Understanding Student Motivation: A Key to Retention in Higher Education

This paper explores what motivates college students at different stages of their academic studies. Using Herzberg’s two-factor theory, the researchers conducted a survey of 535 students in three south-western universities to determine if motivations changed throughout their academic careers. Results showed that students at different stages of their college careers have different concern s and, as such, different motivational strategies are needed to respond to their concerns. Implications are given to grow and retain enrolment.

Macroeconomic Dimensions in the Clusterization Processes: Lithuanian Biomass Cluster Case

The Future production systems’ increasing significance will impose work, which maintains not a competitive, but a collaboration basis, with concentrated resources and expertise, which can help to reach the general purpose. One form of collaboration among medium-size business organizations is work in clusters. Clusterization as a phenomenon has been known from quite a long time, but it offers simple benefits to researches at micro and medium levels. The clusterization process evaluation in macroeconomic dimensions has been comparatively little investigated. Thereby, in this article, the clusterization processes is analysed by concentrating our attention on macroeconomic factor researches. The authors analyse clusterization’s influence on country’s macroeconomic growth; they apply a structure research methodology for clusterization’s macroeconomic influence evaluation and propose that clusterization processes benefit macroeconomic analysis. The theoretical model of clusterization processes was validated by referring to a biomass cluster case. Because biomass cluster case is a new phenomenon, currently there are no other scientific approaches to them. The authors’ accomplished researches show that clusterization allows the achievement of a large positive slip in macroeconomics, which proves to lead to a high value added to creation, a faster country economic growth, and social situation amelioration.

Specifics of IFRS Adoption by Central and Eastern European Countries: Evidence from Research

The paper reviews recent literature on the specifics of adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by the new EU members from the Central and Eastern Europe. Despite being members of the EU or OECD, the transition to a standard developed economy has not yet finished. The first part of the paper presents macroeconomic statistics and capital market data, which underline a unique economic structure of the region (relative unimportance of capital markets for raising capital, strong dependence on foreign direct investments) combined with the lacks in institutional environment. Under such conditions, the economic consequences of IFRS adoption can be unpredictable and adverse. The second part of the paper analyses the reflection of specifics of the IFRS adoption in the CEE region in research studies covered by the Thomson Reuters’ Web of Science database. The analysis reveals (a) cross-country disproportion in the research coverage of the area; (b) relatively low coverage of the IFRS research focusing on these transition countries in top journals.

The Effect of Credit Risk and Capital Adequacy on the Profitability of Rural Banks in the Philippines

This paper examines the credit risk and capital adequacy of the 567 rural banks in the Philippines to investigate how both variables affect bank profitability. Using the Arellano-Bond estimator, we found out that credit risk has a negative and statistically significant relationship with profitability. However, empirical analysis showed that capital adequacy has no significant impact on the profitability of rural banks in the Philippines. It is therefore necessary for the rural banks to examine more deeply if capital infusion would result in higher profitability than increasing debts. The study also implies that it is imperative for the banks to understand which risk factors have greater impact on their financial performance and use better risk-adjusted performance measurement to support their strategies. Rural banks should establish credit risk management that defines the process from initiation to approval of loans, taking into consideration the sound credit risk management practices issued by regulatory bodies. Moreover, rural banks need to enhance internal control measures to ensure the strict implementation of internal processes on lending operations.

The Relationship between Economic Development and Fatal Occupational Accidents: Evidence from Turkey

Occupational accidents are among the most important issues of the agenda of working life in Turkey recently. Recently the causes and consequences of occupational accidents which are related to human, occupational and environmental factors have received great attention from the researchers but it has been paid little attention to focused on economic factors. The purpose of this paper is to make a contribution to redressing this gap by examining the relationship between fatal occupational accidents and economic development over the period of 1980 to 2012 for Turkey. In this context, bounds testing approach which is also known as autoregressive distributed lag model is performed. The results indicate the existence of positive relationship between gross domestic product per capita and fatal occupational accidents in the short-run while in the long run this turns out to be in a negative way via economic growth and changes in structure of the economy.

Efficiency of Pay for Performance Programs in Romanian Companies and the Mediating Role of Organizational Justice

The present research examined the influences of pay for performance programs on employee performance in the Romanian context, by comparing a sample of employees in companies in which such programs are implemented to a sample of employees in organizations in which performance is not used as a criterion in deciding financial rewards. Results show that the work performances of the former, as evaluated by the direct supervisors of each employee, are significantly higher than those of the latter, and that this effect of performance pay is partly mediated by its positive effects on employee perceptions of distributive and procedural justice. Furthermore, results indicate that the individual - level financial incentive systems are more efficient in fostering work performance than the team - level performance pay programs in the Romanian employee sample, and that they also have stronger effects on the two dimensions of organizational justice.

Trade Credit Insurance and Asymmetric Information Problem

The presence of different risk factors in international trade gives evidence of the necessity of support in gaps that may affect exporters’ activity. To maximize the trade volumes and in the same time to minimize the exporters’ risks the stakeholders use trade credit insurance. The paper provides analysis of conceptual background of the trade credit insurance in the world. We analyzed briefly the problems, arising in insurance markets due to asymmetric information, such as adverse selection and moral hazard. Also we discuss the main stages of development of trade credit insurance in countries worldwide. Using comparative and graphical analysis we provide a brief evaluation of the dynamics of claims and recoveries for different forms of trade credit insurance. We found that the claims related to the commercial risk for medium and long trade credits in recent years exceed the recoveries, while with the political risk the reverse trend holds. And we originally consider these findings in terms of information asymmetry in the trade credit insurance differentiated by type of risk.

Empirical Analysis of the Financial Behavior of Investors with Brand Approach (Case Study: Tehran Stock Exchange)

Behavioral science in the field of finance and investment is among new topics raised in recent years. The relationship between financial sciences and other fields of social sciences such as financial psychology has caused researchers to do many researches regarding the behavior of investors in the financial markets and their reactions to different situations. Based on the theories of financial behavior, shareholders’ decision to buy and sell stocks is under the influence of internal and external psychological factors. Through designing and experimental testing of the model of investors’ financial behavior in the Tehran Stock Exchange with an emphasis on brand, this study was an attempt to investigate the influence of these factors. To this end, financial, psychological and social factors were considered as the most important external factors influencing the behavior of investors and, considering the mediating role of brand awareness, their impact on perceived risk and perceived return as well as investment intention was tested. The research population consisted of all individual investors in the Tehran Stock Exchange. In order to determine the sample size, considering unlimited population, Cochran formula was used and hence the sample size was determined to be 145. For data collection, standard questionnaire was used. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the reliability of the questionnaire and the research hypotheses were tested using path analysis. The results showed that psychological factors have a positive impact on perceived risk and returns. Financial factors had a positive impact on perceived risk but no impact on perceived return. The impact of social factors on perceived risk and perceived return was not confirmed. Moreover, the results showed that brand awareness has a moderating role in the relationship between social factors and perceived risk and return. However, its moderating role was not confirmed in the relationship between the psychological and financial factors and perceived risk and return. Perceived risk had a positive effect on attitude toward the brand. However, the impact of perceived return on attitude toward the brand was not significant. Finally, the attitude toward the brand had a positive effect on shareholders’ investment intention.

Requirements for Cios' Competencies in the Czech Economy

Economy of the Czech Republic, just like the country’s ICT sector, underwent significant changes after 1990. The fall of socialism and transition to market economy had significant impact on development of ICT sector and its competitiveness. In the article, we analyze practical requirements in the field of strategic knowledge demanded from Chief Information Officers (CIOs). The analysis is based on a representative survey carried out among approximately 1,000 companies on the Czech market in 2006, 2010. The last survey in 2015 was performed in the form of interview in 147 corporations. The companies are divided by branch in economic sector, by dependence on ICT and by size. The requirements put on CIOs are divided into sixteen knowledge domains. The results of the survey indicate that ICT sector in Czech Republic has gone from centrally planned economy to almost advanced economy since 1990. This is evidenced by identified development of strategic knowledge and practical skills required from CIOs in Czech Republic between 2006, 2010 and 2015. Knowledge requirements on CIO’s degreased visible between year 2006 and 2015 but change between 2010 and 2015 is not noticeable. In general, we can say that requirements on CIO’s are in 2015 lower than in 2010 except domains like “Team leadership skills”, “IS/ICT knowledge”, “Knowledge in Business Sector” and “Law”.

Reverse Bonus Certificate Design and Valuation Using Pricing by Duplication Methods

In this paper we perform an analysis of a capped reverse bonus certificate, the value of which is derived from the value of an underlying asset. A pricing formula for the portfolio replication method is applied to price the capped reverse bonus certificate. A replicating portfolio has profit that is identical to profit from a combination of positions in spot and derivative market, i.e. vanilla and exotic options. Based upon the theoretical option pricing models, the replicating portfolio for capped reverse bonus certificate on the Euro Stoxx 50 index is engineered. We design the capped reverse bonus certificate with various parameters and calculate the issue prices in the primary market. The profitability for the potential investor at the maturity date is provided. The relation between the profit change of the investor and parameters’ change is detected. The best capped reverse bonus certificate for every estimated development of the index is identified.