Yuanhui Li, Yezen Kannan, Stephen Rau and Shuning Yang
The aim of this paper is to provide additional insights on the association between real earnings management (REM) and crash risk, particularly from the perspective of an emerging…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to provide additional insights on the association between real earnings management (REM) and crash risk, particularly from the perspective of an emerging market economy. It also examines the moderation role that internal and external corporate governance may play in this area.
Design/methodology/approach
Relying on archival data from the RESSET and CSMAR databases over a timeframe from 2010 to 2018 of China listed company, the authors test the hypotheses by regressing common measures of crash risk on the treatment variable (REM) and crash risk control variables identified in the prior crash risk literature. The authors also introduce monitoring proxies (internal controls as an internal governance and institutional ownership as an external governance) and assess how effective internal and external governance moderate the relation between REM and stock price crash risk.
Findings
The results suggest firms with higher REM have a significantly greater stock price crash risk, and that this association is mitigated by external monitoring. That is, greater institutional ownership, particularly pressure insensitive owners, mitigates the impact of REM on stock price crash risk. However, internal control does not mitigate the association between REM and stock price crash risk.
Originality/value
Following the passage of the Sarbanes–Oxley (SOX) Act, prior research has documented an increase in the use of REM and a positive association between REM and cash risk. The authors demonstrate that they persist in one of the largest emerging markets where institutional regulations, market conditions and corporate behaviors are different from those in developed markets. Also, the assessment of the moderation effect of internal and external governance mechanisms could have meaningful implications for investors and regulators in Chinese and other emerging markets.
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Monica Rossolini, Alessia Pedrazzoli and Alessandro Ronconi
Recognising the growing importance of environmental and sustainable activities and the role of communication strategies in soliciting their financing, this work investigates the…
Abstract
Purpose
Recognising the growing importance of environmental and sustainable activities and the role of communication strategies in soliciting their financing, this work investigates the influence of message framing, green emphasis and quantitative information on the probability of green crowdfunding campaigns' success.
Design/methodology/approach
This analysis is based on crowdfunding campaigns published between 2015 and 2020 on the Indiegogo platform in the category “Community projects – Environment”. The study develops an in-depth qualitative content analysis of the projects before performing an empirical examination to determine funding causes.
Findings
Communication strategies (message framing, green emphasis and quantitative goals) affect funding success. However, project category moderates the impact of message framing and green emphasis on campaign success. While positive framing increases agri-food campaign success, negative framing is more effective for clean energy and climate preservation projects. Moreover, indication of a quantitative goal and a marked green emphasis in a project's presentation increase campaign success, but a too marked green emphasis is only effective for agri-food projects.
Practical implications
Green entrepreneurs and campaign managers must work carefully on their projects' communication, accounting for the type of product proposed, emphasising green components in its description and utilising quantitative information to present future goals. These strategies maximise backers' responses and enable entrepreneurs to obtain funding. The authors’ findings may be extended to other contexts, including the banking sector, to craft effective communication strategies for green financial products.
Originality/value
By applying framing theory in a new context (i.e. the online financing of green entrepreneurs), this study identifies new campaign success determinants and provides evidence for the moderating role of project category. Furthermore, the study highlights the need to develop different communication strategies for social and environmental-oriented projects.
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Kingsley Ofosu-Ampong, Alexander Asmah, John Amoako Kani and Dzifa Bibi
This study investigates the determinants of digital census for population and housing census (PHC) program through the lens of performance expectancy, technology readiness…
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates the determinants of digital census for population and housing census (PHC) program through the lens of performance expectancy, technology readiness, self-efficacy and hedonic motivation for the upliftment of a national data collection exercise and development of human resource management.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative and qualitative research method was used to survey enumerators' responses from the PHC exercise during the COVID-19 period in Ghana. Based on the four determinants, a conceptual framework was developed consisting of eight proposed hypotheses tested through a structural equation model.
Findings
The findings of the study indicate that technological readiness, self-efficacy and hedonic motivation significantly influence behavioural intention to adopt digital technologies for PHC training and data collection. Importantly, the authors identified four key themes relating to digital technologies in PHC – personal enablers, general enablers, inherent affordances (inherent possibilities by the user in relation to what the technology offers in context) and personal inhibitors.
Originality/value
For research, this work systematizes antecedents from diverse research streams and validates their relative impact on government digital transformation for accurate data, thus providing a cohesive theoretical explanation of digital technologies in PHC. Due to the study's infancy in a developing country context, the findings provide a preliminary foundation and constructive insight for a digitalization plan conducive to people’s personality and technological readiness.
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Paulo Rita, Celeste Vong, Flávio Pinheiro and João Mimoso
With the growing popularity of social media, it has become common practice for consumers to write online reviews to share their opinion and experience as well as consider others'…
Abstract
Purpose
With the growing popularity of social media, it has become common practice for consumers to write online reviews to share their opinion and experience as well as consider others' reviews to inform purchase decision-making. This study investigated how online review sentiments towards four key aspects (food, service, ambience and price) change after a restaurant is awarded a Michelin Star to shed light on how the award of a Michelin Star affects online reviews as well as what factors contribute to positive online restaurant reviews.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a sentiment analysis of online restaurant reviews on TripAdvisor. A total of 8,871 English-written reviews from 87 restaurants located in Europe were extracted using a web crawler developed by Beautiful Soup, and data were then processed using Semantria.
Findings
The study findings revealed that overall sentiments decreased after restaurants were awarded a Michelin Star, in which service sentiment was the most affected aspect, followed by food and ambience. Yet, price sentiment showed a prominent increase. This provides valuable insights for Michelin-starred restaurant operators and owners to create a unique and compelling gastronomic experience that triggers positive online reviews.
Practical implications
The results of this study argue that consumers tend to hold higher expectations for this type of upscale restaurants given its recognition and quality assurance, so they are more likely to have negative feelings when their expectations are disconfirmed. Therefore, restaurants should continuously improve their food and service while paying attention to small details such as ambience, through creativity and innovation. Also, high-end restaurants, especially Michelin-starred restaurants, usually have the edge in premium pricing, yet competitive pricing may backfire considering its perceived luxurious values.
Originality/value
This study analyzed changes in customer sentiments when a restaurant is awarded a Michelin Star through text analytics. Through the lens of online restaurant reviews, the study findings contribute to identifying aspects that are most or least affected by the award of a Michelin Star as well as highlight the role of ambience in customer satisfaction which might have been overlooked in previous studies.
研究目的
隨著社交媒體日趨普及,消費者出現一種常見的做法,就是在網上書寫評論,分享他們的意見和體驗,他們也會參考其他消費者的評論,以在購物時能作出知情決定。本研究擬探討當餐館獲得米其林星級時,消費者對它們在四個主要方面 (即食物、服務、情調和價格) 的網上評價會如何改變。我們藉此能更容易了解、餐館獲得米其林星級會如何影響其網上評論,以及是哪些因素、會為這些餐館帶來正面的網上評價。
研究設計/方法/理念
我們對貓途鷹平台上的網上餐館評論進行情感分析。透過BeautifulSoup 研發的網絡爬蟲,我們取出位於歐洲87間餐館、共8,871個以英文書寫的評論,並把這些數據以Semantria加以處理。
研究結果
研究結果顯示、當餐館獲得米其林星級時,顧客的整體情緒會下降,而其中最受影響的是服務情懷,其次是食物和情調; 但價格情緒卻有明顯的上升。這研究結果給獲得米其林星級餐館的經營者及其東主提供寶貴的啟示,讓他們了解如何為顧客創造一個可帶來正面網上評價的獨特而難忘的美食體驗。
研究的原創性/價值
本研究透過文本挖掘、去分析當餐館獲得米其林星級時,顧客情緒會如何改變; 透過網上餐館評論這面透視鏡子,本研究得到的結果、幫助我們確定米其林星級的聲譽所影響最大和最小的是哪些方面,以及讓我們更深入了解餐館的情調在顧客滿意程度上所扮演的角色,而這個角色在過去的研究中似被忽視。
管理上的啟示
本研究的結果提供了論據、證明由於消費者對擁有相關的認可和品質保證的這類高檔餐館一般予以較高的期望,故當他們發現期望與現實不符時,他們更容易產生負面的情緒; 因此,餐館在關注如情調方面的細節的同時,也應透過創造力和新觀念、去不斷改善他們提供的食物素質和服務水平; 而且,高檔餐館,尤其是獲得米其林星級的餐館,通常在溢價定價方面享有優勢,但當考慮到感知的奢華價值時,具競爭力的價格或會為餐館帶來反效果。
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Md. Tofael Hossain Majumder and Xiaojing Li
This study aims to investigate the impacts of bank capital requirements on the performance and risk of the emerging economy, i.e. Bangladeshi banking sector.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the impacts of bank capital requirements on the performance and risk of the emerging economy, i.e. Bangladeshi banking sector.
Design/methodology/approach
The study applies an unbalanced panel data which comprises 30 banks yielding a total of 413 bank-year observations over the period 2000 to 2015.
Findings
Using generalized methods of moments, the empirical results of this research reveal that bank capital is positively and significantly impressive on bank performance, whereas negatively and significantly impact on risk. The study also finds the inverse relationship between risk and performance in both the performance and risk equations. The results also indicate that there is a persistence of performance and risk from one year to the next year.
Originality/value
This is the unique investigation on Bangladeshi bank industry that considers the simultaneous effect of bank capital requirements on risk and performance. Therefore, it is predicted that the empirical evidence of this research shows policy implications to the regulatory authority of Bangladeshi banking industry to determine relevant policies.
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Bikash Barua and Umma Nusrat Urme
This study aims to investigate how online teaching of faculty members is affected by technological readiness (TR) of using online teaching platforms. The study sheds light on how…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate how online teaching of faculty members is affected by technological readiness (TR) of using online teaching platforms. The study sheds light on how many faculty members were ready to use different online platforms during COVID-19 period.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used TR measures to determine the impact of optimism regarding the perceived usefulness and ease of usage, impact of innovativeness in terms of perceived usability and ease of use, the influence of discomfort on perceived usefulness and ease of usage, the effect of uncertainty on perceived usefulness and ease of use and the influence of perceived usefulness and ease of use on behavior. An online questionnaire survey was conducted among 255 faculty members of different private universities of Bangladesh. The sample was chosen based on a convenience method. The responses were analyzed using partial least square (PLS) approach with the help of software Smart PLS 3.
Findings
The finding supported all of the hypotheses except that discomfort and insecurity have a positive relationship with ease of use and usefulness.
Research limitations/implications
The study will help faculty members in developing their competency in using technologies in their pedagogy. Also, this study will provide some guidelines to the university management in developing adequate technological infrastructure to aid teaching.
Practical implications
The aim of the study was to investigate the faculty members' readiness level with respect to online teaching. The technology assessment model (TAM) was used to determine the readiness index. The study intended to validate the hypotheses regarding the extent to which the faculty members perceived that TAM factors affect Ease of Use and Usefulness of online teaching. Also, this research analyzed the perception of faculty members that Ease of Using online teaching affects its Usefulness. Lastly, the study examined how their perception of Ease of Use and Usefulness affect Intention to Use online as a mode of teaching. It was found from the study that each of the TAM factors, Optimism, Innovativeness, Insecurity and Discomfort has positive and significant contribution on the Ease of Use. On the other hand, Optimism, Innovativeness, Insecurity and Discomfort have positive and significant contributions on the Usefulness. The study also revealed that Ease of Use has positive and significant contribution on the Usefulness. Lastly, it was found that Ease of Use and Usefulness have positive and significant contribution on the Intention to use. Teaching remotely is still a novel concept, and it is more difficult for people who have not done it before. Many teachers became burned out as a result of trying to adjust to new teaching methods, especially after the lockdown began. They were having a difficult time since there was so much ambiguity. When a teacher is well-versed in communication tools, it can improve learning efficiency. When they are properly trained, deploying engaging features of virtual learning, such as audio-visual lessons, quizzes, and so on, becomes simple, and students become eager to learn more. Teachers can plan their classes, prepare and master technology and create innovative and stimulating discussion topics (Mishra et al., 2020). They need to utilize a variety of technological options. They can rehearse virtual classroom management with colleagues if they face any difficulty. All of the aforementioned abilities can be honed with the assistance of an integrated academic system. Teachers can be trained by educational institutions to ensure a smooth learning process through the use of ICT (information and communication technologies) (Scherer et al., 2021; Mishra et al., 2020). The training will assist teachers in efficiently taking online classes. Institutions should ensure that teachers are well-suited to teach online and are skilled at keeping students engaged during remote learning. To make every chapter engaging, aspects such as videos, slides, images and digital copies of books and workbooks can be used. This allows students to receive personalized support and counseling in order to maintain their motivation (Sahu et al., 2022; Lapitan et al., 2021). Every other day, group doubt resolution classes ensure that there are no gaps in learning (Lapitan et al., 2021). All teachers require is a digital mindset, the appropriate tools and a committed approach (Sahu et al., 2022). If teachers can hold their students' attention, they can easily deliver an effective learning experience (Lapitan et al., 2021).
Originality/value
This study was conducted to identify technological preparedness of faculty members of private universities in Bangladesh during COVID-19 period. Some studies were there to assess such kind of preparedness but none of those used TAM and technology readiness model either in isolation or in combination. Also, this paper focused on teachers' readiness in contrast to students' readiness specific to private universities.
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Hamid Jafari, Hadi Ghaderi, Mohammad H. Eslami and Mohsin Malik
This paper aims to examine the relationship between supply integration and firm performance by first, investigating the mediating effects of manufacturing flexibility and mass…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the relationship between supply integration and firm performance by first, investigating the mediating effects of manufacturing flexibility and mass customization; and second, exploring the moderating role of innovation orientation on the link between internal capabilities and performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Resource orchestration and contingency theories are used to address the mediating and moderating effects. A cross-sectional data set on 242 Swedish manufacturers is used to test for the hypotheses using structural equation modeling.
Findings
The findings provide support for the mediating roles of manufacturing flexibility and mass customization in the relationship between supply integration and firm performance. However, the results point to contrasting contingent effects of innovation orientation. While innovation orientation positively moderates the association between mass customization and firm performance, it shows a negative impact on the link between flexibility and performance.
Research limitations/implications
The study contributes to the literature on the integrative activities with upstream supply chain actors. Specifically, the authors highlight how specific capability configurations comprising of supply integration, manufacturing flexibility and mass customization lead to firm performance. Moreover, the authors provide insights on the contingency role of innovation, especially if firms consider flexibility or customization capabilities.
Originality/value
While the individual impacts of flexibility and customization on performance have been addressed previously, there is a paucity of research on how these two capabilities are integrated with supply integration. Moreover, there is little known regarding the role of innovation orientation on these integrated relationships.
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Xanat Vargas Meza, Zhexin Zhang and Yoichi Ochiai
This study explores previous research related to textile management technologies, detecting gaps and opportunities for textiles made by Ainu people. We also propose an approach to…
Abstract
Purpose
This study explores previous research related to textile management technologies, detecting gaps and opportunities for textiles made by Ainu people. We also propose an approach to digitally read Ainu textile patterns.
Design/methodology/approach
We employed indigenous and pluriversal design frameworks to evaluate textile pattern technologies. They were operationalised as Indigenous/local researchers involved in the investigation, multi-sensoriality of analysed items, prosperity for everyone involved, communal property of data, biological awareness, social complexity awareness and sensitivity of the analysed method if the items change.
Findings
Textile pattern technology researchers have mostly used neural networks and clustering methods. They have addressed social aspects since the 2000s. Investigations into the generation of textiles based in Poland constantly reflected the most pluriversal characteristics. Regarding Ainu textile research, most investigations have cited Indigenous sources. Two gaps emerged: the concentration of research datasets and results in enterprises or scholars and the focus on the formal characteristics of Ainu patterns in technical papers and contextual characteristics in ethnographic papers.
Research limitations/implications
Heritage management is increasingly employing technological tools that should consider the sustainability of handmade/artisanal goods. As most investigations on textile patterns are conducted by the industry, their benefits are limited for heritage conservation.
Practical implications
Therefore, we suggest digital experts work together with ethnography and Indigenous experts, proposing a method for digital reading of Ainu textile patterns that incorporates pluriversal aspects into heritage conservation.
Originality/value
Pluriversal design is a set of onthologies proposed with Indigenous, mestizo and minorities from the Americas that is currently being diffused in the rest of the world, highly compatible with the analysis of Indigenous heritage.
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Mengjie Huang, Kunpeng Sun and Yuan Xie
An emerging line of research examining the role of numerological superstition in the capital market shows that it has significant impact on investor behavior (Bhattacharya, Kuo…
Abstract
Purpose
An emerging line of research examining the role of numerological superstition in the capital market shows that it has significant impact on investor behavior (Bhattacharya, Kuo, Lin, & Zhao, 2018; Hirshleifer, Jian, & Zhang 2018). However, to the authors’ best knowledge, there is a dearth of evidence on whether numerological superstition affects corporate behavior. This study fills this void by examining the association between investors’ numerological superstition and earnings management using Chinese data.
Design/methodology/approach
Chinese culture views 6 and 8 as lucky numbers. Using Chinese publicly traded firms, the authors examine the relation between investors’ numerological superstition and corporate financial reporting behavior.
Findings
The results suggest that firms reporting lucky earnings-per-share (EPS) numbers ending with 6 or 8 are more likely to engage in earnings management. These firms also raise more capital through seasoned equity offerings in the following year; however, they do not have more capital investments. Instead, their controlling shareholders siphon a significant amount of capital through related party transactions. Overall, the findings suggest that managers collude with controlling shareholders to manage earnings by exploiting the superstitious beliefs of minority shareholders.
Originality/value
To the authors’ best knowledge, there is a dearth of evidence on whether numerological superstition affects corporate behavior. This study fills this void by examining the association between investors’ numerological superstition and earnings management using Chinese data.
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Gehan Wishwajith Premathilake, Hongxiu Li, Chenglong Li, Yong Liu and Shengnan Han
Humanoid social robots (HSRs) are an innovative technology revitalizing various service sectors, such as the hospitality industry. However, limited research has explored how…
Abstract
Purpose
Humanoid social robots (HSRs) are an innovative technology revitalizing various service sectors, such as the hospitality industry. However, limited research has explored how anthropomorphic features of HSRs influence user satisfaction with the services delivered by HSRs. To address this, a research model was proposed to evaluate how three distinct anthropomorphic features: appearance, voice and response, impact the perceived values (i.e. utilitarian, social and hedonic values) of HSRs, which, in turn, influence user satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from an online survey of hotel customers was utilized to test the research model (N = 509).
Findings
The results indicated that appearance, voice, and response affect perceived utilitarian, hedonic and social values differently. The response feature of HSRs demonstrated the strongest impact on perceived utilitarian, social and hedonic values. In addition, voice affected all three perceived values, while appearance only affected perceived utilitarian and social values. Furthermore, perceived utilitarian, hedonic and social values showed positive impacts on user satisfaction, with hedonic value being the most influential factor.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature on HSRs and anthropomorphism by explaining how different anthropomorphic features affect users’ value perceptions and user satisfaction with HSR services by utilizing the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) framework.