This paper examines the association between the quality of management schools and sustainability and investigates whether ethical behavior of firms moderates relationship between…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines the association between the quality of management schools and sustainability and investigates whether ethical behavior of firms moderates relationship between the quality of management schools and sustainability.
Design/methodology/approach
The sample consists of 500 country-year observations over the period of 2014-2017. Sustainability is collected from the Global Sustainable Competiveness Index reports for 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017, while the quality of management schools and ethical behavior of firms are collected from the Global Competiveness Report for the same years.
Findings
The findings of this study suggest that the quality of management schools is positively associated with sustainability. When testing for the moderating effect of ethical behavior of firms on the association between quality of management schools and sustainability, results show that the positive association becomes positive and more significant for countries where firms operate with high ethical behaviors, while the association becomes insignificant for settings where firms operate with low ethical behaviors. Findings also show that the quality of management schools and ethical behavior of firms play a complimentary role in improving sustainability.
Social implications
The findings emphasize the role played by business schools and business ethics in improving sustainability. These results may have policy implications for governments aiming to improve sustainability by emphasizing on education for sustainable development in management schools’ 2019 programs enforcing standards dealing with business ethics and controlling firms’ 2019 compliance with them.
Originality/value
The findings of this study highlight the importance of education, as proxied by the quality of management schools, in the development of sustainable societies and economic systems. To the best of the author's knowledge, this is the first study that tries to empirically link business schools programs to sustainability efforts and how business ethics may affect this association.
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Imen Khelil, Achraf Guidara and Hichem Khlif
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between tax evasion and money laundering and test whether the strength of auditing and reporting standards (SARS) and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between tax evasion and money laundering and test whether the strength of auditing and reporting standards (SARS) and judicial independence moderate this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
The sample contains 684 country-year observations from 2012 to 2017. The authors collect data on money laundering by using Basel Anti-Money Laundering Reports from 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. According to Medina and Schneider (2019), tax evasion is measured as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) by the shadow economy. The SARS, judicial independence and the remaining variables are derived from Global Competitiveness reports for the same years.
Findings
The findings show that tax evasion is positively associated with money laundering. This positive association is mitigated for countries with high SARS and weakened for countries characterized by high judicial independence. By contrast, the positive association between tax evasion and money laundering is maintained with the same significance level for countries characterized by low SARS and low judicial independence.
Practical implications
From a managerial standpoint, tax evasion may represent a signal of unethical management behaviour through money laundering. This may cause severe government penalties and heavy reputational costs in case of detection leading to both management and firm failures.
Originality/value
The findings have policy implications for countries and governments seeking to combat both tax evasion and money laundering. The findings also emphasize the important role played by SARS and judicial independence to mitigate and weaken the positive effect of tax evasion on money laundering.
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Imen Khelil, Achraf Guidara and Hichem Khlif
This paper aims to investigate the impact of the strength of auditing and reporting standards (SARS, hereafter) on the quality of infrastructure in African countries and tests…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the impact of the strength of auditing and reporting standards (SARS, hereafter) on the quality of infrastructure in African countries and tests whether the ethical behaviour of firms and judicial independence affect this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
The sample consists of 108 country-year observations spanning from of 2014–2017. Data concerning the main variables in this study (the quality of infrastructure, SARS, ethical behaviour of firms and judicial independence) are gathered from the Global Competitiveness Reports for 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017.
Findings
The findings of this study suggest that the SARS is positively related to the quality of infrastructure. Similarly, the ethical behaviour of firms has a positive and significant effect on the same variable. When testing for the moderating effects of ethical behaviour of firms and judicial independence, the association between SARS and the quality of infrastructure remains positive and significant for high ethical behaviour and high judicial independence sub-samples, while it is insignificant for settings characterised by low ethical behaviour of firms or low judicial independence.
Originality/value
The results of this study highlight the importance of the SARS in combination with business ethics and judicial independence in improving the quality of infrastructure in African countries. These results may have policy implications for African governments aiming to improve the quality of their infrastructures by strengthening auditing and reporting standards, enforcing laws obliging firms to act ethically and giving importance to the role played by judicial independence in imposing strict sanctions on all violations that can affect the quality of infrastructure in one country.
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Hichem Khlif and Achraf Guidara
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the quality of management schools and tax evasion and tests whether the strength of auditing and reporting…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the quality of management schools and tax evasion and tests whether the strength of auditing and reporting standards moderates such a relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
Tax evasion is measured using the macro-indirect approach based on Schneider, Buehn and Monterngro (2010). The quality of management schools is collected from The Global Competitiveness Report for 2014-2015.
Findings
On the basis of sample of 137 countries, the authors document that the level of tax evasion is negatively associated with the quality of management schools and the strength of auditing and reporting standards. When the authors distinguish between low- and high-strength of auditing and reporting standards countries, the authors find that the negative and significant association remains stable only for high-strength of auditing and reporting standards countries.
Practical implications
These results imply that the quality of management schools through its output (managers, fiscal controllers, auditors and businessmen) may increase the tendency of individuals in a given country to comply with tax rules and that legal enforcement may affect the ethical behaviours of these actors with regard to tax evasion.
Originality/value
The empirical findings have policy implications for governments with high levels of tax evasion since they highlight the importance of the quality of higher educational system in shaping tax compliance behaviour.
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Achraf Guidara, Anis El Ammari and Hichem Khlif
This paper aims to examine the association between the strength of auditing and reporting standards (SARS, hereafter) and sustainability and investigates whether ethical behavior…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the association between the strength of auditing and reporting standards (SARS, hereafter) and sustainability and investigates whether ethical behavior of firms moderates relationship between SARS and sustainability.
Design/methodology/approach
The sample consists of 500 country-year observations over the period of 2014–2017. Sustainability is collected from the Global Sustainable Competitiveness Index Reports for 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017, while SARS and ethical behaviors are collected from the Global Competitiveness Reports for the same years.
Findings
The findings of this study suggest that the SARS is associated with sustainability. Similarly, ethical behavior of firms has a positive and significant effect on sustainability. When testing for the moderating effect of ethical behavior of firms on the association between SARS and sustainability, the results show that the positive association SARS becomes positive and more significant for countries where firms operate with high ethical behaviors, while the association becomes insignificant for settings where firms operate with low ethical behaviors.
Originality/value
The findings emphasize the role played by SARS and business ethics in improving sustainability. These results may have policy implications for governments aiming to improve sustainability by strengthening auditing and reporting standards and enforcing laws obliging firms to act ethically.
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Hichem Khlif, Achraf Guidara and Khaled Hussainey
This paper aims to examine the relationship between the level of sustainability and tax evasion and test whether the level of corruption moderates such a relationship.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the relationship between the level of sustainability and tax evasion and test whether the level of corruption moderates such a relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
The sample consists of 65 developed and developing countries. Tax evasion is measured using a macro indirect approach used by Schneider et al. (2010). The sustainability level and corruption variables are collected from The Global Competitiveness Report for 2012-2013.
Findings
This study finds that the level of tax evasion is negatively associated with the level of sustainability (overall score and social and environmental score) and the quality of infrastructure. When we distinguish between low- and high-corruption countries, we find that this negative association is significant for low-corruption countries and insignificant for high-corruption countries. These results imply that the level of corruption may reduce the tendency of individuals in a given state to accept and trust their government in general and comply with the tax rules in particular.
Originality/value
Our empirical findings have policy implications for governments with high levels of tax evasion, as they highlight the importance of states’ engagements towards their citizens in reducing tax evasion.
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Achraf Guidara, Hichem Khlif and Anis Jarboui
– The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of voluntary and timely disclosure on the cost of debt for the South African setting.
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of voluntary and timely disclosure on the cost of debt for the South African setting.
Design/methodology/approach
The sample of this paper consists of 20 South African listed non-financial companies for the period 2008-2011. A content analysis is used to measure the extent of voluntary disclosure. Timely disclosure is proxied by earnings reporting lag.
Findings
Results show that the extent of voluntary disclosure is negatively and significantly associated with the cost of debt. In contrast, timely disclosure exerts a trivial effect on the cost of debt. When testing for the moderating effect of timely disclosure on the association between the extent of voluntary disclosure and the cost of debt, this paper documents that this association is only negative and significant for the shorter earnings announcement lag group.
Originality/value
The findings of this paper have policy implications for managers in the South African setting and other developing economies similar to South Africa, given the crucial role played by debt as an important source of external financing for publicly traded companies.
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Hichem Khlif, Achraf Guidara and Mohsen Souissi
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between corporate performance and social and environmental disclosure for two African leading countries namely, South…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between corporate performance and social and environmental disclosure for two African leading countries namely, South Africa (common law country) and Morocco (civil law country).
Design/methodology/approach
The sample consists of 168 annual reports spanning from 2004 to 2009. A content analysis of companies’ annual reports is used to measure the extent of voluntary social and environmental disclosure.
Findings
Results show that social and environmental disclosure has a significant positive effect on corporate performance only in the South African setting.
Originality/value
The findings emphasize the need to explicitly consider the legal and institutional setting prevailing in each context. For instance, social and environmental organizations in South Africa enjoy more power to influence companies’ social and environmental reporting policy, whereas, their counterparts in Morocco, enjoy less power to place pressure on companies to incorporate social and environmental considerations into business operations.