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This study examines the association between geopolitical risk (GPR) and corporate tax, which is a major source of revenue for the government and a significant explicit cost for firms. The authors use a comprehensive measure of GPR to study its effects on corporate taxes by using an international sample.

The authors adopt the geopolitical measure constructed by Caldara and Iacoviello (2022) as a proxy for GPR and cash-effective tax rate benchmarked with statutory tax rate to measure corporate tax avoidance. The authors employ panel regression with fixed effects (FEs) to investigate the impact of GPR on corporate tax avoidance. The authors also conduct a battery of robustness tests to ensure the strength of the study’s results.

This study’s empirical results indicate that sample firms increase their tax avoidance amid increasing GPR. Further analyses show that financial constraints incentivize firms to avoid taxes during rising geopolitical tensions. The authors also provide evidence on the role of firm-level and country-level governance in weakening the association between GPR and tax avoidance.

Policymakers and governments may strengthen the enforcement rule to limit aggressive tax practices of corporates during GPR to balance fiscal deficit. In addition, this study sheds light on the debate among administrators and politicians over the efficacy of current tax laws and governance structures in the presence of heightened GPR.

The authors extend the literature on GPR by analyzing its effect on corporate tax avoidance. Unlike existing single-country studies, the authors use a cross-country setup to investigate the impact of GPR on tax avoidance, making this study’s results more generalizable as the authors control for a host of country, industry, and time factors. Apart from political uncertainty, terrorism, and climatic issues, the authors document GPR as a strong macroeconomic driver of corporate tax avoidance. The authors make a new contribution to the literature on the moderating role of governance and institutional factors on the association between tax avoidance and GPR in an international context. The authors also contribute to the literature on macroeconomic determinants of tax avoidance.

This study aims to enhance the understanding of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on corporate tax performance in the context of a large emerging country like Indonesia.

This study uses a quantitative approach with multiple regression methods on a data set of 2,366 firm-year observations registered on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) from 2017 to 2022.

The primary empirical findings from the multivariate regressions suggest a positive and significant association between the COVID-19 pandemic and corporate tax performance in Indonesia. In other words, these listed firms have increased their tax avoidance activities during the pandemic. As firms face financial hardships due to the pandemic's effects, they tend to engage in tax avoidance practices to reduce current income tax payments, thereby enhancing their liquidity. In addition, over time, firms have adapted to use various tax policies introduced by the government in response to the pandemic to mitigate the adverse impacts of the crisis.

This study draws on a sample solely from one emerging country.

The results of this study can aid governments, policymakers, tax authorities and companies in evaluating their strategies concerning preparedness and emergency responses during crises, particularly those caused by pandemics.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is considered one of the initial efforts to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on corporate tax avoidance in an emerging country like Indonesia.

The purpose of this paper is to study how CEO power impact corporate tax avoidance. In particular, this paper aims to empirically examine the moderating impact of institutional ownership on the relationship between CEO power and corporate tax avoidance.

The multivariate regression model is used for hypothesis testing using a sample of 308 firm-year observations of Tunisian listed companies during the 2013-2019 period.

The results show that CEO power is negatively associated with corporate tax avoidance and that institutional ownership significantly accentuates the CEO power’s effect on corporate tax avoidance. This implies that CEOs, when monitored by institutional investors, behave less opportunistically resulting in less tax avoidance.

Our findings have significant implications for managers, legislators, tax authorities and shareholders. They showed that CEO duality, tenure and ownership can mitigate the corporate tax avoidance in Tunisian companies. These findings can, hence, guide the development of future regulations and policies. Moreover, our results provide evidence that owning of shares by institutional investors is beneficial for reducing corporate tax avoidance. Thus, policymakers and regulatory bodies should consider adding regulations to the structure of corporate ownership to promote institutional ownership and consequently control corporate tax avoidance in Tunisian companies.

This study differs from prior studies in several ways. First, it addressed the emerging market, namely the Tunisian one. Knowing the notable differences in institutional setting and corporate governance structure between developed and emerging markets, this study will shed additional light in this area. Second, it proposes the establishment of a moderated relationship between CEO power and corporate tax avoidance around institutional ownership. Unlike prior studies that only examined the simple relationship between CEO power and corporate tax avoidance, this study went further to investigate how institutional ownership potentially moderates this relationship.

This study aims to determine the impact of resource use behaviours of students of a public university in Ghana on ecological sustainability. It examines the land area required to provide the resources used and also to assimilate the wastes produced. It also suggests an effective way to initiate participative discussions on environmental sustainability and consequences of resource use in a university setting.

This study adopts a mixed methods approach to gather and analyse data on students’ lifestyles concerning ecological footprint. The data was analysed using the Predictive Analytics Software and a modified version of the ecological footprint analysis (EFA).

The current ecological footprint of students in the university is not environmentally sustainable. The sample population had high average ecological footprint of 3.62 hectares, representing an ecological impact score of 135.85. The findings provide lessons on how universities and analogous institutions interested in sustainable practices could foster ecologically sustainable development.

Additional data collection methods such as a longitudinal study would provide a more comprehensive assessment of the impact of resource use behaviour of students in a public university in Ghana on ecological sustainability.

EFA and findings can support universities to effectively integrate sustainability practices into their policies and practices to help students contribute to making society more sustainable.

This is an original research and makes a contribution to EFA and sustainable practices of public universities in Ghana.

This study aims to examine the effect of audit firm tenure (AFT) on corporate tax avoidance (CTA) and the moderating effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The sample comprises 41,074 firm-year observations from 32 countries from 2015 to 2020, for which data are collected from various sources: financial data from the Refinitiv database, country corporate tax rates from the Tax Foundation, and other country-level data from the World Bank database. The authors use the book tax difference to measure CTA and multiple proxies for AFT.

This study finds that a longer AFT is associated with higher CTA, confirming the notion that long AFT impairs auditor independence. The findings remain robust when considering various AFT proxies, incorporating Hofstede’s cultural factors, using weighted least-squares estimation and addressing endogeneity through propensity score matching. This study also finds a non-linear relationship between extended client and auditor relationships and CTA, supporting the mandatory audit firm rotation regulation and increasing investors’ caution regarding the consequences of extended client–auditor relationships on firm behaviour.

This study offers new evidence on the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the link between AFT and CTA and documents a non-linear relationship between AFT, which has not been addressed in prior studies.

The findings of this study have several significant practical implications. First, governments and policymakers gain insights into the consequences of extended auditor–client relationships, hence calling for a review of auditing and taxation regulations. Second, the findings provide important insights into the issue of auditor independence, especially during long engagements and crises such as COVID-19. Finally, investors and tax authorities should be more cautious about the risks of aggressive tax avoidance during crisis periods.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to use a global data set to investigate the effect of AFT on CTA during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the integrated role of psychological, economic and environmental determinants of entrepreneurial intention among tribal community.

This study applied the utility maximisation approach to model the determinants of entrepreneurial intention (EI) among tribal youth. Using a non-linear qualitative response model, the study examined the effects of psychological, economic and environmental determinants tribal youth entrepreneurship intention. A total of 363 tribal youths were sampled across the eastern central region of India.

The result from the use of a logit model revealed strong evidence in favour of economic and contextual factors in comparison to psychological factors as determinants of EI among tribal youth. Further, the external environmental factors along with socio-economic background of tribal community were found to be dominant in influencing their decision to be an entrepreneur.

This study provides empirical evidence for the integrated and relative role of psychological, economic and environmental factors in shaping the entrepreneurial career decision of tribal community. Hence, one of the key contributions of this research was the development of an eclectic theory of tribal entrepreneurship.

This study discovering the determinants of entrepreneurial decision of tribal community using some recent advances in non-psychological approaches to study entrepreneurship. The domain of tribal/indigenous entrepreneurship is still in a nascent stage and in this context, it enriches the literature by closing few glaring gaps.

In the post-Enron era around the world, the role of auditor is widely debated. There is an increasing concern that an auditor’s continuous involvement with clients could impair audit quality – the negative view. There is also a positive view that a long auditor tenure leads to accumulation of client-specific knowledge over time, which could lead to high-quality audits. The empirical result with regards to impact of mandatory auditor rotation (MAR) is mixed world-wide. This study aims to examine whether MAR rules implemented in 2017 impact audit quality in India.

Using a unique setting in which MAR was required from 2017 to 2018 onwards in India, this study provides empirical evidence of the impact of MAR regulation on audit quality (modified audit opinion). The study uses data for 714 firms (4,284 firms) for six years (three years before MAR and three years after MAR regulation in India).

The study found that auditor tenure and MAR had significant negative impacts on audit quality, validating the “positive” view of audit tenure and audit quality. In addition, concentrated ownership had a negative impact on audit quality, implying the control and influence by concentrated ownership on auditors and audit opinion. The analysis shows that MAR regulation has not yielded the intended objective of improving audit quality in India. MAR is not a good template for improving audit quality.

The findings of the study are useful to policymakers, regulators, managers, investors and users of financial reports. The study calls for public policy on auditor rotation based on objective scientific evidence. In light of the evidence in India that MAR does not lead to better audit quality, the study calls for reset of regulatory policy in India.

The study provides valuable insights to analysts, regulators and other users of financial accounts about the implications of MAR in India.

The study is one of the few to report on the impact of MAR, particularly in the context of an emerging market economy such as India.

This paper aims to examine whether family business groups’ (FBG) having the same network auditor among their affiliates mitigates earnings manipulation (EM).

This paper used unbalanced panel data from the years 2010–2019. The sample of the study is composed of 327 nonfinancial listed Pakistan Stock Exchange firms, consisting of 187 FBG-affiliated firms and 140 nonaffiliated firms. The ordinary least square and generalized least square regressions have been used to check the hypothesized relationship. Furthermore, the propensity score matching technique is used to ascertain comparable companies’ features and to control the potential endogeneity problem. Finally, the results are robust to various measures of EM and FBG’ proxies.

The findings of the study show that the same network auditor is reducing EM in FBG affiliates. In addition, the BIG4 same network auditors are also instrumental in constraining EM as compared to non-BIG4 audit firms. Overall, the results of this study depict that the same network auditor in FBG’s affiliated firms significantly influences EM. These results are robust with respect to generalized least squares and the endogeneity problem.

This research study has two important implications for the interested parties. First, although the authors find in this research study that the same network auditor is negatively associated with EM in the FBG-affiliated firms, however, FBG-affiliated firms might use opportunistically the real activity manipulation. Second, regulators highlight the change in audit partner/firm rotation, though the study findings indicate that regulators and practitioners may consider the benefits associated with the same network auditors for FBG.

This research study adds a new investigation to previous literature by examining the role of the same network auditors in the EM of the FBG’ affiliates. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to bring new knowledge by investigating the role played by the same network auditors along with the BIG4 same network audit firms in constraining EM in FBG.

The relationship between women and extreme weather events is a significant issue given differential impact, adaptation strategies and coping mechanisms for genders. However, the women’s vulnerability and its determinants remain an understudied area. The paper aims to fill this important gap in literature by focusing on women’s vulnerability during the recent floods in the rural areas of Indian state of Kerala using primary data. With a focus on identifying the socioeconomic factors associated with women’s vulnerability, this paper also makes policy suggestions to reduce their vulnerability in the face of floods in Kerala where it is becoming a recurrent phenomenon.

This study is based on the primary data collected using structured questionnaire answered exclusively by women respondents. Chi-square tests and ordered logistic regression model have been used to analyze the relation between the women’s vulnerability during floods and their socioeconomic determinants.

The analysis found that the better availability of credit to women, access to information tools and higher income for women can reduce their vulnerability when a sudden disaster strikes.

This study is unique as it focuses on rarely studied topic women’s vulnerability in the face of weather-related disaster in the rural setting, understanding their level of vulnerability and then identifying the associates of the same, this paper makes an exceptional contribution to the literature on women and environment in general.

The evolution of technology from the most recent industrial age to the technology era better known as Industry 4.0 resulted in greater demand for horizontal, vertical and end-to-end digital integration. Prior studies show that Industry 4.0 adoption majorly influences the sustainability aspects in a supply chain network. The purpose of this paper is to identify the Industry 4.0 enablers of supply chain sustainability and further attempt to propose a research framework to bridge the theoretical gaps.

In this research study, the authors have used a systematic literature review methodology in the field of Industry 4.0 and sustainable supply chain management. The list of papers was downloaded from Scopus (www.scopus.com) database. Through strict screening, only journal papers were selected for conducting the review of the literature.

The review brings out some interesting findings which will be helpful for the research community. There have been limited research in the area of managing supply chain network sustainability through Industry 4.0 technologies. The authors found only 10 papers out of a total of 53 papers which emphasize on smart manufacturing, smart production system, smart warehouse management system, smart logistics and sustainability. Most of the previous research studies have ignored the social aspects of supply chain sustainability. Finally, the authors identified 13 key enablers of Industry 4.0 playing an important role in driving supply chain sustainability.

The strategies for Industry 4.0 should be refined and detailed to develop economic and social systems that can act flexibly to sudden changes in the system. Top management must be convinced for prioritizing investment support and creating a system that can facilitate technology convergence. Managers must also act on new models of employment and frame plans to continuously improve the system. In addition, managers must focus on establishing a collaborative platform to facilitate high-tech research and developments. Finally, it is essential to develop a performance management system for monitoring all actions in the supply chain network.

Integrating two independent subjects is the uniqueness of the current study. Here, Industry 4.0 and supply chain sustainability have been integrated to build the research framework, and in such a process, the authors have extended the existing knowledge base.