Pointing Out Differences: Consumer Evaluations of Comparative Information Across Product Types

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impacts of comparative claims across search and experience product types. Data was obtained from 159 Taiwanese college students. Results reveal that comparative claims used in blogs (compared to those in print ads) produce lower counterarguments and consumers more easily accept claims made on a blog. Comparative claims lead to higher brand attitude and purchase intention for search products on the blog; however, noncomparative ads lead to higher brand attitude and purchase intention for experience products on the blog. For both search and experience products, there is no significant difference.     

外国游客参观2010 年上海世博会的满意度研究 ——基于Travel Blog 日志的探讨

本文基于旅游者的博文资料,运用内容分析法和重要性—表现分析法(IPA),初步研究了外国游客对2010年上海世博会的满意度问题。研究发现,外国游客对上海世博会的满意度主要取决于城市环境、世博会参观质量和游客自身状况3个维度,具体包括"产品"、"游览环境"、"管理水平"、"其他游客"、"价格"、"形象"、"游客自身状况"、"外部环境因素"、"配套服务"和"工作人员"等10个概念类属;外国游客对2010年上海世博会的总体满意度为6.15,属于基本满意水平。基于IPA分析的结果得出,展出内容的质量、游览环境、工作人员培训以及游客行为等因素是大型活动现场管理的重点。     

基于内容营销的微信传播效果研究

作为社会化的新媒体,微信平台的传播效果备受企业关注。企业微信公众平台上的图文阅读人数可以代表企业微信传播的效果,决定企业微信公众平台的因素主要是微信平台好友数和平均分享转发人数。结合郑州树青微信公众平台推送的微信内容类型,本文将企业微信内容分为新闻类微信内容、推广类微信内容、养生类微信内容和家庭类微信内容等,认为不同类型的微信内容会对企业微信传播效果产生不同的影响。     

场外市场会计盈余的信息含量

以万德数据库提供的新三板企业为样本,检验场外主体市场的会计盈余信息含量。混合样本检验显示,盈余信息披露对投资者超额收益有显著影响。分期检验中,2009年披露的盈余信息还不具备有效的信息含量;2010年披露的盈余信息具有信息含量,可能预示着场外市场的完善和成熟。此外,样本检验结果没有找到场外市场具有半强势有效的证据,但可以推断该市场处于弱势有效状态。     

本科教学中开设《金融经济学》课程的必要性和内容侧重的探讨

《金融经济学》目前已经成为国外金融学专业微观金融课程体系中的重要基础课,国内部分重点大学也已经在研究生教学中开设了这门课程,但多数高校在金融学专业本科教育中仍然缺少这一课程的设置。文章通过对金融经济学的学科地位、研究内容和相关联课程的探讨,提出了在本科阶段开设《金融经济学》课程的必要性,并进而对本科阶段《金融经济学》教学的内容侧重和教学方法提出了相关的建议。     

Information dissemination on intellectual capital in mergers and acquisitions: purchase price allocations,press releases and business press

In order to reduce information asymmetries in relation to a firm's current decisions and long-term strategy, firms must consistently provide information to stakeholders. This paper investigates intellectual capital (IC) information disclosed in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) provided through three different disclosure channels (voluntary press releases, related newspaper articles and subsequent mandatory corporate disclosures in the notes to the financial statements). For a sample of 215 randomly selected US and European M&As, we analyse 215 press releases, 1025 newspaper articles and 215 purchase price allocations. Our findings suggest that IC disclosure in press releases is not perceived as informative and qualitative forward-looking IC information in voluntary corporate disclosures appears to lack credibility. Moreover, we empirically demonstrate interdependencies across the three disclosure channels. The business press seems to filter IC information provided in press releases. The amount of IC disclosure in the notes to the financial statements is positively associated with prior IC disclosure in newspaper articles, but negatively associated with IC disclosure in press releases. The managements of acquirer firms appear to pay attention to news coverage and public opinion. However, both voluntary and mandatory corporate disclosures appear to substitute rather than complement each other.     

Audit report information content and the provision of non-audit services: Evidence from Spanish lending decisions

This study examines whether auditor economic independence affects the information content of going concern audit reports in the European setting. We conduct an experiment where 80 experienced Spanish loan officers from the second largest European commercial bank review a loan request under two lending scenarios: (1) a potential borrower receiving an unqualified but modified going concern opinion, and (2) a potential borrower receiving a qualified going concern opinion. Auditor economic independence, measured by the provision of non-audit services (NAS), is manipulated (absence vs. presence of significant NAS). We find that a qualified going concern audit report is interpreted as a primary warning signal (death penalty). However, the provision of NAS acts as a second order mechanism that only activates loan officers’ professional skepticism in the case of an unqualified but modified going concern report scenario. Therefore, we find evidence suggesting that the potential negative impact of a perceived lack of auditor independence depends on the nature of the audit report. Our findings have important implications for the European regulator, which is currently considering establishing an auditor independence regulation framework similar to that in the United States of America.     

On the pricing of forward starting options in Heston’s model on stochastic volatility

We consider the problem of pricing European forward starting options in the presence of stochastic volatility. By performing a change of measure using the asset price at the time of strike determination as a numeraire, we derive a closed-form solution within Hestons stochastic volatility framework applying distribution properties of the volatility process. In this paper we develop a new and more suitable formula for pricing forward starting options. This formula allows to cover the smile effects observed in a Black-Scholes environment, in which the extreme exposure of forward starting options to volatility changes is ignored.Received: July 2004, Mathematics Subject Classification (2000): 91B28, 60G44, 60H30, 60E10JEL Classification: G13It is a pleasure to thank the anonymous referee for his valuable comments and suggestions on this paper. Furthermore, we would like to thank Holger Kraft, University of Kaiserslautern, and Alexander Giese, HypoVereinsbank AG Munich, for fruitful discussions and suggestions.     

Automatically extracting tourism-related opinion from Chinese social media

Existing tourism-destination investigations of Chinese texts remain weak, and no approach is available to realize Chinese context semantically and automatically. To resolve this, we provide a novel method based on qualitative analysis for studying the online opinions of Chinese tourists regarding the destinations to which they travel. Both traditional and simplified Chinese forums were chosen as the object of study. Spain was selected as a travel destination to evaluate the proposed method. After processing the natural language, unstructured Chinese content is analysed to derive the general sentiment and relevant topics regarding the destination through user comments on social media. The proposed method allows us to understand what tourists are interested in and how they form opinions about tourist destinations.     

Role of Shopping Values and Web Atmospherics in E-Satisfaction and Repurchase Intention

Expected to touch US$55 billion in 2016, the e-commerce market in India presents an unprecedented growth opportunity for retailers. Existing studies have identified factors influencing shoppers’ online behaviour pertaining to the developed economies. Hence, it becomes pertinent to validate these antecedents for the economies like India. The article addresses this gap by examining the role of shopping values and web atmospherics, on e-satisfaction of Indian shoppers. Using multiple regression analysis, it also examines the influence of e-satisfaction on repurchase intention. The findings suggest that effectiveness of information content has the most significant impact on e-satisfaction. Web entertainment, utilitarian values and web informativeness are the other influencing factors. Contrary to the earlier studies, this study didn’t find any influence of hedonic shopping values on shoppers’ satisfaction. Also, e-satisfaction was found to have a positive influence on repurchase intention of e-shoppers. The article suggests select strategies that can be adopted by e-retailers.