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Recent years have witnessed the development of a variety of rating systems but the authors have little knowledge about their impact on users’ perceptions of information quality, cognitive decision effort, and enjoyment. The purpose of this paper is to understand the potential cognitive fit underlining the relationship between rating systems types (i.e. five-star, binary-visual, and binary-textual) and tasks (i.e. purchase-decision and browsing tasks) in the context of shopping websites.

A total of 191 subjects were obtained. This study conducted an experiment with a 2×3 between-subject factorial design. The first dimension is a task that has two conditions (purchasing vs browsing). The second dimension is a type of rating system that has three different types (binary-textual, binary-visual, and five-star).

The results show that the cognitive fit may occur when individuals use a five-star rating system to help them make a purchasing decision and when they use a binary-visual rating system while browsing. This fit might increase perceived information quality while decrease cognitive decision efforts, and in turn raise intention to adopt the systems. Moreover, five-star rating systems can make users feel more fun and enjoyment than binary-textual and visual rating systems, regardless of task type.

This study focuses on three main rating systems that are popular on shopping websites. Nevertheless, few other rating systems exist in the market such as unitary or ten-star rating systems. Further studies can consider other types of rating systems and address, in addition to representation, the issue of information granularity (i.e. unitary, binary, five-star, and ten-star rating systems).

The results of this study could provide design principles for web designers in determining which rating systems best match the websites they are developing. If the websites or specific webpages are more utilitarian oriented (hedonic oriented), five-star rating systems (binary-visual rating systems) are more appropriate.

This study contributes to the rating system literature by examining the cognitive fit underlining the relationship between rating systems types and tasks. Importantly, this study extends cognitive fit theory by considering affective responses, that is, perceived enjoyment and intention to continue to use.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between competitive capabilities, including flexibility and collaboration between logistics service providers (LSPs) and their customers, and relationship quality, as measured by trust, dependence and commitment.

A total of 309 logistics managers were invited to participate in this study and structural equation modeling was performed to analyze the measurement and structural models.

The results show that both flexibility and collaboration positively influence trust and dependence. Moreover, dependence does not appear to influence commitment. Finally, the authors hypothesize and find that trust plays an important role in the research model and positively increase commitment.

The main limitation of this study is that this study used a cross-sectional survey approach to collect data on all research variables. Compared with longitudinal data, cross-sectional data might not be able to demonstrate completely the temporal sequence of the antecedents and consequences, which might result in spurious cause-effect inferences.

The findings offer several important implications for LSPs. First, the findings imply that LSPs need to make their customers want to share useful information related to operations and logistics. Second, flexibility plays an important role in forming customers’ trust in logistics service industry.

Little research has been done on combining a resource-based view (RBV) and relationship marketing (RM) together in logistics service context. Therefore, this study advances the RBV and RM and adds value to the literature by demonstrating the applicability of the observed relationships among LSPs.

The purpose of this study is to develop and examine an integrated mediating model that contains relationship benefits as the relationship antecedents; trust, relationship commitment and gratitude as mediators; and repurchase intention as the relationship consequence in a service business context.

The study recruited 253 respondents to test the proposed model. A partial-least-square-based structural equation modeling was adopted to evaluate the measurement of research constructs and test the research hypotheses that underpinned a proposed conceptual model.

The results show that confidence benefits increase trust more than social and special treatment benefits; social benefits have the most influence on relationship commitment; and special treatment benefits most greatly enhance feelings of gratitude. Thus, depending on the improvement objectives, marketers can accordingly choose the proper relationship benefits as a primary approach. Furthermore, both the direct and indirect effects of confidence benefits and social benefits on repurchase intention were significant.

The main limitation of this study is that all research variables were measured at a static point rather than as they were developing. Ignorance of the temporal sequence may incur the concern of possible spurious causal relationship inferences.

The study’s findings offer several important implications for service providers, which, in this study, were separated into high (e.g. such as hairdressing, beauty and massage) and low personal contact service groups (e.g. telecommunications and equipment maintenance). First, social benefits are more effective at increasing gratitude in the low personal contact service group, and at boosting trust in the high-contact group. Second, special treatment benefits increase gratitude much more in the high-contact group than in the low personal contact group. Third, gratitude has a much stronger effect on repurchase intention in the high personal contact group than in the low-contact group.

The interactions among relationship benefits, mediators (i.e. trust and relationship commitment) and outcomes remain unclear. Although the importance of gratitude as a mediator in relationship marketing (RM) has been shown, little research has examined how relational benefits influence repurchase intention through the combined mediating effects of commitment, trust and gratitude. Therefore, this study advances RM theory by examining the degree of additional explaining power that gratitude contributes to the commitment–trust model. The study also makes a practical contribution by building a research model to understand the nature of mediating roles played by relationship commitment, trust and gratitude in the service industry.

Cryptocurrency, an important application of blockchain technology, has gradually circulated, and its use has become widespread. While cryptocurrency is growing rapidly, potential risks are simultaneously emerging. Users thus may abandon their usage behavior of cryptocurrency, hindering the future development of cryptocurrency. While prior studies focus more on the intention to use cryptocurrency in the pre-adoption phase, less studies pay attention to discontinuance usage intention in the post-adoption phase. To fill this knowledge gap, this stfudy aims to explore factors that cause discontinuance usage intention regarding cryptocurrency.

Based on the net valence framework theoretically grounded on the theory of reason action, a dilemmatic dual-factor model is proposed to figure out cryptocurrency users' discontinuance usage intention from the perceived risk and perceived benefit. This study identifies four potential risks and three potential benefits that affect perceived risk and benefit. The model with nine hypotheses were developed, and research data were collected by a survey method. A total of 343 valid responses were received, and PLS-SEM with SmartPLS was utilized to test the nine hypotheses, with seven hypotheses supported empirically.

Our findings demonstrate that financial, legal and operational risks are critical to increase users' perceived risk, and perceived usefulness and seamless transactions play important roles in enhancing users' perceived benefit. Moreover, while perceived risk can increase users' discontinuance usage intention to cryptocurrency, perceived benefit can mitigate such intention.

This study contributes nascent knowledge to the literature by examining factors that influence discontinuous usage intention in regard to cryptocurrencies, to firms that have issued or attempted to issue cryptocurrencies and to the potential users of cryptocurrencies by adjusting the mode of operation and investment strategies and reducing user costs, achieving a win-win situation for firms and users.

Assesses the effects of the Asian economic crisis on Taiwan and identifies some reasons why it has been less dramatically affected than other Asian countries. Discusses its actual and planned policies aimed at strengthening the economy further by maintaining currency stability, improving competitive strengths in both hi‐tech industries and manufacturing, entering new export markets, stimulating domestic demand and reforming financial institutions and regulations. Recognizes the political threats it faces but believes that increasing trade with and investment in China has reduced them.

As the number of female customers shopping in online clothing stores increases, understanding how female customers’ e-loyalty is formed and fostered in this type of online store becomes very pivotal. Yet, despite its importance, little research has been done on this issue. The purpose of this paper is to focus on female online clothing shoppers and aim to examine the mediators of e-loyalty in the context of online clothing stores: e-satisfaction and e-trust.

A total of 482 subjects who are female and have online clothing store shopping experience in Taiwan were obtained and structural equation modeling was performed to analyze the measurement and structural models.

The results show that both perceived online privacy and security are positively associated with e-trust, whereas web design is not. Furthermore, perceived delivery time and web site design are positively associated with e-satisfaction. Both e-trust and e-satisfaction in turn positively influence e-loyalty for female online clothing shoppers.

On the basis of the literature review, there is a lack of theoretical knowledge of the relationships between e-loyalty, e-satisfaction, and e-trust among female online clothing shoppers. The research fulfills this important theoretical gap by extending prior studies on e-loyalty to further examine the factors that form e-satisfaction and e-trust, and how they, as mediators, influence the development of female customers’ e-loyalty in the context of online clothing stores. The result provides a model that contributes to understanding the formation of female customers’ e-loyalty.

The results of this study are helpful to online store managers in increasing their customers’ loyalty. Specifically, online clothing store managers have to create quick item delivery methods and friendly online shopping web sites that provide all necessary information and are easy to navigate and use so as to increase customers’ e-satisfaction. They also need to establish reliable and trustworthy web sites by letting their customers easily perceive the web sites’ privacy and security features to enhance customers’ e-trust. As e-satisfaction and e-trust increase, e-loyalty is fostered.

The contributions of this study are threefold. First, this study focusses on an important but previously neglected group in the context of online clothing stores: female online clothing shoppers. Second, the authors’ investigation extends the literature on e-loyalty by identifying important mediators (e-satisfaction and e-trust) and probing into their relationships to e-loyalty in the context of online clothing stores. Third, the findings contribute to academia and to future research by increasing understandings of the importance of the concerns and experiences of female online clothing shoppers and by suggesting that future research pay more attention to female online shoppers.

The purpose of this article is to analyze the effects of financing policy and countries' institutional–financial characteristics on earnings management (EM) practices in Latin American companies.

The GMM estimator was used according to Arellano and Bover (1995) for panel data on a sample of 983 Latin American companies between 1995 and 2017.

Leverage and short-term debt have a negative and nonlinear effect on EM practices. Nonlinearity suggests that firms with high levels of leverage and short-term debt carry out positive discretionary accruals. Countries' institutional and financial development reduces EM practices. Mandatory IFRS adoption also reduces these practices and mitigates the effects of the low institutional and financial development on EM.

These results reveal the relevance of companies' financing policy as a means of controlling EM practices. Results also suggest that policy effectiveness decreases with leverage and short-term debt. It is suggested that policymakers design financial policies aimed to promote institutional and financial development as a means of systematic control over EM activities, which also includes IFRS.

Buildings erected in ancient China were often of wood and thatch and were particularly flammable. The ancient world developed a number of ways to minimize the damage caused by fire. An analysis of the architecture of ancient construction and urban planning, has revealed over a hundred fire prevention features. These items could be categorized into three groups, namely: symbolic features, building construction and urban planning. In the earlier literature of ancient China in which people had limited knowledge of fire, symbolic features based on their religious belief were emphasized. With the increase in construction experience, more tangible means of fire prevention were included in building design and urban planning. This paper briefly explores the changes of fire prevention means from early ancient period to Qing Dynasty. The reduction of damage caused by unwanted fire revealed the effectiveness of the evolution of fire prevention from symbolic features to urban planning.

Accounting studies have attempted to forecast future attributes of firms' financial statements, primarily earnings. These studies typically adopt a cross‐sectional approach in estimating forecasting models, combining firms from different industries in the same model. This cross‐sectional approach implicitly assumes the relations between earnings and the explanatory variables are consistent across industries.