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Typhoon Hato attacked Macau in August 2017 and had caused fatalities and extensive damages. This study aims to analyze the reactions of the city’s six casinos after the natural disaster from the perspective of corporate social responsibility (CSR), with particular emphasis on finding out which stakeholders had they directed their support mostly.

Qualitative content analyses of press releases, social media, company reports and websites of the casinos in relation to the disaster and their CSR activities were conducted and examined in depth. Furthermore, triangulation of the qualitative data was achieved with quantitative data through a regression analysis.

It was found that most of the casinos’ activities were delivered in the forms of donations, rebuilding the community, supporting staffs and calling for volunteer work, thus largely targeting on the community and employees.

The study serves as a practical lesson for the casino operators to better plan and implement risk and reputational management and to better proliferate their socially responsible side of the gaming business to the public. It also helps casinos to ponder upon better crisis management methods so as to attain sustainability of the industry itself.

The study explains the CSR activities of casinos, which are in a controversial industry, and attempts to explore why do they engage in CSR. It can be seen that the wrestle between social pressure and voluntarism will eventually institutionalize casinos and other controversial businesses in promoting more CSR in various aspects.

Combining some established institutional and socio-psychological theories, including the theory of planned behavior and the theory of regret regulation, the current work serves as an exploratory study to look into how and why Macau’s leading industry reacts in response to a natural disaster through CSR.

There is currently a host of measurements of corporate social performance (MCSPs) each with its own individual merits and concerns. This paper aims to bring new insights into measuring corporate social performance (CSP) by advocating the use of a complementary indicator known as the social contribution value per share (SCVPS) developed by the Shanghai Stock Exchange in China.

A three-dimensional model is built to dissect the theoretical foundation of SCVPS. Next, this paper undertakes an extensive literature review of the criteria and methodologies which SCVPS relies upon to assess a firm’s social performance. Then SCVPS is critically compared with other commonly used MCSPs from different angles.

This paper highlights the major limitations of some MCSPs, namely, the lack of transparency, selection biases and the exclusion of controversial industries. It is suggested that SCVPS is worthy to be considered as a complementary indicator for CSP given its innovativeness, standardization and practicability.

The authors argue that there is great theoretical and practical significance for firms to set per-share social contribution indicators using SCVPS on a global basis, which helps to enrich decision-making processes when combined with other MCSPs.

This paper suggests SCVPS as a complementary indicator of social performance and anatomizes this choice indicator with other MCSPs in terms of their theoretical underpinnings, practical applications and probable deficiencies.

Existing research on stock price manipulation driven by equity incentives has mainly focused on earnings management, without considering other potential manipulation methods. Therefore, we examine whether management engages in tone management during earnings communication conference following equity incentives.

Using Chinese A-share listed companies from 2006 to June 2023 as the sample, we explore the impact mechanism of equity incentives on the tone of earnings communication conference.

Equity incentives are found to increase abnormal tone in earnings communication conferences. The characteristics of equity incentives themselves affect tone management. For instance, equity incentives based on stock options, as well as those within the exercise feasibility year, have a more pronounced effect on facilitating tone management. The mechanisms through which equity incentives affect different tones vary: the increase in positive tone is associated with improved financial performance, while the increase in abnormal tone is linked to executives reducing their holdings to obtain cash. Further discussions reveal that the impact of equity incentives on abnormal tone is weaker when there is a higher degree of real or accrual-based earnings management, suggesting a possible substitution relationship between earnings management and abnormal tone. Additionally, when a company experiences low investment efficiency, high executive compensation and a lower proportion of negative news coverage in the external information environment, the impact of equity incentives on abnormal tone becomes more pronounced.

Our study primarily focuses on conducting exploratory research into the mechanism, purpose, timing and alternative selection of tone management in the year following the grant of equity incentives. We have not provided a detailed theoretical explanation regarding the transmission channels or mechanisms through which tone management affects investor sentiment and trading behavior.

We provide valuable insights for identifying the quality of information disclosure in earnings communication conference.

We clarify the mechanism of equity incentives on management’s tone, reveals the timing preferences of tone management during the earnings communication conference.

This study conducts a systematic review of research on restaurant menus and uses a detailed analytical framework to examine how these menus are developed. It incorporates insights from the multi-level perspective (MLP) and signaling theory (ST) to provide a thorough and nuanced analysis of the factors that influence menu design.

This study scrutinizes 120 peer-reviewed articles published from 2004 to 2023 at A or A* journals, as classified by the Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC). Following a comprehensive analytical framework, it endeavors to delve into the intricate complexities of menu research, giving particular emphasis to the latest trends and developments. Two tools, namely CiteSpace and VOSviewer, were utilized to perform a thorough bibliometric analysis of the publications.

This study explores menu design from macro, meso and micro perspectives, illustrating that menus are more than simple lists of food items. Instead, they are shaped by societal norms, values, market dynamics, industry standards and consumer preferences. It underscores the vital role of menu as a communication and management tool in engaging consumers and influencing their dining choices and decisions.

This study represents the pioneering effort to incorporate the MLP and ST into the realm of menu research, providing a novel approach to the systematic review of related literature. It offers a distinctive macro-level theoretical perspective on menu dynamics, providing insights that are relevant to industry professionals, policymakers, academics and the public.

This paper aims to explore factors affecting young consumers’ purchasing of new smart products under the influence of social media.

Twenty semi-structured, face-to-face, in-depth interviews were conducted with young consumers who used new media, and five extended interviews were conducted with popular smartwatch retailers in Macau.

The findings reveal that they tend to garner product information from multiple channels of communication. Social media exert the greatest influence. Reliable information, strong branding and interactions with vendors are also influential, although new product pre-announcements may be boring and difficult to understand.

This study presents new insights into diffusion of innovation theory and provides retailers launching smart products with a better understanding of their target young customers’ purchasing behavior.

The major shareholders may try to manipulate the stock price for tunneling after share lockup expiration, but the earlier studies focus on earnings management and do not consider other potential manipulation methods. Therefore, we explore the tone management of earnings communication conferences.

We take the China A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges from 2007 to 2021 as our sample to examine how, why and when share lockup expiration of major shareholders affects tone management of earnings communication conference.

Firms tend to engage in tone management in earnings communication conferences when the lockup expires by increasing the optimism of the tone and decreasing the similarity between the responses and questions. The purpose of tone management is not for share reduction, but rather for improving market performance and better share pledge. The effect of share lockup expiration is weaker when the firm engages in real or accrual-based earnings management, and when the firm keeps higher accounting conservatism. In addition, in companies at growth and maturity stages, where executive compensation is high, institutional investor ownership is low and the controlling shareholder is a non-state-owned enterprise, the impact of share lockup expiration on the tone management becomes more pronounced.

Our study reveals the ways and purposes of tone management when share lockup expires, shows the timing preferences of tone management and helps identify the quality of information disclosure in earnings communication conferences, enriching the research on tone management and market value management.

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of venture capital (VC) in supporting corporate growth and innovation through participation in private placements. While VC provides essential financial support to companies, it remains unclear whether this involvement serves a strategic investment role or a purely financial one. This study seeks to elucidate the role of VC by analyzing changes in the price discount of private placements following VC participation.

The authors take the private placement events of China A share listed companies from April 2005 to January 2023 as the sample, and examine the influence of VC subscriptions on price discount rate.

VC subscriptions to private placements increase information asymmetry, consequently raising the discount rate. This relationship is influenced by the transaction characteristics and information environment. Specifically, VC subscriptions further elevate the discount rate when VC are geographically dispersed from the issuers, possess industry expertise in the issuers’ sector, allocate raised funds for asset restructuring or non-digital investments and when the issuers are in their growth stages. Moreover, the positive correlation between VC subscriptions and the discount rate is more pronounced under conditions of lower internal control quality and weaker external media supervision. Higher discount rates in VC-subscribed private placements result in lower R&D investment and investment efficiency by the issuers, leading to larger-scale VC sell-offs and ultimately diminishing the market and financial performance of the issuers.

The issuers should diligently assess the behaviors and motives of VC and selectively choose issuance targets and methods to manage risks associated with price deviations in private placements. Additionally, this study recommends that regulatory authorities develop a more detailed regulatory framework that considers transaction characteristics and the information environment. This strategy should help optimize external regulatory measures like media coverage and protect the interests of small and medium-sized investors.

This study extends research on the “name chasing” motive and certification effect of VC in private placements, enriches the literature on the mechanisms forming discount rates and provides insights for refining regulatory policies on private placements.

This study aims to examine management attitude and awareness towards green logistics, explores the external conditions that drive and restrict its positive behaviour, investigates the level of its adoption amongst logistics service providers (LSPs) and determines the major barriers affecting its application in the industry.

This research investigates the key decision-making process on green logistics attitude and behaviour through in-depth interviews and thematic analysis.

This study explores both institutional and individual-level attitudes/awareness. Then, the driving and restraining forces and the challenges that influence the industry’s adoption of green initiatives are determined. Finally, this study constructs a framework following a behavioural driving route with interactions among green “attitude”, sustainable “subjective norms”, “behavioural control” and “external context” factors.

Findings can enlighten the practitioners who are struggling to adopt the green or low-carbon practice and provide valuable insights and constructive advice to LSPs and their stakeholders.

Findings can draw the government and policy-makers’ attention to provide necessary financial or non-financial support for the practitioners to improve their green operations.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first attempts to adopt the hybrid theoretical lens on the green behaviour of the logistics industry. New insights are added to existing environmental management literature with a wider understanding and deeper investigation of the decision-making on green logistics in the industry. The theoretical framework in this study can offer future applications to a relevant large-scale study.

While the COVID-19 virus has been spreading worldwide, some studies have related the pandemic with various aspects of accounting and therefore emphasized the importance of accounting research in understanding the impact of COVID-19 on society as a whole. Recent studies have looked into such an impact on various industries such as retail and agriculture. The current study aims at applying a sociological framework, sociology of worth (SOW), to the gaming industry in Macau, the largest operator of state-allowed gambling and entertainment in China, which will allow for its development during the COVID-19 pandemic to be charted.

The study uses the theory of SOW as a framework and collects data from various sources, such as the government, gaming operators and the public, to create timelines and SOW frameworks to analyze the impact of the virus on the gaming industry and the society as a whole.

Detailed content analysis and the creation of different SOW matrices determined that the notion of a “lonely economy” during a time of a critical event may be ameliorated in the long term through compromises of the different worlds and actors of the SOW.

Though largely theory-based, this study offers a thorough account of the COVID-19 incident for both the government and the gaming industry to reflect on and to consider new ways to fight against degrowth caused by disasters or crises.

The SOW framework divides society into different worlds of different worths. The current study shows how the worths of the different worlds are congruent during normal periods, and how cracks appear between them when a sudden crisis, such as COVID-19, occurs. The article serves as a social account of how these cracks are formed and how could they be resolved through compromise and reconstruction.

This study is a first attempt to apply SOW to a controversial industry (gaming) while the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are ongoing. It offers a significant contribution to the social accounting literature through its consideration of the combination of unprecedented factors in a well-timed study that pays close attention to analyses and theoretical elaboration.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between corporate social contribution measures and investors’ reaction under the effect of corporate governance for firms listed in China, the largest emerging economy in the world. Corporate social contribution is examined from an informative perspective by using a financial indicator – social contribution value per share (SCVPS) brought up by the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2008.

Data are obtained from two channels: financial information during 2007-2015 generated from database and social accounting information manually collected from the 2007-2015 annual reports and social reports.

It is predicted that investors’ reaction toward corporate social contribution becomes stronger for companies with higher corporate governance quality.

This paper is one of the first to use Chinese SCVPS data to indicate the informativeness of social contribution toward firm value. It can serve as a valuable reference to both investors and companies in terms of the issue of social contribution.

The study highlights the importance of social contribution on firm value by using an empirical approach in the Chinese market. The study can be used as a reference for many other developing countries in the world.

The findings of this study can provide guidance to investors on how to evaluate a firm’s social performance and encourage companies to improve the transparency of their social reporting, as well as the quality of corporate governance.