Applied Economics

Welcome to the ISWorld Section on Qualitative Research in Information Systems (IS). This section aims to provide qualitative researchers in IS -and those wanting to know how to do qualitative research -with useful information on the conduct, evaluation and publication of qualitative research.

This paper proposes a framework for analysing the operation of management control systems structured around five central issues. These issues relate to objectives, strategies and plans for their attainment, target-setting, incentive and reward structures and information feedback loops. Their central focus is on the management of organizational performance. Because the framework has been inductively developed, its application is 'tested' against three major systems of organizational control, namely budgeting, economic value added and the balanced scorecard. In each case, neglected areas of development are exposed and fruitful topics for research identified. It is believed that the framework can usefully be developed further by its use in analysing other instances of management control systems practice, and that casebased, longitudinal studies provide the best route to this end.

existindtraditional technologies and the produciton of new technologies. The concept of blending seems to belong as a subset of the second source of appropriate technology in this classification, that is, in the application of new technologies to the enhancement of existing/traditional technologies.

Many international business failures have been ascribed to a lack of crosscultural competence (CC) on the part of business practitioners. However, the international business literature appears to lack an adequate conceptualization and definition of the term 'CC', focusing instead on the knowledge, skills and attributes that appear to be its antecedents. In this conceptual study, we propose a definition of CC as it applies to international business and develop a model for understanding how CC is nurtured in individuals, linking our definition to the concept of cultural intelligence. We discuss the components of the model and suggest that there are environmental and contextual impediments to the effective application of the requisite skills, knowledge and attributes that have been identified as necessary for CC, resulting in a gap between 'knowing' and 'doing'. We conclude by discussing the implications of the model for practitioners, and by suggesting appropriate directions for further research.

This report summarizes the results of a two-year study of the economic value of New Jersey's natural capital. Natural capital consists of those components of the natural environment that provide aa long-term stream of benefits to individual people and to society as a whole; the value of natural capital is defined in this report as the present value of that benefit stream. Many of the benefits provided by natural capital come from ecological systems ("ecosystems"); an ecosystem is a dynamic complex of plant, animal, and microorganism communities and their nonliving environment, all interacting as a functional unit.

Increasing use of the World Wide Web as a B2C commercial tool raises interest in understanding the key issues in building relationships with customers on the Internet. Trust is believed to be the key to these relationships. Given the differences between a virtual and a conventional marketplace, antecedents and consequences of trust merit re-examination. This research identifies a number of key factors related to trust in the B2C context and proposes a framework based on a series of underpinning relationships among these factors. The findings in this research suggest that people are more likely to purchase from the web if they perceive a higher degree of trust in e-commerce and have more experience in using the web. Customer's trust levels are likely to be influenced by the level of perceived market orientation, site quality, technical trustworthiness, and user's web experience. People with a higher level of perceived site quality seem to have a higher level of perceived market orientation and trustworthiness towards e-commerce. Furthermore, people with a higher level of trust in e-commerce are more likely to participate in e-commerce. Positive 'word of mouth', money back warranty and partnerships with well-known business partners, rank as the top three effective risk reduction tactics. These findings complement the previous findings on e-commerce and shed light on how to establish a trust relationship on the World Wide Web. 

The paper observes that rising government expenditure has not translated to meaningful development as Nigeria still ranks among world's poorest countries. In an attempt to investigate the effect of government expenditure on economic growth, we employed a disaggregated analysis. The results reveal that government total capital expenditure (TCAP), total recurrent expenditures (TREC), and government expenditure on education (EDU) have negative effect on economic growth. On the contrary, rising government expenditure on transport and communication (TRACO), and health (HEA) results to an increase in economic growth. The authors' recommendations include among others the following. Government should increase both capital expenditure and recurrent expenditure, including expenditures on education, as well as ensuring that funds meant for the development of these sectors are properly managed. Secondly, government should increase its investment in the development of transport and communication, in order to create an enabling environment for business to strive. Thirdly, government should raise its expenditure in the development of the health sector since it would enhance labour productivity and economic growth. Lastly, government should encourage and increase the funding of anti-corruption agencies in order to tackle the high level of corruption found in public office.

Calvert K and Simandan D (2010) Energy, space, and society: a reassessment of the changing landscape of energy production, distribution, and use Journal of Economics and Business Research XVI(1), pp. 13-37.
ABSTRACT: While geography has always mattered for the energy sector, the relative effects of location and distance on the economics of energy regimes are increasing as we begin to deploy more renewable energy technologies. This reintroduction of the friction of distance is leading to an energy landscape that is far different from fossil-based regimes. The new energy paradigm, based as it is upon the physics and the economics of renewable energy, is being reflected in the landscape as distributed, decentralized, and diversified patterns of energy generation. Because the increased use of renewable energy technologies is beginning to change the spatial patterns of political and socioeconomic activities, a thorough understanding of these patterns is crucial to increasing the socio-political acceptability of new technologies and to avoiding the socially costly unintended consequences of policy and investment decisions.  This paper proposes a theoretical foundation upon which economists and economic geographers could scaffold their analyses of the spatial characteristics of the economics of energy use.  To this end, we bring together two complementary conceptualizations of economic geography: firstly, as the study of the effects of location and distance on energy economics, and secondly, as the study of the ways in which political, economic, and technological energy-related practices give rise to particular spatial patterns of socio-economic welfare. We end the paper by developing the concept of energy rationality and showing how it relates to discussions of metarationality, common sense, and wisdom.

North begins his book by stating that "institutions are the rules of the game in a society or, more formally, are the humanly devised constraints that shape human interaction."(3) That being said North then proposes to examine institutions, changes in them, and their impact on economic performance over time.

Previous research has proposed different types for and contingency factors affecting information technology governance. Yet, in spite of this valuable work, it is still unclear through what mechanisms IT governance affects organizational performance. We make a detailed argument for the mediation of strategic alignment in this process. Strategic alignment remains a top priority for business and IT executives, but theory-based empirical research on the relative importance of the factors affecting strategic alignment is still lagging. By consolidating strategic alignment and IT governance models, this research proposes a nomological model showing how organizational value is created through IT governance mechanisms. Our research model draws upon the resource-based view of the firm and provides guidance on how strategic alignment can mediate the effectiveness of IT governance on organizational performance. As such, it contributes to the knowledge bases of both alignment and IT governance...

This paper examines the empirical relationship between long-run growth and financial development, proxied by the ratio between bank credit to the private sector and GDP. We find that this proxy is positively correlated with growth in a large cross-country sample, but its impact changes across countries, and is negative in a panel data for Latin America. We argue that the latter findings is the result of financial liberalization in a poor regulatory environment. Gur tindings also show that the main channel of transmission from financial development to growth is the efficiency, rather than the volume, of investment.

The 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) is a practical self-report anxiety questionnaire that proved valid in primary care. However, the GAD-7 was not yet validated in the general population and thus far, normative data are not available. Objectives: To investigate reliability, construct validity, and factorial validity of the GAD-7 in the general population and to generate normative data. Research Design: Nationally representative face-to-face household survey conducted in Germany between May 5 and June 8, 2006. Subjects: Five thousand thirty subjects (53.6% female) with a mean age (SD) of 48.4 (18.0) years.

The main objective of an accounting information system (AIS), a pre-eminently user-oriented system, is the collection and recording of data and information regarding events that have an economic impact upon organizations and the maintenance, processing and communication of information to internal and external stakeholders. The results of this study show that although AIS is very useful to Iranian corporation, it is a gap between what AIS is and what should be.

This paper reviews and proposes additional research concerning the role of publicly reported financial accounting information in the governance processes of corporations. We first discuss research on the use of financial accounting in managerial incentive plans and explore future research directions. We then propose that governance research be extended to explore more comprehensively the use of financial accounting information in additional corporate control mechanisms, and suggest opportunities for expanding such research. We also propose cross-country research to investigate more directly the effects of financial accounting information on economic performance through its role in governance and more generally. r (R.M. Bushman). 0165-4101/01/$ -see front matter r 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 1 6 5 -4 1 0 1 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 0 2 7 -1

Drawing on organizational learning and economic sociology, we address how relational embeddedness between the foreign parent and international joint venture (IJV) managers influences the type of knowledge (i.e., tacit and explicit) transferred to the IJV, and how the importance of relational embeddedness varies between young and mature IJVs. We also examine the influence of tacit and explicit knowledge on IJV performance. Our results show the importance that tie strength, trust, and shared values and systems play in the transfer of tacit knowledge, especially for mature IJVs. Our findings are consistent with Uzzi's tenets: tacit learning is accumulative, assists in explaining explicit knowledge, and is enhanced by social embeddedness. We also find that the influence of transferred tacit knowledge on IJV performance stems principally from its indirect effect on the learning of explicit knowledge.

We examine determinants of weaknesses in internal control for 779 firms disclosing material weaknesses from August 2002 to August 2005. We find that these firms tend to be smaller, younger, financially weaker, more complex, growing rapidly, or undergoing restructuring. Firms with more serious entity-wide control problems are smaller, younger and weaker financially, while firms with less severe, account-specific problems are healthy financially but have complex, diversified, and rapidly changing operations. Finally, we find that the determinants also vary based on the specific reason for the material weakness, consistent with each firm facing their own unique set of internal control challenges.

Megaproject Planning and Management: Essential Readings contains the seminal articles from the growing body of research on megaproject planning and management along with an original introduction by the editor, Bent Flyvbjerg. The leading and most cited authority in the field, Flyvbjerg has used crowdsourcing and 25 years of experience to cherry-pick from several hundred articles and books the writings that define the field. This volume will be an indispensable source for those wishing to speak with authority about how megaprojects are prepared, delivered, and fought over. The target audience is students, academics, practitioners, and media pundits alike, as well as communities affected by megaprojects.

The Uppsala internationalization process model is revisited in the light of changes in business practices and theoretical advances that have been made since 1977. Now the business environment is viewed as a web of relationships, a network, rather than as a neoclassical market with many independent suppliers and customers. Outsidership, in relation to the relevant network, more than psychic distance, is the root of uncertainty. The change mechanisms in the revised model are essentially the same as those in the original version, although we add trust-building and knowledge creation, the latter to recognize the fact that new knowledge is developed in relationships.

The drive for reform in the public sector worldwide has focussed attention on the measurement of performance in public sector organizations. This is particularly true in local government. Local government has traditionally been concerned with measuring the delivery of primary objectives, or results, at the expense of secondary objectives, or the determinants of organizational performance. Current strategic management literature suggests that there should be a strong linkage between strategic plans and performance measures. Kaplan and Norton's (1992) balanced scorecard and Fitzgerald et al. 's (1991) results and determinants framework can provide this linkage. This paper reports on research into performance management systems in local government using the four dimensions of the balanced scorecard: financial, community, internal business processes and innovation and learning. It shows how the focus in this system of local government has been on the results of council work, ie. financial performance and to a lesser extent on how the community views performance. Local government performance measurement pays much less attention to the determinants, or means of achieving long-term, sustained organizational improvement in internal business processes, and innovation and learning. Whilst these issues are recognized as important, there are few measurement processes in place to manage performance in these areas. Strategic performance management demands an approach that recognizes the importance of a focus on both results and the means of achieving these results. This paper highlights a suggested framework for strategic and balanced local government performance measurement.

This paper employs a new database, which contains the market and accounting data from more than 1000 Chinese listed companies up to the year 2000, to document the characteristics of these firms in terms of capital structure. As in other countries, leverage in Chinese firms increases with firm size, non-debt tax shields and fixed assets, and decreases with profitability and correlates with industries. We also find that ownership structure affects leverage. Different from those in other countries, leverage in Chinese firms increases with volatility and firms tend to have much lower long-term debt. The static tradeoff model rather than pecking order hypothesis seems better in explaining the features of capital structure for Chinese listed companies.

Purpose -Emphasis on the importance of halal products is now growing. It is fast becoming a new market force and brand identifier and is now moving into the mainstream market, affecting and changing perception on how business should be conducted, including from a marketing point of view. The purpose of this paper is to test the applicability of the theory of reasoned action (TRA) in predicting the intention to choose halal product among Malaysian consumers. Design/methodology/approach -A structured questionnaire was used to elicit responses from consumers using a convenience sampling technique. A total of 485 responses were received. Needless to say, this study extends the applicability of the TRA to study halal product usage among consumers in Malaysia. Findings -The findings indicated that the TRA is a valid model in the prediction of the intention to choose halal products. Attitude (b ¼ 0.288, p , 0.001) and subjective norm (b ¼ 0.814, p , 0.001) were found to be positively related to intention, with subjective norm being the more influential predictor. Subjective norm was also positively related to the attitude (b ¼ 0.336, p , 0.001) to choose halal products.

Technology. The analysis reveals that the policy is inadequate to impact positively on the Nigerian education system, and that the philosophical frame of reference is market driven. The policy places little emphasis on the integration and infusion of ICT in the country's education system. Policy implications and suggestions are offered to ensure maximum use of ICT potentials in the Nigerian school system.

This paper examines the Individualism–Collectivism (I-C) dimension of national culture in the Hofstede and GLOBE models. We identify major contradictions between the two culture models, which result in contradictory relationships with external variables such as economic prosperity. We critically evaluate the content validity of the items used to measure this construct in both models. Based on our analysis, we suggest

This paper demonstrates that trade liberalization does not have a simple and straightforward relationship with growth using a large number of openness measures for a cross section of countries over the last three decades. We use two groups of trade openness measures. The regression results for numerous trade intensity ratios are mostly consistent with the existing literature. However, contrary to the conventional view on the growth effects of trade barriers, our estimation results show that trade barriers are positively and, in most specifications, significantly associated with growth, especially for developing countries and they are consistent with the findings of theoretical growth and development literature. D

Why is corruption -the misuse of public office for private gain -perceived to be more widespread in some countries than others? Different theories associate this with particular historical and cultural traditions, levels of economic development, political institutions, and government policies. This article analyzes several indexes of 'perceived corruption' compiled from business risk surveys for the 1980s and 1990s. Six arguments find support. Countries with Protestant traditions, histories of British rule, more developed economies, and (probably) higher imports were less 'corrupt'. Federal states were more 'corrupt'. While the current degree of democracy was not significant, long exposure to democracy predicted lower corruption.

The effects of selected high-performance practices and working hours on work–life balance are analysed with data from national surveys of British employees in 1992 and 2000. Alongside long hours, which are a constant source of negative job-to-home spillover, certain ‘high-performance’ practices have become more strongly related to negative spillover during this period. Surprisingly, dual-earner couples are not especially liable to spillover — if anything, less so than single-earner couples. Additionally, the presence of young children has become less important over time. Overall, the results suggest a conflict between high-performance practices and work-life balance policies.

This paper empirically examines whether certain corporate governance mechanisms are related to the probability of a company restating its earnings. We examine a sample of 159 U.S. public companies that restated earnings and an industry-size matched sample of control firms. We have assembled a novel, hand-collected data set that measures the corporate governance characteristics of these 318 firms. We find that several key governance characteristics are unrelated to the probability of a company restating earnings. These include the independence of boards and audit committees and the provision of nonaudit services by outside auditors. We find that the probability of restatement is lower in companies whose boards or audit committees have an independent director with financial expertise; it is higher in companies in which the chief executive officer belongs to the founding family. These relations are statistically significant, large in magnitude, and robust to alternative specifications. Our findings are consistent with the idea that independent directors with financial expertise are valuable in providing oversight of a firm's financial reporting practices.

A state-level survey of registered nurses confirmed national findings and raised new issues. Findings revealed that while nurses love the intrinsic reward of nursing, they report workplace, relationship, and stress issues which contribute to frustration and exhaustion. These issues may prevent registered nurses from giving the nursing care they desire to deliver, hastening preventable retirement and costly turnover decisions.

Economic theory provides a unique vantage point from which to examine issues with respect to emerging technologies, where stan-11 dards and adoption, business process changes and implementation outcomes, information security, investments and business value, and 12 industry impact require care and consideration on the part of senior management strategists and financial services leaders. In this article, 13 we examine a new technology application which is coming into its own around the world, in association with the revolution in wireless 14 connectivity: mobile payments. Although there are likely to be nuances and surprises with this technology application, we caution the 15 reader to recognize that many of the same economic forces will be at work as were with other financial services and related technology 16 applications in the past. We apply a robust evaluative framework that permits identification of the relevant stakeholders and applicable 17 theory in the analysis of consumer, firm, business process, market, industrial and social issues. Our findings are intended to guide senior 18 managers in dealing with the economic aspects of mobile payments, and to help identify some important directions for the research. 19

Technica, or chartist, analysis of financial markets involves providing forecasts or trading advice on the basis of largely visual inspection of past prices, without regard to any underlying economic or ‘fundamental’ analysis. This paper reports the results of a questionnaire survey, conducted on behalf of the Bank of England, among chief foreign exchange dealers based in London in November 1988. Amongst other findings, it is revealed that at least 90 per cent of respondents place some weight on this form of non-fundamental analysis when forming views at one or more time horizons. There is also a skew towards reliance on technical, as opposed to fundamentalist, analysis at shorter horizons, which becomes steadily reversed as the length of horizon considered is increased. A very high proportion of chief dealers view technical and fundamental analysis as complementary forms of analysis and a substantial proportion suggest that technical advice may be self-fulfilling. (JEL F31)