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The purpose of this paper is to develop an index for measuring urban house price affordability that integrates spatial considerations and to explore the drivers of housing affordability using the post-least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) approach and the ordinary least squares method of regression analysis.

The study is based on time-series data collected from 2005 to 2021 for 256 prefectural-level city districts in China. The new urban spatial house-to-price ratio introduced in this study adds the consideration of commuting costs due to spatial endowment compared to the traditional house-to-price ratio. And compared with the use of ordinary economic modelling methods, this study adopts the post-LASSO variable selection approach combined with the k-fold cross-test model to identify the most important drivers of housing affordability, thus better solving the problems of multicollinearity and overfitting.

Urban macroeconomics environment and government regulations have varying degrees of influence on housing affordability in cities. Among them, gross domestic product is the most important influence.

The paper provides important implications for policymakers, real estate professionals and researchers. For example, policymakers will be able to design policies that target the most influential factors of housing affordability in their region.

This study introduces a new urban spatial house price-to-income ratio, and it examines how macroeconomic indicators, government regulation, real estate market supply and urban infrastructure level have a significant impact on housing affordability. The problem of having too many variables in the decision-making process is minimized through the post-LASSO methodology, which varies the parameters of the model to allow for the ranking of the importance of the variables. As a result, this approach allows policymakers and stakeholders in the real estate market more flexibility in determining policy interventions. In addition, through the k-fold cross-validation methodology, the study ensures a high degree of accuracy and credibility when using drivers to predict housing affordability.

High-density development requires large land parcels, but fragmented land ownership can impede redevelopment. While earlier compact city development in Sydney occurred on large-scale brownfield sites, redeveloping and re-amalgamating older strata-titled properties is now integral to further densification. The purpose of this study is to examine collective sales activity in one Sydney suburb where multiple strata-titled redevelopments and re-amalgamations have been attempted. The authors explore how owners navigate the process of selling collectively, focusing on their experience of legislation introduced to facilitate this process, the Strata Schemes Development Act 2015 [New South Wales (NSW)].

By reviewing sales listings, development applications and media coverage, and interviewing owners, lawyers and estate agents, the authors map out collective sale activity in a case study area in Sydney’s northwest.

Strata collective sales are slow and difficult to complete, even when planning and market drivers align. Owners find the Strata Scheme Development Act 2015 (NSW) difficult to navigate and it has not prevented strategic blocking attempts by competing developers. The long timelines required to organise collective sales can result in failure if the market shifts in the interim. Nonetheless, owners remain interested in selling collectively.

This case study is important for understanding the barriers to redevelopment to achieve a more compact city. It highlights lessons for other jurisdictions considering similar legislative changes. It also suggests that legislative change alone is insufficient to resolve the planning challenges created by hyper-fragmentation of land through strata-title development.

This study aims to convey the understanding of the ecosystem – how “hundi” works on the border trade between Myanmar and northern Thailand, which is an informal transfer system and is widely used as an alternative banking system. Even though the role of hundi is unable to declare the sources of money under the standard settlement of formal banking system, a failure to operate of its official mechanism are carrying using hundi, as a financial platform across the border between Thailand and Myanmar. This study surveys the best practice mechanism for the regional and international cooperation.

This paper draws on relevant literature, open-source reporting, and interviews with more than 30 interviewees on the border between Thailand and Myanmar. Interviewees includes border-trader, money changer, money transfer operators, business leaders, hundi operators, immigrant labors, government officials and commercial banking staffs.

This study provides a unique insight of hundi system, which work as the alternative mode of formal banking. It is an informal fund transfer payment platform used on the border between Thailand and Myanmar in the past five decades. It insists that hundi plays a significant role in both substitution and complementary on the trade and payment across the border of Myanmar–Thailand. Even though confronting with the barriers of financing of terrorism (anti money laundering AML/combating the financing of terrorism CFT) risk, the competition with the expanding and modernizing formal banking sector, and the introduction of Fintech and mobile money services. In the short term, these are unlikely to eliminate the hundi system completely, but may instead push hundi operators towards adopting these networks and technologies in their own operations.

This paper will be a useful source for academics, development professionals, policymakers, law enforcement agencies and business actors who are seeking to understand Myanmar’s informal payment system, hundi.

This is the latest work for border trade payment or trade financing role of hundi which has hidden under the informal market of the border for several decades. It has few research of hundi on border trade and payment, particularly after the military coup in 2021 which made hundi return to be on the spotlight and simultaneous mechanism of border trade and payment ecosystem of Myanmar. This paper will be a useful source for academics, development professionals, policymakers, law enforcement agencies and business actors who are eager to understand Myanmar’s informal payment system, hundi, especially during the hardship.

Addressing Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues has become a critical aspect of business strategy. Since ESG has primarily focused on ratings and measures for reporting, there is a scarcity of methods to assist stakeholders in better comprehending corporate risk and addressing ESG-related issues and problems. The purpose of this paper is to propose a new model to narrow the critical gap.

This study is based on several well-known structural frameworks for managing risks and projects in various industries. Two case studies on topics related to environment (E) and social (S) responsibility are used to demonstrate the practical implementation of the CEPAR® model.

The CEPAR® model, a trademarked five-step methodology (the Challenge-Evaluation-Planning-Action-Review model) was developed by the International Chamber of Sustainable Development (ICSD). The method and guidelines are outlined for easier appreciation by stakeholders of corporations to analyze ESG-related challenges and dilemmas, then able to make principled decisions, take actions, and review the outcomes. Each phase of the new model adheres to the theoretical and practical frameworks for problem-solving and decision-making, emphasizing the iterate process of addressing challenges, evaluating materiality, planning actions, taking actions, and reviewing the outcomes.

The new model is applicable for business corporations and organizations seeking to gain insight and tackle crucial ESG issues, ultimately improving their short- and long-term decision-making and business opportunities.

This study examines whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives positively impact customers’ selection of retail banks in Hong Kong (HK) and identifies which CSR domains affect customers’ selection of banks.

This study adopted a quantitative approach. Primary data were collected from 416 customers of 22 retail banks in HK. The theoretical framework of this study was developed from a literature review, prior studies by Oberseder et al. (2013 and 2014), and CSR initiatives implemented by leading retail banks in HK. Descriptive statistics and statistical tests were used to analyze the data.

The study found that CSR initiatives positively affect customers’ bank selection. CSR initiatives related to the customer and environment domains are likely to have a greater impact on customers than those related to the society domain and are not likely to significantly impact customers’ bank selection.

This study contributes to the CSR literature by offering enhanced insight into the dynamics of CSR and its effects on customer bank selection. Furthermore, this study tests consumers’ perceptions of CSR initiatives in each CSR domain in the banking sector in Hong Kong – a novel approach that has not been previously explored in existing studies. These findings can help banks review the effectiveness of their CSR initiatives and make informed decisions on which initiatives should pursue improved CSR performance and efficient resource allocation.

This study aims to offer authors’ humble yet unique experiences about developing an undergraduate sociology programme in an increasingly divided city.

In this study, the authors reflect upon the development of a new sociology programme in Hong Kong in which a wide spectrum of expectations from different stakeholders, together with their own sense of mission towards sociology education, have set a very challenging stage.

Developing an undergraduate sociology programme has never been easy, and there is no self-complacence as far as developing a programme that is of both academic and social values.

This paper offers a first-hand account of how sociology educators have developed a new sociology programme in a unique social context.

This paper aims to investigate the impact of digital inclusive finance on entrepreneurial activities in rural areas, as well as the underlying mechanisms and the variations of this impact across regions and household characteristics.

Utilizing the China Household Finance Survey Data, this paper applies the Two-Stage Least Squares with instrumental variables to assess the effect of digital inclusive finance on rural entrepreneurship.

The empirical findings indicate that digital inclusive finance significantly promotes entrepreneurial activities in rural areas by alleviating credit constraints, reducing financial information barriers, and altering risk attitudes for rural households. Additionally, this effect is more pronounced in the eastern region of China and for the “opportunity entrepreneurial activities.” Furthermore, the impact varies across rural households' income and consumption status, as well as the personal characteristics of household heads.

Firstly, this study broadens our understanding of the mechanisms through which digital inclusive finance influences entrepreneurial activities, thereby filling a gap in existing entrepreneurship research. Secondly, the study's findings affirm the inclusive nature of digital finance, contributing significantly to the literature on regional equality and illuminating potential pathways toward achieving “common prosperity.”

Pre-letting and pre-sale financing arrangements have been widely adopted to increase housing delivery in the developed economy. Despite the increasing level of adoption in some developed countries, some are reverting to spot property buying because of factors militating the adoption of pre-letting and pre-sale financing. However, little has been done on the factors influencing the adoption of these trust-based financing arrangements in the developing economy where there are challenges of trust and market transparency.

Using a closed-ended questionnaire, 87 property development companies (PDCs), which constituted 63.5% of the 137 PDCs in Lagos metropolis, were sampled. Variables that influence adoption of pre-letting and pre-sale financing arrangements were presented to respondents for rating on a five-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (not influential) to 5 (very highly influential). With the aid of SPSS software, acquired data were analysed using principal component analysis (PCA), mean rating and standard deviation.

The PCA finding revealed that factors influencing the adoption of pre-letting and pre-sale financing had 69.641% total variance. Top-rated components were fear of financial risk and firm’s reputation and poor government involvement and contractors' credibility, with 15.114% and 11.895% variances, respectively. The study findings suggested that the buyers' apprehension regarding the transfer of financial risk and the reputation of the firms significantly influence their decision to embrace both arrangements. As a result, the buyers' willingness to engage the financing arrangements is reduced, which consequently imparts adoption negatively. Furthermore, there is worrisome lack of government involvement, a crucial aspect for the success of such arrangements.

Pre-letting and pre-sale financing arrangements are found to be highly suitable for environments where there is trust. The findings enlighten the development firms on the need to uphold their reputation, as buyers attach great significance to the credibility and integrity of the companies they engage in business.

This paper is one of the few attempts that have sought to explore the factors influencing pre-letting and pre-sale financing arrangements in an emerging market like Nigeria.

This study aims to develop and validate a scale to measure Teacher Entrepreneurial Behavior (TEB), which encapsulates the behaviors teachers employ to identify and amplify innovation in schools. TEB are catalysts for innovation, navigating their peers through risks and building trust, which empowers the collective to transcend structural constraints and pioneer new educational initiatives. Despite the importance of TEB, there is a notable absence of a well-validated measurement instrument.

Drawing on existing empirical TEB studies, this study conducts four interconnected studies following scale-development procedures. The content validity, construct validity, internal consistency, and external validity of the proposed scale were assessed using exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, invariance analysis, and regression analysis.

The result is a multidimensional TEB model featuring 15 items with a good model fit. The TEB scale comprises four factors: Advocating Innovation, Seeking Resources, Cultivating Cohesiveness, and Mitigating Risk.

This study represents a rigorous attempt to develop and validate a reliable instrument for measuring TEB. It provides a validated tool for future research aimed at understanding the nature of TEB as an independent construct and associated dynamics. Accurate measurement is important for the robustness and replicability of research. Furthermore, the insights gained on TEB scale can significantly inform both the preparation and evaluation of teacher leaders by emphasizing the importance of entrepreneurial behaviors in promoting teachers’ collaboration and actualizing innovative initiative.

This study aims to investigate how indigenous socio-cultural (ISC) practices within informal networks, such as guanxi and wasta, provide benefits beyond mere access. Specifically, the authors explore their global impact on B2B relationships, focusing on reciprocity. A multiregional sample extends research on ISC practices in B2B relationships by examining contingency effects of informal network ties.

The authors surveyed 404 buyers in two developed (Hong Kong and Portugal) and two emerging economies (Kuwait and Colombia), and also categorized by strong and weak informal network ties. Using structural equation modeling, the authors examined a relationship marketing (RM) model from a typology (Clubs, Sociocracies, Clans and Compadres) for assessing contingency effects.

The study reveals that in developed economies with strong formal institutions, negative aspects of favor reciprocity norms intensify unless informal networks are driven by strict sociomoral obligations. This supports research indicating that contractual governance competes rather than complements relational governance. Moreover, trust-building processes are crucial in regions with low uncertainty tolerance to mitigate adverse effects.

Suppliers from developed nations need more than cultural communication insights when engaging in business in emerging markets. We acknowledge changes buyers may expect adherence to reciprocity rules embedded in the ISC practices of their informal networks.

This study pioneers a typology of social structures to analyze ISC practices across buyers with varying formal institutional strength and informal network ties. It sheds light on institutional dynamics, trust-building processes, and nuances surrounding both positive and negative aspects of reciprocity practices. Furthermore, it broadens the scope of RM to Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.