bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Multivariate modelling of 10-day-ahead VaR and dynamic correlation for worldwide real estate and stock indices
Authors: Degiannakis Stavros , Kiohos Apostolos
Published: January 2014

Purpose

– The Basel Committee regulations require the estimation of value-at-risk (VaR) at 99 percent confidence level for a ten-trading-day-ahead forecasting horizon. The paper provides a multivariate modelling framework for multi-period VaR estimates for leptokurtic and asymmetrically distributed real estate portfolio returns. The purpose of the paper is to estimate accurate ten-day-ahead 99%VaR forecasts for real estate markets along with stock markets for seven countries across the world (the USA, the UK, Germany, Japan, Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore) following the Basel Committee requirements for financial regulation.

Design/methodology/approach

– A 14-dimensional multivariate Diag-VECH model for seven equity indices and their relative real estate indices is estimated. The authors evaluate the VaR forecasts over a period of two weeks in calendar time, or ten-trading-days, and at 99 percent confidence level based on the Basle Committee on Banking Supervision requirements.

Findings

– The Basel regulations require ten-day-ahead 99%VaR forecasts. This is the first study that provides successful evidence for ten-day-ahead 99%VaR estimations for real estate markets. Additionally, the authors provide evidence that there is a statistically significant relationship between the magnitude of the ten-day-ahead 99%VaR and the level of dynamic correlation for real estate and stock market indices; a valuable recommendation for risk managers who forecast risk across markets.

Practical implications

– Risk managers, investors and financial institutions require dynamic multi-period VaR forecasts that will take into account properties of financial time series. Such accurate dynamic forecasts lead to successful decisions for controlling market risks.

Originality/value

– This paper is the first approach which models simultaneously the volatility and VaR estimates for real estate and stock markets from the USA, Europe and Asia-Pacific over a period of more than 20 years. Additionally, the local correlation between stock and real estate indices has statistically significant explanatory power in estimating the ten-day-ahead 99%VaR.
Determinants of stock exchange integration: evidence in worldwide perspective
Authors: Dorodnykh Ekaterina
Published: January 2014

Purpose

– This paper contains an empirical analysis of determinants of international integration projects over the time period 1995-2010. After a broad discussion of the existent literature, the investigation combines a large number of potentially relevant determinants for the explanation of whether stock exchanges are participating in formal integration projects. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

– The methodology is based on multistage statistical data analysis, using correlation and cluster analyses to investigate the presence of integration trend between existing stock exchange projects, while multivariable logit regression examines the determinants of stock exchange integration.

Findings

– The paper confirms empirically the set of drivers of financial integration. Moreover, the paper provides quantitative estimations of probability of stock exchange integration estimated for different explanatory variables. The paper demonstrates that financial harmonization, cross-membership-agreements, for-profit corporate structure, trading engine and regional integration are important drivers of stock exchange integration. By contrast, high size of stock exchange market has negative impact on the likelihood of successful merger. This result is, especially, important in terms of financial regulation.

Practical implications

– Results highlight the importance of stock exchange market in terms of exposure to systemic shocks and the linkages with the overall size of the economy.

Originality/value

– The paper contributes to the existing literature and extends the analysis of determinants of stock exchange integration. In particular, the existence ofde jurestock market integration projects suggests to design a special regulatory framework in order to benefit the important consequences of the integration phenomenon and to decrease the risk of financial contagion.
Does the formation of RTA support the neoclassical growth theory and convergence hypothesis?
Authors: Nurul Hossain A.K.M. , Abdul Munim Joarder Mohammad
Published: January 2014

Purpose

– The authors considered three regional trading agreements (RTAs): European Union (EU-25), ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), and South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) to test the hypothesis that poor members within a RTA catch rich members and thereby follow the path of income convergence. Of particular interest is to test whether partial openness (i.e. formation of RTAs) or openness or political conditions are conducive to economic growth among the member countries of RTAs. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

– The authors used pooled datasets from three different RTAs, namely the EU-25, the AFTA, and the SAFTA. Taking five years average for all variables, starting from 1961 to 1965 and extending to 2001-2005, the authors tested the hypothesis that the growth rate of per capita GDP is negatively related to the initial level of per capita GDP. Constructing a dynamic behavioral equation and forming the reduced form equation, the authors calculated the s-convergence, and both conditional and unconditional convergence.

Findings

– The authors found that both the EU-25 and the AFTA exhibit s-convergence, and both conditional and unconditional convergence, while the reverse evidence was observed in the case of the SAFTA. However, the speed of convergence of the AFTA was found to be much higher than that of the EU-25.

Originality/value

– Formation of RTA by countries should be considered as an essential condition to achieve sustained economic growth. In addition, political rights, trade openness, and more importantly benevolence of the member countries within the RTA must be shown to sustain economic growth and convergence; otherwise with the passage of time, divergence among the RTA members will be evident.
Are US state and local governments consumption smoothers?
Authors: Cornachione Kula Maria
Published: January 2014

Purpose

– This paper aims to reconcile conflicting findings in the literature regarding the extent of consumption smoothing of sub-federal governments.

Design/methodology/approach

– This paper uses a panel of US state and local government data from 1973 to 2000 to find the extent of consumption smoothing among US state and local governments.

Findings

– It is found that about 30 percent of spending is determined by permanent resources. Additionally, states with more stringent balanced budget rules are found to smooth more than states with the least stringent balanced budget rules, which do not smooth at all. There is some evidence that liquidity constraints may cause the non-optimal behavior of the states with the least restrictive requirements as they have higher average net debt per capita and face higher risk premia than those with the most stringent rules.

Research limitations/implications

– Results differ from research using aggregate US data, where it is found that essentially all changes in state and local government spending are due to changes in current resources. The conflict is attributed to panel vs aggregate data use. Other research finds greater smoothing in Norway, where about 65 percent of local government spending is determined by permanent resources, and Sweden, with at least 90 percent of spending changes due to changes in permanent resources. This conflict may be due to institutional differences. Further research is needed in this area.

Originality/value

– This paper fills a gap in the literature on consumption smoothing by considering a panel of US state and local governments.
A longitudinal examination of customer commitment and loyalty
Authors: Lariviere Bart , L. Keiningham Timothy , Cooil Bruce , Aksoy Lerzan , C. Malthouse Edward
Published: January 2014

Purpose

– This study aims to provide the first longitudinal examination of the relationship between affective, calculative, normative commitment and customer loyalty by using longitudinal panel survey data.

Design/methodology/approach

– Repeated measures for 269 customers of a large financial services provider are employed. Two types of segmentation methods are compared: predefined classes and latent class models and predictive power of different models contrasted.

Findings

– The results reveal that the impact that different dimensions of commitment have on share development varies across segments. A two-segment latent class model and a managerially relevant predefined two-segment customer model are identified. In addition, the results demonstrate the benefits of using panel survey data in models that are designed to study how loyalty develops over time.

Practical implications

– This study illustrates the benefits of including both baseline level information and changes in the dimensions of commitment in models that try to understand how loyalty unfolds over time. It also demonstrates how managers can be misled by assuming that everyone will react to commitment improvement efforts similarly. This study also shows how different segmentation schemes can be employed and reveals that the most sophisticated ones are not necessarily the best.

Originality/value

– This research provides the first examination of models for change in customer loyalty by employing survey panel data on the three-component model of customer commitment (affective, calculative, and normative) and considers alternative segmentation methods.
Creators, multipliers, and lurkers: who contributes and who benefits at online review sites
Authors: Munzel Andreas , H. Kunz Werner
Published: January 2014

Purpose

– As the internet has become an increasingly relevant communication and exchange platform, social interactions exist in multiple forms. The research aims to integrate a multitude of those interactions to understand who contributes and why different types of contributors generate and leverage social capital on online review sites.

Design/methodology/approach

– Based on the literature about social capital, social exchange theory, and transformative consumer research, the authors carried out a study of 693 contributors on a hotel review site. Content analysis and a latent profile analysis were used to research the contribution types and the underlying motives for generating and leveraging social capital.

Findings

– Through the integration of various customer-to-customer interactions, the results reveal a three-class structure of contributors on review sites. These three groups of individuals show distinct patterns in their preferred interaction activities and the underlying motives.

Research limitations/implications

– The authors develop the existing literature on transmission of electronic word-of-mouth messages and typologies of contributors. Future research should seek to expand the findings to additional industry and platform contexts and to support the findings through the inclusion of behavioral data.

Originality/value

– The research contributes to researchers and marketers in the field by empirically investigating who and why individuals engage in online social interactions. The authors expand upon the existing literature by highlighting the importance of social debt in anonymous online environments and by assessing a three-class structure of online contributors.
How organizational pride and emotional exhaustion explain turnover intentions in call centers
Authors: Kraemer Tobias , H.J. Gouthier Matthias
Published: January 2014

Purpose

– Personnel turnover entails considerable costs and is a major problem for the call center industry. By modifying the job demands-resources model, this study aims to examine how emotional exhaustion and organizational pride affect turnover intentions. In addition, it investigates how emotional exhaustion and organizational pride are formed by job demands and job resources and how gender and organizational tenure moderate the model.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper surveyed 252 call center agents and tested the research hypotheses with component-based structural equation modeling. Two multi-group analyses clarify the proposed moderating effects of gender and organizational tenure.

Findings

– Emotional exhaustion and organizational pride essentially determine turnover intentions. Organizational pride, which has received little attention in related research, plays a central role. Two job demands and three job resources strongly influence emotional exhaustion and organizational pride, respectively. Gender and organizational tenure moderate several effects.

Research limitations/implications

– This study is based on a sample of call center agents from three different call centers in one country. Therefore, the generalizability of the findings has to be tested. Furthermore, the paper examines turnover intentions, which are good predictors of turnover behavior. Nevertheless, further research should investigate the relationship between the variables and actual turnover. Moreover, the model included six different job determinants. Future research should test the proposed model with other job demands and resources.

Practical implications

– Emotional exhaustion and organizational pride substantially affect turnover intentions. Call center managers should protect employees from emotional exhaustion and enhance organizational pride, using specific job demands and resources. This study shows how the importance of certain variables differs for various groups of employees.

Originality/value

– This study is the first to examine how certain job resource foster organizational pride and how organizational pride affects voluntary employee turnover in call centers. Further, the study demonstrates that the socio-demographic variables gender and organizational tenure moderate the creation of emotional exhaustion and organizational pride, which together explain a large amount of the variance in turnover intentions among call center agents.
The effects of auditor rotation on client management's negotiation strategies
Authors: N. Schmidt Regan , E. Cross Britney
Published: January 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine how audit partner rotation impacts the negotiation strategies client management intends to use to resolve a financial reporting issue.

Design/methodology/approach

– An experiment that manipulates between participants on whether the audit partner rotates from the prior fiscal year (rotation versus non-rotation) is conducted to test the theoretical implications of rapport. Participants with a high level of business and managerial experience indicate their intended use of 25 reliable negotiation tactics that client management may use to resolve a financial reporting issue with the external auditor. These tactics underlie three distributive (contending, compromising, conceding) and two integrative (problem solving, expanding the agenda) negotiation strategies.

Findings

– The results of the study indicate that client management is less contentious and more concessionary (i.e. accommodating) to a newly rotated audit partner, as compared to an audit partner that has established rapport with client management. Further, client management is more willing to intend using integrative and compromising (i.e. co-operative) negotiation strategies when negotiating with an audit partner with established rapport in contrast to a newly rotated audit partner.

Research limitations/implications

– These findings underscore the merits and costs of audit partner rotation in auditor-client management (ACM) negotiations and document that partner rotation affects not only auditor behaviour, but also the behaviour of client management.

Originality/value

– This paper is the first that considers how developing and maintaining rapport impacts ACM negotiations. The study provides empirical evidence to further inform debates over auditor rotation.
Leaving a joint audit system: conditional fee reductions
Authors: Holm Claus , Thinggaard Frank
Published: January 2014

Purpose

– The authors aim to exploit a natural experiment in which voluntary replace mandatory joint audits for Danish listed companies and analyse audit fee implications of using one or two audit firms.

Design/methodology/approach

– Regression analysis is used. The authors apply both a core audit fee determinants model and an audit fee change model and include interaction terms.

Findings

– The authors find short-term fee reductions in companies switching to single audits, but only where the former joint audit contained a dominant auditor. The authors argue that in this situation bargaining power is more with the auditors than in an equally shared joint audit, and that the auditors' incentives to offer an initial fee discount are bigger.

Research limitations/implications

– The number of observations is constrained by the small Danish capital market. Future research could take a more qualitative research approach, to examine whether the use of a single audit firm rather than two has an effect on audit quality. The area calls for further theory development covering audit fee and audit quality in joint audit settings.

Practical implications

– Companies should consider their relationship with their auditors before deciding to switch to single auditors. Fee discounts do not seem to reflect long-lasting efficiency gains on the part of the audit firm.

Originality/value

– Denmark is the first country to leave a mandatory joint audit system, so this is the first time that it is possible to study fee effects related to this.
Modeling contextually elicited service quality expectations
Authors: Strombeck Stephen , Shu Shih-Tung
Published: January 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the critical role that context plays in measuring service quality.

Design/methodology/approach

– This study replicated an experiment methodology to show that customers perceive an airline service drama as a sequence of scenes. A series of focus groups were then conducted to identify the context-specific set of service quality expectations that customers hold for each of these scenes. Finally, Formal Concept Analysis (FCA), a mathematical modeling technique, was applied to these findings to graphically illustrate how customer expectations for airline service quality vary by service scene.

Findings

– Results from this study indicate that static measures of service quality are apparently inadequate in explaining customer expectations during more enduring service encounters. The FCA hierarchical model developed in this study revealed profound differences in customer service expectations across the six airline service scenes. These results suggest that more advanced methods for measuring service quality are necessary for service encounters that are longer in duration.

Research limitations/implications

– This research brings into question a broad spectrum of research which fails to recognize that customers use different reference points in time to evaluate service quality.

Practical implications

– Researchers and practitioners need accurate and reliable measures of service quality but the findings suggests that measurement specificity and diagnostic capability should not be sacrificed in the pursuit of more robust instruments.

Originality/value

– This is the first study to empirically demonstrate that customers perceive the airline service encounter as a sequence of scenes. It is also the first study to mathematically model service quality dimensions using FCA.
Does relationship matter? – Customers’ response to service failure
Authors: Tsai Chia-Ching , Yang Yung-Kai , Cheng Yu-Chi
Published: January 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine how service failure affects customers’ negative response and how service recovery affects perceived justice in the context of different relationship norms.

Design/methodology/approach

– It includes four studies that examine how relationships influence customer reactions to service failures. In study 1, the paper examines how service failures affect customers’ negative reaction. In study 2, the paper examines how service recoveries influence perceived justice. Study 3 and study 4 test the robustness of the results of study 1 and study 2. All studies have a 2×2 between-subjects design.

Findings

– The results show that individuals in exchange relationships experience a stronger feeling of betrayal than those in communal relationships during service failures. Further, individuals feel more betrayed and show greater negative responses during process failures. They perceive greater justice when offered physical recoveries, which, in turn, contributes to higher service-recovery satisfaction.

Research limitations/implications

– This study was conducted in Taiwan. Customer reactions to service failures may vary according to cultural and environmental contexts.

Practical implications

– Service providers are encouraged to cultivate relationships with customers and identify different types of customers to compensate them more effectively, according to their preferences.

Originality/value

– This study introduces relationship norms to investigate consumer responses to service failures. The main contributions are twofold; it investigates the effect of relationship norms on customer responses to service-failure types and service-recovery types.
The influence of movie's quality on its performance: evidence based on Oscar Awards
Authors: Zhuang Weiling , Babin Barry , Xiao Qian , Paun Mihaela
Published: January 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to develop and empirically test a new framework that shows how different signals of movie quality along with key control variables affect consumers’ post-consumption evaluations, critics’ reviews (CR), and movie box office revenues.

Design/methodology/approach

– The data set consists of a sample of 332 movies released between 2000 and 2008. Regression was used to test the study hypotheses.

Findings

– The results suggest that the three signals of movie quality exhibit different effects on three movie performance measures. Of the three cues, the peripheral quality signal is positive related to movie box, moviegoers’ evaluations (ME), and CR. Furthermore, star performance quality is positive related to both ME and CR. Surprisingly, overall quality signal does not display any influence on movie performances.

Research limitations/implications

– The primary limitation is the use of cross-sectional study design and future research should apply for time-series technique to test the relationships between movie quality signals and movie performances.

Practical implications

– The findings suggest that consumers and critics evaluate movie qualities based on various movie quality signals. Furthermore, the characteristics of movies also have mixed impacts on movie performances. Movie studios may take these findings into account to produce better movies.

Originality/value

– This study proposes and empirically tests the impacts of three groups of movie signals – peripheral quality signal, star performance quality signal, and overall quality signal on motion picture performance. This study contributes to service quality literature and signal theory by categorizing different Academy Awards into three groups of quality signals and by empirically testing the proposed relationships.
High pressure control of protein structure and functionality
Authors: Aouzelleg Amar
Published: January 2014

Purpose

– This article aims to consider the use of high pressure processing in order to gain functional advantages through proteins structure control. High pressure processing has been used to produce high-quality food with extended shelf life and could also be used to modify foods functionality.

Design/methodology/approach

– The effect of high pressure on protein structure and functionality is looked at and comparisons are made with heat effect in places. β-lactoglobulin and whey proteins are mainly taken as examples.

Findings

– A controlled partial protein unfolding through mild high pressure processing could lead to a range of intermediate molecular structures. These are distinct from the native and completely unfolded structure and have been referred to as molten globules. The partly unfolded molecular states, hence, are postulated to have increased functionality and could be interesting for the food industry.

Originality/value

– The opportunity and challenges represented by these theoretical elements are discussed. In particular, the effect of protein concentration and aggregation is emphasised.
Modified milk for infants
Authors: Sarkar S.
Published: January 2014

Purpose

– Breast milk is considered as the most ideal food for infants during infancy owing to its diverse nutritional and therapeutic attributes. In the absence of breast milk, infants may be offered with cow's, buffalo's or goat's milk after modification to bring their composition nearer to human milk. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

– Risks associated with prolonged and exclusive breast feeding or unmodified cow's, buffalo's or goat's milk have been highlighted. In the absence of human milk, the suitability of modified cow's, buffalo's or goat's milk as a supplementary food for infants is also justified.

Findings

– Breast milk is the most preferred food for infants owing to its numerous intrinsic therapeutic and nutritional attributes. Human milk is virtually impossible to mimic completely, and therefore, goat's milk is often preferred over cow's milk or buffalo's milk due to its better digestibility, higher biological value and less allergenic. An appropriate blending of protein, carbohydrate, fat, minerals and vitamins to cow's, buffalo's or goat's milk to result in modified milk, nutritionally adequate for infants is suggested.

Originality/value

– Nutritional and therapeutic attributes of cow's, buffalo's or goat's milk must be suitably modified to meet the physiological needs as well as to confer protection to the infants.
Cryo comminution of food waste
Authors: Sridhar B.S.
Published: January 2014

Purpose

– The present study involved the development of a value-added comminution process for different recycled meat processing by-products such as bones for management of waste products. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

– An indigenous cryo-grinding system was developed and pilot scale comminution tests were carried out on goat and hen bones under different temperature conditions ranging between −15°C and −40°C and sample pre-conditioning adopting liquid nitrogen as a grinding medium.

Findings

– Cryo comminution produces finer, uniform particle sizes, increased specific surface area per unit mass with lesser specific energy consumption in comparison to room temperature comminution. Breakage behavior studies showed that hardness (609-685 MPa) and brittleness (24-29 m−1/2) and strain energy decreased (3.1-1.1 N-m) as the temperature was lowered. Weight mean diameter, specific energy consumption under ambient and cryogenic conditions, respectively, were 125 and 80 μm, 1,303 and 1,108 kJ/kg. The process developed attempts to eliminate environmental pollution by reducing food wastes generated and incorporates value to waste products.

Originality/value

– A value-added comminution process for meat processing by-products such as bones was developed to reduce food wastes generated as well as environmental pollution. The process aims to improve public health stressing the importance of recycling through the management of food waste products. Public and private organizations can act as profit centers generating significant revenue and employment by adopting the process.
Quality evaluation of chocolate produced using soy-cow milk
Authors: Obatoye A.O. , Ogunwolu S.O. , Idowu M.A.
Published: January 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effects of substituting cow milk with soy milk in the standard milk chocolate recipe on the physical, chemical and sensory qualities of milk chocolate and obtain the best ratio of substitution.

Design/methodology/approach

– Milk chocolates were produced by substituting the cow milk in the standard recipe with soy milk powder at different ratios of soy milk to cow milk. Physical and chemical analyses were carried out using the standard methods to evaluate the major raw materials and chocolate samples, and the sensory evaluation of the chocolate samples was carried out using preference and difference tests.

Findings

– Soy milk contained the highest crude protein and crude fiber. The cut test results of the cocoa beans showed that the percentage of fully fermented cocoa beans was in agreement with the standard. Residimeter value (RV) of four chocolate samples (30:70, 20:80, 10:90, and 0:100) was the best. The nitrogen content and melting points of the chocolates samples were found to increase with increased inclusion of soy milk powder in the recipe. There was no significant difference (p<0.05) in taste, sweetness, smoothness, and overall acceptability of the 0:100 and 30:70; soy milk to cow milk samples.

Practical implications

– Soy-chocolate will be a new chocolate product with higher melting point and lower cost than the standard milk chocolate. The selling price of chocolate will be lower and thus affordable to low-income earners. Also, there will be an increased utilization of soybean.

Originality/value

– Soy-chocolate recipe is a new and additional recipe for the production of milk chocolate.
Modeling of vacuum drying of loquat fruit
Authors: Saberian Hamed , Amooi Mojtaba , Hamidi-Esfahani Zohreh
Published: January 2014

Purpose

– The aim of the present research was to study and model drying of loquat fruit under vacuum conditions at three temperatures to select the best mathematical model for predicting drying rate of loquat during times which is used in designing of vacuum dryer. The dried product may be used in the preparation of soups, jam, premixed foods, snacks, etc.

Design/methodology/approach

– Loquat samples were dried by vacuum oven (52 cm Hg) at three temperatures, 60, 70 and 80°C. First, moisture content was plotted against time for each treatment and after that moisture ratio curves were plotted. These curves were fitted with nine well-known models to select the best model.

Findings

– Regression analysis of different models and values of RMSE and χ2 showed that page model had the best fitness due to highest R2 and lowest RMSE and χ2. Moisture diffusivity of loquat samples at 60, 70 and 80°C was calculated to be 6.87×10−10, 9.17×10−10 and 1.29×10−9 m2/s, respectively, which increased with temperature.

Originality/value

– This paper is believed to be the only one which investigates and models drying loquat under vacuum conditions to select the best mathematical model for predicting drying rate of loquat.
Effect of type and concentration of solvent on chemical properties of saffron edible extract
Authors: Mohamadi Sani Ali , Mohseni Sharare
Published: January 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this study was to find a suitable solvent to produce saffron edible extract with improved chemical properties.

Design/methodology/approach

– Dried and pulverized stigmas of Crocus sativus L. (10 g) was extracted with 300 ml of solvents including distillated water (DW), ethanol/DW, methanol/DW, propylene glycol/DW, heptan/DW and hexan/DW, for three days at 25°C and then centrifuged at 3,000 rpm. Then, the extracts were evaporated using rotary evaporator at 40°C. The fiber and solvent-free extracts were then analyzed by UV spectrophotometer to detect saffron quality parameters including crocin, picrocrocin and safranal.

Findings

– Distilled water/ethanol mixture as the extraction solvent caused larger amounts of the plant constituents to diffuse out to the extract compared to other treatments and also control. Polar solvents including distilled water, ethanol and propylene glycol (except methanol) were more effective in extracting crocin, picrocrocin and safranal than non-polar solvents.

Originality/value

– No research had been done on production of saffron edible extract using the solvent studied in this survey. The novelty of this research is high and the results can be used industrially.
Commercial awareness in real estate courses
Authors: Poon Joanna
Published: January 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to evaluate how and to what extent commercial awareness is embedded within the curriculum of the UK Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)-accredited real estate courses. It also discusses the development of commercial awareness taxonomy.

Design/methodology/approach

– This paper presents the research findings of questionnaire survey and interviews with RICS-accredited real estate course providers in the UK. The questionnaire aimed to gather course directors’ views on the definitions and components of commercial awareness and identify what skills and attributes are required for its development. It also evaluated how commercial awareness has been embedded in the real estate courses. The aim of the interview was to gain deeper insight on how components of commercial awareness are embedded in real estate courses and nine interviews were conducted. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and coded to identify similar themes. The frequency of the answer in the questionnaire and comments from interviewees is presented.

Findings

– The UK real estate academics agreed the most important definition of commercial awareness as that of a “person's ability on understanding of the economics of business”. They agreed that “strategic” is the most important component for commercial awareness, followed with “financial” and “process”. However, the “financial” component is embedded the most in the curriculum. The most important skill and attribute for commercial awareness development are “ability to define and solve problems” and “ability and willingness to update professional knowledge”, respectively. Commercial awareness was embedded in the overall curriculum and the key element for developing it is through having “practical experience”.

Originality/value

– This project is the first to conduct an in-depth analysis of commercial awareness in real estate education. It also develops the pioneer commercial awareness taxonomy.
Private partner's risk response in PPP low-cost housing projects
Authors: Trangkanont Surangkana , Charoenngam Chotchai
Published: January 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to identify the salient risks borne by private firms and to investigate their effective risk response strategies in public-private partnership (PPP) low-cost housing (LCH) projects in Thailand.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper employs grounded theory and case study methodologies to extensively analyze ten private firms’ risks and their strategic risk mitigation. As a result, the matrix of imperative risks’ root causes and the area of the project life cycle most exposed to their impacts were proposed. This included the framework of the risk response strategy application.

Findings

– The private firm's risk mitigation strategies depended on the salient risks’ impact and the private firms’ predictability and controllability of the risk outcome. This included the private firm's participating objectives and core business, decision maker's risk attitude, risk perception, experience of risk, and risk assessment skill, and the project life cycle phase of risk occurrence.

Practical implications

– Under the same characteristics of the immature PPP market in developing countries, the contractors’ effective risk management framework can be used as a guideline to complement the contractors’ decision making on risk response strategy selection and resource allocation in the PPP project life cycle.

Originality/value

– Despite working under the familiar environment of construction risk and generous payment method in PPP-LCH projects, only few contractors were successful. The examination of risks borne and effectively responded by the private sector increases the likelihood of the project success.
An explanation of capital structure of China's listed property firms
Authors: Liang Jian , Fang Li Liu , Song Han-Suck
Published: January 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of the capital structure of listed property firms in China.

Design/methodology/approach

– The study is based on quantitative methods such as dynamic panel data models and a panel data set containing financial and accounting data for all listed property companies from 2006 to 2010 in China.

Findings

– The findings confirm that the state-own shares, the fixed asset values, the total size of assets and profitability have a positive and significant impact on the leverage ratio of listed property firms in China. The negative impact of the tax shields and the currency ratio, and significant impact of state-own shares on capital structure cannot be explained by existing capital structure theory but the unique property market regulation environment and market conditions in China.

Research limitations/implications

– The findings confirm the applicability of trade-off theory (except for the correlation between leverage and the tax shield) on property companies in China. They also highlight the importance of government policies and special market conditions in explaining the financing behaviour of property companies in transaction countries like China.

Practical implications

– Complimentary policies should be established along with property market restriction policies to offset their unequal negative effect on property companies with less state-owned shares. Furthermore, government should invest efforts to eliminate the discrimination credit treatment of banks against property companies with non-existent or few state-owned shares.

Originality/value

– The special financial behaviour of China's property firms and the unique financial and property market conditions highlight the necessity of researching the capital structure of listed property firms in China. However, most of the existing literature focuses on the company financial behaviour in developed countries, and very few studies have been done concerning property firms’ financing behaviour in emerging economies such as China, and this research prospects to fill this blank.
The state of value creation in the real-estate sector – lessons from lean thinking
Authors: Jylhä Tuuli , Junnila Seppo
Published: January 2014

Purpose

– Although great emphasis has been given to the added value of real estate, the current studies miss the phase when the actual value is created, i.e., the production phase of real-estate services. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate the current state of value creation of the commercial real-estate services from a lean thinking perspective.

Design/methodology/approach

– Value creation is studied in four Finnish cases through 122 interviews and eight workshops.

Findings

– Cross-case analysis identified six sources of waste resulting as poor value creation: sub-process optimisation instead of optimising the entire process, the price minimisation instead of cost minimisation, difficulties responding to customer value, overloaded employees, inability to make improvements, and poorly managed information.

Research limitations/implications

– Although the findings are grounded on a solid data collection and analysis, the case study nature of the research and the Finnish case study settings create limitations for the generalisation of the findings.

Practical implications

– Service providers and other process owners can use the findings to improve their value creation and increase the productivity of their service processes.

Originality/value –

This is one of the first research studies that utilise lean thinking in commercial service processes in the real-estate sector and thus provides new insight into how to increase productivity through waste minimisation.
Factors affecting Web 2.0 adoption: a case study
Authors: Isfandyari-Moghaddam Alireza , Hosseini-Shoar Mansoureh
Published: January 2014

Purpose

– The main purpose of this paper is to identify factors affecting the adoption of Web 2.0 tools by librarians of academic libraries located in Hamedan, Iran.

Design/methodology/approach

– Methodologically, this survey is applied using a descriptive approach. The statistical population of the survey was 47 librarians of academic and college libraries located in Hamedan (Iran). The tool used for data gathering is a questionnaire made based on the relevant literature as well as authors' standpoint. It consists of 39 questions under ten broad factors. The collected data were analyzed with SPSS (version 16).

Findings

– Totally, ten broad factors affecting the adoption of Web 2.0 tools by the librarians were identified. The most effective factors are job conditions, changeability, skills, competitiveness, and saving time.

Practical implications

– To positively and effectively affect the adoption of Web 2.0 tools by librarians especially Hamedan academic librarians, holding training courses and related workshops, the inclusion of lessons regarding Web 2.0 tools and their application in the academic courses planned and run by LIS departments, implementing open and distance learning (ODL), attracting LIS professionals to the field of Web 2.0, buying needed software and hardware equipment, and addressing the importance of adopting and using Web 2.0 tools for academic and library managers should not be neglected.

Originality/value

– This study may contribute to the field in terms of better understanding of factors affecting the adoption of Web 2.0 tools and thus better usage of these and other emerging technologies in academic libraries and information centers.
Consuming and producing linked open data: the case of OpenCourseWare
Authors: Piedra Nelson , Tovar Edmundo , Colomo-Palacios Ricardo , Lopez-Vargas Jorge , Alexandra Chicaiza Janneth
Published: January 2014

Purpose

– The aim of this paper is to present an initiative to apply the principles of Linked Data to enhance the search and discovery of OpenCourseWare (OCW) contents created and shared by the universities.

Design/methodology/approach

– This paper is a case study of how linked data technologies can be applied for the enhancement of open learning contents.

Findings

– Results presented under the umbrella of OCW-Universia consortium, as the integration and access to content from different repositories OCW and the development of a query method to access these data, reveal that linked data would offer a solution to filter and select semantically those open educational contents, and automatically are linked to the linked open data cloud.

Originality/value

– The new OCW-Universia integration with linked data adds new features to the initial framework including improved query mechanisms and interoperability.
Users' perceptions of blog functions: educational vs personal use
Authors: Yueh Hsiu-Ping , Lin Weijane , Lu Tzuyi
Published: January 2014

Purpose

– This paper aims to understand how users' perceptions of the different functions of blogs vary in educational use and personal use, and further to explore whether experience with blogs has an influence on differences in perceptions of blog functions.

Design/methodology/approach

– To empirically determine whether the blog functions were suitable for educational and personal use, a blog system with numerous functions was constructed for users to evaluate. In total, 48 college students were recruited to participate in the study. The participants navigated this system and then filled in a questionnaire to give their opinions on the functions of both educational blogs and personal blogs.

Findings

– The findings of this study indicate that of the 26 blog functions, perceptions of 20 of the functions differed significantly between educational and personal use. Moreover, the results showed that only two blog functions, backup and traffic source, were influenced by both blog experience and blog usage.

Originality/value

– This study distinguishes itself from the previous studies on blogging systems in its specific focus on functionality with detailed evaluation under different purposes of contexts. Practical suggestions are accordingly made for practitioners to choose when and which functions to use under different circumstances to enhance the interaction and information exchange between users in the field practice of educational blogging.
Rankings, accreditation, and the international quest for quality
Authors: Blanco-Ramírez Gerardo , B. Berger Joseph
Published: January 2014

Purpose

– This paper seeks to analyze the internationalization of quality practices in higher education. In light of insufficient theorization about quality in the global dimension, the paper presents a model for value construction in higher education.

Design/methodology/approach

– The authors reviewed different models for quality in higher educationvis-à-visemerging international quality practices in higher education.

Findings

– After reviewing quality models and international quality practices, the authors argue that, in order to evaluate and improve quality in higher education, a model of value in higher education that connects quality with relevance, access, and investment is necessary.

Research limitations/implications

– Thus far, quality in higher education has been explored in isolation from access, relevance, and investment. The integrative approach suggested here may prove generative for researchers and help address complex educational interrogations.

Practical implications

– Higher education leaders are faced with decisions about quality; these leaders may benefit from connecting quality decisions with the demands on relevance, access, and investment that their local settings dictate.

Originality/value

– The concept of value is largely absent from conceptual discussions about quality in higher education; additionally, many discussions about quality in higher education seem to be isolated from their context. This paper addresses both these issues.
Quality and quality assurance in Chinese private higher education
Authors: Cao Yingxia , Li Xiaofan
Published: January 2014

Purpose

– The paper aims to establish a quality assurance framework for Chinese private higher education (PHE) in particular and for any newly-established higher education sector in general.

Design/methodology/approach

– This research relied on published qualitative and quantitative data, existing literature, historical documents, and the authors' observations. It described the PHE growth context, analyzed the quality issue from three dimensions (academic, administrative, and relationship quality), and examined its quality assurance practice through three players.

Findings

– The paper provides empirical insights about how quality and quality assurance issues have impacted on PHE development. To approach the issues, it suggests a “quality assurance triangle” framework that is composed of three PHE players (government, market, institution) and their joint association.

Research limitations/implications

– Because of the relative position of each player in current quality assurance, the success of its implementation in China depends on how the government establishes the triangle system and balances its dominating roles to ensure each of the players act independently and collaboratively.

Practical implications

– This framework provides directions for establishing an appropriate quality assurance system for PHE in China.

Originality/value

– This paper fulfills an identified need to setup a sound quality assurance system for PHE in China and contributes to quality assurance literature with a new framework.