This paper proposes a behavioural framework to complement professional accounting firms’ measures for managing conflicts of interest. Following an empirical examination of the process through which ...conflicts of interest affect accounting professionals’ decision‐making, we develop guidance for practitioners that will enable them to incorporate behavioural interventions while establishing the context, assessing, treating, controlling and monitoring conflicts of interest. The interventions are aimed at strengthening accounting professionals’ independence in fact by increasing the professionals’ expectation that compliant decision‐making will result in positive outcomes, increasing their perception that making compliant decisions is less difficult than making the alternative decisions, facilitating the formation of highly ethical judgements and lowering their propensity to disengage.
The data were collected through a quasi‐experiment with 105 professionals from the Big Four accounting firms in the UK. Our work offers practical implications for professional accountants, executive directors, regulatory bodies, executive training and academic research. Other professions facing the ramifications of conflicts of interest (e.g. law, engineering, medicine and architecture) may also use the proposed framework to improve their ethics policies and corporate governance codes for managing conflicts of interest.
We analyse why some merger and acquisitions (M&A) deals are withdrawn paying particular attention to the economic freedom and legal environment of countries. We use a large dataset based on deals ...worldwide from over 140 countries during the period 1977–2014. Our core finding is that the likelihood of a deal's withdrawal tends to increase if the economic freedom/quality of legal environment of the acquiring (target) firm's country is higher (lower). These core findings matter more for the non‐financial sector, during non‐crisis years, and in developed financial markets. We also report that the deals have higher tendency to be withdrawn if the target firm's size is larger or its profitability is lower; and the acquiring firm's size is smaller. Furthermore, our analyses reveal that deal characteristics (i.e., deal attitude, means of payment, deal size, ownership sought) also matter in affecting the outcome of announced M&A deals.
This article seeks to contribute to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) literature by examining the effects of adopting IFRS on stock market performance worldwide from the diffusion of ...innovation theory perspective. Our study revealed several interesting findings after using combinations of unique panel data sets from 110 countries worldwide and conducting a robust empirical analysis from 1995 to 2014. First, we found a positive association between late mandatory IFRS adoption and stock market integration in Europe. Second, our findings indicate a significant negative association between early IFRS adoption and the following financial indicators: stock market trading volumes, stock market capitalization, market turnover, and market return. Third, our study reveals an insignificant association between early IFRS adoption and stock price volatility alongside stock market development. Our findings are robust and have significant practical and policy implications for regulators and policymakers of multinational corporations.
•We use gender-innovation data for 472 multinational corporations operating in 21 emerging economies.•We use multi-stage theoretical framework–institutional factors, Hofstede national cultural ...dimensions & firm level factors.•Our study is the first to empirically examine the effect of gender diversity on innovation for emerging economies.•National culture & country-level institutional quality has mediating influence on boardroom gender diversity & innovation.
This paper contributes to burgeoning research concerning the relationship between boardroom gender diversity and corporate innovation. The paper deploys a multi-theoretical framework comprising insights from the upper echelons, resource-dependency, and institutional theories, and the Hofstede's cultural dimensions framework. We test a panel dataset for 472 multinationals in 21 emerging economies, covering nine years (2009–2018). Our findings reveal that gender diversity is positively associated with corporate innovation. We also find that local factors such as national norms, cultural values, and country-level institutional quality influence boardroom gender diversity, level of investment in research and development (R&D), and corporate innovation. The paper concludes by providing policy and managerial recommendations on how to promote firm innovation within emerging markets contexts.
•Blockchain technology is a remarkable technological innovation of the 21st century.•Our survey paper explores the opportunities and issues presented by blockchain.•We discuss the implications of ...blockchain for accounting, finance, taxation, banking and international trade.•We show how organisations and regulators can leverage blockchain to upscale business operations.
Blockchain is one the most remarkable technological innovations of the 21st century. The most notable application of blockchain is in the development and operation of cryptocurrencies (e.g. bitcoin, ethereum, among others). Besides the financial services industry, blockchain is also considered in other sectors such as international trade, taxation, supply chain management, business operations and governance. However, blockchain has not been examined comprehensively in all areas of relevant literature. This article conducts a survey of the literature to gain an understanding of the opportunities and issues presented by blockchain in various business functions. The article begins by providing a discussion regarding how the blockchain technology operates. The paper takes a broad focus in its analysis of the prospects of blockchain for various business functions, including banking and the capital markets, corporate governance, international trade, and taxation. The paper demonstrates how organisations and regulators can leverage blockchain to upscale business operations, enhance efficiency and reduce operational costs. The key drawbacks of blockchain that stakeholders need to bear in mind before adopting the technology are also highlighted. The article also reflects on how organisations can tap into blockchain to reap the full potential of the fourth industrial revolution.
With the surge in economic growth in the global-north vis-a-vis social and economic inequalities in the global-south (north-south dichotomy), there is an increasing requirement for critical research ...and an examination of the policy implications with respect to human rights in emerging economies. This paper draws on the concept of convergence and institutional theories to enhance our understanding of how multinational corporations (MNCs) fulfil their profit maximisation agendas using capitalist principles; and the extent to which these ideologies produce human rights violations in emerging economies. Using multiple data sources from the Human Rights Watch, our study provides a comprehensive list of various human rights violations perpetrated by MNCs from 2002 to 2017. We verified 273 violations by 160 MNCs mostly from developed countries. More than 90% of our sample firms have CSR/sustainability committees, are signatories to the UN Global Compact and have reported compliance with the International Labour Organisation (ILO). This raises questions about the effectiveness of these programmes for CSR compliance. We contribute to the CSR/sustainability literature by providing new insights into the nature and location of human rights violations committed by MNCs.
Cybercrime continues to cause increasing threat to business processes, eroding stakeholders' trust in Internet technologies. In this article, we explore how six dominant algorithmic trust positions ...facilitate cognitive processing, which, in turn, can influence an organization's productivity and align its values and support structures for combating cybercrimes. This conceptual paper uses a cognitive perspective described as a throughput model. This modeling perspective captures several dominant algorithmic trust positions for organizations, providing a new, and powerful approach which seeks to enhance our understanding of the cognitive representation of decision-making processes. These trust positions are rational-based trust, rule-based trust, category-based trust, third-party based trust, role-based trust, and knowledge-based trust. Finally, we provide conclusion and implications for future research.
With the surge in economic growth in the global-north vis-a-vis social and economic inequalities in the global-south (north-south dichotomy), there is an increasing requirement for critical research ...and an examination of the policy implications with respect to human rights in emerging economies. This paper draws on the concept of convergence and institutional theories to enhance our understanding of how multinational corporations (MNCs) fulfil their profit maximisation agendas using capitalist principles; and the extent to which these ideologies produce human rights violations in emerging economies. Using multiple data sources from the Human Rights Watch, our study provides a comprehensive list of various human rights violations perpetrated by MNCs from 2002 to 2017. We verified 273 violations by 160 MNCs mostly from developed countries. More than 90% of our sample firms have CSR/sustainability committees, are signatories to the UN Global Compact and have reported compliance with the International Labour Organisation (ILO). This raises questions about the effectiveness of these programmes for CSR compliance. We contribute to the CSR/sustainability literature by providing new insights into the nature and location of human rights violations committed by MNCs.
•We report a comprehensive list of various human right violations committed by MNCs.•We uncovered 273 violations committed by 160 MNCs mostly from developed countries.•90% of our sample firms have social responsibility/sustainability committees.•These firms are also signatories to the UN Global Compact.•They have also reported compliance with International Labour Organisation (ILO).
The global market capitalisation of bitcoin has exponentially increased in recent years and there are concerns that the current prices of bitcoin do not reflect the true and fair underlying value of ...this particular type of digital asset. Applying Cue utilisation theory and signalling theory, and using a panel data on bitcoin prices from Bloomberg between 1st November 2019 and 31st May 2021, we examine the association between celebrity and government endorsements and volatility in bitcoin prices. We find that positive celebrity tweets and positive government sentiments towards bitcoin are significantly positively associated with positive changes in its prices. Our findings imply that although celebrity endorsements may cause a temporary ‘exponential rise’ in bitcoin prices, investors need to carefully diversify their portfolio to maximise their risk–return relationship.
Little research has been done on female board representation in emerging market multinational enterprises (EMNEs). Our paper considers the role of female board representation and its impact on open ...innovation (OI) in the unique context of emerging markets. We draw on upper echelons and institutional theories to understand how female board representation and cross-country institutional contexts influence coupled OI. Combining a 10-year (2009–2019) dataset with a rich in-depth content analysis of 183 (EMNEs) engaged in OI, our results reveal a significant positive association between female board representation and a firm's commitment to coupled OI initiatives. We also find that country-level institutional factors affect and positively moderate the relationship between female board representation and coupled OI. In emerging market environments where managerial perception and cultural beliefs sometimes hinder the promotion of females into top positions, our work has implications for EMNEs regarding how they harness diversity. We contribute to the OI literature by showing that female board representation enhances corporate OI investment within EMNEs.
•We examine the links between female board representation and open innovation (OI).•We found positive association between female board representation and firm's OI.•We use 2-step system GMM, quantile regressions to validate the results confirming impact of female board members on OI.•Firms to reconsider how to deal with female board representation in emerging market contexts.
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