AN ONLINE REVIEWS INFORMATION FUSION METHOD AND ITS APPLICATION TO PUBLIC PROPERTY SERVICE QUALITY EVALUATION

With the rapid development of computer networking technology, people pay more and more attention to the role of online reviews in management decision making. The existing methods of online reviews fusion are limited to rational decision-making behavior, which does not accord with the characteristics of evaluators’ behavior characteristics in the real environment. In order to solve the online reviews fusion problem based on bounded rational behavior which is closer to the reality of property service quality evaluation, the multi-index and multi-scale (MIMS) method is extended into the generalized form, the online reviews are quantified by using the adverb structure scaling method, and an online reviews fusion method based on the improved TODIM (an acronym in Portuguese of interactive and multi-criteria decision making) model is proposed. The feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method are verified by an example analysis of property service quality evaluation. The research results are as follows: the adverb structure scaling method is suitable for a large number of online reviews processing, the proposed method improves the efficiency of online reviews information fusion, and it is feasible and effective to evaluate property service quality based on the bounded rationality of evaluator’s behavior.

INCENTIVE MECHANISM FOR PERFORMANCE-BASED PAYMENT OF INFRASTRUCTURE PPP PROJECTS: COUPLING OF REPUTATION AND RATCHET EFFECTS

The performance-based payment PPP model has been widely used in the infrastructure projects. However, the ratchet effect derived from performance-based reputation incentives has been largely overlooked. To overcome this shortcoming, ratchet effect is considered in the performance-based payment incentive process. A multi-period dynamic incentive mechanism is developed by coupling the reputation and ratchet effect. The main results show that: (1) Under the coupling of reputation and ratchet effects, the optimal incentive coefficient in the last performance assessment period is always greater than that of the first period. The bargaining power can replace part of the incentive effect; (2) Due to the ratchet effect, if the government improve performance targets through performance adjustment coefficients, it needs to increase incentives to overcome the decreasing effort of the private sector; (3) When the bargaining power and punishment coefficient are small, the reputation incentive is replacing the explicit incentive. The increasing incentive coefficient would make the ratchet effect dominant the reputation effect; (4) To prevent the incentive incompatibility derived from the ratchet effect, the government should increase the incentive while increasing the punishment to achieve the “penalties and rewards”. This study provides theoretical and methodological guidance to design incentive contracts for infrastructure PPP projects.

MACROECONOMIC VARIABLES INFLUENCING HOUSING PRICES IN VILNIUS

The way macroeconomic variables such as unemployment/GDP per capita/inflation/wages/internal migration influenced housing prices (nominal house prices and housing rent prices) in Vilnius in 2006–2019 has been investigated in the research. Conditions under which different macroeconomic variables could influence housing prices were established in the research. Lower unemployment, higher GDP per capita and inflation rate were all related to higher nominal house prices in Vilnius. Higher GDP per capita, wages and internal migration were positively related to housing rent prices in Vilnius. Analyzed macroeconomic variables all together explained 88 percent of variance of nominal house prices in Vilnius over the period of 2006–2019 and 80 percent of variance of housing rent prices in Vilnius over the same period.

THE IMPACT OF JOB SATISFACTION ON VALUERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

Professional ethics is one of the two pillars of the valuer’s business practice, alongside expert knowledge. Ethical principles are usually formulated within a code of professional ethics which valuers are obliged to follow. The approach to professional ethics is a complex problem and it is conditioned by several factors. In our study, we pose the question whether higher professional satisfaction of real estate valuers translates into more ethical attitudes regarding work-related dilemmas. We conducted research on property valuation services in two European markets: Austria and Poland. Data for the analysis was drawn from 176 surveys in which valuers were asked to respond to hypothetical work situations corresponding to the principles of the real estate valuer’s code. The results obtained using the ordinary least squares (OLS) and two-stage last squares (2SLS) regression methods allow us to conclude that higher job satisfaction positively impacts valuers’ ethical attitudes. The segment of the market served is also an important driver. Valuers who mainly work for property developers show a significantly lower level of ethical attitudes. The influence of the country on professional ethics is ambiguous.

THE INTER-TIER SPREAD OF HOUSING BUBBLES: ARE LUXURY MARKETS TO BLAME?

Understanding the spread of asset bubbles is pivotal to the effectiveness of risk management. This study thus estimates housing bubbles and investigates how and to what extent price bubbles spread between the tiers of luxury and mass housing in Hong Kong. The results show that price bubbles spread between housing tiers, the spreading of bubbles is not uni-directional from luxury to mass tiers, and more than 60% of bubbles come from inter-tier spreading. Moreover, bubble shocks from the luxury tier have stronger spreading influences on the movements of bubbles in the mass housing tier than the other way around during the period before the end of the global financial crisis (GFC), whereas the opposite is true for the period after GFC. The findings are important for policy makers attempting to tackle soaring housing bubbles, financial institutions seeking to managing lending risk, and housing investors wanting to time the submarkets.

LAND-LEASING BEHAVIOR, LOCAL OFFICIALS’ PROMOTIONS, AND CHINESE CITIES’ DEBT RISKS

This study first analyzes how local governments’ land-leasing behaviors affect Chinese cities’ debt risk then examines the impact of officials’ promotion mechanisms on debt risk in China’s urban land bank system. The land-leasing behavior is reflected through three indicators, namely, land-leasing revenue, land-leasing scale, and land financial dependence level. Two new indicators are constructed to measure the local government’ debt risk from the perspective of debt scale and debt repayment: the debt scale risk and debt burden risk. Empirical analyses are based on the data of 281 prefecture-level cities from 2006–2015. The main findings are twofold. First, the debt scale risk is positively affected by the land-leasing revenue, and officials’ promotion pressure. The debt burden risk is positively affected by the land financial dependence and officials’ promotion pressure. Second, the officials’ promotion pressure significantly enhances the positive effect of land-leasing revenue on the debt scale risk. Local officials, who are under promotion pressure, are inclined to expand the size of urban investment bonds, which increases debt scale risk.

THE INFLUENCE OF THE TECHNICAL DIMENSION, FUNCTIONAL DIMENSION, AND TENANT SATISFACTION ON TENANT LOYALTY: AN ANALYSIS BASED ON THE THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOR

This study primarily explored the influence of the technical dimension, functional dimension, and tenant satisfaction on tenant loyalty. The theory of planned behavior served as the basis of this study, and the three aforementioned factors (the technical dimension, the functional dimension, and tenant satisfaction) were incorporated into a conceptual framework for tenant loyalty. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed for parameter estimation. The participants consisted of tenants residing in eight administrative districts in Kaohsiung City. 315 questionnaires were administered, all of which were returned. After removing 15 invalid responses, there were 300 valid responses, which indicated an effective recovery rate of 95.2%. The results showed that the technical dimension, the functional dimension, and attitude significantly and positively influenced tenant satisfaction. Tenant satisfaction, perceived behavioral control, and social norms significantly and positively influenced tenant loyalty. Tenant satisfaction mediated the influence of the technical dimension and the functional dimension on tenant loyalty; the mediating effect of the functional dimension on tenant loyalty was greater than that of the technical dimension. The findings of this study highlight the measures rental companies should adopt in order to enhance the technical dimension, functional dimension, and tenant satisfaction, as this is crucial to maintaining sustainable operations.

URBAN HOUSE PRICES AND BUSINESS ESTABLISHMENT IN MALAYSIA: A SECTORAL APPROACH

The purpose of this study is to examine the long-run and short-run relationship between house prices and business formation in various industries. Using data from Malaysian states over the period of 2000–2016 and applying ARDL/PMG models, our results show that changes in house prices have a positive and significant association with business establishment in specific economic sectors, including manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, information and communication, and financial and insurance in the long-run. However, the long-run relationship between house prices and business formation is negative and significant for electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply, construction, transportation and storage, accommodation and food service activities, and real estate industries. The short-run analysis indicates that there is a difference in the responses of business establishment in various industries to the changes in house prices.

PENSION SERVICE INSTITUTION SELECTION BY A PERSONALIZED QUANTIFIER-BASED MACONT METHOD

With the emergence of a variety of pension service institutions, how to choose a suitable institution has become a strategic decision-making problem faced by pension service demanders. To solve this problem, this study identifies key evaluation criteria of pension service institutions through the analysis of the relevant literature. Then, this study proposes a mixed aggregation by comprehensive normalization technique (MACONT) with a personalized quantifier to select pension service institutions, where the personalized qualifier with cubic spline interpolation is used to derive the position weights of criteria, and the MACONT is improved to determine the ranking of alternatives. A case study about the selection of pension service institutions is provided to verify the feasibility of the proposed model. It is found that the proposed method is effective in dealing with heterogeneous evaluation information, and the personalized quantifiers can be combined with MACONT methods to obtain an optimal solution associated with the attitude of pension service demanders. The identified key evaluation criteria are not only significant for pension service demanders, but also conducive to the further improvement of property management related to pension services.

HOW DOES THE G20 SUMMIT AFFECT LAND MARKET? EVIDENCE FROM CHINA

We employ the difference-in-difference and synthetic control methods to investigate the capitalization effect of hosting the G20 Summit on land market, based on China’s land transaction dataset from 2011 to 2019. We find that hosting the G20 Summit has a significant positive effect on land prices in the host city, increasing land prices by over 22.6% compared to comparable cities. The impact of hosting the G20 Summit on land prices is larger in the post-G20 period than in the preparation period. Further, hosting the G20 Summit has heterogeneous and distributional effects on land prices. The capitalization effects of venue construction and transportation infrastructure upgrading on land prices are the main channels.