Brendan Thomas O'Connell, Paul De Lange, Ann Martin-Sardesai and Gloria Agyemang
The purpose of this paper is to examine prominent issues and knowledge contributions from research exploring measurement and assessment of accounting research, impact and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine prominent issues and knowledge contributions from research exploring measurement and assessment of accounting research, impact and engagement. This paper also provides an overview of the other papers presented in this AAAJ Special Issue and draws from their findings to scope out future impactful research opportunities in this area.
Design/methodology/approach
Consists of a review and examination of the prior literature and the other papers published in this AAAJ Special Issue.
Findings
The paper identifies and summarises three key research themes in the extant literature: research productivity of accounting academics; the rise of the “Corporate University” and commodification of research; and, the benefits and limitations of Research Assessment Exercises. It draws upon work within these research themes to set out four broad areas for future impactful research.
Research limitations/implications
The value of this paper rests with collating and synthesising several important research themes on the nature and impact of measurement and assessment of accounting research, impact and engagement, and in prompting future extensions of this work through setting out areas for further innovative research in the area.
Practical implications
The research examined in this paper and the future research avenues proposed are highly relevant to university academics, administrators and regulators/policymakers. They also offer important insights into matters of accounting measurement, accountability, and control more generally.
Originality/value
This paper adds to vibrant existing streams of research in the area by bringing together authors from different areas of accounting research for this AAAJ Special Issue. In scoping out an agenda for impactful research in the nature and impact of measurement and assessment of accounting research, impact and engagement, this paper also draws attention to underexplored issues pertaining to areas such as the “lived experience” of academics in the corporatised university and envisioning what a future “optimal” system of measurement and assessment of research quality might look like?
Details
Keywords
Brendan T. O'Connell, Paul De Lange, Greg Stoner and Alan Sangster
The overall aim of this paper was to examine the impact of the Australian research assessment exercise on the research approaches (positivist/non-positivist) favoured by…
Abstract
Purpose
The overall aim of this paper was to examine the impact of the Australian research assessment exercise on the research approaches (positivist/non-positivist) favoured by accounting disciplines in Australia. Our key research question examined how the outputs and foci of research in elite accounting disciplines changed over a 16-year period. Our analysis was informed by Bourdieu's notions of academic elitism and symbolic violence.
Design/methodology/approach
We analysed all papers published in 20 major accounting journals across a 16-year period by Australian accounting disciplines that were highly rated in the research assessment exercise. We also compared our results from this group against two case study accounting disciplines that were not rated as “world class”.
Findings
Our key finding is that the introduction of a research assessment exercise in Australia has resulted in research outputs of elite accounting disciplines over this period being increasingly focused on positivist rather than non-positivist research. Our findings evidence a narrowing of accounting disciplines' research agendas and foci across the period.
Research limitations/implications
Our findings highlight a considerable narrowing of the research agenda and paradigms in accounting disciplines that is not in the public interest. Our findings also have implications for the literature on academic elitism. The narrowing of the research agenda and greater foci on positivist research exhibited in our findings demonstrates the role of dominant elites in controlling the research agenda through a research assessment exercise.
Practical implications
A practical implication is that proper research, regardless of the approach used, must be appropriately recognised and accepted by Accounting Disciplines, not ostracised or discouraged. Research implications are the breadth of accounting research should be celebrated and concentration eschewed. Australian accounting discipline leaders should not fall for the illusion that the only good research is that which is published in a small number of North American positivist journals.
Originality/value
Our findings provide insights into Bourdieu's work through demonstrating how dominant players have successfully exploited an external regulatory mechanism, a research assessment exercise, to strengthen their position within a field and exert control over the research agendas of accounting disciplines. Previous work by Bourdieu has not directly examined how actors utilise these outside forces as instruments for shaping their own field.
Details
Keywords
This book was written across a period of intense turmoil and change in higher education in Australia and England. We are deeply unsettled by these changes and wish to open up the…
Abstract
This book was written across a period of intense turmoil and change in higher education in Australia and England. We are deeply unsettled by these changes and wish to open up the discussion about what it means to be an academic and engage in academic work in the 21st century. Accordingly, each of the authors has nominated a theme or lens through which to examine the changes, tensions and uncertainties that have erupted in higher education. Thus, we offer this book as a constellation of ideas that traverse a number of aspects of our work and identities as academics. The overlap between these ideas is deliberate so that the multiple and complex challenges that underpin the higher education landscape can be examined.
Ilia Bider, Martin Henkel, Stewart Kowalski and Erik Perjons
This paper aims to report on a project aimed at using simulation for improving the quality of teaching and learning modeling skills. More specifically, the project goal was to…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to report on a project aimed at using simulation for improving the quality of teaching and learning modeling skills. More specifically, the project goal was to facilitate the students to acquire skills of building models of organizational structure and behavior through analysis of internal and external documents, and interviews with employees and management. An important skill that practitioners in the information systems field need to possess is the skill of modeling information systems. The main problem with acquiring modeling skills is to learn how to extract knowledge from the unstructured reality of business life.
Design/methodology/approach
To achieve the goal, a solution was introduced in the form of a computerized environment utilizing multimedia to simulate a case of an apprenticeship situation. The paper gives an overview of the problem that the solution addresses, presents the solution and reports on the trial completed in a first-year undergraduate course at Stockholm University.
Findings
The results of the trial indicate that using rich multimedia along with a case-based learning approach did improve the overall performance of the students. It was also shown that both students’ and the teachers’ attitudes toward the solution were positive.
Originality/value
The solution presented in this paper, using computer simulation in teaching/learning by focusing on an apprenticeship situation, can be reused by other university teachers, especially in the Information Systems discipline. This solution can thus be used in teaching, system design, requirements engineering, business analysis and other courses typical for information systems.
Details
Keywords
Prajowal Manandhar, Prashanth Reddy Marpu and Zeyar Aung
We make use of the Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) data to extract the total extent of the roads using remote sensing images. VGI data is often provided only as vector…
Abstract
We make use of the Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) data to extract the total extent of the roads using remote sensing images. VGI data is often provided only as vector data represented by lines and not as full extent. Also, high geolocation accuracy is not guaranteed and it is common to observe misalignment with the target road segments by several pixels on the images. In this work, we use the prior information provided by the VGI and extract the full road extent even if there is significant mis-registration between the VGI and the image. The method consists of image segmentation and traversal of multiple agents along available VGI information. First, we perform image segmentation, and then we traverse through the fragmented road segments using autonomous agents to obtain a complete road map in a semi-automatic way once the seed-points are defined. The road center-line in the VGI guides the process and allows us to discover and extract the full extent of the road network based on the image data. The results demonstrate the validity and good performance of the proposed method for road extraction that reflects the actual road width despite the presence of disturbances such as shadows, cars and trees which shows the efficiency of the fusion of the VGI and satellite images.
Details
Keywords
Zhijun Chen and Li Zheng
The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of subsidiary autonomy on subsidiary performance under uncertainty. Based on previous studies, the authors classify…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of subsidiary autonomy on subsidiary performance under uncertainty. Based on previous studies, the authors classify subsidiary autonomy into two categories, namely, strategic autonomy and operational autonomy, and investigate the relationships between these two categories of subsidiary autonomy and subsidiary performance under uncertainty.
Design/methodology/approach
The sample includes the subsidiaries listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges in China from 2012 to 2015. Ordinary least squares are used to examine the hypotheses.
Findings
The results indicate that strategic autonomy is negatively related to subsidiary performance, whereas operational autonomy is positively associated with subsidiary performance. Moreover, uncertainty weakens the negative strategic autonomy-subsidiary performance linkage.
Originality/value
The findings of this study indicate that two categories of subsidiary autonomy (strategic autonomy, operational autonomy) have different effects on subsidiary performance. Moreover, uncertainty moderates the above relationships. This study explores the relationship between subsidiary autonomy and subsidiary performance and provides a useful guidance for the selection of subsidiaries’ management modes.
Details
Keywords
Chemical warfare: ACS fires back at Dialog The American Chemical Society (ACS) has finally answered Dialog's $150 mil‐lion lawsuit against it with a countersuit and accusations…
Abstract
Chemical warfare: ACS fires back at Dialog The American Chemical Society (ACS) has finally answered Dialog's $150 mil‐lion lawsuit against it with a countersuit and accusations that Dialog defrauded it of $10 million in royalties. ACS seeks an additional $30 million for punitive damages and asked the courts to insist on a formal audit of Dialog's payments.
Mahtab Athari, Atsuyuki Naka and Abdullah Noman
This paper aims to achieve two main objectives. The first is to introduce a suitable adjustment to the conventional dividend-price ratio, which would address econometric concerns…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to achieve two main objectives. The first is to introduce a suitable adjustment to the conventional dividend-price ratio, which would address econometric concerns and improve the predictability of the equity premium. The second is to compare the predictive performance of the newly introduced adjusted dividend-price ratio with the conventional dividend-price ratio.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors hypothesize that the adjusted dividend-price ratio will have better predictive power and forecasting quality for equity premium compared to the conventional dividend-price ratio. To test the hypothesis, the authors predict equity premium with both variables on a sample of 11 developed and emerging market indexes over a period spanning June 1995 to March 2017. To accommodate time variation in parameter values or structural breaks in the data, the authors conducted a fixed window rolling regressions using both variables. A variety of forecast techniques including magnitude and sign accuracy measures are applied to compare the performance of forecasts.
Findings
The adjusted dividend-price ratio is shown to be stationary and has both lower persistence and variability compared with the conventional dividend-price ratio. The authors find that the adjusted dividend-price ratio provides superior out-of-sample (OOS) performance compared to the conventional dividend-price ratio, for both size and sign accuracy, in forecasting equity premium for the majority of the countries in the sample.
Research limitations/implications
This paper introduces an easy-to-follow modification in the conventional dividend-price ratio that can be replicated by researchers and practitioners alike. However, the study has a limitation in that it does not capture the impact of dividend-paying firms within each index on the predictive ability of the adjusted dividend-price ratio.
Practical implications
The knowledge of equity premium predictability is important in implementing market-timing strategies and could be beneficial for portfolio and risk management. The newly introduced variable is easy to construct using widely available data without the need for complex econometric estimation. Investors can use this variable to predict equity premiums in international markets, both developed and emerging. The findings of this paper will be relevant to financial analysts, portfolio managers, investors and researchers in international finance. For example, by using the adjusted dividend-price ratio, investors would see up to 0.5% improvement in their OOS monthly forecasts of the equity premium.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper that proposes adjustment in the conventional dividend-price ratio based on the past observations of the most recent quarter. In this way, the paper offers fresh insight that dividend-price ratio is still useful to predict equity premium albeit, after some adjustments and modifications. The findings of the paper would result in renewed interest in using the dividend-price ratio as a predictor of the equity premium.
Details
Keywords
Abdelmonem Oueslati and Yacine Hammami
This paper aims to investigate the performance of various return forecasting variables and methods in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia. The authors document that market excess returns in…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the performance of various return forecasting variables and methods in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia. The authors document that market excess returns in Saudi Arabia are predicted by changes in oil prices, the dividend yield and inflation, whereas the equity premium in Malaysia is predicted only by the US market excess returns. In both countries, the authors find that the diffusion index is the best forecasting method and stock return predictability is stronger in expansions than in recessions. To interpret the findings, the authors perform two tests. The empirical results suggest irrational pricing in Malaysia and rationally time-varying expected returns in Saudi Arabia.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors apply the state-of-the-art in-sample and out-of-sample forecasting techniques to predict stock returns in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.
Findings
The Saudi equity premium is predicted by oil prices, dividend yield and inflation. The Malaysian equity premium is predicted by the US market excess returns. In both countries, the authors find that the diffusion index is the best forecasting method. In both countries, predictability is stronger in expansions than in recessions. The tests suggest irrational pricing in Malaysia and rationality in Saudi Arabia.
Practical implications
The empirical results have some practical implications. The fact that stock returns are predictable in Saudi Arabia makes it possible for policymakers to better evaluate future business conditions, and thus to take appropriate decisions regarding economic and monetary policy. In Malaysia, the results of this study have interesting implications for portfolio management. The fact that the Malaysian market seems to be inefficient suggests the presence of strong opportunities for sophisticated investors, such as hedge and mutual funds.
Originality/value
First, there are no papers that have studied the return predictability in Saudi Arabia in spite of its importance as an emerging market. Second, the methods that combine all predictive variables such as the diffusion index or the kitchen sink methods have not been implemented in emerging markets. Third, this paper is the first study to deal with time-varying short-horizon predictability in emerging countries.
Details
Keywords
I review the burgeoning literature on applications of Markov regime switching models in empirical finance. In particular, distinct attention is devoted to the ability of Markov…
Abstract
I review the burgeoning literature on applications of Markov regime switching models in empirical finance. In particular, distinct attention is devoted to the ability of Markov Switching models to fit the data, filter unknown regimes and states on the basis of the data, to allow a powerful tool to test hypotheses formulated in light of financial theories, and to their forecasting performance with reference to both point and density predictions. The review covers papers concerning a multiplicity of sub-fields in financial economics, ranging from empirical analyses of stock returns, the term structure of default-free interest rates, the dynamics of exchange rates, as well as the joint process of stock and bond returns.