Search results

As it gains more popularity, e-wallets drive its users to spend more. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore how and why e-wallets may encourage excessive spending behavior among young adult consumers.

An exploratory sequential or QUAL-QUANT design, combining qualitative and quantitative, is used in this study. It is a type of mixed-method design consisting of both the core and supplementary methods. The qualitative method is conducted in Study 1 using online focus group discussion to answer “why” and “how” questions, whereas the quantitative method is used in Study 2 to test or examine the hypothetical model. The questionnaires are extracted from focus group discussion in Study 1, which is further tested for validity and reliability and model estimation in Study 2. The model is evaluated using structural equation modeling.

Study 1 extracted four keywords to affect young adults spending behavior, easiness, promotions, self-control and perception of having more money (the illusion of liquidity). In Study 2, it is found that those four variables significantly affect spending behavior. Interestingly, it is also found in Study 2 that the illusion of liquidity mediates the relationship between self-control and spending behavior.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, where a physical meeting is not encouraged, focus group discussion is conducted online via Zoom. Perhaps, this condition can be one limitation this study faced.

This study offers a theoretical contribution to the literature by exploring how and why e-wallet payment is connected to excessive spending behavior among young adult consumers. This study also provides a model that further explains the relationship between young adults’ spending behavior by adding the illusion of liquidity as the mediating variable.

In October of 1987 stock market prices all over the world fell by staggering amounts. A financial panic spreading beyond stock markets did not occur and it would appear that any real economic consequences of the crash have, thus far, been small. A superficial reading of economic history suggests that things might have turned out a whole lot worse. It is this thought that makes an evaluation of various restrictions designed to limit stock market volatility ‐ so called circuit breakers ‐ timely.

Financial markets have become a central aspect of our daily lives. This is due to the liberalization of global capital markets during the last two decades. This has led to increased liquidity and enhanced volatility within the financial system as the amounts traded daily, monthly, annually are sometimes larger than total global GDP. This has affected our daily lives profoundly and indeed, as the current global financial crisis, leaves no country untouched. In examining the present financial crisis, the paper argues that we have enough regulations and systems but we do not have effective regulative practices to enable compliance, control, and oversight. Indeed, the regulatory response to current developments in the financial sector has been both slow and inadequate. The paper starts by providing a context and the evolution of the “new” financial system and its attendant practices. The paper argues that the crisis could have been averted had there been a proper and effective governance mechanism and appropriate instruments employed to effect such compliance. Such mechanisms and instruments would also need to critically interrogate the epistemological foundations of accepted practices and wisdom. The paper suggests that the present crisis provides a circuit broker for a radical rethink of the present financial system and practices.

The paper's aim is to explore the impact of statistical arbitrage and high-frequency trading as hedge fund investment strategies that have a significant impact on the environment of corporations.

The paper is a meta-analysis of the role of investment strategies within complex systems.

The growth of hedge fund investment activity based on statistical arbitrage tends to produce a vulnerability; more funds using the strategy helps to create the profitable outcomes that the strategy relies upon. However, the growth also reduces the time lines of profitability and produces an underlying instability based on overlapping holdings and the use of leverage. The shortened timelines also create a further impetus towards technological competition and promotes high frequency trading, which then introduces further vulnerabilities based on “stop-loss cascades”.

Much of the trading creates a superficial form of liquidity, which gives a limited sense of market vulnerabilities. The basis of complex interactions between high frequency traders is also not clearly understood. Researchers and agents of policy ought to pay greater attention to the issues than is currently the case.

The area is one that is under-researched.

This exploratory study aims to investigate and identify the factors influencing discontinuance intention among past users of local digital wallets in Brunei Darussalam.

This study uses a mixed-method approach that integrates quantitative and qualitative research method. An online survey is distributed via widely used social media platforms, using purposive sampling to target previous users of local digital wallets. Structured questionnaires capture demographic data, whereas open-ended inquiries delve into reasons for discontinuation. Descriptive analysis will extract the demographic profiles of the samples. Inductive thematic analysis, guided by Braun and Clarke's framework, will extract and analyze qualitative responses to unveil emergent themes. Data saturation, anticipated beyond 12 responses, will signify sample adequacy.

Demographic profiles based on gender, age and payment preferences of discontinuers supplement the justification for identified themes influencing digital wallet discontinuation in Brunei Darussalam. These themes include “Acceptability Challenge,” highlighting limited vendor acceptance; “Financial Management and Security Issues,” revealing concerns over impulsive buying behavior and security robustness; “Limited Benefits,” referring to short-term interest driven by promotional benefits; “Technological Inertia,” emphasizing reluctance to change from conventional payment methods and “Technical Challenges,” encompassing internet connectivity and operational functionality issues.

This study acknowledges few limitations, including a limited number of respondents, comprising majorly of the younger age groups and females. Self-reported data usage introduces potential response bias, impacting result validity. The qualitative approach limits comprehensive understanding, suggesting validation through quantitative correlational studies. Additionally, the cross-sectional design restricts insight into the dynamic nature of digital wallet discontinuance in Brunei, suggesting the need for longitudinal studies.

The findings of this study offer valuable insights for digital wallet providers, policymakers and businesses operating within the realm of Brunei Darussalam. By tackling pertinent issues such as vendor acceptance, financial security and promotional incentives, stakeholders can effectively improve user experiences and mitigate intentions of discontinuing usage. Recommended strategies encompass the enlargement of vendor networks, the implementation of stringent security measures and the customization of promotional campaigns. Furthermore, comprehending demographic inclinations enables the tailoring of offerings, thereby fostering enduring adoption rates.

This study’s findings hold social significance for financial inclusion, technological literacy and consumer empowerment in Brunei Darussalam. Overcoming barriers to digital wallet adoption, such as limited vendor acceptance, promotes financial inclusion in the long run. Improved understanding of digital wallets enhances technological literacy and empowers users to make informed decisions. By catering to diverse demographic needs, stakeholders can promote social equity and ensure widespread access to digital payment benefits, thus positively impacting Brunei Darussalam’s socioeconomic landscape.

This study contributes to the existing knowledge gap on digital wallet discontinuance in Brunei Darussalam. By uncovering key themes and factors influencing past users’ decisions, it advances understanding in the context of postadoption dynamics. The study provides valuable insights for local and global fintech adoption strategies.

This chapter will discuss the relationship between globalisation and higher education, focussing specifically on the University of the West Indies (UWI) as its case study. This work will examine how closely the present policy objectives of the UWI are linked to the changing structures within higher education systems in the global arena. An argument is being made that currently, there are two overarching conditions which are transforming the structures and practices of higher education, namely globalisation through its policy affiliate, neo-liberalism and the incorporation of new information and communication technologies into the knowledge activities of research, publication and pedagogy. Through globalisation, higher education and knowledge production are thwarted as the neo-liberal positivist discourse champions the market-centric approach and higher education becomes embroiled in mass consumption and commodification. The globalisation of higher education therefore encompasses such issues as life-long learning, web-based delivery and distance education. However, this piece will not speak about the issues of technology and its impact on higher education, but address the impact of neo-liberalism on higher education.

Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR 4.0) technologies have strong potential to affect consumer well-being, positively or negatively, so the current paper aims to review potential opportunities and threats that these technologies represent for consumers in several core economic sectors: health care, education, financial services, manufacturing and retailing.

This paper proposes a conceptual framework for how IR 4.0 technologies affect consumer well-being in five representative sectors: health care, education, financial services, manufacturing and retailing. The authors argue that the potential transformations of these specific sectors, facilitated by these technologies, may have profound effects on consumer well-being, with urgent public policy implications.

Emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, robotics, the Internet of Things, three-dimensional printing, machine learning and blockchain, provide customers with novel approaches toward decisions regarding health, education, finances and other fundamental parts of their lives. The organizations that provide these services, such as hospitals, universities and banks, actively adopt the innovations offered by IR 4.0. These evolving and disruptive technologies thus are changing reality for consumers and providers.

This paper proposes some novel public policy implications of IR 4.0 technologies for consumer well-being, and it outlines further research directions that can enhance understanding of relevant technologies and the consequences of their use for society.

The rapid growth of credit card use in China poses the potential for card overuse and the accumulation of increased debt. The purpose of this paper is to report on an investigation into the determinants of overall credit card spending and card-financed debt by Chinese consumers.

This study focusses on two dependent variables: credit card monthly spending and card debt. The spending measure is based on consumer outlay for the month preceding the survey. Card debt is the consumers’ outstanding credit card debt when the survey was conducted. Three groups of independent measures are used: socio-demographic characteristics, card features and consumer attitude towards money. Both card spending and card debt are estimated with OLS methods. Data was obtained from the 2013 China Household Finance Survey of 1,920 households in 29 provinces and 262 counties across China that used credit cards over the survey period.

The empirical findings suggest consumers’ attitude towards money is more important in explaining card spending and debt variation than socio-demographic characteristics and card features. The credit limit set for a card, obligations to other loans and the method of paying for ordinary shopping exhibit positive effects on both card spending and card debt, while age exhibits a negative effect. Further, card spending is positively correlated with card debts, but the factors that determine card spending do not necessarily affect card debt and vice versa. Minimum card debt payments, cash advances, card tenure and interest-bearing debt have no effect on card spending but have positive effects on card debt. In addition, gender and income have opposite effects on card spending and debt.

The relationships we have documented suggest several actions the Chinese Government could consider dealing with credit card debt risk. Controlling the aggressive promotional campaigns that card issuers use to attract consumers and aggressive credit policies should be a focus of attention. The Chinese Government might, for example, impose minimum age and income requirements for granting credit cards and prohibit issuance of new cards to applicants who are already in debt with other types of credit. In addition, more stringent criteria to curb increases in card limits and tighter control over cash advances made on cards should be applied. Minimum payment amounts can also be increased in order to reduce credit card debt risk.

Despite ample documentation of consumers’ credit card behaviour, the literature is deficient in at least two areas of enquiry. First, most previous research has investigated either credit card spending behaviour or card debt, but not both. Second, with few exceptions, most research has investigated a range of specific factors that affect credit card use. In contrast, this study investigates card spending as well as card debt behaviour using a wide variety of consumer dimensions particularly relevant to credit card use and resulting debt. In addition, this study focusses on Chinese consumers, who traditionally prefer to save first and delay spending. The impact of the rapid growth of credit card use on this traditional Chinese orientation towards spending is dynamic. Documenting the influence of the individual factors examined in this study is likely to be of value to both policy makers and institutions that offer and manage credit in this changing environment.

In this article, we survey experiments that are directly related to monetary policy and central banking. We argue that experiments can also be used as a tool for central bankers for bench testing policy measures or rules. We distinguish experiments that analyze the reasons for non-neutrality of monetary policy, experiments in which subjects play the role of central bankers, experiments that analyze the role of central bank communication and its implications, experiments on the optimal implementation of monetary policy, and experiments relevant for monetary policy responses to financial crises. Finally, we mention open issues and raise new avenues for future research.

The purpose of this paper is to test the competing explanations of stated preferences for firm characteristics, optimism and overconfidence for trading activities in a single framework.

A survey methodology is followed to collect the data among retail investors in Malaysia using simple random sampling.

The findings show simultaneous identification of stated preferences for firm characteristics, optimism and overconfidence as determinants of trading activities. Preferences for firm’s profitability characteristics, management and product-related attributes and risky characteristics are likely to decrease investors’ trading activities. On the other hand, preferences for firm’s liquidity and trading volume characteristics with relative financial-domain optimism, personal investment optimism and better-than-average aspect of overconfidence are likely to increase investors’ trading activities.

This finding implies that investors should be careful not only in assessing firm’s characteristics but also need to understand the effects of optimism and overconfidence in trading decisions.

The study considers various aspects of optimism and overconfidence, and the stated preferences for firm characteristics, unlike one aspect of these behavioral biases and indirect observation of preferences for firm characteristics. Furthermore, the study considers trading frequency, annual portfolio turnover and trading intention, whereas earlier studies considered only one or two of these trading decisions.