It has continuously promoted to scale up the agricultural management body in order to cope with the market-opening pressure such as the UR negotiation, the DDA negotiation, and more conclusions of FTAs and to enhance the competitiveness of our agriculture. This study evaluated the factors associated with production organization participation centered on environmentally-friendly agriculture farmers in order to improve the production efficiency of environmentally-friendly agriculture in the aspect of production. In order to achieve this objective, this study evaluated the factors that contributed to participating in an organization using the bivariate probit model focusing on environmentally-friendly agriculture farmers in Chungnam. This study examined the validity and reliability of the study model through exploratory factor analysis. The results of factor analyses identified four factors: “distribution”, “production”, “organization operation”, and “social capital”. The results of the bivariate probit model showed that distribution significantly affected production activities and distribution, organization operation, agricultural income, and gender significantly influenced sale activities. Environmentally-friendly production organization had not been able to provide the productive support that was needed for local farmers to produce environmentally-friendly agricultural products in a region. Additionally, farming education did not provide the information needed by the farmers. Although producers had a network within a production organization, it was operated mainly for administrators. Therefore, participants felt somewhat lacking. This study identified the level of organization of producer organizations in Chungnam area, where environmentally-friendly agriculture is well activated. This study suggested implications for future production organization participation by evaluating factors affecting participation quantitatively.

Purpose - Since the local liquor industry uses the agricultural products produced in the region as the main raw material, cultivation of the industry can be a way to expand the demand for domestic agricultural products and can contribute to the income increase of the farmers. In addition, the local liquor industry can be developed into a region-specific industry differentiated from other regions by linking with the region's tourism resources. Therefore, in order to achieve various derivative effects through promotion of the local liquor industry, it is necessary to precisely understand the factors related to the purchase and consumption of local liquor which then will lead to an increase in consumption. This study analyzes the current status and problems of local liquor industries and examines the determinants of consumers' purchasing decisions of regional specialties through questionnaires. We will then propose a strategy to promote consumption of locally produced alcoholic beverages. Research design, data, and methodology - An online Domestic Consumer Survey was conducted to identify the actual purchases and uses of local liquors for 500 consumers nationwide. Based on the questionnaire results, the analysis uses an ordered probit model. Results - As a result of analyzing the effect of consumer characteristics on the purchase of local liquors, it was found that the average cost of drinking, income, local specialty, brewery experience, and health concerns have a significant effect on gender, drinking frequency. All the variables except the participation in the training of the special provincial manufacturing method were found to be statistically significant. The statistical significance was at a 1% significance level for the remaining factors excluding the bottle design. This shows that the higher taste, quality, price, and harmony with food, the higher the probability of purchasing local liquors. Conclusions - In the analysis of factors influencing the purchase intention of local liquors, it was found that factors such as taste, quality, price, and harmony with food had a significant effect. Given the diversity of purchasing factors, the importance of diversification strategies is emphasized again. In particular, it will be important to secure wide publicity for local liquors through various PR strategies.

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to find out the intellectual capital disclosure (ICD) and its determinants in the pharmaceutical and chemical industry of Bangladesh. Research design, data, and methodology - This research study is conducted on the listed firms of pharmaceutical and chemical industry in Bangladesh during the period of 2016 to 2017. This study develops a self-structured intellectual capital disclosure index; and the proxies of determinants of ICD are used as board characteristics (board size, independent directors and female directors), ownership structures (institutional ownership and director ownership), and firm characteristics (firm size, leverage and performance). The study uses a content analysis to analyze the extent of ICD and a pooled cross-sectional method to find the determinants of ICD. Research Findings - This study finds that intellectual capital disclosure is positively associated with firm size, leverage, and firm performance and negatively associated with director ownership and institutional ownership. This study also finds that there is no significant association of ICD with independent director or female director. Conclusions - The study recommends that the regulatory authority should develop mandatory guidelines on ICD for ensuring proper and consistent disclosure about the intellectual capitals. Besides, the companies should include a separate section in the annual reports to disclose the measurement and management of intellectual capital.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of corporate anti-corruption practice disclosure (ACPD) from the perspective of rent-seeking theory. Research design, data, and methodology - Data are hand-collected from corporate social responsibility reports (CSRR) issued by 724 A-share listed firms in China. This paper provides an empirical analysis of the relationship between ownership structure and corporate ACPD as well as its moderating role in the institutional environment. Results - Our findings indicate that rent-seeking is a key factor in influencing corporate ACPD. State-owned enterprises disclose significantly more anti-corruption information than private ones in order to achieve personal promotion of top executives. Monopoly enterprises reported significantly less anti-corruption information than enterprises in competitive industries due to their rent-seeking behavior. The reduction of government intervention and improvement of legal environment are helpful to curb corporate rent-seeking activities and enhance the level of corporate ACPD. Conclusions - Rent-seeking is an important factor in explaining corporate voluntary disclosure in emerging countries. Institutional environment also plays a moderating role in the relationship between ownership structure and corporate voluntary disclosure. Our results are of interest to policy makers, regulators and market participants that are interested in corporate voluntary disclosure and corruption prevention.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to find out the determinants of the quality of financial information in the financial environment of the cement companies of Bangladesh. Research design, data and methodology - This study considers a total of fifty-eight firm years as the sample from the seven listed cement companies of Bangladesh during the period of 2007 to 2015. This study applies the multivariate regression analysis including the pooled OLS, panel and controlling time. Results - This study finds that profitability and external financing are the two major explanatory variables in determining the quality of financial information. This study also finds that firm size and accrual quality don’t have any significant influence on quality of financial information. Conclusion - This study observed that profitability of this sector which is much volatile and prone to be manipulated. Thus, this paper suggests that higher profitability needs more scrutiny while assessing quality of financial information. Finally, this study provides some indications for future research such as considering the listed firms of other sectors of Bangladesh or cross country comparison in different country setting.

운임시장의 심한 변동성과 시계열 데이터의 불안정성으로 해운시황 예측에 대한 연구가 큰 성과를 내지 못하고 있지만 최근 대표적인 비선형 모델인 기계학습모델을 적용한 연구들이 활발히 진행되고 있다. 대부분의 기존 연구가 계량모델의 설계단계에서 입력변수에 해당하는 요인들을 기존 문헌연구와 연구자의 직관에 의존하여 선정했기 때문에 요인선정에 대한 체계적인 연구가 필요하다. 본 연구에서는 케이프선 운임을 대상으로 단계적 회귀모형과 랜덤포레스트모델을 이용하여 중요 영향요인을 분석하였다. 해운시장에서 비교적 단순한 수급구조를 가져 요인파악이 용이한 케이프선 운임을 대상으로 하였으며 총 16개의 수급요인들을 사전 추출하였다. 요인간의 상호관련성을 파악하여 단계적 회귀는 8개 요인, 랜덤포레스트는 10개 요인을 분석대상으로 선정하였으며 선정된 변수를 입력변수로 하여 예측한 결과를 비교하였다. 랜덤포레스트의 예측성능이 아주 우수하였는데 수요요인이 주로 선정된 단계적 회귀분석과는 달리 공급요인이 비중 있게 선정되었기 때문인 것으로 판단된다. 본 연구는 운임예측 연구에 있어 운임결정요인에 대한 과학적인 근거를 마련하였으며 이를 위해 기계학습 기반의 모델을 활용하였다는데 연구적 의의가 있다. 또한 시장정보의 분석에 있어 실무자들이 어떤 변수에 중점을 두어야 하는지에 대해 합리적 근거를 제시한 측면에서 해운기업의 의사결정에 실질적 도움이 될 것으로 기대된다.

The study is aimed at investigating the main factors that affect the interest rate yields, in the long-term. In addition, the study surveys the theories and literature relating to the determinants of interest rate. The importance of which is essential not only for governments, but also for banks and corporate financial risk management decisions, including risk exposures in banks and capital markets. Interest rate influences corporate profit as well as growth. For this purpose, the study examines the impact of budget deficit, risk-free rate, capital inflows, money supply and business cycles on real interest rate in Jordan. These factors are based upon well-established theories and straightforward practical view as interest rate determinants. Using data for (1990-2015), the study employed Johansen’s co-integrating test, which takes into consideration the long-term unsynchronized relationships. The data is tested for normality, symmetric correlations, covariance diagonal and unit root. The results show that the government budget deficit, short-term risk-free interest rate, capital inflows, money supply and business cycle are long-term determinants of the real interest rate in Jordan. The coefficients of government budget deficit, short-term risk-free rate, money supply and business cycle all are inversely affecting the real interest rate, while capital inflows has a positive impact on the real interest rate.

Purpose - Social welfare is a social insurance system that provides funds and services for all citizens to maximize their life quality. Its ultimate goal is to alleviate social contradictions. Therefore, this paper explores the determinants of social welfare in terms of macroeconomics. Research design, data, and methodology - Based on the vector error correction model, the annual time series from 1990 to 2017 will be used to conduct an empirical analysis. The real GDP, the real income, the inflation and the degree of openness will be treated as independent variables. The input of social welfare will be treated as a dependent variable. These variables will be used to perform the cointegration test and the vector error correction model to explore how the macroeconomic variables affect social welfare both in long run and short run. Result - Via the empirical analysis, it can be summarized that the real GDP, the real income and the degree of openness are the driving determinants to enlarge the social welfare. Conversely, the inflation is the obstructive determinant to reduce the social welfare. Conclusion - The positive and negative determinants of social welfare exist simultaneously, China’s government should take macroeconomic regulation and control to balance them to enlarge social welfare.

Purpose - This work analyzes, in detail, the specification of vector error correction model (VECM) and thus examines the relationships and impact among seven economic variables for USA - balance on current account (BCA), index of stock (STOCK), gross domestic product (GDP), housing price indices (HOUSING), a measure of the money supply that includes total currency as well as large time deposits, institutional money market funds, short-term repurchase agreements and other larger liquid assets (M3), real rate of interest (IR_REAL) and household credits (LOAN). In particular, we search for the main explanatory variables that have an effect on stock and real estate market, respectively and investigate the causal and dynamic associations between them. Research design, data, and methodology – We perform the time series vector error correction model to infer the dynamic relationships among seven variables above. This work employs the conventional augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) and Phillips-Perron (PP) unit root techniques to test for stationarity among seven variables under consideration, and Johansen cointegration test to specify the order or the number of cointegration relationship. Granger causality test is exploited to inspect for causal relationship and, at the same time, impulse response function and variance decomposition analysis are checked for both short-run and long-run association among the seven variables by EViews 9.0. The underlying model was analyzed by using 108 realizations from Q1 1990 to Q4 2016 for USA. Results – The results show that all the seven variables for USA have one unit root and they are cointegrated with at most five and three cointegrating equation for USA. The vector error correction model expresses a long-run relationship among variables. Both IR_REAL and M3 may influence real estate market, and GDP does stock market in USA. On the other hand, GDP, IR_REAL, M3, STOCK and LOAN may be considered as causal factors to affect real estate market. Conclusions – The findings indicate that both stock market and real estate market can be modelled as vector error correction specification for USA. In addition, we can detect causal relationships among variables and compare dynamic differences between countries in terms of stock market and real estate market.

Purpose - This study aims to examine the determinants of income management of the public servant. Three independent variables are examined such as attitude towards money, financial capability and debt management while the dependent variable is financial wellbeing of public servants. Research design, data, and methodology – Quantitative research is applied in this study, and data are collected by using cross sectional approach. Survey questionnaires are obtained from 270 respondents, which represents 79% response rate. The multiple regressions are used to examine the influence of attitude towards money, financial capability and debt management towards financial wellbeing. Results - The result of the multiple regression indicated positive influences of attitude towards money and financial capability on financial wellbeing. However, debt management found no significant influence on financial wellbeing. Conclusions - Research findings show that people have different attitudes towards money and different trends of expenditure. It is also crucial to be highlighted that employees’ attitude and financial capability have a greater influence on overall satisfaction with employees’ financial wellbeing. Some would want to show off their luxury items they bought to close friends or relatives and some are very prudent in making expenditures even for necessity items.

The objectives of this study are to analyze life satisfaction between agricultural and non-agricultural households using 1~4th KReIS (Korean retirement and income study) data, to investigate whether to affect on life satisfaction according to the employment industry of householder. and to examine various determinants of life satisfaction between agricultural and non-agricultural households. The summary of analysis results is as follows. First, life satisfaction is influenced by economic value. Also it is examined that both physical and mental health have a significant effect for life satisfaction. Especially, it is analyzed that the effect of mental health is larger than one of physical health for life satisfaction. In addition, it is investigated that life satisfaction of single-person households is higher than two or more person households. Second, there was significant difference between agricultural and non-agricultural households in life satisfaction. It was proved that life satisfaction of agricultural households is higher than non-agricultural ones. As a result, it is confirmed that life satisfaction is influenced by industrial characteristic and mental health rather than another determinants.

In order to export Korean spray roses to the China, it is needed to analyse chinese preferences, rose attributes, and purchase intentions. The purpose of this study is to present the implications on the production and distribution of roses for export by analyzing the quality preference attributes and purchase intention of Korean rose for Chinese flower experts. A survey on the preference and purchase intention of Korean flower roses by Chinese flower experts was conducted through face - to - face interviews with flower show participants in China. Approximately 100 Chinese flower experts who participated in the Flower Show in 2016 received the questionnaire, and 86 survey results could be used for analysis. Survey data were analyzed using ordered probit and bivariate probit models. As a result of an analysis, it was found that Chinese flower experts were more likely to buy Korean roses than Chinese roses even if they consider flower color, leaf shape and size and color diversity. The probability of purchasing more than twice the price was higher than that of the color diversity considering the flower shape, leaf shape and size, but the bivariate order probit model was larger than that of flowers, leaves and size, and the order of probability size was changed. In order to increase the export of Korean spray roses to the Chinese market, We need to increase Chinese experts’ preferences and satisfaction. For this purpose, it is very important to develop export varieties of roses with large flower buds and shape / coloring, and to apply the useful post-harvest technology that can extend freshness and distribution period of export roses.

Banks play a crucial role in bringing stability and economic development through their expected contribution in proper financial resource mobilisation across the economy. Despite the importance, there is little focus in recent literature which provided the empirical evidence how the global financial crisis affect the bank efficiency in Bangladesh. Thus, this paper aims to examine the effect of the global financial crisis and other factors on the efficiency of Bangladesh commercial banks. By employing the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method, we computed the technical efficiency of individual banks operating in the Bangladesh banking sector during 2000 to 2013. The empirical findings indicate that the Bangladesh banking sector has exhibited the highest efficiency level during 2001, while efficiency seems to be at the lowest level during 2010. The study finds that crisis along with bank size, capital adequacy ratio, return on average equity and real interest rate have a significant effect on bank efficiency in Bangladesh. In order to keep the sound financial development of Bangladesh, banks operating in the Bangladesh banking sector have to consider all the potential technologies which could improve their profit efficiency levels, since the main motive of banks is to maximise shareholders’ value or wealth through profit maximisation.

The growth of the Waste-to-Energy (WTE) industry is attracting attention as a powerful means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions; the Korean government is supporting various efforts such as increasing R&D investment. Despite the importance of the WTE industry, the analysis of R&D efficiency remains insufficient. This study analyzes the R&D efficiency of the Korean WTE industry and its determinants. After R&D activities are separated into input and output, R&D efficiency is analyzed with regard to whether R&D input contributes to increased R&D output using multiple regression and logistic regression methodologies based on the survey of Korean WTE firms. In the results of analysis, the introduction of new products and services was positively affected by R&D manpower and education-training. In addition, the redesign of products and processes was positively affected by R&D expenditure, R&D manpower, education-training, and the reward system. The policy implication is that education and training for R&D manpower should be provided to improve R&D efficiency, and there should be investment in basic and applied research and development research should be expanded to gain global compETitiveness.

This research is carried out to investigate the relationship between sustainability practices and performance in a financial sense for Malaysian Oil and Gas sector. Objectives include to study the state of sustainability disclosure among Malaysian oil and gas companies, to understand if companies that practiced sustainability had better performances to their financial bottom-line and to conduct a data analysis to understand the relationship between Environmental, social and governance performance [represented by the acronym ACSI] and financial performance. Sustainability performance is measured using ACSI checklist, which is an adaptation of the GRI 3.0 by Global reporting initiative while financial performance was measured on financial and profitability parameters namely EBITDA, EPS and PE ratio. Secondary data sources are used which were then converted into a rating scale to develop quantitative data. SPSS 21 is used for the analysis. The result shows that the majority of oil and gas companies in Malaysia had poor performance in terms of sustainability disclosure. On all three chosen profitability parameters, the companies that practiced sustainability were found to perform better than their counterparts that did not. Strong and significant relationship exists between sustainability practices and better financial performance.

본 연구는 건강 기능성 게임인 흡연시뮬레이션 게임의 몰입을 결정하는 요인에 대해 파악하고 이들 요인들이 몰입에 어떠한 영향을 미치는지 분석하였다. 특히 게임 중에 발생하는 뇌 활동 패 턴이 게임몰입과 어떠한 상관관계를 가지는지 뇌파측정과 몰입과의 관계를 규명하고자 하였다. 이를 위해 게임몰입의 정도를 종속변인으로 설정하고 몰입에 영향을 미칠 수 있는 감정이입, 건 강관심도, 생리적 지표인 뇌파(α,β)를 독립변인으로 설정하여 회귀분석을 실시하였다. 연구결과 흡연시뮬레이션 게임에서 몰입에 감정이입, 건강관심도, β파는 정적으로 영향을 미치고 있었으며, α파의 경우 부적으로 영향을 미치고 있음이 확인되었다. 본 연구는 기능성 게임몰입에 영향을 미 칠 수 있는 사용자 경험과 신경생리학적 변화에 대하여 자기 보고와 더불어 뇌파측정을 통해 실 증적으로 분석하고 게임몰입의 결정요인을 규명하고 있다는 점에서 이론적 의미가 있다.

Total debt in the People’s Republic of China surged to nearly 290% as a ratio to GDP by the second quarter of 2016, mostly on account of non-financial corporate debt. The outpouring of credit to stem the impact of the global financial crisis accentuated industrial overcapacity in traditional sectors, such as steel, cement, and energy, while feeding asset bubbles in the property, equity and bond markets. At the Chinese corporate level, this has translated into weakened fundamentals and a fall in industrial profits, particularly of SOEs. As debtors struggle to service interest payments, non-performing loans (NPLs) have been on the rise. This paper assesses the financial fragility of the Chinese economy by looking at risk factors in the non-financial sector. We apply quantile regressions to a dataset containing all Chinese listed companies in Standard & Poor’s IQ Capital database. We find higher sensitivity over time of corporate leverage to some of its key determinants, particularly for firms at the upper margin of the distribution. In particular, profitability increasingly acts as a curb on corporate leverage. At a time of falling profitability across the Chinese non-financial corporate sector, this eases the brake on leverage and may contribute to its continuing increase.

This study aims to investigate the determinants of dividend payout of Oil and Gas industry of Pakistan using secondary data from published annual reports from 2008 to 2014 listed on KSE (Karachi Stock Exchange). Dividend payout can be affected by profitability, firm size, financial leverage, sales growth, investment opportunities, liquidity, business risk, and ownership structure. Panel data technique used due to panel characteristics of available data with ordinary least square regression model to find out the impact of set of explanatory variables on the dividend payout using the Stata. Financial leverage, sales growth and business risks are the most significant variables of the study where financial leverage and business risk have significant negative effect on dividend payout while sales growth has favorable positive impact on dividend payout. Results revealed significant positive link of profitability and firm size with dividend payout whereas government ownership is negatively associated with dividend payout. Investment opportunities, liquidity and managerial ownership showed insignificant relationship with dividend payout. This Suggests that dividend payout policy is dependent on business strategies including both investment and financing decisions. Financial managers should consider these factors while formulating dividend policy of the firm.

Purpose - The study sought to examine the relationship between individual characteristics and system features and Human Resource Information System (HRIS) success in Japanese manufacturing companies in Malaysia. Research Design, Data, and Methodology – This study adopt quantitative approach to investigate the relationship between individual characteristics and system features and HRIS. Toward this objective, a total of 700 questionnaires were mailed to a representative of the organization. A total of 187 questionnaires were returned, and only 145 were usable for further analysis, representing a response rate of 20.71%. Result - Results indicated that individual characteristics and two dimensions of system characteristics (ease of use and training) were significantly related to HRIS success. Unexpectedly, the results showed that the third dimension of system features (documentation) was unrelated to HRIS success. Conclusions - The results partially support the underlying arguments that individual characteristics and system characteristics have significant influences on HRIS success. The finding suggests that HRIS success in the organization can be generated as a result of good implementation of system support and employees’ readiness to apply HRIS in their jobs.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to elicit antecedents that influence the buying of counterfeit products in Raipur, an emerging capital city. Research Design, Data, and Methodology – 203 responses to the questionnaire were collected to come out with the results of the study. From the exploratory study, 20 variables were identified to have an influence on the buying of counterfeit products. Factor analysis was applied on the data collected and these items were grouped into four factors. Result - The findings suggest that safety implications have a significant impact on the buying of counterfeits in an emerging city – Raipur, India. Further studies that are specific to geographical locations could be carried out to validate the findings of this paper as the tastes and preferences of each of the markets are unique. Conclusions - For manufacturers, marketers and law enforcers it might be of great interest to learn that safety concerns are uppermost on the minds of people who deliberately or inadvertently consume counterfeits. If it can be conveyed effectively that consumption of counterfeits can cause more harm than increase in perceived value, it can be checked to a good extent.