Smartphone-based apps for peer-to-peer payment (P2P payment apps) are today used by many people in countries such as Sweden, Denmark, and the United States. A P2P payment app is a service that digitalizes peer-to-peer payments such as splitting of bills and payment of ticket fees, which were made physically in cash in the past. The digitalized payments will be used for various purposes in the future.

Although more than 80% of people in Sweden and Denmark use P2P payment apps, it is hard to say that P2P payment apps are widely used in Japan. We can see a similar scenario in countries such as the United Kingdom and France. Given the fact that most people in Japan, especially those in their 50s or younger, already have smartphones, and there are few companies that provide P2P payment apps, it can be said that some people prefer not to use P2P payment apps even if they have smartphones.

Based on these circumstances, this paper examines the relationship between the intention to use P2P payment apps and personal characteristics. According to the results, it was found that those who seek simplicity, those who are worried about theft and those who care about the security of smartphones intend to use P2P payment apps. Furthermore, certain characteristics were found to differ among male and female users; for example, women who seek speed tend to have a negative intention to use P2P payment apps.

This study aims to identify when the global spread of mobile phone began to accelerate in 178 countries and regions, classified into six groups (developed countries, ASEAN, transition countries, BRICS, African countries, and others). Many previous studies have investigated the global spread of information and communication technology (ICT), and its impact on the economy. However, they have not exactly revealed when the global spread of technology began to accelerate. Thus, we first observe the spread trajectory, and then conduct a break point analysis of the global spread of mobile phone. As a result, we found that 1997 was the average year when the penetration of mobile phone began to accelerate in developed countries. BRICS, transition countries, ASEAN, and African countries followed, and their average acceleration year was between 2002 to 2004. The estimated acceleration year in each group is almost identical to the year from “early adopters” to “early majority” based on Rogers' S curve. These findings can contribute to further analyses of the economic impact, estimating before and after the spread of mobile phone.

Internal control regulations have already been implemented in several countries, including Japan, to address the importance of financial reporting not only as an output but also as a process. Therefore, determining how internal control affects financial reporting is an important research question.

To promote timely financial reporting, we must understand the factors that synergistically affect financial reporting timeliness. This is due to the fact that the importance of these factors is high, as the degree to which the combination of both factors determines financial reporting timeliness is relatively large. This study focuses on earnings announcements, where timeliness is more important than other types of financial reporting, to identify firm characteristics related to internal control systems that synergistically affect earnings announcement timeliness. Based on previous studies, we focus on the interaction effect between a company's proactiveness in establishing internal control systems and its perception of the importance of financial reporting in establishing the same as such firm characteristics.

The empirical results show that the two aforementioned characteristics have a positive synergistic effect on the timeliness of earnings announcements. Furthermore, these two corporate characteristics contribute synergistically to avoiding untimely earnings announcements more than 45 or 50 days after the fiscal year ends. In addition, they contribute synergistically to make timely earnings announcements within 30 days after the end of the fiscal year, which is considered desirable in practice, or within 45 days after the end of the fiscal year, which is considered appropriate.

This study takes a theoretical perspective on the broadcast talk studies and explores how the talk of disaster victims in community broadcasting are generated through interactions between the guests and the personality. The results of the conversation analysis of the programs broadcast from October 2013 to March 2020 revealed three characteristics: (1) there is a difference in structural phenomena between talks of present/future and talks about the disaster in terms of the interaction between the guests and personality, (2) the guests and personalities' proactive commitment to the conversation, and (3) the personality's talk that is conscious of the listeners' proximity to them. This study indicates that talking about disasters through community broadcasting is an act of weaving together the experiences of disaster and recovery, and complex thoughts and feelings, through interaction with personality who have the same experiences of the disaster, in an environment where people in the affected areas can talk about the disaster in safe. It is also another act of sharing the story with listeners who have the same experiences and feelings with the guests and personality. The community broadcasting in stricken area can be the place where both acts for local community members are implemented.