Harry J. Van Buren and Judith Schrempf-Stirling
Stakeholder capitalism has been proposed as an alternative way of thinking about business purpose and value creation. However, stakeholder capitalism can only work as an…
Abstract
Purpose
Stakeholder capitalism has been proposed as an alternative way of thinking about business purpose and value creation. However, stakeholder capitalism can only work as an alternative model of business if all stakeholders and their interests are visible to and taken seriously by managers. The purpose of this paper is to untangle the challenges that invisible, marginalized and powerless stakeholders pose for theorizing about stakeholder capitalism.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is conceptual. The authors first briefly outline the promise of stakeholder capitalism for addressing pressing questions about value creation and stakeholder welfare. The authors then conceptualize stakeholder invisibility as the outcome of a particular stakeholder being both powerless and marginal through the prism of moral intensity theory and one of its elements: proximity. This study discusses the ways in which managers can make invisible stakeholders more visible in their decision-making.
Findings
For managers truly to manage for stakeholders, as anticipated by stakeholder capitalism, all stakeholders and stakeholder interests must be visible to them. This study analyzes why sometimes they are not, how they can be made more visible and why stakeholder visibility matters for stakeholder capitalism. This study proffers three principles for business practice: ethical commitments to reduce stakeholder invisibility, analyses of business strategies to surface the contributions of marginalized and invisible stakeholders and taking rights seriously.
Originality/value
This study provides a new perspective on stakeholder capitalism by linking the challenge in operationalizing it to the problems of stakeholder invisibility and marginality.
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Ruoyu Ji, Lina Li, Leonard Leye Li and Gary S. Monroe
This study aims to examine the relation between a client’s relative economic importance to its auditor and the number of key audit matters (KAMs) reported in the expanded audit…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the relation between a client’s relative economic importance to its auditor and the number of key audit matters (KAMs) reported in the expanded audit report.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors measure a client’s economic importance at the audit firm level as well as the audit partner level using the ratio of a client’s total fees to an auditor’s total fees earned from its listed clients and the ratio of a client’s audit fees to an auditor’s total audit fees from its listed clients. The authors estimate a multivariate regression model using a sample of New Zealand-listed company-years from 2017 to 2019.
Findings
Results reveal a positive relation between client importance to auditor and the number of KAMs disclosed. Furthermore, the positive association between client importance and the number of KAMs reported is more pronounced for clients audited by the Big 4 auditors and less experienced audit partners. These findings suggest that auditors’ incentive to protect against potential losses from important client engagements outweighs any impairment to auditor independence and leads to a higher number of KAMs reported for the economically more important clients. Overall, the results suggest that auditors report KAMs strategically to mitigate engagement risks.
Originality/value
This study provides the first evidence on how client economic importance relates to the disclosure in the expanded audit report and contributes to the dialogue on auditors’ reporting of KAMs in the Asia-Pacific region.
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Mike Hartill and Michelle Jones
The importance of including victims of abuse within prevention responses has recently received some attention within the sport sector. This chapter reports on a UK initiative…
Abstract
The importance of including victims of abuse within prevention responses has recently received some attention within the sport sector. This chapter reports on a UK initiative, funded by a national sport agency, which aimed to provide a platform for individuals with a ‘lived experience’ of child abuse in a sport context to deliver awareness-raising events for stakeholders within the sport sector. Interviews were conducted with the participants to explore their experiences. This chapter reports on their primary motivations for participation, the concerns and anxieties they experienced, as well as wider issues relating to engagement with the sport sector. The discussion reflects on the challenges and potential of such activity and will be of interest to those with a personal experience of abuse, practitioners and researchers working with survivor-activists and those working in safeguarding and child/athlete welfare more broadly.
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Molly Minkler, Matt DeLisi, James Marquart and Nicholas Scurich
This study aims to use a novel data set of 636 murderers sentenced to death in California to investigate homicide offenses that are committed but not prosecuted or officially…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to use a novel data set of 636 murderers sentenced to death in California to investigate homicide offenses that are committed but not prosecuted or officially solved, a concept known as the dark figure of crime.
Design/methodology/approach
Uaing appellate records from the Supreme Court of California, which contain extensive information about the offender’s background, criminal offense history and mental health diagnoses, it was revealed that one-third of the offenders in the sample have additional homicide offenses for which they likely bear responsibility, but were not prosecuted.
Findings
Most of these involve one or two additional homicides, though a wide range was observed spanning 0 to 93 additional victims. Those with a dark figure of murder and unsolved homicides had substantially more prior arrests, convictions and prison incarcerations and were higher in psychopathy, sexual sadism, homicidal ideation and gang involvement than offenders without a dark figure. Psychopathy and homicidal ideation were the most robust predictors of both the presence and magnitude of a dark figure of murder and unsolved homicides, whereas sexual sadism was inconsistently associated.
Originality/value
A disproportionate amount of the unsolved murders in the USA are likely perpetrated by the most pathological types of offenders, those with extensive antisocial careers and severe externalizing psychopathology.
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This paper aims to investigate whether audit partners can signal their audit quality to the market by having, gaining or losing large prestigious audit clients.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate whether audit partners can signal their audit quality to the market by having, gaining or losing large prestigious audit clients.
Design/methodology/approach
A hedonic audit fee model is estimated on a sample of 19.702 firm/years of Australian listed companies for the period 2013–23 with variables added to code for partners who have, gain or lose large clients at various fee thresholds.
Findings
Non Big-4 partners who have, gain or lose large clients can earn significant fee premiums from their smaller clients However, there are no significant fee premiums for Big-4 partners. The results for non Big-4 are partially explained by a “trading up” effect.
Practical implications
The results show that audit firms, particularly non Big-4 firms, can market their partners based on the prestigious clients they audit and can earn fee premiums for doing so. They also show that the market values partners who prune their client portfolios.
Originality/value
This paper shows smaller clients can make judgments about audit partner quality based on the ability of partners to attract and retain large clients and willingness to prune their client portfolios and that this will influence their willingness to pay fee premiums to be audited by such partners.
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Nikita Soni and Falguni Pattanaik
In India, women encounter twofold challenges – declining labour force participation and a widening gender wage gap (GWG). The study explores the precarious position of women…
Abstract
Purpose
In India, women encounter twofold challenges – declining labour force participation and a widening gender wage gap (GWG). The study explores the precarious position of women during the third decade of economic reforms. It examines the influence of demographic and job characteristics on wages, uncovering socioeconomic imbalances and disentangling wage disparities attributable to productive and non-productive factors.
Design/methodology/approach
Using unit-level data from the NSS EUS (2011–12) and PLFS (2018–19), the study employs OLS and quantile regression methods to estimate the contribution of socioeconomic factors in wage determination. It applied Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition alongside other mean-based decomposition approaches. Furthermore, the counterfactual decomposition proposed by Machado–Mata and Melly is also applied.
Findings
Structural and socio-cultural barriers continue to depress women’s LFPR and wages. Women remain concentrated at the lower end of the wage spectrum, earning less than men. However, GWG has slightly narrowed, but discrimination remains substantial, which is primarily driven by employers’ undervaluation of women’s work, rooted in prejudice. Additionally, the sticky-floor phenomenon worsened in 2018–19, further hindering upward mobility.
Originality/value
Leveraging recent survey data helps inform policy discourse to promote gender equality and address workplace disparities. It urges policymakers to re-evaluate anti-discrimination measures to combat socioeconomic challenges.
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Fatemeh Goodarzi, Kavitha Palaniappan, Manikam Pillay and Mahmoud Ershadi
Exposure to poor indoor air in refurbished buildings is a matter of health concern due to the growing concentrations of various contaminants as a result of building airtightness…
Abstract
Purpose
Exposure to poor indoor air in refurbished buildings is a matter of health concern due to the growing concentrations of various contaminants as a result of building airtightness without amendment of ventilation, or the use of building materials such as glue, paint, thinner and varnishes. Recent studies have been conducted to measure indoor air pollutants and assess the health risks affecting the quality of life, productivity and well-being of human beings. However, limited review studies have been recently conducted to provide an overview of the state of knowledge. This study aims to conduct a scoping review of indoor air quality (IAQ) in the context of refurbished or energy-retrofitted buildings.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic screening process based on the PRISMA protocol was followed to extract relevant articles. Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar and PubMed were searched using customised search formulas. Among 276 potentially relevant records, 38 studies were included in the final review covering a period from 2015 to 2022.
Findings
Researchers mapped out the measured compounds in the selected studies and found that carbon dioxide (CO2) (11%) and total volatile organic compounds (11%) were among the most commonly measured contaminants. Two trends of research were found including (1) the impact of ventilative properties on IAQ and (2) the impact of introducing building materials on IAQ.
Originality/value
The contribution of this study lies in summarising evidence on IAQ measurements in refurbished buildings, discussing recent advancements, revealing significant gaps and limitations, identifying the trends of research and drawing conclusions regarding future research directions on the topic.
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Syed Ahmad Ali, Muhammad Umer Azeem, Naveed Yazdani, Sami Ullah Bajwa and Haris Aslam
The main purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the spiraling effects of workplace incivility. In doing so, the authors examine how workplace incivility begets other…
Abstract
Purpose
The main purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the spiraling effects of workplace incivility. In doing so, the authors examine how workplace incivility begets other forms of mistreatment such as ostracism and abusive supervision, which in turn hinders employees’ job performance. In addition, the authors also test the buffering role of social skills in this process.
Design/methodology/approach
This study investigates a mediated moderation model with multitime and multisource data from 205 employees working in different Pakistani-based organizations (self-rated at T1 and supervisor rated at T2).
Findings
The results of this study provide support to the predictions that workplace incivility diminishes employees’ ability to perform through parallel mediations of ostracism and abusive supervision. The empirical findings also show that social skills moderate the negative relationship between abusive supervision and job performance.
Originality/value
This work extends the contemporary slant in workplace incivility, ostracism and abusive supervision literature by providing empirical evidence of spiraling effects of workplace incivility. In addition, the authors also tested the critical buffering role of social skills in mitigating the negative effects of such mistreatments at work.