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The purpose of this paper is to present an extended version of the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM‐model) to explain and predict which of the four cognitive processes that are distinguished in the literature, with respect to Country of Origin (CoO), can be expected to occur: the halo‐effect, the summary construct‐effect, the product attribute‐effect or the default heuristic‐effect.

Contrary to most of the previous theoretically‐oriented work on cognitive CoO‐effects, the epistemological background of the CoO‐ELM model proposed in this paper is of an inductive nature with theoretical propositions being derived from empirical data already gathered in the existing studies.

The outcome of this paper is a flow chart model leading to a set of theoretical propositions on which cognitive CoO‐effects can be expected to occur under different situational contexts.

This paper only focuses on the explanation of cognitive CoO‐effects, not on affective or conative/normative effects. Also, the CoO‐ELM model applies only to the processing of consumers' prior knowledge about a country's products and not about the country itself. Finally, the CoO‐ELM model still needs to be subjected to empirical verification. An important implication of this paper is that the CoO‐ELM framework makes the bulk of empirical data become more transparent given the four effects of cognitive CoO‐processes.

The CoO‐ELM model provides marketing practitioners with an easy and practical tool for the management of CoO‐cues.

This paper is the first attempt trying to catch all the cognitive CoO‐effects previously identified within a theoretically solid framework.

This paper aims to report the results of a cross‐national cultural experiment on auditors' belief revision when evaluating internal control.

Hogarth and Einhorn's belief‐adjustment model (BAM) and Hofstede's national culture are employed. Two experimental conditions, created by crossing two levels of audit information: initial (un)favourable (UNFAV‐MODFAV) FAV‐MODFAV information, each followed by additional moderately favourable audit evidence and two levels of national culture dimensions of individualism (Australian auditors) and collectivism (Taiwanese auditors).

Consistent with BAM, the results of the experiment confirm that the evaluation task of internal control is an additive process. Collectivist culture auditors are found to revise their beliefs significantly upwards when encountering UNFAV‐MODFAV compared with FAV‐MODFAV, but not for individualist culture auditors. Collectivist culture auditors also revise their beliefs significantly upwards when they encounter UNFAV‐MODFAV compared with individualist culture auditors who do not revise their beliefs significantly upwards. However, neither collectivist nor individualist culture auditors revise their beliefs significantly upwards when encountering FAV‐MODFAV. Here, the multivariate regression shows that collectivist (individualist) culture auditors are (are not) concerned with “painting a good picture” to keep the client happy.

With globalisation, the national culture effect makes an important contribution to the disclosure of financial reporting. The findings of the research show that, in evaluating the internal control of an audit client, collectivist culture auditors revise their beliefs more favourably when encountering additional audit evidence which is relatively favourable (UNFAV‐MODFAV) compared with individualist culture auditors. In practice, the implications on auditors' reporting of the internal control (for example, Section 404 of the Sarbanes Oxley Act 2002) regulator need to take into consideration that the national culture of auditors is an important input in assessing control risk. In bridging the gap between research and practice, an urgent need has to be addressed, as it may impair the effectiveness of the audit. The collective culture auditor's concern to keep the client happy may be construed as not being independent.

The paper is the first to employ the BAM and Hofstede's national culture to test auditors of different national cultures in their belief revisions when evaluating the client's internal control.

Live chat e-service provides a communication platform for online customers to make information inquiries and receive instantaneous assistance from a service representative. It is important for organizations to explore ways to improve their live chat e-service. The purpose of this paper is to propose a new organization–customer communication model (Schema Resonance Model), explicate how schema resonance can be achieved in live chat e-service, and investigate the impact of schema resonance on live chat e-service effectiveness, efficiency, customer satisfaction and intention of continued use.

A post-test only, between-subjects experiment was conducted. A total of 409 participants completed the experiment sessions, and 389 of these participants were used in the analysis.

Research results suggest schema resonance could improve the time efficiency of the live chat e-service while maintaining e-service effectiveness. Schema resonance could increase customer satisfaction with the overall e-service, the communication approach used by the representative and the information provided.

Because a convenience sample was used in the experiment, results cannot be generalized to all live chat e-service users. Future research should include observation of real-world organization–customer live chat e-service sessions.

Organizations can consider applying the Schema Resonance Model in live chat e-service practices to enhance customer satisfaction and increase representatives’ service productivity.

This research proposes and tests a new organization–customer communication model to explore how organizations can improve live chat e-service in response to customers’ information inquiries.

Strong versions of the Precautionary Principle (PP) require regulators to prohibit or impose technology controls on activities that pose uncertain risks of possibly significant environmental harm. This decision rule is conceptually unsound and would diminish social welfare. Uncertainty as such does not justify regulatory precaution. While they should reject PP, regulators should take appropriate account of societal aversion to risks of large harm and the value of obtaining additional information before allowing environmentally risky activities to proceed.

This study analyzes the role of information disclosure in influencing credit card repayments by focusing on three intervention methods for improving repayment decisions among credit cardholders.

This study uses the survey method to collect data. Four questionnaires are designed to identify which types of disclosure elicit better repayment decisions among credit cardholders. The participants were approached using the mall intercept method, and a total of 1,775 responses were obtained.

Estimations using means comparison tests show that not providing minimum payment information improves repayments. The expected benefits are not delivered by the provision of higher minimum payment information or additional information that highlights the negative effects of making the minimum repayment only. Further analysis using logit estimation reconfirms the benefit of not providing minimum payment information. However, when such information is given, low minimum payment information elicits better repayment decisions than high minimum payment information or additional information. Repayment worsens under the additional information condition compared to the high minimum payment condition.

The findings of this study have a bearing on the decisions of policy makers, credit card issuers and consumers.

This paper clarifies the role of information in improving debt repayment decisions.

Within the existing health care system, a significant percentage of Americans over the age of 65 will have need of extended health care. Yet the extended care industry has little information as to how consumers will make a choice among placement options. The results of this study describe both the need recognition and pre‐selection search stages of the decision process and the impact of need recognition on subsequent search activity. The information obtained from an influential person as the problem is being defined appears to have a complex relationship with pre‐selection search, with initial information leading to less search but additional information increasing search activity. Contrary to previous studies, pre‐selection search was found to be fairly extensive, increasing with time availability.

Enhanced business reporting (EBR) seeks to address the information needs of investors when making company valuations for investment decisions. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relevance for market valuation of EBR disclosures that are directly related to firm valuation (value-based reporting (VBR)).

Data are hand collected from annual reports of German publicly listed companies over five years. The content analysis is based on the valuation-related disclosure framework of the German Schmalenbach Society of Business Administration. A 2SLS approach accounts for potential endogeneity.

Share-based compensation, leverage, corporate size, and share volatility are significant determinants of VBR. The level of VBR is significantly associated with market values and provides additional market value explanatory power, indicating its relevance to investors in the process of valuation and decision making. Also, the relevance of book value and earnings for explaining market values increases for firms with better VBR. The findings are robust to the exclusion of banks and assurance companies and to alternative model and variable specifications.

The research contributes to the literature on voluntary disclosures by testing an EBR framework explicitly derived from valuation theory. The results provide indirect evidence of the investors’ use of respective valuation techniques in decision making. A contribution is made to the value relevance literature by showing that valuation-related disclosures constitute a suitable proxy for “other information” in the Ohlson’s (1995) model. Such disclosures complement traditional accounting metrics, i.e. book value and earnings, as basis for valuations. Potential caveats relate to the content analysis of annual reports and the endogeneity of voluntary disclosures.

This paper informs the debate on further developments of EBR in helping to identify important components thereof.

A self‐help guide to achieving success in business. Directed more towards the self‐employed, it is relevant to other managers in organizations. Divided into clear sections on creativity and dealing with change; importance of clear goal setting; developing winning business and marketing strategies; negotiating skills; leadership; financial skills; and time management.