Daniel Ames, Joshua Coyne and Kevin Kim
The purpose of the authors’ research study is to identify the impact of life cycle stage on firm acquisitions.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the authors’ research study is to identify the impact of life cycle stage on firm acquisitions.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use a series of empirical databases to identify characteristics of acquirers and their targets. The authors then use logistic regressions and joint tests to identify significant differences between declining and non-declining acquirers.
Findings
The authors find that declining acquirers are more likely to pursue diversifying acquisitions and to pay for the acquisition with stock considerations. Acquisitions by declining acquirers result in positive abnormal returns initially, but post-acquisition returns are negative.
Research limitations/implications
The authors’ primary limitation is their data, which only includes public acquirers and targets, and runs from January 1, 1988 to December 31, 2010.
Practical implications
The authors’ research suggests that regulators, stakeholders and prospective stakeholders should consider the life cycle stage of an acquiring firm in setting expectations about motivations for and likely performance subsequent to the acquisition.
Originality/value
The authors’ paper is the first to consider the effect of firm life cycle stage on the motivation and subsequent success of an acquisition. Given the tremendous impact to shareholders of such significant transactions, understanding the acquisition process more completely is important to capital markets participants.
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Daniel Ames, Chris S. Hines and Jomo Sankara
The purpose of this paper is to examine whether earnings quality attributes are reflected in AM best's financial strength ratings (FSRs), a measure widely used in the insurance…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine whether earnings quality attributes are reflected in AM best's financial strength ratings (FSRs), a measure widely used in the insurance industry to assess financial health.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a sample of insurance companies during the period 2006-2012, the authors measure the quality of reported earnings using three accounting-based measures: earnings persistence, accrual quality, and earnings smoothness.
Findings
The authors find that better earnings persistence, higher accrual quality, and less earnings smoothing are reflected in higher FSRs for both public and private insurers, with the magnitude of the effect greater for private insurers.
Originality/value
This is the first study of which the authors are aware that seeks to understand the impact, if any, of variations in the quality of reported financial information on the perceived financial health of firms by ratings agencies in the insurance industry. The authors also include a novel research design in assessing the determinants of financial health ratings. Users of FSRs should be aware of the impact of ownership structure on ratings agencies’ propensity to incorporate reported earnings attributes in their ratings.
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Daniel Ames, Deborah L. Seifert and Jay Rich
In an experimental setting, we investigate the impact of religious social identity on whistle-blowing. We hypothesize and find that individuals are less likely to perceive others…
Abstract
In an experimental setting, we investigate the impact of religious social identity on whistle-blowing. We hypothesize and find that individuals are less likely to perceive others in their religious group as being behaving unethically. However, we find that once individuals perceive wrongdoing, they are incrementally more likely to whistle-blow when the perpetrator is a member of their religious group.
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Alexandra L. Ferrentino, Meghan L. Maliga, Richard A. Bernardi and Susan M. Bosco
This research provides accounting-ethics authors and administrators with a benchmark for accounting-ethics research. While Bernardi and Bean (2010) considered publications in…
Abstract
This research provides accounting-ethics authors and administrators with a benchmark for accounting-ethics research. While Bernardi and Bean (2010) considered publications in business-ethics and accounting’s top-40 journals this study considers research in eight accounting-ethics and public-interest journals, as well as, 34 business-ethics journals. We analyzed the contents of our 42 journals for the 25-year period between 1991 through 2015. This research documents the continued growth (Bernardi & Bean, 2007) of accounting-ethics research in both accounting-ethics and business-ethics journals. We provide data on the top-10 ethics authors in each doctoral year group, the top-50 ethics authors over the most recent 10, 20, and 25 years, and a distribution among ethics scholars for these periods. For the 25-year timeframe, our data indicate that only 665 (274) of the 5,125 accounting PhDs/DBAs (13.0% and 5.4% respectively) in Canada and the United States had authored or co-authored one (more than one) ethics article.
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Clark N. Hallman and Lisa F. Lister
This bibliography of multidisciplinary periodical literature focuses on white supremacy ideologies and on several groups that espouse white supremacy, including the Ku Klux Klan…
Abstract
This bibliography of multidisciplinary periodical literature focuses on white supremacy ideologies and on several groups that espouse white supremacy, including the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazi groups like Aryan Nations and The Order, and skinheads. In compiling both scholarly and popular periodical material, the authors were surprised by the relatively low number of recent scholarly articles in the social sciences literature. Nevertheless, some important scholarly sources are cited. Also, although there is voluminous published material covering racism, the authors included only material judged specifically related to white supremacy, a sometimes difficult distinction because the roots of racism and current white supremacist thought are so intertwined.
John R. Kuhn and Bonnie Morris
With computer technology fast becoming the engine that drives productivity, IT systems have become more pervasive in the daily operations of many businesses. Large, as well as…
Abstract
Purpose
With computer technology fast becoming the engine that drives productivity, IT systems have become more pervasive in the daily operations of many businesses. Large, as well as small, businesses in the USA now rely heavily on IT systems to function effectively and efficiently. However, past studies have shown CEOs do not always understand how reliant their business is on IT systems. To the authors’ knowledge, no research has not yet examined if financial markets understand how IT affects the performance of businesses. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, the authors utilize the event study method to examine how financial markets interpret weaknesses in businesses IT systems. The authors examine this in the context of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act – Section 404 requirements and utilize the internal reporting requirement in the annual financial statement filing with the Securities Exchange Commission as a proxy to evaluate how the financial markets interpret IT weaknesses.
Findings
Using an event study, the authors show that the market does not necessarily understand and respond to the effects of IT weaknesses on overall financial performance of firms and thus challenge the efficient market hypothesis theory.
Originality/value
A second contribution is methodological in nature. IS researchers thus far have been using limited market benchmarks, statistical tests, and event windows in their respective event studies of market performance. This study shows shortcomings of that approach and the necessity of expanding usage of available event analysis tools. The authors show that using more than one market benchmark and statistical test across multiple time frames uncovers the effects that using a single benchmark and test over a single window would have overlooked.
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Alan Drury, Tim Heinrichs, Michael Elbert, Katherine Tahja, Matt DeLisi and Daniel Caropreso
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are a broad conceptual framework in the social sciences that have only recently been studied within criminology. The purpose of this paper is…
Abstract
Purpose
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are a broad conceptual framework in the social sciences that have only recently been studied within criminology. The purpose of this paper is to utilize this framework by applying it to one of the most potentially dangerous forensic populations.
Design/methodology/approach
Archival data from 225 federal sex offenders was used to perform descriptive, correlational, and negative binomial regression models.
Findings
There was substantial evidence of ACEs including father abandonment/neglect (36 percent), physical abuse (nearly 28 percent), verbal/emotional abuse (more than 24 percent), and sexual abuse (approximately 27 percent). The mean age of sexual victimization was 7.6 years with the youngest age of victimization occurring at the age of 3. Offenders averaged nearly five paraphilias, the most common were pedophilia (57 percent), pornography addiction (43 percent), paraphilia not otherwise specified (35 percent), exhibitionism (26 percent), and voyeurism (21 percent). The offenders averaged 4.7 paraphilias and the range was substantial (0 to 19). Negative binomial regression models indicated that sexual sadism was positively and pornography addiction was negatively associated with serious criminal violence. Offenders with early age of arrest onset and more total arrest charges were more likely to perpetrate kidnaping, rape, and murder.
Originality/value
ACEs are common in the life history of federal sex offenders, but have differential associations with the most serious forms of crime.
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Matt DeLisi, Alan Drury, Michael Elbert, Katherine Tahja, Daniel Caropreso and Timothy Heinrichs
Sexual sadism is a well-known risk factor for severe forms of sexual violence including sexual homicide and serial sexual homicide. The research is decidedly mixed about the…
Abstract
Purpose
Sexual sadism is a well-known risk factor for severe forms of sexual violence including sexual homicide and serial sexual homicide. The research is decidedly mixed about the association between sexual sadism and other, nonsexual forms of criminal conduct. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on data from a census of 225 federal sex offenders from a jurisdiction in the Midwestern USA, the current study examined whether sexual sadism had a spillover effect into nonsexual crimes using correlation, ANOVA, and negative binomial regression models.
Findings
Sexual sadism was strongly associated with diverse forms of nonsexual criminal behavior, and sexual sadists had more extensive and versatile criminal careers than sex offenders without a formal diagnosis.
Practical implications
Practitioners should be aware of sexual sadism as a criminogenic risk factor. Sexual sadism is associated with sexual deviance and sexual violence. Sexual sadism also has spillover effects where it is associated with nonsexual offending.
Originality/value
Sexual sadism can be a useful risk factor for other forms of crime and recidivism and has broad application in applied correctional and research settings.