Abstract

This paper is a preliminary attempt to use both the value added approach with double deflation and the expenditure approach to deflate China's nominal GDP over 15 years (2004-2018). The results show that China's real GDP growth during the period has significantly more fluctuations than the official statistics indicate. Additionally, inflation, as measured by the official implicit GDP deflator, is generally overestimated during boom years but underestimated during downturn years. In particular, it is shown that China's growth slowdown in recent years before the COVID19 pandemic may have been more severe than official figures suggest.

Keyword

Chinese statistics ;  GDP deflator ;  GDP growth

Abstract

Purpose This research investigates when and how brands influence attribute importance weights. Most past studies modelling consumer decision processes treated the brand of a product as an attribute parallel to the price, color or size of a product, and as a result, those studies assigned an equal (i.e. non-contingent) importance weight across brands for each attribute. In contrast, this study introduces a brand-contingent attribute-weighting process, in which brand is a higher-order construct that influences attribute importance. Design/methodology/approach This study presents a multi-level choice model in which the importance weight of an attribute can vary across brands. This study then estimates the model using real purchase data and survey data from an airline industry. Findings This study finds that attribute importance weights are contingent upon two aspects of a brand - the perceived relative position of the brand and consumers' brand usage experiences. Specifically, when consumers perceive a brand to be inferior to its competitors in a given attribute, they generally place greater weight on that attribute for that brand. In contrast, when consumers perceive a brand to be superior to its competitors in a given attribute, only consumers with extensive brand usage experiences place greater weight on that attribute for that brand. Practical implications The findings provide managerial insights on brand positioning and segmentation strategies using consumers' brand usage experiences. Originality/Value This study advances the literature on consumer decision processes by modeling an attribute-weighting process that is contingent upon brands. The present study models this process based on consumer behavior theories and estimates the model using real market data.

Keyword

Brand experience ;  Brands ;  Importance weight ;  Modeling consumer behavior ;  Negativity effect ;  Positioning

Abstract

This study examines the association between CEO temporal focus and corporate engagement in philanthropy, and considers the moderating role of ownership. This association is investigated based on upper echelons theory and the conceptual framework of temporal focus. Using a sample of 2,285 observations of Chinese listed firms from 2010 to 2015, our results show that the relationship between CEO past focus and corporate philanthropy is positive in state-owned firms but negative in private firms. In addition, CEO future focus is negatively associated with charitable activities in state-owned firms, but positively associated with such activities in private companies. For present-oriented CEOs, the relationship between temporal focus and philanthropy is negative in both public and private firms, but the negative effect is stronger in private firms. The findings of this study show how CEOs' time perspectives shape their decisions on company engagement in philanthropic projects.

Keyword

CEO temporal focus ;  CEO time perspective ;  corporate giving ;  corporate philanthropy ;  ownership

Abstract

Hosting sports events to attract international tourists is a common policy practised by many host governments. Hosting mega-sports events like the Olympics is said to leave a legacy that could impact the attractiveness of a country/city in the long term. However, the opportunity to host these mega-events is limited and expensive. This study considers the economic impact of hosting annual international sporting events, specifically the extent to which Formula 1, ATP Tennis and PGA Golf can attract international tourists. Using monthly data from 1998 to 2018, we show that the effect differs from one sport to another within a country and the same sport across countries. Hosting the Formula 1 is most effective for Canada but has no significant impact in Australia and the United Kingdom. ATP Tennis and PGA Golf have a significant impact on at least two countries. Policy-makers must consider carefully the sport that gives the best bang-for-the-buck.

Keyword

Formula 1 ;  golf ;  international tourists ;  sports tourism ;  tennis

Abstract

This paper investigates how a firm's employment stability affects the level of its cash holdings. We find that firms with high employment stability (as measured by one minus a firm's employment elasticity with respect to its sales) maintain large cash holdings. The positive effect of employment stability on cash holdings is stronger for R&D intensive firms and firms with high firm-specific human capital. These results are consistent with theories predicting that firms hold cash to signal the credibility of their employment policies regarding job security.

Keyword

Cash holdings ;  employment stability ;  implicit contract ;  job security

Abstract

The ability to respond appropriately to employees' work-related well-being requires leaders to pay attention to their employees' well-being in the first place. We propose that leaders' stress mindset, that is, the belief that stress is enhancing versus debilitating, may bias their perception of employees' well-being. We further propose that this judgment then influences leaders' intention to engage in or refrain from health-oriented leadership behavior, to express higher performance expectations, or to promote their employees. We expect this process to be stronger if leaders strongly identify with their team, increasing their perceived similarity with their employees. In three experiments (N-1 = 198, N-2 = 292, N-3 = 250), we tested the effect of participants' stress mindset on their intention to show certain leadership behaviors, mediated by their perception of employee well-being (emotional exhaustion, somatic symptoms, work engagement) and moderated by their team identification. Our findings largely support the association between stress mindset and the perception of well-being. The results for the proposed mediation and the moderating function of identification were mixed. Overall, the results emphasize the critical role of leaders' stress mindset and may, thus, improve health promotion in organizations by helping leaders to adequately recognize employees' well-being and respond appropriately.

Keyword

emotional exhaustion ;  leadership ;  stress mindset ;  team identification ;  work engagement

Abstract

This research aims to demonstrate that the abundant marketing data that companies are using to explore new business opportunities can be an equally fertile source for uncovering an undesirable social attitude or behavior that may be relevant to firms' business. Companies may benefit from this knowledge when developing innovative new programs that aim to benefit society, such as corporate social responsibility initiatives. In this study, we examine boy-girl gender discrimination in China as manifested in parents' purchase decisions on behalf of their children across different markets. Our study in itself is significant, because it is the first large-scale empirical work to clearly verify the phenomenon of boy-girl discrimination, taking advantage of e-commerce marketing data. Specifically, we compare the clothing expenditures on boys versus girls using a rich, household-specific data set obtained from two online retailers. We find that the patterns of gender inequality vary systematically across different geographic markets, as the relative expenditure difference on boys versus on girls is bigger in less developed areas as compared with metropolitan areas, and this relative expenditure difference is closely tied with socioeconomic conditions, education levels, and birth rates of a district. Managerial and social implications are discussed.

Keyword

boy-girl discrimination ;  cause-related marketing ;  corporate social responsibility ;  gender inequality

Abstract

This research aims to demonstrate that the abundant marketing data that companies are using to explore new business opportunities can be an equally fertile source for uncovering an undesirable social attitude or behavior that may be relevant to firms’ business. Companies may benefit from this knowledge when developing innovative new programs that aim to benefit society, such as corporate social responsibility initiatives. In this study, we examine boy-girl gender discrimination in China as manifested in parents’ purchase decisions on behalf of their children across different markets. Our study in itself is significant, because it is the first large-scale empirical work to clearly verify the phenomenon of boy-girl discrimination, taking advantage of e-commerce marketing data. Specifically, we compare the clothing expenditures on boys versus girls using a rich, household-specific data set obtained from two online retailers. We find that the patterns of gender inequality vary systematically across different geographic markets, as the relative expenditure difference on boys versus on girls is bigger in less developed areas as compared with metropolitan areas, and this relative expenditure difference is closely tied with socioeconomic conditions, education levels, and birth rates of a district. Managerial and social implications are discussed.

Keyword

boy-girl discrimination ;  cause-related marketing ;  corporate social responsibility ;  gender inequality

Abstract

Entrepreneurs play a focal role in a society's economic recovery from major disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue that entrepreneurs' ability to identify and act on entrepreneurial opportunities during the crisis reflects their resilience, and their innovations facilitate new patterns of work, learning, and leisure activities in post-COVID-19 societies. However, how, how quickly they act, and how influential their actions are depends on their context in terms of institutions, resource access, and market volatility. In China, some entrepreneurs have shown great resilience by utilizing network relationships and digital technology, not only to overcome short-term disruptions in 2020 but to shape the evolving 'new normal' where behaviors and capabilities have changed as a consequence of the experience of the pandemic. We discuss drivers of such resilient entrepreneurship during the COVID-19 pandemic in China and call for further research on the interplay between external disruptions, different types of entrepreneurship, and the consequences for resilience in emerging economies.

Keyword

Abstract

This article investigates how managers of firms awarded for their design excellence build organizational-level design-related dynamic capabilities by selecting designers with specific individual capabilities and managing how and the extent to which users of the firms’ products are actively involved in design activities. The following two types of dynamic capabilities were studied: user-centered design (UCD) and meaning innovation (MI). Data from a survey of managers of 106 Italian firms recognized for their products’ “design excellence” during the 2011–2016 period were analyzed using a structural equation model (PLS-SEM). The results suggest that managers seeking to build dynamic UCD capabilities prefer designers with holistic thinking capabilities over those with ideation and envisioning capabilities and value user involvement throughout the design process. In contrast, managers seeking to build dynamic MI capabilities search for designers with holistic thinking and envisioning capabilities and avoid ideation capabilities. They also consider the value of involving users in the design process to be limited. This study is among the first to present the results of an empirical investigation of the microfoundations of dynamic design capabilities. Limitations of the research and prospects for future work are discussed. In particular, our findings point to the need for additional studies that further specify the routines and associated competencies that managers responsible for design employ to attract, nurture, integrate and exploit the micro-level capabilities required for UCD and MI. Given that some of these microfoundations were found to be differentially important, unimportant, or even detrimental to the development of either UCD or MI, an important remaining question is the extent to which, and how, a single firm can accommodate and effectively exploit both of these dynamic design capabilities.

Keyword

designer capabilities ;  dynamic design capabilities ;  meaning innovation ;  microfoundations ;  user centered design