Ming‐Long Lee, Kevin C.H. Chiang and Chia‐Wei Lin
During the height of the financial/credit crisis of 2008, the US Internal Revenue Service issued temporary guidance that permits REITs (real estate investment trusts) to retain…
Abstract
Purpose
During the height of the financial/credit crisis of 2008, the US Internal Revenue Service issued temporary guidance that permits REITs (real estate investment trusts) to retain cash and pay “effective stock dividends” through 2009 to meet their income distribution requirement. The purpose of this study is to investigate the policy implications of this guidance on shareholders' wealth and the intra‐industry effects for non‐event, rival REITs when event REITs announced elective stock dividends.
Design/methodology/approach
This study identified the announcements of the Revenue Procedures 2008‐68 and 2009‐15 and subsequent six equity REITs announcing the distribution of effective stock dividends in the first quarter of 2009. To assess their implications, this study adopted the event study methodology and multivariate regressions to examine the REIT price reactions and their distribution to the Revenue Procedure announcements and to the elective stock dividend announcements, respectively.
Findings
The Revenue Procedure announcements have positive wealth effects on the entire REIT market and REITs with higher leverage enjoy larger abnormal returns. During firm stock dividend announcement windows, non‐event, rival REITs have higher positive price reactions when the event firm and the non‐event firm are not alike and their returns have a low correlation coefficient, when the event firm has a large negative abnormal price reaction, and when the event firm pays cash/stock dividends in the mixture of 40 percent:60 percent, instead of 10 percent:90percent.
Practical implications
The results will help REIT investors to make better decisions. This study produces important implications for investors to pick REITs which are likely to experience higher returns at periods of turmoil when announcements about dividend policy changes are expected.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study looking into intra‐industry effects of REIT dividend announcements and the policy implications of the elective REIT stock dividends permitted by the US Internal Revenue Service. The results of this study show that the informational signals associated with these announcement events are rich and have intra‐industry implications on REIT share prices.
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Chia‐Hung Lin, Chia‐Wei Yen, Jen‐Shin Hong and Samuel Cruz‐Lara
The purpose of this paper is to show how previous studies have demonstrated that non‐professional users prefer using event‐based conceptual descriptions, such as “a woman wearing…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to show how previous studies have demonstrated that non‐professional users prefer using event‐based conceptual descriptions, such as “a woman wearing a hat”, to describe and search images. In many art image archives, these conceptual descriptions are manually annotated in free‐text fields. This study aims to explore technologies to automate event‐based knowledge extractions from these free‐text image descriptions.
Design/methodology/approach
This study presents an approach based on semantic role labeling technologies for automatically extracting event‐based knowledge, including subject, verb, object, location and temporal information from free‐text image descriptions. A query expansion module is applied to further improve the retrieval recall. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is evaluated by measuring the retrieval precision and recall capabilities for experiments with real life art image collections in museums.
Findings
Evaluations results indicate that the proposed method can achieve a substantially higher retrieval precision than conventional keyword‐based approaches. The proposed methodology is highly applicable for large‐scale collections where the image retrieval precision is more critical than the recall.
Originality/value
The study provides the first attempt in literature for automating the extraction of event‐based knowledge from free‐text image descriptions. The effectiveness and ease of implementation of the proposed approach make it feasible for practical applications.
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Chia-Wei Huang, Chih-Yen Lin and Chin-Te Yu
Findings in the literature indicate leading financial analysts attract high levels of market attention and provide more accurate earnings forecasts prior to becoming all-star…
Abstract
Findings in the literature indicate leading financial analysts attract high levels of market attention and provide more accurate earnings forecasts prior to becoming all-star analysts. Furthermore, these analysts significantly impact the investment decisions of other market participants and thus the market price of assets. Therefore, this study examines the information role of leading financial analysts and identifies two significant conclusions. First, the positive outcomes of these analyst leaders are more informative and attract more followers. Second, informational herding by followers of these analysts is not as naïve as suggested in previous studies, as followers who smartly use information from analyst leaders tend to perform better. We also find that analysts who practice smart learning by studying and selectively employing analyst-leader decisions achieve better career outcomes.
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Drawing on concepts from workplace diversity and cognitive evaluation theories (CETs), this study seeks to deepen our understanding of the link between transformational leadership…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on concepts from workplace diversity and cognitive evaluation theories (CETs), this study seeks to deepen our understanding of the link between transformational leadership and teachers’ creative teaching in a more and more diverse campus.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data involving a total of 895 high school teachers across Taiwan were collected using purposive sampling methodology and analysed with SPSS and SmartPLS software.
Findings
The results reveal that the positive relationship between the principal’s transformational leadership and teachers’ creative teaching is partially mediated by teachers’ promotion focus and task interdependence which could reduce the defensive silence and reluctant collaboration found in diverse workplaces. Moreover, principals’ cross-cultural competence also moderates such relationship, since it helps transformational leader to take adaptive measures to address the challenges associated with managing differences in perspective and ideas within a heterogeneous workforce. Based on these findings, implication for educational leadership is discussed.
Originality/value
Studies have affirmed the positive association between transformational leadership and creative teaching. However, the mechanism sustaining this relationship and how this relationship can further be intensified are still unknown, especially in a more and more diverse education context. Our analysis shows that principals’ cross-cultural competence, and teachers’ task independence and promotion focus are relevant factors school leaders should consider in enhancing the link between their transformational leadership and teachers' creative teaching.
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The purpose of this paper is to explore critical factors for implementing green supply chain management (GSCM) practice in the Taiwanese electrical and electronics industries…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore critical factors for implementing green supply chain management (GSCM) practice in the Taiwanese electrical and electronics industries relative to European Union directives.
Design/methodology/approach
A tentative list of critical factors of GSCM was developed based on a thorough and detailed analysis of the pertinent literature. The survey questionnaire contained 25 items, developed based on the literature and interviews with three industry experts, specifically quality and product assurance representatives. A total of 300 questionnaires were mailed out, and 87 were returned, of which 84 were valid, representing a response rate of 28 percent. Using the data collected, the identified critical factors were performed via factor analysis to establish reliability and validity.
Findings
The results show that 20 critical factors were extracted into four dimensions, which denominated supplier management, product recycling, organization involvement and life cycle management.
Research limitations/implications
This study obtained 84 valid responses from the Taiwanese electrical and electronics industries, the limitation of the study is the insufficient sampling. Future researches need to be performed using a larger sample and studying more countries.
Practical implications
The Taiwanese electrical and electronics industry plays a decisive role in the global information and communications technology (ICT) industry. Consequently, the validated instrument enables decision makers at ICT manufacturers to evaluate the perceptions of GSCM in their organizations. In addition, the critical factors of implementing GSCM practices validated in this work can help enterprises identify those areas of GSCM where acceptance and improvements will be made, and in prioritizing GSCM efforts.
Originality/value
This study presents an empirical investigation of GSCM practices, and fills a gap in the literature on the identification and establishment of critical factors for GSCM implementation in electrical and electronics industries.
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The social dimension of sustainable development has garnered increasing attention. As universities embrace their social responsibility and consider the interests of various…
Abstract
Purpose
The social dimension of sustainable development has garnered increasing attention. As universities embrace their social responsibility and consider the interests of various stakeholders, the potential issue of social washing has emerged as a critical topic. This study aims to investigate the presence of social washing in university sustainability reports.
Design/methodology/approach
The study examines three key stakeholder elements: full-time faculty salaries, weekly teaching hours for full-time faculty and hourly wages for part-time faculty. A content analysis was conducted on the 2022 sustainability reports published by all private universities registered in Taiwan.
Findings
Results indicate that only 30% of private universities published independent sustainability reports for 2022, and of those, only 62.5% adhered to global reporting initiative guidelines. The study raises concerns about selective disclosure and the concealment of negative information, suggesting the possibility of social washing. This investigation offers an overview of social washing in the sustainability reports of higher education institutions, thereby contributing to the academic discourse on comprehensive and transparent communication with stakeholders.
Social implications
Universities should take into account the interests of stakeholders and embrace greater social responsibility in their sustainability initiatives. This study analyzes the content of university sustainability reports and encourages higher education institutions to foster balanced communication with their stakeholders.
Originality/value
Social washing is difficult to detect. This study uses objective indicators to assist higher education institutions in identifying potential social washing behaviors and provides guidance for universities to avoid misleading communication in their sustainability reports.