Using household panel data for Australia, sourced from HILDA, we test whether the hypothesis of constant relative risk aversion in wealth, controlling for various sociodemographic variables. Our measure of risk is based on the proportion of variance of the optimal household portfolio rather than the proportion of risky assets in the portfolio. Based on this measure, we apply a first differences model across three survey waves spanning 2002 to 2010. We find strong evidence that Australian households exhibit decreasing relative risk aversion in wealth rejecting the constant relative risk aversion hypothesis.This finding is robust in the presence of various sociodemographic variables, including education levels and liquidity constraints.

Vietnam is a developing country with a population of approximately 90 million (11/2013). The availability of electronic banking (e-banking) over ten years ago in Vietnam marked a significant development for society in general and for banking in particular. Research attention has so far focused on the development and implementation of e-banking applications in Vietnam. However, there is at present very little research about customer trust in Vietnamese e-banking. Most research about e-banking in Vietnam focuses on the adoption of e-banking. This paper, part of an investigation of critical factors affecting customer trust in e-banking, explores the effect of trust on aspects of customer intention to use e-banking in Vietnam. The proposed research model integrates constructs from other disciplines, such as psychology, sociology, and electronic commerce. The basic model for this study has been adopted from the Technology Acceptance Model to show the characteristic of e-banking, including the addition of another belief, trust, to increase the understanding of customer intention to use e-banking in Vietnam. A Structural Equation Modelling approach has been used to evaluate the research model. The sample consists of 464 Vietnamese participants who used and are using e-banking services. The results of the empirical analysis suggest that trust has significant effects on both attitude and behavioural intention to use e-banking. The perceived usefulness has a positive significant impact on trust, attitude towards using e-banking and the behavioural intention to use it. The perceived ease of use has a positive, significant effect on trust and perceived usefulness. However, perceived ease of use does not have a significant effect on the attitude towards using e-banking. Attitude towards using e-banking has a positive impact on the behavioural intention to use e-banking. This study begins to fill the gap noted in the literature by providing a model for the effect of trust on customer intention to use e-banking. The study’s findings offer help for Vietnamese banks, policy makers and customers to clarify and develop the effect of trust on customer intention in using these e-banking services.

Lack of guidelines for selecting focus groups as the appropriate method and planning for research projects was identified as a major quality challenge in South Africa, with implications for the misuse of focus groups, thus rendering research quality control difficult. The study sought to uncover the challenges that impede the quality of focus group research planning, and choice of method thereof, and to develop a set of guidelines for redress by stakeholder organisations. A guiding framework was developed and its scientific viability and relevance were confirmed through in-depth qualitative and quantitative research studies, using a mixed method approach. A systematic probability sample of 600 respondents was drawn from identified clustered organisations. A CATI approach was used for data collection.  The proposed guidelines on the scientific approach to focus group choice and project planning will require education of practitioners and supervised enforcement in order to improve quality control.

The recent global financial crisis has brought profound transformation to the traditional way of management in the advertising industry. Almost all regions were impacted by the recession; the Arab Gulf was no exception. There are a number of major trends that are not just taking place, but shaping the face and future of the advertising industry in this rapidly growing and yet-untapped region: diversification, specialization, adoption of integrated approaches, and mainstreaming of social media. Under the impact of the recession, a number of advertising agencies have begun rationalizing by optimizing their offers and services. This involves a very real challenge to advertising practitioners tasked with crafting and planning strategies and executing them successfully.  No academic study has yet addressed the specificities of management of advertising agencies in recession times in the Arab Gulf region. Using a content analysis approach on data drawn from a sample of industry related journals and corporate interviews over the period of the recession 2009, this paper examines issues of adaptation, restructuration, and reorientation by managers and decision-makers in the advertising industry.

Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is acknowledged to be the second largest regional cooperation association after European Union.  However, unluckily, the region exhibits highly varied and unmatched exchange rate arrangements, though the growing interdependence of East Asian economies calls for ensuring intra-regional macroeconomic stability particularly with reference to monetary policy and exchange rate coordination.  The study has explored whether the real effective exchange rate misalignments in each member states of the region are more contributed from regional partners or from non-regional ones. The empirical verification is done through ARDL and Zivot single equation Error Correction Model and the long run estimates are corrected for their super consistency through 3rd step of Engle-Yoo ECM. Variance decomposition test is employed in order to see the variability in exports imparted by the exchange rate of each of regional and non-regional trading partners individually. Results fairly suggest that East Asian economies are suffering more from intra-regional exchange rate volatility in comparison to ex regional disturbances. The fact leads towards a strong support for the hypothesis that within RIA exchange rate misalignments are more critical in the perspective of currency crisis in a region in comparison to the same misalignments arising somewhere else.  The probable solutions to the problem is to keep foremost focus on deviation in exchange rate policies while selecting trading partners, ensuring more coordinated macroeconomic policy and development of a more accommodating international financial architecture.