Research Seminars in 2020

李兆基商業管理學院 研究 Institute of International Business and Governance Research Seminars in 2020

2020

IIBG Distinguished Professor Research Seminar Series
Beyond COVID-19: Rethinking the Future of Businesses

What has Financial Research ever done for us?

Professor Raphael Nicholas Markellos

Professor of Finance, Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia, UK

25 Nov 2020

Financial research is often criticised about being too esoteric, overly technical and lacking wider influence. Changes in funding criteria, university ranking processes and teaching practices has meant that researchers are required to focus more on the impact of their research within and beyond academia. This presentation discusses how impact is defined within the Research Excellence Framework (REF), the system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions. It then considers how this thinking has motivated three interdisciplinary financial research agendas with a strong impact focus. The first explores issues around the cost of capital in utilities and a project aiming at developing a financial observatory for regulated firms in the UK and internationally. The second looks at how ideas from financial markets and econometrics can be applied to understand the empirical behaviour of online review marketing data. The final agenda relates to an action research project of designing evidence-based policies for the development of a cluster of financial services firms.

IIBG Distinguished Professor Research Seminar Series
Beyond COVID-19: Rethinking the Future of Businesses

The Theory and Empirics of the Structural Reshaping of Globalization

Professor Peter Buckley

Professor of International Business, Founder Director of CIBUL, and Founder Director of the Business Confucius Institute at the University of Leeds, UK

11 Nov 2020

This study examines the fracture in the world economy and three of its consequences – the reshaping of international competition, rising VUCA and the impact on innovation. It examines the theoretical challenges at all levels of international business research from the global system to individual tasks, using a uniform set of principles based on internalization theory. It concludes by examining the impact of COVID-19.

IIBG Distinguished Professor Research Seminar Series
Beyond COVID-19: Rethinking the Future of Businesses

What COVID-19 Means for the Future of Research?

Professor Graham Kendall

Professor of Computer Science, The University of Nottingham, UK

28 Oct 2020

COVID-19 has affected every part of our lives, both professional and personal. The higher education sector is not immune from these changes, which include restrictions on international travel, social distancing around campuses, significantly more online delivery, less opportunity for international student recruitment and challenges in carrying out research.
 
This talk focuses on the research challenges, and opportunities, in a post-COVID world. Practical suggestions that we can take to carry producing high quality journal articles will be presented.
 
Amongst the challenges that will be addressed are reduced access to research funding, not able to attend physical conferences and social distancing reducing traditional contact that are so important in research.
 
The opportunities that will be outlined include effective time management, how to collaborate remotely, moving to new research areas, carrying out research on a budget and generating research ideas.
 

It is hoped that, despite the challenges that COVID has presented, and will continue to do so, we can see opportunities that will enable us to continue carrying out high quality research that has real impact.

IIBG Distinguished Professor Research Seminar Series
Beyond COVID-19: Rethinking the Future of Businesses

See you in court? Protecting Intellectual Property in the Global Economy

Professor Mario Kafouros

Professor of International Business and Innovation, Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, UK

21 Oct 2020

It has long been established that firms' ability to profit from their technologies depends on the strength of IP laws. This study shows that profiting from technology is also determined by how effectively firms engage in patent infringement litigation (i.e. take legal action against their rivals) to create isolating mechanisms and protect their technologies. The study also shows that patent infringement litigation is characterized by industry and geographic specificity that affect (disproportionately) revenue-generation and costs and, therefore, its net effect on firm profitability. By identifying contingencies that influence the economic returns from patent litigation, the study helps us understand why innovative firms experience different profitability outcomes.

IIBG Distinguished Professor Research Seminar Series
Beyond COVID-19: Rethinking the Future of Businesses

Conducting R&D in Multiple Countries: The Role of IPR Protection in Explaining Firm Performance

Professor Chengqi Wang

Professor of Strategy and International Business at Nottingham University Business School, University of Nottingham, UK

14 Oct 2020

Firms that conduct R&D in multiple countries face the daunting challenge of dealing with cross-country variations in intellectual property rights (IPR) protection. We examine how two technology-protection mechanisms, namely, geographic fragmentation of R&D (cross-country fragmentation of R&D) and IPR heterogeneity (conducting R&D in both strong and weak IPR protection countries), enable firms to protect their technologies from imitation, while also accessing external knowledge, and therefore improve their productivity performance. Evidence from a longitudinal analysis of 564 R&D units located in 47 countries provides support for the effectiveness of IPR heterogeneity as a technology protection mechanism, but shows that geographic fragmentation of R&D is not effective when IPR heterogeneity is controlled for. Our analysis also suggests that weaker IPR protection enhances the effects of both external knowledge and the firm's own R&D on its performance. Overall, our study enhances understanding of conducting R&D in multiple countries explains why some firms benefit from conducting R&D in weak IPR protection countries while other firms do not, identifies which mechanisms are effective in protecting technology, and challenges the prevalent view that weak IPR protection is disadvantageous for firm performance.

IIBG Distinguished Professor Research Seminar Series
Beyond COVID-19: Rethinking the Future of Businesses

Blurring of The Lines Between Quality and Questionable Research: A Wake-Up Call for Green HRM and Other Fields of Research

Professor Michael Müller-Camen

Professor of Human Resource Management, Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU)

7 Oct 2020

Our study aims to contribute to the debate on the quality of open access publishing by comparing research in different journals and by examining its impact on quality research. With a systematic literature review, we analyse 25 years of Green Human Resource Management (Green HRM) research (1995-2019). We chose Green HRM as an appropriate case, because although it is a rapidly growing area of research, the number of journal publications is limited and thus the whole literature in the field over a 25-year period could be covered. By looking closer at the journals where Green HRM research is published, we present characteristics of two broad categories of research qualities. Counter to our expectations, we do not only show that papers published in quality journals have an impact on papers published in questionable (so-called “predatory”) outlets, but also the other way around. Through citations, questionable research contributes to the success of quality publications. Moreover, we even observe that articles published in quality journals legitimize articles from predatory journals by using this questionable literature as references. Although our empirical sample mainly consists of one specific area of research, we suggest that our findings can be generalised to other areas of management research. Therefore, we close our study by giving practical implications to different stakeholders and a general plea for more awareness and responsibility. 

IIBG Distinguished Professor Research Seminar Series
Beyond COVID-19: Rethinking the Future of Businesses

A Workshop on Promising Themes for Research on Emerging Markets

Professor Tamer Cavusgil

Fuller E. Callaway Professorial Chair and Professor, Georgia State University

7 Oct 2020

Research in international business continues to evolve in the current environment of mega disruptions and much uncertainty. For international business scholars, the changing environment of cross-border business implies new and novel approaches to investigating international business phenomena. Among other things, our research needs to reflect new realities including: risk management, trade conflicts, global coordination of international activities, and performance benchmarking.

For the past several decades, research on EMs has revitalized scholarly activity and boosted consulting firm, client-focused research as well. Literature in this area has multiplied, and new publication outlets have been added. This tradition of research:
  • Promoted comparative research – e.g., comparisons of consumer spending, and e-Commerce platforms (e.g., Amazon vs. Alibaba, Shopee, Flipkart, Jumia, Ozon, MercadoLibre);
  • Boosted cross-cultural research; and
  • Led to the development of new theoretical frameworks & constructs in IB research. 
Going forward, what are some promising research topics? What are the neglected areas of research in the context of emerging markets? What are some practical approaches to conducting impactful research? What data sources may be tapped? What are best-practice strategies for crafting manuscripts and enhancing publication opportunities? 

This session will address the above questions and respond to any questions participants may have about research on emerging markets. 

IIBG Distinguished Professor Research Seminar Series
Beyond COVID-19: Rethinking the Future of Businesses

Games On Again? Hosting Annual International Sporting Events and Tourism

Professor Bala Ramasamy

Professor of Economics and Associate Dean, China Europe International Business School

7 Oct 2020

The tourism sector contributes significantly to the GDP of many countries. This sector is responsible for millions of service sector jobs as well as an inflow of foreign exchange. COVID-19 has affected the tourism industry the worst as it is the first industry to be closed and perhaps the last to be re-opened. Upon re-opening however, there will be an intense competition among countries to attract foreign tourists. One well-known policy to attract international tourists is the hosting of sporting events. Hosting mega sports events like the Olympics and FIFA World Cup are said to leave a legacy that could impact the attractiveness of a country/city in the long term. However, the opportunity to host and failure to seize the opportunity to host these mega-events can both be expensive. The Tokyo Olympics was supposed to reinvigorate Japan's economy but now the postponement may cost Japan (est. US$18 billion) more than the spending ($US12.6 billion) on organizing the mega-event. In this paper, we consider the economic impact of hosting annual international sporting events, specifically the extent to which Formula-1 Grand Prix, ATP Tennis and PGA Golf. These leagues have already resumed play in the less affected locations to make up the revenue that’s been lost during the pandemic. Using monthly data from 1998 to 2019 and the Seemingly Unrelated Regression Estimates (SURE) we show that the effect differs from one sport to another within a country, and the same sport across countries. We conclude that there is no “one-size-fits-all” strategy when it comes to hosting these annual international sporting events. Policy-makers must consider carefully the sport that offers the best chance for driving recovery and supporting travel and tourism sector.

Cross-over Effect Revisited: Real Estate and Stock Markets

Dr Karen Wong

Assistant Professor, Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

30 Sep 2020

IIBG Research Seminar on 23 Sep 2020

Real estate is a critical component of the economy. As a major part of household consumption and wealth, the maintenance of the equilibrium influences significantly the health of the economic environment. Using the data of Global Property Guide, this research develops an extensive study on the impact of real estate markets on stock markets over 16 countries for more than 300 Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). The study starts from country-level to continent-level whilst exposes the movement between the real estate and stock markets. The findings show the significant different movement across continents. This is the valuable information for the governments to review the real estate market and overall economy policy.

Insignificance of Well-being in a Chinese Context: An Anthropological Examination

Dr Joey Ng

Assistant Professor, Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

23 Sep 2020

IIBG Research Seminar on 23 Sep 2020

Well-being is made as a global concept which is generally significant to everyone. Nevertheless, this study challenges the presumed universality of well-being. Given the assumption that underlies the notion is individualism, well-being is conceivably less applicable to a Chinese who regards family as part of self. Although a Chinese expression, xing fu幸福 is often considered as an equivalent to well-being (Davis, 2005; Lu, 2001; 2010), the two concepts are culturally distinctive (Ng, 2017). This study aims to explore the relevancy of well-being and xing fu in a Chinese context. A research question is formulated: How do members of family businesses in Hong Kong draw upon the discourses of well-being and xing fu in their daily lives? To answer this question, an anthropological examination is carried out. The findings indicate that rather than spontaneously expressing well-being, the research subject showed a more salient concern on xing fu. In the discussion, xing fu is further contextualized and its differences with well-being are examined. In general, the study contributes to knowledge by bringing in an indigenous perspective into the discursive space.

The Role of Recession Forecasts and F-score in Predicting Credit Risks

Dr Kevin Li

Assistant Professor, Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

16 Sep 2020

IIBG Research Seminar on 16 Sep 2020

An accurate forecast for corporate default risk is crucial for financial institutions to effectively quantify potential expected and unexpected borrower losses. This study develops a logistic regression model to simultaneously examine the roles of firm-specific fundamentals and economic outlook in predicting corporate default risk. The model is estimated using U.S. listed non-financial firms over the 1997⎼2009 period. The empirical findings suggest that economic outlook captured by recession probability forecast, firm-specific fundamental factors measured by the Z-score and F-score, and the interaction between economic outlook and firm-specific fundamental factors play statistically significant roles in predicting bankruptcy risk. The model exhibits relatively high levels of goodness-of-fit and classification ability, and low levels of forecast error.

Compensatory or Complementary? An Exploratory Study on How the Government and Business Efficacies Interact with Young People's Pro-environmental Intention

Mr Kevin Chu

Senior Lecturer, Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

16 Sep 2020

IIBG Research Seminar on 16 Sep 2020

The governments and pro-environmental groups have been calling the public for taking actions to combat climate change. Many consumers, however, do not seem to 'walk their talk'. It is widely reported that the adoption of greener consumption patterns lags behind the growth of pro-environmental concerns among consumers. While the governments and the businesses have been promoting the success in various pro-environmental campaigns on media, do young people increasingly assign environmental responsibilities to governments and businesses rather than to themselves? Would the triumphs over the climate change lead to a lower sense of anxiety and/or responsibilities and thus weaker their pro-environmental intention? Or would the success stories fuel their self-efficacies in combating climate change and also their intention to act more pro-environmentally? While a growing research body has indicated the positive impact of self-efficacy on people's pro-environmental intention, research on how self-efficacy, the governments' efficacy and businesses' efficacy interact in shaping pro-environmental intention among young people has been virtually missing. Attempting to gain some insights for theorising, 9 focus groups were conducted to investigate young people's sense of responsibilities for the climate change, and their perceived responsibilities as well as the efficacies of the government and the business sector. Our analyses based on 34 participating university students indicate that the effects of governments' and businesses' efficacies on young people's pro-environmental intention are fundamentally complementary instead of compensatory. We also suggest that the relationship is mediated by self-efficacy. It is also worth noting that a strong sense of distrust of the businesses' interest in slowing down environmental degradation and disappointment with the strength of the governmental efforts in promoting environmental and social sustainability. The study ends with implications for theory, practice and future research directions.

The Effects of Financial Regulation on Cost Efficiency: Evidence from the Hong Kong Banking Industry

Dr Agol Ho

Assistant Professor, Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

16 Sep 2020

IIBG Research Seminar on 16 Sep 2020

This study constructs a transcendental logarithmic cost function for describing the production technology of banks. Rather than adopting traditional approaches, this study develops a new approach to specify the essential outputs and inputs of banks. It has been found that banks had to tolerate higher operating costs in the first few years after the removal of regulations. In response, banks sought for new revenue by expanding fee-based financial services rather than reduced operating costs by adjusting their input combinations or output combinations. The deregulation also forced banks to pursue active technical progress, and larger banks performed better than smaller banks.

A Legitimacy Perspective on the Response to the Pandemic: National Corporate Governance Institutions and Political Ideology

Dr Dawn Chow

Research Assistant Professor, Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

9 Sep 2020

This study investigates why the governments of different countries responded faster (slower) to the COVID-19 threat. We draw upon the literature on institutional norms and legitimacy to theorize that governments' decision-making is undertaken in the light of prevailing beliefs, norms, and rules of the collectivity, as portrayed by Corporate Governance Institutions (CGIs), in their effort to maintain legitimacy. Therefore, the more shareholder-oriented the CGIs, the slower the governmental response in shutting down the economy to protect from COVID-19. In addition, we posit that the government’s political ideology influences the assessment of legitimacy risks involved in decision-making, and therefore, the main relationship is stronger the more right-leaning the government’s ideology. We tested and found support for the hypotheses by running negative binomial regressions on a sample of 125 countries. This study theoretically enriches research on corporate governance institutions, and informs managers about how governments take decisions when trade-offs between public and business interests are involved.

Are China-based fintech companies overpriced: Evidences from Hong Kong and US markets

Mr John Tsang

Senior Lecturer, Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

26 Aug 2020

Fintech is a short word for financial technology. Fintech companies use specific software in computers and smartphones to help business or consumers to manage their operations and lives more efficiently and effectively. Fintech companies consist of both startups and established financial institutions and technology companies trying to replace the financial services provided by current financial counterparts.

In this study, we investigate the performance of China fintech companies which were listed in Hong Kong Stock Exchange, New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ from 2015 to 2019. The main research question is “Are China-based fintech companies overpriced at IPO?”

Application of the Many-facets Rasch Measurement in Writing Assessment

Dr Kinnie Chan

Assistant Professor, Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

12 Aug 2020

Writing assessment is an essential part in both school-based examinations and high-stakes assessments. Fairness of assessments may impact on the academic development of students in various levels. The study aims to investigate the analysis of the Many-facets Rasch Measurement (MFRM) to adjust for prompt difficulty and rater severity and whole-instrument replication to perform an appropriate assessment of the precision of the writing assessment. The MFRM is an extension of the Rasch measurement which has been used to examine and enhance test fairness over the past decades. The practical benefits of utilizing the Rasch model have been found in the field of language assessment. The results revealed that some discrepancies were found among raters who scored student essays in this study. Then a procedure was adopted to give more choices for the moderation of scoring in writing assessment and enrich the quality of learning and teaching strategies.

Idealism, Relativism and Perception of Ethicality of Employee Behavior in Mainland China and Hong Kong

Dr Vane Ing Tian

Assistant Professor, Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

12 Aug 2020

There are a lot of different taxonomies that attached to classify moral thoughts and positions that can explain the individual differences in ethic perceptions in different situations. Ethical position theory use two dimensions: idealism (concern with the outcomes for all involved parties) and relativism (question the existence of universal moral principles that can fit all situation) to explain personal moral philosophy (Forsyth, 1980; Forsyth et al., 2008).
 
Hong Kong has a unique historical background, having been a British colony for more than 150 years but now a part of China. Hong Kong is familiar with both Eastern philosophies (e.g., Confucianism and Taoism) and Western philosophies (e.g., Utilitarianism and Deontology). Therefore, even Hong Kong share the same cultural root with mainland China, the perception of ethicality of a variety of employee behaviors can be very different. This research will contribute to the existing literature by providing a holistic view of the influence of idealism and relativism on the perception of ethicality. Understanding the factors that influence ethical perception will allow firms to gain greater insights into which business practices are acceptable and which are not in different cultures. This is especially important for regions where different members/groups fail to understand each other's point of view and resort to “villainizing” or “demonizing” others, instead of trying to search for a better solution together.
 
The aim of this study is to investigate the difference between Mainland China and Hong Kong in the perception of ethicality through qualitative analysis.

Do Moral Emotions Turn People Into Responsible Consumers?

Dr Maggie Chu

Assistant Professor, Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

5 Aug 2020

In many resource-abundant societies, the consumption-led lifestyle has created many problems (waste generation, carbon emission and depletion of natural resources). Despite a common understanding that waste must be reduced by changing consumer behavior, very few have taken the action to change their lifestyle. This research explained why consumers keep engaging in behaviors that are harmful to the environment; we address this issue by investigating how guilt and shame associated with overconsumption influence people's decision to correct their consumption practices. Five experimental studies were conducted to examine the proposed effects.
 
Our findings show that guilt and shame, despite their co-occurrence, have contrasting implications for future behaviors. While guilt motivates corrective responses but shame tends to offset such a tendency and make the consumers less inclined to correct the problem. We also found that shame is more likely to emerge in situations that impose social comparison on the individuals. This research also identified the conditions where the negative impact of shame can be mitigated. When the situation provides an opportunity to repair one's self-image, the consumer who experience shame may also become motivated to embrace the change. The above findings provide important insights into the development of social marketing campaigns and environmental messages.

Which Coach is Better for Knowledge Creation? An Examination of the Relationship between Coaching Styles and Individual Knowledge Creation

Dr Ray Hui

Assistant Professor, Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

5 Aug 2020

This study examines the effect of coaching style on individual knowledge creation as motivated by the lack of integration work between two popular organizational phenomena – coaching and knowledge management. Theoretical propositions have been developed to explicate the differential effect of guidance coaching and facilitation coaching on coachee's knowledge creation behavior. Theoretical contributions of and directions for future research generated from the current study were rigorously discussed.

Development of Meaning as Effort and Meaning as Outcome Orientation Scale in Goal Pursuit

Dr Gary Ng

Research Assistant Professor, Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

29 Jul 2020

In pursuing a goal, some people find it meaningful as long as they have tried their best, regardless of the final outcome. On the other hand, some people find it does not count anything at all if the end product is not good. Despite the popularity of the concept, no standard measurement has been developed to measure the individual difference in whether people derive meaning from the effort they paid or from the outcome they received in goal pursuit. In the present research, we developed the meaning orientation scale to capture this concept and examined its predictive validity and incremental validity of the scale. In Study 1, we generated a 10-item meaning orientation scale and found that it was related to motivation of goal pursuit. In Study 2, we found that it was related to grit scale and tenacious goal pursuit scale, over and above the learning goal and performance goal scales. Distinction between this new scale and the existing scales were also discussed.

Measuring the Price Predictability of Broker Identities in the Limit Order Book – A Deep Learning Approach

Dr Samuel Choi

Assistant Professor, Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

29 Jul 2020

Limit order books (LOBs) have been widely adopted as a trading mechanism in global securities markets and the degree of LOB transparency is one of the most studied topics in market design. This study investigates the information content of LOB data from 10 selected Hong Kong stocks. The LOB data are first divided into two data sets – the anonymous LOB and broker IDs in the bid and ask queues, and deep learning is employed to evaluate and compare the price movement predictability of both data sets. The result indicates that the overall prediction performance solely based on broker ID data set can reach, on average, 87.65% that of the anonymous LOB data set. The contributions of this paper are two folds. First, a machine-learning based tool for finance researchers is proposed to quantitatively measure the price predictability of LOB features, and an empirical study is conducted on the impact of LOB transparency on traders' profitability. Second, the empirical result strongly suggests that the broker ID queues in the LOB consist of significant information content for price prediction and it provides insights for regulators to determine the appropriate degree of LOB transparency so as to enable a fair market design for all investors.

Service Innovation Matters in Market and Technologically Turbulent Environments: Probing the Mechanisms of Consonance-Dissonance and Crisis Leadership in Hospitality

Dr Dagnachew Leta Senbeto

Research Assistant Professor, Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

22 Jul 2020

Due to the unprecedented effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rapid change in market demand and information technology, tourism firms have scrambled to engage in service innovation to deal with technology turbulence. Drawing from cognitive dissonance theory, this study examines the effect of market and technology turbulence on employee service innovation. First, we propose employee openness represents cognitive consonance, and resistance to change to represents cognitive dissonance processes that mediate the relationship. Second, we also propose that the above relationships will be moderated by crisis leadership efficacy. Using multi-source data from both service employees and their immediate superiors, along with a two-phase data collection process, we found that employee openness and resistance to change mediates the relationship between market and technological turbulence and service innovation. Furthermore, the findings reveal that crisis leadership efficacy strengthened the relationships (both direct and indirect, via openness and resistance to change) between technological turbulence and service innovation. Implications for theory and practice for tourism scholars and practitioners are discussed.

The Default Effects Lost to Framing Effects: Replication of Johnson & Goldstein (2003) & Johnson, Bellman & Lohse (2002)

Dr Subramanya Prasad Chandrashekar

Research Assistant Professor, Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

15 Jul 2020

IIBG Research Seminar on 15 Jul 2020

People tend to take no action when presented with a preselected default among the choices in a decision-making scenario. In two well-powered samples (N = 1920), we conducted a close replication this default effect (Johnson & Goldstein, 2003) and the configuration of framing and defaults effects on preference construction (Johnson, Bellman & Lohse, 2002). We successfully replicated Johnson and Goldstein’s (2003) findings on default effects in a organ donor scenario. In replicating Johnson, Bellman, and Lohse’s (2002) study, we found strong support for framing effects, but the results failed to provide support for default effects. Our results suggest that the stability of default effects depends on the framing of the decision scenario. We discuss implications for research on default effects and call for further contextualized understanding in future research.

Strategic Goals of Touristifying Intangible Cultural Heritage

Dr Louisa Lee

Assistant Professor, Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

15 Jul 2020

IIBG Research Seminar on 15 Jul 2020

The intangible cultural heritage of an area can uniquely position it as a tourism destination and fuel a lucrative tourism industry. However, because the literature on heritage management is primarily place-focused, a limited theoretical understanding of the relationship between intangible cultural heritage and tourism development is noted. Mass and unplanned tourism can harm city destinations by promoting inauthentic tourist encounters and cultural commodification. Thus, tourism planners need to develop strategies for preserving the intangible qualities of the cultural heritage sites they develop for tourism consumption. The present study focuses on how intangible cultural heritage items can be leveraged to enhance tourism planning and development. A case study of Cantonese opera will be conducted using grounded-theory and a qualitative methodology. The findings will have significant theoretical and practical implications for tourism destinations.

Hosting Professional Sports Leagues and Tourism

Dr Matthew Yeung

Associate Professor, Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

8 Jul 2020

IIBG Research Seminar on 8 Jul 2020
Hosting sports events to attract international tourists is a common policy practised by many host governments. Hosting mega-sports events like the Olympics are said to leave a legacy that could impact the attractiveness of a country/city in the long term. However, the opportunity to host these mega-events are limited and expensive. This study considers the economic impact of hosting annual international sporting events, specifically the extent to which Formula-1, ATP Tennis, and PGA Golf can attract international tourists. Using monthly data from 1985 – 2018 and we show that the effect differs from one sport to another within a country, and the same sport across countries. Hosting the Formula-1 is most effective for Canada but has no significant impact in the UK. ATP tennis has a significant impact on all three countries but may not be the star event. Policy-makers must consider carefully the sport that gives the best bang-for-the-buck.

Employees' and Employers' Expectations in Effecting Retirement Delay – The Case of Hong Kong from A Human Resources Perspective

Dr Peter Chan

Assistant Professor, Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

8 Jul 2020

IIBG Research Seminar on 8 Jul 2020
Ageing is both a challenge and an opportunity for Hong Kong. Hong Kong is now facing the situation of a shrinking workforce, a longer life expectancy and an increasingly important role of professional expertise to support its long-term economic growth. The emerging paradigm of active ageing suggests that the ageing population will contribute to the society economically and socially. Meanwhile, HKSAR government is considering delaying retirement as a policy to realize active ageing. It becomes necessary to explore its implications for employees and employers. It is then critically important to explore extending employment and delaying retirement of professional as the solution to talent shortage.
 
The primary objective of this study is to explore the intentions and expectations of Hong Kong employers and employees about extending or renewing engagement opportunities at professional or executive grades. Based on the literature review and the preliminary study, propositions and constructs are identified for the formulation of conceptual model for further study.

Gender Diversity and Public Health Outcomes: The COVID-19 Experience

Dr Leung Tak Yan

Associate Professor, Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

8 Jul 2020

IIBG Research Seminar on 8 July 2020
This study extends the growing research on the impact of gender diversity on public health outcomes using the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as its research setting. The authors develop a conceptual model incorporating the impact of gender diversity and human development on women's representation in legislature and public health expenditure, and their combined impact with human environment (population density, aging population and urban population) on important public health outcomes in the COVID-19 context, including the total number of tests, diagnosed, active and critical cases, and deaths. The authors use the data from 210 countries to find support for many hypotheses. The results provide useful insights about the factors that influence the representation of women in political systems around the world and its impact on public health outcomes. The authors also discuss implications for public health policy-makers to ensure efficient and effective delivery of public health services in future.

Judge Me for What I Eat: Women Choose Low-Calorie Labeled Food to Signal Competence

Dr Grace Oh

Research Assistant Professor, Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

24 Jun 2020

IIBG Research Seminar on 24 Jun 2020

Previous research has shown that food labels influence consumption decisions by changing inferences on food. Extending this stream of research, we suggest that food labels also influence food choice through consumers' motivation to convey a desired image to others. Specifically, we suggest that when female consumers are motivated to impress others in social settings, they strategically choose low-calorie-labeled food. Across multiple experiments, including a field experiment conducted during job interviews, we demonstrated that low-calorie labels increase choice share of the labeled food or drink when consumers make choices with other person whom they want to impress, but not when they make choices alone. We show that this is driven by motivation to signal one's competence through choosing low-calorie-labeled food. Those who believe that food consumption reflects one's inner qualities are more likely to choose low-calorie-labeled options to impress others. Consumers indeed evaluate others as more competent when their choices are labeled (vs. not labeled) as low-calorie. The choice of low-calorie-labeled food is driven by specific motivation to signal one's competence, but not necessarily other positive traits.

The Narrow Margin Effect: How Space Around a Choice Set Influences Choice

Dr Canice Kwan

Assistant Professor, Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

24 Jun 2020

IIBG Research Seminar on 24 Jun 2020

Visual space is an important component in marketing communications. While prior research has focused on the impacts of visual space on consumer perception and judgment, the present article provides converging evidence that the amount of space allocated around the display of a choice set (i.e., the margin of a given choice set) affects consumer choice and deferral. We contend that when the margin of a choice set (e.g., blank areas of an online shopping website) is substantial, consumers are more likely to bring to mind outside alternatives that are not immediately available in the given choice set. By preventing consumers from thinking of outside alternatives, a narrow (vs. wide) margin increases choice and reduces deferral. Results from six studies support the proposed effect. Our findings also confirm that this effect is mitigated when the decision context involves a single option instead of multiple options.

Exploring Learning Behaviour Under an Integrated Mobile and Web-based Learning Environment

Dr Franklin Lam

Associate Professor, Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

17 Jun 2020

IIBG Research Seminar on 17 Jun 2020
Mobile learning plays a paramount role in supporting e-learning and distance learning through enabling learners to carry out learning activities independent of time or space constraints. In designing and developing an integrated mobile and web-based learning environment to fulfill the ever-changing needs of learners, a good understanding of how they utilize such platforms in their learning is essential. This study investigated students' learning behaviour across the mobile and web-based platforms by examining how learning activities were mixed and matched on the platforms. Exploratory analysis and clustering technique were applied to gain holistic understanding of usage pattern and learning sequence from click stream data. Findings show that students used the mobile platform to supplement the web-based learning and self-regulated their learning across the mobile and web-based platforms leading to considerable differences in the learning behaviour on the platforms for different performing students. Strategies to improve self-efficacy of students in learning across mobile and web platforms are discussed.

An Intervening Mediation Model for Examining Intention to Continue Playing and WOM in Game Apps"

Dr Ailie Tang

Assistant Professor, Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

17 Jun 2020

IIBG Research Seminar on 17 Jun 2020
While most mobile gaming apps are freely downloadable, companies can earn profits and generate revenue from in-app advertising. The total number of players using a game app illustrates the profit capacity because the larger the player population, the more advertisers will come and contribute to the profit. While word of mouth (WOM) is essential to increase player population, keeping current players is also of paramount importance. This study uses the theoretical lens of self-determination theory and goal framing theory to develop an intervening mediation model of cognitive determinants (social influence, perceived enjoyment, and sense of achievement) and conative behaviors (intention to continue playing and WOM).

Mapping Aboriginal Tourism Experiences in Taiwan: A Case of the Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village

Dr Bryan Chiu

Associate Professor, Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

10 Jun 2020

IIBG Research Seminar on 10 Jun 2020
Exploring tourist experience through analyzing user-generated content (UGC) has been considered as an appropriate approach for experience studies due to the rich information from the perspective of tourists. Thus, this study identified the conceptual map of individuals' aboriginal tourism experiences by analyzing UGC, including photos and texts. A total of 207 photos and 278 reviews posted by tourists on TripAdvisor were collected and analyzed. Photo content analysis showed that aboriginal culture emerged as the most indelible experience for visitors. Analysis of text data disclosed key themes: park, tribe, car, garden, and children. Further analysis found different patterns in tourist experiences across numerous travel parties and satisfaction levels. This study explored tourists' narratives and identified important concepts and themes of their “lived experience” of aboriginal tourism. The findings of this study contribute to expanding theoretical knowledge by introducing innovative analytic techniques. Practically, this study offers a blueprint for designing the aboriginal tourism product which can optimize tourist experience. In addition, the differences in tourist experience with regard to travel party and level of satisfaction suggest specific marketing strategies for different segments.

Knowledge Sharing between Expatriates and Host Country Nationals: A Person-Person Fit Perspective

Dr Emmy van Esch

Assistant Professor, Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

10 Jun 2020

IIBG Research Seminar on 10 Jun 2020
Drawing on the person-person (P-P) fit literature, this study demonstrates how to enhance knowledge sharing between expatriates and their host country national (HCN) colleagues. Survey data was collected from 84 expatriate-HCN dyads working in 31 different host countries. Results demonstrate that when expatriates perceive higher levels of similarity with their HCN colleagues in terms of deep-level attributes such as values, personality, goals, and abilities (i.e. high P-P fit), they are more likely to engage in information elaboration, which in turn facilitates knowledge sharing. In addition, it was found that this process was moderated by helping behaviors: for expatriates who perceive lower levels of deep-level similarity with their HCN counterparts (i.e. low P-P fit), regularly helping their HCN colleague offsets the undesirable effects of low levels of deep-level similarity. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

General Methods for Analyzing the Stock Market and Some Management Problems

Dr Ivan Dario Arraut Guerrero

Research Associate, IIBG, Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

27 May 2020

IIBG Research Seminar on 13 Aug 2021

In this seminar, some general methods employed for analyzing a few important problems in the stock market, as well as other areas, were explained. Some important results obtained were then illustrated, including:

  1. A novel method for introducing the uncertainties in the prices in the stock market: this method is general and can be applied to any financial equation which can be expressed as an eigenvalue problem.
  2. General conditions for the conservation of the probability prices in the stock market for a given option: In general this probability is non-conserved in the stock market.
  3. The formulation of the relation price-demand for the airplane tickets as a Harmonic-oscillator.
  4. The martingale condition considered as the ground state of a system with the symmetry under changes of the prices being spontaneously broken.
  5. Analysis of symmetry breaking patterns related to the changes in the prices of the stocks and other possible symmetries in the market.
  6. Decision theory and other results to come.
In all these topics, we have obtained new results which we expect to be very important in the long term.

Understanding Community Attitudes Towards Volunteer Tourism

Dr Alice Lee

Assistant Professor, Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

20 May 2020

Volunteer tourism has been growing rapidly since the last decade. However, similar to other forms of tourism, volunteer tourism has been criticized for its increasingly commodifying development. In order to facilitate a decommodified approach in volunteer tourism, it is crucial to empower local communities and understand their needs, including their perceptions and attitudes towards volunteer tourism. Social representations have been used to examine community members' ideas, their perceptions and the ways they think about tourism development. However, how local communities perceive alternative forms of tourism, including volunteer tourism have been underresearched. Using qualitative interviews with local residents in Mongolia, one of the post-Soviet countries and a fast-growing volunteer tourism destination in the world, this research examines host communities' general understanding and attitudes towards volunteerism and volunteer tourism development based on the perceived impacts, and considers how the social constructions of volunteerism underpin local residents' perceptions of volunteer tourism. In addition, by investigating the historical and cultural influences in the host community, this study aims to pinpoint the relationship between social representations and cultural influences, offering an interesting insight to understand volunteer tourism development.

The Role of Game Riskiness, Fear, and Greed on the Expectation-Cooperation Link in Social Dilemmas

Dr Gary Ng

Research Assistant Professor, Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

29 Apr 2020

Game riskiness is a way to quantify the risk in prisoner's dilemmas (PD) such that the riskiness of cooperation is defined by the variance of outcomes of cooperation relative to that of defection. When the variance of cooperation is larger (smaller) than that of defection, the PD is labelled as a cooperation-more risky PD (defection-more-risky PD). The present study extends the previous work on game riskiness by examining its moderating role in the effect of expectation of cooperation on cooperation rate under various mixed-motive situations. We found across four studies that game riskiness moderated the effect of expectation of cooperation on cooperation rate such that the effect of expectation of cooperation on cooperation rate was larger in cooperation-morerisky PDs than in defection-more-risky counterparts. This moderation effect was observed in N-person PD such that participants made decisions in PDs in groups of three to six (Study 1), PD in both gain and loss domain such that participants earned or lost money in PDs respectively (Study 2), PD where the expectation of cooperation was manipulated instead of measured (Study 3), and real-life situations (Study 4). We also illustrated mathematically that game riskiness is related to other established indices of PD, including the index of cooperation, fear index, and greed index, and we found empirically that the greed index also moderated the effect of expectation of cooperation on cooperation rate. This study identified game riskiness as a robust situational factor that can impact decisions in social dilemmas. It also provided insights on the underlying motivations of cooperation and defection through examining different indices of PD.

A Comprehensive Review on Crisis Management Research in Tourism: The Art is Not Yet Stated

Dr Senbeto Dagnachew Leta

Research Assistant Professor, Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

22 Apr 2020

Although countries across the globe derive a large part of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from the tourism industry, the alarming rate of crisis has limited the contribution of tourism to the macro-economy. Since the occurrence of crisis is an inescapable phenomenon of the industry, tourism scholars have investigated several crises related to economic, health, political, and environmental issues. However, studies in such a stream have experiences fragmentation and limited in-depth theoretical and conceptual understanding ranges from antecedents to outcomes and responses. To address these gaps, this study aims to provide a comprehensive outlook of crisis and crisis management in tourism. The purpose of this study is twofold. First, it reviews and integrates current research on crisis and crisis management in tourism. Second, it outlines the response and reaction of tourists to crises. Finally, the study proposed a framework to understand tourists' responses to crises. Implications and directions for future studies are discussed.

Stamp Duty and Search Behavior

Dr Liang Cong

Research Assistant Professor, Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

15 Apr 2020

Recent years have witnessed the soaring trend in the housing market of Hong Kong. To cool down the overheated housing market, the Hong Kong government launches a series of demand-side management measures since 2010, where these measures are called special stamp duty (SSD, introduced in Oct. 2010), buyer's stamp duty (BSD, enforced in Oct. 2012), double ad valorem stamp duty (AVD, announced in Feb. 2013) and the new residential stamp duty (with effective from Nov. 2016). These measures aim to suppress the housing demand and prevent further exuberance in the housing market, which ensures the healthy and stable development of the housing market. This interesting phenomenon exerts great fascination upon many researchers. Very few studies address the impact of stamp duties on buyers' search behavior. As such, this study intends to fill the knowledge gap by investigating how stamp duties affect buyers' behaviour. In the existing literature, housing search behavior is often measured by time-on-market (TOM), which refers to the duration of time it takes until it is sold. The results of this study enable us to test and support an important theory in housing and urban literature: if buyers' options are more limited and search is restricted within well-defined neighborhoods, then TOM should be shortened.

Labor Rights Belief Mismatch and Cross-border Acquisitions: The Role of Organizational Political Ideology

Dr Dawn Chow

Research Assistant Professor, Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

8 Apr 2020

The authors of the paper presented suggest that firms confirm dual legitimacy of their cross-border acquisitions by choosing countries where institutional factors are compatible with the political ideology of their organization. They test this proposition on a sample of 1870 US cross-border acquisitions in 27 countries with varying degrees of employment protection regulations. Findings show that more liberal-leaning firms are more likely than more conservative-leaning firms to announce and complete cross-border acquisitions in countries with more inflexible employment protection regulations. Moreover, market reaction is more positive for the liberal-leaning firms. Managers, therefore, consider organizational political ideology in their decision-making so as to increase support from key stakeholders.

A Last Mile Intervention: How to Help Consumers to Use Calorie Information for Daily Calorie Intake Regulation

Dr Grace Oh

Research Assistant Professor, Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

8 Jan 2020

IIBG Research Seminar on 8 Jan 2020

The prevalence of obesity is rising worldwide, and many jurisdictions have implemented nutrition labeling regulations to curb excessive food consumption. These regulations have mainly aimed to improve awareness of nutrition information, and to educate consumers about the recommended daily calorie requirement. To date, however, there is no strong evidence that consumers' eating behaviors have improved in response to nutrition labeling. It is therefore important to understand why these regulations might not have worked as intended, and identify factors that might help consumers regulate their daily calorie intake. Given this objective, the authors propose a framework that identifies three factors that can facilitate consumers' calorie intake regulation at a day-level: literacy (daily calorie budgeting), motivation (calorie requirement at the time of consumption), and last mile intervention (reminder of cumulative prior calorie intake on that day). In a study conducted across five nations (Australia, Germany, Hong Kong in China, India, and UK), the authors showed the effectiveness of the last mile intervention when literacy and motivation conditions were met. Specifically, they found that around a quarter of consumers had advanced calorie literacy, as manifested by the behavior of setting daily calorie budgets. Furthermore, among these literate consumers, when they had high need for regulation, the intervention that reminded them of their prior cumulative calorie intake successfully reduced the amount they intended to eat. This research suggests that both improving literacy in calorie budgeting and nudging consumers with a calorie intake reminder can help them control their calorie intake. The findings provide critical implications for nutrition labeling regulations and research.