This paper aims to examine the behavioral timing hypothesis in the context of UK rights issues by seeking to establish and investigate inter-relationships between directors’…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the behavioral timing hypothesis in the context of UK rights issues by seeking to establish and investigate inter-relationships between directors’ trading around rights issues as a proxy for stock mis-valuation and post-issue stock price performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The cumulative average abnormal returns, the buy and hold abnormal returns, the standardized residual cross-sectional t-test and the generalized sign test techniques.
Findings
The directors do possess short-term timing ability as they can identify profitable trading situations by buying more often before stock outperformance and by selling more often before stock underperformance. In addition, directors trading prior to the rights offering is found to exert an influence on the long-run abnormal returns of the rights-issuing firm, which supports the story that mis-valuation and behavioral timing are empirical.
Research limitations/implications
Other types of seasoned equity offerings rather than rights issues should be included.
Practical implications
The research provides a direct testing for the strong form of market efficiency hypothesis, which enables policymakers to take into account market reaction to directors’ trades and how it is affected by corporate events (e.g. rights issues) when addressing insider trading regulations.
Originality/value
This study extends available literature in the context of both developed and emerging equity markets to testing the behavioral timing hypothesis by testing the inter-relationships between directors’ trading around rights issues and post-issue short- and long-run performance. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study that examines these inter-relationships in the UK context.
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Jamal Ali Al-Khasawneh, Heba Ali and Ahmed Hassanein
This study aims to investigate how stock markets responded to corporate dividend policy changes during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate how stock markets responded to corporate dividend policy changes during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Likewise, it explores how efficiently market prices incorporate the news by examining the speed of stock price adjustment to various dividend announcements.
Design/methodology/approach
The sample includes 741 dividend announcements from 2017 to 2021 made by 326 firms listed in the stock markets of the GCC countries. A series of regression analyses examine how dividend announcements influence the market reaction during the COVID-19 pandemic, controlling for other well-documented firm characteristics.
Findings
This study reveals an adverse stock price reaction to all the dividend announcements in most GCC markets. The findings also show strong asymmetric effects of COVID-19 on how the markets react to different dividend changes. Likewise, the authors show that investors tend to underreact to the good news of dividend increases amid hard times of crises due to prevailing uncertainty and bearish sentiment. Besides, regression results reveal that firms with dividend reductions during the pandemic experience less adverse market reactions than dividend-decreasing firms prepandemic.
Practical implications
For firms, the findings confirm the role that corporate dividend policy can play in conveying signals to investors, especially during hard times of crises and turbulences, thereby affecting their share price. For policymakers, the results substantially affect market efficiency and firm valuation in the GCC markets.
Originality/value
This study is not only one of the first few attempts to scrutinize how the pandemic has affected the market reaction to changes in corporate dividend policies but also, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first to examine how corporate dividend policy could affect stock markets during COVID-19 in the context of GCC markets.
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Heba Ali, Hala M.G. Amin, Diana Mostafa and Ehab K.A. Mohamed
The purpose of this paper is to examine the inter-relations among the strength of investor protection institutions, earnings management (EM) and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the inter-relations among the strength of investor protection institutions, earnings management (EM) and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
As a proxy for EM, the authors use discretionary accruals measure, estimated using the modified Jones model (1991). As a proxy for the strength of investor protection institutions, the study uses the Investor Protection Index, extracted from the Global Competitiveness Reports. The sample consists of 5,519 firms listed in the Group of Twelve countries during 2015–2020.
Findings
The study shows that firms tend to engage less in EM during the pandemic period. The authors also find a significantly negative relation between the strength of investor protection institutions and EM practices, and interestingly, this negative relation was found to be more pronounced during the pandemic period.
Research limitations/implications
For investors and practitioners, the findings help get insights into the behavior of firms in response of the pandemic shock in countries with solid institutional and legal protection. For policymakers, the findings reaffirm the critical role that institutional incentives and reforms can play, in influencing firms to exert more efforts to promote their financial reporting quality.
Originality/value
To the best of our knowledge, the study is one of the first attempts to examine the link between EM practices and investor protection during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings extend both the literature on the role of institutional factors in promoting the earnings quality and the literature on COVID-19’s effect on firm performance and practices.
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Marian H. Amin, Heba Ali and Ehab K. A. Mohamed
This paper scrutinizes the nexus between firms’ board characteristics; environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance and industry sensitivity, with the aim of examining…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper scrutinizes the nexus between firms’ board characteristics; environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance and industry sensitivity, with the aim of examining how the impact of board diversity on ESG performance would vary among sensitive versus non-sensitive industries and identify which board characteristics are more influential on ESG performance in these industries.
Design/methodology/approach
A large sample of 31,255 firm-year observations in 5,471 companies listed in the G-7 countries from 2010 to 2022 is examined using a Heckman two-stage least squares (2SLS) approach to address the potential endogeneity concerns within our proposed relationships.
Findings
The findings show that the positive influence of diverse boards on a firm’s ESG performance is particularly amplified in sensitive industries and may be attributed to the greater need of these industries to address stakeholder concerns (as posited by the stakeholder and resource-dependence theories) and mitigate agency conflicts (supporting agency theory). Interestingly, the impact of diversity in board gender and education qualifications appears to be particularly influential and remains robust across a series of regression analyses.
Research limitations/implications
This study has important implications for policymakers and legislators as it provides guidelines pertaining to the composition of boards operating in sensitive industries. For practitioners and firms, the results allow for better understanding of firms’ tendency towards sustainability practices, particularly in the context of sensitive industries.
Practical implications
This study has important implications for policymakers and legislators as it provides guidelines pertaining to the composition of boards operating in sensitive industries.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the increasingly growing literature that investigates the nexus between industry sensitivity, board characteristics and ESG performance.
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Heritage buildings are a witness to previous civilizations and constitute important elements in transmitting cultural identity through generations. In 1938, Alexandria University…
Abstract
Purpose
Heritage buildings are a witness to previous civilizations and constitute important elements in transmitting cultural identity through generations. In 1938, Alexandria University was established; it was called the University of Farouk at the time. In 1952, the university was named “Alexandria University,” and since then, it has witnessed growth and expansion in several fields. The research aims to preserve the heritage of this academic institution. It seeks to document this wealth of buildings that tell the story of the second-earliest university in Egypt.
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed-method approach was employed. A descriptive method was used to narrate the history of the university and the importance of its buildings. Within the quantitative approach, a questionnaire was chosen as the survey instrument for collecting the data within the research case study. The aim was to determine the awareness of students, staff and employees of the heritage importance of their faculty. Within the qualitative approach, several interviews were conducted with employees in the engineering departments of the university administrative building at Chatby and some of the selected faculties. The aim was to determine the methods used for the conservation of these buildings.
Findings
Alexandria University has a heritage value not only in its great history but also through its heritage buildings. Raising the awarness of the university's affiliates of this heritage will lead to enhance the feelings of loyalty and belongings to the university. Therefore, preserving this heritage and properly managing it is crucial.
Originality/value
Universities have to recognize that their built heritage constitutes a unique expression that can create a distinctive sense of place. University heritage is crucial in defining and interpreting the university cultural identity. The institution must identify resources that will help build a new public image and contribute to develop a successful brand. Campus appearance is an important factor that has a significant impact on student feelings of loyalty and belonging.
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Suzanna ElMassah and Heba Abou-El-Sood
As the popularity of Islamic banking and financial instruments continues to rise globally, a recurring empirical question is what specifically makes consumers choose Islamic…
Abstract
Purpose
As the popularity of Islamic banking and financial instruments continues to rise globally, a recurring empirical question is what specifically makes consumers choose Islamic banking. This paper aims to investigate the determinants of bank type selection, especially in culturally diverse settings where the Islamic banking sector is well-established. It further examines whether consumers’ gender/religion influences their choices. One intuitive prediction is that Muslim consumers opt for Islamic banking products as “ethical” because of conviction-related reasons. However, the reality is not necessarily straightforward.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses structural equation modeling to examine data collected from a survey questionnaire of 790 respondents in an emerging market setting. Further analysis is made based on gender and religion to remove related bias.
Findings
Results suggest that overall consumer awareness significantly affects the selection of Islamic banking products. The positive effect of awareness is more significant for Muslim consumers relative to non-Muslims. Interestingly, social stimuli and bank attributes have an insignificant effect on the banking choices of both Muslims and non-Muslims.
Practical implications
Results suggest that Islamic banks’ marketing managers should adopt differentiated strategies for men and women, focusing on the core benefits of the service or personal interactions with consumers, respectively, along with a focus on different aspects of personal service for each gender. Awareness should be enhanced by adopting informative and effective marketing strategies to attract and retain consumers in the competitive bank environment. Islamic banks (IB) should pay attention to the religious effect without considering it as the sole variable motivating potential customers. They should design segmented and customized marketing strategies based on gender-religion market segmentation to suit different groups’ needs.
Originality/value
The findings fill a gap in the literature and provide Islamic bankers with insights to help design and articulate their business strategies to appeal to consumers in a multicultural context. Examining an integral part of gender and religion mitigates biased estimates due to the omission of variables. The study contributes to the existing literature on customer preferences for IB with a relatively large, new data set.
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Hendy Abdualla Ahmed, Ismail Osman and Heba Mari
Objective is to investigate the effects of COVID-19 on the performance and productivity of infodemic research. A comprehensive bibliometric analysis is conducted using data…
Abstract
Purpose
Objective is to investigate the effects of COVID-19 on the performance and productivity of infodemic research. A comprehensive bibliometric analysis is conducted using data extracted from Thomson Reuters' Web of Science, and the analysis is facilitated by the bibliometrix and biblioshiny tools.
Design/methodology/approach
Data was extracted from the Web of Science (WoS) database provided by Thomson Reuters. Therefore, literature published outside of the WoS database was not included. Results were extracted about the Document Type, Research Area, Language, Publication year, and country or countries for all authors because this study was interested in scholarly international collaboration. The researcher also used the Thomson Reuters Web of Science’s InCites Essential Science Indicators database, which allowed the researcher to measure the scientific output performance of countries over a period of time. In addition to InCites data, citation data and international collaboration for all countries were also downloaded.
Findings
Inclusion and exclusion criteriax: this study focused on literature published by authors identified by each author’s affiliation in each publication. Thus, the WoS topic field was searched by “infodemic” or “information epidemic” or “info ebidemic”. The time span selected for this study started from 2018 to 2022, allowing the researcher to survey the nature of the literature during the last 6 years before COVID-19 and 4 years after COVID-19 to identify the effects of COVID-19 on research in the world regarding both performance and productivity. The study included various types of materials, such as articles, early access, and review articles.
Originality/value
A comprehensive bibliometric analysis is conducted using data extracted from Thomson Reuters' Web of Science, and the analysis is facilitated by the bibliometrix and biblioshiny tools. The findings reveal that prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, researchers contributed a total of 3,960 documents, with the United States leading with 2,933 publications, followed by China with 2,561. However, the production of infodemic research doubled following the onset of the pandemic, resulting in a total of 6,979 documents. Both before and after COVID-19.
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Although there are over 55,000 social enterprises operating in Egypt, the social entrepreneurship field is still failing to create the desired social change. This paper aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
Although there are over 55,000 social enterprises operating in Egypt, the social entrepreneurship field is still failing to create the desired social change. This paper aims to explore the challenges faced by the field with a special focus on government related challenges as well as offer a set of recommendations to the Egyptian government to enhance the field.
Design/methodology/approach
The research was carried out in two phases; reviewing the literature around the topic through a secondary research followed by an empirical research interviewing four social enterprises, the ministry of social solidarity and experts in the field of social entrepreneurship.
Findings
The paper arrived to several challenges and they were organized into three main themes: challenges related to policy-making and other legal aspects; challenges related to institutional and operational support; and challenges related to social, educational and cultural awareness of the field and its ecosystem. The paper also came up with a set of nine recommendations directed to the Egyptian Government.
Originality/value
The originality and value of this research is that it offers first hand viewpoints of the challenges facing the field of social entrepreneurship in Egypt as well as offer practical recommendations to the Egyptian Government to overcome them.
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Osman El-Said, Heba Aziz, Maryam Mirzaei and Michael Smith
It has been more than 20 years since the idea of binding multinational corporations directly to international law was abandoned. Since then, concerned actors have sought to manage…
Abstract
Purpose
It has been more than 20 years since the idea of binding multinational corporations directly to international law was abandoned. Since then, concerned actors have sought to manage corporate conduct through voluntary regulation. However, little is known about the instruments produced in this regard. This study aims to understand the properties of the instruments that govern or regulate corporate social responsibility at the international level.
Design/methodology/approach
Systematic literature review and content analysis methods were combined to compile a list of 229 international corporate social responsibility instruments (ICSRIs) produced by intergovernmental (IGOs) and international nongovernmental (INGOs) organizations. These instruments were categorized according to an adapted classification framework.
Findings
The majority of instruments from our sample are produced by INGOs, focus on management activities and are applicable to specific industries. The most common issues addressed by the instruments are related to worker protection, human rights, governance and the environment. A limited number of instruments specify stakeholders’ involvement or feature an external orientation. Instruments rarely address issues related to product quality and safety, economic contribution or social performance.
Practical implications
Without a comprehensive overview, it has been difficult to develop broad-based understandings about voluntary regulation as a mechanism for controlling corporate conduct internationally. This study’s findings offer valuable insights, allowing policymakers and industry practitioners to understand the effectiveness of, and make appropriate enhancements to, ICSRIs.
Social implications
By enhancing ICSRIs to address the limitations highlighted in the current study, multinational corporations can be induced into contributing more productively to the sustainable development of the societies they impact and play a greater role in the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Originality/value
Previous research has largely concentrated on analyzing small numbers of carefully selected instruments in a conceptual or descriptive approach. In contrast, this study represents a novel approach of systematic compilation and quantitative classification for a comprehensive list of ICSRIs.