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This study aims to analyze why listed Taiwanese firms uniquely rejected the early adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in 2012. It investigates the underlying decision-making processes behind this policy reluctance to further understand the continuous phenomenon of rare voluntary IFRS adoption.

It reports on fieldwork evidence obtained in situ by in-depth interviewing in Mandarin. It uses qualitative methods, complemented by quantitative cost-benefit metrics of IFRS adoption. It presents five diverse illustrative case-study vignettes, using a judgment sample based on expert opinion.

While the net-benefits of implementing IFRS varied across firms, this study’s unanimous finding was that no firms (in the sample or population) adopted IFRS early, despite stated intentions to the contrary. The key reasons for shunning early IFRS adoption were found to be frequent changes in regulations, insufficient benefits from adopting IFRS and the undermining of comparability across companies, compounded with scarce preparation time. Further, this study found that the Taiwanese accounting regulator’s reluctance toward IFRS adoption, partly caused by a long-standing US influence, contributed to this anomalous outcome.

This study recommends two critical policy changes: more realistic timelines and less frequent regulatory changes.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the reasons behind the anomaly of no early adoption of IFRS in Taiwan, using new primary data and illustrative case studies. Its novelty lies in extending understanding beyond the existing quantitative literature on accounting standards, using new “thick” qualitative evidence on motives for such choices and decision-making processes, which have been neglected in previous work.

The purpose of this research is to examine the role of anticipation as a source of well-being in extended service contexts involving constraints on one’s agency (e.g. aged care). In these service contexts, consumers have limited ownership over their time usage and foci of anticipation, which affects their well-being.

Semi-structured interviews (n = 35) were conducted with members of the aged care ecosystem (residents, family and staff). Two separate aged care service models were investigated as they typically reflect different levels of agency/constraint: retirement villages and residential aged care facilities.

Results indicate that the subjective passage of time is influenced by one’s foci of anticipation. Having regular foci of anticipation both at a micro- and macro-level can generate well-being benefits for recipients. The importance of restabilization and building positive curves to counteract potential negative implications was identified.

This research is the first service study to investigate the concept of anticipation and subjective time perception as key components of one’s well-being in extended service encounters. We propose a novel conceptual model that combines micro- and macro-level foci into an iterative package to mitigate the after-effects of anticipation. We also demonstrate how Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG3) (good health for well-being) can be addressed through service research.

This paper aims to build upon the accountability pyramid model by presenting two studies that examine the dimensionality of individual accountability among Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) gig workers.

For the first study, aimed at investigating the dimensionality of individual accountability of gig workers, the authors collected data from MTurkers by administering two surveys in the English and Mandarin Chinese languages with 185 respondents. The authors implemented principal component analysis and confirmatory factor analysis to analyse the data. For the second study, aimed at establishing validation of the dimensionality found in the first study, the authors collected data from an additional 148 respondents.

The results indicated that the intensity and salience dimensions merged into one factor that the authors labelled Accountability Significance, while the process and outcome dimensions merged into one factor labelled Accountability Focus. Additionally, the authors found that individual accountability is a second-order construct encompassing Accountability Significance and Accountability Focus as first-order factors. The authors validated the findings in the second study.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first quantitative study investigating the individual accountability of gig workers. The validation of individual accountability in MTurkers offers valuable insights into MTurkers’s Hybrid Accountability Focus and Accountability Significance.