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This study investigates the impact of environmental influences, particularly a secretive aspect of Chinese culture, on voluntary corporate disclosure practices. Evidence is provided of the similarly low level of voluntary disclosure by Hong Kong (HK) and Singaporian listed industrial companies. Further, a comparative analysis with prior research on UK/US companies indicates that the extent of voluntary disclosure by HK and Singaporian companies is lower overall. However, while this finding applies to both financial and nonfinancial information, it is not so in the case of strategic information for HK companies.

Smart card-based E-payment systems are receiving increasing attention as the number of implementations is witnessed on the rise globally. Understanding of user adoption behavior of E-payment systems that employ smart card technology becomes a research area that is of particular value and interest to both IS researchers and professionals. However, research interest focuses mostly on why a smart card-based E-payment system results in a failure or how the system could have grown into a success. This signals the fact that researchers have not had much opportunity to critically review a smart card-based E-payment system that has gained wide support and overcome the hurdle of critical mass adoption. The Octopus in Hong Kong has provided a rare opportunity for investigating smart card-based E-payment system because of its unprecedented success. This research seeks to thoroughly analyze the Octopus from technology adoption behavior perspectives.

Cultural impacts on adoption behavior are one of the key areas that this research posits to investigate. Since the present research is conducted in Hong Kong where a majority of population is Chinese ethnicity and yet is westernized in a number of aspects, assuming that users in Hong Kong are characterized by eastern or western culture is less useful. Explicit cultural characteristics at individual level are tapped into here instead of applying generalization of cultural beliefs to users to more accurately reflect cultural bias. In this vein, the technology acceptance model (TAM) is adapted, extended, and tested for its applicability cross-culturally in Hong Kong on the Octopus. Four cultural dimensions developed by Hofstede are included in this study, namely uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, individualism, and Confucian Dynamism (long-term orientation), to explore their influence on usage behavior through the mediation of perceived usefulness.

TAM is also integrated with the innovation diffusion theory (IDT) to borrow two constructs in relation to innovative characteristics, namely relative advantage and compatibility, in order to enhance the explanatory power of the proposed research model. Besides, the normative accountability of the research model is strengthened by embracing two social influences, namely subjective norm and image. As the last antecedent to perceived usefulness, prior experience serves to bring in the time variation factor to allow level of prior experience to exert both direct and moderating effects on perceived usefulness.

The resulting research model is analyzed by partial least squares (PLS)-based Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach. The research findings reveal that all cultural dimensions demonstrate direct effect on perceived usefulness though the influence of uncertainty avoidance is found marginally significant. Other constructs on innovative characteristics and social influences are validated to be significant as hypothesized. Prior experience does indeed significantly moderate the two influences that perceived usefulness receives from relative advantage and compatibility, respectively. The research model has demonstrated convincing explanatory power and so may be employed for further studies in other contexts. In particular, cultural effects play a key role in contributing to the uniqueness of the model, enabling it to be an effective tool to help critically understand increasingly internationalized IS system development and implementation efforts. This research also suggests several practical implications in view of the findings that could better inform managerial decisions for designing, implementing, or promoting smart card-based E-payment system.

Hong Kong is one of the most dynamic property markets in the world, and now provides the economic gateway to China. Using style analysis, the level of direct property in Hong Kong property company performance is shown to be approximately 15 per cent over 1984‐2000, with the level of direct property increasing to approximately 25 per cent in recent years. The level of direct property in Hong Kong property company performance is significantly below that seen for the USA, Europe and Australia. This highlights a number of key strategic property investment issues over 1984‐2000, relating to the level of direct property in Hong Kong property company performance. Also assesses the level of direct property at the individual property company level, as well as the property company sector level, further emphasising the strategic role of Hong Kong property companies in an investment portfolio. This research complements the previous research by Brown and Chau on excess returns in the Hong Kong property market, as well as highlighting the issues and role of both direct and indirect property for inclusion in diversified investment portfolios; these being key areas of Gerald Brown's extensive property research agenda.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework for assessing the maturity level of electronic government (e‐government).

The conceptual framework is based on two models: the intellectual capital (IC) management and the capability maturity model integration (CMMI).

The framework is composed of four input areas (human capital, structural capital, relational capital, and IT investment) and five maturity stages (web presence, interaction, transaction, integration, and continuous improvement). These areas are assessed by using the IC management model and the CMMI model. Employing the IC management process enables not only practitioners to effectively manage resources, but also auditors to more objectively assess the input area. Using the CMMI model allows governments to conduct process‐based assessments.

The paper contributes to the literature and practice in the following ways. First, it outlines how to define and assess key attributes of e‐government activities. It can help governments to enhance the awareness and understanding of maturity levels of e‐government. Second, this research expands the scope of current studies on a maturity model by providing a balanced view between input factors (resources) and results (maturity stages). For practitioners, assessing the input factors enables them to realize how to prioritize strategies and resources. For academics, this attempt sheds light on the concepts of IC in e‐government studies. Third, considering the CMMI model will be helpful to conduct an objective and useful assessment. On the basis of a matrix for assessing maturity levels, governments can conduct self‐assessment and establish stable and mature implementation processes.

This paper investigates the possibility that futures markets attract noise traders who engage in positive feedback trading, an especially destabilizing form of noise trading. The hypothesis is tested using data from four major national index futures markets. The empirical evidence is consistent across all index futures markets under examination. Specifically, there is significant evidence of positive feedback trading. More importantly, the feedback trading pattern exhibits significant long memory in the sense that it depends on longer lags of past prices. Because volatility is asymmetric, the implication is that feedback trading is also asymmetric, being more prevalent during down markets so that mispricing is more likely during those periods that feedback traders are more active.

The following classified, annotated list of titles is intended to provide reference librarians with a current checklist of new reference books, and is designed to supplement the RSR review column, “Recent Reference Books,” by Frances Neel Cheney. “Reference Books in Print” includes all additional books received prior to the inclusion deadline established for this issue. Appearance in this column does not preclude a later review in RSR. Publishers are urged to send a copy of all new reference books directly to RSR as soon as published, for immediate listing in “Reference Books in Print.” Reference books with imprints older than two years will not be included (with the exception of current reprints or older books newly acquired for distribution by another publisher). The column shall also occasionally include library science or other library related publications of other than a reference character.

Developing a successful strategy for investment in property is not easy. Research shows that abnormal returns, net of transactions costs, are difficult to achieve even though there is a widespread belief amongst valuers that property markets are inefficient. This is compounded by the fact that reliable data on property performance is usually difficult to obtain. It is possible, however, to make use of publicly available data and use it in a way which may help investors guide their decisions. If abnormal returns are difficult to achieve on a consistent basis then the use of methods of analysis which give the investor some competitive advantage are worth pursuing. Although high returns have been achieved in the Hong Kong commercial property market this does not imply that those returns are abnormal in an economic sense; they may merely offer compensation for risk. By extracting equilibrium market values and implied prices from market data this paper examines abnormal returns earned by Hong Kong commercial property over the period 1985‐95 and shows that, in general, the market exhibits a high degree of efficiency. The least efficient sector was offices, which showed an average abnormal return of 1.73 per cent per quarter, although this was statistically indistinguishable from zero. Identifying when the market is under‐ and overpriced may improve the negotiating position of the investor. It may also be possible to develop similar buy‐sell strategies to exploit informational inefficiencies at the individual property level.

As a global pandemic, the COVID-19 crisis has profoundly affected the development of local firms, threatening the survival of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This study aims to present an integrated framework by investigating the impact of strategic tools (i.e. firms’ capability of business agility, marketing operational efficiency, optimisation of innovation capability [OIC], managing employees’ satisfaction and rethinking customers’ experience) on the survival strategies of SMEs amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

The current study used data from managers of SMEs and conducted an asymmetrical analysis (i.e. structural equation modelling [SEM]) to investigate the factors influencing the survival strategies of SMEs amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. This study also applied an asymmetrical approach (i.e. fuzzy sets qualitative comparative analysis-fsQCA) to explore the causal recipes and analysis of the necessary conditions to identify the factors required to achieve the expected outcome.

Results from SEM support all hypotheses. Results from fsQCA with the same data set show that firms’ business agility and OIC are necessary conditions for SMEs’ survival strategies. The result from fsQCA also reveals multiple sufficient conditions to succeed SMEs’ survival strategies amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

Findings prescribe how SMEs adapt to this vulnerable business condition by applying the strategic tools and recipes suggested for survival.

This research applied an innovative analysis to reveal necessary and sufficient conditions that conventional methods such as SEM have limited power. This pioneering research in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic is considered novel in terms of the prescriptive strategic recipes offered to SMEs to adapt to and survive in the crisis caused by COVID-19.

To determine if the ancient Chinese tradition of Feng Shui affects residential property prices in a Western setting (“Western” and “the West” refers to the cultures and peoples of the mainlands Europe, the Americas, Australia, and New Zealand.)

Two approaches were adopted to measure the impact of Feng Shui design principles on property prices. First, a case study approach using a paired sales analysis was adopted to compare sales transaction prices of Feng Shui designed condominiums with sales prices of condominiums that were built without this design feature. Second, sales transaction data were analysed using multiple regression analysis in a hedonic pricing framework.

The results were mixed but provide preliminary evidence that Feng Shui impacts positively on property prices in the West.

Firstly, the units were sold as “designer ready”. Prices for these units exclude floor coverings, painting, kitchen and bathroom fittings, appliances, counter tops and plumbing fixtures. A more precise adjustment was not able to be made as the actual build‐out cost for each unit was not available. However, it was felt that the average rate was a reasonable proxy for the cost of a build‐out. Secondly, the case study includes sales of Feng Shui designed units in only one building. A more reliable result would have been achieved had the data set included several buildings constructed using the principles of Feng Shui.

With the rise in popularity of the use of Feng Shui design in Western homes, understanding the effects of this on property values is important to both property valuers and investors of such property.

Research on the impact of cultural beliefs on residential property values in the West is limited. This paper provides a contribution to understanding the value affects of such beliefs, specifically those relating to Feng Shui.