Purpose A major transformation in retail logistics over the few years is backed by enormous improvements in internet technologies. It is now easy for e-retailers to entertain delivery progression, or consumers can share use-experience with future customers and thereby reducing information asymmetry. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of different signals on consumer behavior in the presence of information asymmetry, in the context of online group buying (OGB) markets in China. Design/methodology/approach Based on the lemon market theory (LMT) and signaling theory, the study develops a research model of the OGB consumers’ context in China, which is validated using data from an online survey. A total of 528 responses are used for data analysis applying structural equation modeling technique. Findings The findings of the study show that perceived vendor quality (PVQ) and perceived product quality (PPQ) have significantly positive effects on intention to purchase from OGB websites. PVQ is associated with perceived reputation and perceived trustworthiness (PT) of vendor, and the determinants of PPQ are quality assurance information of products, and information about mer-chants. Further, PT has a mediating effect, while asymmetry of information has a moderating effect. Research limitations/implications The research model is valid as a generic OGB model that can be investigated in other contexts to understand the generalizability of the findings. Future research is needed to incorporate additional relevant factors (e.g. price, advertising activity/investments) that may help increase the acceptability of the model to a wide range of e-commerce contexts. Two of the control variables (gender and prior internet experience) were found to be significant; this could be further examined in future studies to determine the relative impact on each causal relationship. Originality/value Whereas prior studies in the domain of consumer service proposed different signaling mechanisms that were believed to eliminate information asymmetry from a market, the study sheds light on the effectiveness of the signals in the OGB context. This is a unique effort that applies and extends LMT and signaling theory in OGB context by theorizing the associated dimensions and their causal effects.

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The construction of the B&R (the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road) is undergoing promotion. In addition, China’s foreign investment is growing. Moreover, investment in the accommodation industry is an important component of investment in the B&R. Therefore, analysis is necessary to understand the security of the investment environment, the division of the investment security zone and the selection of optimal investments. This research applies a safety evaluation index system on investment in the accommodation industry using relevant data on 24 countries along the B&R from 2005 to 2014 as study samples. The results of the empirical analysis show that factor analysis based on multidimensional panel data estimated the safety of the investment of the sample countries. The coefficient of variation of the sample countries across 10 years was very large, meaning that the investment environment of sample countries was complex. The samples were divided into high, medium and low regions by means of panel data clustering analysis. Variance analysis showed significant differences among the three regions. The research used the technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS) method to identify the optimal country in which to invest. The optimal country was Greece and the worst was Macedonia. Finally, this research provides some analysis on conclusions and data selection.

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