澳大利亚《信息自由法》评析

政府信息和文件一直被视为是政府机关的财产而由所掌握信息的机构来决定是否对其进行公开。随着社会的发展和进步,知情权的概念逐渐形成共识,并被国际社会看作是一项基本人权得以保障,在新闻媒体和公众的推动下,澳大利亚开始重视保护公众知情权,并相应地制定了有关信息自由的法律以公开政府信息,保证公民知情权的实现。     

大学文化形成的内部因素(一):群体个性与大学文化——以北京钢铁学院(1952-1966年)为例

文章从活动类型的角度简要分析了大学主要群体的特征,以创建于20世纪50年代院系调整时期的北京钢铁学院(1952-1966年)为例,阐述了校长群体、管理群体、学术群体和学生群体对大学文化形成的影响路径和机理,比较了学术群体与管理群体之间的文化差异与冲突,为理解这一时期新建院校大学文化形成中的群体因素提供了参考样本。      

盈余质量对自愿性信息披露的影响及作用机理

自愿性信息披露是管理层对外传递公司价值,缓解信息不对称的重要手段,是强制性财务报告的有益补充。财务报告的盈余信息不但通过契约制定约束了管理层行为,其盈余质量也反映了管理层可信度并影响自愿披露的估值作用,这些都会影响公司自愿披露行为。本文以上市公司自愿披露的前瞻性信息为对象,分析了盈余质量对自愿性信息披露的影响及作用机理。实证结果证实了盈余质量对自愿性信息披露有契约作用和鉴证作用;契约作用表现为盈余质量可通过降低代理成本提高自愿披露水平;而鉴证作用体现在盈余质量为自愿披露信息提供了可鉴证性保障,提高了公司价值与自愿披露水平的相关性。     

STAR模型的滞后阶数选择与稳健性研究

本文讨论了六种信息准则在STAR模型滞后阶数选择中的适应性及稳健性问题。Monte Carlo模拟结果显示,在多数情况下,数据生成过程中的误差项分布并不影响信息准则正确识别模型最大滞后阶数的能力;对于短STAR模型,ACC准则具有较高的正确识别率,并且对不同平滑转移系数及不同门限值具有很好的稳健性;而对于长STAR模型,SC准则及ACC准则具有更高的正确率及良好的稳健性。     

新中国初期单科性工业学院办学精神研究——以北京钢铁学院(1952-1966年)为例(三)

北京钢铁学院是新中国早期成立的单科性工业学院的典型代表。20世纪五六十年代,北京钢铁学院形成了以“爱国、奉献、崇实、求是、争先、创优”为主要内容的核心价值观,形成了以“理想主义的家国情怀,崇实求是的学术精神,敢为人先的创新品格”为主要特征的大学精神,形成了独具特色的优秀大学文化。      

Optimal Quantity Discount Design with Limited Information Sharing*

In this article we address the optimal quantity discount design problem of a supplier in a two‐stage supply chain where the supplier and the buyer share annual demand information only. The supply chain faces a constant deterministic demand that is not price sensitive and operates with fixed setup costs in both stages. We show that the supplier can actually moderate a cost‐minimizing buyer to order in quantities different than the buyer's optimal order quantity in the traditional setting and develop a multi‐breakpoint quantity discount scheme that maximizes supplier's expected net savings. The proposed multi‐breakpoint discount scheme can be easily computed from the available information and, while also maximizing the supplier's net savings, is very effective in achieving high levels of supply chain coordination efficiency in the presence of limited information.     

Understanding the Determinants of Service Channel Preference in the Early Stages of Adoption: A Social Cognitive Perspective on Online Brokerage Services*

In today's increasingly technology‐mediated world, individuals are often confronted with a decision of whether to obtain services through online, self‐service technologies or traditional, nontechnological alternatives. Understanding the mechanisms by which consumers choose among these competing service channels represents an important concern for organizations, consumers, and Web site designers. This study develops a research model based on Social Cognitive Theory to explain and predict service channel preferences that arise in the early stages of adoption, before a consumer conducts business using a particular channel. The model is subsequently tested in the brokerage services context, using observations obtained via survey. Given the growing popularity of online investing combined with the challenging prospect of making optimal decisions in an inherently risky environment, the context offers insights of practical and theoretical importance. The results suggest that task‐specific self‐efficacy beliefs serve as the activating mechanism kicking off a chain of psychological events that entice consumers to favor a particular service channel. Higher levels of self‐efficacy induce individuals to prefer the online approach. In addition to its direct effect on preference for the online service channel, higher levels of self‐efficacy influence one's propensity to take risks and expectations of performance‐oriented rewards, which, in turn, sway consumers to favor the online service channel. Furthermore, self‐efficacy and perceptions concerning the credibility of online information interact to affect service channel preference. Consumers are more likely to prefer the online service channel when they view themselves as capable and perceive online sources to be credible. Implications for theory and practice are discussed in light of the findings.     

The Effects of Process and Outcome Similarity on Users' Evaluations of Decision Aids*

Decision aids (DA) used in online shopping contexts have been shown to improve users' product choices. Given that previous research (e.g., Byrne & Griffitt, 1973 ) has demonstrated the positive effects of perceived similarity on an individual's evaluation of others, this study investigates the effects of users' perceived similarity with a DA on their evaluations of that DA. More specifically, we investigate the effect of users' perceptions of the similarity between their own decision process and that followed by the DA to arrive at a recommendation (decision process similarity), as well as the similarity between the recommendations made by the DA and users' initial choices (outcome similarity), on their evaluations of the DA's usefulness and trustworthiness. The results of this study show that perceived process similarity exerts positive and significant effects on users' perceptions of the DA's usefulness and trustworthiness. However, the effects of perceived outcome similarity on trust are completely mediated by perceived process similarity. It is also observed that the level of the user's domain knowledge moderates the effects of perceived decision process similarity on both perceived usefulness and trustworthiness. These results have implications for DA design. It is important that designers consider the process by which users make decisions for themselves and align the DA's decision process with those of the user's, especially for the novice user. The full mediation of the effect of outcome similarity on trust by process similarity highlights how a similar decision process can mitigate some of the negative effects of outcome dissimilarity.     

Incentives for information sharing in duopoly with capacity constraints

We study the ex ante incentives for firms to share their private information in a Cournot duopoly with capacity constraints. In both demand and cost information sharing games, we show that the incentives can be reversed when some equilibrium solutions are binding on capacity. Especially, we identify some conditions under which partial information sharing is the dominant strategy under both games. Numerical examples are provided for illustration. In addition, we show that information sharing does not necessarily increase social welfare.