Business Commons^™

Fomo And The Ico: The Salience Of Quality Signals, Simon J.D. Schillebeeckx, Sandzhar Tazhibaev, Johannes Gartner

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The manuscript investigates whether the individual personality trait, Fear of Missing Out (FOMO)—typically considered negative—influences the willingness of individuals to contribute to Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), a phenomenon that emerged after the blockchain revolution. We conducted both qualitative and quantitative work in this space and present the results of an international survey, including a conjoint experiment. Theoretically, we anchor our study in signaling theory and propose that signal valence (the positive or negative interpretation of a signal) can diverge from signal intent. Specifically, we find that candidate ICO funders with strong FOMO behave predictably irrationally. They are more likely to …

Uncovering Merchants’ Willingness To Wait In On-Demand Food Delivery Markets, Jian Liang, Ya Zhao, Hai Wang, Zuopeng Xiao, Jintao Ke

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

While traditional on-demand food delivery services help restaurants reach more customers and enable doorstep deliveries, they also come with drawbacks, such as high commission fees and limited control over the delivery process. White-label food delivery services have emerged as an alternative, ready-to-use platform for restaurants to arrange delivery for customer orders received through their applications or websites, without the constraints imposed by traditional on-demand food delivery platforms or the need to develop an in-house delivery operation. Although several studies have investigated consumer behavior when using traditional on-demand food delivery services, there is limited research on merchants’ behavior when adopting white-label …

Does Ceo Agreeableness Personality Mitigate Real Earnings Management?, Shan Liu, Xingying Wu, Nan Hu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Despite efforts to mitigate aggressive financial reporting, earnings management remains challenging to parties interested in inhibiting its dysfunctional effects. Using linguistic algorithms to assess CEO agreeableness personality from their unscripted texts in conference calls, we find that it is a determinant that mitigates a firm's real earnings management. Furthermore, such an effect is more pronounced when firms confront intensive market competition and financial distress and have weaker managerial entrenchment or when CEOs face stronger internal governance. Our findings persist even after we utilize several alternative real earnings management metrics and control other confounding personalities in prior earnings management studies. The …

Network Effects, Word Of Mouth, And Entry Performance: A Study Of Digital Freemium Products, Noman Shaheer, Liang Chen, Jingtao Yi, Sali Li, Huiwen Su

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

International entry research rarely examines strategies affecting entry performance in a target country, largely due to data limitations in the traditional multinational enterprise setting. However, the emergence of digital business with trackable international performance data helps address this gap. We utilize digital freemium products as our research context to examine the effect of two major demand-side strategies associated with freemium products, network effects and word-of-mouth (WOM), on entry performance across different institutional environments. By analyzing 1,891 freemium games, we show that lower network readiness of a target country strengthens the impact of network effects on entry performance whereas higher network …

The Impact Of Managerial Myopia On Cybersecurity: Evidence From Data Breaches, Wen Chen, Xing Li, Haibin Wu, Liandong Zhang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Using a sample of U.S. firms for the period 2005–2017, we provide evidence that managerial myopic actions contribute to corporate cybersecurity risk. Specifically, we show that abnormal cuts in discretionary expenditures, our proxy for managerial myopia, are positively associated with the likelihood of data breaches. The association is largely driven by firms that appear to cut discretionary expenditures to meet short-term earnings targets. In addition, the association is stronger for firms with greater short-term equity incentives, higher earnings response coefficients, low levels of institutional block ownership, or large market shares. Finally, firms appear to increase discretionary expenditures upon the announcement …

Cultural Tightness In Organizations: Investigating The Impact Of Formal And Informal Cultural Tightness On Employee Creativity, Roy Y. J. Chua, Na Zhao, Meng Han

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper delineates cultural tightness into formal versus informal aspects to depict the strength of norms and the extent of sanctions emanating from both formal and informal norms. Organizations with high formal cultural tightness regulate behaviors through explicit written norms and official sanctions, whereas those with high informal cultural tightness regulate behaviors through uncodified norms, collective beliefs, and informal social sanctions. Through a field study across 14 diverse companies in two countries (Malaysia and the Philippines) and two experiments involving participants from the United States, we found that perceived informal cultural tightness consistently exerts a more significant impact on stifling …

Informativeness Of Key Audit Matters: Evidence From China, Beng Wee Goh, Kiat Bee Jimmy Lee, Dan Li, Muzhi Wang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This study examines whether the key audit matters (KAMs) disclosed in expanded audit reports as a part of recent regulatory reforms are informative for investors in an emerging economy setting. Using the recent adoption of expanded audit reports for firms listed exclusively in Mainland China, we find robust evidence that the abnormal trading volume and earnings response coefficients (ERCs) are higher and that stock price synchronicity is lower during the postadoption than preadoption period. In additional tests, we find evidence that KAMs are more informative for non-state-owned enterprises (non-SOEs), smaller firms, and firms with a smaller analyst following. Finally, we …

Financing Just Energy Transitions In Southeast Asia: Application Of The Just Transition Transaction To Indonesia, Vietnam, And Philippines, Abhinav Jindal, Gireesh Shrimali, Bharat Gangwani, Rajiv B. Lall

Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics

This paper investigates the applicability of the Just Transition Transaction (JTT), initially developed as a financial mechanism for South Africa's energy transition, to Southeast Asian (SEA) countries, including Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines, which heavily rely on coal. Utilizing South Africa as a reference case study, we deconstruct the JTT and develop a novel framework of necessary and conducive features for evaluating its suitability for supporting a just energy transition in SEA. Our findings suggest that the JTT is well-suited for Indonesia and Vietnam but not as well suited for the Philippines. Recommendations for specific research avenues in estimating baselines …

Unexpected Defaults: The Role Of Information Opacity, Aytekin Ertan, Yun Je Lee, Regina Wittenberg-Moerman

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Bond defaults are undesirable yet natural outcomes of risky investments. What is also crucial but hitherto underexplored is the unexpectedness of defaults. We develop a parsimonious measure of default unexpectedness and highlight its economic importance by demonstrating that unexpected defaults are associated with unfavorable recovery outcomes and adverse price changes in peer firm bonds. We then examine how default unexpectedness relates to information opacity. We find that firms with opaque financial reporting and weak voluntary disclosure experience more unexpected defaults. Defaults also occur more unexpectedly when the external information environment is opaque—when rating agencies disagree on a firm’s credit risk …

Post-Productivism And Rural Revitalization In China: Drivers And Outcomes, Meiling Wu, Qian Forrest Zhang, John A. Donaldson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

We propose that post-productivism offers a useful analytical framework for understanding the multi-scalar and diverse changes that are taking place in China’s rural revitalization. As a theoretical framework that emerged from the study of rural changes in the Global North, the applicability of post-productivism in the Global South has been contested. This paper offers the first comprehensive analysis of the emergence of post-productivism in rural China and uses post-productivism as a framework to conceptualize a wide range of changes in China’s rural revitalization. We conceptually clarify the driving forces that give rise to post-productivism and the outcomes these drivers produce. …

Exponential Qubit Reduction In Optimization For Financial Transaction Settlement, Elias X. Huber, Benjamin Y. L. Tan, Paul Robert Griffin, Dimitris G. Angelakis

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

We extend the qubit-efficient encoding presented in (Tan et al. in Quantum 5:454, 2021) and apply it to instances of the financial transaction settlement problem constructed from data provided by a regulated financial exchange. Our methods are directly applicable to any QUBO problem with linear inequality constraints. Our extension of previously proposed methods consists of a simplification in varying the number of qubits used to encode correlations as well as a new class of variational circuits which incorporate symmetries thereby reducing sampling overhead, improving numerical stability and recovering the expression of the cost objective as a Hermitian observable. We also …

Predicting Personality Or Prejudice? Facial Inference In The Age Of Artificial Intelligence, Shilpa Madan, Gayoung Park

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Facial inference, a cornerstone of person perception, has traditionally been studied through human judgments about personality traits and abilities based on people's faces. Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have introduced new dimensions to this field, employing machine learning algorithms to reveal people's character, capabilities, and social outcomes based just on their faces. This review examines recent research on human and AI-based facial inference across psychology, business, computer science, legal, and policy studies to highlight the need for scientific consensus on whether or not people's faces can reveal their inner traits, and urges researchers to address the critical concerns …

Foreign Director Exit In The Midst Of Deteriorating Bilateral Political Relations, Xiaocong Tian, Yuehua Xu, Daphne W. Yiu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Amid global geopolitical realism pushing for a race of hegemonic rivalry nowadays, an outflow of global human talents is a pressing organizational concern. Our study draws attention to the underexamined phenomenon of the exit of foreign directors from their host countries during geopolitical tensions. Theorizing from a sensemaking logic, we posit that the deterioration of bilateral political relations serves as an unexpected event that activates foreign directors’ schemas for dual identity conflict, propelling them to react behaviorally to such identity threats by exiting the board in the host country. In addition, we further posit that the sensemaking process is contingent …

It's Just A Game! Effects Of Fantasy In A Storified Test On Applicant Reactions, Marie L. Ohlms, Klaus G. Melchers, Filip Lievens

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

There is increasing attention to storification of assessments (i.e., embedding a storyline into a non-storified assessment) in research and practice and to gamified and game-based assessment in general. However, there is a surprising lack of agreement and of recommendations regarding what level of fantasy of the storyline one should choose for the storification from the perspective of applicant reactions. A distinction is typically made between fantasy (e.g., fighting aliens) and realistic (e.g., workday simulations) storylines, with both choices having their advantages and disadvantages. In this study, a sample of 195 participants was shown either a storified realistic test, a storified …

Value Capture And Affordable Housing: Insights From Singapore, Sock Yong Phang

Research Collection School Of Economics

To explain the role of value capture in Singapore’s progress, I will first provide some background information on Singapore and its housing sector. I will then take you on a journey back to the 1960s to show how we established our present institutional arrangements for land and housing. I will next describe how housing policies have evolved over the past six decades in response to changing contexts. Finally, I will conclude with the fiscal implications of successful value capture. Where relevant, I will indicate how Singapore’s policies align with George’s views.

Price Discovery On Decentralized Exchanges, Agostino Capponi, Ruizhe Jia, Shihao Yu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Decentralized exchanges (DEXs) allow traders to express their willingness to pay for quick execution through a public priority fee bidding mechanism. This influences the trading strategy of informed traders and creates a distinct price discovery process on DEXs compared to centralized exchanges. We present empirical evidence that high-fee DEX trades contain more private information. Informed traders bid high fees not only to avoid execution risk from blockchain congestion, but also to compete for execution priority. Using a dataset of Ethereum mempool orders, we demonstrate that informed traders employ a ``jump bidding'' strategy, placing high initial bids to deter potential competitors.

Staging Singapore’S Cultural Economy, Buck Song Koh

Asian Management Insights

Growing and cultivating soft power is the name of the game.

Setting Up The Right Guardrails, Vijaya Sunder, Ram Nidumolu, Milind Sohoni, Siddhartha Modukuri

Asian Management Insights

1. Emerging economies need public-private partnerships (PPPs) to deliver much-needed large-scale infrastructural projects.

2. An ‘orientation precedes strategy’ approach to partnerships generates wider societal acceptance and financial viability for stakeholders.

3. The stakeholder-orientation framework improves decision-making by promoting adaptability and inclusive engagement, as illustrated by the success of India’s Hyderabad Metro Rail Project.

Whether In The Classroom Or The Marketplace, There’S No Perfect Formula For Innovation And Entrepreneurship, Havovi Joshi

Asian Management Insights

Successful innovation is never easy, and the fine line between creating the next tech unicorn and the next failed start-up often lies in the founders’ capacity to learn from both their successes and setbacks.

Catalysing Growth: State Of Asean University Innovation And Entrepreneurship: Report 2024, Abdullah Khurshid, Dexter Ye Kai Tan, Gabrielle Lay Khim Tan

Research Collection Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Over the past few years, Southeast Asia has captured global attention with its remarkable economic growth, driven by strong tailwinds. This has led to the expansion of its middle-class consumer base that is actively participating in while benefitting from the region’s rapidly expanding digital economy. In such a climate, there is tremendous potential for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I&E) to be a critical economic driver. Homegrown startups in different Southeast Asian countries have introduced technology-first solutions that have scaled across the region, pushing businesses to innovate rapidly. Moreover, startups promote inclusive growth by leveraging scalable internet platforms and novel technologies to …

The Growth Of Southeast Asia’S Msmes, Shoeb Kagda

Asian Management Insights

Funding winter presents opportunities to reboot for the future.

Entrepreneurial (Re)Vision, Patricia Lui, Jovina Ang, Lipika Bhattacharya

Asian Management Insights

Transforming DMK footwear for the next-gen market.

Igniting Creativity In An Organisational Rainforest, Reddi Kotha, Lipika Bhattacharya, Ravi Arora

Asian Management Insights

Tata Group’s quest for Open Innovation.

1. Open Innovation advocates collaborative relationships, emphasising a dual-flow approach that integrates the best ideas within and outside of a firm.

2. Tata Group’s implementation of the Open Innovation model has created a conducive environment for innovation, enabling cross-boundary idea exchanges and establishing strategic partnerships with diverse stakeholders.

3. ‘Seekers’ and ‘ideators’ build a community-driven Open Innovation model that sustains a supportive ecosystem and innovation across a decentralised conglomerate like Tata Group.

Nurturing Entrepreneurship And Growing Entrepreneurs, Sun Sun Lim, Abdullah Khurshid, Dexter Ye Kai Tan, Gabrielle Lay Khim Tan

Asian Management Insights

How Southeast Asia’s universities can pave the way.

Universities in Southeast Asia:

1. Can unlock the potential of changemakers in driving economic growth through entrepreneurship education.

2. Accelerate the growth of the ASEAN start-up ecosystem by facilitating technology commercialisation, leveraging regional networks for mentorship and funding, and fostering cross-border collaborations.

3. Have birthed at least five of Southeast Asia's unicorns and are set to lead the way in producing more.

Optimal Policies And Heuristics To Match Supply With Demand For Online Retailing, Qiyuan Deng, Xiaobo Li, Yun Fong Lim, Fang Liu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Problem definition: We consider an online retailer selling multiple products to different zones over a finite horizon with multiple periods. At the start of the horizon, the retailer orders the products from a single supplier and stores them at multiple warehouses. The retailer determines the products’ order quantities and their storage quantities at each warehouse subject to its capacity constraint. At the end of each period, after random demands in the period are realized, the retailer chooses the retrieval quantities from each warehouse to fulfill the demands of each zone. The objective is to maximize the retailer’s expected profit over …

The Creativity Conundrum, Andrew Heng

Asian Management Insights

1. My survey of Chinese and German workers shows that the impact of remote work on creativity varies by gender, culture, and age.

2. Chinese women, in particular, grapple with cultural and gender norms that hamper creativity in remote work settings.

3. Hybrid work models can provide flexibility without sacrificing talent or creativity.

Supplier-Complementor Alliances: Enhancing Value Creation For The Ecosystem, Liang Chen

Asian Management Insights

1. Suppliers can better protect their positions in an ecosystem by building stronger relationships with ‘complementors’, which are businesses that offer products or services that enhance the value of the core product. Such supplier-complementor alliances (SCAs) can enhance the value of the entire ecosystem, including that of the leader.

2. SCAs such as Nvidia-Adobe drive innovation by encouraging suppliers to develop products that cater to broader needs beyond the ecosystem leader’s specific demands. This strategic alignment between suppliers and complementors also ensures that suppliers build a more resilient and diversified business model.

3. SCAs present both opportunities and challenges within …

Locking In Overseas Buyers Amid Geopolitical Conflicts, Di Fan, Pengcheng Ma, Lin Cui, Daphne W. Yiu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Geopolitical conflicts, particularly economic ones, introduce significant uncertainties into the global supply chain. The impact of these conflicts on cross-border buyer-supplier transactions remains underexplored, as does the capability of global suppliers to mitigate such risks by locking in their foreign buyers. Employing a combined perspective of resource dependence theory and transaction cost economics, we examine a natural experiment to investigate the effects of the 2018 U.S.-China trade war on the transactional relationships between Chinese suppliers and their U.S. buyers. Our study reveals that the trade war generally adversely affected these buyer-supplier transactional relationships, leading to a negative abnormal transaction value …

Reeling In The Slack: An Integrative Review To Reinstate Slack As A Central Theoretical Construct For Management Research, Matthew P. Mount, Gokhan Ertug, Korcan Kavusan, Gerard George, Tengjian Zou

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Slack is a prominent construct in management research, shown to be relevant for a wide range of phenomena. Yet, despite slack’s prominence and breadth of application, our review reveals a lack of clarity and consistency in the categorization, theorizing, and measurement of various types and forms of slack. This has led to differences in the characterization and treatment of seemingly identical kinds of slack, which prevents the full exploitation of the conceptual depth of the slack construct and thus the creation of robust knowledge about slack resources. Based on a review of 229 studies which explicitly theorized about slack, we …

Bubbly Booms And Welfare, Feng Dong, Yang Jiao, Haoning Sun

Research Collection School Of Economics

We show the competing effects of a housing bubble on the real economy by developing a multi-sector dynamic model with housing production. On the one hand, firms can sell or collateralize their housing, so a housing bubble helps firms obtain credit to finance their investment and expand production. On the other hand, a boom in the housing sector crowds out labor in the non-housing sector. We show that housing booms can reduce social welfare both in the steady state and in the transitional dynamics only when the production externalities in the non-housing sector are sufficiently large. We quantitatively evaluate our …