Haidar Abbas, Mohd Mehdi, Imran Azad and Guilherme F. Frederico
This study endeavours to (a) develop a comprehensive interpretive structural modelling (ISM) toolkit containing sufficient details about the suitability and procedural aspects of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study endeavours to (a) develop a comprehensive interpretive structural modelling (ISM) toolkit containing sufficient details about the suitability and procedural aspects of each ISM approach and offer points of reference for budding researchers, (b) highlight the compatibility of ISM approaches with other qualitative and quantitative approaches, and (c) chalk-out an agenda for future research.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is based on an extensive review of 74 studies where researchers have used one or more ISM approaches. These studies span across the different industry sectors.
Findings
There exists a huge void in terms of the methodological synthesis of ISM approaches. ISM approaches are frequently used in sync with other qualitative and quantitative approaches. Furthermore, it highlights the need of improving the robustness of the proposed ISM models by sharing the critical details of research process.
Research limitations/implications
Being a review-based work, it could not illustrate the discussed ISM approaches with real data. However, it offers a research agenda for the prospective researchers.
Practical implications
The prerequisites, pitfalls, suitability and the procedural aspects of various ISM approaches contained in this toolkit are equally useful for the academicians as well as practitioners.
Originality/value
In the absence of a synthesized framework, this study contributes a comprehensive ISM toolkit which will help the researchers to choose a suitable ISM approach in a given case.
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Ahmad Abdollahi, Yasser Rezaei Pitenoei and Mehdi Safari Gerayli
The present study sets out to examine the effect of auditor's report and audit firm size on the value relevance of accounting information of the companies listed on the Tehran…
Abstract
Purpose
The present study sets out to examine the effect of auditor's report and audit firm size on the value relevance of accounting information of the companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange during the years 2008–2017.
Design/methodology/approach
The study includes a sample of 1,530 firm-year observations drawn from the listed companies, and the research hypotheses were analyzed using multivariate regression model based on panel data.
Findings
The findings reveal that auditor's report and audit firm size are positively and significantly correlated with two indicators of the value relevance of accounting information including value relevance of earnings and book value per share. Also our results exhibit robustness to the alternative measure of auditor's attributes.
Research limitations/implications
As far as we know, this is the first study to analyze the association between auditor's attributes and value relevance of accounting information in emerging capital markets, thereby generating certain implications for investors, managers, capital market policy makers and audit profession regulators in general and those in emerging markets in particular.
Practical implications
Our findings have implications for policy makers, regulators, managers and investors. Our evidence on the positive association between auditor's size and value relevance of accounting information should help policy makers and regulators which they improve value relevance of accounting information and financial reporting by integrating small audit firms and setting up larger audit firms.
Originality/value
A rise in the value relevance of accounting information deserves further attention while drawing investment, selling the stocks of existing firms and increasing investor's decision-making ability. The way how auditor's attributes can promote the value relevance of accounting information is still open to new research.
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Amin Sarlak, Mehdi Khodakarami, Reza Hesarzadeh, Jamal A. Nazari and Fatemeh Taghimolla
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…
Abstract
Purpose
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.
Design/methodology/approach
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.
Findings
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.
Originality/value
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.
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Mehdi Safari Gerayli, Yasser Rezaei Pitenoei and Ahmad Abdollahi
The purpose of this study is to investigate the association between certain audit committee characteristics like independence and financial expertise with financial reporting…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the association between certain audit committee characteristics like independence and financial expertise with financial reporting quality (FRQ) of the firms listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE).
Design/methodology/approach
The sample includes the 558 firm-year observations from companies listed on the TSE during the years 2012–2017, and the study’s hypotheses were tested using multivariate regression model based on panel data.
Findings
The authors find that audit committee independence has no significant effect on corporate FRQ, whereas audit committee's financial expertise significantly improves firms' FRQ. In other words, higher financial expertise of an audit committee can lead to an increase in its FRQ. The findings of the study are robust to alternate measures of FRQ, individual analysis of the research hypotheses for each year and endogeneity problem.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to analyze the association between audit committee characteristics and FRQ in emerging capital markets, and so, the findings of the study not only extend the extant theoretical literature concerning the audit committee in developing countries including emerging capital market of Iran but also help investors, managers, capital market regulators, policymakers and audit profession regulators to make informed decisions.
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Saim Nor Jana, Mehdi Ghazinour and Jörg Richter
There is a dearth of research on unwed young pregnant Malaysian women and mothers’ coping strategy and resilience in the context of limited social support they received. Hence…
Abstract
Purpose
There is a dearth of research on unwed young pregnant Malaysian women and mothers’ coping strategy and resilience in the context of limited social support they received. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the prediction of mental health by coping, social support, and resilience among unwed young Malaysian pregnant women and mothers.
Design/methodology/approach
Quantitative data of two assessments from respondents aged 11 to 32 years during their stay in shelter homes have been analyzed.
Findings
The result from the longitudinal study found that the variability in mental health scores could be explained between 14 percent for depressive-behavioral symptoms and 36 percent for general health. The mental health scores from the first assessment were part of the regression equation with the highest standardized β scores. Cross-sectional, the variance in the three independent variable sets explained between 6 percent (general health) and 23 percent (cognitive depressive symptoms) of the variance in the various mental health scores with different variables of significant standardized β scores in the regression equation. The study also found there were no significant changes in social support, resilience and coping between the first and second assessments even if the respondents had been in the shelter homes for a period of time.
Originality/value
The study highlighted the issue of mental health among Malaysian unwed mothers during residential periods in shelter homes. As the subject of unwed mothers is considered taboo, their rights are often deprived or overlooked.
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Yasser Rezaei Pitenoei, Mehdi Safari Gerayli and Ahmad Abdollahi
The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between financial reporting quality and information environment (IE) in firms listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between financial reporting quality and information environment (IE) in firms listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE).
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, composite measures were used as the proxy to measure financial reporting quality and IE. In this regard, a sample of 1,490 firm-year observations of the firms listed on the TSE during the years 2008 to 2017 and a multivariate regression model was used to examine the research hypothesis.
Findings
Findings indicate that financial reporting quality has a positive relationship with firms’ IE. This result is robust to the alternate measure of financial reporting quality and endogeneity problem.
Originality/value
The present study is the first study to develop a composite measure for the firms’ IE in the Iranian capital market. As a result, it not only expands the theoretical literature on the firms’ IE but also helps policymakers, regulators, investors and financial reporting users make informed decisions.
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Mehdi Kallantary, Hassan Valiyan, Mohammadreza Abdoli and Maryam Shahri
This article aims to contribute to the accounting knowledge literature by presenting the framework of creative accounting factors and evaluating their identified factors through…
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to contribute to the accounting knowledge literature by presenting the framework of creative accounting factors and evaluating their identified factors through an argumentation-based total interpretive structural modeling (TISM) approach.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopted mixed, inductive and deductive approaches to develop an integrated framework, validate its practicability and verify its effectiveness in selected manufacturing firms listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE), respectively. In developing the framework and implementation procedure, the study employed an exploratory data collection (qualitative) approach to review the phenomenon of creative accounting factors. Then, in this study’s second phase, TISM is used to develop the framework of creative accounting design. This study used two types of theoretical sampling in the qualitative part, including theoretical and snowball sampling. Also, the participants in the TISM process in this study were specialized analysts of the TSE.
Findings
Based on the mixed method of this study, the result in the qualitative part provides the creative accounting framework of the existence of three categories. There are 6 components and 35 themes during 12 interviews. In the quantitative section, it was determined that two factors, namely the type of ownership firms and intrinsic objectivity, are the most effective drivers for the formation of creative accounting in TSE firms.
Originality/value
So far, it is rare to find preceding studies that have proposed, validated and practically tested an integrated creative accounting framework within the context of financial markets. Thus, the authors understand that this is the very first research focused on the development of a framework for capital market companies to continuously be competitive and could help financial decision-makers, practitioners and academicians in their perception of knowing more about the financial functions of firms.
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Hossein Abdolmaleki, Sardar Mohammadi, Mehdi Babaei, Behzad Soheili, Geoff Dickson and Dan Funk
This study aims to investigate drivers of co-branding, and the relative strength of these drivers within the Persian Gulf Pro League (PGPL). The study examines sport sponsorship…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate drivers of co-branding, and the relative strength of these drivers within the Persian Gulf Pro League (PGPL). The study examines sport sponsorship, and specifically the relationship between professional football teams and on-field apparel sponsors.
Design/methodology/approach
Sixteen experts participated in semi-structured interviews and ranked the co-branding drivers. The expert opinions were organized into estimates and triangular fuzzy numbers were established before the Mamdani Fuzzy Inference System converted the fuzzy outputs into crisp output values using the Centroid method. Next, the rankings of the drivers by the same 16 participants were analyzed using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP).
Findings
The study identified four main factors with 19 indicators: brand management (i.e. enhancing brand value, utilizing the knowledge and experience of partner brands, brand position, brand identity, brand equity and brand image), partner relationships (i.e. satisfaction, mutual trust, commitment, common interest, product reliability and innovative strategies), marketing factors (i.e. marketing mix, market position, competitive advantage and entry into new domestic markets) and supporting factors (i.e. copyright, contracts and social media law). The AHP identified the most influential factors as marketing, partner relationships, brand management and support.
Originality/value
Based on the study’s findings, the authors recommend that PGPL teams adopt a partnership mindset, seek alignment of values and recognize the plurality of stakeholders to a sponsorship and their relationships to each other. The study highlights the challenges of co-branding activities in a developing country where trademark laws are not well developed.
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Hojat Mohammadi, Mahdi Salehi, Meysam Arabzadeh and Hassan Ghodrati
This paper aims to assess auditor narcissism’s effect on audit market competition (auditor concentration, clients’ concentration and competitive pressure).
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to assess auditor narcissism’s effect on audit market competition (auditor concentration, clients’ concentration and competitive pressure).
Design/methodology/approach
This paper’s method is descriptive-correlational based on published information from listed firms on the Tehran Stock Exchange from 2012 to 2018 using a sample of 188 firms (1,310 observations). The method used for hypothesis testing is linear regression using panel data.
Findings
The results show a negative and significant relationship between auditor narcissism and audit market competition and its indices, including auditor concentration, clients’ concentration and competitive pressure. Moreover, a positive and significant relationship was observed between audit quality and audit market competition and its indices, including auditor concentration, client concentration and competitive pressure.
Originality/value
To analyzes competition indices in the audit market (auditor concentration, clients’ concentration and competitive pressure). The variable is assessed once more using the exploratory factor analysis of the so-called three variables single variable, named audit market competition. So the central question of the study is investigated within a broader sense. Moreover, as the present study is carried out in the emergent financial markets with extremely competitive audit markets to figure out the effect of auditors’ intrinsic characteristics on such markets’ competitiveness, it can provide useful information in this field.
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Mahdi Salehi and Fatemeh Norouzi
This study aims to assess the effect of corporate lobbying power on fraud and money laundering in listed firms on the Tehran Stock Exchange. For the study, the information of 173…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to assess the effect of corporate lobbying power on fraud and money laundering in listed firms on the Tehran Stock Exchange. For the study, the information of 173 firms is assessed during 2013–2020, and a total number of 1,384 year-companies are analysed.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, the Beneish model is used for fraud detection, and the clause of the auditor’s report on money laundering is used for the variable of money laundering. The multivariate regression, Logistic regression, the fixed effects of panel data, additional random effects tests, Hausman, least generalised squares and T + 1 are used by using the Stata Software.
Findings
The obtained results indicate a direct and significant relationship between lobbying and fraud and lobbying and money laundering. Suppose the board members of firms are among the parliament members or the government cabinet (politicians) and/or major shareholders affiliated with state-owned and/or quasi-governmental institutions. In that case, the likelihood of corporate lobbying will be increased.
Originality/value
The outcomes of the current study give great insight to developing countries due to the high volume of money laundering to reduce such a financial crime.