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Because of the potential cost savings that online teaching evaluations can deliver, many universities are converting their student evaluations of teaching to this mode of administration. In this study, we examine the effects of transitioning administration of student evaluations from paper-and-pencil to online. We use data from accounting and other departments in the College of Business Administration of a large private, research university that converted from paper to online administration of teaching evaluations. We examine the average teaching effectiveness rating and response rate for instructors who taught the same course before and after the conversion. In addition, we survey a sample of accounting students to investigate their responses to online teaching evaluations. We find a significant increase in the average effectiveness rating and a significant decrease in response rate. Furthermore, we find that those instructors with lower ratings under the paper administration experience the greatest increase in ratings when the evaluations are converted to online administration. In a follow-up survey, we find that students who are highly motivated and have higher grade point averages are more likely to complete and provide higher evaluations with the online administration. We discuss the implications of our results to accounting and business education literature.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the policy and trends in rural education in China over the past 40 years; and also discuss a number of challenges that are faced by China’s rural school system.

The authors use secondary data on policies and trends over the past 40 years for preschool, primary/junior high school, and high school.

The trends over the past 40 years in all areas of rural schooling have been continually upward and strong. While only a low share of rural children attended preschool in the 1980s, by 2014 more than 90 percent of rural children were attending. The biggest achievement in compulsory education is that the rise in the number of primary students that finish grade 6 and matriculate to junior high school. There also was a steep rise of those going to and completing high school. While the successes in upscaling rural education are absolutely unprecedented, there are still challenges.

This is descriptive analysis and there is not causal link established between policies and rural schooling outcomes.

The authors illustrate one of the most rapid rises of rural education in history and match the achievements up with the policy efforts of the government. The authors also explore policy priorities that will be needed in the coming years to raise the quality of schooling.

This is the first paper that documents both the policies and the empirical trends of the success that China has created in building rural education from preschool to high school during the first 40 years of reform (1978-2018). The paper also documents – drawing on the literature and the own research – the achievements and challenges that China still face in the coming years, including issues of gender, urbanization, early childhood education and health and nutrition of students.

In this paper, we draw from our own empirical data on worker organizing and identify important concepts that bridge social movement (SM) and industrial relations (IR) theory. In a context of traditional union decline and a surge of alternative types of worker mobilization, we apply SM and IR concepts related to the mobilizing structures and culture to cases of labor organizing via worker centers and community–labor alliances in the United States and China. From an analytical perspective, we argue that the field of SMs and IR can both benefit from this type of cross-discipline theorization.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the dynamic influence of WTI crude oil returns on the stock returns of China’s traditional energy sectors, including oil and gas exploitation, coal mining and processing, petroleum processing and coking, electricity, heat production and supply and mining services.

Hong’s information spill-over test and the DP Granger causality test are applied to investigate the relationship between the two markets. Moreover, a rolling window is introduced into the above two tests to capture time-varying characteristics of the influence of WTI crude oil returns.

The empirical results indicate that, first, there exists significant bidirectional linear causality between WTI crude oil returns and China’s traditional energy sectoral stock returns, but the nonlinear causality appears weaker. Second, the influence of WTI crude oil returns on traditional energy sectoral stock returns has time-varying characteristics and industry heterogeneity both in the linear and nonlinear cases. Finally, the decline of WTI crude oil prices may strengthen its linear influence on the stock returns of traditional energy sectors, while the excessive rise of market values in traditional energy sectors may weaken the linear and nonlinear influence of WTI on them.

The general nexus between international crude oil market and China’s traditional energy stock market is explored both in the linear and nonlinear perspectives. In particular, the dynamic linear and nonlinear influence of WTI crude oil returns on China’s traditional energy sectoral stock returns and its industry heterogeneity are analysed in detail.

Downward line extension is a valuable growth strategy that enables multiple products and services to meet diverse customer needs. However, downward extended products launched by high-status brands may be challenged by horizontal extended products launched by relatively low-status brands when these two types of products target similar consumers. This study aims to examine the impact of product type (horizontal extended versus downward extended) on consumers’ purchase intentions, the underlying mechanism and the moderating role of power distance belief.

Four scenario-based experiments were conducted to probe the research questions.

Consumers develop lower purchase intentions for downward (versus horizontal) extended products due to the reduction of perceived fit and self-congruity (Study 1). Beyond that, power distance belief moderates the impact of product type on consumers’ purchase intentions, as a low power distance belief reduces the negative effect of downward line extension (Studies 2a, 2b and 2c). Perceived fit and self-congruity mediate the interaction effect between product type and power distance belief on consumers’ purchase intentions (Study 2c).

This study provides marketing practitioners with guidance on implementing the strategy of downward line extension.

This study serves as a preliminary effort to compare consumers’ responses between downward and horizontal extended products, which deepens the understanding of downward line extension. It also contributes to the body of knowledge about line extension and power distance belief by demonstrating the moderating role of power distance belief in a line extension context.

New information technologies such as IoT and big data analytics have reshaped the development of smart green products. These products exhibit two important features that are not seen in traditional products: environmental friendliness and data network effect. Based on these unique features, the authors investigate a firm's optimal selling strategy of smart green products from both the profitability and environmental perspectives.

The authors establish stylized models to consider the optimality of three selling strategies: (1) traditional strategy – only offering traditional products, (2) green strategy – only offering smart green products, and (3) hybrid strategy – offering both traditional and smart green products.

The authors’ analysis shows that in the absence of data network effect, there will always be a conflict between profit maximization and environmental protection. However, a strategy that benefits both the firm and the environment exists when data network effect is present. Interestingly, hybrid and traditional strategies can be win-win strategies, but the green strategy cannot. Also surprisingly, the green strategy may harm the environment more as smart products become greener.

This study examines the economic and environmental implications of selling smart green products, and contributes to existing literature on sustainable operations and green product design by incorporating the impact of both consumer environmental awareness and data network effect. The authors’ findings shed light on how to coordinate the profitability and environmental impact of selling smart green products in the era of big data and IoT.

This study aims to identify the factors influencing Chinese outbound tourists’ perceptions of safety in Thailand. A media coverage analysis compares the safety perceptions of visitors and non-visitors.

A mixed-methods approach was adopted. Based on a content analysis of 204 news items related to safety incidents in Thailand, this paper divides the factors of safety perception into four dimensions. The quantitative data were gathered by self-administered questionnaires from 370 visitors who have previously visited Thailand and 407 potential visitors yet to visit Thailand.

The results demonstrated significant differences in the safety perceptions of visitors and non-visitors, indicating non-visitors’ fear of uncertainty and intolerance of the exotic. The study also confirmed social-demographic characteristics influence destination safety perceptions. For non-visitors, safety issues tend to have a negative influence on future visit intention, but those with previous travel experience have less concerns.

The findings provide valuable insights to industry practice. More publicity campaigns within the Chinese media may reduce the spillover effects of crisis events and correct the potentially inaccurate images of disease and terrorism risk. Thai government is suggested to develop the Chinese inbound market, improve the quality of tourism infrastructure and standardisation and efficiency of tourism services.

The media plays a significant role in destination image, tourist decision-making and safety measures imposed by governments. This study identified the factors influencing Chinese outbound tourists’ perceptions of safety in Thailand through an analysis of media coverage. The study provides a better understanding of the differences in safety perceptions between visitors and non-visitors to Thailand. The segmentation of visitors and non-visitors also may help destination managers to cater to differing expectations of safety.

本研究旨在探讨中国赴泰游客和潜在赴泰游客对泰国安全认知的影响因素。本研究通过对媒体报道文本的分析，识别出中国出境游客泰国安全感的影响因素，并进一步对游客与潜在游客在安全感知上的差异进行对比。

本研究采用了混合方法。本文通过对204篇泰国安全事件新闻报道的内容进行分析，将安全感知因素分为四个维度。定量研究数据是从370名有泰国旅游经历的游客和407名没有去过泰国的潜在游客中收集的。

研究结果显示游客与潜在游客在安全认知上有显著差异，体现了潜在访客对异国情调的不确定性和不宽容。本研究也证实了社会人口学特征对两个群体的目的地安全感知都有影响。此外，对于潜在游客来说，大多数安全问题都会对他们未来的访问意图产生负面影响，但对于游客来说，结果则相反。

媒体在目的地形象、旅游决策和政府安全措施方面发挥着重要作用。本研究以媒体报导为分析工具，探讨中国出境游客泰国安全感的影响因素。这项研究有助于更好地了解中国赴泰游客和潜在游客在安全认知方面的差异。游客和潜在游客的细分也有助于目的地管理者满足他们对安全的特定期望。

我们的发现为行业实践提供了有价值的见解。在中国媒体上开展更多的宣传活动，可以减少危机事件的外溢效应，纠正有关疾病和恐怖主义风险的潜在地不准确形象。此外，泰国政府应提高旅游基础设施的质量，提高旅游服务的标准化和效率。

Este estudio identifica los factores que influyen en la seguridad percibida de Tailandia por los turistas emisores chinos, con el análisis de la cobertura de los medios, y además compara las diferencias en las percepciones de seguridad entre visitantes y no visitantes.

Se ha adoptado una metodología mixta. Basado en el análisis de contenido de 204 noticias sobre incidentes de seguridad en Tailandia, este trabajo divide los factores de percepción de seguridad en cuatro dimensiones. Los datos cuantitativos se recopilaron mediante cuestionarios autoadministrados de 370 visitantes que tenían experiencia en viajes a Tailandia y 407 visitantes potenciales que no habían estado en Tailandia.

Los resultados demuestran diferencias significativas en la percepción de seguridad de los visitantes y no visitantes, lo que indica el miedo de los no visitantes a la incertidumbre y la intolerancia de lo exótico. Este estudio también confirma que las características sociodemográficas influyen en la percepción de seguridad del destino de cada grupo. Además, para los no visitantes, la mayoría de las cuestiones de seguridad influyen negativamente en su intención de visita futura, pero para los turistas, los resultados son contrarios.

Los resultados brindan información valiosa para la práctica de la industria. Más campañas publicitarias en los medios chinos podrían reducir los efectos secundarios de los eventos de crisis y corregir las imágenes potencialmente inexactas sobre los riesgos de enfermedades y terrorismo. Además, el gobierno tailandés debería mejorar la calidad de su infraestructura turística y aumentar la estandarización y eficiencia de los servicios turísticos.

Los medios de comunicación juegan un papel importante en la imagen del destino, la toma de decisiones turísticas y las medidas de seguridad de los gobiernos. Este estudio identifica los factores que influyen en la seguridad percibida de Tailandia por parte de los turistas chinos, con el análisis de la cobertura de los medios. El estudio proporciona una mejor comprensión de las diferencias en las percepciones de seguridad entre visitantes y no visitantes de Tailandia. La segmentación de visitantes y no visitantes también ayuda a los gestores de los destinos a satisfacer expectativas específicas de seguridad.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the linear and nonlinear effects of market integration on carbon emissions and explore the direct and indirect paths of market integration on carbon emissions through path analysis.

The authors first conduct a measurement and contrastive study of the market integration and carbon emissions of China’s 28 provinces from year 1995 to 2015. Then, the linear effect of market integration on carbon emissions is analyzed by using the fixed-effect model. Next, based on the path analysis method, the direct and indirect paths of market integration’s impact on carbon emissions are explored. Finally, the panel threshold regression model is used to evaluate the effect of market integration on carbon emissions under different situations of geographic distance.

The results show that first, the improvement of market integration can increase carbon emissions in the form of a linear relationship. Second, market integration not only has a direct and positive impact on the carbon emissions, but also has an indirect and positive impact on carbon emissions through the level of economic development, and a negative impact on carbon emissions through technological level. Third, an increase in market integration can reduce its positive effect on carbon emissions, but the improvement of economic growth and technology level can both enhance the positive effect of market integration on carbon emissions.

This paper focuses on the impact of market integration on carbon emissions in 30 provinces in China, while, the authors do not conduct a comparative analysis of different regions, so there are certain limitations. In addition, policy interaction between regional governments is also a key factor affecting carbon emissions, but this paper does not consider the effect of policy interaction, future follow-up research will try to incorporate it into the analytical models.

An important practical implication of this research is that market integration should be regarded highly in China’s energy conservation and emission reduction efforts. The research results have important reference value for policy authorities to formulate relevant policies. That is, the government can play a more active role in the process of integration through breaking the regional blockade and interest barriers to comprehensively improve resource utilization efficiency and technical level, and ultimately achieve regional low-carbon development.

This paper explores the effects of market integration on China’s carbon emissions based on different methods and perspectives, and confirms that market integration plays a vital role in China’s carbon emissions through economic growth and technological progress. Notably, based on the studied results, some specific and practical suggestions are proposed in this paper so as to reduce carbon emission and realize the sustainable development of economy and society in China.

Risk aversion is considered as an important factor in predicting asset prices. Many studies have proved that there exists important price information spillover among crude oil, precious metals and agricultural markets. Then there naturally follows the question: Is the risk aversion of investors in crude oil market predictable for the returns of precious metals and agricultural products? The purpose of this paper is to answer this question. For this reason, the authors explore the directional predictability and the cross-quantile dependence between risk aversion of crude oil market investors and returns of precious metals and agricultural products.

To better describe the risk aversion of investors, this paper uses high-frequency data and model-free calculation method to obtain variance risk premium of crude oil. Then, this paper uses the cross-quantilogram method to investigate the directional predictability and cross-quantile dependence between risk aversion of crude oil market investors and returns of precious metals and agricultural products. Meanwhile, it employs the partial cross-quantilogram (PCQ) method to test the impact of control variables on the empirical results.

Firstly, risk aversion of crude oil market investors has directional predictability for returns of precious metals and agricultural products. Secondly, different degrees of risk aversion of crude oil market investors have different impacts on returns of precious metals and agricultural products. A low (high) degree of crude oil market investors' risk aversion has negative (positive) predictability for returns of precious metals and agricultural products. Finally, during the sample period, the returns of precious metals are more affected by risk aversion of crude oil market investors than returns of agricultural products.

First of all, this paper studies the impact of risk aversion of crude oil market investors on returns of precious metals and agricultural products. It updates previous relevant studies on the factors influencing the prices of precious metals and agricultural products, and provides a new idea for the forecast of those commodity returns. Secondly, this paper provides the evidence that different degrees of risk aversion of investors have different effects on the returns of commodities, and expands the research on the topic of commodity returns prediction. Finally, high-frequency data are employed in this paper to better capture the risk aversion of investors than commonly used daily data.