Research engagement,impact and sustainable tourism

In this editorial, we reflect on how the Journal of Sustainable Tourism can contribute towards sustainable tourism researchers achieving more impact with their research. We propose some changes that can be tested in, and introduced gradually and collaboratively with, the community of the editorial board and authors. To support impactful mind sets, we will promote research that reflects diverse academic communities. To promote impactful research topics, we will encourage authors to frame their submitted articles against the Sustainable Development Goals, while research that is time sensitive will be fast tracked so it can contribute to current debates. To promote impactful methodologies, we shall favour articles that use mixed methods and action research, and those that conduct longitudinal, experimental, and evaluative research. To promote impactful partnerships, we will favour multidisciplinary approaches and research that has been co-created with stakeholders. To promote impactful communication and dissemination, we will continue to build an online community on social media for sustainable tourism researchers, we will promote articles in social media to raise their visibility, and we will provide free access to those articles that are deemed to have the greatest potential to impact positively on society.     

Entrepreneurial intention and startup preparation: A study among business students in Malaysia

Intention, as the starting point of pursuing self-employment and creating new ventures, is crucial before actually establishing a business enterprise. Entrepreneurship is understood to be an essential ingredient for enhancing a country's economic competitiveness, growth, and sustainability while confronting the escalating challenges of globalization, such as increasing unemployment. This study provides empirical evidence on the factors influencing entrepreneurial intention and startup preparations among university students in Malaysia. The findings provide scholars and academic policymakers with insights into the effectiveness of Malaysia's entrepreneurial education as designed and practiced by public universities. The Malaysian government should apply these findings to fortify existing policies and programs and formulate new ones to support graduate entrepreneurs, while universities and other higher education institutions should provide high-quality entrepreneurial courses and programs to young Malaysians to foster an inclination toward entrepreneurship.     

Information transmission between the Gulf equity markets of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain

This paper examines whether the emerging Gulf markets of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain in conjunction with the US market exhibit cointegrating relationship. Additionally, the transmission of information and volatility spillover between the Gulf markets is explored using a bivariate EGARCH model. We find that although the markets are not cointegrated, the Gulf markets do share information flows. Specifically, we observe an asymmetric spillover of volatility from the smaller though more liberal and accessible Bahraini market to the larger and less accessible Saudi market. The observed difference in information processing may partly be due to a well-developed Bahraini financial sector that encourages wider participation by international investors who play a significant role in assimilating new information.     

The brighter side of being socially responsible: CSR ratings and financial distress among Chinese state and non-state owned firms

We examine the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) quality ratings on the financial distress levels of Chinese enterprises by using the previously unexplored new China-specific Altman ‘Z_China Score’ in the context of CSR and data from 749 firms over the 2009–2014 period. First, we find that CSR quality ratings significantly reduce Chinese firms’ distress levels. Second, we find that the ability of CSR to reduce distress levels in non-state-owned Chinese firms is higher than state-owned ones. Finally, we find similar results when we divide the data into high-low CSR ratings and levels of distress. Our results are robust to potential endogeneities.     

Changes in equity returns and volatility across different Australian industries following the recent terrorist attacks

We investigate the impact of five recent terrorist attacks on equities listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. Following the Global Industry Classification Standard, we analyse how these events affect the different sectors in Australia. Using parametric and non-parametric tests, we investigate the relationship between stock returns for equities listed in these sectors and terrorist attacks. We report significant short term negative abnormal returns around the September 11 attacks and to a lesser extent, the Madrid and London bombings. Our evidence shows a weak positive equity response to the Bali bombing, and no response from the Mumbai attack in the Australian market. We also document negative industry abnormal returns as high as 37.30% on the day in the Utilities sector. Our findings show that systematic risk of certain sectors increased after the events of September 11 but remained unchanged for the other attacks.     

Manufacturing Wage Differentials and Employment in Some Scandinavian Countries, the U.S. and the U.K.: An Analysis of Variance Approach

This paper presents some empirical evidence on the factors determining changes in wage differentials between skilled and unskilled workers and in their employment. An ``analysis of variance' (ANOVA) model is estimated using UN data for five OECD countries in order to assess the relative importance of industry-specific, country-specific and international shocks (as well as interactions between industry and country effects). It is found that both international shocks and national policies affect wage differentials over the whole sample, whilst skill-biased technical change (SBTC) was a significant factor in the seventies. Employment responds mainly to international shocks, although national policies and SBTC were important determinants in the seventies and eighties respectively. Some of the results are found to be sensitive to the technology level of the industries considered.     

Testing the Random Walk Behavior and Efficiency of the Gulf Stock Markets

Inferences drawn from tests of market efficiency are rendered imprecise in the presence of infrequent trading. As the observed index in thinly traded markets may not represent the true underlying index value, there is a systematic bias toward rejecting the efficient market hypothesis. For the three emerging Gulf markets examined in this paper, correction for infrequent trading significantly alters the results of market efficiency and random walk tests. The Beveridge–Nelson (1981) decomposition of index returns is done to estimate the underlying index.     

Land-use change in the ‘edgelands’: Policies and pressures in London's rural–urban fringe

Green Belt policies have helped to create chaotic landscapes at the rural–urban interfaces of the United Kingdom's largest cities. Their prime functions, to control urban sprawl and preserve an encircling green girdle to separate the urban from the open countryside, have created ‘edgelands’ that have been remarkably dynamic despite relatively strong controls on certain types of development. A detailed case study of one part of London's Metropolitan Green Belt, drawing upon analysis of planning registers, reveals long-term trends in land-use change linked to the development controls operated within the context of the Green Belt and the adjacent built-up area. This paper also outlines the history of the Green Belt policy in the United Kingdom (UK) and discusses recently proposed policy changes that have provoked ongoing debate about this form of control on urban sprawl and its consequences for the land use of Green Belts and the edgelands.     

Online grocery shopping: the impact of shopping frequency on perceived risk

Online grocery shopping has enjoyed strong growth and it is predicted this channel will continue to grow exponentially in the coming years. While online shopping has attracted an abundance of research interest, examinations of online grocery shopping behaviour are only now emerging. Shopping online for groceries differs considerably from general online shopping due to the perishability and variability of the product, and frequency of the shopping activity. Two salient gaps underpin this research into online grocery shopping. This study responds to calls to investigate the online shoppers’ experience in the context of online purchasing frequency. Second, this study examines the mediating effect of perceived risk between trust and online repurchase intention of groceries. An online survey was employed to collect data from shoppers who were recruited from a multi-channel grocery e-retailer’s database. The online survey, comprising 16 reflective validated scale items, was sent to 555 frequent and infrequent online grocery shoppers. Results find that while customer satisfaction predicts trust for both infrequent and frequent online grocery shoppers, perceived risk fully mediates the effect of trust on repurchase intentions for infrequent online grocery shoppers. Furthermore, path analysis reveals that the developed behavioural model is variant across both groups of shoppers. Theoretically, we provide a deeper understanding of the online customer experience, while gaining insight into two shopper segments identified as being important to grocery e-retailers. For managers, this study tests an online customer behavioural model with actual purchasing behaviour and identifies the continued presence of perceived risk in grocery e-retailing, regardless of purchase frequency or experience.     

The Independent Impact of Credit Rating Changes – The Case of Moody's Rating Refinement on Yield Premiums

On April 26, 1982, Moody's Investors Service refined its rating system for the first time in its seventy-three year rating history. We examine the information content of the rating refinement in the study. We find a statistically significant change in the yields on bonds whose ratings were downgraded. The detection of the impact of refinement on bond prices implies that rating agencies perform an important function in financial markets, that is they provide information to investors.