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The Covid-19 virus badly affected working patterns in almost every sector. The purpose of this paper is to analytically substantiate how work and life integration impacts the exhaustion and work–life balance among employees of academic institutions and IT companies.

Current study is empirical in nature based on the survey of 500 respondents taken from academic (250) and IT companies (250) from Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to test the hypothesis with the application of the software Smart-PLS. Two surveys were conducted to collect the data separately for academic institutions and IT organizations.

Findings revealed the facts that during Covid-19, the employee’s work and life integration affected the work–life balance and exhaustion in academic institutions highly. The relationship was positively significant. But, for IT employees, it was identified as non-significant.

The current study highlighted the issues which employees faced during Covid-19 severe spread while managing work and family; how it varied due to the nature of work performed by the employees, for example, academics being more exposed to transformation from offline to complete online mode posed more challenges to teaching staff. This study also disclosed the scenario created and how it was handled in the deadly phase.

This study presents the social contribution in understanding the importance of work and life balance and problems related to it, especially when everyone everywhere is scared of going out. The study provides insight into how it became difficult for employees to maintain their payroll successfully.

The current study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by testing statistically that the integration between work and life is important for work–life balance and prohibiting emotional exhaustion. The current paper extends the theoretical contribution by offering suggestions to companies on why to synchronize positive balance between work and life while keeping boundaries relatively strict between family and work to gain employee well-being and competitive advantages.

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to make inroads into several industries, it has taken over tasks previously performed by humans. However, given that individuals frequently have their self-esteem, identity and feelings of self-worth wrapped up in financial matters, will there be a difference in their satisfaction when their credit applications are processed and approved through AI versus humans?

This work uses five studies, including a field study, three online experiments and one laboratory study, to underline the difference in customer satisfaction when credit application processing occurs via AI versus humans.

The authors find that customers are more satisfied when credit application processing is performed through an AI algorithm rather than by humans. This effect is explained by reduced embarrassment. Furthermore, the authors show that for emotionally intelligent individuals, credit application processing through humans will mitigate the impact of embarrassment, leading to higher customer satisfaction. Finally, the authors identify an individual’s relationship with the financial organisation as the boundary condition stating that for first-time customers (vs continuous customers), credit application processing through humans causes less embarrassment.

This research makes significant contributions in the realm of consumer psychology and credit application processing. First, it advances the existing literature on AI versus human interactions by investigating their comparative impact on customer satisfaction within financial processes such as credit approval. In addition, it identifies credit application processing (whether by AI or humans) as an unexplored antecedent of embarrassment. Moreover, this study enhances the body of work on emotional intelligence by demonstrating its role as a coping mechanism for dealing with embarrassment. Finally, it uncovers a novel driver of embarrassment: the nature of individuals’ relationships with financial organisations, differentiating between continuous customers and first-time applicants.

This study suggests deploying AI for credit approval and adopting strategies to reduce customer embarrassment to boost consumer satisfaction. In addition, managers should consider customers’ emotional intelligence levels and use humans for first-time credit applications to minimise embarrassment.

Arguably, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to identify AI versus human processing as a novel factor influencing customer embarrassment in financial service satisfaction. It also provides a new aspect of emotional intelligence as a coping mechanism for embarrassment. Furthermore, it uncovers a unique driver of embarrassment: the nature of individuals’ relationships with financial organisations, distinguishing between continuous customers and first-time applicants.

This study aims to examine whether and how the presence of co-opted directors (directors appointed after the incumbent CEO) influences corporate climate risk disclosure.

This study comprehensively analyses 2,975 firm-year observations of US-listed companies, using ordinary least squares with industry and year-fixed effects. To confirm the reliability of the study results, the authors used several techniques, including propensity score matching, to address potential issues with functional form misspecification, analysed a subset of companies where co-option persisted over two consecutive years to mitigate concerns regarding reverse causality and difference-in-differences estimation, using the cheif executive officer’s (CEO’s) sudden death as an exogenous shock to board co-option to mitigate endogeneity concerns.

The findings indicate that the presence of a large number of co-opted directors negatively influences corporate climate risk disclosure. Mediation analysis suggests that managerial risk-taking partially mediates this negative association. Moderation analyses show that the negative impact of co-opted directors on climate risk disclosure is more pronounced in firms with greater linguistic obfuscation, limited external monitoring and in environmentally sensitive industries. Moreover, co-opted directors intentionally withhold or obscure the disclosure of transition climate risks more than physical climate risks.

This research has important implications for policymakers, regulators and corporate governance practitioners in designing board structures by highlighting the adverse impact of co-opted directors in contexts with lax regulatory enforcement and managerial discretion. The authors caution against relying on such directors for providing climate-related risk disclosures, especially in companies with poor external monitors and based in environmental sensitivities, as their placement can significantly undermine transparency and accountability.

This study adds to the existing body of knowledge by highlighting the previously unexplored phenomenon of intentional obscurity in disclosing climate risks by co-opted directors. This research provides novel insights into the interplay between board composition, managerial risk-taking behaviour and climate risk disclosure. The findings of this study have significant implications for policymakers, regulators and corporate governance experts, and may prompt a re-evaluation of strategies for improving climate risk disclosure practices.

We examine the changes in a firm’s cost of debt after it is included in or removed from the S&P 500. The extant literature on index composition focuses on the cost of equity and lacks an understanding of the impacts on a firm’s cost of debt capital upon inclusion in or removal from a major stock market index. Therefore, we address the following question: Does a firm’s cost of debt change around its inclusion in or removal from the S&P 500?

We develop two hypotheses based on the research question and use univariate and multivariate fixed-effects analyses to test them. Furthermore, to ensure robustness and address endogeneity concerns, we employ a matched control sample difference-in-difference statistical framework.

Inclusion in the S&P 500 lowers a firm’s cost of debt by 0.145% and 0.200%, on average, in the six- and three-month periods after inclusion. Furthermore, after a firm is removed from the index, a firm’s cost of debt increases on average 0.380% and 0.260% in the six- and three-month periods in the post-inclusion period when compared to the pre-inclusion period.

This study contributes novel insights into the cost of debt and index composition literature. It provides insights for academics, investors, creditors, corporate managers and index selection committees.

Building on resource orchestration theory (ROT), this study assesses the link between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and firm performance considering the influence of female director representation and ownership structure.

This study has employed secondary panel data on Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) listed Indian firms. Fixed-effect models are applied to estimate our regression models. Additionally, the study employs models with robust standard errors to correct for heteroscedasticity.

The findings reveal that the performance effect of CSR is insignificant. However, the presence of female director representation positively moderates this relationship and, therefore, highlights the effectiveness of CSR in gender-diverse boards. Moreover, promoter ownership positively moderates the CSR–performance relationship, and thus, indicates promoters' long-term strategic interests in CSR initiatives.

Building on ROT, this research investigates the CSR–performance relationship dynamics, emphasizing the roles of female director representation and promoter ownership, particularly in the emerging market contexts. Moreover, it deepens our understanding of the CSR–performance relationship by utilizing secondary panel data from BSE listed Indian firms.

The present study aims to investigate the impact of the auditor’s opinion and internal control quality (ICQ) on future abnormal cash holdings for companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE).

Information about 216 companies in 2014–2021 was examined. This study used the absolute value of abnormal cash holdings to test the research hypotheses. However, future extra abnormal cash holdings and future deficit abnormal cash holdings were also tested. Modified multiple regression method and ordinary least squares (OLS) were used. The present study also applied the generalized method of moments (GMM) for endogeneity concerns.

The results showed that an unqualified audit opinion negatively and significantly affects a firm’s future abnormal cash holdings. Moreover, ICQ significantly strengthens the impact of an unqualified audit opinion on a firm’s future abnormal cash holdings. These results remained robust even after several robustness tests. This study tested the robustness of results through data division into the pre-COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 years. The test confirmed previous findings; however, the strength of these effects decreased in post-COVID-19 years.

Previous studies could not answer how an auditor’s opinion affects a company’s future abnormal cash holdings. Moreover, no empirical study has addressed the moderator role of ICQ in the relationship between unqualified audit opinion and future abnormal cash holdings. This study helps stakeholders evaluate the performance of firms more accurately, especially in any global health crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic and similar crises. Combined with the research findings from developed countries, this study can potentially contribute to the global community’s efforts in advancing international objectives.

This study aims to conduct a comprehensive literature review to examine the relationship between corporate governance characteristics and firms’ engagement in environmental, social and governance (ESG) activities. The review focuses specifically on academic papers published in ranked accounting and finance journals.

The analysis combines a structured literature review with citation analysis, topic modeling using a machine learning (ML) approach and a manual review of selected articles published between 2000 and 2021.

This paper contributes to corporate governance and ESG literature by conducting an in-depth review, offering a comprehensive analysis of the existing findings and identifying future research directions. From the reviewed literature, this paper proposes the following thematic areas: board characteristics, ownership structure and their impact on a company’s engagement in ESG activities; CEO characteristics and their influence on a company’s involvement in ESG activities; corporate governance and ESG as sources for transparency and legitimacy; internal and external assurance of a company’s involvement in ESG activities; and gender diversity and a company’s involvement in ESG activities.

The study provides a comprehensive understanding of corporate governance and ESG literature. The innovative combination of methods, including ML and manual techniques, enhances the ability to identify key research topics and uncover research directions in the field. Moving forward, this paper suggests several promising directions for future research, including examining the influence of emerging technologies on ESG reporting and assessing the impact of regulatory changes and context on the link between corporate governance and firms’ involvement in ESG practices.

The study examines the effects of corporate governance and countrywide institutions and risk factors on corporate liquidity.

Using firm-level data, the authors analyze the effect of corporate governance and various economic, regulatory and social institutions on the liquidity of firms operating in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The authors use fixed-effects, firm-specific and country-level controls, disaggregated analysis, sensitivity and endogeneity analysis to test the robustness of the estimates.

The corporate governance characteristics of firms influence in diverse ways their liquidity decisions. The independence and diversity of the board and institutional ownership are especially strong predictors. The effect also depends on the size of the firm and the degree of economic development and exhibits time sensitivity and nonlinearity. Enforcement institutions and risk factors play a strong role.

The analysis contributes to the literature by using a large sample of countries and firms over a larger period, distinguishing between poorer and richer countries and using sensitivity and endogeneity analysis. The analysis considers explicitly the role of regulatory and enforcement conditions, social structures and religious beliefs.

The purpose of this study is to map the intellectual structure of sustainable finance and accounting (SFA) literature by identifying the influential aspects, main research streams and future research directions in SFA.

The results are obtained using bibliometric citation analysis and content analysis to conduct a bibliometric review of the intersection of sustainable finance and sustainable accounting using a sample of 795 articles published between 1991 and November 2023.

The most influential factors in the SFA literature are identified, highlighting three primary areas of research: corporate social responsibility and environmental disclosure; financial and economic performance; and regulations and standards.

SFA has experienced rapid development in recent years. The results identify the current research domain, guide potential future research directions, serve as a reference for SFA and provide inspiration to policymakers.

SFA typically encompasses sustainable corporate business practices and investments. This study contributes to broader social impacts by promoting improved corporate practices and sustainability.

This study expands on previous research on SFA. The authors identify significant aspects of the SFA literature, such as the most studied nations, leading journals, authors and trending publications. In addition, the authors provide an overview of the three major streams of the SFA literature and propose various potential future research directions, inspiring both academic research and policymaking.

This article analyzes the moderating role of investment opportunities, business risk and agency costs in shaping the nexus between excess cash and corporate performance.

This research uses dynamic regression models (two-step system generalized method of moments) to analyze the data related to 200 Turkish companies listed on Borsa Istanbul (BIST) for the years between 2009 and 2020.

The findings indicate that when excess cash increases, the financial performance deteriorates only for firms with lower investments compared to firms with more investments. In addition, investment contributes to better financial performance for firms that hold cash surplus, whereas the influence of investment is insignificant for firms that have insufficient cash. Agency costs of equity exacerbate the adverse impact of excess cash on financial performance while agency costs of debt mitigate this effect. Excess cash reduces the financial performance of highly leveraged firms. However, this impact becomes insignificant when debt ratio decreases. The findings also show that investment has more significant role than business risk in building the precautionary motive to hold cash.

The findings of this article are limited to the Turkish market. Future research is still needed in other emerging markets to compare the results and reveal more about the effect of excess cash on firm performance, and how other factors can change this effect.

The findings verify the increased significance of excess cash in the presence of investment opportunities and difficulties in accessing external funds. Nevertheless, the role of the equity related agency problem in reducing the benefits of cash surplus confirms the necessity of policies that support corporate governance, especially in emerging markets.

This article, according to the knowledge of author, is the first to examine the role of agency costs associated with debt and equity, and the compound effect of investment opportunities and business risk on the nexus between excess internal funds and corporate financial performance in emerging markets.