The study investigates the effects of online instructional facilitator’s qualities on student performance of online class activities. The study explores the roles of instructional facilitators who may influence student performance of online class activities and their academic achievement. The study employs a set of aggregated data from 1,362 subjects and 10 facilitators who participated in multiple online classes. The results of independent samples t-test reveal that the student performance in online classes has no association with facilitators’ educational background or academic degree, as well as demographic characteristics, student evaluation records and instructional achievement. The results of multiple regression analysis show that the facilitator engagement has a positive relation to the enhancement of student interaction, reading discussion messages, and the quality of discussion messages in online discussions. The results of correlation analysis show that the facilitator engagement has a positive impact on both increasing the number of reading discussion messages and enhancing the quality of discussion messages. The facilitator engagement increases the quantity of reading discussion postings and enhances the quality of discussion messages, which would be a substantial contribution to student performance by facilitators. The findings suggest that student performance and academic achievement in online classes are not independent of facilitator engagement.

The paper examines the impact of proctoring environments on student performance in two different exam proctoring environments: online versus offline proctored exams. This study employs a set of aggregated data from 1,762 students over the eight-year period from 2009 to 2016 in a university. Although there were nine courses offered, they could have been counted more than once as students may appear several times to take exams for different courses. This study employs independent samples t-test and regression analysis to compare the means of two independent groups and to test the hypothesis. The results of the independent samples t-test and the regression analysis indicate that there is no difference in the mean scores of exams and, therefore, the findings suggest that the exam proctoring environment is unlikely related to student performance even when students take their exams either in online proctoring or offline proctoring environments. This study concludes that the proctoring environment unlikely results in a statistically significant difference of exam scores and, thus, the exam proctoring environment does not appear to cause any change in student performance. The findings suggest that the exam proctoring environments does not appear to impact on student academic achievements and assessments.

The study examines lagged economic effects of research and development (R&D) investment on the market value of manufacturing firms listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange or the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in China. This study applies panel data analysis methods to address the following issues: 1) There might be an adjustment lag in the impact of R&D investment on corporate market value, and 2) Unobserved firm effects must be taken into account. The balanced panel data includes a total of 1,462 observations with 34 cross-sections of manufacturing firms listed on Chinese stock markets and with 27 time-specific quarterly periods from 2007 to 2017. The results indicate that the R&D investment of Chinese manufacturing firms tends to yield favorable market value of the firm with some adjustments to time. The results show that R&D investment exhibits a strong positive impact on their market value of manufacturing firms in Chinese stock markets. Moreover, R&D investment has a positive time-lag effect on the market value of the firm. Interestingly, the R&D investment of Chinese manufacturing firms generate a relatively constant positive effect on their market value, supporting the notion that the corresponding returns of R&D investment for such firms yield lagged but added market values.

The paper seeks to explore the role of green finance in achieving sustainable development goals through the case of China, and address some issues of sustainable finance and environmental, social and governance concerns of green finance by introducing the episodes of green finance in China. This paper aims to provide some viewpoints about the following questions: 1) What are the latest trends in green finance? 2) What are the main challenges to the development of green finance? 3) What are policy recommendations for the development of green finance? 4) What are the roles of both the public and private sectors in promoting green finance? This paper identifies the mainstream to sustainable bonds, diversification of green finance, transition of corporates’ business models, transparency and disclosure, and harmonizing taxonomy and measurement of green finance for the emerging trends of green finance. As the results, this paper recommends some policy measures for the private sector such as greening the banking system, greening the bond market, and greening institutional investors. This paper also suggests some policy initiatives for the public sector such as developing policies and capacity, promoting market transparency and governance, and promoting private-public partnership for diversifying resources of green finance.

The paper aims to facilitate a discussion around how big data technologies and data from citizens can be used to help public administration, society, and policy-making to improve community’s lives. This paper discusses opportunities and challenges of big data strategies for government, society, and policy-making. It employs the presentation of numerous practical examples from different parts of the world, where public-service delivery has seen transformation and where initiatives have been taken forward that have revolutionized the way governments at different levels engage with the citizens, and how governments and civil society have adopted evidence-driven policymaking through innovative and efficient use of big data analytics. The examples include the governments of the United States, China, the United Kingdom, and India, and different levels of government agencies in the public services of fraud detection, financial market analysis, healthcare and public health, government oversight, education, crime fighting, environmental protection, energy exploration, agriculture, weather forecasting, and ecosystem management. The examples also include smart cities in Korea, China, Japan, India, Canada, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the European Union. This paper makes some recommendations about how big data strategies transform the government and public services to become more citizen-centric, responsive, accountable and transparent.

The study examines the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity on the firm market value, in particular, market capitalization of tour operators listed on Chinese stock markets. This study employs panel data analysis methods to examine endogeneity concerns in observational data. The balanced panel data includes a total of 1,296 observations with 27 cross-sections of tour operators listed on Chinese stock markets and with 48 time-specific periods from March 2006 to December 2017. The results indicate that CSR activity has a negative impact on the market value of the firm for the concurrent period, but from one-period time lag and afterwards CSR activity has a strong positive impact on the market value and sustains its positive impact on the market value even for a two-period time lag. The findings suggest that the economic effect of CSR activity on the firm market value tends to take some degree of lagged effects to be fully showcased in the market capitalization of tour operators and travel companies listed on Chinese stock markets. The findings suggest that, though CSR activity may carry some financial risk for an immediate short-term, tour operators must put a lot of time and effort into making CSR actions effective.

The study aims to investigate corporate social responsibility (CSR) best practices of the world automotive industry - Peugeot, BMW, Ford, Hyundai and Toyota among others – and recommend that they plan their business strategies and managerial responses accordingly. Based on the comparative research and case studies, this research finds that all five automobile manufacturers have taken very similar measures and actions in order to establish and maintain a high level of CSR practices. Sustainability was a core value in all five companies and served as a guiding principle in every aspect and approach of their business. This study finds that all five companies have CSR strategies in place to increase energy efficiency as well as reduce the usage and wastage of water in their production and plants. This research also finds that all companies monitor their suppliers and their own production process to ensure that they maintain their CSR standards. More impressively, this sustainable management practice is transferred along the companies’ supply chain through education and training. Their suppliers and business partners are closely monitored to make sure that their high CSR standards are respected and followed. However, we find that there also are some differences in terms of their CSR deliveries and activities.

The paper aims to investigate the relationship between firm size and organizational actions on adopting social media for corporate reputation management. The sample group of 198 companies is selected with a simple random sample method from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) listings: Sixty nine companies were from the Fortune 500 listings, seventy one companies from the NYSE midsize capitalization and fifty eight companies from the NYSE small capitalization listings. This study employs cross tabulations and Chi-square analysis, and the Kruskal-Wallis that enables the comparison of three samples that are independent. The results of the study show that (1) large firms have more social media ownership than small firms, (2) large firms respond to social media posts at a greater frequency and quickly than small firms, and (3) firm size is less likely associated with response styles to social media for online reputation management. The results show that reply time and response styles of organizations to social media customers in the 2015 survey has no significant change compared to that of 2011. There appears to be a pervasive lack strategic framework as most firms in the study were found not to be adequately monitoring or leveraging social media communication for their reputation management.

The study aims to articulate a definition of luxury brands, to propose a framework for consumer luxury brand relationships and to provide empirical evidence of the proposed model. The study conducted two surveys in Portugal and the United States in 2009 and 2013 for selected luxury brands. The study employs factor analysis and structural equation modelling techniques to test the hypotheses. The study finds a link between luxury products and consumer’s psychological association represents in a hierarchical order of: cognitive attributes at its base level, extrinsic attributes on a secondary level and intrinsic attributes at the advance level. The findings suggest a concept for luxury brands from three dimensions of: luxury product characteristics, consumer’s psychological characteristics, and consumer’s psychological association with the luxury product. The research was conducted in Portugal and the United States so that there is always a potential criticism concerning the ability to generalize research results to a broader international population. The findings provide a holistic perspective in the understanding of luxury brand constructs and a definition of luxury brands in the way why consumers involve symbolic consumption. The successful application of the findings in a brand setting would be of particular interest to marketers and brand strategists.

The study examines economic and environmental impacts of mass tourism on regional tourism destinations, particularly the establishment of “Ten New Bali”, in Indonesia. The sample is restricted to the period of time in which annual data is available and comparable among variables from 1980 to 2015 (36 observations). All of the time series data was collected and retrieved from the World Development Indicator database published by the World Bank. This study applies cointegrating regression analysis using the fully modified OLS, canonical cointegrating regression, and dynamic OLS. The results of the study suggest that 1) there is a long-run equilibrium relationship between tourism receipts, environmental degradation and economic growth in Indonesia, 2) tourism growth and agriculture land growth are positively related to an increase of total output in the short-run in Indonesia, and 3) arable land is significant at the 0.01 level, but forest rents and CO2 from transport are not significant in the short-run in Indonesia. The results confirm that arable land is negatively related to an increase of total output in Indonesia. That is, when tourism growth in the economy is getting realized it shows that the environmental degradation increases greatly in inverse in the model, eventually negative impacts to the environment.

This paper examines short-run and long-run dynamic relationships between selected macroeconomic variables and stock prices in the Korea Stock Exchange. The data is restricted to the period for which monthly data are available from January 1986 to October 2016 (370 observations) retrieved from the Economic Statistics System database sponsored by the Bank of Korea. The study employs unit root test, cointegration test, vector error correction estimates, impulse response test, and structural break test. The results of the Johansen cointegration test indicate at least three cointegrating equations exist at the 0.05 level in the model, confirming that there is a long-run equilibrium relationship between stock prices and macroeconomic variables in Korea. The results of vector error correction model (VECM) estimates indicate that money supply and short-term interest rate are not related to stock prices in the short-run. However, exchange rate is positively related to stock prices while the industrial production index and inflation are negatively related to stock prices in the short-run. Furthermore, the VECM estimates indicate that the external shock, such as regional and global financial crisis shocks, neither affects changes in the endogenous variables nor causes instability in the cointegrating vector. This study finds that the endogenous variables are determined by their own dynamics in the model.

The study examines the magnitude of economic spillover and the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows on the efficiency of the bank industry in China. This study employs unit root tests, cointegration tests and cointegrating regression analysis, including fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS), canonical cointegrating regression (CCR) and dynamic OLS (DOLS) to test the proposed hypotheses. The sample is restricted to the period of time in which monthly data is available and comparable among variables for the period from January 2002 to October 2013 (142 observations). All of the time series data was collected and retrieved from the People’s Bank of China, China Monthly Statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics of China, and International Financial Statistics database from International Monetary Fund. The results of the Johansen cointegration test suggest that there is a long-run equilibrium relationship between FDI inflows, foreign exchange rate and banks performance in China. The results of cointegrating regression analysis using FMOLS, CCR and DOLS suggest that M2 supply and FDI inflows are significant at the 0.01 level. The results confirm that FDI inflows in the banking sector are positively related to the increase of banks productivity and performance and short-term loans in China. However, the results suggest that Chinese Yuan currency exchange rate to U.S. dollar is not significant in the banking and financial industry of China.

The paper examines critical factors affecting consumer behavioral intentions in accepting online health communication through social networking sites. Unlike recent research under this topic, the paper assimilates some components of service quality dimensions and consumer behavior theories. The paper employs factor analysis and structural equation modelling analysis with latent variables to identify critical factors from the survey data collected from Korean consumers. The results of the study identifies three major constructs: consumer needs for health information, the perceived value of tangible attributes of health information providers, and the perceived value of intangible attributes of health information providers. The results show that consumer needs for health information and the tangible and intangible attributes of health information providers should be considered as important antecedents of accepting online health communication through social networking sites. The findings suggest that the success of online health communication via social networking sites largely depends on the tangible and intangible attributes of health information providers.

The purpose of this research is to be acquainted with the awareness and approval of halal supply chain among Indian manufacturers and distribution network members for haulage and warehousing activities from the perception of respective service suppliers. A total of 20 respondents, which consist of 10 transportation companies and 10 warehousing companies from the State of Andhra Pradesh in India were selected for the study by using purposive sampling method. The principal focal points of the discussions are on awareness and adoption of halal transportation and warehousing services chosen for the study in the comprehensive halal supply chain. A total of 90 percent and 70 percent of respondents from the transportation and warehousing companies respectively agreed that they know only about the concept of halal but do not have any exposure and ken on the halal supply chain. However, findings of this research won’t have extensive validity in the market, gaining an enough familiarity with the halal supply chain in the Indian social context is of immense importance. This is a pioneering attempt aimed to investigate the awareness and adoption levels of halal supply chain among Indian businessmen which are precious for supply chain companies to customize their services in the country as well to the world of academia.

With the increasing trend of popularity of websites and social networking sites, it is quite evident that companies need to take cautionary measures in protecting the reputations with respect to company and brands. In this process, every company should indulge in enhancing their company and brand image through websites and social networking sites that fortify the bonding nature among them. The always-on nature of websites and social networking sites has contributed to their phenomenal marketing power and altered the balance of power between consumers and firms. Websites and social networks are used by hundreds of millions of people to communicate about a huge range of topics, including personal interests, activities, social events and even public issues. The paper explores a case study of the Ritz- Carlton hotel for their marketing strategy and organizational use of their website and social media in communicating with their customers. Even for the normal luxury traveler who would not have previously used the Internet to research a hotel or make a reservation, ritzcarlton.com is making it possible for them to do so in a sense of the luxury and typical Ritz-Carlton style. It seems to be a staple of the company for years to come.

The paper explores determinants of corporate adoption of social media and the role of technology acceptance model in the path. This paper assimilates some components of the technology acceptance dimension and social expectation theories to determine corporate intentions to use social media. Six hundred and forty-eight samples collected from hotel staff in Korea are analyzed using factor analysis, structural equation model techniques and one-way analysis of variance. The results show that corporate needs, social expectations, ease of use and usefulness should be viewed as important antecedents explaining the firm’s behavioral intention to use social media. The study also finds that the ease of use and usefulness of the technology acceptance model have positive directional mediation effects in the path diagram.

Since World War II nations have formed alliances for reasons of security and trade. Countries have seen international integration as an appropriate approach to resolving domestic and international political issues, improving their welfare by both transforming their infrastructures and increasing their foreign trade. While the majority of these relationships are straightforward d Turkey’s relationship with the European Union is more complex due to differences in religion and, at times, political ideology from other Union members. As a candidate country Turkey has made advances towards the full membership of the European Union with the customs union being the most significant. The impact of customs union membership is discussed and the effects of the customs union on Turkey’s trade and economy are examined from a perspective of different economic theories.

The paper examines the antecedents of acceptance of social networking sites in retail franchise and restaurant businesses. The success of retail franchise and restaurant business operators via social networking sites depends not only on organizational benefits but also on their behavioral intentions of using it. Three hundred and twenty four samples collected from South Korean retail franchise and restaurant employees are analyzed using factor analysis, structural equation model techniques and one-way analysis of variance. The results of the study identify the three constructs of organizational benefits, perceived tangible assets and perceived intangible assets as for important antecedents to accept social networking sites for their business use. Moreover, higher position employees tend to have more favorable perception of tangible assets and acceptance of social networking sites for their business use.

The paper deals with the impact of the product distribution and information technology sectors on energy resource use, carbon emissions and economic growth by examining the long-run equilibrium relationships and Granger causal relationships among these variables in South Korea. The quarterly time series data from the first quarter of 1970 to the third quarter of 2010 (163 observations) are collected and retrieved from the Bank of Korea database. The paper examines the long-run equilibrium relationships using cointegration techniques and Granger causality using vector error correction models. Test results indicate a long-run equilibrium relationship exists among these variables. In testing directional causality, both the product distribution and the information technology sectors show direct effects on economic growth but only marginal effects on carbon emissions.

This paper empirically examines the short-run and long-run causal relationship between stock market prices and exchange rates in Chinese stock markets using monthly data from January 2002 to December 2012 retrieved from the National Bureau of Statistics of the People’s Republic of China. Unit root, cointegration tests, vector error correction estimates, block exogeneity Wald tests, impulse responses, variance decomposition techniques and structural break tests are employed. This study found 1) long-run causality from exchange rates to stock prices in Chinese stock markets and 2) short-run causality from Japanese yen and Korean won exchange rates to stock prices in the Shanghai Stock Exchange strongly prevails while in the Shenzhen Stock Exchange weakly prevails . The impact of the global financial crisis from 2007 to 2009 on Chinese stock markets was insignificant.