Customer agility and firm performance in the tourism industry

The growing importance of agility in any business process is universally accepted and extensively investigated in different disciplines. However, lacking empirical pieces of evidence for the suggested theoretical framework of agility hinders its application in the practices. Thus, this study attempts to address this issue by empirically testing a framework of customer agility’s antecedents and consequences using the tourism industry context. The framework is tested on data collected from 231 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the tourism industry in Vietnam and analyzed using Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings suggest that not all attributes of customer agility exert positive impacts on the firm’s performance and human factors are posited as the most important antecedents for organizational agility. A number of practical implications are also suggested from the research findings

Almost periodic solutions of periodic linear partial functional differential equations

We study conditions for the abstract periodic linear functional differential equation $\dot{x}=Ax+F(t)x_t+f(t)$ to have almost periodic with the same structure of frequencies as $f$. The main conditions are stated in terms of the spectrum of the monodromy operator associated with the equation and the frequencies of the forcing term $f$. The obtained results extend recent results on the subject. A discussion on how the results could be extended to the case when $A$ depends on $t$ is given.Comment: 17 page

Sources of Singapore’s economic growth, 1965–2008 : Trends, patterns and policy implications

Asean Economic Bulletin283315-33

Essays on Farm Household Decision-Making: Evidence from Vietnam

This thesis contains three studies which provide theoretical analysis and empirical evidence on the decision-making of farm households under shocks and imperfect markets in Vietnam. The first study attempts to investigate the effects of the 2007-08 global food crisis on the investment, saving and consumption decisions of household producers by using the panel data of the Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey (VHLSS), covering 2006 and 2008. The results show that the high food prices had a positive effect on only fixed asset investments in the period of the crisis. When the price shocks are incorporated in the financial conditions, the findings reveal that the effects of household incomes, loans obtained and land sizes matter. The second study uses the Vietnam Access to Resources Household Survey (VARHS) of 2010 to assess the determinants of chemical fertiliser adoption for rice cultivation, and effects on productivity and household welfare. The analysis implements both nonparametric (propensity score matching) and parametric (instrumental variables) approaches. The findings show determinants affecting decision of adoption differ from those affecting decision of adoption intensity. The results show unsurprisingly positive impact on outcomes, but focus on advantage of using parametric approach to estimate these impacts. The third study employs a sub-sample from the 2008 VHLSS that is restricted to rural areas and to children from 10 to 14 years old to explore the relationship between farmland and the employment of children on their family’s farm. The hypothesis is tested in three models (the Tobit, Heckit and double-hurdle models), in which the dependent variables are examined for two stages of decision-making, including the probability of participation and the extent of participation. Empirical evidence supports the hypothesis that child labour increases in land-rich households and decreases in land-poor households

Honorable Mention Contest Entry: Consonant Acquisition in Infants with Cochlear Implants and Their Normal-Hearing Peers

This is Minh-Chau Vu\u27s submission for the 2019 Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize, which received an honorable mention. It contains her essay on using library resources, a summary of her research project on consonant acquisition in infants with cochlear implants and their normal-hearing peers, and her works cited list. Minh-Chau is a sophomore at Chapman University, majoring in Biological Sciences. Her faculty mentor is Dr. Mary Fagan

Teaching pragmatics in English as a Foreign Language at a Vietnamese university: Teachers' perceptions, curricular content, and classroom practices

Pragmatic competence is an essential component in communicative competence (Bachman & Palmer, 2010; Canale, 1983). Therefore, teaching pragmatic knowledge plays an important role in a foreign language curriculum, particularly in teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL). However, there exists a lack of literature about the teaching of pragmatics with little empirical research on teachers’ perceptions and classroom practices at the tertiary level in Vietnam. Informed by key constructs of three theories of symbolic interactionism (Blumer, 1969; Mead, 1934), cross-cultural/intercultural pragmatics (Kecskes, 2004; 2011; 2012; Kecskes & Romero-Trillo, 2013; Wierzbicka, 2003), and critical approach to language teaching (Kachru, 1992a; 1992b; 1997; 2006; Kirkpatrick, 1995; 2006; 2011b; Pennycook, 1994; 1999), this case study of a Vietnamese university attempts to investigate teachers’ perceptions of pragmatics, their pragmatic teaching, and pragmatic content presented in textbooks and the curriculum. Methods of data collection included questionnaire survey, interviews, focus group, classroom observations, and documents. Major findings include: (a) teachers’ understanding of pragmatic knowledge and its teaching varied, although all of them recognised the vital importance of teaching pragmatic knowledge to enhance EFL students’ communicative competence; (b) the way teachers taught pragmatic knowledge was influenced by how they learned pragmatics and their perceptions of pragmatics; (c) there was a dearth of pragmatic knowledge presented in the analysed textbook; and (d) teachers relied mostly on textbooks to teach pragmatics and encountered difficulties in teaching pragmatics because of their lack of pragmatic competence as well as methods to teach it. The implications of the above are considered and recommendations are made regarding teachers’ perceptions of pragmatics and its teaching, approaches to teaching pragmatics in particular and teaching EFL in general in a Vietnamese university or a similar context, teacher training and development, and designing materials and tasks from the perspectives of symbolic interactionism, cross-cultural/intercultural pragmatics, and critical approach to language teaching

The Effects of Culture and Gender Roles on the Efficacy of Social Support as a Coping Mechanism for Stress

Though social support has been thought to be an effective coping mechanism for handling distress, this generalization comes with limitations in that social support is highly intertwined with specific characteristics that could alter both help-seeking behavior and its outcomes. The present study examined the effects of cultural differences on the effectiveness of differing social support sources (i.e., parents versus peers) between European American and Asian/Asian American samples, as well as the influence of gender role orientation on social support outcomes. Ninety-Five European American and Asian/Asian American participants were assigned to either a parent or peer social support letter task prior to a psychosocial stressor. Asian American Values Scale-Multidimensional (AAVS-M) measured cultural values, and the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) assessed gender orientation. The dependent variable was the change in salivary cortisol levels. Though no significant differences were found for cortisol reactivity between and within cultural groups as a function of social support source, results indicated a potential preference in European Americans, relative to Asians and Asian Americans, for parent support, as seen by lower cortisol reactivity. Additionally, relative to peer support, parent support was marginally more beneficial for European Americans. Lastly, there was no significant interaction between gender roles and social support, including analyses on social support type (i.e., emotional and informational support)