bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Trends in food consumptions: what is happening to generation X?
Authors: Casini Leonardo , Contini Caterina , Romano Caterina , Scozzafava Gabriele
Published: January 2015

Purpose

– Food habits are undergoing profound changes owing to the social, economic and technological transformations. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the evolution of the food patterns of generation X in the past decade, in view of formulating a reflection on the trends of a fundamental component of society.

Design/methodology/approach

– Applying latent class clustering to the food spending of a representative sample of Italian consumers has made it possible to identify the principal food patterns and to interpret them in light of demographic characteristics and sociocultural changes.

Findings

– The results show a strengthening of dietary lifestyles displaying a high content of animal proteins, especially in consumers with low levels of education. The importance of convenience foods emerges, mainly among couples but also among families with children. The role of out of the home consumptions grows, mostly among single males. Parallel to this critical picture, the authors note the birth of a new dietary sensitivity that leads a niche of consumers to choose healthier foods. These evolutions offer new challenges and new opportunities for both public and private operators.

Research limitations/implications

– The study is limited to the analysis of family food spending. A challenging development of the study unfolds in closely examining the food choices of individuals, particularly for the consumption patterns at greater risk. Extending the study to other countries would permit a comparison between diet, lifestyles and food education policies on a supernational level.

Originality/value

– The study indicates several possible strategies both for operators of the food sector to better respond to the demand, and for public institutions in view of contributing to correct current trends, reorienting food habits towards healthier patterns and, in any event, patterns compatible with the demands tied to the new lifestyles.
Willingness to pay for organic and fairtrade certified yellow chili peppers
Authors: Garcia-Yi Jaqueline
Published: January 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the consumers’ preferences in middle- and high-income districts in Lima for three organic and Fairtrade certification attributes: environmental protection, production without pesticides, and improvement in the quality of life of farmers. Yellow chili pepper was used as case study.

Design/methodology/approach

– A survey of 183 households was conducted among the population located in middle and high income districts in Lima, because of their higher ability to pay. Choice experiment data were analysed using random parameter logit models (RPM) with and without interaction effects.

Findings

– The results suggest that there is a statistically significant willingness to pay for organic and Fairtrade certification attributes (ranging from S/4.4 to 9.3). The results also indicate that the higher the income the higher the willingness to pay for yellow chili peppers grown without pesticides.

Originality/value

– The results provide support that willingness to pay values for particular food certification attributes are statistically significantly associated with the ability to pay even among the middle and high income population in Lima. This positive association between willingness to pay and income is not always present among the general population in developed countries. As such, the demand for certified products would be especially associated with the overall economic growth of the emerging and developing country under consideration.
Application of health and taste attitude scales in Serbia
Authors: Grubor Aleksandar , Djokic Nenad , Djokic Ines , Kovac-Znidersic Ruzica
Published: January 2015

Purpose

– Consumers’ attitudes, especially their attitudes towards health and taste, are significant in understanding and predicting dietary behaviour. In this research, Health and Taste Attitude Scales (HTAS) developed by Roininen et al. in 1999 for measuring health and taste attitudes of consumers, were applied in Serbia. The purpose of this paper is to find out whether the same sub-scales can be identified as in HTAS applications abroad, to test the predictive validity of HTAS and to investigate respondents’ health and taste attitudes in the context of their socio-demographic characteristics.

Design/methodology/approach

– Primary data were gathered by means of focus groups and a survey – structured personal interviews by using a questionnaire. The research was conducted in July 2013 with 300 respondents participating.

Findings

– The same sub-scales were identified in Serbian consumer research as in HTAS applications abroad. Generally, all the Health sub-scales are useful predictors of consumption of several types of food perceived as healthy, while the Taste sub-scales (except Pleasure) are good predictors of consumption of both, food considered as tasty and food considered as not tasty. Out of socio-demographic variables, only age showed statistically significant correlations to some of the Taste sub-scales.

Practical implications

– Several recommendations for companies operating on the domestic food market were given in this paper.

Originality/value

– The first application of HTAS in Serbia, generally characterized by scarce food consumer research, was shown in this paper. It is also the first application of HTAS in a Southern European country.
Nutritional status of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Authors: Energin Esma , Rakicioglu Neslisah , Kiliç Birim Günay
Published: January 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to compare the nutritional status and certain anthropometric characteristics in school-age children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and healthy controls.

Design/methodology/approach

– A total of 200 children (ages eight to 11), half with ADHD and the other half healthy, participated in the study. A three-day food consumption record was taken and evaluated based on energy and macro-micro nutrient requirements. Weight, height, waist, hip, mid-upper arm circumferences and hand grip strength were measured.

Findings

– Energy, protein, fat, saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids, carbohydrate, niacin and zinc intakes were found significantly lower than healthy controls for female participants and all nutrient intakes were found significantly lower than healthy controls for male participants (p<0.05). Children with ADHD had lower anthropometric measures (p>0.05).

Research limitations/implications

– The study sample size was too small to make results general and subtypes of ADHD and medication types were disregarded during the data collection process which limited the interpretation of the study results.

Originality/value

– There are only a few researches about nutritional status of children with ADHD in Turkey. In this study, the authors found that children with ADHD have inadequate and unbalanced diet. Because of this result it is important to evaluate and monitor the nutritional status and habits of children diagnosed with ADHD for a healthy growth and development.
Investigating the effects of product innovation and ingredient branding strategies on brand equity of food products
Authors: Ponnam Abhilash , S Sreejesh , Balaji M.S.
Published: January 2015

Purpose

– Ingredient branding (IB) strategy and incremental product innovation (IPI) strategy are frequently used complementary strategies in food product marketing to build brand equity. The purpose of this paper is to assist managers in choosing between both the strategies based upon two governing criteria namely the involvement level of the product category and the level of parent brand equity.

Design/methodology/approach

– The study utilized an experimental design approach. A 2 (product involvement: high vs low)×2 (parent brand equity: high vs low)×2 (attribute strategy: IB vs IPI) balanced, completely randomized factorial design was set up to test the hypotheses.

Findings

– Findings suggest that IB strategy should be preferred when the product category is perceived as low involvement or when parent brand equity of the brand is low. The IPI strategy should be preferred when the parent brand equity is high. Either of strategies may be favored in case of high involvement products.

Practical implications

– The study provides guidance to product managers in choosing between IB and IPI in devising food product development and marketing strategies.

Originality/value

– This study is the first of its kind which attempts to compare and contrast between tangible and intangible augmentation strategies to build brand equity.
Water shortages, intersectoral water allocation and economic growth: the case of China
Authors: Fang Xiangming , Roe Terry L. , Smith Rodney B. W.
Published: January 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the economic impacts of intra- and inter-regional water reallocation on sectoral transformation and economic growth.

Design/methodology/approach

– A multi-sector, Ramsey-type growth model is fit to Chinese data and used to perform policy experiments.

Findings

– An intra-regional water reallocation increases per capita gross domestic product (GDP) by about 1.5 percent per year over the period 2000-2060. The aggregate potential welfare gain due to this reallocation is 1002.51 billion RMB. Transferring water from southern to northern China via the South-North Water Transfer Project, on average, has a negligible impact on per capita GDP over the period 2000-2060, but aggregate welfare increases by 557.23 billion RMB. Combining intra-regional and inter-regional water reallocations, on average, increases per capita GDP by 0.38 percent per year over the period and the aggregate welfare gain from this combination is 1148.06 billion RMB. Each policy scenario has implications for long-run regional production patterns: In an intra-regional reallocation scenario, Southern China produces almost 70 percent of aggregate GDP, in the inter-regional transfer it produces 58 percent of aggregate GDP, while in a combined intra/inter-regional reallocation it produces 55 percent of aggregate GDP.

Originality/value

– This analysis can serve as a template for developing a useful planning tool that one can fit to national or regional data and use to examine a variety of policy relevant questions.
Democracy learning, election quality and voter turnout
Authors: Zhang Tonglong , Zhang Linxiu , Hou Linke
Published: January 2015

Purpose

– After two decades of village elections, the quality of village elections, rather than the utility of village elections, becomes the focus of current research. Based on nationally representative data at the village level, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of voting participation, focussing on the effect of election quality. The findings show that competitiveness, vote buying and manipulation are the key determinants significantly affecting village turnouts. The results are robust to alternative specifications.

Design/methodology/approach

– As discussed, the authors take three measures for villagers’ willingness to vote, e.g. raw turnout (RT), voluntary turnout (VT) and direct turnout (DT). The authors include four types of elements which affect the willingness to participate, the electoral quality, procedure and implementation, individual rationality, village social structure and villages’ level of modernization. The causal mechanism of elements and turnout can be written as: Turnout=f (election quality and procedure, individual rationality, mobilization structure, modernization).

Findings

– Competitiveness, vote buying and manipulation affect village turnout at significance level. More competitive elections tend to attract high participation of voting, and the effects on VT are the largest ones in magnitude, comparing with RT and DT, as well as manipulation. Village voters do not like to be fooled by nominal voting. If they recognize that elections are likely to be manipulated by township government, the turnout rates drop drastically. The effect associated with manipulation is larger than those associated with competitiveness and vote buying, indicating intervention from up-level government might block the improving process of election massively.

Originality/value

– It is the first paper that address the effect of election quality on vote participation.
Is your sustainability strategy sustainable? Creating a culture of sustainability
Authors: Galpin Timothy , Whitttington J. Lee , Bell Greg
Published: January 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this article is to present a multidisciplinary model that can be used as both a road map for practicing managers to create a sustainability focused culture within their own organizations, and as a guide for future research into the relationship between organizational culture and sustainability.

Design/methodology/approach

– A narrative synthesis approach is used to integrate extant empirical and practitioner literature spanning various disciplines to build a comprehensive model, including key propositions, to assist both practitioners and researchers alike. Case examples illustrating each component of the model in practice and implications for future research based on the key tenets of the model are also provided.

Findings

– Building an organizational infrastructure that fosters a culture of sustainability results in positive employee- and organizational-level sustainability performance.

Research limitations/implications

– The model presented is an important advancement in the sustainability literature. It is applicable to various sustainability efforts, and it may be applied regardless of the industry or the size of the companies undertaking sustainability initiatives. The model provides a framework to guide research into the relationship between organizational culture and sustainability. Future research should focus on the relationship between the different organizational factors identified in the model, organizational culture and sustainability performance.

Practical implications

– The multidisciplinary model presented can be used as a road map for practicing managers to create a sustainability focused culture within their own organizations.

Originality/value

– A gap exists in both the empirical and practitioner literature regarding the development and assessment of the organizational factors that foster a culture of sustainability. Moreover, no clear model exists with the expressed purpose of helping leaders create such a culture, while providing a framework to guide research into the relationship between organizational culture and sustainability. In this paper, a comprehensive model, including key propositions, to assist both practitioners and researchers alike is presented. Case examples illustrating each component of the model in practice and implications for future research based on the key tenets of the model are also provided.
Boards, retained ownership and failure risk of French IPO firms
Authors: Djerbi Chiraz , Anis Jarboui
Published: January 2015

Purpose

– This paper aims to investigate the relationship between corporate governance structures of French initial public offering (IPO) firms and the likelihood of failure and involuntary delisting from the stock exchange in the long run.

Design/methodology/approach

– A matched-pairs research design was used and 36 delisted IPO firms were compared to an equal number of control IPO firms matched in terms of time, size and industry. Conditional logistic regression analyses were performed, and it was found that corporate governance structures in delisted IPO firms were relatively weak compared to control IPO firms.

Findings

– A significant negative association was found between the likelihood of exchange delisting and the proportion of independent directors. A positive and significant relationship was also found between the likelihood of exchange delisting on the one hand and the chief executive officer/Chair role duality and the retained ownership by insiders after the IPO on the other hand. However, no relationship was detected between IPO failure risk and board size at the IPO time.

Originality/value

– Retained ownership and failure risk of French IPO firms.
Sustainability factors affecting local infrastructure project
Authors: Aksorn Preenithi , Charoenngam Chotchai
Published: January 2015

Purpose

– This paper aims to identify the critical factors highly influencing sustainability of local infrastructure projects in the Thai community.

Design/methodology/approach

– Both qualitative and the quantitative analyses were used when needed to follow the right procedure. Together, the panels of experts, selected from the related fields, were always prompt to cooperate with the strategies upon request. At the early stage, thoroughly fresh and in-depth information, theoretical and practical, in local infrastructure sustainability development, was gathered through literature review, a semi-structure interview and a focussed group meeting. For the pilot project, all crucial attributes were assigned to items of a questionnaire by a representative sample, Huai Hong Khrai Royal Development Study Centre, one of the most important sources in community development in Thailand. Afterward, the improved questionnaires were surveyed for exact data by all target respondents: local infrastructure project managers/representatives plus the working staff. These accumulated data were analysed by SPSS and finally produced the expected outcome.

Findings

– They are categorised into 25 factors of 6 dimensions: management and administration, information and knowledge, policy and plan, environmental and natural resources, facility and infrastructure and finance and budget.

Originality/value

– With regard to a valid analysis reference, the study outcome can be applied to be the deciding factor in choosing the proper local development projects or the model measuring the sustainability level of community projects in a real-life context.
The effects of intelligible irrelevant background speech in offices – cognitive disturbance, annoyance, and solutions
Authors: Schlittmeier Sabine J. , Liebl Andreas
Published: January 2015

Purpose

– This paper aims to give an overview on four empirical studies which explored the impact of background speech on cognitive performance and subjectively perceived disturbance. Background speech is the most serious noise problem in shared-room and open-plan offices for employees who are supposed to do silent, concentrated work. Different measures of acoustic office optimization, as well as the outstanding role of the intelligibility of background speech for its disturbance impact, are empirically evaluated.

Design/methodology/approach

– The article provides a synopsis describing the core empirical results of four of our empirical studies. A survey study among office employees (n = 659) explored the subjective importance of office acoustics. Three experimental studies (n1 = 20; n2 = 30; n3 = 24) evaluated the effects of reduced background speech level, play-back of partial maskers and reduced speech intelligibility on cognitive performance and subjective ratings.

Findings

– Background speech is subjectively perceived as a severe problem, and the different noise abatement measures affect objective performance and subjective ratings differently. Speech intelligibility is – besides level – a key determinant for the acoustic optimization regarding these two dimensions.

Research limitations/implications

– Practitioners are encouraged to apply the findings and described measures when planning and/or evaluating open-plan offices.

Practical implications

– It is concluded that different acoustically efficient measures need to be combined to minimize the negative effects of background speech on cognitive performance and subjectively perceived disturbance. The aspired set value for open-office concepts is the lowest possible sound level with a bad intelligibility of the background speech at the same time.

Originality/value

– The synopsis of several empirical studies allows deriving comprehensive and well-founded information for practitioners involved in the evaluation and/or design of offices environments.
Places for multi-locational work – opportunities for facilities management
Authors: Kojo Inka Vuokko Ilona , Nenonen Suvi
Published: January 2015

Purpose

– This research aims to aggregate and categorise distinct places for multi-locational work from the 1960s until today. Based on an understanding of the user needs connected to these locations, the paper aims to identify the service concepts and workplace design solutions by which these needs can be met.

Design/methodology/approach

– The literature review is based on academic journal papers, reports and books related to the topic.

Findings

– The paper categorises the main multi-locational workplace locations, namely, organisational offices, home offices, mobile workplaces and flexible offices. The user needs in these locations vary from concept to concept, and therefore, the service offers are distinct. Based on the results, the service provision of organisational offices and flexible offices should focus on providing users with the chance for socialisation using collaborative space solutions and community management policies. In the cases of home offices and mobile workplaces, service provision should instead emphasise ensuring functionalities such as efficient virtual connectivity and accessibility. Additionally, more concept-specific user needs are identified.

Research limitations/implications

– The paper offers an overview of and framework for future research and concept development. The limitations of cultural differences could have been investigated more.

Practical implications

– The results provide insight into the purposes of facilities management and workplace design when developing service concepts for multi-locational workplaces.

Originality/value

– The paper establishes a literature-based framework for the service concepts of places for multi-locational work.
Associations between grades and physical activity and food choices
Authors: Snelling Anastasia , Belson Sarah Irvine , Beard Jonathan , Young Kathleen
Published: January 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between television viewing time, physical activity level, food consumption patterns, and academic performance of adolescents in a large urban school district in the USA where health disparities are prevalent, particularly among minority residents.

Design/methodology/approach

– The 2010 Youth Risk Behavior Survey was used to analyze the relationship between academic grades and physical activity patterns and food consumption in a large urban school district serving over 77,000 students.

Findings

– Results indicated that students who self-reported grades of As and Bs had higher levels of physical activity and less screen time compared to students who reported grades of Ds and Fs. Further, as grades decreased the consumption of soda and fast food increased.

Originality/value

– Higher grades track significantly with improved physical activity and lower intake of soda and fast food. These findings provide additional support for the role of regular physical activity and its positive effect on academic performance.
Governance and the corporate life-cycle
Authors: O'Connor Thomas , Byrne Julie
Published: January 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine whether corporate governance changes along the corporate life-cycle.

Design/methodology/approach

– In a sample of 205 firms from 21 emerging market countries and using a life-cycle proxy from the dividends literature, the authors use a governance-prediction model which examines whether corporate governance differs along the corporate life-cycle.

Findings

– Mature firms tend to practice better overall corporate governance. Discipline and independence improve as firms mature. Firms tend to be most transparent and accountable when they are young. These findings suggest that the resource/strategy and monitoring/control governance functions are relevant but at different life-cycle stages.

Research limitations/implications

– In the absence of longitudinal governance data with sufficient coverage to track within-firm changes in corporate governance along the corporate life-cycle, the authors analyze differences in corporate governance between-firms at different life-cycle stages.

Originality/value

– The authors use an alternative, yet new measure from the dividends literature to account for the firm’s position along the corporate life-cycle. With this new measure, the findings are in line with the predictions of Filatotchev et al. (2006).
Damage tolerance of composite T-sections made of cost-effective carbon fibre preforms
Authors: Kadlec Martin , Hron Robin , Grieser Timo
Published: January 2015

Purpose

– T-sections of carbon fibre-reinforced composites are prone to delamination because they lack reinforcement through their thicknesses. The purpose of this paper is to present the structural response of cost-effective laminated T-sections when subjected to various types of loads and impacts.

Design/methodology/approach

– The core of the automated manufactured beams is analysed. Pull-off, flange tension, and flange bending were tested for specimens extracted from an I-beam. The failure processes for all of the specimens were investigated in detail, leading to the statistical evaluation of the failure modes.

Findings

– A correlation is apparent between the impact damage energy and certain fracture patterns. These results can be used to assess damage tolerance when designing stiffeners, beams, and various complex structures. The increase in strength by 25 per cent was measured for the advanced stitching located in the web section for the flange tension test.

Originality/value

– The resistance displayed by the T-sections toward impact damage was studied experimentally, as the literature describing this topic is limited. The prevalence of one fracture mode for higher impact energies shows a possible advantage of the cost-effective preforms for the damage tolerant philosophy.
Multi-length scale computational analysis of roller-bearing premature failure in horizontal-axis wind turbine gear boxes
Authors: Grujicic M. , Chenna V. , Yavari R. , Galgalikar R. , Snipes J.S. , Ramaswami S.
Published: January 2015

Purpose

– To make wind energy (one of the alternative-energy production technologies) economical, wind-turbines (convertors of wind energy into electrical energy) are required to operate, with only regular maintenance, for at least 20 years. However, some key wind-turbine components (especially the gear-box) often require significant repair or replacement after only three to five years in service. This causes an increase in both the wind-energy cost and the cost of ownership of the wind turbine. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

– To overcome this problem, root causes of the gear-box premature failure are currently being investigated using mainly laboratory and field-test experimental approaches. As demonstrated in many industrial sectors (e.g. automotive, aerospace, etc.) advanced computational engineering methods and tools cannot only complement these experimental approaches but also provide additional insight into the problem at hand (and do so with a substantially shorter turn-around time). The present work demonstrates the use of a multi-length-scale computational approach which couples large-scale wind/rotor interactions with a gear-box dynamic response, enabling accurate determination of kinematics and kinetics within the gear-box bearings (the components most often responsible for the gear-box premature failure) and ultimately the structural response (including damage and failure) of the roller-bearing components (e.g. inner raceways).

Findings

– It has been demonstrated that through the application of this approach, one can predict the expected life of the most failure-prone horizontal axis wind turbine gear-box bearing elements.

Originality/value

– To the authors’ knowledge, the present work is the first multi-length-scale study of bearing failure in wind-turbines.
Micromechanical study of the effect of inclusions on fatigue failure in a roller bearing
Authors: Cerullo Michele , Tvergaard Viggo
Published: January 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to carry out a set of micromechanical analyses to study the effect of small inclusions on fatigue life of wind turbine bearings.

Design/methodology/approach

– The local stress concentrations around an inclusion are determined from a characteristic unit cell model containing a single inclusion, using the approximation of a 2D plane strain numerical analysis. The Dang Van multiaxial fatigue criterion is used for the local stresses in the matrix material, to ensure that the stresses remain within the fatigue limit. The matrix material is taken to be one of the most commonly used bearing steels, AISI 52100, and two different types of inclusions are considered. The macroscopic stress histories applied correspond to either a Hertzian or an elastohydrodynamic (EHL) contact pressure distribution under the rollers.

Findings

– The paper shows that sub-surface fatigue failure due to rolling contact is more likely to develop close to the inclusion-matrix interface, at particular angles that depend on the material and on the inclusion orientation.

Originality/value

– Inclusions represent an important issue in the design of wind turbine bearings, that are supposed to work in the very high cycle regime (N>109 cycles). This paper develops a micromechanical study that provides a deeper understanding on effect of inclusions on the fatigue life, according to one of the most used multiaxial fatigue criteria.
Experimental study of loosening behavior of plain shank bolted joint under dynamic loading
Authors: Dravid Shriram , Triphati Kartikeya , Chouksey Manoj
Published: January 2015

Purpose

– Bolted joints are commonly used to connect structural members. These joints can be disassembled whenever required. Various types of washers are used between nut and the connected member to keep the joints tight. However, these joints often become loose over time under dynamic loading conditions. The purpose of this paper is to know the reasons of loosening of bolted joints and to identify the main parameters that contribute to the bolt loosening, and to verify them with previous work.

Design/methodology/approach

– This work studies loosening of bolted joint in a test rig under varying tightening torque as well as for various types of washers used as the number of load cycles increases. Four trial runs are taken for each case considered and the average results are found out to minimize possible sources of errors. For the purpose, a specifically made test rig is used which is capable of applying harmonic load on the bolted joint by the lever action.

Findings

– The study compares the loosening of bolted joint with and without washer, and also under different initial tightening conditions. This study has shown the suitability of the test rig, methodology and parameters for study of loosening in bolted joints. This study presents an indigenous test, capable of applying harmonic load on bolted joint.

Originality/value

– The results establish that the methodology and parameters selected were appropriate for the purpose of study of loosening of bolted joints. This study has provided a base line for further work to understand the loosening of bolted joints.
Combined effects of valence and attributes of e-WOM on consumer judgment for message and product
Authors: Jeong Hyo-Jin , Koo Dong-Mo
Published: January 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to propose a model to test whether the combined effects of valence and objectivity/subjectivity of online review have an effect on consumer judgment and whether e-WOM platforms have a moderating effect.

Design/methodology/approach

– In total, 480 respondents participated in online experiments with a four (positive+objective, positive+subjective, negative+objective, and negative+subjective online review) by two (marketer-generated vs consumer-generated brand community web sites) between subject design.

Findings

– The experiment showed that: an objective negative online review was rated higher in terms of message usefulness compared to the other types of online reviews; positive reviews, whether they are objective or subjective, were rated higher in terms of attitudes toward and intention to purchase the reviewed product, and the effects of online reviews moderated by e-WOM platforms on consumer judgment were supported.

Research limitations/implications

– The present study, based on an established theoretical foundation, will help the research community to gain a deeper understanding of the combined effects of online review valence and attributes on consumer judgment and whether user-generated web community is better for consumers to consult product experience.

Practical implications

– The findings of this study can provide interested firms with useful strategies and tactics to enhance users’ acceptance of online reviews in terms of who operates the web sites.

Originality/value

– With increasing use of consumers’ online reviews, the present study proposed and tested a comprehensive research model integrating both the valence and objectivity/subjectivity of online review, which has rarely been addressed in previous research.
Mark-to-market and its effects on community banking during the financial crisis
Authors: Patron Hilde , Smith William J.
Published: January 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of the relaxation of mark-to-market (MTM) standards on community banks’ share prices. Mark-to-market valuation of securities became increasingly common in the late 1990s and 2000s, as regulators sought to create more transparent and more current depictions of bank financial positions. However, MTM accounting may be sub-optimal in the presence of severe market frictions, such as those experienced during the financial crisis of the late 2000s. To comply with capital requirements associated with MTM accounting, banks of the late 2000s dramatically liquidated portfolios with potentially solvent assets in illiquid markets, taking huge losses. During the financial crisis, mortgage-backed securities held by banks began to plummet in value. Banks were forced to either liquidate these assets even though there were no buyers or dramatically reduce the values of their portfolios based on fire-sale prices. On a cash-flow basis, these securities had value, as many mortgages bundled in these securities continued to be paid on time; however, with markets frozen, market prices did not reflect this value.

Design/methodology/approach

– This study shows that, for a sample of 134 community banks, share prices increased after the MTM relaxation, even after accounting for a variety of other economic factors.

Findings

– This paper shows that, perhaps counterintuitively, the steps taken by the Financial Accounting Standards Board to relax MTM accounting standards may have acted as a stabilizing factor on the market price of community bank shares by allowing banks to selectively liquidate assets, boosting asset prices until uncertainty was resolved.

Originality/value

– This paper examines the impact of recent changes in accounting standards on the perceived risks associated with the banking sector. It specifically focuses attention on the impacts these changes had on community-based banks within the USA.
Transformation of the Ecuadorian financial system: regulation and response
Authors: Unda Luisa Ana , Margret Julie
Published: January 2015

Purpose

– The aim of this study is to analyse the transformation of the Ecuadorian financial system using the regulatory dialectic approach (Kane, 1977). This research examines the initial conditions and motivating factors of the reform process, as well as the interplay between government and bankers during the period 2007-2012.

Design/methodology/approach

– Kane’s regulatory dialectic suggests that regulation of financial institutions is a series of cyclical interactions between opposing political and economic forces. Three main stages are identified: thesis (measures and regulatory actions), antithesis (avoidance/lobby against those reforms) and synthesis (adaptive reregulation resulting from the interaction between interest groups).

Findings

– Since 2007, the government focused on regulating interest rates, developing a liquidity fund for banking emergencies, increasing taxation and restricting international capital flows. These government initiatives took place against a background of conflicting interests. Private bankers opposed the majority regarding them as burdensome new rules, rather than enlightened reforms. Publicly, these reforms as intended by the government were seemingly supported. Finally through the political process, they were approved. To date, these reforms have strengthened the financial system, produced encouraging social policy results and placed the financial sector to serve the government’s development strategy.

Originality/value

– Using Kane’s notion of regulatory dialectic, we explain the process of financial reform in Ecuador as part of a cyclical interaction between opposing forces. Drawing on this framework enabled insight into the nature of government intervention. Hence, we show how that intervention affected the growth, development and structure of the banking system.
The diverging role of the systematic risk factors: evidence from real estate stock markets
Authors: Lang Stephan , Scholz Alexander
Published: January 2015

Purpose

– The risk-return relationship of real estate equities is of particular interest for investors, practitioners and researchers. The purpose of this paper is to examine, in an asset pricing framework, whether the systematic risk factors play a significantly different role in explaining the returns of listed real estate companies, compared to general equities.

Design/methodology/approach

– Running the difference test of the Fama-French three-factor and the liquidity-augmented asset pricing model, the authors analyze the effect of the systematic risk factors related to market, size, BE/ME and liquidity in a time-series setting over the period July 1992 to June 2012. By applying the propensity score matching (PSM) algorithm, the authors bypass the “curse of dimensionality” of traditional matching techniques and identify a comparable control sample of general equities, in terms of the relevant firm characteristics of size, BE/ME and liquidity.

Findings

– The empirical results indicate that European real estate equity returns load significantly differently on the size, value and liquidity factor, while the influence of the market factor seems to be equivalent. In addition, the authors find an economically and statistically significant underperformance of European real estate equities, after accounting for the diverging role of systematic risk factors. Running the conditional time-series regression, the authors further reveal that these findings are predominately caused by the divergent risk-return behavior of real estate equities in economic downturns.

Practical implications

– Due to the diverging role of the systematic risk factors in pricing real estate equities, the authors provide evidence of potential diversification benefits for investors and portfolio managers.

Originality/value

– This is the first real estate asset pricing study to dissect the unique risk-return relationship of real estate equities by employing propensity score matching.
Market maturity: China commercial real estate market
Authors: Ke Qiulin , Sieracki Karen
Published: January 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to explore the evolutionary path to market maturity that China property market has taken over the last few decades. The focus is on the commercial real estate markets in Beijing and Shanghai. It will help international investors understand the market environment, risk and market activity process.

Design/methodology/approach

– In this research, the authors apply the market maturity framework and its key determinants based on previous work undertaken by Keogh and D’Arcy (1994) and Chinet al.(2006) for the analysis of Chinese commercial property market. Particular focus is on Beijing and Shanghai. The questionnaire is designed to obtain fair and objective views from international property consultancy firms active in Beijing and Shanghai markets. There are not many of these international property consultancies. The reason why this type of business was selected was to insure that the business had an understanding of China’s place in the global commercial real estate market as this market matures from its emerging market status.

Findings

– The findings reveal that the respondents felt the commercial property markets in Shanghai and Beijing were now moderately mature. However, issues such as poorer level of standard market information, development instability, low transparency of the legal system, high taxes and high government invention still existed in China’s commercial property market, therefore hindering its progress towards greater market maturity.

Research limitations/implications

– The small same size of the survey is the major limitation of the research.

Practical implications

– International investors and analysts can benefit from the research findings through a better understanding of the behaviour and trends in this unique market which will be reflected in their decision-making process.

Originality/value

– An explorative approach was used due to the lack of data to examine the perception of China’s commercial property market’s evolution and maturity. The findings can then be placed in the context of other Southeast Asian cities. The evolutionary process of China’s property market is rarely examined in previous studies of China property market due to the lack of data and transparency.
A fuzzy approach to service quality diagnosis
Authors: Saeida Ardakani Saeid , Nejatian Majid , Farhangnejad Mohammad Ali , Nejati Mehran
Published: January 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to identify service quality dimensions that could enhance the level of services provided by a variety of carriers and rank them, accordingly.

Design/methodology/approach

– This research aims to identify service quality dimensions that could enhance the level of services provided by a variety of carriers and rank them, accordingly.

Findings

– The results show that “safety,” “timeliness,” and “variety and type of airplane” are the most important service quality criteria from the passengers’ viewpoint. It also indicates that the most and least important dimensions of service quality are “tangibles” and “responsiveness,” respectively. The results ranked the airlines from one to three as Emirates Airline, Mahan Air, and Iran Air.

Originality/value

– Most of the service quality criteria are descriptive and are stated using lingual expressions (cardinal or ordinal scales). Therefore, evaluation of perceptions and expectations of customers regarding service quality using non-fuzzy methods ignores the ambiguity involved in individual judgments.
Acceptance of novel products: the role of religiosity, ethnicity and values
Authors: Mansori Shaheen , Sambasivan Murali , Md-Sidin Samsinar
Published: January 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to establish and test the role of religiosity, ethnicity, individual basic values, and consumer innovativeness in influencing consumer acceptance of novel products. This paper specifically addresses: the driving force of religiosity and ethnicity and mediating roles of individual basic values and consumer innovativeness in influencing acceptance of novel products.

Design/methodology/approach

– A questionnaire was constructed and distributed to 700 respondents in the urban area of Malaysia based on convenience sampling. The data collected data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.

Findings

– Findings show that religiosity and ethnicity are the main drivers that influence the acceptance of new products. Specifically, religiosity and ethnicity have negative relationship with openness to change (stimulation, self-direction, and hedonism) and positive relationship with conservation value (traditions and conformity); conservation values have negative effects on consumer innovativeness and acceptance of new products; openness to change values show the positive relationship with innovativeness and acceptance of new products; openness to change and conservation value mediate the relationship between religiosity and consumer innovativeness; conservation value mediates the relationship between ethnicity and consumer innovativeness; and consumer innovativeness mediates the relationship between individual basic values and acceptance of novel products. The model has been able to explain 34 percent of the variance in acceptance of novel products.

Originality/value

– Different from previous research that often focussed on demographic and observable (e.g. age, race, religion) antecedents of innovation acceptance, the current research emphasized on the influence of behavioral and psychological characteristics (e.g. religiosity, ethnicity, values and innovativeness) on the consumer acceptance of novel products.
Charity donation: intentions and behaviour
Authors: Kashif Muhammad , Sarifuddin Syamsulang , Hassan Azizah
Published: January 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to test the extended theory of planned behaviour (TPB) model to investigate money donation intentions and behaviour. Furthermore, the applicability of an extended TPB model is tested for the first time in a collectivist culture.

Design/methodology/approach

– The data have been collected from 221 people living in the city of Kuala Lampur through a questionnaire based on extended TPB model. The data have been analysed through employing structural equation modelling (SEM) procedures to extract meaningful conclusions.

Findings

– The results depict an excellent fit to the extended TPB model. The past behaviour, injunctive norms, and intentions to donate positively contribute towards actual behaviour to donate money. Attitude, self-reported behaviour, descriptive norms, and moral norms do not significantly contribute to intentions to donate money.

Practical implications

– Managers of charitable organisations are struggling to attract customers who can actively donate money in response to various fundraising campaigns. This study will provide some useful strategies to help managers in attracting and retaining customers for life.

Originality/value

– Research studies performed to investigate money donation intentions and behaviour are scarce where current research fills this knowledge gap by presenting a developing country perspective. In addition to that, extended TPB model to investigate money donation intentions and behaviour has never been refuted through SEM procedures.