Digital Commons Network^™

The Politics Of Human Development In India And China: It Pays To Invest In Women And Children, Devin K. Joshi

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article explores the attainments of China and India on measures of basic human development as ingredients of a long-term economic development strategy. It proposes that major differences in ideology and state capacity explain in part why India has fallen behind China. The analysis suggests that these relatively hidden political factors play an important role in transforming and advancing human development not only within India and China but also in other developing and emerging economies. The findings also support the notion that public investments in the capabilities of women and children have significant social and economic payoffs in both the …

Why Open Borders, Chandran Kukathas

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The present contribution offers a defence of open borders. It presents a critique of the idea that the state has a justified claim to regulate themovement of people because they reflect the collective endeavours of the members of the state to pursue a shared project of self-rule or self-determination. Itargues that this view rests on an indefensible understanding of the nature of thestate, which should be viewed less as a collective endeavour than as a productof conflicts among political elites. There is a strong prima facie case for freemovement that suggests there should be a presumption in favour of open …

A Household-Level Decomposition Of The White-Black Homeownership Gap, Eric Fesselmeyer, Kien T. Le, Kiat Ying Seah

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This paper uses a semiparametric homeownership model to estimate and to decompose the household-level white-black homeownership gap into an endowment component and a residual component across the distribution of homeownership rates. We find that the racial gap differs across homeownership rates and that studies that examine the gap only at the mean may be misleading. We also find that although household characteristics explain the homeownership gap for most households, there is a substantial portion of the gap that remains unexplained for households with a very low propensity to own homes. A comparison of the estimates from the semiparametric model and …

Assessing The Valuation And Risk Implications Of Fair Value Accounting For Liabilities: Evidence From Fas 159'S Reported Gains And Losses, Sung Gon Chung, Gerald Lobo, Kevin Ow Yong

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This study examines the implications of fair value liability gains and losses arising from the adoption of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 159 (hereafter FAS 159). We find a positive correspondence between a firm’s FAS 159 fair value liability gains and losses and stock returns. Further analysis indicates that fair value gains and losses from liabilities attributable to the change in a firm’s own credit risk, which are considered counter-intuitive by critics of fair value accounting for liabilities, are also positively related to returns. Lastly, we document that the volatility of earnings that incorporate FAS 159 liability fair value …

An Analytical And Empirical Measure Of The Degree Of Conditional Conservatism, Dan Segal, Jeffrey L. Callen

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

There is a profound gap between models of accounting conservatism and the proxies for conditional conservatism currently used by the empirical literature. Not one of the proxies employed by the empirical literature to date obtains from a rigorous definition of conditional conservatism. In contrast, this study defines conditional conservatism in terms of truncated distributions and derives analytically a nonlinear relation between revisions to returns and earnings news for the conservative firm. This nonlinear relation is shown to be mathematically equivalent to two linear relations conditioned on the firm's degree of conservatism. From these relations, we derive a model-based proxy of …

Cross-Cultural Research, William Tov, Christie N. Scollon

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

We divide our review of cross-cultural applications of experience sampling methodology (ESM) into five main areas. First, we review studies that compare online (via ESM) and retrospective responses (via single-session surveys) and show that the two measures lead to different conclusions about cultural differences. Second, we review studies that highlight the distinction between quantity (i.e., how often certain events occur) and subjective quality (i.e., how events are experienced), and demonstrate that cultural differences may exist in either or both of these aspects. Third, we review studies that examine cultural differences in intra-psychic phenomena or within-person correlations (i.e., how psychological states …

The Effects Of Political Connections On The Level And Value Of Cash Holdings: International Evidence, Yuanto Kusnadi, K.C. John Wei

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

In this paper, we examine the role of political connections on corporate liquidity policies and their consequences in an international setting. We find that managers of politically connected firms have a tendency to hoard more cash than their non-connected counterparts. Moreover, presence of political connections reduces the value of cash holdings. Further analysis reveals that our main findings are more pronounced for firms in emerging markets as well as for firms in countries with weak legal protection of investors and high levels of corruption. Overall, our empirical results corroborate previous findings on the agency cost explanation for corporate cash holdings.

The Eu Polity And Foreign Policy Coherence, Clara Portela, Kolja Raube

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The present article examines the character of the European Union (EU) as a polity by looking at the mechanisms it employs to ensure the coherence of its foreign policies. It first contrasts three ideal polity types. The methods chosen to ensure coherence in foreign policy actions differ according to each of the three polity types. The article then explores how the EU ensures coherence through institutional reform, and subsequently looks in detail at two illustrative policy fields: aid sanctions and civilian crisis-management. The investigation concludes that the organisation of EU foreign policies combines elements from different polity types.

Prevented Or Missed Chinese-Indochinese Encounters During Wwi: Spatial Imperial Policing In Metropolitan France, Tobias Frederik Rettig

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Cultural Similarities And Differences In The Conceptualization Of Emotion, Christie N. Scollon, William Tov

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Research on emotional experiences across cultures is reviewed from a cultural psychological perspective. Psychometric approaches to evaluating the structure of emotions has consistently replicated two broad dimensions (positive and negative affect) in several countries. Nevertheless, there are cultural differences in other aspects of emotional experience such as the relation between positive and negative affect, the nature of specific emotions (e.g., pride and affection), and the types of emotions that are valued. Recent research on the cognitive organization of emotional experiences may provide additional insights and these methods await broader application in crosscultural research.

Beyond Minority Report: Pre-Crime, Pre-Punishment And Pre-Desert, John N. Williams

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Utilitarian ethics are apparently incommensurable with other ethical perspectives. Faced with a choice between maximizing general benefit to society and committing an act of injustice, those of us who reject utility in favor of justice are powerless to change the viewpoint of someone who rejects justice in favor of utility. Since there are no higher ethical principles that overarch both principles of utility and principles of justice, both sides must run out of reasons when deciding which principles should be put first. But the unreasoned decision is ineluctable, because there are possible cases in which the principles conflict.1 This kind …

Cultural Construction Of Success And Epistemic Motives Moderate American-Chinese Differences In Reward Allocation Biases, Angela K. Y. Leung, Young-Hoon Kim, Zhi-Xue Zhang, Kim-Pong Tam, Chi-Yue Chiu

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

When the relative contribution of the self and the group to a group success is unclear, Americans tend to exhibit a self-serving bias (rewarding the self more than what the self deserves), whereas the Chinese tend to exhibit an other-serving bias (rewarding the group more than the group deserves). In a study comparing the reward allocation biases of Americans and Chinese in different group outcome conditions, the authors showed that the abovementioned cultural difference is found (a) only for culturally congruent success experience (attaining approach goals for Americans and avoidance goals for Chinese) and (b) among individuals who are motivated …

Bodies For The Gods: Image Worship In Chinese Popular Religion, Margaret Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

War, Military Service, And Union Formation In Northern Vietnam, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

As wars exert increasing force on global affairs, there is greater demand for understanding the international diversity of family experiences with conflicts. This study examines the relationship between military participation during the Vietnam War (1965-1975) and first-marriage timing among northern Vietnamese men and women. Based on the Vietnam Longitudinal Survey and its recent followup, this paper describes cohort variations in the likelihood and timing of first marriage during pre-war, wartime, and post-war years and addresses the effects of veteran status, combat exposure, duration and timing of service. We find war did not decrease marriage likelihood among men but caused significant …

Crisis Response Information Networks, Shan L. Pan, Gary Pan, Dorothy Leidner

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

In the past two decades, organizational scholars have focused significant attention on how organizations manage crises. While most of these studies concentrate on crisis prevention, there is a growing emphasis on crisis response. Because information that is critical to crisis response may become outdated as crisis conditions change, crisis response research recognizes that the management of information flows and networks is critical to crisis response. Yet despite its importance, little is known about the various types of crisis information networks and the role of IT in enabling these information networks. Employing concepts from information flow and social network theories, this …

Investor Sentiment, Disagreement, And The Breadth Return Relationship, Hai Lu, Ling Cen, Liyan Yang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We extend the theory and empirics in Chen, Hong, and Stein (2002) by assuming that investors subject to market sentiment hold a biased belief in the aggregate. With a dynamic multi-asset model, we predict that the breadth-return relationship can be either positive or negative depending on the relative strength of two offsetting forces — disagreement and sentiment. Using the sentiment index developed in Baker and Wurgler (2006, 2007), we find evidence consistent with our predictions. The breadth-return relationship is positive when the sentiment effect is small. However, the relationship becomes negative when (i) the time-series variation of market-wide sentiment is …

Ethics Of Clear Health Communication: Applying The Clean Look Approach To Communicate Biobanking Information For Cancer Research, Alexis Koskan, Mariana Arevalo, Gwen Quinn, Shalwea Noel-Thomas, John S. Luque, Kristen Wells, Cathy Meade, Clement K. Gwede

Community Health: Faculty Publications

Cancer innovations, such as biobanking technologies, are continuously evolving to improve our understanding and knowledge about cancer prevention and treatment modalities. However, the public receives little communication about biobanking and is often unaware about this innovation until asked to donate biospecimens. It is the researchers’ ethical duty to provide clear communications about biobanking and biospecimen research. Such information allows the public to understand biobanking processes and facilitates informed decision making about biospecimen donation. The aims of this paper are 1) to examine the importance of clear communication as an ethical imperative when conveying information about cancer innovations and 2) to …

Creating A Patient Navigation Model To Address Cervical Cancer Disparities In A Rural Hispanic Farmworker Community, Kristen Wells, Maria Rivera, Sara Proctor, Gloria Arroyo, Shalanda A. Bynum, Gwendolyn Quinn, John S. Luque, Marlene Rivera, Dinorah Martinez-Tyson, Cathy Meade

Community Health: Faculty Publications

This report describes the implementation of a pilot patient navigation (PN) program created to address cervical cancer disparities in a predominantly Hispanic agricultural community. Since November 2009, a patient navigator has provided services to patients of Catholic Mobile Medical Services (CMMS). The PN program has resulted in the need for additional clinic sessions to accommodate the demand for preventive care at CMMS.

The Role Of Accounting Conservatism In Firms' Financial Decisions, Jimmy Kiat Bee Lee

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This paper investigates whether financial reporting conservatism is related to firms’ financial flexibility and their access to capital. If conservatism facilitates monitoring and governance by capital providers, they should be more willing to extend financing and increase firms’ access to capital. However, because conservatism leads to systematic understatement of net worth and weakens the appearance of firms’ balance sheet strength, it could also reduce firms’ access to capital. This study tests these two opposing views of the relationship between conservatism and firms’ financial flexibility. Results indicate that firms with greater reporting conservatism exhibit less flexibility in their corporate liquidity management, …

Accounting Flexibility And Managers’ Forecast Behavior Prior To Seasoned Equity Offerings, Jae Bum Kim

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This study examines the effect of accounting flexibility on managers’ forecasting behavior prior to seasoned equity offerings(SEO). While SEO firms have strong incentives to convey optimistic information to boost the pre-SEO stock price, they also face enhanced litigation risk arising from SEO-related regulations. Thus, I hypothesize that managers of SEO firms will release optimistic forecasts prior to an SEO only if they have the accounting flexibility to manage subsequent reported earnings to meet or exceed their forecasts. I find that managers with greater accounting flexibility are more likely to issue a forecast prior to the SEO and their forecasts are …

Mutual Fund Size, Fund Family Size And Mutual Fund Performance: The Role Of Regulatory Changes, Sanjeev Bhojra, Young Jun Cho, Nir Yehuda

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We examine whether the previously documented positive association between fund family size and fund performance is affected by significant regulatory changes (i.e., Regulation Fair Disclosure (Reg FD), the Global Settlement (GS), and increased scrutiny as a result of trading scandals) that have occurred in the last decade. Using Reg FD as a beginning point for these structural changes, we find that, while fund family size was positively associated with fund performance in the period prior to the regulatory changes, this advantage is significantly weaker in the period subsequent to the regulatory changes. Consistent with the weakened advantage of fund family …

Investor Competition Over Information And The Pricing Of Information Asymmetry, Brian K. Atkins, Jeffrey Ng, Rodrigo Verdi

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Whether the information environment affects the cost of capital is a fundamental question in accounting and finance research. Relying on theories about competition between informed investors as well as the pricing of information asymmetry, we hypothesize a cross-sectional variation in the pricing of information asymmetry that is conditional on competition. We develop and validate empirical proxies for competition using the number and concentration of institutional investor ownership. Using these proxies, we find a lower pricing of information asymmetry when there is more competition. Overall, our results suggest that competition between informed investors has an important effect on how the information …

My Sister, Our Stories: Exploring The Lived Experience Of School Leavers Through Narrative And Poetics, C. Amelia Davis, Jennifer L. Pepperell

Curriculum, Foundations & Reading: Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to explore the educational experiences of two adult female siblings who are both school leavers. Through the use of thematic narrative analysis, sibling narratives and poetic re-presentations, their stories were developed. These stories represent the participants’ experiences of prior schooling and their current commitments to education. While each story conveyed a profound similarity in terms of prior schooling, contrasting narratives were illustrated through description of transitional moments and sibling relationship. The analysis also explored the intersections of race, gender,and social class within educative moments of the life experiences of the participants.

Mindfulness And The Art Of Living Creatively: Cultivating A Creative Life By Minding Our Mind, Satinder Dhiman

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

This paper studies the role of mindful creativity in life and at work. It explores the relationship between mindfulness as a creative process and the concept of flow, suggesting that the Buddhist meditative practice of mindfulness contributes to the successful attainment of both of these experiences. It utilizes the Buddhist construct of mindfulness as a framework to approach the works of Langer, a Harvard psychologist, and Csikszentmihalyi, who popularized the concept of flow. This author had the privilege of interviewing Csikszentmihalyi and Langer recently. For Langer, total engagement and immersion in everything done is the key to mindful creativity, which …

An Examination Of Within-Person Variation In Response Propensity Over The Data Collection Field Period, Kristen Olson, Robert M. Groves

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Statistical examinations of deterministic and stochastic response propensity assert that a sample case’s propensity is determined by fixed respondent characteristics. The perspective of this article, that of dynamic response propensities, differs, viewing sample cases’ propensities as evolving over the course of the data collection. Each sample case begins the data collection period in a “base” response propensity. Each change in the data collection protocol which the survey organization subsequently makes might change that base propensity. This article examines four questions: (1) Is there any evidence that the average response propensities of sampled individuals vary over the data collection? (2) Is …

Aggregate Litigation Goes Public: Representative Suits By State Attorneys General, Margaret H. Lemos

Faculty Scholarship

State attorneys general represent their citizens in aggregate litigation that bears a striking resemblance to the much-maligned damages class action. Yet, while class actions are subject to a raft of procedural rules designed to protect absent class members, equivalent suits in the public sphere are largely free from constraint. The procedural disconnect between the two categories of aggregate litigation reflects a widespread assumption that attorneys general will adequately represent the interests of the state’s citizens, obviating any need for case-specific mechanisms for assuring the loyalty of lawyer to client.

This Article challenges the presumption of adequate public representation. By conflating …

Effects Of Message Interactivity Upon Relational Maintenance Strategy In Digital Communications Between Organizations And The Public, Zhan-Qing Liu

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Digital communication between organizations and the public is strategically important in shaping mutual understanding and long term relationship. The primary focus of this project was to investigate the relationship between message interactivity and relational maintenance strategy in the email communication process on organization websites. At issue is to what extent message interactivity and relational maintenance strategy is purposefully incorporated in email responses to public inquiries and consequently, to what extent such interactivity is potentially related to the quality of communication in terms of relationship maintenance. An experimental approach was used to exchange emails with randomly selected 2011 Fortune 500 companies …

Internationalising Chinese Maritime Higher Education: Developing Content And English Language Integrated Teaching And Learning, Robyn Morgan Pyne

Plymouth Business School Theses

This thesis examines how new maritime nations, which are engaged in the export of seafaring labour, need to respond to the demands of the international maritime industry. In particular, traditional maritime nations are calling for greater internationalisation of maritime education and training. The global labour market for seafarers, which is dominated by employers from traditional maritime nations, demands internationally minded graduates. China’s response to these demands for quality labour exports from new maritime nations is the subject of exploration in this thesis. Within the specific context of Maritime English teaching and learning, a significant opportunity for innovation and change is …

Resources And Instructional Strategies Effective Middle School Science Teachers Use To Improve Content Area Reading Skills, Melanie S. Beaver

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the resources and instructional strategies effective middle school science teachers use to improve content area reading skills. Reading instruction in the middle school years should follow the natural cognitive progression that occurs in the adolescent brain from learning to read to reading to learn. Scientific reading is a different type of reading than most middle school students are accustomed to. It is important to understand that students will continue to be expected to read non-fiction critically for success in the 21st century. Effective teachers know this, and they perceive themselves as teachers of reading regardless of the …

The Internationalization Of Chinese Firms: A Critical Review And Future Research*, Ping Deng

Business Faculty Publications

The important phenomenon that the internationalization of Chinese firms (ICF) represents has attracted increasing interest from scholars from multiple fields over the past 20 years (1991–2010). Although this proliferation of research has the potential to significantly improve understanding of Chinese multinational enterprises (MNEs), the necessary step of consolidating and integrating extant knowledge is absent. This paper reviews the scholarship on the ICF and offers insights into the specific areas in critical need of further development. By focusing on articles published in major scholarly journals during the period 1991–2010, the authors develop a coherent framework to organize and review conceptual and …