A study on motivation differences among traditional festival visitors based on demographic characteristics,case study: Gol-Ghaltan festival,Iran

Villages and cities have a growing tendency to share their culture and nature with tourists by developing events. This article aims to identify motivational factors influencing visitors' attendance in traditional festivals and then analyzing significant motivation differences among visitors based on their demographic differences. The statistical sample is domestic tourists who visited the 8th Gol-Ghaltan Festival, Iran in 2015. The convenience sampling method has been used and 287 acceptable questionnaires were acquired. Factor analysis has determined six important motivational factors, including “Gol-Ghaltan and Family,” “Cultural Exploration,” “Socialization,” “Supporting Local Community and Heritage,” “Event Novelty,” and “Escape.” Most of these factors are coinciding with previous literature on cultural events except first and fourth factors. Results of T-test and ANOVA show that visitors in various demographic groups have significant differences in the motivational factors. Finally, in accordance with the findings of the research, practical suggestions are presented for managers and marketers of this event.     

指望政府救市，中国股民面临多重风险

【美国《华尔街日报》3月24日】全世界股票投资者正在向中国同行致意：感谢你们，让我们感觉好些了。而此前不久，中国大陆股民还是全世界股票买家深感嫉妒的对象。但目前他们却沦为警示故事的主角，提醒人们现金以及无经验的贪婪可能引发灾难。     

A COMPARISON OF PERFORMANCE INDICATORS FOR TRAINING AND ENTERPRISE COUNCILS IN THE UK

ABSTRACT ** : The use of performance indicators for the evaluation and comparison of efficiency in service provision in the public and related sectors of the economy is continuously developing. While they often represent a step forward, to the extent that they focus attention on the objectives of the organization in question, it is frequently suspected that they fail to take into account non-controllable environmental factors. To do so requires multivariate techniques of analysis. This paper compares the results of three such methods with the raw performance indicators. It confirms the importance of non-controllable factors but also shows that different multivariate methods give results which do not always agree. Understanding the properties of different approaches is essential in drawing conclusions about performance.     

Does Web 2.0 utilisation lead to knowledge quality,improvisational creativity,compositional creativity,and innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises? A sense-making perspective

A few attempts were made to investigate how sense making is triggered through Web 2.0 utilisation and how it enables the accomplishment of key organisational outcomes. The objective of this research is to examine the structural relationship between Web 2.0 utilisation, knowledge quality (KQ) aspects, improvisational creativity, compositional creativity, and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) innovativeness in an emerging market – Malaysia. Built upon sense-making theory, this study proposes that sense making is a progression of four formative constructs. Empirical analyses are based on a sample from SMEs’ top management (N?=?358, response rate?=?21%) using partial least squares approach. The findings indicate that Web 2.0 utilisation influences business entities’ sense-making activities in the way they realise the intrinsic value of knowledge and take action to apply the organisational knowledge. These sense-making activities are conducive to improvisational and compositional creativity of SMEs as well. Contributions, managerial implications, and limitations are discussed.     

Market Risk Disclosures and Investment Efficiency: International Evidence from the Gulf Cooperation Council Financial Firms

This study examines the association between market risk disclosures (MRDs) and the investment efficiency of financial firms from six emerging markets in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. Based on a sample of 553 firm‐year observations over the 2007–2011 period, we find that MRDs are significantly and negatively associated with both under‐investment and over‐investment and that this association is more pronounced for larger firms. We also find that the association between MRDs and under‐investment is moderated during periods of economic distress such as the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 and that the association between MRDs and over‐investment is magnified during periods of reduced financial distress. Our results are consistent with the idea that MRDs reduce information asymmetry, which ultimately improves investment efficiency. We contribute to the literature in an emerging market context by providing empirical evidence on the association between MRDs and investment efficiency across six emerging GCC capital markets. This study also fills a gap in the literature by providing evidence on the factors affecting the investment efficiency of financial firms.     

Impact of Financial Development on the Environmental Quality in Iran

In recent decades, undesirable environmental changes, such as global warming and greenhouse gases emission, have raised worldwide concerns. In order to achieve higher growth rate, environmental problems emerged from economic activities have turned into a controversial issue. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of financial development on environmental quality in Iran. For this purpose, the statistical data over the period from 1970 to 2011 were used. Also by using the Auto Regression Model Distributed Lag （ARDL）, short-term and long-term relationships among the variables of model were estimated and analyzed. The results show that financial development accelerates the degradation of the environment; however, the increase in trade openness reduces the damage to environment in Iran. Error correction coefficient shows that in each period, 53% of imbalances would be justified and will approach their long-run procedure. Structural stability tests show that the estimated coefficients were stable over the period.     

INCOME INEQUALITY AND POLITICAL POLARIZATION AND FRACTURALIZATION:AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION OF SOME EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

This paper investigates the relationship between economic inequality and the distribution of votes among political parties, namely political polarization and fracturalization. Economic inequality is captured by the Gini index, whereas new measures of political polarization and fracturalization are offered. This is the first paper to calculate political polarization and fracturalization indices by a methodology previously used for ethnic, religious and linguistic polarization and fracturalization. Empirical analysis uses data for 17 European countries and for three decades, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. It is shown that increased income inequality increases political party polarization and reduces fracturalization and that political party polarization decreases with increased GDP per capita.