Tomasz Piotr Wisniewski

Empirical Analysis of Internet Banking Adoption in Poland

This paper seeks to identify empirically the factors underlying the decision to adopt online banking in Poland. The sample used in this study is based on 3519 interactive questionnaires completed by Internet users. The decision of whether to adopt Internet banking services is linked, via Binomial Logistic Regression, to numerous explanatory variables, such as perceived security of online transactions, Internet experience, marketing exposure, use of other banking products and socio-demographic characteristics. The results presented here can be of assistance to banks and provide useful insights with regard to market segmentation, security and strategies fostering the acceptance of online banking.

Price Fluctuations and the Use of Bitcoin: An Empirical Inquiry

ABSTRACT Over recent years, interest has been growing in Bitcoin, an innovation that has the potential to play an important role in e-commerce and beyond. The aim of our paper is to provide a comprehensive empirical study of the payment and investment features of Bitcoin, and their implications for the conduct of e-commerce. Since network externality theory suggests that the value of a network and its take-up are interlinked, we investigate both adoption and price formation. We discover that its returns are driven primarily by Bitcoin’s popularity, the sentiment expressed in newspaper reports on cryptocurrency, and total number of transactions. The paper also reports on the first global survey of merchants who have adopted this technology, and we model the share of sales paid for with this alternative currency, using both ordinary and Tobit regressions. Our analysis examines how country-, customer-, and company-specific characteristics interact with the proportion of sales attributed to Bitcoin. We find that company features, use of other payment methods, customers’ knowledge about Bitcoin, and the size of both the official and unofficial economy are significant determinants. The results will be of interest to traders who seek to understand factors driving prices and will help to inform vendors as to the most favorable circumstances for adopting the currency for online transactions.

Empirical analysis of internet banking adoption in Poland

This paper seeks to identify empirically the factors underlying the decision to adopt online banking in Poland. The sample used in this study is based on 3519 interactive questionnaires completed by Internet users. The decision of whether to adopt Internet banking services is linked, via Binomial Logistic Regression, to numerous explanatory variables, such as perceived security of online transactions, Internet experience, marketing exposure, use of other banking products and socio-demographic characteristics. The results presented here can be of assistance to banks and provide useful insights with regard to market segmentation, security and strategies fostering the acceptance of online banking.

Can political factors explain the behaviour of stock prices beyond the standard present value models

This article documents that political factors can be linked to that part of stock prices which cannot be explained by the standard present value models. The nonfundamental component of stock market index appears to be significantly influenced by the political orientation of the president and his approval rating, election cycle and military conflicts. The findings presented here indicate that there is much more to the price formation process than the present value of future dividends.

Piety and Profits: Stock Market Anomaly During the Muslim Holy Month

Observed by more than 1.5 billion Muslims, Ramadan is one of the most celebrated religious rituals in the world. We investigate stock returns during Ramadan for 14 predominantly Muslim countries over the years 1989-2007. The results show that stock returns during Ramadan are almost nine times higher and less volatile than during the rest of the year. No discernible difference in trading volume is recorded. We find these results consistent with a notion that Ramadan positively affects investor psychology, as it promotes feelings of solidarity and social identity among Muslims world-wide, leading to optimistic beliefs that extend to investment decisions.

Stock market returns and the content of annual report narratives

Abstract This paper uses the tools of computational linguistics to analyze the qualitative part of annual reports of UK listed companies. More specifically, the frequency of words associated with different language indicators is used to forecast future stock returns. We find that two of these indicators, capturing ‘activity’ and ‘realism’, predict subsequent price increases, even after controlling for a wide range of factors. Elevated values of these two linguistic variables, however, are not symptomatic of exacerbated risk. Consequently, investors are advised to peruse annual report narratives, as they contain valuable information that may not yet have been discounted in the prices.

Political orientation of government and stock market returns

Prior research documented that the US stock prices tend to grow faster during the Democratic than the Republican administrations. This article examines whether stock returns in other countries also depend on the political orientation of the incumbents. An analysis of 24 stock markets and 173 different governments reveals that there are no statistically significant differences in returns between left-wing and right-wing executives. Consequently, international investment strategies based on the political orientation of countries’ leadership are likely to be futile.

Modelling customers' intentions to use contactless cards

Since their introduction in the USA in 2002, contactless card payment systems have been widely regarded as the pinnacle of current retail banking technology. However, the potential demand and usage of this innovation has hitherto received little attention from the academic community. Ours is one of the first papers that explore the factors that are likely to govern acceptance and intentions to take-up the technology. The analysis utilises the methodological framework of the technology acceptance model (Davis, 1989; Davis et al., 1989) and develops a range of empirical representations. Our results lend support to the TAM conceptualisation and also indicate that some demographic characteristics imprint upon the intentions of potential users.

When EU Leaders Speak, the Markets Listen

Abstract We use content analysis software to examine certain characteristics of communications arising from European Council meetings. These characteristics appear to explain a large proportion of variation in stock returns around the meeting dates. More specifically, stock market investors react favourably when the conclusions and declarations issued by heads of states convey a positive sentiment and demonstrate a stance of moral rectitude. On the other hand, the returns tend to be negative when the communications are obfuscated by an excessive use of abstract words and fixated on regional rather than global issues.

THE IMPACT OF REGULATORY CHANGE ON INSIDER TRADING PROFITABILITY: SOME EARLY EVIDENCE FROM NEW ZEALAND

This paper adds to the scant literature on the tightening of regulations and its impact on the profitability of insider trades by examining the effects of the recent enactment of the Securities Market Amendment Act 2002 in New Zealand. We investigate the abnormal returns around the date of insider transactions both before and after the introduction of this Act. We find that the number of insider transactions decreased just prior to the introduction of the Act; further we observe a marked reduction in the profitability of directors. However, the difference between the pre and post-change returns lacks statistical significance.