A critical review of the 2015 South Korean civil service pension reform

The Republic of Korea’s civil service pension (KCSP) was established in 1960 and has been changed several times to overcome the serious financial burdens it has placed on the country. Major problems related to the KCSP include its structure (low contribution and high benefit) and the country’s rapidly aging population. The authors examine the 2015 KCSP reform, reviewing the reasons for the reform, its process, and its fiscal and policy implications. Reforms in other countries are briefly compared. The paper provides important lessons for researchers and practitioners involved in public sector pension reforms.     

Client Importance and Audit Quality at the Individual Audit Partner,Office, and Firm Levels

We investigate whether audit partner level data provides a more powerful measure than office or firm level measures of client importance. We find that the likelihood of issuing a going-concern opinion (any and first-time) increases, and the absolute value of discretionary accruals decreases, in relation to the proportion of audit fees to the total audit fees received by audit partners from all their clients. We also find that the likelihood of issuing a going-concern opinion (any and first-time) increases, and the absolute value of discretionary accruals decreases, in relation to the proportion of non-audit services fees from a client to total non-audit service fees, and the proportion of total audit and non-audit service fees from a client to total fees from all their clients at the office and firm levels. Our findings provide evidence to regulators, audit clients, and stakeholders that audit partners do not succumb to pressure from economically more important clients as audit quality has a positive association with client importance.     

农机服务规模经营对粮食生产效率的影响机理研究

依据2009—2019年全国31个省（自治区、直辖市）的省级面板数据,运用随机前沿分析方法和Tobit模型,考量农机服务规模经营对粮食生产效率的影响及其作用机理。结果显示：2009—2019年,中国粮食生产效率总体递增,但区域间发展不平衡;农机服务规模经营通过技术引入效应和劳动力替代效应提高粮食生产效率,其中,技术引入效应的发挥受限于农业研发支出水平及其增速,劳动力替代效应在农业劳动力成本高的区域发挥的影响效用更佳。鉴于此,应加快农业科技创新,发展粮食生产全程机械化服务,完善农机社会化服务体系。     

Do accountabilities change when public organisations transform to service systems: A new conceptual approach

In this conceptual paper, we discuss from the service systems perspective how accountabilities differ from a hierarchic and organisational perspective within the domain of New Public Management, looking to shed new light upon accountability as a research topic. The concept of service systems and their accountabilities are scrutinised and the role of integrated social and health care services is discussed in particular. The main argument in the text is the changing nature of accountabilities as the public organisations are being transformed into service systems. To date, the understanding of accountability has remained structural by nature – such is the case also for productivity measurement – but the shift from organisations towards services systems means that accountability ought to be considered as processual by nature. By processual it is meant that accountability should be considered as flows within systems – that is: flows between agents the content of which we argue includes not only knowledge on the outputs of public services, but also values, empathy and thus multi‐layered understanding of accountability. The paper concludes with practical insights for managerial purposes on the basis for this accountability shift.     

Organisational citizenship behaviours and effectiveness: an empirical study in two small insurance companies

The study relates six dimensions of organisational citizenship behaviours (OCB) at the branch level with several indicators of the effectiveness of 38 branches of two insurance companies. Results suggest that the branches where employees display more OCB are the most effective. These findings are discussed in the context of a scarcity of empirical studies on the topic, despite researchers' assumption that OCB enhances team and organisational effectiveness.     

Relative importance and combined effects of attributes on customer satisfaction

Customer satisfaction with a service experience is often determined by several critical attributes. Prior studies have suggested that food, physical environment, and employee service impose an important effect on diners' satisfaction with restaurant services. Although much research has looked at the direct effect of these attributes individually, little is known about them when they are considered together. This study investigates the relative importance and combined effects of the determinants of customer satisfaction in China's hospitality industry. The results show that food taste, employee service, and physical environment (in that order) all significantly contribute to diners' satisfaction, and that one attribute may substitute for another attribute in the satisfaction formation process. Generally, humanic attributes (employee service) can effectively substitute for less humanic attributes (physical environment).     

Human resource involvement in developing intellectual capital

This study examined the extent of a strategic approach to human resource (HR) management in small and medium professional service firms, and if it is used to develop intellectual capital (IC). Data were collected from 165 Australian professional service firms. Path analysis showed that HR involvement and the adoption of a collective set of strategic HR practices contributed positively to IC levels (particularly human, social and organizational capital). IC acts as a mediator between HR practices and firm performance. HR practices alone did not increase the performance of the firms studied. The findings are unique in the context of studies on small- and medium-sized professional service firms in that a holistic approach to assessing both HR practices and all IC components was taken rather than examining the individual construct relationships. In the context studied, HR influence is critical to increasing IC.     

The role of personality characteristics and service failure severity in consumer forgiveness and service outcomes

Abstract

This study investigates how consumer personality characteristics of religiosity, spirituality, and emotional intelligence and the severity of service failure affect emotional and decisional forgiveness as a response to service failure. Further, the study explores the relationships between these two forms of forgiveness and service outcomes, including the intention to switch the service provider and spread negative word of mouth. Findings reveal that consumer religiosity has a strong and positive effect on both types of forgiveness. However, contrary to expectations, consumer spirituality has a negative relationship with decisional and no relationship with emotional forgiveness. While consumers' perceived severity of service failure is negatively related to both types of forgiveness, the findings also suggest that emotional intelligence exerts a significant moderating influence on the relationship between service failure severity and emotional forgiveness, whereas its moderating effect on decisional forgiveness does not appear to be significant. Results demonstrate the asymmetric effects of perceived severity of service failure and the two types of forgiveness on negative service outcomes. These findings contribute to the understanding on the role of consumers' implicit personality characteristics in interpretation of service failure incidents.     

Developing the Causal Model of Online Store Success

This article introduces an Online Store Success Model (OSM) that reflects the characteristics of information systems, marketing, and e-commerce, and then empirically test the model. The OSM has five dimensions: system quality, information quality, service quality, trust, and customer loyalty. The model posits the causal relationships between the dimensions. In order to empirically test the model, a research model is developed and empirically analyzed by structural equation modeling using data from 244 customers on 69 online store websites. The results show that system quality significantly influences service quality and trust; information quality significantly influences service quality and customer loyalty; service quality also significantly influences trust and customer loyalty; and trust has a significant influence on customer loyalty.     

谈旅游服务理念在旅游企业中的确立

当今旅游企业面临国内、国外双重竞争压力,从现实来看确立旅游服务理念已经成为旅游企业的一致选择,其实确立旅游服务理念是很多客观因素促成的必然结果,这些因素既有宏观的又有微观的,首先确立旅游服务理念的客观必然性和它增强企业核心竞争力的重要作用,然后确定服务理念的内容,使旅游企业健康地发展。