Exploring trust determinants influencing the intention to use fintech via SEM approach: Evidence from Pakistan.

Many fintech consumers are hesitant to perform online transactions given the lack of trust in online companies. In response to this reality, we construct and evaluate a trust-theoretic user acceptability model for financial technologies. The research seeks to look at the influence of trust on the intention to use fintech. A sampling of potential users in Pakistan is used to validate the model experimentally. Smart PLS 3 has been used to robust the theorized configuration of constructs (structural equation modeling) based on 275 survey responses. Contrary to other scenarios, the findings indicate that "customer trust in fintech" is more important than other aspects in determining technology adoption. Pakistani consumers' intention is positively affected by trust. Trust facilitators influence consumers' trust; among them, trust propensity is the factor having high values, followed by perceived size, interaction with online customers, perceived benefit, third-party seal, perceived ease of use, and perceived reputation.

Does investors' site visits improve the capital market pricing efficiency?

This article empirically tested the impact of investors' site visits on capital market pricing efficiency. Leveraging the data from 2009 to 2022 of Shenzhen Stock Exchange's listed companies, we found that: (1) Investors' site visits could reduce stock price synchronicity, indicating improved pricing efficiency of the capital market. (2) The mechanisms tests showed that: investors could obtain private incremental information through site visits. (3) The conclusions remained intact after robust tests, including alternative key variables, samples and specifications, and various endogenous treatments. (4) Investors added arbitrage trading behavior after the site visit without significantly impounding industry-level information into the stock price. This paper enriched the knowledge of how site visits of different investment entities affect capital market pricing efficiency.

Mixed-ownership reform and strategic choice of Chinese state-owned enterprises.

The strategic choice of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) is crucial to the sustainable development of China's economy. This paper explores the impact of mixed-ownership reform on the strategic choice of SOEs from the shareholder power and the board power. We find that the greater the diversity of mixed shareholders, the depth of mixed equity, the control of mixed equity, and the excess control of mixed equity, the higher the degree of mixed-ownership reform, and the more likely it is to promote SOEs to choose the prospector strategy. The mechanism test states that the impact of mixed-ownership reform on enterprise strategy is achieved through the balance effect between non-state-owned shareholders and state-owned controlling shareholders with the same power, and the synergy effect between different powers of non-state shareholders. Further research indicates that the mixed-ownership reform has a stronger driving effect on the prospector strategy in SOEs under strict external supervision, competitive industries, and local areas. This study clarifies the governance logic of non-state-owned shareholders on the strategic positioning of SOEs by dual control rights, and it provides empirical evidence for the formulation of enterprises' market-oriented strategic objectives.

Perceived transaction cost and its antecedents associated with fintech users' intention: Evidence from Pakistan.

Researches depict a considerable degree of acknowledgment of financial technology improvement in Pakistan. However, the costs blocking clients' intention to utilize financial technology remain dubious. Building upon Transaction Cost Economics and Innovation diffusion theory, this paper hypothesizes that consumers' transaction cost of fintech is affected by nine antecedents: perceived asset specificity, complexity, product uncertainty, behavioral uncertainty, transaction frequency, dependability, limitations, convenience, and economic utility. Transaction cost has a negative relationship with consumers' intentions to use fintech for online buying or availing services. We tested the model using data gathered from the individuals. The results show that factors that are positively related to consumers' perceived transaction cost, among them product uncertainty (ß = 0.231) is the greatest of factors, followed by behavior uncertainty (ß = 0.209) and asset specificity (ß = 0.17), those that are negatively associated are dependability (ß = 0.11), and convenience (ß = 0.224). The study is limited in scope, focusing primarily on cost factors. Future research may analyze additional cost-related elements and the actual use of financial technology by using samples from different countries.

Can retail investors induce corporate green innovation? -Evidence from Baidu Search Index.

China's rapid economic development has caused some environmental damage in recent years. The popularity of the Internet has enriched the ways for investors to obtain information, which would exert an impact on corporate environmental behavior. Focusing on micro-enterprise green innovation from the perspective of informal regulation, this paper investigates the impact of investor attention on corporate green innovation. This study takes Chinese A-share listed companies from 2011 to 2018 as samples, constructs panel fixed-effects models and adopts multiple linear, Logistic and Tobit regressions. This article finds that investor attention, measured by the web search index, can significantly improve corporate green innovation. The conclusion is still valid after a series of robust tests. Besides, mechanism tests reveal that investor attention can promote corporate green innovation by improving the implementation efficiency of punitive environmental regulation, the use efficiency of environmental subsidies, and by increasing the reputation cost of enterprises. In additional tests, this paper further clarifies that investors' attention to negative public opinion can play a better role in environmental governance, and reveals the reason why investors are motivated to improve corporate green innovation. This research puts forward a unique perspective, which extends the understanding of informal environmental regulation and enriches research on green innovation at the micro-enterprise level, promoting the cross research of finance and environmental protection.