Research offers conflicting evidence with regard to the potential effectiveness of using authentic (focused on the actual self) versus aspirational branding (focused on the ideal self) strategies. This study extends previous research by modelling how four individual characteristics of value for cross-cultural market segmentation (an individual’s level of independence, interdependence, cosmopolitan orientation and local orientation) influence the actual and ideal self-congruity effects. The model is tested by using survey data from US (n=828) and Indian non-student consumers (n=824). Findings show that the actual self-congruity effect on brand attitude is stronger than the ideal self-congruity effect for interdependents and locals. Conversely, the ideal self-congruity effect on brand attitude is stronger than the actual self-congruity effect for independents and cosmopolitans. The study offers practitioners suggestions on the use of authentic versus aspirational branding strategies in their brand communications in order to elicit most positive brand attitude among consumers depending on their individual characteristics.

최근 서비스 산업이 성장하면서 창업활동이 매우 활성화되고 있다. 창업활동은 경제에 새로운 활력을 불어넣어준다는 측면에서 경제성장에 긍정적인 영향을 미친다고 알려져 있지만 어떤 과정을 통해 경제성장률을 제고시키는지에 대한 연구는 매우 부족한 실정이다. 이에 본 연구에서는 금융시스템의 발전단계에 따라 창업활동이 경제성장에 미치는 영향이 어떻게 달라지는지 분석하였다. 분석대상을 고소득 국가군과 중간소득 국가군으로 구분하여 실증 분석한 결과 창업활동은 모든 분석 국가집단에서 경제성장에 유의한 양(+)의 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 한편, 금융시스템의 발전단계를 고려한 분석결과에 따르면, 고소득 국가군에서는 창업활동이 시장 중심 금융시스템의 발달과 연계하여 경제성장에 영향을 미치고 있었지만 중간소득 국가군에서는 은행 중심 금융시스템과 상호작용하여 경제성장에 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 하지만 금융시스템의 발전단계와의 상호작용변수의 추정계수는 유의한 음(-)의 값을 보였다. 이러한 결과는 창업활동이 경제성장에 미치는 긍정적인 효과가 금융시스템의 발전에 의해 오히려 약화된다는 것을 의미한다. 따라서 기존의 금융시스템 외에 창업활동을 지원하는 금융 서비스를 정책적으로 강화하는 것이 매우 중요하다고 여겨진다. 그러나 장기적인 관점에서 정책적으로 직접적인 창업자금을 조달하기보다는 시장을 이용한 자본조달 시스템을 강화하는 한편 창업 실패에 대한 안전장치를 마련하는 등의 추가적인 조치를 취하는 것이 바람직할 것이다.

The purpose of this study was to measure respondent's demographic characteristics, respondent's attitudes toward chicken, and factor influencing on the level of perceived helpfulness of country of origin in predicting the quality of chicken. The data was collected through a consumer survey during the March 2006. A total number of 250 meat consumers living in Suncheon, the eastern part of Chonnam, were randomly selected as respondents. Eleven respondents did not complete the survey instrument, resulting in a final sample size of 239. All estimations were carried out using chi-square, correlation, and logistic procedure of SAS package. The results are as follows. The level of perceived helpfulness of country of origin in predicting the quality of chicken was significantly different by age and occupation of demographic variables, and was significantly correlated with respondent informed of attitude variables. The proportional odds assumption of model was not violated at p<0.05. The effects of income, occupation and respondent informed on the level of perceived helpfulness of country of origin in predicting the quality of chicken. The results from this study could be useful in developing marketing and health promotion strategies, as well as government trade policy.

This study investigates the impact of the country’s governance on the revenue efficiency of 108 Islamic banks from 26 countries offering Islamic banking and finance products services. The technical efficiencies of individual Islamic banks have been analyzed using the Data Envelopment Analysis method. The data will be pooled across the selected countries and utilize the intermediation approach. The Ordinary Least Square estimation method is employed to examine the impact of country supervision and regulation on the technical efficiency of Islamic banks. As robustness check, the study examines the impact of the level of bank regulations and supervision on the efficiency of Islamic banks operating in different income-level countries. The results found that the stricter the supervisory power, the less strict capital requirement, the tighter the restrictions on non-banking activities, and the stricter the private monitoring enhance statistically significantly the level of efficiency of Islamic banks. In upgrading the regulations and supervision of the Islamic banks, the existing regulatory framework based on the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) must be complemented with the prescriptions on Islamic banking or Shariah compliance diligently, so that the Islamic banks could be regulated accurately and further improve the technical efficiency of their operations.

This study examines the association between governance quality at country level and stock market performance. Specifically, the study investigates the influence of control of corruption, government effectiveness, political stability and absence of violence, rule of law, regulatory quality, and voice and accountability on all-share index of the stock markets of the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. This study is anchored on two theories – the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) and Institutional Theory. The study employs panel data spanning from 2006 to 2017. The findings show that political stability and absence of violence and rule of law exhibit a significant positive impact on stock market performance, while regulatory quality and voice and accountability have a significant, but negative relationship with stock market performance. The results imply that quality of governance in terms of rule of law and political stability devoid of violence have strong impact on stock market returns. Similarly, improved stock market returns are largely dependent on the efficiency of the institutional environment of market as investors are always wary of the inherent risks associated with the uncertainty of the market. This study has crucial policy implications for the government of the GCC countries and stock market participants.