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Knowledge is a key success factor in achieving competitive advantage in the current fast-paced and uncertain economic environment. Several studies in the literature have analyzed the relationship between knowledge creation (KC) and organizational success; however, the mechanisms by which KC leads to accumulation of intellectual capital (IC) and thereby affects various dimensions of organizational performance are understudied. The purpose of this paper is to examine how KC and IC and their relationship influence key dimensions of organizational performance.

A research model was developed and tested based on the literature in the areas of KC, IC and organizational performance. This study uses a survey sent to companies in an intensive knowledge-based industry. The balanced scorecard (BSC) approach was used to measure the key dimensions of organizational performance.

The results from structural equation modeling (SEM) on 470 completed questionnaires received from the pharmaceutical companies in Iran reveal that KC activities lead to the accumulation of organizational IC and IC has a crucial and positive impact on the BSC. Furthermore, the results from the path analysis indicate that IC mediates the effects of KC on the BSC.

The findings of this study contribute to the extant literature on the relationship between knowledge and organizational performance by demonstrating that knowledge and KC lead to performance when organizations utilize KC activities and leverage them to accumulate IC. Once used effectively, IC will result in a better performance in the knowledge-intensive environments.

This is the first study that investigates how KC contributes to firm performance by incorporating the mediating impact of IC on the BSC. The proposed model and results will help organizations to identify the mechanisms through which KC initiatives improve organizational performance.

Drawing on the natural resource-based view and the literature on management control systems as a package, this study aims to investigate organizations’ sustainability control systems designed to achieve the interrelated sustainability objectives of performance and reporting.

The authors use three-stage least squares regressions on archival data for a large sample of international companies.

Better environmental performance and sustainability reporting quality are related to certain control system components, and the dual objectives of sustainability performance and reporting are interrelated.

This study provides theoretical contributions and practical implications by demonstrating how a set of sustainability control components can enable better sustainability reporting and performance outcomes.

Different studies have analyzed the relationship between organizational learning (OL) and innovation performance (IP). However, the question of how innovation culture (IC) affects the relationship between OL and IP remains unexplored. This study aims to examine the impact of IC on the relationship between OL and various dimensions of IP, including product, process and objective innovation.

A research model was developed and performed based on the relevant literature in the field of OL, IC and IP. The hypotheses are tested with the data collected from companies operating in an intensive knowledge-based industry.

Based on the results of 625 questionnaires completed by pharmaceutical companies, OL activities and IC can result in product and process innovation. However, this relationship was not supported for the objective innovation. Furthermore, in terms of the moderating role of IC in the relationship between OL and IP dimensions, the results were significant.

The findings help to gain a better understanding of how organizational commitment by creating a culture for innovation can help to maximize the benefits of continuous OL in product and process innovation.

Considering the three aspects of IP, it is the first survey of the contribution of OL in firms’ IP with considering the moderating role of IC. The proposed model would enrich the relevant literature and provide us with better understanding how OL contributes to the IP.

The direct impact of organizational learning (OL) on organizational performance has been studied over the past two decades. However, how OL contributes to organizational innovation still remains under-researched. Based on the knowledge-based view of the firm and dynamic capability theory, we developed a theoretical framework in order to empirically examine how OL offers organizations the essential tools for creating dynamic capabilities (DCs), which pave the way for innovation performance (IP).

The authors apply a time-lagged, multisource and survey-based research designed to test the proposed model in the pharmaceutical industry where knowledge is a source of innovation. The data collected from companies operating in such an industry were analyzed by utilizing hierarchical regression analysis to explore how OL could lead to IP through DC.

The results indicated that OL is positively, significantly associated with DCs, as well as its dimensions of learning, integrating and reconfiguring capabilities. The findings showed that these capabilities are significant predictors of innovation performance. In addition, the findings revealed that innovation culture significantly moderates the relationship between DCs and innovation performance.

By dedicating more time and resources, managers can reinforce dynamic capabilities as a strategic tool to generate new knowledge and distribute it across the organization, which can go a long way toward boosting innovation performance in the pharmaceutical industry. This study offers researchers and practitioners invaluable insights into how effective OL can enhance firm-level innovation performance through dynamic capabilities.

This study examines the association between chief executive officer (CEO) gender and the readability of annual reports by considering some demographic attributes of female CEOs.

Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression is used to test the research hypotheses on a sample of S&P 500 firms between 2004 and 2016.

The results show that female CEOs are significantly positively associated with the readability of 10-K reports – in line with ethical-sensitivity theory. Further results show that this association is variable depending on the demographic attributes of female CEOs – in line with upper echelon theory. Specifically, older female CEOs and those with financial expertise are significantly associated with more readable 10-K reports. In contrast, female CEOs hired from within the firm are negatively associated with the readability of 10-K.

This study provides evidence on the effect of female CEOs and their demographic attributes on annual report readability, which was not addressed in prior research.

The findings show that the appointment of female CEOs seems like a helpful avenue to reduce concerns among the regulators about the textual complexity of annual reports. However, the most important policy implication of the study is that the decision to appoint female CEOs should be based more on their demographic attributes than on gender equality recommendations and full trust in women's behavioral consequences.

This study contributes to the academic literature on readability and gender. Prior research has not clarified which attributes and skills of female CEOs drive their abilities to improve shareholder value and make more ethical decisions. This study suggests that female CEOs are not better “per se” to improve corporate governance practices, and the impacts of female CEOs are not the same and differ according to their demographic attributes.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the implementation of total quality management (TQM) and organizational performance, using the balanced scorecard (BSC) approach.

In order to investigate the relationship between TQM and BSC, a questionnaire was developed and distributed to 30 largest pharmaceutical distribution companies in Iran. Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate the measurement model and to test the research hypotheses using the data from 933 completed questionnaires.

The results supported the research model and revealed that TQM implementation can positively and significantly influence the BSC and its four perspectives.

Considering the strong association between TQM and all four perspectives of organizational performance (BSC), managers should strongly leverage the implementation of TQM practices in order to reach their strategic objectives.

This study is the first empirical study conducted on the association of TQM and BSC in the pharmaceutical industry. The findings of this study provide strong evidence supporting the implementation of TQM in the pharmaceutical context.

This study aims to empirically investigate the role of organizational culture and climate in supporting intellectual capital (IC) management systems. Specifically, it seeks to investigate the relationship between organizational characteristics (culture and climate) and IC management systems in the Middle East (Iran and Lebanon) and Canada.

Data were gathered via a survey instrument and statistical analysis was used to test for significance between dependent and independent variables. Then a two‐stage hierarchical multiple regression was used to test for the nature and effects of country of origin as a moderating variable.

The findings suggest that both culture and climate play significant roles in developing management systems for IC. In addition, for country, when organizational climate improves, Middle Eastern respondents perceived an even greater improvement in IC management systems compared to their Canadian counterparts.

There is limited research that has been undertaken to compare developed and developing countries with regard to the influence of organizational characteristics on IC management systems. This research is timely given the recent publication of the Arab Human Development Report and the Arab Knowledge Report. This study provides insight into the ability of organizations in the Middle East to develop a knowledge base and reduce the knowledge gap between the Arab world and countries currently classified as knowledge intensive.

Climate change has led to a rise in the frequency, intensity and scope of droughts, posing significant implications for businesses. This study examines the impact of local community drought levels on audit pricing. Additionally, it explores the moderating effects of high-tech industries, auditor busyness and the level of local community concern regarding the drought crisis.

This study employs a mixed-methods approach to rigorously test the research hypotheses. The quantitative phase of the study utilizes a sample of 1,278 firm-year observations from Iran’s capital market. For the analysis of the quantitative data, ordinary least squares regression with clustered robust standard errors is used. Additionally, this research supplements its quantitative findings with qualitative evidence obtained through semi-structured interviews with 19 Iranian audit partners.

The results suggest that firms operating in provinces facing severe droughts experience notably higher audit fees. Furthermore, the positive relationship between drought and audit fees is weakened when auditors are busy, local community concern regarding the drought crisis is high or the firm operates within high-tech industries. These findings are supported by a range of robustness checks and qualitative evidence gathered from the field.

This research contributes to the growing literature on climate change by examining the influence of local community drought levels on audit pricing within an Iranian context. Additionally, our study sheds light on how high-tech industries, auditor workload and the level of local community concern regarding the drought crisis moderate the relationship between drought and audit fees. Importantly, our study pioneers in providing mixed-methods evidence of the association between drought severity and audit fees.

This paper aims to examine the impact of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) on the academic business ethics literature with the intent of making this research more accessible to those researchers and practitioners working in business ethics and other related fields. Specifically, the authors outline the types and scope of SOX-related research, examine the extent of reliance on SOX, identify which theoretical frameworks and research approaches are used and point out under-researched areas.

Using a descriptive approach, the authors examine the theoretical perspectives, classifying these perspectives into four groupings (economics, ethics/moral, psychological and sociological). Using counts, categorization and content analyses, the authors provide an overview of 115 articles with further analysis provided for articles relying heavily (n = 14) or moderately (n = 42) on SOX.

Whistleblowing and codes of ethics are well-researched topics. However, employment of some theories (e.g. signaling theory and stakeholder theory) and qualitative approaches are used less often. Other under-researched issues in the sample include CEO/CFO certifications, cost of compliance, auditor disclosures and empirical investigation of SOX and auditor independence (or corporate culture).

The authors’ decision to use certain databases, search terms and research methods, and to focus on business ethics journals and English language articles are possible limitations.

The authors’ contributions comprise an examination of the scope of SOX topics and detailing how reliant the research is on SOX. The authors identify trends in this literature and provide evidence of the broad theoretical frameworks to better understand the breadth and depth of theories used.

In the intellectual capital (IC) literature, only a few studies have analyzed the relationships among the components of IC and organizational success. This study sets out to extend the current models to provide further insight into the role of IC in organizational performance.

The study provides a theoretical discussion designed to push the measurement of IC into a more rigorous and comprehensive domain.

As this is a theoretical paper, several hypotheses are presented for testing in the future.

Recognizing the most influential elements of IC on organizational performance would help organizations to understand better the organizational capabilities they possess. In addition, the suggested extension would enable researchers to use archival resources to do cross‐company comparisons.

The suggested extension to the VAIC model builds on several IC models that have not been well‐connected in the literature previously.