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Recent studies in the field of behavioral finance have highlighted the importance of investor sentiment in the return-generating process for general equities. By employing an asset pricing framework, this paper aims to evaluate the performance of European real estate equities, based on their degree of sentiment sensitivity.

Using a pan-European data set, we classify all real estate equities according to their sentiment sensitivity, which is measured relative to the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) of the European Commission. Based on their individual sentiment responsiveness, we form both a high- and low-sensitivity portfolio, whose returns are included in the difference test of the liquidity-augmented asset pricing model. In this context, we analyze the performance of sentiment-sensitive and sentiment-insensitive real estate equities with a risk-adjusted perspective over the period July 1995 to June 2012.

While high-sensitivity real estate equities yield significantly higher raw returns than those with low-sensitivity, we find no evidence of risk-adjusted outperformance. This indicates that allegedly sentiment-driven return behavior is in fact merely compensation for taking higher fundamental risks. In this context, we find that sentiment-sensitive real estate equities are exposed to significantly higher market risks than sentiment-insensitive ones. Based on these findings, we conclude that a sentiment-based investment strategy, consisting of a long-position in the high-sensitivity portfolio and a short-position in the low-sensitivity one, does not generate a risk-adjusted profit.

Although this study sheds some light on investor sentiment in European real estate stock markets, further research could usefully concentrate on alternative sentiment proxies.

This is the first study to disentangle the relationship between investor sentiment and European real estate stock returns.

Understanding the pricing of real estate equities is a central objective of real estate research. This paper aims to investigate the impact of liquidity on European real estate equity returns, after accounting for well-documented systematic risk factors.

Based on risk factors derived from general equity data, the authors extend the Fama-French time-series regression approach by a liquidity factor, using a pan-European sample of 272 real estate equities.

The empirical results indicate that liquidity is a significant pricing factor in real estate stock returns, even after controlling for market, size and book-to-market factors. In addition, the authors detect that real estate stock returns load predominantly positively on the liquidity risk factor, suggesting that real estate equities tend to behave like illiquid common equities. These findings are underpinned by a series of robustness checks. Running a comparative analysis with alternative factor models, the authors further demonstrate that the liquidity-augmented asset-pricing model is most appropriate for explaining European real estate stock returns.

The inclusion of sentiment and downside risk factors could provide further insights into real estate asset pricing in European capital markets.

This is the first study to examine the role of liquidity as a systematic risk factor in a pan-European setting.

The risk-return relationship of real estate equities is of particular interest for investors, practitioners and researchers. The purpose of this paper is to examine, in an asset pricing framework, whether the systematic risk factors play a significantly different role in explaining the returns of listed real estate companies, compared to general equities.

Running the difference test of the Fama-French three-factor and the liquidity-augmented asset pricing model, the authors analyze the effect of the systematic risk factors related to market, size, BE/ME and liquidity in a time-series setting over the period July 1992 to June 2012. By applying the propensity score matching (PSM) algorithm, the authors bypass the “curse of dimensionality” of traditional matching techniques and identify a comparable control sample of general equities, in terms of the relevant firm characteristics of size, BE/ME and liquidity.

The empirical results indicate that European real estate equity returns load significantly differently on the size, value and liquidity factor, while the influence of the market factor seems to be equivalent. In addition, the authors find an economically and statistically significant underperformance of European real estate equities, after accounting for the diverging role of systematic risk factors. Running the conditional time-series regression, the authors further reveal that these findings are predominately caused by the divergent risk-return behavior of real estate equities in economic downturns.

Due to the diverging role of the systematic risk factors in pricing real estate equities, the authors provide evidence of potential diversification benefits for investors and portfolio managers.

This is the first real estate asset pricing study to dissect the unique risk-return relationship of real estate equities by employing propensity score matching.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to cross culture training (CCT) literature by exploring the HR managers roles in CCT provision and the reasons affecting the given role enactment.

This exploratory study is based on in-depth interviews with 15 Israeli HR managers in charge of the provision of CCT in their respective companies and five interviews with CCT professionals who provide CCT training for a wide range of companies operating in Israel.

The study highlights the significant impact of HR managers’ awareness and perceptions of CCT on its provision and discusses a related self-perpetuating cycle of current practice reinforcement that limits the likelihood of practice improvement.

The limitations of the exploratory design of the study call for further research on HR roles in CCT provision.

The findings suggest that HR managers partly design and implement practice according to what they believe are unmet expatriate needs and what they perceive as effective HR tools. The authors discuss the practical value of raising their awareness not only of CCT designs and methodologies, but also of the complexities of expatriate adjustment and the opportunities offered by rigorous evaluation of current practice.

The study departs from the dominant focus in the literature on the content and methodologies of CCT and instead explores the neglected role of HR managers in CCT provision.

Starts out with a survey of various formal theories that have focused on discrimination in the labor market. Argues that Becker’s traditional taste for discrimination model, the various statistical discrimination models and the new cultural communication cost models ultimately yield analytically and observationally equivalent predictions. In particular, these models all imply that we may find occupational segregation across firms. This, in turn, suggests that it is not easy to identify the true causes of discriminatory wage differentials in the labor market and thus that we may have a very hard time sorting out which of these models applies best. Finally, speculates, in the context of Kremer’s model of economic growth, about how changing technologies and structure of production could possibly exacerbate the inequalities predicted by these models of discrimination in the labor market.

Concentrated ownership implies greater alignment between ownership and control, mitigating the agency problem. However, it may also engender governance challenges such as funds appropriation through related party transactions and the oppression of minority shareholders, especially in the context of weak legal systems. We draw from legal theory (the tradeoff controlling shareholder model and private benefits of control) and from organization theory (socioemotional wealth), to suggest that concentrated ownership can be beneficial in both robust and weak legal systems for different reasons. We advance theory on the effects of controlling shareholders and suggest that the longer-term outlook associated with engaged concentrated ownership can aid the shift of the corporation toward Berle and Means' (1932, p. 355) “third possibility” of corporations serving the interests of not just the stockholders or management but also of society.

The role of Teacher Innovative Behavior (TIB), in responding to systemic problems in educational systems and promoting “intrapreneurial” behavior has been recognized in recent times. A robust instrument that can help administrators and teacher educators gauge the levels of TIB among their teachers will facilitate the promotion of innovative behavior.

This study tested a multidimensional innovative behavior inventory (IBI), innovation support inventory (ISI) and innovation output (IO) in a developing nation (India) context with public school teachers (n = 34,754), for reliability, validity, measurement invariance and structural invariance across caste, gender and subject groups.

The IBI, ISI and IO showed good reliability and validity along with full measurement invariance at configural, metric and scalar levels. With respect to the structural parameters, the inventories exhibited invariance of factor variance and covariance, but not of factor means.

Teacher innovative behavior (TIB) is seen by developing country education administrators as a tool to address difficult problems. With better measurement, it will be possible to identify teachers who need training in creativity and entrepreneurial behavior, teachers who might have developed innovative practices that could be used for teacher development, and ways of promoting competition among teachers.

The study validates inventories, which were earlier tested in non-educational domains, for use with public school teachers of a developing country across gender, caste and subject groups.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an effective process to market high-rise luxury condominiums in a middle-income country in Asia like Sri Lanka, based on empirical evidence.

The case research methodology used to address the four research issues used multiple sources of data. In stage 1, qualitative data were collected in interviews with managers and salespersons of six condominium developments that ranged from successful to failure. In stage 2, quantitative data were collected in a survey of the buyers of the six cases.

The authors contributions to knowledge include the first evidence-based findings about what influences the success and failure of high-rise luxury condominium developments in a country like Sri Lanka. In addition, a comprehensive marketing model of an effective marketing process is developed for forward-thinking professionals in the field to use to successfully market their luxury high-rise condominiums projects in the future.

Detailed steps for successful marketing are outlined, from the Board of Management down to salespersons.

This is the first academic research paper to examine the effective marketing of high-rise luxury condominiums in a middle-income country like Sri Lanka.

Energy poverty can be seen as a relatively new, but typical sustainability problem in which various dimensions (ecology, society and economy) are interlinked and in part conflict with each other. Moreover, the variety of involved stakeholders (planners, tenants, housing companies, private landlords, energy consultants, etc.) represents conflicting aims for solving this problem. This paper aims to present a systematic linkage between higher education for sustainable development (HESD) and education about energy poverty yet.

A qualitative comparative case study approach with a similar didactic approach is used.

Based on the literature about HESD and an overall model in general didactics, ten criteria were identified and used for an overall reflection about similar courses dealing with the topic of energy poverty. The criteria covered the learning goals, the didactical approaches and the institutional support in the forms of organisation in the courses.

There was no competency measurement of the students in the described courses.

There was no evaluation of the development of students’ key competencies for sustainability. However, the reflections of students and teachers revealed a positive development regarding the students’ learning process, especially because they worked on a real-world sustainability problem: energy poverty.

This contribution describes how university courses on energy poverty were designed and implemented at five German universities. Against the background of general criteria for HESD, it reflects on the experiences that the use of this concept evoked. Through a comparison of the five courses against these criteria, the paper outlines strengths and weaknesses of the approach and closes with recommendations and requirements for designing further courses.

In this book chapter, we analyse social entrepreneurship (SE) development in the Western Balkans and present a regional overview. SE has become a globally known contributor to alleviating societal, economic, social, and environmental concerns. Its influence on increasing people’s quality of life has put the concept on a pedestal, and the Balkans are no different. The new advances have increased the efforts from the third sector in advocating for increased visibility, recognition, and support for social enterprises (SEs) as contributors to the development of resilient communities and facilitating the countries’ recovery from economic, social, and environmental crises. To provide a regional development overview, we use the institutional perspective. We base the analysis on data by applying qualitative methods, including document analysis, conference speeches, round tables, consultations, and other impactful events conducted over the last decade. The evidence suggests that the Western Balkan countries are similar in their development and lack a clear vision, a strategic pathway, and sustainable solutions to accelerate the sector’s growth. The awareness of the SEs’ contributions is still low, hindering their impact and potential scalability. Raising awareness campaigns is much needed to increase SEs’ visibility, recognition, revenues, and financial sustainability. Intersectoral collaboration is not at a suitable level, and the coordination and partnerships between the SE actors are lacking. The region needs to make a significant and consistent effort to facilitate the sector’s development and support SEs to provide the expected societal impact.