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The purpose of this paper is to (a) examine the current state of the digital economy in Southeast Asia (SEA), the challenges and opportunities derived from digital transformation and the digital economy, and the impact of the digital economy on SEA, especially human and physical capital development, and (b) propose policy recommendations for SEA countries to better manage digital transformation.

This is a conceptual paper. The theoretical framework has been built from the three-sector governance approach to identify the issues of the digital economy and propose solutions to address the issues. Specifically, it examines the role and activities of the public sector, the private sector and the third sector to address the challenges posed by the digital economy, especially human and physical capital development.

This paper revealed challenges and opportunities derived from the experience of Southeast Asian countries and proposed several policies recommendations, including a common data policy and payment platform for the Asian region, a good training and development policy to equip the workforce with digital skills, and digital mindset as well as build cybersecurity capability and capacity at the regional level.

This paper is significant as it examines the development of the digital economy from an interdisciplinary perspective – including economics, digitalisation, governance, management, public policy, technology and human resource development. It also provides better insights into how SEA's digital economic development can be further improved to contribute to a sustainable regional economy.

This study aims to examine factors that affect the effectiveness of transfer of English language training to the workplace. It investigates the effect of trainee characteristics, training design and work climate on the training transfer to job performance in hospitals in Thailand.

The quantitative method was adopted in this study. The conceptual framework was developed from Lim and Morris’ three-factor model, namely, trainee characteristics, training design and work climate. A total of 378 valid responses from staff of seven hospitals in Thailand were collected from surveys.

The findings suggest that training transfer depends more on trainees’ psychological state (affective response and self-efficacy) than extrinsic factors. Nearly every aspect of training design could affect training transfer, except trainer effectiveness. This could be related to the particular context of training and the trainees’ prior experience. Work climate factors had the strongest overall effect, with peer and supervisor feedback, compensation and incentives and transfer opportunities being significant.

This study proposes that training design and work climate-related factors deserve more attention than what they have received previously. This study is significant because of the limited empirical evidence for English training transfer outcomes, and the under-examined role of English as a lingua franca in the business world. The findings can help organisations refine training designs and adjust the work environment to improve training outcomes.

This study examines whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives positively impact customers’ selection of retail banks in Hong Kong (HK) and identifies which CSR domains affect customers’ selection of banks.

This study adopted a quantitative approach. Primary data were collected from 416 customers of 22 retail banks in HK. The theoretical framework of this study was developed from a literature review, prior studies by Oberseder et al. (2013 and 2014), and CSR initiatives implemented by leading retail banks in HK. Descriptive statistics and statistical tests were used to analyze the data.

The study found that CSR initiatives positively affect customers’ bank selection. CSR initiatives related to the customer and environment domains are likely to have a greater impact on customers than those related to the society domain and are not likely to significantly impact customers’ bank selection.

This study contributes to the CSR literature by offering enhanced insight into the dynamics of CSR and its effects on customer bank selection. Furthermore, this study tests consumers’ perceptions of CSR initiatives in each CSR domain in the banking sector in Hong Kong – a novel approach that has not been previously explored in existing studies. These findings can help banks review the effectiveness of their CSR initiatives and make informed decisions on which initiatives should pursue improved CSR performance and efficient resource allocation.

This paper focuses on students’ perceptions of the quality of non-academic services received in higher education. While the important role played by expectations and perceptions in students’ evaluations of such services has been discussed in much of the service quality literature, there is insufficient work in the private tertiary educational sector (PTES). Thus, the purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between service quality, student satisfaction, and behavioural intentions in the PTES, using Singapore as a case study.

This study adopted quantitative research to address the research questions. Primary data were collected from 324 valid responses from a survey conducted in two private tertiary educational institutes (PTEIs) in Singapore.

The results suggested that perceived service quality is positively correlated to satisfaction; perceived service quality and satisfaction are positively correlated to favourable behavioural intentions; and the relationships among perceived service quality and loyalty and paying more for a service are mediated by satisfaction.

This study is significant as the results provide better insights for Singaporean administrators in PTEIs, which is an under-researched area. Generally, the results will have far-reaching implications for all stakeholders in the delivery and consumption of education services in PTEIs, within and beyond Singapore.

There have been many research studies on students’ satisfaction of services in universities in developed countries. However, students’ expectation and satisfaction of public and private higher education institutions (HEIs) with regard to service quality in Eastern Europe have been under-researched. Therefore, this study aims to offer an empirical examination of student satisfaction of the service quality of public and private HEIs in Albania by evaluating the gap between students’ expectation and perception and the effect of student satisfaction on retention in HEIs.

The survey instrument used in this study was the student satisfaction inventory in the USA. Primary data were collected from a survey of students in two private and four public HEIs in Albania. A total of 554 valid responses were collected from the survey.

The findings suggested that there were performance gaps between public and private HEIs. Public universities performed well in terms of concern for the individual, campus support services, student-centeredness and instructional effectiveness. Private HEIs scored well in terms of concern for the individual, academic advising effectiveness, instructional effectiveness and safety and security (parking). There is a significant difference in students’ perception of the overall satisfaction of HEIs. Students’ overall satisfaction positively impacts their retention.

Overall, this study provides valuable insights to private and public HEIs’ administrators regarding to student satisfaction and retention. The findings will have far-reaching managerial implications for all groups of stakeholders in terms of the service delivery by universities in Albania and Eastern Europe.

Thomson financial database reports a monthly consensus measure of analysts’ forecasts in the third week of every month, and firms’ earnings announcement dates are usually different from the last consensus calculation date. Thus, there is a gap between the last consensus calculation date and the earnings announcement date of firms. This study aims to address the question: “Do analysts issue forecasts that are slightly higher than the consensus number to increase the accuracy of their forecasts?”

This study is based on a sample of 91,172 quarterly earnings forecasts of various firms from 1990 to 2007 made between the last consensus calculation date and quarterly earnings announcement date. Descriptive statistics and statistical tests were used to analyze the data.

The findings propose that contrary to expectation, analysts’ forecasts between the last consensus calculation date and earnings announcement date are smaller than the consensus number. Also, the forecasts made between the last consensus and earnings announcement date is not as informative as forecasts made at other times as they could merely reflect the analysts’ herding behavior resulting from their career concerns.

This study provides a link between the literature that studies firms’ meet or beat analysts’ earnings phenomenon and analysts’ forecast decision-making context. This study also provides useful implications for the literature on the information content of analysts’ forecasts.

We examine the behavior of the Russian stock market as one of the leading indices of economic health, reflecting investors’ expectations about future returns. The sample period includes the global financial crisis, a recovering period, and the recent crisis in the Russian economy 2014–2015.

We assume that the Russian stock market strongly depends on the global market, but the market is not fully integrated. This chapter investigates whether specific risk factors such as high dependence of the Russian economy on oil prices and currency volatility are priced in the Russian stock market, using International CAPM with time-variant parameters and conditional heteroskedasticity. The results show that the global financial crisis has had a profound negative impact on the Russian market, and that the expected return and liquidity has declined. The risk of investing in the Russian market is estimated as higher than in the developed market and even in other emerging markets after the global recession. We find that oil price exposure and currency risk to be priced in the Russian stock market and indicate that international investors require higher compensation for bearing these risks. The price of the currency risk has decreased since the implementation of the floating exchange rate regime by the Central Bank of Russia in 2014, but still significant.

Some opportunities to overcome the present stagnation and drive for a sustainable development are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to identify factors affecting formal credit constraint status of rural farm households in Vietnam’s North Central Coast (NCC) region.

Using the direct elicitation method (DEM), the authors consider both internal and external credit rationing.

Empirical evidences confirm the importance of household head’s age, gender and education to household’s likelihood of being credit constrained. In addition, households who have advantages in farm land size, labour resources and non-farm income are less likely to be credit constrained. Poor households are observed to remain restricted by formal credit institutions. Results from the endogenous switching regression model suggest that credit constraints negatively impact household’s consumption per capita and informal credit can act as a substitute to mitigate the negative influence of formal credit constraints.

One limitation arises from the usage of the DEM to identify credit constrained households. The method cannot detect effective and ineffective constraints. Another limitation is the inability of cross-section data to capture long-term impacts of credit constraints on household welfare. Finally, causes of credit constraints from the lender’s view cannot be observed.

The results suggest that it is necessary to enhance the credit allocation regime to reduce the transaction cost and provide target households with sufficient credit. It should be emphasized that high transaction cost and the mismatch between credit demand and supply stemming from information asymmetry. The government can help formal financial institutions to reduce information cost by encouraging the active role of social organizations such as Women Unions, Youth Unions and Veteran Unions in bridging rural farm households with formal lenders.

There are limited studies focusing on determinants of credit constraints and their impacts on rural farm households. To the best of the knowledge, there is no study evaluating the impact of credit constraints on rural farm household welfare particularly in Vietnam. In addition, the studies related to credit constraints only considered full quantity rationing (households applied for the loan but were rejected), omitting the case of partly quantity rationing (loan obtained by the borrowers is less than their demand) and self-rationing.

In recent years, technology diffusion, globalization and the Internet revolution have accelerated the growth of online transactions and altered corporate operations systems. The emergence of computer technology and the Internet have changed the way businesses work. The purpose of this study is to find and identify any common patterns in the logistics and supply chain industries for job requirements using job posting content in Malaysia.

This study provides an exploratory assessment of the employability skill set required using online job posting advertisements. Online job posting advertising, also known as e-recruiting, is one field that has been significantly influenced by information technology. In addition, the current Covid-19 outbreak has created a new need for a long-term contactless talent acquisition process in the organization's operating systems.

Based on this study's findings, the top ten skills required by employers for logistics and supply chain positions are (1) supply chain analytics, (2) technological aptitude, (3) teamwork skills, (4) customer focus, (5) leadership skills, (6) interpersonal skills, (7) people skills, (8) creativity and resilience, (9) demand and supply forecasting ability, and (10) project management skills. Overall, the findings provide a road map for practitioners and academics interested in developing supply chain managers' necessary skills and competencies to manage current and future supply networks. It also allows companies to adjust their supply chain management hiring, training and retention methods.

Although the study was done in Malaysia, the supply chain skills and competencies stated in this study, as well as their categorization, can be applied in other developing countries.

This study aims to examine connections between five variables, including innovation in environment-related technology (EI), trade openness (TRADE), CO₂ emissions (CO₂) and foreign direct investment (FDI) from 1994 to 2019.

This study used an extended joint connectedness technique and the time-varying parameter vector autoregression (TVP-VAR) method. The analysis focuses on the variables of innovation in environment-related technology (EI), trade openness (TRADE), CO₂ emissions (CO₂) and foreign direct investment (FDI) using data from 1994 to 2019.

The results demonstrate that innovation in environment-related technology and an openness to the global network captured by FDI are identified as crucial net transmitters of shocks. In addition, an openness to the global trade network captured by TRADE turns from a transmitter to a receiver of shocks and vice versa. Moreover, it can be seen that the impact of EI was significant in the first five years of the observed period, and it transmitted the largest shock in 1997.

With regard to policy implications, the findings offer valuable insights for investors and policymakers. As the tradeoff between business efficiency and environmental sustainability diminishes, it is essential for Vietnam’s economy and enterprises to embrace green and sustainable growth in line with global trends. In a world characterized by uncertainties and risks, enterprises need to develop strategies to manage risks and shocks arising from geopolitical tensions, input material supply, financial–monetary instability and natural disasters.

This study contributes to the existing literature in two significant ways. First, as previously emphasized, this paper represents the first attempt to investigate the relationship between economic globalization and environmental innovation. Second, this study proposes a novel methodology that is better suited for analyzing volatility interlinkages across different market types.