Research article

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The Influence of Perceived Trust, Perceived Value, Perceived Usefulness, and Perceived Risk on College Students' Initial Willingness to Pay for Online Knowledge Long Kou and Xuemei Sun Pages 1 - 24    Download PDF  Article preview Cite Abstract The market size of online knowledge payment continues to expand, yet the proportion of users who persistently engage in knowledge payment is continuously decreasing, which significantly hinders the development of online knowledge payment platforms. This study examines the factors influencing users' initial willingness to pay for online knowledge based on the theory of perceived value and the technology acceptance model by integrating the payment contexts, and influential factors related to online knowledge payment intention. This study employed convenience sampling to select 412 students from Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China, as participants. PLS-SEM analysis reveals that perceived usefulness, perceived value, and perceived trust positively influence initial willingness to pay for online knowledge, while perceived risk has a negative impact. Perceived trust and perceived value act as complementary mediators in the relationship between perceived risk, perceived usefulness, and initial payment intention. The findings contribute to understanding users' initial knowledge payment decisions and offer practical implications for knowledge payment platform users, producers, and service providers. These insights can help improve user experience, satisfaction, and promote sustainable development through effective marketing strategies and service models.
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The Drivers of Green Practices Adoption in Air Cargo Carriers Pornwasin Sirisawat, Phutawan Ho Wongyai and Teeris Thepchalerm Pages 25 - 36    Download PDF  Article preview Cite Abstract Environmental problems are becoming increasingly severe, and the air transportation industry significantly impacts the environment. Although green practices are available for air carriers, more research is needed to understand the factors that drive their adoption. Therefore, this article aims to investigate the factors that drive the adoption of green practices in air cargo carriers. The researchers collected data from the environmental reports of various airlines and analyzed it using the content analysis method through the lens of institutional isomorphism theory. The results reveal that coercive and normative pressures are the main drivers of green practice adoption in air cargo carriers. In contrast, mimetic pressure was not found to be a significant factor. This article contributes to the current literature by providing a framework for studying airline green practices from an institutional theory perspective and insight into air carriers adopting green practices. The authors also identify the limitations of this study and provide suggestions for future research.
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Selling, General, and Administrative Cost Asymmetry in Hypergrowth Private Fintech Firms Chawanakorn Thienboonlertrat and Thanyaluk Vichitsarawong Pages 37 - 65    Download PDF  Article preview Cite Abstract This research investigates the cost asymmetry between hypergrowth and non-hypergrowth firms by using private fintech firms in the United Kingdom (U.K.) as a sample. Examining cost growth elasticity and cost multiplier elasticity, the findings indicate that hypergrowth firms’ cost growth elasticity and cost multiplier elasticity are significantly lower than those of non-hypergrowth firms. The results show that, in private fintech firms, cost asymmetry can occur between non-hypergrowth and hypergrowth stages, which is different from prior asymmetry findings that focused only on the revenue-increasing and revenue-decreasing stages. Our study further provides empirical evidence of the static internal economies of scale from which hypergrowth firms benefit, serving as one of the explanations for cost asymmetry in the hypergrowth stage. Overall, our findings suggest that U.K. private fintech companies gain a cost advantage during the hypergrowth stage by balancing the finding of new opportunities with successfully reaping high-quality revenues while effectively dealing with managerial inefficiency.
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Optimizing Emergency Medical Services: Cost Reduction and Service Efficiency Puchit Phasuktham, Arunrat Sawettham, Kanatkit Thongpool and Panamon Chantabutr Pages 66 - 85    Download PDF  Article preview Cite Abstract This research aims to reduce costs by enhancing emergency medical services (EMS). The study analyzed data from 1,736 accident sites to develop a model that can improve EMS routing and identify overlapping service zones. This approach resulted in a 37.88% reduction in average operational costs. The accuracy and reliability of the system were validated using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The pairwise comparisons resulted in a Consistency Ratio (CR) of 0.09323, with an eigenvalue (????????) of 4.25172 and a consistency index (????) of 0.08391. This validation confirms the model's effectiveness in optimizing EMS operations, which is crucial in life-saving scenarios. It also highlights the potential to streamline response times and reduce costs, providing invaluable insights for the advancement of emergency medical logistics.
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Say-On-Pay Voting: The Moderating Roles of Executive Pay Misassessment and Pay-for-luck Compensation on CD&A Usefulness Wichawadee Racharoenkit and Aim-Orn Jaikengkit Pages 86 - 113    Download PDF  Article preview Cite Abstract Although multiple studies have confirmed the instances of irrational Say-On-Pay (SOP) voting and pay-for-luck compensation, the assessment of executive compensation under these occurrences remained unrevealed prior to our research. This research attempts to address these limitations by defining irrational SOP voting and pay-for-luck variables and modifying the SOP voting determinants model, drawing on information-processing theory. The objectives are to investigate: the moderating effect of executive pay misassessment linked to irrational SOP voting and pay-for-luck compensation on CD&A usefulness, reflected by the association between excessive pay and SOP voting outcomes and the association between pay-performance sensitivity (PPS) and SOP voting outcomes, and shareholder awareness of pay-for-luck compensation, indicated by the association between pay-for-luck and SOP voting outcomes. The results show the significant moderating roles of executive compensation misassessment and pay-for-luck compensation on SOP voting outcomes and shed light on the unawareness of executive pay-for-luck. Overall, this study demonstrates a better explanation of SOP voting decisions through the lens of information-processing theory. Additionally, it provides new evidence of the PPS assessment concerning shareholders unawareness of pay-for-luck compensation.