Muhammad Abid Saleem, Lynne Eagle, Asif Yaseen and David Low
In the wake of growing environmental issues, active public and corporate interventions are inevitable to reduce the negative impact of human activities on global environments…
Abstract
Purpose
In the wake of growing environmental issues, active public and corporate interventions are inevitable to reduce the negative impact of human activities on global environments. Building on the Norm Activation Model and Value-Belief-Norm Theory, the purpose of this paper is to report on research exploring consumers’ eco-socially conscious behaviours related to the choice and use of personal cars in a developing country, Pakistan.
Design/methodology/approach
To test a moderated-mediation model of environmental values, perceived consumer effectiveness (PCE), spirituality and eco-socially conscious consumer behaviours (ESCCBs), data were collected from 447 customers of three automobile manufacturing firms from eight different cities of Pakistan. The data collection was undertaken by using a self-administered questionnaire based on key themes in the literature.
Findings
Analysis of the data revealed that altruistic and egoistic values were negatively while biospheric values were positively associated with eco-ESCCB. PCE mediated all the relationships and spirituality moderated the mediated paths.
Originality/value
Although there are several models that explain purchase and use of personal cars in isolation or in conjunction with other general pro-environmental behaviours, an explanation of the eco-social aspects of purchase and use of personal cars in one theoretical model is rare to find. Second, among the many theoretical predictors and intervening factors explaining several pro-environmental behaviours, some culture-specific factors have been ignored – spirituality being one of them. This study contributes to the body of knowledge related to pro-environmental behaviours by conceptualising and testing the impact of spirituality in a moderated-mediation model.
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Trang Nguyen, Taha Chaiechi, Lynne Eagle and David Low
Growth enterprise market (GEM) in Hong Kong is acknowledged as one of the world’s most successful examples of small and medium enterprise (SME) stock market. The purpose of this…
Abstract
Purpose
Growth enterprise market (GEM) in Hong Kong is acknowledged as one of the world’s most successful examples of small and medium enterprise (SME) stock market. The purpose of this paper is to examine the evolving efficiency and dual long memory in the GEM. This paper also explores the joint impacts of thin trading, structural breaks and inflation on the dual long memory.
Design/methodology/approach
State-space GARCH-M model, Kalman filter estimation, factor-adjustment techniques and fractionally integrated models: ARFIMA–FIGARCH, ARFIMA–FIAPARCH and ARFIMA–HYGARCH are adopted for the empirical analysis.
Findings
The results indicate that the GEM is still weak-form inefficient but shows a tendency towards efficiency over time except during the global financial crisis. There also exists a stationary long-memory property in the market return and volatility; however, these long-memory properties weaken in magnitude and/or statistical significance when the joint impacts of the three aforementioned factors were taken into account.
Research limitations/implications
A forecasts of the hedging model that capture dual long memory could provide investors further insights into risk management of investments in the GEM.
Practical implications
The findings of this study are relevant to market authorities in improving the GEM market efficiency and investors in modelling hedging strategies for the GEM.
Originality/value
This study is the first to investigate the evolving efficiency and dual long memory in an SME stock market, and the joint impacts of thin trading, structural breaks and inflation on the dual long memory.
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Muhammad Abid Saleem, Lynne Eagle and David Low
Climate change and global warming are acknowledged to be growing issues caused by emissions of greenhouse gases. Fuel-efficient or green cars offer a technological solution to…
Abstract
Purpose
Climate change and global warming are acknowledged to be growing issues caused by emissions of greenhouse gases. Fuel-efficient or green cars offer a technological solution to reduce CO2 emissions from car exhaust. This study aims to draw on value–belief–norm (VBN) theory to provide an explanation of eco-socially conscious consumer behavior (ESCCB) related to the choice and use of personal cars.
Design/methodology/approach
The data was collected from 1,372 customers of the automobile industry of Pakistan, randomly drawn from 8 metropolitan cities. Partial least squares structural equation modeling is used to verify the hypotheses of the study.
Findings
By using variance-based structural equation modeling, this study showed that the VBN theory is fully supported in the cultural context of Pakistan and behavioral context of ESCCB. More specifically, personal introjected norms of the customers proved to be strong predictors of ESCCB while personal integrated norms predicted eco-social purchase intentions well.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the only study of its kind that examines the VBN model in the context of a developing country, Pakistan, and for a category of behaviors rarely tested before, i.e. ESCCBs related to purchase and use of personal cars.
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David Jobber and David Shipley
The paper aims to test seven marketing‐orientated factors that have the potential to discriminate between the setting of successful high and low prices. The significant factors…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to test seven marketing‐orientated factors that have the potential to discriminate between the setting of successful high and low prices. The significant factors are then applied by means of a decision support model that can be used by managers to aid their price decision‐making.
Design/methodology/approach
Following exploratory research, a mail survey was conducted using a questionnaire based on the dual scenario technique.
Findings
Six marketing‐orientated factors – i.e. ability of customers to pay, brand value, degree of competition, price acting as a barrier to entry, demand compared to supply, and the use of a building market share objective – significantly discriminated between the use of successful high versus low price strategies. Using these variables, a highly statistically significant model was developed based on discriminant analysis.
Research limitations/implications
The sample excludes services and is based on responses from managers. Cost‐orientated factors were excluded from investigation to provide focus. The study demonstrates the potential for using the dual scenario technique in survey research, provides measures for seven constructs and highlights the dangers of using reverse‐polarity items to measure constructs.
Practical implications
The decision support model can be used by managers to aid their price decision‐making. The significant factors can also be helpful in market segmentation and targeting analysis.
Originality/value
The study supports a marketing‐orientated theory of price determination based on market, customer and competitor factors. It is the first to provide a systematic and cogent analysis of marketing‐orientated variables that have the potential to affect the high versus low pricing decision. By applying these variables in a decision support model, marketers have access to a tool that can aid their marketing decision‐making.
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Carla Haynes and Mark Rhys Kebbell
The purpose of this study was to determine if outcome bias and hindsight bias impact police performance ratings and perceptions of the likelihood and foreseeability of intimate…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to determine if outcome bias and hindsight bias impact police performance ratings and perceptions of the likelihood and foreseeability of intimate partner homicides. In addition, the authors wished to see if taking the perspective of police mitigates any effects.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 200 university students read vignettes describing an incident from a police officer’s perspective or from their own perspective. Participants also read risk assessments of the offender’s risk of committing violence. They were randomly assigned to receive either information that the offender later committed a homicide or no outcome information.
Findings
The results demonstrated an outcome bias and hindsight bias, wherein participants who received information about the homicide rated it as more likely and foreseeable and gave lower performance ratings to the police, compared to those who did not receive outcome information. Participants who took police perspective still showed this bias.
Practical implications
The findings indicate that people are likely to be biased in their perceptions and judgements of police performance when they know a homicide occurred. This bias seems to be difficult to overcome.
Originality/value
This paper provides empirical evidence to show people may be unfairly critical of police performance when a homicide is perpetrated.
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Forms the first of two articles examining how the unusual organizational culture contributes to business success at business‐transformation and people‐development company Impact.
Abstract
Purpose
Forms the first of two articles examining how the unusual organizational culture contributes to business success at business‐transformation and people‐development company Impact.
Design/methodology/approach
Focuses on some of the ways in which the company recruits and retains top talent. Details the 24‐hour selection events for possible new training consultants, the two‐week induction process, the culture of fairness the company emphasizes and the challenging projects it can offer to employees.
Findings
Reveals that staff turnover is low, at around 7 percent a year, and job satisfaction is high at this Financial Times Best Company to Work For organization.
Practical implications
Reaffirms that low employee turnover helps organizations to win and retain clients.
Originality/value
Gets inside an organization where “people are our greatest asset” is more than simply a mantra.
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Tachia Chin, Genyi Li, Hao Jiao, Frederick Addo and I.M. Jawahar
Given advances in digitalization and automation, manufacturing employees are facing the increasing threat of being substituted by smart machines and robots. The purpose of this…
Abstract
Purpose
Given advances in digitalization and automation, manufacturing employees are facing the increasing threat of being substituted by smart machines and robots. The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework that explains as well as can be used to study career sustainability of workers in the fast-paced, continuously changing manufacturing landscape.
Design/methodology/approach
After tracing the evolution of manufacturing sector in China, the authors review existing literature on career sustainability and then propose a new framework. The authors then describe two fictive cases and illustrate the applicability of the four-dimensional framework in helping understand the lived experience of objects in these fictive cases.
Findings
The proposed dynamic framework of career sustainability constituted by four intricately interconnected dimensions (i.e. resourceful, flexible, renewable and integrative) is useful in understanding the fictive cases and hopefully will guide future research on career sustainability in manufacturing or similarly fast-past, dynamically changing environments.
Practical implications
The framework of career sustainability facilitates manufacturing employees to accurately evaluate the sustainability of their careers, whereby they can choose to continue, shift or re-orient their career paths during the transitional period toward digitalized manufacturing; it also enlightens employers to think about how to enhance the job security and engagement of workers by helping prolong their careers and re-design their career plans.
Originality/value
This paper proposes a novel yet context-specific framework to understand and study sustainability of careers. In addition to helping us understand how careers evolve during transformational periods, it also offers fruitful avenues for further research.
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Literature has seen a few famous salesmen suffering from burnout. Think of Willy Lomax’s famous disintegration in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman or the tortured individuals…
Abstract
Literature has seen a few famous salesmen suffering from burnout. Think of Willy Lomax’s famous disintegration in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman or the tortured individuals in the work of David Mamet. Surprisingly, little research has been conducted as to why salespeople suffer from burnout, certainly outside the USA.
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The airline industry was dealt a hammer blow by the terrorist attacks on the USA last September. With passenger confidence damaged, many large carriers are facing desperate times…
Abstract
The airline industry was dealt a hammer blow by the terrorist attacks on the USA last September. With passenger confidence damaged, many large carriers are facing desperate times. But in among this chaos the low‐cost airlines are proudly flying the flag for air travel. For many large airlines already suffering with the economic downturn, 11 September 2001 was a bitter blow. Passenger traffic fell by as much as 40 percent in the following weeks and reflected a huge loss of confidence among the travelling public. Capacity reductions, route cuts and job losses all became disappointing inevitabilities.