Eva-Maria Kalteier, Stephan Molt, Tristan Nguyen and Peter N. Posch
– The purpose of this paper is to introduce a methodology to evaluate sovereign risk. Hereby, a value-based approach using different market measures is introduced.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce a methodology to evaluate sovereign risk. Hereby, a value-based approach using different market measures is introduced.
Design/methodology/approach
This study’s approach aims to provide a value-based assessment of sovereign risk, combining market measures from government bond, credit derivatives and other markets as well as economic indicators.
Findings
The study finds that the assessment of sovereign risk is only possible when using information from different markets and adjusting according to the information included in these measures. Combining both market-based and economic information leads to a value-based evaluation of sovereign risk.
Practical implications
The practical implications are given for any institution with sovereign risk on their asset side. In fact, part of this research was done for the German Actuarial Foundation which uses the recommendations of this paper for the insurance industry.
Originality/value
The study’s approach is novel because it is the first to include several market-based and economic measures of a sovereign and combines it into a value-based assessment.
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Samuel Pollege and Peter N. Posch
The sovereign debt crisis in Europe increased the demand for asset manager worldwide to monitor and manage their sovereign risk. While using information from the credit…
Abstract
Purpose
The sovereign debt crisis in Europe increased the demand for asset manager worldwide to monitor and manage their sovereign risk. While using information from the credit derivatives and bond markets has been used widely in the corporate sector its usage for sovereign risk is novel. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
The basis between a sovereign credit default swap (CDS) and the government bond contains valuable information for assets managers and traders alike. The paper demonstrates the use of the basis between the announcement date and the issue date of a new government bond to decide whether an investment in this bond is profitable.
Findings
With this strategy, the authors are able to generate both over all excess returns with a European sovereign portfolio since 2008 as well as a constant outperformance of simple average euro government bond portfolios. The paper furthermore tests the economic rationale behind this trading strategy and confirms prior findings from the corporate market. CDS market liquidity is among the main driver and it follows that the CDS market is faster in anticipating risks than the bond market not only for corporate but also for sovereign entities.
Originality/value
The authors are the first to study the sovereign basis in a sound trading and asset management environment. The paper provides economic explanations and checks for the robustness of the results before the primary issuance of a new government bond.
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Smart card-based E-payment systems are receiving increasing attention as the number of implementations is witnessed on the rise globally. Understanding of user adoption behavior…
Abstract
Smart card-based E-payment systems are receiving increasing attention as the number of implementations is witnessed on the rise globally. Understanding of user adoption behavior of E-payment systems that employ smart card technology becomes a research area that is of particular value and interest to both IS researchers and professionals. However, research interest focuses mostly on why a smart card-based E-payment system results in a failure or how the system could have grown into a success. This signals the fact that researchers have not had much opportunity to critically review a smart card-based E-payment system that has gained wide support and overcome the hurdle of critical mass adoption. The Octopus in Hong Kong has provided a rare opportunity for investigating smart card-based E-payment system because of its unprecedented success. This research seeks to thoroughly analyze the Octopus from technology adoption behavior perspectives.
Cultural impacts on adoption behavior are one of the key areas that this research posits to investigate. Since the present research is conducted in Hong Kong where a majority of population is Chinese ethnicity and yet is westernized in a number of aspects, assuming that users in Hong Kong are characterized by eastern or western culture is less useful. Explicit cultural characteristics at individual level are tapped into here instead of applying generalization of cultural beliefs to users to more accurately reflect cultural bias. In this vein, the technology acceptance model (TAM) is adapted, extended, and tested for its applicability cross-culturally in Hong Kong on the Octopus. Four cultural dimensions developed by Hofstede are included in this study, namely uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, individualism, and Confucian Dynamism (long-term orientation), to explore their influence on usage behavior through the mediation of perceived usefulness.
TAM is also integrated with the innovation diffusion theory (IDT) to borrow two constructs in relation to innovative characteristics, namely relative advantage and compatibility, in order to enhance the explanatory power of the proposed research model. Besides, the normative accountability of the research model is strengthened by embracing two social influences, namely subjective norm and image. As the last antecedent to perceived usefulness, prior experience serves to bring in the time variation factor to allow level of prior experience to exert both direct and moderating effects on perceived usefulness.
The resulting research model is analyzed by partial least squares (PLS)-based Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach. The research findings reveal that all cultural dimensions demonstrate direct effect on perceived usefulness though the influence of uncertainty avoidance is found marginally significant. Other constructs on innovative characteristics and social influences are validated to be significant as hypothesized. Prior experience does indeed significantly moderate the two influences that perceived usefulness receives from relative advantage and compatibility, respectively. The research model has demonstrated convincing explanatory power and so may be employed for further studies in other contexts. In particular, cultural effects play a key role in contributing to the uniqueness of the model, enabling it to be an effective tool to help critically understand increasingly internationalized IS system development and implementation efforts. This research also suggests several practical implications in view of the findings that could better inform managerial decisions for designing, implementing, or promoting smart card-based E-payment system.
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Jana Groß Ophoff and Colin Cramer
The German evidence-based model of educational governance is bureaucratically regulated, but teachers and schools are autonomous in their way of implementing requirements in…
Abstract
The German evidence-based model of educational governance is bureaucratically regulated, but teachers and schools are autonomous in their way of implementing requirements in schools. Accountability is ensured by regularly monitoring educational outcomes with reference to national educational standards, e.g. in the form of mandatory comparative performance tests. In this context, it is worth determining the process stages of research engagement with which the available data or evidence is associated and which purposes they can serve in teacher education and practice. Building on that, an overview is provided of the state of (mainly German) research on teachers' and school leaders' research engagement and influencing factors. This research field has flourished in the wake of the Empirical Shift in German education. By now the understanding has emerged that ultimately the depth of inferential processes is vital for sustainable development and this in turn is influenced by data, context and user characteristics. On the individual level, in particular, positive affective-motivational dispositions and research literacy are deemed important, whereas the feeling of being controlled has detrimental effects. On the school level, school culture and leadership are of impact, whereas a certain continuity of measures on the governance level proves meaningful for the engagement with data and evidence in educational practice. With regard to the German experience, it is concluded that more (funded) dialogue opportunities between different actors and professional groups in education are needed and that initial and further training should strive even more to impart a meta-reflective stance or enquiry habit of mind.
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The purpose of this study is to identify the barriers to including sustainability in management education institutions (MEIs) in India, and subsequently, to analyze the structure…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to identify the barriers to including sustainability in management education institutions (MEIs) in India, and subsequently, to analyze the structure of the causal relationships among the barriers.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory methodology are applied to analyze the structure of the causal relationships among the identified sustainability barriers.
Findings
Through an extensive literature review and expert interviews, this paper identified 4 primary barriers and 46 sub-barriers. Encompassing sustainability in Indian MEIs results in changes in behavior involving increased respect for the environment, hence, leading to improved sustainable efficiency.
Research limitations/implications
The present study is limited to MEIs in India.
Practical implications
The inclusion of sustainability in MEIs equips future managers with the economic, ecological and technical knowledge required to demonstrate sustainable behavior in the workplace. It assists also equips managers with the ability to affect social change at an organizational level. MEIs has been acknowledged as playing a crucial role in societal transformations, including the need for transformation toward sustainability.
Originality/value
The present study adds to the current knowledge base regarding the structure of the causal relationships among the identified sustainability barriers. To the author’s knowledge, this is the first paper to identify such barriers to including sustainability in an Indian MEI context.