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The understanding of how to mitigate opportunism in construction projects is still limited and conflicting. The complexity of causalities and interdependence among antecedents of opportunism (transaction characteristics and governance mechanisms) is the major obstacle to current research. This study takes a holistic perspective to explore the different combinations of conditions that lead to high opportunism and low opportunism in project management.

Through 2 phases of the interview and questionnaire survey, the 91 valid survey data were collected from the buyer–seller relationships in construction projects and analyzed by adopting fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis.

A single transaction characteristic is rarely sufficient to explain opportunism, and combinations of different transaction characteristics and governance mechanisms (performance ambiguity, asset specificity, buyer's requirement certainty, informal control, and formal control) have different effects on opportunism. In the case of extremely unsatisfactory transaction characteristics, even the combination of formal and informal control cannot prevent high opportunism. The combination including low-formal control and high-asset specificity easily leads to high opportunism. Besides, performance ambiguity is a vital factor in mitigating high opportunism or achieving low opportunism.

Previous studies have always addressed the role of one or some factors independently and separately. This study is one of the first to explore the different combinations of conditions that result in high opportunism and low opportunism in project management based on transaction costs economics and agency theory.

Closer vertical co‐ordination of supply chains is becoming a prevalent feature in the agri‐food sectors of many countries. Presents a framework within which to analyse these changes. The framework links drivers for change to product characteristics, which in turn affect transaction characteristics and transaction costs, thereby leading to a change in vertical co‐ordination. A case study of the US grains industry provides an illustration of the framework. Implications for agricultural producers, producer groups and policy makers are discussed.

The purposes of this paper are as follows. First, the paper investigates the causes of risk and methods for managing it based on previous studies of trade risk and trade risk management. Second, the paper analyses the types and forms of trade risk for exporting companies and investigate the relationship between actual trade risks and perceptions of trade risk. Third, the paper establishes a measurement device for trade risk management and export performance based on previous studies. Fourth, the paper derives the concepts based on the accumulated details to establish a research model and verifies a cause and effect relationship. Fifth, the paper analyses what kind of effect the perception of trade risk exerts on trade risk management. And sixth, the paper analyses the effect of the method of trade risk management on the export performance of exporting companies to shed light on the utility of trade risk management.

The purpose in this research is to analyse the effects of trade risk management on the export performance of exporting companies. The authors have conducted a review of previous studies about trade risk, trade risk management, and the outcomes thereof. Based on that review, the authors have established a research model, derived hypotheses, and used statistical methods to verify those hypotheses.

First, the authors analysed the methods of settling payments, transaction terms, the transportation environment, and experience in trade claims and found that they influenced the perceived level of trade risk. Second, exporting companies’ prior perception of trade risk determines which methods of trade risk management are suitable. Third, the analysis of the methods of trade risk management and export performance found that financial performance was influenced more than non-financial performance by trade risk management.

The authors determined whether trade risk management effectively counters the losses incurred as a result of the trade risks faced by exporting countries. The authors used an empirical statistical analysis to comprehensively analyse appropriate trade risk management and export performance. Prior to implementing the empirical analysis, the authors conducted research on trade risk and its management and established a research model and research hypotheses based on a theoretical background of trade risk methods appropriate to the circumstances faced by exporting companies.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the of characteristics of Lagos, Nigeria property market and its submarkets on the prism of the market practitioners’ characteristics, market transaction structure and market maturity. This is done with a view to provide information capable of improving the flow of foreign real estate investment to the Lagos property market.

Primary data were sourced through questionnaire administered on firms of property practitioners in the market. A total of 190 firms were selected using the stratified random sampling technique based on their geographical location. Descriptive statistics and Mann−Whitney U Test were employed for data analysis.

The results showed that the Lagos property market was characterised by practitioners whose highest level of education was majorly first degree, and with a mean computer literacy ranking of 3.38 on a five-point Likert scale. Also, major transactions in the market included letting and sales. The market maturity index of the market was 2.95 and therefore adjudged as an emerging market. The analysis also revealed that there was no significant difference in the characteristics of the submarkets.

The results of the study are capable of enhancing investment decision in the market.

The study differentiates itself from and adds to the previous studies on market characteristics through an examination of the property market on the prism of the market transaction structure, market practitioners’ characteristics and maturity of the market holistically in the context of an African emerging market.

The purpose of this paper is to examine (a)symmetric features of task-technology-performance characteristics that are most relevant to fit, satisfaction and continuance intention of using apps in mobile banking transactions.

Exploratory factor analysis was used with maximum likelihood extraction and Varimax rotation on a separate sample of 183 mobile banking apps users prior to the main data collection. The theoretical model was tested applying a factor-based structural equation modelling approach to a sample of 250 experienced mobile banking apps users.

The study unveiled that the task and performance characteristics are more relevant compared to technology characteristics when doing transactions via apps. In addition, the findings uncovered that user satisfaction and continuous intention to use apps stem from the degree of fit in online transactions. The findings of moderation analysis highlighted that users in the lower income group are more concerned about the performance characteristics of banking apps, and there are no differences across age and gender groups. Surprisingly, technology characteristic has a nonlinear nature and this study shows potential boundary conditions of technology characteristics in degree of fit, user satisfaction and continuance intention to use apps.

Findings from the conditional probabilistic queries reveal that with 83.3 per cent of probability, user satisfaction is high when using apps for banking transactions, if the levels of fit, task, performance and technology characteristics are high. Furthermore, with 72 per cent of probability, continuance intention to use apps is high, if the levels of performance and task characteristics are high.

Contributing to task-technology fit theory, this study shows that performance characteristics need to be aligned with task and technology characteristics in order to have better fit when using apps for online banking transactions.

This study aims to use a unique customer-information data set from a Norwegian bank to identify how small changes in firm-specific factors correlate with the risk of a client subsequently being involved in suspicious transactions. It provides insight into the importance of updating client risk based on changes in transaction volume and credit risk to enable effective resource use in transaction monitoring.

Changes in a firm’s bank use and accounting data were tested against subsequent flagged and reported customers to identify which changes led to a significant increase in the probability of engaging in a transaction identified as suspicious. Prioritizing resources to firms that remain suspicious after further controls can improve the risk-based approach and prioritize detection efforts. The main factors were customer probability of default (credit score), size and changes in customer characteristics. The cross-sectional data set contained administrative data on 8,538 corporate customers (219 with suspicious transactions that were subsequently flagged, 64 of which were reported). A binomial logit model was used.

Changes in transaction volume and bank use are significant in predicting subsequent suspicious transactions. Customer credit score changes were significantly positively correlated with the likelihood of flagging and reporting. Change is a stronger indicator of suspicious transactions than the level. Thus, frequent updating of client risk and using a scale rather than risk categories can improve client risk monitoring. The results also showed that the current anti-money laundering (AML) system is size-dependent; the greater the change in customer size, the greater the probability of the firm subsequently engaging in a suspicious transaction.

Client risk classification, monitoring changes in a client’s use of the bank and business risk should receive more attention.

The authors demonstrate that client risk classifications should be dynamic and sensitive to even small changes, including monitoring the client’s credit risk changes.

Directing AML efforts to clients with characteristics indicating risk and monitoring changes in factors contributing to risk can increase efficiency in detecting money laundering.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to focus on changes in a firm's use of a bank and link this to the probability of detecting a suspicious transaction.

This chapter addresses social embeddedness effects on ex ante management of economic transactions. We focus on dyadic embeddedness, that is the history of prior transactions between business partners and the anticipation of future transactions. Ex ante management through, for example, contractual arrangements is costly but mitigates risks associated with the transaction, such as risks from strategic and opportunistic behavior. Dyadic embeddedness can reduce such risks and, hence, the need for ex ante management by, for instance, making reciprocity and conditional cooperation feasible. The chapter presents a novel theoretical model generating dyadic embeddedness effects, together with effects of transaction characteristics and management costs. We stress the interaction of the history of prior transactions and expectations of future business. Hypotheses are tested using new and primary data from an extensive survey of more than 900 purchases of information technology (IT) products (hard- and software) by almost 800 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Results support, in particular, the hypotheses on effects of dyadic embeddedness.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a theoretically sound and empirically tested classification system composed of purchasing strategic categories as a basis for purchasing portfolio models.

An international, cross‐industry survey has been designed to assess the characteristics and corresponding strategies of the purchasing categories.

The paper operationalises the constructs derived from previous scientific contributions related to purchasing portfolio management and transaction cost economics (TCE) to empirically test the purchasing portfolio. In total, four different types of strategic categories have been identified, and distinctive competitive priorities have been found.

Managers might be able to identify different types of purchasing strategic categories, whose characteristics drive specific purchasing strategies. Longitudinal data and more extensive tests of the characteristics of each category might contribute to improving the proposed research framework.

The research overcomes some of the classical limits of purchasing portfolio models, including the absence of a theoretical and empirical basis. In particular, TCE is used to support and expand traditional purchasing portfolio approaches, and a broad empirical base is used to test such an approach.

While organization theories acknowledge the influence of specific assets on dependence and increasingly represent the latter as a structure of mutual dependence (dependence of A on B and dependence of B on A), there is, to the best of our knowledge, no empirical test concerning the impact of specific assets on a structure of dependence. Our chapter aims to fill this gap. It is all the more original in that it considers a case study where dependence changes sides according to the characteristics of the transaction. We examine the dependence between Chilean exporters and European importers when trading fresh produce. Such dependence originates with the need for just-in-time coordination and compliance with a compelling demand in a context of high price uncertainty.

Using a unique dataset from international trade in fresh produce between Chile and the rest of the world, we justify the use of a concentration sales ratio as a proxy for dependence and test the influence of a variety of specific assets on the side of dependence by using both categorical and dimensional approaches. Original findings show that certain transaction attributes have a strong influence on the side of dependence. In particular, the higher the frequency and the level of specific assets such as volume, niche varieties, and joint sales with other products, in the transaction, the greater the likelihood of a higher ratio of dependence for the importer rather than the exporter. Conversely, in the event of low levels of specific assets and less frequent operations, dependence tends to be greater on the side of the exporter.

As Chinese imported cross-border e-commerce has entered a stage of rapid development, the problem of consumer shopping risk is increasingly prominent and the crisis of consumer trust is intensified. The theory of establishing consumer trust in traditional online shopping can no longer meet the need of cross-border context.

The researchers used the methods of network logs and grounded theory. The data collection and analysis are conducted on consumer comments from Tmall Global, NetEase Koala and JD Worldwide in the product comment area. This article explored and extracted the moderating variables of consumer perceived risk and cross-border characteristics in cross-border e-commerce. Based on the theory of “perceived risk – consumer trust – consumer purchase decision – making,” this article deduced mechanism of consumer dynamic trust based on the whole process of cross-border e-commerce transaction.

In the prepurchase, purchase and postpurchase stages of cross-border e-commerce transactions, consumers' perceived cognitive risk, transaction risk and utility risk are moderated by the cultural distance, geographical distance and institutional distance caused by the cross-border transaction subjects. On this basis, the preinfluence factors of trust in each transaction stage are synthesized to respectively influence the establishment of cognitive trust, emotional trust and behavioral trust, so as to affect consumers to make the order payment, confirm receipt and praise repurchase decisions. At the same time, with the advance of prepurchase, purchase and postpurchase transactions in cross-border online shopping, consumer trust presents a dynamic evolutionary path of “cognitive trust – emotional trust – behavioral trust.”

This article expands the application context of the theory of consumer rational behavior from traditional online shopping to the context of cross-border online shopping and expands the scope of interpretation of the theory of consumer rational behavior. This article also supplements the theoretical gaps in the dynamic evolution of consumer trust in cross-border online shopping, enriches the decision-making process model of consumers in the context of cross-border online shopping and provides new ideas for follow-up research.