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This paper aims to investigate the effect of corporate environmental disclosure on earnings management and to further examine whether this relationship is moderated by female board.

Our sample includes 264 European companies listed on the STOXX eUROPE 600 for the period 2010 to 2022. We excluded financial companies (banks and insurance companies) due to their specific capital structure and regulatory requirements, and companies with missing data. Feasible Generalized Least Square (FGLS) regression method is used to estimate the econometric models. For robustness analyses, the authors included the alternative measure of the dependent variable, and they applied the simultaneous equation model for the endogeneity test.

Using discretionary accruals as a proxy for earnings management, the results obtained indicated a negative effect of corporate environmental disclosure on earnings management. The results suggest also that women on boards are effective in their monitoring role. Indeed, findings show that the effect of corporate environmental disclosure on earnings management is particularly stronger with the presence of women directors on the companies’ boards.

This study has two limitations. Firstly, the sample size is relatively small, which may limit the generalizability of our findings. Secondly, our earnings management indicator, based on estimates of accruals, may not perfectly reflect all streams of earnings management. Therefore, to reduce potential bias in these estimates, it would be useful to use other indicators, such as real earnings management.

The findings have several implications for regulatory, investors and academic researchers. For regulators, it is appropriate to promote several standards related to corporate environmental disclosure and earnings management. The results advise also the worldwide policy maker to give the importance of female roles to improve engagement firms in corporate environmental disclosure, so to be more transparent in their accounting practices to ensure that they are not engaging in unethical or fraudulent behavior. For investors, the results show that the existence of female directors on the board reduces earnings management. For academic researchers, it is interesting to explore the relationship between corporate environmental disclosure, women on the board, and earnings management.

This paper extends the existing literature by examining the moderating effect of women directors on the relationship between corporate environmental disclosure and earnings management in the European context.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of the relationship between shareholder activism and earnings management on the market performance of French companies.

This study used 385 firm-year observations drawn from a sample of French companies belonging to the SBF 120 index from 2008 to 2012. Data was collected from annual reports of sample companies. To measure earnings management, this study used the model of Raman and Shahrur (2008). The relationship between shareholder activism, earnings management and market performance using the panel data regression model was empirically examined.

The results prove that shareholder activism, as indicated by shareholder proposals, has no impact on market performance. However, the existence of shareholder activism affects the market performance positively. In fact, a minimum of proposals proves that shareholder activism plays an appropriate and effective role in creating value. Thus, several activists would resort to “a private activism” which could be the best and the least expensive form. This form of activism is called “behind the scenes.” Findings also show that earnings management has a negative impact on market performance. As a matter of fact, these findings allow to conclude that the firm performance decreases whenever managers undertake to earnings management. Also, earnings management behavior is mainly opportunistic. Finally, the relationship between shareholder activism and earnings management has no impact on market performance. This result reveals that shareholder activism proves to be an ineffective mechanism that does not alter the accounting choices, particularly in relation to earnings management. This result shows the inability of active shareholders to define and implement strategies across their proposals, namely, “the lack of monitoring competence.”

It is important in future research to evaluate the impact of behind the scenes interventions on corporate governance. Also, this paper gives a larger dimension to the effect of shareholder activism on the market performance in the specific context of earnings management, thus justifying the need to expand this study using other methodologies to deepen and better understand this relationship in this context.

The paper's evidence contributes to an understanding of corporate governance. The finding of this study will help in monitoring and controlling fraudulent earnings management practices that effect on market performance. Further, this study is important to investors, academics and policymakers, as it demonstrates that governance reforms that encourage firms to adopt better governance practices that reduce the likelihood of earnings management.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this paper pioneers in focusing on the impact of the shareholder activism and earnings management on the market performance because previous studies put more emphasis on pair-wise relations (Shareholder activism-earnings management, earnings management-market performance and shareholder activism-market performance). This study provides empirical evidence on the effectiveness of the relationship between shareholder activism and earnings management on market performance.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the changing relationship between technology and economic activity in MENA countries.

The generalized method of moments (GMM) was applied to explore the presence of dynamic causality between technology, inflation, unemployment, foreign direct investment, trade opening, gross fixed capital formation and economic growth for 14 MENA countries before and after COVID-19.

Empirical evidence shows that the economic predictor variables change signs and impact negatively the economic growth as a result of the adverse consequences of the MENA health crisis. More interestingly, there is a unique, positive, meaningful relationship between ICT and economic growth.

The results show that economic resilience in MENA is significantly affected by digital infrastructure during the epidemic crisis. The authors conclude that macroeconomic adjustment and innovation improve the predictive performance of the health news model. Countries could take strong measures to support new strategies to strengthen their innovation competitiveness.

Although most of the literature supports the existence of a substitutive relationship between exploration and exploitation, some authors suggest that this relationship is complementary (ambidexterity), and others argue that there is no relationship. This paper aims to introduce organizational innovation into the analysis and discusses which of these three relationships prevails.

Analyses were performed using data from Spanish Technological Innovation Panel for the period 2008-2013. It should be emphasized that the use of panel data is essential in the analysis of the interaction of exploration and exploitation, as exploration only makes sense in the long run. Econometric strategy uses a two-stage selection model, estimated using the Wooldridge’s (1995) consistent estimator for panel data with sample selection. To perform the test, the hypothesis uses the approach of complementarity.

The results show that the relationships exploration-organizational innovation and exploitation-organizational innovation are complementary, provided that the analysis is performed on companies that simultaneously carry out exploration and exploitation activities, respectively. This indicates that the achievement of ambidexterity is strongly conditioned by the simultaneous realization of organizational innovations.

Managers and policymakers should be aware that the simultaneous implementation of exploration and exploitation yields better results when the corresponding organizational innovations are also implemented.

This paper extends the empirical investigation of the relationship between exploration and exploitation, seen in conjunction with organizational innovation, and using the complementarity approach as a research tool.