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1 – 10 of 235Sylvester Senyo Horvey, Jones Odei-Mensah and Albert Mushai
Insurance companies play a significant role in every economy; hence, it is essential to investigate and understand the factors that propel their profitability. Unlike previous…
Abstract
Purpose
Insurance companies play a significant role in every economy; hence, it is essential to investigate and understand the factors that propel their profitability. Unlike previous studies that present a linear relationship, this study provides initial evidence by exploring the non-linear impacts of the determinants of profitability amongst life insurers in South Africa.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses a panel dataset of 62 life insurers in South Africa, covering 2013–2019. The generalised method of moments and the dynamic panel threshold estimation technique were used to estimate the relationship.
Findings
The empirical results from the direct relationship reveal that investment income and solvency significantly predict life insurance companies' profitability. On the other hand, underwriting risk, reinsurance and size reduce profitability. Further, the dynamic panel threshold analysis confirms non-linearities in the relationships. The results show that insurance size, investment income and solvency promote profitability beyond a threshold level, implying a propelling effect on life insurers' profitability at higher levels. Below the threshold, these factors have an adverse effect. The study further points to underwriting risk, reinsurance and leverage having a reduced effect on life insurers' profitability when they fall above the threshold level.
Practical implications
The findings suggest that insurers interested in boosting their profit position must commit more resources to maintain their solvency and manage their assets and returns on investment. The study further recommends that effective control of underwriting risk is critical to the profitability of the life insurance industry.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the literature by providing first-time evidence on the determinants of life insurance companies' profitability by way of exploring threshold effects in South Africa.
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Olufemi Gbenga Onatunji, Oluwayemisi Kadijat Adeleke and Akintoye Victor Adejumo
This study reinvestigates the validity of the Phillips curve in Nigeria for the period 1980–2020 by considering the asymmetric nexus between unemployment and inflation.
Abstract
Purpose
This study reinvestigates the validity of the Phillips curve in Nigeria for the period 1980–2020 by considering the asymmetric nexus between unemployment and inflation.
Design/methodology/approach
The nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) technique was used to decompose the unemployment variable into two components: tight and loosened labour markets.
Findings
The empirical outcome shows that unemployment has a significant negative effect on inflation when the labour market is tight and a weakly negative and significant effect on inflation when the labour market is loose. The study confirms an asymmetric Phillips curve in Nigeria since the positive (tight) unemployment rate exerts a greater effect on inflation than the negative (loosened) unemployment rate.
Practical implications
The findings of this study have important implications for implementing monetary policy in Nigeria.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the existence of a nonlinear Phillip curve in Nigeria.
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Yu Huang, Xiaofen Ji, Lina Zhai and Francisca Margarita Ocran
Breast cancer has become the largest cancer in the world today. Health problems for women with breast cancer need to be addressed urgently. This study aims to select the best…
Abstract
Purpose
Breast cancer has become the largest cancer in the world today. Health problems for women with breast cancer need to be addressed urgently. This study aims to select the best method for preparing temperature-sensitive sports underwear, and to verify the feasibility of using K-type thermocouple threads in underwear fabrics.
Design/methodology/approach
In the experiments, two samples were designed for temperature-sensitive performance tests and the effects produced by different outer layer structures were investigated. In the second step, K-type thermocouple wires were integrated into sports underwear. The comfort and feasibility of the temperature-sensitive underwear were investigated.
Findings
It was finally verified to obtain the best comfort and temperature-sensing performance of K-type thermocouple filaments integrated into sports underwear with plain stitching.
Originality/value
The underwear has a certain prospect for the application of smart apparel based on breast cancer health monitoring, which is of some significance for monitoring smart apparel.
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Dimitrios Panagiotou and Filio Naka
The purpose of this paper is to investigate for symmetries – in sign and size – between spot and futures prices in the markets of energy commodities.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate for symmetries – in sign and size – between spot and futures prices in the markets of energy commodities.
Design/methodology/approach
The aforementioned objective is pursued using daily observations of spot and futures prices for the commodities of crude oil, Brent, heating oil, gasoline and natural gas, along with local nonlinear regression.
Findings
Symmetry in sign and size cannot be rejected. This means that, shocks of the same absolute magnitude, but of different sign, are transmitted from futures prices to spot prices with the same intensity. In addition, larger absolute value price shocks in the futures are transmitted to the spot markets with the same intensity compared with smaller ones. The findings of symmetry in the comovements among prices reveal a lack of those commodities on diversifying the investors’ investment risk.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to use local nonlinear regression to test for sign and size symmetry between futures and spot prices in the energy commodities markets.
Oscar Claveria and Petar Sorić
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the adjustment of government redistributive policies in Scandinavian and Mediterranean countries following changes in income inequality…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the adjustment of government redistributive policies in Scandinavian and Mediterranean countries following changes in income inequality over the period 1980–2021.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors first modelled the time-varying dynamics between income inequality and redistribution and then used a non-linear framework to test for the existence of asymmetries and cointegration in their long-run relationship. The authors used two complementary measures of inequality – the share of total income accruing to top percentile income holders and the ratio of the share of total income accruing to top decile income holders divided by that accumulated by the bottom 50% – and computed redistribution as the difference between the two inequality indicators before and after taxes and transfers.
Findings
The authors found that the sign of the relationship between income inequality and redistribution is mostly positive and time-varying. Overall, the authors also found evidence that the impact of increases in inequality on redistributive measures is higher than that of decreases. Finally, the authors obtained a significant long-run relationship between both variables in all countries except Denmark and Spain. These results hold for both Scandinavian and Mediterranean countries.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to account for the potential existence of non-linearities and to examine the asymmetries in the adjustment of redistributive policies to increases in income inequality using alternative income inequality metrics.
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Today, the increasing use of fossil fuels, energy security, concerns and the great importance of achieving sustainable economic growth underscore the urgent need to transition to…
Abstract
Purpose
Today, the increasing use of fossil fuels, energy security, concerns and the great importance of achieving sustainable economic growth underscore the urgent need to transition to a green energy system as soon as possible. To shed light on the relationship between the economy and renewable energy, this study assesses the nonlinear relationship between renewable energy consumption and economic growth for 24 OECD countries between 1990 and 2015.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors apply two nonlinear models: panel threshold regression (PTR) and panel smooth transition regression (PSTR).
Findings
The results show that the positive effect of renewable energy consumption on economic growth is conditional. On the one hand, the results of the nonlinear PTR model yielded a threshold value for renewable energy consumption of about 251.17. Below this threshold, the authors find a negative impact of renewable energy consumption on economic growth. However, above this threshold, renewable energy consumption becomes a favorable source of economic growth. Using the nonlinear PSTR model based on the gamma transition parameter of 2.014, the transition from low renewable energy consumption regime to higher is abrupt.
Originality/value
Referring to previous studies analyzing linear causality between renewable energy and economic growth, most of the results show various mixed and non-stable effects over the study period. The contributions of this study consist in conduct a series of empirical tests of the nonlinear effects of renewable energy use on economic growth using two nonlinear approaches such as the PTR and PSTR models. If the authors show that such a relationship is nonlinear, it is essential to check whether the transition from one weak regime to another strong regime is abrupt or smooth, using the PSTR approach.
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Anam Ul Haq Ganie and Masroor Ahmad
The purpose of this study is to investigate the nonlinear effects of renewable energy (RE) consumption and economic growth on per capita CO2 emissions during the time span from…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the nonlinear effects of renewable energy (RE) consumption and economic growth on per capita CO2 emissions during the time span from 1980 to 2020.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses the logistic smooth transition autoregression (STAR) model to decipher the nonlinear relationship between RE consumption, economic growth and CO2 emissions in the Indian economy.
Findings
The estimated results confirm a nonlinear relationship between India’s economic growth, RE consumption and CO2 emissions. The authors found that economic growth positively impacts CO2 emissions until it reaches a specific threshold of 1.81 (per capita growth). Beyond this point, further economic growth leads to a reduction in CO2 emissions. Similarly, RE consumption positively affects CO2 emissions until economic growth reaches the same threshold level, after which an increase in RE consumption negatively impacts CO2 emissions.
Research limitations/implications
The study suggests that India should optimize the balance between economic growth and RE consumption to mitigate CO2 emissions. Policymakers should prioritize the adoption of RE during the early stages of economic growth. As economic growth reaches the specific threshold of 1.81 per capita, the economy should shift to more sustainable and energy-efficient practices to limit the effect of further CO2 emissions on further economic growth.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study represents the first-ever endeavor to reexamine the nonlinear relationship between RE consumption, economic growth and CO2 emissions in India, using the STAR model.
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Patrik Jonsson, Johan Öhlin, Hafez Shurrab, Johan Bystedt, Azam Sheikh Muhammad and Vilhelm Verendel
This study aims to explore and empirically test variables influencing material delivery schedule inaccuracies?
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore and empirically test variables influencing material delivery schedule inaccuracies?
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed-method case approach is applied. Explanatory variables are identified from the literature and explored in a qualitative analysis at an automotive original equipment manufacturer. Using logistic regression and random forest classification models, quantitative data (historical schedule transactions and internal data) enables the testing of the predictive difference of variables under various planning horizons and inaccuracy levels.
Findings
The effects on delivery schedule inaccuracies are contingent on a decoupling point, and a variable may have a combined amplifying (complexity generating) and stabilizing (complexity absorbing) moderating effect. Product complexity variables are significant regardless of the time horizon, and the item’s order life cycle is a significant variable with predictive differences that vary. Decoupling management is identified as a mechanism for generating complexity absorption capabilities contributing to delivery schedule accuracy.
Practical implications
The findings provide guidelines for exploring and finding patterns in specific variables to improve material delivery schedule inaccuracies and input into predictive forecasting models.
Originality/value
The findings contribute to explaining material delivery schedule variations, identifying potential root causes and moderators, empirically testing and validating effects and conceptualizing features that cause and moderate inaccuracies in relation to decoupling management and complexity theory literature?
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The purpose of this article is to posit an alternative learning design approach to the technology-led magnification and multiplication of learning and to the linearity of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to posit an alternative learning design approach to the technology-led magnification and multiplication of learning and to the linearity of curricular design approaches such as a constructive alignment. Learning design ecosystem thinking creates complex and interactive networks of activity that engage the widest span of the community in addressing critical pedagogical challenges. They identify the pinch-points where negative engagements become structured into the student experience and design pathways for students to navigate their way through the uncertainty and transitions of higher education at-scale.
Design/methodology/approach
It is a conceptual paper drawing on a deep and critical engagement of literature, a reflexive approach to the dominant paradigms and informed by practice.
Findings
Learning design ecosystems create spaces within at-scale education for deep learning to occur. They are not easy to design or maintain. They are epistemically and pedagogically complex, especially when deployed within the structures of an institution. As Gough (2013) argues, complexity reduction should not be the sole purpose of designing an educational experience and the transitional journey into and through complexity that students studying in these ecosystems take can engender them with resonant, deeply human and transdisciplinary graduate capabilities that will shape their career journey.
Research limitations/implications
The paper is theoretical in nature (although underpinned by rigorous evaluation of practice). There are limitations in scope in part defined by the amorphous definitions of scale. It is also limited to the contexts of higher education although it is not bound to them.
Originality/value
This paper challenges the dialectic that argues for a complexity reduction in higher education and posits the benefits of complexity, connection and transition in the design and delivery of education at-scale.
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Recent research has captured the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in widening gender inequalities, by highlighting that academic women have been disproportionately affected. During…
Abstract
Purpose
Recent research has captured the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in widening gender inequalities, by highlighting that academic women have been disproportionately affected. During the COVID-19 pandemic, women assumed most of the care labour at home, whilst working at normal patterns, leaving them unable to perform as normal. This is very concerning because of the short and long-term detrimental consequences this will have on women’s well-being and their academic careers. This article aims to stimulate a change in the current understandings of academic work by pointing towards alternative – and more inclusive – ways of working in academia.
Design/methodology/approach
The two authors engage with autoethnography and draw on their own personal experience of becoming breastfeeding academic mothers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Findings
To understand the positioning of contemporary academic mothers, this study draws on insights from both cultural studies and organisation studies on the emergence of discursive formations about gender, that is “postfeminist sensibility”. Guided by autoethnographic accounts of academic motherhood, this study reveals that today academia creates an individualised, neutral (disembodied), output-focused and control-oriented understanding of academic work.
Originality/value
This paper adds to the conversation of academic motherhood and the impact of the pandemic on working mothers. The study theoretically contributes with the lens of “motherhood” in grasping what academic work can become. It shows the power of motherhood in opening up an alternative way of conceptualising academic work, centred on embodied care and appreciative of the non-linearity and messiness of life.
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