Frontiers of Business Research in China

ISSN 1673-7326

ISSN 1673-7431(Online)

CN 11-5746/F

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, Volume 9 Issue 4

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Research article
Do Arbitragers Exploit the January Effect?
Dennis J. Lasser,Xue Wang
Front. Bus. Res. China. 2015, 9 (4): 481-515.  
https://doi.org/10.3868/s070-004-015-0019-1

Abstract   PDF (879KB)

The January effect has been well documented since the 1970s. This study examines whether the January effect still exists and if it does, whether arbitrageurs exploit it. We find that the January effect is still persistently significant. Furthermore, we find that arbitrageurs appear to exploit the January effect, especially in good market years when the number of losing firms is limited and are therefore more easily identifiable. We also find that the January effect tends to be higher for losing stocks with high arbitrage costs relative to those with low arbitrage costs.

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Enterprise WeChat Groups: Their Effect on Work-Life Conflict and Life-Work Enhancement
Shengming Liu,Ye Zhang,Lifan Chen,Li Guo,Dongling Yu
Front. Bus. Res. China. 2015, 9 (4): 516-535.  
https://doi.org/10.3868/s070-004-015-0020-5

Abstract   PDF (444KB)

Social media technologies have made it increasingly feasible for employees to be connected to work. WeChat, a newly emerging social media platform, is widely used in daily life, yet there is still little understanding of the consequences of the use of WeChat groups in enterprise. Based on boundary theory, we suggested that the use of WeChat groups in enterprise have both pros and cons for employees. We gathered data from an online survey of 202 employees. Results show that posting work-related content in enterprise WeChat groups had a beneficial impact on work for employees but also caused work-life conflict (WLC). However, posting life-related content in enterprise WeChat groups contributes to employees’ life-work enhancement (LWE). Contributions and future study directions of these findings are discussed.

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TOOR: A Novel Product Title Optimization Method Based on Online Reviews in E-commerce
Liye Wang,Jin Zhang,Wei Yan
Front. Bus. Res. China. 2015, 9 (4): 536-558.  
https://doi.org/10.3868/s070-004-015-0021-2

Abstract   PDF (369KB)

Titles of online products play an important role in attracting consumers and promoting product sales in e-commerce. However, current online product titles only cover basic features and cannot reflect the preferences of consumers exactly. To address this problem, this research proposed an online title optimization method based on the analysis of online reviews, which is called TOOR (Title Optimization based on Online Reviews). In this research, we analyzed and compared product features extracted from online product titles and online reviews from the point of view of consumers and applied features extracted from reviews to title optimization. In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, two experiments were conducted in this paper, selecting four typical smartphones as experiment samples and Taobao.com as the data resources. The experimental results indicated that features extracted from online reviews can better reflect the consumers’ concern, and the titles optimized by the TOOR method are more appealing to consumers and have higher click-through rates.

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The Impact of Environment Uncertainty and Effectual Flexibility on Entrepreneurial Resource Combination: The Moderating Effect of Entrepreneurial Self-efficacy
Xuebing Peng,Yi Lin,Yueling Liu
Front. Bus. Res. China. 2015, 9 (4): 559-575.  
https://doi.org/10.3868/s070-004-015-0022-9

Abstract   PDF (439KB)

Entrepreneurial resource combination is widely recognized as a key enabling factor to a new venture’s survival and growth, but how and why resources are integrated remain elusive. Borrowing from the theory of resource combination proposed by Sirmon, Hitt and Ireland (2007), this study empirically examines how environmental uncertainty impacts entrepreneurial resource combination. We also examine the mediating effect of effectual flexibility on the relationship between environmental uncertainty and entrepreneurial resource combination to see how new ventures utilize flexibility to neutralize the threat of environmental uncertainty. The moderating effect of entrepreneurial self-efficacy is also examined to see how entrepreneurs’ self-cognition affects these relationships. Examining data from 287 new ventures, we find that both environmental dynamism and environmental hostility have significantly positive influence on entrepreneurial resource combination (including entrepreneurial resource cohesion and entrepreneurial resource coupling). We also find that flexibility mediates the relationship between environmental uncertainty (including environmental dynamism and environmental hostility) and entrepreneurial resource combination. Empirical studies also show that entrepreneurial self-efficacy positively moderates the relationship between environmental dynamism and flexibility but negatively moderates the relationship between environmental hostility and flexibility. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

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Abusive Supervision and Psychological Capital: A Mediated Moderation Model of Team Member Support and Supervisor-Student Exchange
Zhenyu Liao,Yuchuan Liu
Front. Bus. Res. China. 2015, 9 (4): 576-607.  
https://doi.org/10.3868/s070-004-015-0023-6

Abstract   PDF (387KB)

Embedded in higher educational settings, this study examines the relationship between abusive supervision and psychological capital and the mechanism through which abusive supervision and team member support interact to influence psychological capital with supervisor-student exchange mediating the interaction with psychological capital. Data collected from 222 graduate students in six Chinese universities supports our mediated moderation model: abusive supervision negatively relates to psychological capital and supervisor-student exchange mediates the positive moderating effect of team member support on the relationship between abusive supervision and psychological capital. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

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Corporate Donations in China: A Strategic- Political Perspective
Sihai Li,Wenbin Long,Xianzhong Song
Front. Bus. Res. China. 2015, 9 (4): 608-632.  
https://doi.org/10.3868/s070-004-015-0024-3

Abstract   PDF (261KB)

This paper explores how the political identity of top managers influences corporate donations, based on upper echelons theory (UET). The results show that the political identity of the top manager has a significant impact on the donation behavior of a company, especially in areas with poor institutional environments. Corporate donations depend not only on whether the top manager has a political identity but also the type of this identity. Furthermore, the impact differs significantly between companies with different ownership structures. This study enriches our knowledge of corporate philanthropy by demonstrating that corporate donation practices are shaped by a range of contextual factors. Corporate giving behaviors in emerging economies such as China are differently motivated according to the fundamentally different aspects of their institutional settings.

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6 articles