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1 – 10 of 30In recent years, investing with robo-advisors has gained momentum and is seen as a simplifying approach for individual investors to participate in financial markets. This chapter…
Abstract
In recent years, investing with robo-advisors has gained momentum and is seen as a simplifying approach for individual investors to participate in financial markets. This chapter contributes to a better understanding of the concept of a robo-advisory and its implications for private investors by discussing its past, present, and future. It explores key issues, like cost-efficiency, historical performance, and automation levels, based on research and industry insights. Moreover, this chapter examines a robo-advisor's benefits, limitations, and challenges, like behavioral biases, regulation, and risk profiling. Finally, the importance of the ongoing megatrends of AI and green investing is examined concerning a robo-advisory.
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Anett Kenderes, Szabolcs Gyimóthy and Péter Tamás Benk
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of measurement uncertainties and the environment characteristics themselves on the desired field uniformity (FU) in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of measurement uncertainties and the environment characteristics themselves on the desired field uniformity (FU) in reverberation chambers (RCs) by means of state-of-the-art global sensitivity analysis techniques. There are many quantities to describe the FU. The authors attempted to inspect many of the most important ones in two different orientations of the stirrer (horizontal, vertical).
Design/methodology/approach
Surrogate modelling techniques are involved to compute the Sobol’ indices efficiently with a modest number of required electromagnetic (EM) simulations. This can be only achieved if the behaviour of an appropriately chosen output quantity is predictable in such a way, which enables to extract useful information. Therefore, this choice should be made with extra care of the stochastic fluctuations, which have to be as low as possible. To this end, in this paper, various figures of merit are investigated.
Findings
This method can provide useful knowledge in the lower frequency range, where the ideal properties of the EM field in RCs cannot be established, and the importance of the setup parameters can vary from configuration to configuration.
Originality/value
Considering the current research tendencies related to RCs, the application of the method of Sobol’ indices to RCs is unique, which has only been done by the authors of this work so far. The main contribution presented in the paper is the thorough investigation of the effect of configuration parameters on the statistical properties of RCs through many output quantities describing the FU.
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Somtochukwu Emmanuel Dike, Zachary Davis, Alan Abrahams, Ali Anjomshoae and Peter Ractham
Variations in customer expectations pose a challenge to service quality improvement in the airline industry. Understanding airline customers' expectations and satisfaction help…
Abstract
Purpose
Variations in customer expectations pose a challenge to service quality improvement in the airline industry. Understanding airline customers' expectations and satisfaction help service providers improve their offerings. The extant literature examines airline passengers' expectations in isolation, neglecting the overall impact of online reviews on service quality improvement. This paper systematically evaluates the airline industry's passengers' expectations and satisfaction using expectation confirmation theory (ECT) and the SERVQUAL framework. The paper analyzes online reviews to examine the relationship between airline service quality attributes and passengers' satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
The SERVQUAL framework was employed to examine the effects of customer culture, the reason for traveling, and seat type on customer's expectations and satisfaction across a large sample of airline customers.
Findings
A total of 17,726 observations were gathered from the Skytrax review website. The lowest satisfaction ratings were from passengers from the USA, Canada and India. Factors that affect perceived service performance include customer service, delays and baggage management. Empathy and reliability have the biggest impact on the perceived satisfaction of passengers.
Research limitations/implications
This research increases understanding of the consumer expectations through analysis of passengers' online reviews. Results are limited to a small sample of airline industries.
Practical implications
This study provides airlines with valuable information to improve customer service by analyzing online reviews.
Social implications
This study provides the opportunity for airline customers to gain better services when airline companies utilize the findings.
Originality/value
This paper offers insights into passengers' expectations and their perceived value for money in relation to seat types. Previous studies have not investigated value for money as a construct for passengers' expectations and satisfaction relative to service quality dimensions. This paper addresses this need.
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Rubee Singh, Shahbaz Khan and Jacinta Dsilva
Consumers, governments and regulatory agencies are concerned about the social and environmental aspect that pushes firms to move towards the circular economy. The transformation…
Abstract
Purpose
Consumers, governments and regulatory agencies are concerned about the social and environmental aspect that pushes firms to move towards the circular economy. The transformation of the existing linear model into a circular model depends on several circular economy practices. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify and analyse the critical factors that are responsible for the adoption of circular practices.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 15 critical factors are identified through the literature review and 12 are finalised with the grey Delphi method. Further, these critical factors are prioritised using the weighted aggregated sum/product assessment (WASPAS) method. A sensitivity analysis is also conducted to test the robustness of the ranking of critical factors obtained from WASPAS.
Findings
The finding of this study show that “top management participation,” “market for recovered products” and “circular economy oriented R&D activities promotion” are the most significant factors for circular practice adoption. These factors need to address on the highest priority by the stakeholders.
Research limitations/implications
This study is beneficial for the managers to formulate their strategies for the adoption of circular practices. The prioritisation of critical factors supports the managers and professionals to optimise their effort and resources to adopt the circular practice.
Originality/value
This study explores and analyses the critical factor for circular economy practice adoption in the supply chain in the context of emerging economies.
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Education tends to colonize. Established authorities (teachers, curricula, and examinations) instruct newcomers, extending conditional membership. This presents a dilemma for…
Abstract
Education tends to colonize. Established authorities (teachers, curricula, and examinations) instruct newcomers, extending conditional membership. This presents a dilemma for teachers seeking to instill in their students habits of critical, creative, and lateral thinking. In Australia as elsewhere, blueprint educational documents embody lofty aspirational statements of inclusion and investment in people and their potential. Yoked to this is a regime routinely imposing high-stakes basic-skills testing on school students, with increasingly constrictive ways of doing, while privileging competition over collaboration. This chapter explores more informal, organic learning. This self-study narrative inquiry explores my career in terms of a struggle to be my most evolved, enlightened self, as opposed to a small-minded, small-hearted mini-me. To balance this, I examine responsible autonomy (including my own), rather than freedom. This chapter also explores investment in humans, with the reasonable expectation of a return on that investment. It draws and reflects upon events in or impacting my hometown, Sydney, Australia, focusing largely on WorldPride, the Women's World Cup, and a referendum on an Indigenous voice to parliament, all of which took place as I compiled this chapter. Accordingly, the narrative focuses primarily on sexuality, gender, and race. I explore the capacity of my surroundings to teach me and my capacity to learn from my surroundings. The findings and discussion comprise diary-type entries of significant events and their implications for (my) excessive entitlement. The final section of this chapter reviews what and how I have learned.
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Noel Scott, Brent Moyle, Ana Cláudia Campos, Liubov Skavronskaya and Biqiang Liu
Driven by the evidence from the literature on the significance of mobile (m-)payment in economic growth and productivity and at the same time the relative dismal adoption of this…
Abstract
Purpose
Driven by the evidence from the literature on the significance of mobile (m-)payment in economic growth and productivity and at the same time the relative dismal adoption of this service, the purpose of present paper is to elucidate the merchants’ m-payment adoption from the perspective of trust, drawing upon the game theory framework, in the Malaysian context.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey consisting of 302 respondents was carried out to investigate the impact of trust and opportunism on merchants’ perceived trustworthiness using a two-staged structural equation modeling–neural network approach to determine the significance and relative importance of variables. This study also applies a game-theoretic approach to analyze the impact of trust on the relationship between merchants and m-payment service providers.
Findings
The results indicate a positive and statistically significant relationship between merchant trust, merchant opportunism and perceived trustworthiness, and a statistically significant negative relationship was found between m-payment provider opportunism and perceived trustworthiness. The findings from the prisoner’s dilemma two-player model indicate that the scenarios of mutual trust and mutual opportunism as paradigmatic of cooperation and defection produce the best and worse outcomes, respectively. An intriguing result was the positive impact of merchant opportunism on perceived trustworthiness, which indicates a very calculative orientation of merchants in m-payment contracting.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is among the first attempts to propose a game theory approach to the interaction between merchants and m-payment providers under the framework of trust and opportunism. A game theory study in the context of m-payment adoption can contribute to the theoretical literature by providing insights into the decision-making processes of merchants. By incorporating trust and opportunism into the game theory model, we can gain a better understanding of how they affect the decision-making process and overall adoption rates. The conclusions and implications provide useful insights for managers of both m-payment platforms and merchants in this relational exchange. The results of the present research can provide insights into the factors that influence merchant decisions and guide them toward suitable partnerships for successful adoption and can guide authorities for policy interventions and supporting adoption efforts.
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Montserrat Núnez Chicharro, Musa Mangena, María Inmaculada Alonso Carrillo and Alba María Priego De La Cruz
Higher education institutions (HEIs) are critical in the sustainability agenda, not only as catalysts for promoting sustainability practices but also because their activities have…
Abstract
Purpose
Higher education institutions (HEIs) are critical in the sustainability agenda, not only as catalysts for promoting sustainability practices but also because their activities have substantial social, economic and environmental impacts. Yet there is limited research that examines their sustainability performance. This paper aims to investigate the factors that are associated with sustainability performance in HEIs. Specifically, drawing from the stakeholder theory and exploiting Ullmann’s (1985) conceptual framework, this study examines the association between sustainability performance and stakeholder power, strategic posture and financial slack resources.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors draw the sample from the People & Planet University Green League Table for the period 2011–2019 and use the generalised estimating equations for the modelling approach.
Findings
This study finds that stakeholder power, in particular, funding grant income, tuition fee income and student and staff numbers, are positively associated with sustainability performance. In relation to strategic posture, this study finds that sustainability performance is negatively associated with governing body independence and gender diversity, and positively associated with internal structures. Finally, regarding financial slack resources, this study finds that surplus income (staff costs) is positively (negatively) associated with sustainability performance.
Practical implications
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research contributes to several existing literature focusing on the not-for-profit sector by documenting, for the first time, the role of stakeholder power, strategic posture and slack financial resources on sustainability performance.
Social implications
The paper includes relevant implications for HEI managers and regulators for promoting sustainability.
Originality/value
These results contribute to the literature on the factors influencing sustainability performance.
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