Hannu J. Schadewitz, Antti J. Kanto, Hannu A. Kahra and Dallas R. Blevins
This study compares those interim disclosures that managers desire to make with those they are required to make. Managers and regulators agree on the optimal degree of disclosure…
Abstract
This study compares those interim disclosures that managers desire to make with those they are required to make. Managers and regulators agree on the optimal degree of disclosure on growth potential and size. It appears that the less managers voluntarily disclose, the greater the firm's growth potential. This may be because managers feel that other evidence signals the good future prospects or the information indicating positive growth is too proprietary to reveal to competitors. Some differences are observed. Managers would pay more attention to the specific needs of their governance groups. Regulations would require more disclosure of variables indicating: business risk; capital structure; and growth. These differences in perceived need for disclosure highlight the importance of continued study of the optimal scope and scale of disclosure.
Timo Rintamäki, Antti Kanto, Hannu Kuusela and Mark T. Spence
The purpose of this paper is to decompose total customer value as perceived by department store shoppers into utilitarian, hedonic and social dimensions, and empirically test this…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to decompose total customer value as perceived by department store shoppers into utilitarian, hedonic and social dimensions, and empirically test this conceptualization in a Finnish department store shopping context.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected by a questionnaire administered over three days at a department store that generates the second largest turnover in Finland. A total of 364 shoppers completed the questionnaire.
Findings
Empirical evidence supports our tripartite conceptualization of total customer value. In particular, social value is an independent construct. Further, social value varies by day‐of‐week, with a significant increase on Saturday (versus weekdays) when the store is more crowded, whereas no such differences in utilitarian and hedonic values were detected.
Originality/value
The principal contribution is a tripartite conceptualization of total customer value that incorporates utilitarian, social and hedonic value dimensions in a department store shopping context. Individually these dimensions are all well rooted in streams of consumer behavior literature, albeit mostly at the product or brand, not the store, level. Increasing our understanding of these softer aspects of shopping, particularly the social dimension, is important because they represent possible differentiating factors in the highly competitive and often commoditized retail markets.
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Hannu Kuusela, Mark T. Spence and Antti J. Kanto
The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of expertise on prechoice decision processes and final outcomes. By decomposing verbal protocols collected from 90…
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of expertise on prechoice decision processes and final outcomes. By decomposing verbal protocols collected from 90 individuals who made one complex, mortgage loan decision, we could compare the frequency and type of elementary information processes evoked. We found that experts, relative to less knowledgeable decision makers, made a greater number of problem framing statements; made more references to why an option was being retained for further consideration; and used more compensatory decision rules. In addition, we found that misunderstanding externally provided information mediates the expertise‐choice relationship. Novices were significantly more likely to misunderstand information than were more knowledgeable decision makers. As a result, there was greater variance in novices’ final choices than was the case with experts’. The deleterious effect of mis‐understandings is disconcerting because consumers frequently miscomprehend print communications.
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This paper aims to explore the potential for disclosure recommendations given by authoritative supervisory bodies to reduce information asymmetry between the management and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the potential for disclosure recommendations given by authoritative supervisory bodies to reduce information asymmetry between the management and shareholders.
Design/methodology/approach
There is only meagre existing evidence concerning firms' responses to disclosure recommendations. This paper uses descriptive statistics and OLS regression analysis to test if firms behave more similarly to voluntary or to mandatory disclosure when they follow the Committee of European Securities Regulators disclosure recommendation for International Financial Reporting Standards transition. Second, it analyses the determinants of and incentives for recommended transition disclosure.
Findings
Recommended disclosure is documented to have more mandatory characteristics than purely voluntary disclosure. Moreover, the certain disclosure incentives for managers and corporate governance factors prove to have an impact on recommended disclosure. Firm size, growth prospects, and independent board members associate positively with recommended disclosure whereas there is a negative relationship between financial leverage and recommended disclosure.
Research limitations/implications
The paper does not provide evidence on the cost differences between disclosure laws and authoritative disclosure recommendations. This could be examined by future research.
Practical implications
Authoritative disclosure recommendations reduce information asymmetry. In some cases they may be a faster and more cost‐efficient way to achieve disclosure enhancements than regulation.
Originality/value
This paper is the first to explore the efficiency of authoritative disclosure recommendations in situations where urgent disclosure improvements are needed. The results have implications for regulatory bodies evaluating different strategies to reduce asymmetric information in these situations.
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Antti Talonen, Jukka Mähönen, Lasse Koskinen and Päivikki Kuoppakangas
This paper explores and identifies customer-value-related sacrifices that consumers attach to interactive health/life insurance. This paper aims to increase understanding of why…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper explores and identifies customer-value-related sacrifices that consumers attach to interactive health/life insurance. This paper aims to increase understanding of why individual consumers are not willing to embrace behaviour-tracking-based insurance applications.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors analysed data from a qualitative survey of Finnish insurance consumers who were not keen on adopting interactive insurance products.
Findings
Developed through thematic analysis, the framework presented in this paper illustrates consumers’ value sacrifices on four dimensions: economic, functional, emotional and symbolic value.
Research limitations/implications
The framework and insights emerging in the study hold several implications related to increased understanding of consumers’ perceptions of insurance and to developing interactive insurance services. In addition, this work provides a promising foundation and avenues for further considerations related to digital ethics in insurance.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first piece applying a value sacrifice perspective in studying consumers’ unwillingness to adopt interactive insurance products.
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Jeannot Abdul Karim, Mukesh Kumar and Sofiah Abd Rahman
The purpose of this paper is to verify the measurement scale of shopping values in the Malaysian context. Both hedonic as well as utilitarian shopping value measurement scales…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to verify the measurement scale of shopping values in the Malaysian context. Both hedonic as well as utilitarian shopping value measurement scales were tested for their reliability and validity. Further, a series of hypotheses was developed to test the differences in the shopping values across the market segments based on demographic characteristics of the consumers. Finally, the discriminant analysis was used to determine the relative importance of each variable measuring shopping value in discriminating between the groups of interest.
Design/methodology/approach
The scale developed by Babin et al. for measuring shopping values has been put on test with modifications on selected questions to fit the local content. A convenient sampling technique was used to obtain information on hedonic and utilitarian values on a seven‐point Likert scale from a sample of 200 consumers from major shopping centres in Klang Valley, the most developed region in Malaysia. Statistical tools such as Cronbach's Alpha test, confirmatory factor analysis and discriminant analysis were used to analyze the data.
Findings
The findings reveal that hedonic shopping value measurement scale is a reliable and valid scale to be used for Malaysian consumers. However, the same could not be ascertained on the utilitarian shopping value measurement scale. The results further reveal that there are significant differences in the shopping values across the groups of interest. The sense of joy and escape are the most important variables discriminating between the groups based on gender, age and marital status.
Originality/value
The research in the area of shopping motivation is very limited in Asian countries, including Malaysia. This study undertakes an empirical examination of consumer value that encompasses the entire consumer shopping experience associated with the context.