Search results

This article aims to verify if there are detectable barriers in price levels that are understood to be psychologically important (psychological barriers) in a set of hourly electricity prices. These barriers manifest themselves when the market struggles with a difficulty in crossing the barrier to a different level. Psychological barriers focus on directional price movements around regions of the barrier, thus the importance of understanding investor behavior. The authors intend to contribute empirically to the scarce literature on psychological influences in individuals trading in the energy market, hereby enhancing the knowledge concerning the behavior of investors in this market.

The present work aims to test psychological barriers in the Nord Pool electricity market. Through a sample of hourly data on the Elspot day-ahead market, from 2013 to 2017, three groups of tests were made, following the M-values methodology: (1) uniformity tests, which clearly rejected the uniformity in hourly prices; (2) barrier tests, which included the barrier proximity and barrier hump tests, evidencing psychological barriers and (3) conditional effects tests, which allowed us to conclude in favor of effects of positive returns after approaching a barrier on an upward movement, i.e. the barrier breaches due to the fact that increasing prices tend to lead to further price increases, on average.

Uniformity tests, rejected the uniformity in hourly prices; barrier tests, included the barrier proximity and barrier hump tests, evidencing psychological barriers and conditional effects tests, allowed us to conclude in favor of effects of positive returns after approaching a barrier on an upward movement, i.e. the barrier breaches due to the fact that increasing prices tend to lead to further price increases, on average. Another relevant conclusion is that the period from midnight to 9 a.m. is very sensitive, since there is evidence of return and variance effects simultaneously. The implications of these results are potentially relevant, since changes on the variance are usually perceived as a proxy for risk, with changes on the return. It was also concluded that with the increase of the time span from 5 to 10 days on the conditional effects difference tests, there were significant changes on the results, the variance effect is stronger, while the return effect weakens.

However, this research presents some limitations that result in representing opportunities for future research. The fact that there are reduced data available for other markets end up limiting the study of the global electricity market. Although Nord Pool is Europe's leading energy market and is seen as one of the most successful energy markets in the world, it would be interesting to do a study with more than one electricity market to make comparative considerations. Although the spot market is the main arena for energy trade, while the intraday market works as a compliment, it would be equally interesting to do a similar study for the intraday market and then compare conclusions. Moreover, in the present study, it was used standard methods in the literature on psychological barriers, but other methods could have been used–for example, those that assume that prices follow the Benford's distribution (Lu and Giles, 2010), which also present a path for future research and opportunity for confirming the robustness of the present results.

When the presence of psychological barriers is detected it means that the risk-return relationship becomes weaker around the psychological barrier (round numbers, meaning that electricity traders anchor). Identification of psychological barriers supports the claim that technical analysis strategies based on price support and resistance can be profitable. Therefore, more profitable strategies can be built by traders, but no reconciliation with the efficient market hypothesis (EMH) (provided that in inefficient markets prices should not exhibit any particular pattern). The finding of significant psychological barriers in specific hourly time intervals implies the need to address its practical implications in electricity markets, being so specific, namely, the possibility to earn extraordinarily profits exploiting this anomaly and who wins.

The electricity sector is a determinant sector in economic growth and a factor of development. Herein lies the importance of studying this market, which until now has not occurred in this subject, as far as it was possible to gauge. Are there barriers in the electricity market and should such a presence be taken into account? Investigating the existence of psychological barriers in the electric market becomes relevant, because knowing that investors are psychologically affected by a psychological barrier, can become a useful tool in negotiation, as it can function as another variable in the “equation” which is to trade in a complex market like this. Proving the potential presence of a psychological barrier may lead investors to believe in the idea of levels of resistance or levels of support, affecting their decision-making and price dynamics.

The purpose of this paper is to go beyond satisfaction as an indicator of customer loyalty and propose a holistic model of service switching in a mobile internet setting. The model, which reflects both barriers and inducements of switching, is developed based on the “mooring” and “pull” concepts in the migration literature.

Focusing on Generation Y mobile internet subscribers, the study analyzed a total of 417 usable questionnaire responses. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to test the research model.

The results show that first, satisfaction and switching barriers (i.e. a focal firm’s marketing innovation initiatives, switching costs, inertia, and local network effects) are positively related to customer loyalty; second, switching barriers have a stronger influence on customer loyalty compared with satisfaction; third, switching inducements (i.e. competitors’ marketing innovation initiatives, alternative attractiveness, variety-seeking tendencies, and consumers’ susceptibility to social reference group influence) is negatively related to customer loyalty and the relationship is weaker when perceived switching barriers are high.

This study empirically validates multidimensional scales of switching barriers and inducements from a more nuanced perspective, and specifies them as reflective-formative type II models. This study is among the first to use opposing dimensions to measure switching barriers and its counterpart. Hence, it illustrates how the two contrasting mechanisms can coexist in the minds of mobile internet subscribers.

In the literature of industrial management, the focus is normally given on examining the factors that contribute to product innovation acceptance. The advocates of “pro-innovation bias” assume that consumers are open to new products and are willing to accept an innovative product. However, there is a high failure rate of technological innovations and most of the technological innovations were rejected due to users' resistance. Since the inception of innovation resistance theory (IRT), the number of studies that used IRT has gained much attention from scholars. However, the findings from these studies from various contexts are inconsistent, lack universality, and a clear understanding of technological innovation barriers. The study aims to determine whether the IRT theory is indeed valid and whether IRT is culturally invariant from the Eastern and Western cultures.

A meta-analysis based on a random-effects model and studies drawn from 24 countries and/or regions with a consolidated sample size of 10,463 was conducted. Cultural invariance was identified based on subgroup analysis. Moderator analysis was performed by applying the weighted linear regression.

The results reveal that tradition is the strongest barrier followed by the value, risk, image and usage barrier. Interestingly, there is a cultural invariance in IRT from the Eastern and Western cultures. Besides, there are significant moderating effects due to the temporal factor.

The study has contributed useful theoretical and managerial implications in advancing the product innovation literature.

This paper investigates internal and external barriers influencing the different dimensions of firm service innovativeness and the moderating effect of transformational leadership on these relationships in an emerging economy, namely, Turkey.

The hypotheses were tested using cross-sectional survey data from 148 hotels. The authors use regressions to analyze the data set.

The results demonstrate that barriers to innovation need not necessarily impede firm service innovativeness at all times; some of these so-called “barriers” may even act as catalysts that improve firm’s likelihood of adopting innovations. More importantly, the findings suggest that a transformational leadership style alleviates the negative influence of internal barriers on internal service innovativeness dimensions of process, strategic and behavioral innovativeness.

The positive effect of transformational leadership lessening the detrimental impact of barriers to innovation is a topic in need of research. In addition to examining this phenomenon in a developing country, the authors choose a service retailing industry as a study context: hospitality/tourism. The main reason for choosing this industry is that there is little empirical evidence of service innovation activity in this industry despite the fact that it contributes to a large extent to employment and gross domestic product in most emerging economies, and it is, in fact, a fairly innovative industry. Furthermore, this study presents a unique perspective by investigating small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The purpose of this paper is to review previous research and to propose a model for the impact of barriers to entry on the market strategy of an entrant firm, where product/market scope and product differentiation are central strategy components. The paper asks, what is the impact of barriers on market strategies of entrants? Are early and late entrants affected in different ways?

A model and propositions are developed‐based on a review of previous research. The model applies the contingency perspective and company cases exemplify the model.

It is proposed that a firm that enters a market late and faces extensive barriers would choose a broader product/market scope and differentiate its products to a larger extent than an early entrant. It is also proposed that incumbents' market strategies indirectly affect the market strategy of an entrant firm as incumbents' market strategies interact with barriers, and the effects are due to entry timing.

The study contributes theoretically as it extends current knowledge of the impact of barriers to entry on strategy. Management of entrant firms are advised to strive for a fit between barriers and market strategy and consider the propositions.

The model and the propositions concern barrier effects on two key components of the market strategy of an entrant firm: product/market scope and product differentiation. Another important value is that the model accounts for interactions between incumbent strategies and barriers to entry, and effects on the market strategy of an entrant firm.

This paper aims to investigate the difference between the impacts of indicators of trade barriers (TBs) on bankrupt enterprises (BEs), new enterprises (NEs) and other enterprises (OEs).

The paper has used a multiple-step approach. At the first stage, the initial data has been collected from interviews with 164 top managers of SMEs in West Azerbaijan in Iran during two periods of 2013–2015 and 2017–2019. At the second step, multiple correspondence analysis has been used to summarize the relationships between variables and construct indices for different groups of TBs. Finally, the generalized structural equation model method was used to examine the impact of export barriers.

The results showed that the political legal index is the main TBs for BEs and NEs, but it had a more significant impact on BEs; the financial index was the second major TBs factor for BEs, while OEs did not have a problem in performance index, and the financial index was classified as a minor obstacle for them. All indicators of marketing barriers (except production index) had a negative and significant effect on all enterprises; the most important TBs for NEs was the information index.

The results indicated that if enterprises have a strong financial system and function, they can lessen the impact of sanctions and keep themselves in the market.

This study aims to examine the effect of usage, value, tradition, risk, compatibility and complexity barriers on user resistance to mobile bookkeeping applications. Furthermore, it also explores how the relationship between these barriers and user resistance is mediated by technostress. Finally, the authors analysed the moderating impact of self-efficacy on the mediating effect of technostress between barriers and user resistance.

Structured questionnaires were used to obtain data from 325 respondents. A structural equation modelling technique was used to investigate the hypotheses.

The findings suggest that usage, risk and tradition barrier has a significantly positive effect on user resistance intention. Also, results suggested that technostress plays an important role in framing customers’ resistance intention. Finally, the mediation effect of technostress between risk barrier and user resistance is higher for users having low levels of self-efficacy compared with users with high levels of self-efficacy.

The present research enriches the existing literature, especially in the field of mobile bookkeeping applications, user resistance, technostress and innovation resistance theory. It would help bookkeeping application developers design their apps, keeping the major user barriers in mind.

World over organizations are focusing on sustainable goals, where along with economic success their role in protecting the planet and people are becoming important. Whilst transforming the supply chain into a sustainable one, there would be some barriers which might hinder this process. This paper aims to study these barriers in the context of the electronics industry so that organizations can better implement sustainable supply chain programs.

In this research, barriers affecting sustainability implementation in the electronics supply chain are shortlisted from literature review and experts’ opinion. Using the combined methodology of Grey DEMATEL, the causal factors, the effect factors and degree of prominence of barriers is found out. The overall relationship among barriers is established by a diagraph. Sensitivity analysis is performed to check the robustness of the results.

It is found that lack of regulation and guidance from authorities is the primary causal barrier affecting operations of sustainable supply chain management. There are five barriers which fall in the influenced group and among them, complexity in measuring and monitoring sustainability practices has the largest net effect value on the implementation of a sustainable supply chain. The barrier having the highest correlation with other barriers is the high cost for disposal of hazardous wastes. The implications of these findings on managers and academicians is explored in the study.

In this research, the number of barriers shortlisted is limited to 11 in the context of the electronics supply chain. More factors could be added in future research based on the industry being studied.

The research analyses 11 barriers under categories of policy, technology, financial and human resources in the Indian electronics industry by evaluating the cause and effect group of barriers. These results can guide policymakers of the electronic sector and industry for mitigating barriers during the implementation of sustainable programs.

The process of supply chain digitalization (SCD) through enterprise and inter-enterprise information systems (EIIS) is a challenging task. Understanding and studying barriers of SCD adopting EIIS are essential for better management of supply chains (SCs) in the long run. This paper analyses the key EIIS adoption barriers affecting the process of SCD.

Fifteen key EIIS barriers of SCD in the context of an electronic SC were identified from existing literature and in consultation with experts from industry and academia. Grey-based decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) methodology is used to identify cause–effect relationship and extent of the strength of relationship amongst EIIS barriers. Sensitivity analysis is done to verify the robustness of the study.

EIIS barriers were classified into seven major cause factors and eight effect factors. This study provides a structural framework of key EIIS adoption barriers to decision makers by classifying barriers into cause and effect groups for effective SCD and better management.

This study contributes to SC literature by exploring key EIIS barriers affecting the process of SCD. These findings will also help the practitioners in effective decision making for digitalization.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a dedication-constraint-temptation (DCT) model to study the factors influencing customers’ loyalty to mobile data service (MDS) providers. The DCT model explicitly explores the important yet overlooked role of alternative attractiveness (the temptation-based mechanism) as a mediator and the boundary condition of their interrelationships (e.g. relationship length). The model also integrates new and established antecedents of customer-based brand equity (C-BBE) (the dedication-based mechanism) and switching barriers (the constraint-based mechanism).

The proposed model is tested using partial least squares–structural equation modeling with a sample of 331 MDS users.

The results indicate that C-BBE has an indirect effect on customer loyalty (via alternative attractiveness) in both relationship groups (shorter- vs longer-term). However, the indirect effect of switching barriers on customer loyalty only exists in longer established relationships. The results from multi-group analysis reveal that the effect of switching barriers on alternative attractiveness significantly differs across groups. In addition, customer value anticipation and procedural switching costs appear to be the most salient antecedents of C-BBE and switching barriers for both groups.

This study makes an incremental contribution by incorporating the temptation-based mechanism as a mediator and relationship length as a moderator into the dedication-constraint model. This study also extends the information systems and brand management literatures by demonstrating the strategic importance of customer value anticipation in the information and communication technology brand equity-building.