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This study aims to propose and empirically test a cognitive-behavioral model of the perceived benefits of social networking sites (SNSs), trust in SNSs, brand trust, brand loyalty and customer equity in the context of fast fashion brand communities in Thailand. Using a structural equation modeling (SEM) technique, a proposed model was successfully established. Importantly, this research delineates the mediating role of the relationship between the perceived benefits of SNSs and brand trust, as well as emphasizes the importance of trust in generating customer equity. In addition to its theoretical contribution, this study also provides practical implications for brand managers to develop customer equity through their brand pages on SNSs. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed.

The online surveys were administered to Thai consumers. An email invitation with an embedded link was sent by the researchers asking receivers to participate or forward the survey to others who were interested in participating in the study. As the purpose of this study is to investigate interrelationships among SNSs benefit, trust and customer equity in fast fashion retail domains, only responses from those who were current SNS users and had visited fast fashion SNS brand communities in the past three months were considered for analysis. A total of 227 participants completed the survey; however, eight of those responses were incomplete. Thus, 207 usable responses were analyzed by using SEM.

Thai SNS users who believe they receive practical and social benefits from engaging in SNSs were likely to trust the sites instead of directly forming trust toward the brand. However, perceived entertainment benefits did not influence trust in SNS. This study found that brand trustworthiness is not directly predicted by practical benefit from SNSs. Instead, brand trustworthiness is formed through consumers’ trust toward SNSs. Brand trust induces a high degree of brand loyalty for fast fashion brands, and those individuals with higher brand loyalty were likely to purchase the brand’s products more frequently as well as in a higher volume.

Although the research included general fashion SNSs brand communities users, the samples are not fully representative. Particularly, the majority of respondents of this study could be college students; as such, this may have influenced the results. Thus, to enhance generalizability of the findings, the model should be examined using non-student samples. In addition, a greater number of samples will better reflect the actual demographic profile of SNS users. Second, although the study results generally support the proposed model, the results are necessarily limited to the study’s context, which is Thailand. Likewise, the study needs to be replicated with consumers in other countries, particularly in countries with the fastest increase of SNS users such as India, Indonesia, Mexico, China and Brazil.

The results provide practical implications to apparel brands for establishing customer equity through their brand pages on SNSs. As discussed, consumer trust toward the SNSs is favorably strengthened by SNSs benefits (i.e., practical and social). Consumer trust in SNSs can impact how they perceive the brands and their purchase behaviors. This study encourages companies to strengthen consumers’ trust in SNSs by enhancing perceived practical and social benefits. In addition, companies need to closely monitor information/conversations about the product/brand being presented on their SNS brand community because the quality of information and conversation available in the SNS can affect consumer trust in that SNS.

This study contributes to the existing literature in the area of social media, trust, brand loyalty and customer equity in the context of the apparel industry. Importantly, this study uncovered the mediating role of trust in SNSs in a practical benefit-brand trust relationship, indicating that brand trustworthiness is not directly predicted by practical benefit from SNSs, but is formed through consumers’ trust toward SNSs. Brand trust induces a high degree of brand loyalty for fast fashion brands, which in turn, led to customer equity relative to number of purchases and purchase volume.

Most of the past studies have managed to confirm the value‐relevance of R&D, but few of them have formally addressed the issue of knowledge spillovers. In reality, firms improve their know‐how both by producing new knowledge and by learning from others. The objective of this study is to examine the relevance of R&D and knowledge spillovers as an explanation for the observed inconsistency between market and book values. While the level of R&D is measured by R&D expenses and patent counts, the intensity of knowledge spillovers is measured by tracing the linkages between inventions across time as established by patent citations. Specifically, knowledge spillovers are decomposed into intraindustry, internal, and interindustry spillovers. The empirical findings from this study conclude that R&D and knowledge spillovers are value‐relevant. The results also suggest that, among the three components of spillovers, intraindustry spillovers have the strongest impact on market‐to‐book ratios.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the interplay of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and green innovation in boosting competitiveness in manufacturing in an emerging market context. This study adds green innovation as mediator in the relationship between CSR and competitiveness.

A model with three second-order constructs is developed and tested, in a sample of 325 managers from manufacturing companies in Ecuador, using quantitative and cross-section methods.

After obtaining adjusted and validated measurement models, a structural equation model was conducted, where the main hypotheses were confirmed, providing empirical evidence that CSR and green innovation significantly influence manufacturing competitiveness in a developing economy.

This study considers only manufacturing companies in Ecuador, focusing on CSR practices in a single territorial case study. It arguably contributes to reinforce the business case for CSR, with new evidence on the causal relationships between CSR, green innovation and competitiveness, in the context of emerging market manufacturing industries. Although the literature often points at a positive relationship between CSR and firm-level competitiveness, supporting empirical evidence remains scarce. This model, introducing green innovation as mediator in the relationship between CSR and competitiveness in developing markets, accounts for a novel theoretical approach.

The findings are consistent with previous research, reporting the positive influence of CSR activities on organizational competitiveness, reducing risks and cost structures, as well as improving the relationship with employees, enhancing talent attraction, retention and productivity. Incorporating formal CSR tools to the model allowed us to highlight the relevance of ‘green’ certifications as a means to provide a competitive edge, along with increased bargaining power in the supply chain, resulting in competitiveness gains. The findings on the role of green innovation suggest a transition from cost-savings to a more strategic leverage on responsible innovation as a source of competitive advantage.

Additionally, this research contributes to shed light on the impact of green processes and product innovations on social and environmental performance, providing evidence of a more efficient use of energy and natural resources, increasing productivity and by extension, profitability. CSR shapes an innovation culture that, through the use of social, environmental and sustainability controllers, can create new business models, products, services or processes that boost both firm-level and supply chain productivity, benefits that eventually spill over to the host community.

This study aims at bridging the research gap on the interplay of CSR, green innovation and competitiveness in manufacturing in an emerging market context.

The purpose of this paper is to develop and empirically test a model to examine service quality, satisfaction, trust and commitment as loyalty antecedents in a private healthcare service.

The approach was tested using structural equation modelling, involving 175 patients from a private Portuguese healthcare unit, using a revised Service Quality Assessment Scale (SQAS) scale for service quality evaluation.

The scale used to evaluate service quality is valid and meaningful. Service quality proved to be a multidimensional construct and relevant to build satisfaction. The path satisfaction→trust→loyalty was validated, whereas the path satisfaction→commitment→loyalty was not statistically supported.

The revised SQAS scale showed good internal consistency in healthcare context. Further trust-commitment antecedents must be examined in a private healthcare landscape to generalise the findings.

Healthcare quality managers must explore the service quality dimensions to generate satisfaction among their patients. Developing trust generates positive patient attitudes and loyalty.

This study explores using the SQAS scale in a private healthcare context. The authors provide further evidence that service quality is an antecedent and different from satisfaction. All the measures used proved to be valid and reliable. Trust and commitment play different roles in their relationship with loyalty.

Hausman (1978) represented a tectonic shift in inference related to the specification of econometric models. The seminal insight that one could compare two models which were both consistent under the null spawned a test which was both simple and powerful. The so-called ‘Hausman test’ has been applied and extended theoretically in a variety of econometric domains. This paper discusses the basic Hausman test and its development within econometric panel data settings since its publication. We focus on the construction of the Hausman test in a variety of panel data settings, and in particular, the recent adaptation of the Hausman test to semiparametric and nonparametric panel data models. We present simulation experiments which show the value of the Hausman test in a nonparametric setting, focusing primarily on the consequences of parametric model misspecification for the Hausman test procedure. A formal application of the Hausman test is also given focusing on testing between fixed and random effects within a panel data model of gasoline demand.

This paper provides a quantitative review of the literature on the repercussions of idiosyncratic information on firms’ cost of equity (CoE) capital. In total, I review the results of 113 unique studies examining the CoE effects of information Quantity, Precision and Asymmetry. My results suggest that the association between firm-specific information and CoE is subject to moderate effects. First, the link between Quantity and CoE is moderated by disclosure types and country-level factors in that firms in comparatively weakly regulated countries tend to enjoy up to four times greater CoE benefits from more expansive disclosure—depending on the type of disclosure—than firms in strongly regulated markets. Second, a negative relationship between Precision and CoE is only significant in studies using non-accrual quality proxies for Precision and risk factor-based (RFB)/valuation model-based (VMB) proxies for CoE. Third, almost all VMB studies confirm the positive association between Asymmetry and CoE, but there is notable variation in the conclusions reached when ex post CoE measurers are used.

The construction industries of many countries rely heavily on subcontracting. As a result, the quality of subcontractors is important as it has a direct bearing on the performance of the main contractor on projects. A large proportion of construction work in Singapore is subcontracted. Despite the well‐known and widely regretted deficiencies in the traditional subcontracting system, only recently have attempts been made to reform it. The most significant of these efforts is the Singapore List of Trade Subcontractors (SLOTS). This study sought to investigate whether or not the performance of subcontractors has been improved following the introduction of the SLOTS scheme. The research was based on a survey of project managers of main contractors. A major finding was that the SLOTS‐registered contractors were perceived to perform better than nonregistered ones. Suggestions for improving the SLOTS scheme are offered in this paper.

This paper aims to focus on different approaches to variable pre-selection for building net score models (also known as uplift modelling or incremental response modelling). The application of these models supports the identification of customers whose response can be traced back to be an effect of the campaign under consideration.

First, a net scoring methodology based on decision trees is presented. Then, derived from research contributions on this subject and analytics performed on real data from the financial sector, different approaches of variable pre-selection are discussed and compared numerically.

Net-χ2 and net information value as well as the rank lift impact correlation for interval variables would be preferred when performing variable pre-selection for net score models. Simulations showed that the results were relatively stable with respect to the number of cross-validation samples.

Variable pre-selection is required since it reduces computational effort that comes along with the complexity of net score models and the availability of a large amount of potential predictors. Some pre-selection methods result in a set of predictors quite close to the application of net scores itself.

Despite its lever on the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, only few contributions address net scores up to now and yet fewer authors deal with variable pre-selection for those models. In this regard, this article is the first to develop and compare different approaches.

The use of covariance structure modeling is explored as a means of moving toward a resolution of the debate over the antecedents of executive compensation. The major strength of this methodology is that it enables researchers to measure the effects of unobserved factors on measured variables. It is suggested that covariance structure modeling is a promising way of studying the effect of institutional isomorphism on executive compensation. The popular business press has questioned repeatedly the justification for and the performance effects of prevailing executive compensation systems (Crystal, 1988; Loomis, 1982; Patton, 1985). These articles argue that executives are more interested in creating wealth for themselves than for stockholders. They also underscore the absence of an obvious link between executive compensation and firm performance. Recent academic research on executive compensation adopts an agency perspective that emphasizes potential conflicts of interest between managers and stockholders. It contends that, in the absence of effective disciplining and monitoring systems, executive compensation plans may direct managers' efforts toward personal wealth enhancement to the detriment of firm value (Baumol, 1958; Berle & Means, 1932). In response, scholars have urged that executive compensation plans contain monetary incentives that only accrue to executives when shareholder wealth is maximized (Kerr, 1985; Rappaport, 1983; Tehranian & Waegelein, 1985). However, designing compensation systems that effectively align the interests of managers and stockholders requires a knowledge of the role and effect of relevant driving forces on compensation. Statistical research on executive compensation has been guided predominantly by a search for tangible, observable determinants (Ciscel & Carroll, 1980), examples of which have been firm size or growth rate (Baumol, 1967; Marris, 1963), inter‐firm and inter‐in‐dustry differences (Coughlan & Schmidt, 1985), and performance (Murphy, 1986). The emphasis on such tangible explanations is not surprising given the overwhelming use of econometric techniques, such as ordinary least squares regression (Ciscel & Carroll, 1980; Finkelstein & Hambrick, 1988), logistic regression (Walking & Long, 1984), time series analysis (Murphy, 1985), and event studies (Brickley, Bhagat & Lease, 1985; Coughlan & Schmidt, 1985; Tehranian & Waegelein, 1985). This paper argues that the focus on tangible, observable variables by compensation researchers is a methodologically ‐ driven practice that constrains theory building and testing. As a result, we may have ignored interesting and relevant theoretical frameworks for the study of executive compensation. We also have overlooked the use of analytical techniques that allow us to examine the role of potentially relevant latent constructs. In this paper, we will describe and illustrate the use of covariance structure modeling for the study of institutional pressures on executive compensation.