Yazan Alnsour and Ahmad H. Juma’h
Contact tracing apps have emerged to collect data and mitigate the spread of infectious diseases. However, privacy and security concerns have caused individuals to hesitate to…
Abstract
Purpose
Contact tracing apps have emerged to collect data and mitigate the spread of infectious diseases. However, privacy and security concerns have caused individuals to hesitate to adopt these solutions. Our objective is to evaluate the role of the political environment, information privacy, security and users’ intentions to use contact tracing apps.
Design/methodology/approach
We scraped the digital app store and collected 399 relevant reviews and other data from 21 contact tracing apps in the USA. A semi-supervised machine learning model was developed to extract information on privacy and security aspects from the reviews.
Findings
Our findings show a positive connection between security controls and user adoption, as reflected in star ratings. Users residing in states with blue political environments tend to assign higher ratings to apps, especially when robust security controls are in place. These findings confirm the influence of the political environment on the adoption of contact tracing apps. In times of a pandemic, our findings suggest that users prioritize security over privacy concerns, emphasizing the critical role of strong security features in promoting app acceptance.
Originality/value
This paper emphasizes the political environment of the state offering the app intersects with concerns about security and privacy as well as the effectiveness of security and privacy measures, influencing the app’s ratings. Also, it shows the importance of understanding and addressing the role of the political environment when designing and promoting such public health tools, regardless of the specific disease or outbreak.
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Ahmad H. Juma'h and Yazan Alnsour
This paper aims to analyze the effect of data breaches – whose concerns and implications can be legal, social and economic – on companies’ overall performance.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to analyze the effect of data breaches – whose concerns and implications can be legal, social and economic – on companies’ overall performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Information on data breaches was collected from online compilations, and financial data on breached companies was collected from the Mergent Online database. The financial variables used were related to profitability, liquidity, solvency and company size to analyze the financial performance of the breached companies before and after the data breach event. Nonfinancial data, such as the type and the size of the breaches, was also collected. The data was analyzed using multiple regression.
Findings
The results confirm that nonmandatory information related to announcements of data breaches is a signal of companies’ overall performance, as measured by profitability ratios, return on assets and return on equity. The study does not confirm a relationship between data breaches and stock market reaction when measuring quarterly changes in share prices.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitation of the study relates to ratio and trend analyses. Such analyses are commonly used when researching accounting information. However, they do not directly reflect the companies’ conditions and realities, and they rely on companies’ released financial reports. Another limitation concerns the confounding factors. The major confounding factors around the data breaches’ dates were identified; however, this was not enough to assure that other factors were not affecting the companies’ financial performance. Because of the nature of such events, this study needs to be replicated to include specific information about the companies using case studies. Therefore, the authors recommend replicating the research to validate the article’s findings when each industry makes more announcements available.
Practical implications
To remediate the risks and losses associated with data breaches, companies may use their reserved funds.
Social implications
Company data breach announcements signal internal deficiencies. Therefore, the affected companies become liable to their employees, customers and investors.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to both theory and practice in the areas of accounting finance, and information management.
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Ahmad H. Juma’h and Douglas Wood
This article investigates the business performance of a sample of companies announcing outsourcing contracts. Performance effects are investigated by measures including operating…
Abstract
This article investigates the business performance of a sample of companies announcing outsourcing contracts. Performance effects are investigated by measures including operating profit, earnings margin, return on shareholders’ capital, reduction in employment cost and research and development expenditure prior to and subsequent to the outsourcing announcement. The conclusion is that outsourcing companies’ profitability and liquidity decrease in years in which outsourcing announcements occur, and tend to increase in the subsequent year. Also, it is possible that the short‐term and long‐term financial structure of outsourcing companies is altered.
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Ahmad H. Juma’h and Douglas Wood
Discusses the treatment of outsourcing in company accounts. In particular, it considers the application of several accounting standards that may be relevant to the presentation of…
Abstract
Discusses the treatment of outsourcing in company accounts. In particular, it considers the application of several accounting standards that may be relevant to the presentation of outsourcing agreements in the financial statements. The way in which these principles are implemented in the relevant financial statements, with respect to outsourcing between 1991 and 1997, is the main focus of the paper. In practice, accountants, in the majority of the cases, consider outsourcing contracts as immaterial contracts and, generally, they do not include any note of the outsourcing contracts in the financial statements. This implies that accountants (auditors) consider each outsourcing contract as an individual contract without taking into consideration its aggregate effects. Finally, the degree to which FRS 12 raises issues with respect to the outsourcing agreements is considered in this paper and their presentation in accounts is considered.
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Tahani Hakami, Omar Sabri, Bassam Al-Shargabi, Mohd Mohid Rahmat and Osama Nashat Attia
This study aims to examine the present condition of blockchain technology (BT) applications in auditing by analyzing journal publications on the topic to acquire a better…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the present condition of blockchain technology (BT) applications in auditing by analyzing journal publications on the topic to acquire a better understanding of the field.
Design/methodology/approach
This study makes use of the Bibliometric Analysis method and gathered 725 papers from the Web of Science and Scopus databases in the management and accounting, business, financial, economic and social science, as well as decision sciences fields from 2017 to 2021 using the R-Package Bibliometrix Analysis “biblioshiny”.
Findings
The findings revealed that blockchain research in terms of auditing has already increased and started to spark a quick rise in popularity, but is still in its initial phases with important quality though less in quantity. Moreover, the Journal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting is the most prolific journal with 2019 as the highest publication year, with the United States and China as the most cited countries in this field. Furthermore, in this field, there are much research topics involving blockchain, audit and smart contracts; and there is less involving data analytics, governance, hyperledger, distributed ledger and financial reporting. Additionally, Sheldon (2019) and Smith and Castonguay (2020) are the most productive authors in the field in terms of the H-index.
Research limitations/implications
This study has certain limitations such as the fact that it only looked at 105 papers in the domains of finance, business, economics, accounting, management as well as multidisciplinary science. Moreover, the research’s data and dates have an impact on the results dependability. As this is an original topic, fresh studies are anticipated to remain to shine a spotlight on and suggest answers to blockchain’s implications on auditing. Additionally, the period of time was limited to only the last five years, from 2017 to 2021. As a result, extensive study into the topic is required since there is currently a research deficit in the blockchain field in the setting of auditing. So, new research is required to offer new frameworks and understandings for describing the blockchain function in auditing, including processes, techniques, security, as well as timeliness. Investigations in unique circumstances and research employing innovative research methodologies for discovering the new issue would be valuable in acquiring a higher grasp of the complexities faced.
Originality/value
This research contributed to the field by assessing the present state of the art of research on the usage and use of BT in finding research gaps, the audit profession and, most importantly, recommending a future direction for researchers in the subject.
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Efrosini Siougle, Sophia Dimelis and Nikolaos Malevris
This study explores the link between ISO 9001 certification, personal data protection and firm performance using financial balance sheet and survey data. The security aspect of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study explores the link between ISO 9001 certification, personal data protection and firm performance using financial balance sheet and survey data. The security aspect of data protection is analyzed based on the major requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation and mapped to the relevant controls of the ISO/IEC 27001/27002 standards.
Design/methodology/approach
The research analysis is based on 96 ISO 9001–certified and non-certified publicly traded manufacturing and service firms that responded to a structured questionnaire. The authors develop and empirically test their theoretical model using the structural equation modeling technique and follow a difference-in-differences econometric modeling approach to estimate financial performance differences between certified and non-certified firms accounting for the level of data protection.
Findings
The estimates indicate three core dimensions in the areas of “policies, procedures and responsibilities,” “access control management” and “risk-reduction techniques” as desirable components in establishing the concept of data security. The estimates also suggest that the data protection level has significantly impacted the performance of certified firms relative to the non-certified. Controlling for the effect of industry-level factors reveals a positive relationship between data security and high-technological intensity.
Practical implications
The results imply that improving the level of compliance to data protection enhances the link between certification and firm performance.
Originality/value
This study fills a gap in the literature by empirically testing the influence of data protection on the relationship between quality certification and firm performance.
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Md. Ramjan Ali, Sharfuddin Ahmed Khan, Yasanur Kayikci and Muhammad Shujaat Mubarik
Blockchain technology is one of the major contributors to supply chain sustainability because of its inherent features. However, its adoption rate is relatively low due to reasons…
Abstract
Purpose
Blockchain technology is one of the major contributors to supply chain sustainability because of its inherent features. However, its adoption rate is relatively low due to reasons such as the diverse barriers impeding blockchain adoption. The purpose of this study is to identify blockchain adoption barriers in sustainable supply chain and uncovers their interrelationships.
Design/methodology/approach
A three-phase framework that combines machine learning (ML) classifiers, BORUTA feature selection algorithm, and Grey-DEMATEL method. From the literature review, 26 potential barriers were identified and evaluated through the performance of ML models with accuracy and f-score.
Findings
The findings reveal that feature selection algorithm detected 15 prominent barriers, and random forest (RF) classifier performed with the highest accuracy and f-score. Moreover, the performance of the RF increased by 2.38% accuracy and 2.19% f-score after removing irrelevant barriers, confirming the validity of feature selection algorithm. An RF classifier ranked the prominent barriers and according to ranking, financial constraints, immaturity, security, knowledge and expertise, and cultural differences resided at the top of the list. Furthermore, a Grey-DEMATEL method is employed to expose interrelationships between prominent barriers and to provide an overview of the cause-and-effect group.
Practical implications
The outcome of this study can help industry practitioners develop new strategies and plans for blockchain adoption in sustainable supply chains.
Originality/value
The research on the adoption of blockchain technology in sustainable supply chains is still evolving. This study contributes to the ongoing debate by exploring how practitioners and decision-makers adopt blockchain technology, developing strategies and plans in the process.