Limited attention,salient anchor,and the modified MAX effect: Evidence from Taiwan’s stock market

The literature documents that investors overweighing the right-tail probability pursue positively skewed assets, leading to lottery-like stocks overpriced. We find that the lottery anomaly primarily exists among stocks further away from their 52-week high prices. After attention-grabbing events with gambling features, inattentive retail investors become aware of certain stocks’ gambling traits and then net buy more lottery-like stocks, which further promotes the lottery anomaly. However, when such stocks are near their 52-week high price, retail investors tend to place little weight on the likelihood that the stock price will rise beyond the 52-week high, thereby reducing the skewness preference. Overall, our findings suggest that the perception of the 52-week high price as a price ceiling influences skewness preference, and that investor attention is the main determinant of whether anchoring bias affects skewness preference.     

Enhancing the role of flow experience in social media usage and its impact on shopping

Online retailers are eager to find the answers to the following questions: How relevant is SNS usage to consumer shopping decisions? Is the information shared on SNS likely to influence users’ shopping decisions? This study is designed to answer these questions via essential factors based on flow theory and TAM. The moderating effects of some social factors were also explored. The data was collected from U.S SNS users, and SEM was performed and a research model estimated. The findings reveal that flow experience of SNS usage for shopping, perceived ease of use of SNS, and perceived usefulness of information shared on SNS exert positive and significant effects on consumer intention to shop on SNS. Particularly, flow experience directly and positively determines shopping intention and shares positive and significant impacts with TAM. Furthermore, the perceived usefulness is highly important relative to the perceived ease of use. Social identity, group norm, and social influence also positively moderate the links between flow experience, TAM, and SNS usage intention for shopping. Very few theoretical studies have discussed SNS usage behavior for shopping based on flow theory or validated its relationship with TAM in the SNS shopping context. A validated model of consumers’ actual usage of SNS for shopping proves that experience drives the success of social commerce. The findings provide current information and important aspects to firms that operate SNS commerce, allowing them to adjust their marketing strategies to serve consumers better.     

The role of perceived enjoyment and perceived informativeness in assessing the acceptance of AR wearables

Augmented reality smart glasses are a major trend in retailing. However, little is known about the factors that drive customers’ acceptance of these wearables as a channel in stores. Especially, the roles of perceived enjoyment and perceived informativeness for usage intentions of such novel and immersive technologies are unclear. Thus, the authors propose an extended technology acceptance model as an instrument to predict future adoption. The results indicate that perceived enjoyment largely mediates the influence of perceived informativeness and other variables on attitude and usage intention. Further, perceived enjoyment functions as a direct predictor for attitude and in strength even exceeds perceived usefulness. Hence, retailers should consider focusing on joy-related aspects when aiming at the introduction of broadly accepted AR applications in stores.     

Icing on the cake or gilding the lily? The impact of high-modified model images on purchase intention

Marketers had high expectations for modified model images in E-commerce, however, the social movements against photoshopped models suggested the high-modified model images may be harmful to consumers which leads to a contradictory phenomenon. So far, the link between high-modified model image and consumers' behavior is not clearly understood. Drawing on a selective accessibility model (SAM), this study investigates the influence of high-modified model images on consumers' purchase intention by introducing the concept of misrepresentation and identifying consumer trust as a mediator. Based on five experiments, we demonstrate that over-modified model images decrease consumers’ perceived authenticity referring to “misrepresentation”, and further lower their purchase intention. By comparing the level of misrepresentation, the results suggest that high-modified model images decrease purchase intention. Moreover, this negative relationship between misrepresentation of modified model images and purchase intention is mediated by consumer trust. Hence, this study makes a step toward explaining how high-modified model images impacts the behaviors of consumers, shedding new light on the application of image modification in online advertising.     

Green policy and corporate social responsibility: Empirical analysis of the Green Credit Guidelines in China

In the past four decades, several countries have imposed environmental regulations to enforce green policy and corporate reduction of industrial emissions and waste. Unlike other environmental regulations, China's Green Credit Guidelines internalize firms' environmental risks into a loan channel; firms with high environmental credit risks encounter high barriers to obtaining loans. To investigate whether, and to what extent, this approach promotes corporate social responsibility, we introduce a Modified Environmental, Social, Governance (MESG) index that uses disaggregated firm-level data to measure the level of engagement in corporate social responsibility. We find that, after the promulgation of the Green Credit Guidelines, there was a significant increase in social responsibility in firms restricted by the Guidelines relative to firms not restricted by the Guidelines.     

Hybrid MADM-based study of key risk factors in house-for-pension reverse mortgage lending in Taiwan's banking industry

The issue of financial problems among the elderly has garnered the attention of multiple generations. In 2018, Taiwan formally attained an ageing society status. In order to address the financial difficulties elderly people face, an annuity system reform was launched by the Taiwanese government. Reverse mortgage lending, which is performed on the basis of house-for-pension, is an alternate method for enhancing their standard of living and sustaining their financial stability. The elderly applicants often mortgage their properties to financial institutions in order to maintain a steady cash flow for the fulfilment of their daily needs and live their remaining years in the mortgaged properties without vacating. Prior studies on house-for-pension in the Taiwanese context primarily concentrated on institutional implementation analysis but limitedly explored the uncertainty risks banks face when implementing the house-for-pension scheme. First, a literature review on the risks associated with house-for-pension reverse mortgage financing and comprehensive interviews with banking industry professionals were conducted. Subsequently, in the Taiwanese banking sector, assessment criteria for important risk factors in house-for-pension reverse mortgage financing were devised. The decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) was utilised to assess the interdependence of the assessment criteria. Next, the DEMATEL-based analytic network process (ANP) or DANP were used to calculate the weights of evaluation criteria. By employing modified VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR), a gap analysis was undertaken on the assessment criteria and sub-criteria. The study's findings serve as a guideline for the Taiwanese banking industry in formulating, improving, or amending the risk exposure mitigation measures for reverse mortgage lending.