Don Lux, Vasant Raval and John Wingender
The purpose of this study is to examine whether executive compensation structure is a predictor of a value judgment shift facilitating fraud. The Raval (2018) disposition-based…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine whether executive compensation structure is a predictor of a value judgment shift facilitating fraud. The Raval (2018) disposition-based fraud model theorizes that in a fraud, a judgment shift occurs that results in an intentional action. Judgment shifts are influenced by intertemporal rewards, an executive compensation structure comprising salary (immediate reward) and delayed compensation in performance-based incentives.
Design/methodology/approach
Using an archival data set consisting of frauds identified through Securities and Exchange Commission Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Releases, the compensation structure of executives involved in frauds is compared against the compensation structure of executives in a peer control group.
Findings
There was a significant difference in the intertemporal rewards of the compensation structures between the two groups, indicating that compensation structure presents intertemporal choices leading to a judgment shift that influences the deliberate action of fraud.
Research limitations/implications
This study represents the first empirical test of the disposition-based fraud model using intertemporal rewards leading to judgment shift.
Practical implications
Executive compensation structure should reduce intertemporal rewards for executives reducing judgment shifts that can result in risk of fraud.
Originality/value
This study addresses how executive compensation structure can result in fraud.
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Kenneth Washer, Srinivas Nippani and John Wingender
The purpose of this paper is to examine the day‐of‐the‐week effect for three primary money market instruments in Canada. The sample period is 1980‐2009.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the day‐of‐the‐week effect for three primary money market instruments in Canada. The sample period is 1980‐2009.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use three approaches. First, a parametric t‐test is employed to determine if a particular day‐of‐the‐week mean return is significantly different from zero, using both a full sample and a trimmed sample. Next, the Wilcoxon signed ranked test is utilized to assess whether the median weekday return is different from zero for each day. Lastly, a binary regression model is used to test if Monday's mean return is different from other days.
Findings
The traditional Monday effect is prevalent in the 1980s for corporate paper and treasury bills (TB), but not for bankers acceptances (BA). In the 1990s, the Monday effect disappears completely. However, in the 2000s the Monday effect reappears, but is positive (it reverses) for both corporate paper and BA. The authors also find strong support for Wednesday being a high return day, which concurs with related money market studies.
Research limitations/implications
While the results are statistically significant, the economic significance is dubious. This study helps market participants in that it shows that they need to allow for distinct day‐of‐the‐week patterns when using yield spreads.
Practical implications
One practical implication for practitioners is to time purchases of Canadian money market securities for Monday when returns are low (relying on the results of the full sample period). Issuers should time sales for non‐Mondays when returns are higher and yields are lower.
Originality/value
This study is original in that it is the first one to analyze day‐of‐the‐week effects in the Canadian money market. The authors compare the results to studies that focus on the US market.
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The theory of finance is built around return and risk concepts and a basic tenet of finance is that there is a trade off between the risk and returns of assets. As such the…
Abstract
The theory of finance is built around return and risk concepts and a basic tenet of finance is that there is a trade off between the risk and returns of assets. As such the measurement of risk goes to the very core and foundation of the theory of finance. Given that the main theories of finance have been maturing over several decades of discussion and debate, one would imagine that a concept as fundamental as the measurement of risk would be a well settled issue by now. On the contrary, the recent finance literature shows ample evidence that risk measurement and risk concepts are drawing continued scrutiny from academic researchers. This is because there are several alternative, and competing ways in which risk can be conceived of and it is not clear which of the alternative concepts is most appropriate. Each concept of risk can be measured or estimated in several ways as well. Estimation methods can be diverse in their precision. Risk measurement can be further complicated by the fact that risk is not a static feature. Risk changes over time. Whether risk changes can be modelled satisfactorily is a major challenge taken up by researchers.
Night Sadress, Juma Bananuka, Laura Orobia and Julius Opiso
The purpose of this study was to investigate the contribution of attitude towards electronic tax system, adoption of electronic tax system and isomorphic forces to tax compliance…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to investigate the contribution of attitude towards electronic tax system, adoption of electronic tax system and isomorphic forces to tax compliance of small business enterprises (SBEs) in a developing country in a single study.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is cross-sectional and correlational. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey of 214 owner-managed SBEs in Uganda through their managers. Data were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences.
Findings
Attitude towards electronic tax system, adoption of electronic tax system and isomorphic forces significantly contribute to tax compliance to the extent of 57.4 per cent. Isomorphic forces have a high predictive power of tax compliance as compared with attitude towards electronic tax system. Further, coercive, normative and mimetic isomorphism as constructs of isomorphic forces are significantly associated with tax compliance.
Research limitations/implications
Given that this study was cross-sectional, monitoring changes in behaviour over time was not possible. The results are useful for policy makers and taxpayers in developing countries. These results can also be generalized to other developing countries especially those in Africa and other continents dominated by developing countries.
Originality/value
To the researchers’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine the contribution of attitude towards electronic tax system, adoption of electronic tax system and isomorphic forces to tax compliance of SBEs in a developing country in a single study on the African scene.
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Olusesan Ayodeji Makinde, Cheluchi Onyemelukwe, Abimbola Onigbanjo-Williams, Kolawole Azeez Oyediran and Clifford Obby Odimegwu
Achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls is the fifth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). This continues the effort of the third Millennium Development Goal…
Abstract
Purpose
Achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls is the fifth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). This continues the effort of the third Millennium Development Goal (MDG), which was “to promote gender equality and empower all women”. In Nigeria, a Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill had been under consideration in the Nigerian Senate since 2010 to be enacted as a Nigerian law as part of effort toward MDG 3. After six years, the Bill was voted out for “lack of merit”. The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical analysis of the outcome.
Design/methodology/approach
A review of this Bill and the authors’ perceptions of reasons for the decline are subsequently presented.
Findings
There were concerns based on the content of the Bill. It was agreed by members of the Nigerian Senate that the content of the Bill was not in line with the religious and cultural beliefs of most of the Nigerian population and thus, unworthy to be enacted as a Nigerian law.
Social implications
The review herein provides important analysis of the content of the declined Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill. It reflects the continued patriarchal norms and perception of the superiority of men over women in Nigeria.
Originality/value
The paper provides a bird-view analysis of an unsuccessful Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill in Nigeria. This information is needed for a review of the Bill ahead of possible re-presentation following modifications for discussion.
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Imran S. Currim, Jooseop Lim and Yu Zhang
This paper aims to address two unique and important questions. First, how do recessions directly affect firms’ marketing spending decisions? Second, and more importantly, do firms…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to address two unique and important questions. First, how do recessions directly affect firms’ marketing spending decisions? Second, and more importantly, do firms which are more committed to marketing spending through past recessions achieve better stock market returns?
Design/methodology/approach
This study is based on a combination of National Bureau of Economic Research, COMPUSTAT and Center for Research in Security Prices data on 6,000 firms between 1982 and 2009 which are analyzed using panel data-based regression models.
Findings
The authors find that firms cut marketing spending during recessions. However, firms committed to marketing spending during past recessions achieve better stock market returns. The findings are found to be robust across B2B and B2C industries, different periods and US firms which vary on the proportion of their global revenue from non-US sales.
Research limitations/implications
Top executives cut marketing budgets during recessions; however, if they can resist the pressures, and strategically continue to make marketing investments during recessions, they will achieve higher stock market returns.
Originality/value
This is the first paper to establish the longer-term (not short-term) positive stock market performance of continuous (not episodic) marketing spending through past recessions, i.e. the view that marketing spending is necessary (not discretionary) for stock returns.
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Langdon Holmes, Scott Crossley, Harshvardhan Sikka and Wesley Morris
This study aims to report on an automatic deidentification system for labeling and obfuscating personally identifiable information (PII) in student-generated text.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to report on an automatic deidentification system for labeling and obfuscating personally identifiable information (PII) in student-generated text.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors evaluate the performance of their deidentification system on two data sets of student-generated text. Each data set was human-annotated for PII. The authors evaluate using two approaches: per-token PII classification accuracy and a simulated reidentification attack design. In the reidentification attack, two reviewers attempted to recover student identities from the data after PII was obfuscated by the authors’ system. In both cases, results are reported in terms of recall and precision.
Findings
The authors’ deidentification system recalled 84% of student name tokens in their first data set (96% of full names). On the second data set, it achieved a recall of 74% for student name tokens (91% of full names) and 75% for all direct identifiers. After the second data set was obfuscated by the authors’ system, two reviewers attempted to recover the identities of students from the obfuscated data. They performed below chance, indicating that the obfuscated data presents a low identity disclosure risk.
Research limitations/implications
The two data sets used in this study are not representative of all forms of student-generated text, so further work is needed to evaluate performance on more data.
Practical implications
This paper presents an open-source and automatic deidentification system appropriate for student-generated text with technical explanations and evaluations of performance.
Originality/value
Previous study on text deidentification has shown success in the medical domain. This paper develops on these approaches and applies them to text in the educational domain.
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Ian Seymour Yeoman, Albert Postma and Stefan Hartman
A case study about the creation of four scenarios that were used to make sense of the fast-moving pace of COVID-19 and the consequences for New Zealand tourism.
Abstract
Purpose
A case study about the creation of four scenarios that were used to make sense of the fast-moving pace of COVID-19 and the consequences for New Zealand tourism.
Design/methodology/approach
Adapting global visitor economy scenarios, a set of New Zealand tourism scenarios were constructed using a “back of house Shell” method and were supplemented with an expert panel to test the reliability and validity of the scenarios.
Findings
The four scenarios constructed were based on two critical uncertainties, namely economic recession and the moral dilemma of the consumer. Four scenarios were portrayed using film and TV titles to help participants visualise the scenarios. Crazy Rich Asians: Recovery represented many of the attributes of tourism in New Zealand prior to COVID-19 i.e. a focus on high value tourists from Asia. Contagion: Survival of the Fittest represented the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic. This Side of Paradise: ReThinking Tourism focused on rebuilding tourism based upon the principles of sustainability. The Colony: Gated Communities represented fortress destinations trying to keep COVID-19 at bay. Each scenario portrayed several features including a unique narrative, tourism, the tourist, vision, strategy and risks. The paper highlighted the trade-offs and conflicts between the scenarios as COVID-19 unfolded in different directions.
Originality/value
In a fluid situation, the paper reminds readers of the value of scenarios as framing devices to understand the fast-moving pace of COVID-19 when New Zealand was in unchartered waters. Thus, this study highlights how a scenario-planning process builds resilience and foresight to help stakeholders and actors make sense of crisis situations.
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Lama Blaique, Ashly Pinnington and Hazem Aldabbas
The under-representation of women working in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) careers is a persistent problem worldwide. This dilemma is exacerbated by the…
Abstract
Purpose
The under-representation of women working in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) careers is a persistent problem worldwide. This dilemma is exacerbated by the fact that an insufficient number of women enroll in STEM studies, and a significant proportion of those who do join then opt out of their STEM careers at different points in their lives. The protean attitude emphasizes agentic individual control over one’s career, and thus offers women substantial potential for developing and enhancing career outcomes. Therefore, this study aims to investigate coping self-efficacy as an antecedent and career identity as a consequent of a protean attitude for women working in STEM.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a questionnaire survey, data were collected from 482 women working in STEM in the Middle East region. Multiple regression and bootstrapping methods were used in the analysis of the data.
Findings
The findings indicate that coping self-efficacy positively affects both protean attitude and career identity. The results also show that a protean attitude mediates the relationship between coping self-efficacy and career identity.
Practical implications
This research presents organizational management and government policy recommendations aimed at increasing the recruitment and retention of women in STEM careers.
Originality/value
The study addresses some of the main challenges related to identifying antecedents and outcomes of protean attitude.
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Doreen Musimenta, Stephen Korutaro Nkundabanyanga, Moses Muhwezi, Brenda Akankunda and Irene Nalukenge
The purpose of this paper is to establish the relationship between tax fairness, isomorphic forces, strategic responses and tax compliance in Ugandan small and medium enterprises…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to establish the relationship between tax fairness, isomorphic forces, strategic responses and tax compliance in Ugandan small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Design/methodology/approach
This is a correlational and cross-sectional study using two respondent types, the demand (represented by the tax collecting body respondents) and supply (represented by SME respondents) sides of tax compliance, to examine perceived tax compliance in Uganda’s SMEs.
Findings
Tax fairness, isomorphic forces and strategic responses have a predictive force on tax compliance. Significant mediation effects of tax fairness and also strategic responses are found. The two respondent types perceive the study variables differently – providing an understanding of why the tax compliance puzzle has remained a burgeoning concern. For example, the tax-collecting body respondents perceived more tax fairness than SME respondents, suggesting that perceived tax fairness depends on whose “lenses” you look through.
Research limitations/implications
Rather than focussing only on the importance of the rational analytical deliberation of tax fairness by taxpayers in influencing their tax compliance, the current paper shows that in addition, isomorphic forces and strategic responses establish the basis for understanding taxpayers’ compliance.
Originality/value
The methodology that enlists two respondent types, i.e. the supply side of tax compliance and the demand side of tax compliance, probably offers a unique way of deriving better results than previous studies.