Denis Nadolnyak, Xuan Shen and Valentina Hartarska
The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence of the positive impact of the FCS lending on farm incomes which should be useful to policymakers as they consider reforms and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence of the positive impact of the FCS lending on farm incomes which should be useful to policymakers as they consider reforms and further support for this 100-year-old major agricultural lender.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors construct a panel for the 1991-2010 period from the FCS financial statements and evaluate how lending by the FCS institutions has affected farm incomes and farm output. The authors use fixed effects estimations and control for credit by other agricultural lenders as well as the stock of capital, prices, and interest rates. Since previous work suggests that rural financial markets are segmented and the FCS serves larger full-time farmers with mostly real-estate backed loans, the authors evaluate the impacts of farm real-estate backed loans and of short-term agricultural loans separately for a shorter period for which the data is available. The authors also perform robustness checks with alternative estimation techniques.
Findings
The authors found a positive association between credit by the FCS institutions and farm income and output. The magnitude of the estimated impact is larger during the 1990s than in the 2000s.
Research limitations/implications
The positive link between the FCS institutions’ credit and farm incomes and output supports the notion that the FCS lending was beneficial to farmers. The evidence also supports the segmentation hypothesis of rural financial markets. The financial reports data for 1991-2010 are from the ACAs and FLCAs aggregated on the regional level because there is no clear way to classify FCS lending to a more disaggregate level like the state. The authors also assemble and analyze a state-level data set that contains state-level balance sheet data for the period 1991-2003.
Originality/value
The authors are not aware of another work that directly links (real estate and non-real estate) credit by FCS institutions to agricultural output and farm incomes.
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Xuan Shen and Valentina Hartarska
The purpose of this paper is to estimate the impact of financial derivatives on profitability in agricultural banks. Agricultural banks are new to the derivatives market and are…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to estimate the impact of financial derivatives on profitability in agricultural banks. Agricultural banks are new to the derivatives market and are unlikely to use financial derivatives for risk speculation. Thus, the paper also provides evidence on the effectiveness of financial derivatives as a risk management tool in small commercial banks.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use call report data from Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago for 2006, 2008 and 2010 to estimate an endogenous switching model to evaluate how profitability of derivatives user and non‐user agricultural banks is affected by different risk factors. This approach allows banks' endogenous choices to use financial derivatives to be accounted for, and to build a counterfactual analysis – what user banks' profitability would have been if they did not participate in the derivatives activities.
Findings
Results indicate that risk management through financial derivatives in agricultural banks is effective and profitability of derivatives user agricultural banks is less affected by credit risk and interest risk in the sample period. Derivatives' activities have improved agricultural banks' profitability and these impacts were increasing over years. In particular, in 2010 without use of derivatives, user banks would have had one‐third lower profitability.
Originality/value
This research is the first to study the role of derivatives in agricultural banks and also provides empirical evidence on the effectiveness of risk management through financial derivatives in agricultural banks.
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Valentina Hartarska, Denis Nadolnyak and Xuan Shen
In this paper, the authors set out to establish if there is a link between finance and economic growth in rural areas. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the relation…
Abstract
Purpose
In this paper, the authors set out to establish if there is a link between finance and economic growth in rural areas. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the relation between credit by major lenders in rural areas – commercial banks and Farm Credit System (FCS) institutions – and economic growth for the period 1991-2010.
Design/methodology/approach
The motivation for this work comes from empirical studies showing a link between economic development and financial system development as well as from work which highlights the positive role of long-term finance provided by banks. The authors use two alternative panel data sets and fixed effects models to estimate the causal effect of credit supply (with lagged explanatory variables) on agricultural GDP growth per rural resident.
Findings
The authors find a positive association between agricultural lending and agricultural GDP growth per rural resident with additional billion in loans (about a third of the actual average) associated with 7-10 percent higher state growth rate with this association stronger during the 1990s. Regional data confirm these results. The results point to a positive link between credit and economic growth in rural areas during that period, attributable to the lending by FCS institutions and by commercial banks.
Research limitations/implications
Data availability limits the scope of this paper. The authors use state level balance sheet data available for the 1991-2003 period and annual data for 2003-2010 period. An additional regional data set is constructed for 1991-2010 with more aggregated data for the ten USDA agricultural production regions. The small number of panels limits the ability to use more sophisticated econometric models and the choice of dependent variables that captures economic growth.
Practical implications
By provides evidence that agricultural finance and in particular lending contribute significantly to the growth of US agriculture, this paper contributes to the policy debate on weather support for agricultural finance initiatives is justified.
Originality/value
The authors are not aware of another study that has linked agricultural lending by commercial banks and FCS institutions to growth in rural areas in the USA.
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Pengyi Shen, Xuan Nie and Congcong Tong
Despite sponsorship disclosure regulations, many influencers circumvent regulations by posting hidden advertising in covert formats. However, the impact of influencer hidden…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite sponsorship disclosure regulations, many influencers circumvent regulations by posting hidden advertising in covert formats. However, the impact of influencer hidden advertising sponsorship disclosure (IHASD) on brand attitudes is complex and contradictory. To understand the influence mechanism clearly, we introduced the operational transparency framework and investigated the mediating effects of perceived manipulative intent and perceived authenticity as well as the relationship between them. The conditions under which the mediation effect occurs were also analyzed.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted three experimental studies. Studies 1 and 2 examined the influence mechanism of sponsorship disclosure (present vs absent) and sponsorship disclosure prominence (explicit vs implicit) of influencer hidden advertising on brand attitudes (i.e. the mediating effect of perceived manipulative intent and perceived authenticity). Study 3 explored the moderating effect of consumers’ thinking styles.
Findings
The results revealed that sponsorship disclosure and sponsorship disclosure prominence of influencer hidden advertising weakened brand attitudes through perceived manipulative intent while enhancing brand attitudes through perceived authenticity. Perceived authenticity and perceived manipulative intent played a bidirectional chain mediating role. When consumers’ thinking style was experiential, the negative mediating effect of perceived manipulative intent was alleviated and the positive mediating effect of perceived authenticity was enhanced; this effect, though, was the opposite when consumers’ thinking style was rational.
Originality/value
This research contributes to influencer sponsorship disclosure literature through providing an enhanced comprehensive, in-depth theoretical explanation of the competing mechanisms of sponsorship disclosure effects.
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Bahareh Nikmehr, Bidur Kafle and Riyadh Al-Ameri
This study aimed to review various existing methods for improving the quality of recycled concrete aggregates (RCAs) as a possible substitution for natural aggregates (NAs) in…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aimed to review various existing methods for improving the quality of recycled concrete aggregates (RCAs) as a possible substitution for natural aggregates (NAs) in concrete. It is vital as the old paste attached to the RCA weakens its structure. It is due to the porous structure of the RCA with cracks, weakening the interfacial transition zone (ITZ) between the RCA and binding material, negatively impacting the concrete's properties. To this end, various methods for reinforcement of the RCA, cleaning the RCA's old paste and enhancing the quality of the RCA-based concrete without RCA modification are studied in terms of environmental effects, cost and technical matters. Furthermore, this research sought to identify gaps in knowledge and future research directions.
Design/methodology/approach
The review of the relevant journal papers revealed that various methods exist for improving the properties of RCAs and RCA-based concrete. A decision matrix was developed and implemented for ranking these techniques based on environmental, economic and technical criteria.
Findings
The identified methods for reinforcement of the RCA include accelerated carbonation, bio deposition, soaking in polymer emulsions, soaking in waterproofing admixture, soaking in sodium silicate, soaking in nanoparticles and coating with geopolymer slurry. Moreover, cleaning the RCA's old paste is possible using acid, water, heating, thermal and mechanical treatment, thermo-mechanical and electro-dynamic treatment. Added to these treatment techniques, using RCA in saturated surface dry (SSD) mixing approaches and adding fibres or pozzolana enhance the quality of the RCA-based concrete without RCA modification. The study ranked these techniques based on environmental, economic and technical criteria. Ultimately, adding fibres, pozzolana and coating RCA with geopolymer slurry were introduced as the best techniques based on the nominated criteria.
Practical implications
The study supported the need for better knowledge regarding the existing treatment techniques for RCA improvement. The outcomes of this research offer an understanding of each RCA enrichment technique's importance in environmental, economic and technical criteria.
Originality/value
The practicality of the RCA treatment techniques is based on economic, environmental and technical specifications for rating the existing treatment techniques.
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Quynh Tran Xuan, Hanh T.H. Truong and Tri Vo Quang
The purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of integration quality, perceived fluency and assurance quality on brand engagement and trust, and their impacts on brand…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of integration quality, perceived fluency and assurance quality on brand engagement and trust, and their impacts on brand loyalty in the omnichannel banking setting. It further explores the critical role of personal innovativeness and demographic characteristics as moderating variables for the propositions in the research model.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey of 1,547 respondents was carried out with bank customers located in the three largest cities of Vietnam, who have already used at least two various transactional channels in the past. The results were analyzed by the partial least square-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique.
Findings
The findings denote that integration quality, perceived fluency and assurance quality significantly influence brand trust. Whereas, brand engagement is only affected by integration quality and perceived fluency. Further, brand engagement and trust are substantiated as critical drivers of brand loyalty in omnichannel banking. Customers with high personal innovativeness produce fewer effects of omnichannel properties on brand engagement and trust than other ones. The research context is found to be a significant moderator for the effect of perceived fluency on brand engagement.
Practical implications
This study offers several recommendations for bank managers to develop a successful omnichannel strategy that could enhance brand engagement and trust by improving integration quality, maintaining fluency across various channels and assuring security during the transactional process. It suggests various policies to improve the effectiveness of the omnichannel model towards the clients with high innovativeness.
Originality/value
This research extends the social exchange theory (SET) theory by examining the effects of omnichannel properties on brand engagement, trust and loyalty in the banking sector. The moderating role of personal innovativeness and research context is also explored.
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Xue Nan, Xuan Chao Huang, Mengyao Huang, Xuefan Wang, Youping Zhu, Yayun Li, Shifei Shen and Ming Fu
The present study assesses the impact resistance of the shear thickening fluids-filled (STFs-filled) foam through drop-hammer impact tests.
Abstract
Purpose
The present study assesses the impact resistance of the shear thickening fluids-filled (STFs-filled) foam through drop-hammer impact tests.
Design/methodology/approach
The maximum residual impact load and specific impact energy absorption rate of STF-filled foam are studied with varying thickness (4–14 mm), densities (0.35–0.6 g/cm3) and hardness (40–50 Rockwell Hardness C Scale (HRC)) under different ambient temperatures (−20−20 °C) and impact energies (25–75 J).
Findings
The following conclusions are obtained from this study: (1) the higher the impact energy, the greater the maximum residual impact force and energy absorption efficiency of the material; (2) the impact resistance of STF-filled foam can be improved with the decrease of ambient temperature, achieving the highest energy absorption rate at −10?. (3) STF-filled foam substrate has the highest impact resistance, the lowest maximum residual impact force and the highest energy absorption coefficient when the density is 0.35 g/cm3, the hardness is 45HC and the thickness is 10 mm.
Originality/value
This is the first paper to analyze the impact of both environmental factors and material properties on the impact resistance of STF-filled foam. The results show that the decrease in temperature and the increase in hardness can enhance the impact resistance of STF-filled foam.
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Angelina Nhat Hanh Le and Xuan-Doanh Nguyen-Le
The purpose of the paper is to create a well-integrated and unified customer experience anytime, anywhere, through any channel is the leading objective of omnichannel retailers…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to create a well-integrated and unified customer experience anytime, anywhere, through any channel is the leading objective of omnichannel retailers. Scholars advocate the crucial role of channel integration quality (CIQ)–specifically its components of channel-service configuration and integrated interactions–in formulating the customer experience, which in turn determines their patronage intention. However, a dearth of research exists on the dynamic nature of this particular mechanism. The potential mediating and moderating effects of customer empowerment and Internet usage have hardly been considered at all in the context of omnichannel retailing. These research gaps will be addressed in this study.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a data set of 312 omnichannel customers, the partial least square–structural equation model (PLS-SEM) was employed to test the hypothesised relationships.
Findings
The results reveal the dynamic mechanism in which channel-service configuration and integrated interactions are the key factors that not only directly enable omnichannel retailers to deliver customers with a seamless shopping experience but also empower customers to shape their own consumption experiences. The findings also demonstrate the contingency role of consumers' Internet usage in such a dynamic mechanism. Finally, the notion that a strong customer experience increases their intention for patronage is supported by the empirical evidence.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the existing literature by quantitatively examining the moderated mediating mechanism of forming customer experience and its subsequent patronage behaviour in the context of omnichannel retailers.