Sheng Yao, Lingling Pan and Zhipeng Zhang
The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether firms with high environmental disclosure have a low possibility of non-standard audit opinions and audit fees and whether this…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether firms with high environmental disclosure have a low possibility of non-standard audit opinions and audit fees and whether this trend is more obvious after than prior to the Measures for the Disclosure of Environmental Information (Measure) implemented in 2008.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the Measures implemented in 2008, the authors select data for the listed manufacturing firms from 2004 to 2006 (Pre-Measure) and from 2009 to 2011 (Post-Measure) as research samples to investigate the relationships between environmental disclosures, audit opinions and audit fees with difference in difference models. In addition, we also consider the influence of media attention, the polluting industry and internal control on the audit effect of environmental disclosure.
Findings
The results show that the level of environmental disclosure is significantly negatively correlated with the possibility of issuing non-standard audit opinions and audit fees after measure is implemented, especially hard environmental information. Further evidence indicates that the auditing effect of environmental disclosures is stronger on firms that receive less media attention, in firms with better internal controls, and in firms belonging to industries with heavy pollution.
Originality/value
In the Chinese setting, a high level of environmental information disclosures can effectively reduce the audit risk and lead to a high possibility of standard audit opinions and low audit fees. This effect is pronounced after issuing Measure. The conclusions suggest that measure and increasing environmental disclosure have an obvious positive audit effect and that firms should be forced or encouraged to disclose more environmental information from the perspective of auditors in China.
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Sheng Yao, Siyu Wei and Lining Chen
Existing studies have shown that all kinds of audit risks greatly affect audit pricing for accounting firms. However, it is still unclear whether environmental risks caused by…
Abstract
Purpose
Existing studies have shown that all kinds of audit risks greatly affect audit pricing for accounting firms. However, it is still unclear whether environmental risks caused by environmental violations lead to a high audit fee. This study aims to investigate whether accounting firms raise audit fees after client firms have violated environmental regulations or have been punished for such violations.
Design/methodology/approach
This study selects listed firms with environmental violations between 1994 and 2018 as the treatment sample and match the treatment group with a control group of firms from the same industry, of similar asset size and with no environmental violations for the same time period. Then, this study constructs a difference-in-difference (DID) model to explore the impact of firm environmental violations (or punishment for environmental violations) on the audit pricing.
Findings
This study finds that accounting firms tend to raise audit fees after client firms have violated environmental regulations or have been punished for such violations, and this increasing effect is different due to environmental regulation intensity, regional span and internal control defects. Further evidences show that environmental violations influence audit fees through financial restatement, whereas environmental punishments impact audit fees through earnings management and risk-taking.
Originality/value
This study enriches the literature on determining factors of audit fees and economic consequences of environmental violations and provides empirical supports to understand the pricing behavior of accounting firms.
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Cher‐Hung Tseng and Yao‐Sheng Liao
The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors influencing whether a multinational corporation (MNC) appoints an expatriate or a local national as the CEO of its subsidiary.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors influencing whether a multinational corporation (MNC) appoints an expatriate or a local national as the CEO of its subsidiary.
Design/methodology/approach
The study proposes a framework comprising ownership‐specific, location‐specific and internalization‐specific factors to examine determinants of expatriate CEO assignment. MNCs' subsidiaries in Taiwan were selected for the study.
Findings
For the effect on the assignment of an expatriated CEO to a subsidiary, the factors of a subsidiary's capability and size, MNC's global strategy and internalization motivation are positive; in contrast, the factor of the host country's locational advantages is negative. In addition, in circumstances of large cultural distances, the effect of high internalization motivation is positive and that of low internalization motivation is negative.
Research limitations/implications
The research does not differentiate between two different types of expatriates and focuses on advanced countries' MNCs' subsidiaries in Taiwan. The theoretical implication of the study lies in the application of the perspectives of resource‐based view and transaction cost theory on an MNC's decision concerning the assignment of an expatriated CEO for subsidiaries.
Practical implications
MNCs could make a subsidiary's staffing decision by taking into account ownership‐, location‐, and internalization‐specific factors. Failure to do so will lead to poor operation of the subsidiary.
Originality/value
The research contributes to knowledge about the determinants of expatriate CEO assignment, and illuminates the importance of ownership, location and internalization factors for MNCs.
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Saeed Loghman and Azita Zahiriharsini
Research focusing on psychological capital (PsyCap) has been mainly conducted at the individual level. However, recent research has expanded investigations to the collective level…
Abstract
Research focusing on psychological capital (PsyCap) has been mainly conducted at the individual level. However, recent research has expanded investigations to the collective level with a greater focus on team-level PsyCap. Although, as demonstrated by recent systematic reviews and meta-analyses, the relationships between individual-level PsyCap and the desirable/undesirable outcomes are fairly established in the literature, less is known about such relationships for team-level PsyCap. One of these important, yet least investigated, research areas is the research stream that focuses on the relationship between team-level PsyCap and the outcomes of health, Well-Being, and safety. This chapter aims to highlight the role of individual-level PsyCap as an important predictor of employees’ health, Well-Being, and safety outcomes, but also to go beyond that to provide insights into the potential role of team-level PsyCap in predicting such outcomes at both individual and team levels. To do so, the chapter first draws upon relevant theories to discuss the empirical research findings focusing on the relationship between individual-level PsyCap and the outcomes of health, Well-Being, and safety. It then focuses on team-level PsyCap from theoretical, conceptualization, and operationalization perspectives and provides insights into how team-level PsyCap might be related to health, Well-Being, and safety outcomes at both individual and team levels. Thus, this chapter proposes new research directions in an area of PsyCap that has been left unexplored.
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James R. Barth, Tong Li, Wen Shi and Pei Xu
The purpose of this paper is to examine recent developments pertaining to China’s shadow banking sector. Shadow banking has the potential not only to be a beneficial contributor…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine recent developments pertaining to China’s shadow banking sector. Shadow banking has the potential not only to be a beneficial contributor to continued economic growth, but also to contribute to systematic instability if not properly monitored and regulated. An assessment is made in this paper as to whether shadow banking is beneficial or harmful to China’s economic growth.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors start with providing an overview of shadow banking from a global perspective, with information on its recent growth and importance in selected countries. The authors then focus directly on China’s shadow banking sector, with information on the various entities and activities that comprise the sector. Specifically, the authors examine the interconnections between shadow banking and regular banking in China and the growth in shadow banking to overall economic growth, the growth in the money supply and the growth in commercial bank assets.
Findings
Despite the wide range in the estimates, the trend in the size of shadow banking in China has been upward over the examined period. There are significant interconnections between the shadow banking sector and the commercial banking sector. Low deposit rate and high reserve requirement ratios have been the major factors driving its growth. Shadow banking has been a contributor, along with money growth, to economic growth.
Practical implications
The authors argue that shadow banking may prove useful by diversifying China’s financial sector and providing greater investments and savings opportunities to consumers and businesses throughout the country, if the risks of shadow banking are adequately monitored and controlled.
Originality/value
To the authors’ knowledge, this paper is among the few to systematically evaluate the influence of shadow banking on China’s economic growth.
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Amalesh Sharma, Sourav Bikash Borah, Anirban Adhikary and Tanjum Haque
The extant literature provides much-needed support to understand marketing accountability and how marketing actions are related to financial performance (FP). However, we have…
Abstract
The extant literature provides much-needed support to understand marketing accountability and how marketing actions are related to financial performance (FP). However, we have limited understanding of the relationships between marketing actions and firms' social performance (SP) and environmental performance (EP). Understanding these links is critical to enhancing sustainable FP, SP, and EP. Moreover, the literature provides limited understanding of the measures by which SP and EP may be operationalized, or the data necessary to reach a conclusion. This study bridges these gaps by extensively reviewing the extant literature to offer a set of measures and data sources to operationalize SP and EP, and empirically show their relationships with marketing actions. We find that greenhouse gas (GHG) emission, environmental disclosure score, waste reduction, energy consumption, and recycling are prominent measures of EP, and that social disclosure score, philanthropy or community spending, and diversity of gender and race are prominent measures of SP. The KLD, ASSET4, and Bloomberg are prominent sources of data that can be used to operationalize SP, to which CDP may be added for EP. We also show that marketing actions positively affect EP and SP. This study contributes to the extant literature on SP and EP by identifying measures and data sources and linking marketing actions to both performance types. It contributes to policy development by identifying the importance of EP and SP and how marketing actions can help achieve such performance.
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W. James Jacob and Sheng Yao Cheng
A number of theoretical paradigms provide a networking space for the trio and complementary fields of comparative, international, and development educational (CIDE) research…
Abstract
A number of theoretical paradigms provide a networking space for the trio and complementary fields of comparative, international, and development educational (CIDE) research. Critics periodically attribute the field's lack of a sound theoretical base or commitment to one area of scientific research or another as a primary weakness in the field.1 Espoused theoretical paradigms often provide the knowledge debate arena in which academic fields interact and build together. In an alternative perspective from this criticism, we argue that the strength of the CIDE field resides in its ability to combine multiple theoretical perspectives that offer researchers a variety of potentially fruitful metatheoretical analyses. Thus, we do not view this lack of theoretical specification as a weakness; it is the very fabric that enables CIDE educationists to study and represent increasingly complex global and local education systems.
The aim of this study is to examine whether the relationship between knowledge management (KM) strategy and firm performance is contingent on human resource management (HRM…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study is to examine whether the relationship between knowledge management (KM) strategy and firm performance is contingent on human resource management (HRM) control systems.
Design/methodology/approach
Surveys were collected in computer and peripheral equipment manufacturing industries in Taiwan. A total of 111 presidents returned usable questionnaires.
Findings
When firms emphasize personalization strategy, the use of behavior control will enhance firm performance. In contrast, when firms emphasize codification strategy, the use of output control will make firm performance better. If personalization and codification strategy were emphasized simultaneously, firms would not use single HRM control system to better performance.
Research limitations/implications
First, the use of a self‐rating performance measure may constitute a limitation of the study. Second, this study is confined to a limited scope of control system. Third, perhaps the most obvious limitation is inherent to the selected research methodology that the one‐time data resemble a snapshot. Finally, it is not known how the selection of industries and geographical areas affect this study's findings.
Practical implications
Results from this study suggest that managers can leverage their best performance by matching the HRM control system to a particular KM strategy.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the knowledge about the importance of HRM control for KM methods. The firm's HRM control systems can be expected to contribute significantly to KM‐performance. Understanding how an organization can use its control systems to support KM will help firms sustain their competitive advantage.
Details
Keywords
To illuminate how the alignment of HRM control and business strategy affects firm performance.
Abstract
Purpose
To illuminate how the alignment of HRM control and business strategy affects firm performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Empirical data are collected from computer and peripheral equipment industries via questionnaire. The measures include business strategy, HRM control, and performance. The major analytical technique used in this study is moderated hierarchical regression analysis.
Findings
The value of any approach to HRM control can be augmented or diminished by simultaneously matching the HRM to the type of business strategy adopted by firms.
Research limitations/implications
It is unknown how the selection of industries and geographical areas would affect this study's findings.
Practical implications
Firms should use an appropriate combination of HRM control systems aligned with their strategic goals in order to improve business performance.
Originality/value
This paper identifies the match between HRM control and business strategy and offers practical help to a firm when they are used in combination effectively.