supplier quality as a core aspect of the broader ‘purchasing practice–performance link’, this study explores how configurations of different supplier quality management (SQM) practices and SQM-related cognitive maps help firms to manage supplier quality. It uses fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to identify SQM configurations and a cognitive-linguistic approach for the computerized text analysis of purchasing managers’ cognitive maps in the context of Western companies sourcing from Chinese suppliers. The configurational fsQCA analysis identifies four different configurations associated with overcoming barriers to SQM in emerging markets. SQM-related cognitive maps prove to be a critical component in these four configurations.     

Are top managers important for firm performance and idiosyncratic risk? Evidence from sharia vs non‐sharia‐compliant firms in the UK and Pakistan

We examine the impact of top managers on performance and idiosyncratic risk of the sharia‐compliant firms in the UK and Pakistan by constructing a manager–firm matched panel data and then tracking the role of individual top managers across different firms. The results regarding the individual effects on performance by a particular firm show that there exists a significant difference for managers who move from a non‐sharia to a sharia‐compliant firm. However, this difference is not significant for managers who move from a sharia‐compliant firm to another sharia firm. Policy implications of the findings are discussed.