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The purpose of this paper is to present the use of artificial immune systems (AISs) to solve constrained design optimization problems for active magnetic bearings (AMBs).

This research applies the AIS approach, more specifically, a representative clonal selection-based AIS called CLONALG, to the single-objective structural design optimization of AMBs. In addition, when compared with a genetic algorithm (GA) developed in the previous work, the CLONALG fails to produce best solutions when a nearly zero feasible ratio occurs in an AMB design problem. Therefore, an AIS called ARISCO (AIS for constrained optimization) is proposed to address the above issue.

A total of six AMB design cases are solved by the GA, CLONALG, and ARISCO. Based on the simulation results, in terms of solution quality, the ARISCO is shown to have better overall performance than the CLONALG and GA. In particular, when solving a problem with a nearly zero feasible ratio, the ARISCO and GA perform equally and both outperform the CLONALG.

In summary, the contributions of this paper include: this research applies the AIS approach, more precisely, the CLONALG, to the single-objective structural design optimization of AMBs; the ARISCO overall produces better AMB designs than the CLONALG and a GA developed in the previous work; in situations where a nearly zero feasible ratio occurs, the ARISCO and GA perform equally, and they both outperform the CLONALG.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the impending relationship between the impact of the US–China trade war on Taiwanese firms' spending on R&D and their offshore investment in technologically advanced countries (TAC), the authors examined if changes in these firms' R&D ratios and the growing presence of skilled workers in Taiwan's labour market during the trade war have affected their offshore investments in TAC.

Using a model built on pooled cross-sectional time-series data from 2012–2019, the authors examined whether a change in R&D ratios of domestic firms in Taiwan and the growing presence of skilled workers in Taiwan's labour market have affected the offshore investment by these firms during the trade war. Using data from the Manpower Utilisation Survey, the authors applied differences–in–differences–in–differences and differences–in–differences–in–differences–in–differences estimation methods and found that the trade war indeed gave a boost to Taiwan's job market, particularly for skilled workers.

From the estimation results, the authors noticed a rise in employment opportunities alongside a decline in the earnings of skilled workers in industries where more firms have spent on R&D as well as invested in offshore operations. However, firms in Taiwan that had not heavily spent on R&D from industries where investment in foreign operations was otherwise high have also attracted skilled workers during the trade war.

An in-depth analysis of the impact of the trade war on domestic firms' spending on R&D and their investment in offshore operations in TAC should be helpful to policymakers interested in understanding the effects of the trade war and subsequent changes in firms' spending on R&D on labour market outcomes. If changes in the R&D ratios and a steady supply of skilled workers influenced the outflow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to TAC, this insight could be helpful for those devising policies and measures to curb the impact of the trade war on domestic spending on R&D.

The study findings not only provide broad lessons to policymakers in Taiwan, but the country case study can guide growing economies that are equally careful while perceiving trade war as a significant deterrent to domestic R&D spending and the outflow of FDI.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive view of the longitudinal status and the knowledge structure of the CSR research by identifying the major study topics, the development of CSR research, the leading authors and countries, as well as the most cited reference.

The authors systematically reviewed 14,490 articles in 15 journals specialized in CSR published between 2000 and 2016 with bibliographic coupling analysis and social network analysis to unveil the recent trend of CSR research.

The results identified 15 research topics in CSR research. This study accordingly suggests that CSR implication is the most popular topic in the CSR research field. Particularly, the publications regarding to “CSR Implication” increased with a dramatic trend. Furthermore, the rest of the 14 topics had a stagnant trend movement. Most of the leading authors of CSR research came from English-speaking countries. CSR investigations with varied topics simultaneously attracted the attentions of researchers from developed counties. On the other hand, researchers from developing countries simply focused limited issue.

This study proposes an automatic content analysis from scientometric perspective to reveal a comprehensive and longitudinal understanding of CSR research. Such examination on CSR studies is critical to afford researchers’ urgent need to grasp current research status and potential research space.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the ethical investment willingness decision-making process to understand how investors evaluate corporate social responsibility (CSR) actions.

Data were collected through a survey of 298 individual investors and analyzed using structural equation modeling.

Results reveal that perfectionist decision-making style is positively related to perceived moral intensity, substitutability of financial returns, and ethical investment willingness. In addition, perceived moral intensity and substitutability of financial returns are positively related to ethical investment willingness. Finally, perceived moral intensity is positively related to substitutability of financial returns, and a two-factor causal mediation model is supported.

The limitation of this study was that the pre-tests and sampling methods required all participants to have investing experience; however, procurement of trading information for each investor was impossible; thus, actual investment behaviors were undetermined. This study shed light on the mediating roles of perceived moral intensity and the substitutability of financial returns. Future studies can further investigate the factors influencing perceived moral intensity and the substitutability of financial returns.

Future ethical investment education can focus on cultivate the ability to distinguish ethical investments and change ethical investment willingness into actual investment behavior.

Understanding the relationship between these variables can help understand why ethical investment willingness varies among investors and how the traditional financial theory investment decision model should be revised as, internationally, more people have begun to observe CSR and sustainable development.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the differences in the effects of gender equality legislation on employment outcomes among female and male workers in industries with different intensity of foreign investment (namely, foreign direct investment (FDI)-intensive industries and non–FDI–intensive industries). The specific employment outcomes that were studied to compare the effects of the legislation are the working hours, employment opportunities, and wages of female and male workers in Taiwan.

Using data from the annual Manpower Utilization Survey, the authors applied a differences-in-differences-in-differences estimation method to test the effect of gender equality legislation on employment outcomes. By using multinomial logit, the authors measured the effect of the legislation on employment opportunities. To correct for simultaneity and selectivity problems/biases, the authors adopted Heckman two-stage selection procedures. Likewise, the authors used weighted least squares to solve heteroskedasticity in the wage and working hour equations. Further, the instrumental variable (IV) method was used to correct for simultaneity bias in the equation on working hour. The authors applied three stages estimation method following Killingsworth’s (1983) approach to measure the effect of the legislation on wages and working hours.

The authors found the restrictions enforced by the gender equality legislation (namely the Gender Equal Employment Act (GEEA), enacted in 2002) in Taiwan to have made certain impact on the workers’ working conditions in FDI-intensive industries. The major finding indicated that in a country like Taiwan, where the legislature tried tilling the perpetual gender gap in its labour market, by passing a law to counter inequality, could finally narrow the gender gap in wages among workers in the FDI-intensive industries. Although initially after the enactment of the GEEA (between 2002 and 2004), the gender gap in part-timers’ wages has widened, yet over a period of time the gap in their wages too has narrowed down, particularly during 2005-2006. The legislation, however, could not improve the job opportunities for full-time female workers’ in FDI-intensive industries. Besides, post 2002, the female workers were found to have worked for shorter hours than male workers, which according to us, could be largely attributed to the enforcement of the GEEA.

An in-depth analysis of the labour market effects of gender equality legislation should be useful to policymakers, especially those interested in understanding the impact of legislative measures and policy reforms on labour market and employment outcomes across industry types. If enforcement of a gender equality legislation has succeeded in reducing the gender gap more in one set of industries than the others (e.g. foreign owned instead of domestic industries), as the authors noticed in this study, then the same should have a bearing on revamping of future enactment and enforcement too.

Current study findings would not only provide the broad lessons to the policymakers in Taiwan, but the results that have emerged from a country case study could be referred by other growing economies who are enthusiastic about improving female workers’ working conditions through legislative reforms.

Residential Real Estate Investment Trusts in Japan (residential J-REITs) have become an increasingly significant listed property sector recently. The purpose of this paper is to assess the effectiveness of residential J-REITs in a mixed-asset portfolio context in Japan by assessing the significance, risk-adjusted performance and portfolio diversification benefits of residential J-REITs over July 2006–August 2018. The ongoing property investment implications for residential J-REITs are also identified.

Using monthly total returns, the risk-adjusted performance and portfolio diversification benefits for residential J-REITs over July 2006–August 2018 are assessed. An asset allocation diagram is employed to assess the role of residential J-REITs in a mixed-asset portfolio context in Japan.

Residential J-REITs generally delivered superior risk-adjusted returns compared with the other sub-sector J-REITs, stocks and bonds in Japan over July 2006–August 2018, with desirable portfolio diversification benefits in the full mixed-asset portfolio context. Importantly,residential J-REITs are observed as strongly contributing to the mixed-asset portfolio context in Japan across the portfolio risk spectrum, particularly in a post-GFC context. This also reflects that residential J-REITs provide high portfolio returns and strong portfolio diversification benefits in a mixed-asset portfolio context in Japan.

Residential J-REITs are effective and liquid residential property investment exposure in Japan. The results highlight the strong risk-adjusted performance of residential J-REITs in Japan’s mixed-asset portfolio context. This suggests institutional investors, particularly Japan institutional investors, should consider including residential J-REITs in their mixed-asset portfolios, as residential J-REITs are seen as a compelling investment product co-existing alongside the other sub-sector REITs and major asset classes in institutional investor portfolios in the context of Japan. This also confirms the effectiveness of institutionalised residential J-REITs. Given the solid residential property market fundamentals in Japan, an increased level of the institutionalisation of residential J-REITs can be expected.

The study is the first study to assess the effectiveness of residential J-REITs, via assessing the significance, risk-adjusted performance and portfolio diversification benefits of residential J-REITs and their role in a mixed-asset portfolio context in Japan. This research enables more informed and practical property investment decision making regarding the value-added and strategic role of residential J-REITs as effective and liquid residential property investment exposure in Japan, as well as an increasingly institutionalised property sector going forward.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships among corporate social responsibility (CSR), analyst forecast accuracy and firms’ earnings management behavior using US-based firms.

The authors use the Kinder, Lydenberg, Domini (KLD) database to construct CSR performance scores and divide all firms into ten groups from high to low as a proxy for CSR performance. The authors obtained an initial sample of 33,364 firm-year observations from 1991 to 2012. Filtering for records which exist in the KLD, Compustat, and Center for Research in Security Prices databases lefts a total of 16,807 firm-year observations and CSR evaluation reports for 5,896 firms.

The authors find that high CSR-score firms have lower rates of analyst forecast error than their low CSR-score counterparts, suggesting that CSR performance is a useful means of forecasting earnings. Furthermore, firms with better CSR performance have significantly lower accrual-based earnings management behavior. However, the level of the manipulation behavior of real earnings management (REM) activities increased significantly in better CSR firms, suggesting that high CSR-score firms substituted REM methods for accrual-based methods. REM methods are consistent with the stipulations of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and allow high CSR-score firms to better manipulate earnings behavior. These results hold after the authors control for various factors related to firm financial characteristics.

Overall, the findings have important implications for investors and regulators to more easily assess firms’ earnings manipulation behavior and earnings stability under CSR performance and financial information in financial markets.

In the digital economy, as artificial intelligence applications increase, big data analytical capability (BDAC) plays a crucial role, and intellectual capital is growing in importance. This study aims to examine the possible benefits and effects of intellectual capital, BDAC and integrations on operational performance.

This study collected data from firms in Asia, and a total of 257 senior managers completed a questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) is used for statistical analysis.

Intellectual capital positively correlates with BDAC, and BDAC positively relates to internal integration but not to external integration. Furthermore, both internal integration and external integration positively correlate with operational performance. This study supports that internal integration is a significant mediator in the influence of BDAC on operational performance.

First, the authors provide empirical evidence that intelligent capital in intangible resources helps firms to build BDAC. Second, this study stresses the importance of BDAC in business, which enhances the integration of the whole supply chain and results in superior operational performance.

This is a first attempt from the perspective of intelligent capital and uses SEM to emphasize the relationships among BDAC, supply chain integration and performance based on unique and irreplaceable intangible resources, thus providing a new perspective on the contributing factors of BDAC.

Recognising that different property sectors have distinct risk-return characteristics, this paper assesses whether changes in the level and volatility of short- and long-term interest rates differentially affected excess returns of sector-specific Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) in the Pacific Rim region between July 2006 and December 2018. The strategic property risk management implications for sector-specific REITs are also identified.

Daily excess returns between July 2006 and December 2018 are used to analyse the sensitivity in the level and volatility of interest rates for REITs among office, retail, industrial, residential and specialty REITs across the USA, Japan, Australia and Singapore. The generalised autoregressive conditionally heteroskedastic in the mean (GARCH-M) methodology is employed to assess the linkage between interest rates and excess returns of sector-specific REITs.

Compared with diversified REITs, sector-specific REITs were less sensitive to short- and long-term interest rate changes across the USA, Japan, Australia and Singapore between July 2006 and December 2018. Of sector-specific REITs, retail and residential REITs were susceptible to interest rate movements over the full study period. On the other hand, office and specialty REITs were generally less sensitive to changes in the level and volatility of short- and long-term interest rate series across all markets in the Pacific Rim region. However, the interest rate sensitivity of industrial REITs was somewhat mixed. This sector was sensitive to interest rate movements, but no comparable evidence was found since the onset of GFC.

The insignificant exposure to interest rate risk of sector-specific REITs may imply that they have a stronger interest rate risk aversion and greater hedging benefits than their diversified counterparts, particularly for office and specialty REITs. The results support the existence of REIT specialisation value in the Pacific Rim region from the interest rate risk management perspective. This is particularly valuable to international property investors constructing and managing portfolios with REITs in the region. Property investors are advised to be aware of the disparities in the magnitude and direction of sensitivity to the interest rate level and volatility of REITs across different property sectors and various markets in the Pacific Rim region. This study is expected to enhance property investors' understanding of interest rate risk management for different property types of REITs in local, regional and international investment portfolios.

The study is the first to assess the interest rate sensitivity of REITs across different property sectors and various markets in the Pacific Rim region. More importantly, this is the first paper to offer empirical evidence on the existence of specialisation value in the Pacific Rim REIT markets from the aspect of interest rate sensitivity. This research may enhance property investors' understanding of the varying interest rate sensitivity of different property types of REITs across the USA, Japan, Australia and Singapore.

In this paper, the authors examined the changes in labour unrest and labour quality brought by high labour standards over a considerable period in Taiwan. Then, the authors studied the role of these changes in predicting the inflow of foreign direct investment (IFDI) in the country. To test the role, the authors measured the differences in effects of the two changes on wages, working hours and employment opportunities of skilled female and skilled male workers in FDI-intensive and non-intensive industries.

Using a model built on pooled cross-sectional time-series data from 1999 to 2012, the authors measured the effect of changes in labour unrest and the presence of skilled workers on the net inflow of FDI. Using data from the Manpower Utilisation Survey (MUS), the authors applied differences–in–Differences-in--ddifferences- (DDD) and differences–in–Differences-in-ddifferences-in--differences- (DDDD) estimation methods to test the effect of changes in labour unrest and labour quality on three labour market outcomes, namely wages, working hours and job opportunities of skilled workforce.

Increasing labour unrest affected the employment opportunities of almost every unemployed person seeking skilled jobs in Taiwan. When the authors compared the adverse effect of high labour standards on employment opportunities and working hours, the authors found women looking for skilled jobs in foreign-owned firms to be the worst affected. Besides, foreign firms paid different wages to skilled educated men than what foreign firms' domestic counterparts paid to skilled educated men employed in Taiwanese firms.

An in-depth analysis of changes in labour unrest and presence of skilled workers because of high labour standards and the extent to which such changes helped the nation to attract FDI should be useful to policymakers interested in understanding the impact of legislative measures and policy reforms on labour market outcomes across industry types, which matter to foreign investors. If changes in labour unrest and labour quality influenced the inflow of FDI more to firms in one set of industries than the others, the same should have a bearing on revamping of future enactment and enforcement in Taiwan.

Current study findings would not only provide broad lessons to policymakers in Taiwan but findings of the authors' country case study should be able to guide growing economies that are equally careful whilst raising the labour standards as most fear that high labour standards can deter inflow of FDI because of increasing labour cost.