Threat Perception and Modern Racism as Possible Predictors of Attitudes towards Asylum Seekers: Comparative Findings from Austria, Germany, and Slovakia

<p>Autochthon Europeans reacted inconsistently to rising numbers of asylum applications in 2015 and 2016. While some of them welcomed asylum seekers enthusiastically, others reacted with hostility. The objective of this study was to test a predictive model of these individual differences by Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Both, in a German-speaking (N = 349 Austrians and Germans) and in a Slovak (N = 307) adult sample, the perception of "cultural threat" was a strong predictor of attitudes towards asylum seekers, whereas perceived "economic threat" and "modern racism" did not explain additional proportions of the variance.</p>

A Novelty in Turkish Commercial Life: Execution of QR-Code on Cheques

<p>Cheque is an important payment instrument in commercial life.<strong> </strong>Regulations on cheques, which have a very common application in Turkish law, are included in Articles between 780 and 823 of the Turkish Commercial Code (TCC) No. 6102 and in the Cheque Act No. 5941. Law No. 6728 dated July 15, 2016 have introduced significant changes and novelties in the regulations related to the cheques in both laws. In the preamble of the law, it has stated that these changes were the result of the necessity of introducing new regulations for the purposes of a) the speed and security requirements that cheques necessitate, b) widespread payment by cheque, c) the foundation of cheque holders' protection due to the increase in bounced cheque.</p><p>Among the most important of these changes is that the QR-Code and serial number are accepted as a compulsory form requirement for the validity of cheques. In this study, the detection of novelties related to the QR-Code application expected to give functionality to the cheques and the effects of these regulations are discussed. The QR-Code application is a convenient method to ensure the tracing of the cheques and applicability of statutory regulations on cheques.</p><p>According to the general acceptance in Turkish law, bills of exchange are bills, notes and cheques. These bills of exchange have the ability of negotiability and public security in the case of the qualification of the promissory notes or bearer cheques. Furthermore, the introduction of the QR-Code application on the one hand and the criminal arrangements envisaged in the case of bounced cheques, on the other hand, have led to reaching its final point of the security in terms of cheques.</p>Although cheques are a payment instrument by its qualification, it is also used as a credit instrument due to the possibility of arranging the postdated cheque in Turkish trade practice. Making special arrangements in order to ensure particular protection for the cheque and attractiveness of the cheque have become inevitable in this situation. The risk of bounced cheques in practice is significantly reduced with the aim of protecting the cheque holders prescribed by the amendments.

Export and Economic Growth Nexus in the GCC Countries: A panel Data Approach

<p><span style="font-size: medium;">The export and economic growth nexus, which is called Balassa’s Export-Led Growth Hypothesis (ELGH) </span><span style="font-size: medium;">in the literature, is still an unstill issue in both the theoretical and empirical literature. In the present study, the effect of export on economic growth in</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium;">oil exporting developing countries, namely, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar,</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium;">Kuwait, UAE, and Oman in the 1990–2014 period was tested based on three models, pooled ordinary least squares (POLS), fixed effects model (FEM), and random effects model (REM)</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium;">via panel data analysis . The findings revealed strong support for the “export-led growth” hypothesis. In addition, our results show that apart from growth in the labor force, investments in capital formation are necessary for economic growth. According to the obtained results, the ability to adopt technological changes in order to increase efficiency, and sustain economic development is also important.</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></p>

Role of Accounting Information in Assessing Stock Prices in Bangladesh

<p>This paper seeks to explore the relationship between share prices and the value-relevance of accounting information. The basic <a href="file:///D:/IJBSR/October%2017/Published/1089-3299-2-SM.docx#Ohlson">Ohlson (1995)</a> valuation model has been used to conduct the research using a sample of 93 companies from six broad industries listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), Bangladesh. The adjusted (R²) and estimated regression coefficients of accounting variables are tested in this model. Results report that both Earnings per Share (EPS) and Book Value (BV) have influential power in determining share prices. But, results of the individual effect of EPS and BV to determining share price indicate that the EPS played an increasingly considerable role in projecting share prices than that of BV. Thus, EPS has become more informative to equity investors in predicting the share prices.</p>

Perceived Vulnerability in Consumer Ethnocentrism

This research establishes that the consumers perceived vulnerability to a threat is a relevant variable that modifies the preference for domestic origin products. Many times, consumers balance their personal well-being with their sense of in-group identity, particularly when their preference for domestic products above foreign ones is expected. This study demonstrates that perceived vulnerability to a threat such as damaging one’s personal well-being is a relevant factor when consumers express their preference for domestic products.

The effect of KM capabilities on the Performance of Jordanian Public Listed Companies

<p>Organizational performance is vital for organizations, countries, and individuals. The performance of Jordanian public listed companies (PLCs) is experiencing a decreasing trend. Existing studies have focused on factors, such as structure, capital, and size; while other factors, such as knowledge management, trust, and experience of top management, have not been adequately investigated. The purpose of this study is to develop a conceptual framework that helps decision makers improve the organizational performance of PLCs. Building on the resource-based view, and knowledge-based view, this study proposes that the knowledge management capabilities (KMC) infrastructure and KMC process could affect the organizational performance of Jordanian PLCs. In addition, the effect of the KMC infrastructure on organizational performance is mediated by the KMC process. Trust and top management experience could moderate the effect of the KMC infrastructure and KMC process on organizational performance. Propositions are developed and discussed as well as future work. </p>

A Conceptual Framework of A Customer’s Perception of Retail Salesperson Opportunism

<p>A customer’s perception of salesperson opportunism reflects the extent to which a customer believes that a salesperson is intentionally self-interest seeking with little regard for the consequences to the customer. While the marketing literature is rich with research examining salesperson opportunism from the managerial perspective, the consumer’s perspective is underdeveloped. The customer’s perception is important, such that it has implications for purchasing intentions, as well as satisfaction with the salesperson and retailer. In this research, a conceptual framework of a customer’s perception of salesperson opportunism is developed. Further, propositions are set forth which provide scope, and allow for future empirical testing, of this domain. The implications of the framework and fruitful areas of potential research are discussed.</p>

Conflict between Supermarkets and Wet-Markets in Ghana: Early Warning Signals and Preventive Policy Recommendations

<p>The source of conflict between Supermarkets and Wet-markets arise from the use of market power and economies of scale by one group against the other. This study explores the tensions that exist between modern retailers and their traditional counterparts as a result of the influx of supermarkets in Ghana. The main objective of the study is to compare attributes related to the control of access to consumers by the Supermarket and the Wet-market. In this study, the dot-survey approach of Rapid Market Assessment Technique was used to elicit information from 438 respondents at the Madina market (wet-market) and Melcom (supermarket) over a period of two weeks and Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney (WMW) comparison test and descriptive statistics were employed for the analysis. The results revealed that consumers patronise the supermarkets for convenience and the wet-market for freshness of product. Their purchasing decisions were affected by their level of education and product selections of the retailer. The highly educated preferred to shop at the Supermarket instead of the Wet-market; however, over 50% of respondents preferred the wet-market for fresh food products and the supermarket for non-food items. Each retailer receives its fair share of purchases from its loyal customers, therefore the revolution arising from the supermarket influx in Ghana has not yet resulted into conflict between supermarkets and their traditional counterparts, though it is inevitable if nothing is done to prevent it from happening. To avoid the conflict, it is recommended that policies should be instituted to (i) improve the market infrastructures and shopping environment in the Wet-markets, (ii) give tax concession to modern retailers who source products from local farmers and small-scale processors, (iii) enable traditional retailers position themselves on the fringe and co-exist with modern retailers and (iv) enforce public standards with regards to food safety laws in the traditional markets.</p>

The Impact of Cultural Similarity and Social Network Characteristics on Re-Expatriation Intention Among Self-Initiated Academic Expatriates

<p>This conceptual paper sheds light on re-expatriation intention among self-initiated academic expatriates who have completed their international assignments, and returned their home country and then intended to re-expatriate to have another experience in the host country by their own initiatives. Cultural similarity and social network characteristics which involve size, closeness and frequency appeared to have a significant impact on the expatriates' decisions to move abroad for the first time. Therefore, these variables are predicted in the study to be associated with their intentions to re-expatriate. Push-pull theory is utilized in this paper to better understanding the impact of cultural similarity and social network characteristics on re-expatriation intention among academic SIEs. Thus, this study contributes to fill the gap in literature by addressing the influence of cultural similarity and social network characteristics on re-expatriation intention.</p>

Essential Skills for Project Stakeholders Identification: Sustainability Perspective

<p>In every life cycle of the project there are numerous people or organizations involved either directly or indirectly. While these type of people and organizations involved are called stakeholders and these may include the project team, client or customer, community, environment, suppliers, government. Stakeholders contribute and share their experiences, knowledge, and insights to support the project throughout its life cycle and therefore it is crucial to capture their input. However, before initiation of the project, stakeholders need to be identified. Following the fact that there are strategies and processes for stakeholder identification, it is not clear what skills are needed to employ those strategies for stakeholder identification. These skills are exceedingly important to have because in today's corporate world, the project team must be flexible in every aspect of their job and be able to complement their skills for the success of stakeholder identification. Using literature review, this paper seeks to describe the skills of project leader needed to identify the project team and the external stakeholders. Inductive approach was followed in this study and data was collected qualitatively using secondary sources. There are two essential skills i.e. relationship building skills and communication skills for internal stakeholders and four major skills i.e. communication skills, people skills, intellectual skills and conceptual skills for external stakeholders are identified for the identification of project stakeholders through literature review considering the sustainability issues in the project management.</p>