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The Dodd–Frank Act of 2010 exempts small, non-accelerated filers from compliance with Sarbanes–Oxley Act (SOX) Section 404b internal control audits. However, these firms are required to comply with other internal control regulations, namely, SOX Sections 302 and 404a, starting in 2002 and 2007, respectively. A small number of these firms also voluntarily adopted (and sometimes dropped) Section 404b during 2004-2010. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of a series of internal control regulations introduced by SOX on the financial reporting quality of small firms.

The research design for this study is empirical. Using unsigned and signed discretionary accruals as measures of financial reporting quality, the authors compare the financial reporting quality for adopters and non-adopters across four regulation regimes over the period 2000-2010: PRESOX, SOX 302, SOX 404a and SOX 404b.

The results indicate that most of the adopters and non-adopters benefited from SOX 302 and 404a compared with the PRESOX period. However, only the non-adopters gained incrementally when moving from SOX 302 to SOX 404a. Also, Section 404b benefited firms with material weaknesses, as well as firms without material weaknesses that had the lowest reporting quality, in the PRESOX period.

This study helps inform the important policy debate on whether to increase the threshold that is used for the SOX 404b exemption. It shows incremental benefits for firms that adopted Section 404b audits, even when they were complying with Section 302 and Section 404a. Consequently, extending the exemption to more companies would result in a loss of the reporting quality benefit of 404b.

This study contributes to the literature by focusing exclusively on non-accelerated filers and by examining differences across four regulation regimes over a long window compared to prior studies. It provides evidence that the financial reporting benefit of SOX 404b is not transitional, but rather extends for a few years even after some firms discontinued the 404b audits.

The purpose of this study is to introduce a comprehensive and dynamic framework that focuses on the role of algorithms in persuasive communication: the algorithmic persuasion framework (APF).

In this increasingly data-driven media landscape, algorithms play an important role in the consumption of online content. This paper presents a novel conceptual framework to investigate algorithm-mediated persuasion processes and their effects on online communication.

The APF consists of five conceptual components: input, algorithm, persuasion attempt, persuasion process and persuasion effects. In short, it addresses how data variables are inputs for different algorithmic techniques and algorithmic objectives, which influence the manifestations of algorithm-mediated persuasion attempts, informing how such attempts are processed and their intended and unintended persuasive effects.

The paper guides future research by addressing key elements in the framework and the relationship between them, proposing a research agenda (with specific research questions and hypotheses) and discussing methodological challenges and opportunities for the future investigation of the framework.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the environment-strategy-structure fit in the context of industrial servitization and its impact on the profitability of manufacturing SMEs.

Data were collected from face-to-face interviews with the CEOs of 184 French manufacturing SMEs. These primary data were complemented by the indicators extracted from a financial database to ensure objective measures of financial performance. Analyses were conducted by means of partial least squares structural equation modeling.

The research tests the impact of the organizational design (customer interface, service delivery system and service culture (SC)) on financial performance. It also tests the moderating effect on this relationship of servitization strategies adopted by the firm (added services (AS), activities reconfiguration (AR) and business model reconfiguration (BMR)) and the environment in which the firm is situated (industry dynamism, competitive intensity and industry munificence).

This study considers the coalescence of the environment-strategy-structure to be a driver of firm performance in the context of industrial firms’ servitization. Three specific servitization strategies (AS, AR and BMR) are suggested based on the service offering’s impact on the customer’s activity chain or business model.

The research proposes some optimal organizational design depending on servitization strategy and environmental factors; for example, SC has a strong impact on financial performance when BMR is adopted.

This empirical study is based on an extended sample of 184 SMEs and provides quantitative support for the claim that good alignment between strategy and organizational design based on environmental factors increases profitability.

This systematic literature review presents the state of the field of fashion and crisis communication. The quantitative coding offers insight into dominant and emergent themes in one of the most crisis-prone industries. This review also offers a framework for future research.

This study uses a systematic literature review approach. 205 academic articles were gathered in total using the search term “fashion industry crisis”. Subsequently, they were quantitatively coded using the Diers-Lawson (2016) Crisis Communication Code Book.

Findings show an increase in the fashion industry crisis with clear emergent themes such as sustainability, emphasising the truly global and multidisciplinary nature of the industry. Findings also reveal a genuine lack of theoretical grounding, with over 80% of the articles coded using no crisis communication theory. The findings also suggest value co-creation ought to be a priority for this agenda moving forward, as it overlaps with emerging themes and is a practical tool and concept to support crisis prevention and management through an extension of the Stakeholder Relationship Model (SRM) Model.

As a largely under-researched area in crisis communication, the findings present a new opportunity to explore fashion within its context and contribute. At this point, the research field is lacking, and there is room for theory testing and hypothesis building. The findings and themes from the research present a development of the original SRM model, SRM Val-Co.

As well as research implications, the proposed framework provides practical solutions for the future of the fashion industry.

As a largely under-researched area in crisis communication, the findings demonstrate a new opportunity to explore fashion within its context and contribute because there is a dearth of research and a lack of theoretical development. Therefore, the proposed framework provides practical solutions for the fashion industry’s future. The findings and themes from the research present a development of the original SRM model, SRM Val-Co.

In 2019, the world was hit by a life threatening severe acute respiratory syndrome causing a global pandemic; Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). In the UK, a nationwide “lockdown” of public isolation and reduced social contact followed. The experience of COVID-19 and the lockdown for forensic secure mental health patients is yet to be understood. This study aims to explore this phenomenon from the patients’ perspective.

A qualitative approach was taken. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with six patients from a low secure unit in the UK, between November 2020 and March 2021.

Interpretive phenomenological analysis generated three superordinate themes from the data, providing insight into patients’ experience: “treading water”; how they managed: “learning to swim”; and what was helpful during this time: “in the same boat”.

Further consideration should be given to creating a sense of safety in wards, along with ways to continue to address the power imbalance. Interestingly, social connection may be cultivated from within the hospital setting and would benefit from further research.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to explore secure patients’ experience of COVID-19 from the patients’ perspective, within a population often neglected within recovery research.

The purpose of this study is to compare the effectiveness of two error correction methods – Model Prompt Switch Repeat (MPSR) and Error Statement, Modelling and Active student Response (ESMASR) – for teaching new skills to autistic students. This study evaluates which method results in faster and more effective skill mastery, measured by the number of trials needed to reach the mastery criterion, and assesses long-term retention of learned skills.

Using a multiple-treatment reversal design within an Applied Behaviour Analysis framework, this study involved four participants aged 13–15 years. The participants were taught using both MPSR and ESMASR methods, with data collected on how quickly they mastered new skills. Maintenance data were gathered at one and four weeks after teaching to assess skills retention.

This study found that the MPSR method led to faster and more sustained skill acquisition than ESMASR for most participants. MPSR demonstrated better long-term retention in several cases. These results emphasise the effectiveness of structured error correction procedures in improving learning outcomes for autistic students.

Because of the small sample size and focus on a specific educational setting, the findings of this study may not apply broadly. Future research should test these methods across a wider variety of learners and settings to ensure broader applicability and validation of the results.

This study’s findings offer practical strategies for educators working with autistic students, showing that structured error correction procedures like MPSR can be integrated into daily teaching to improve skill acquisition and retention. These strategies can also inform educator training and instructional planning.

This study contributes to a more inclusive education system by offering evidence-based methods that help autistic students succeed. By identifying effective teaching techniques, this research supports efforts to ensure equal educational opportunities for neurodivergent learners.

This study fills a gap in research by comparing two specific error correction methods in an ABA setting, providing fresh insights into which strategies most effectively promote skill acquisition and long-term learning in autistic students. This study also offers practical guidance for educators seeking evidence-based methods to improve student outcomes.

The purpose of this paper is to compare predictors of receipt of recommended first‐line pharmacotherapy in three generational cohorts of patients with new episode depression.

This retrospective database cohort study included adolescent, adult and senior Quebec Public Prescription Drug Insurance Plan beneficiaries with new episode depression, who were diagnosed by primary care physicians or psychiatrists (October 2000 to March 2001) and received pharmacotherapy. Receipt of recommended first‐line pharmacotherapy, based on the first psychoactive medication dispensed following the depression diagnosis, was defined according to Canadian guidelines.

Receipt of first‐line pharmacotherapy was documented in 52 percent, 71 percent and 50 percent of adolescents, adults and seniors, respectively. Among adolescents and seniors, diagnosis by a psychiatrist was associated with a lower likelihood of receipt of recommended pharmacotherapy. Adolescent females and senior males were more likely and adults with comorbidity were less likely to receive recommended pharmacotherapy. For all age groups, having a physician who both diagnosed the depression and prescribed the initial pharmacotherapy was associated with an increased likelihood of receiving recommended pharmacotherapy. Relational continuity of care influenced receipt of recommended first‐line pharmacotherapy. Gender differences in treatment were found in adolescents and seniors.

This paper identifies predictors of receipt of recommended first‐line pharmacotherapy in three generational cohorts of patients with new episode depression.

This paper investigates factors that determine users’ behaviours during services co-creation, as well as those that influence their engagement in such efforts.

Study 1 relies on partial least squares structural equation modelling and between-subjects, scenario-based experiments with 633 participants to examine users’ co-creation behaviours. Study 2 uses interactive research workshops with 38 design professionals to analyse the drivers and inhibitors of users’ co-creation engagement and the likelihood of different user types to engage in it.

Dispositional and demographic factors can predict users’ behaviours during services co-creation. A proposed framework details drivers and inhibitors of users’ engagement in co-creation, and a typology predicts the likelihood of different users to engage in co-creation, based on their traits and demographics. This likelihood to co-create, according to traits, then can be predicted according to elemental, compound and situational traits.

Service providers and service designers can use these findings to design better co-creation activities for various users, build a conducive working environment and select suitable participants for co-creation activities.

The current study addresses the dearth of research pertaining to how to encourage users to co-create services and drive their engagement in such efforts.

The purpose of this paper is to assess, clarify and consolidate the terminology around the co-creation of services, establish its forms and identify its outcomes, to resolve the conceptual pluralism in service co-creation literature.

A focused literature review screened the articles published in five major service research journals to determine relevant contributions on the concept of co-creation of services. Then, a thematic analysis identifies the forms, themes and outcomes of co-creating services in the set of 80 qualifying articles.

The study reduces conceptual pluralism by establishing different forms of co-creating services and developing an explicit definition of co-creation in services. The authors develop an integrative framework that recognizes involvement, engagement and participation as prerequisites for co-creation. Relating to the different phases of the service process, the specific co-creation forms of co-ideation, co-valuation, co-design, co-testing and co-launching are classified as regenerative co-creation, while the specific co-creation forms of co-production and co-consumption are recognized as operative co-creation. Both beneficial and counterproductive outcomes of co-creation are identified and arranged into a typology.

The integrative framework illustrates that service providers and customers are involved, engaged and participate in co-creating services, which manifests in specific forms of co-creation; they attain beneficial and counterproductive outcomes (personal, social, hedonic, cognitive, economic and pragmatic); and are influenced by a contextual multi-actor network.

Co-creation in services is actionable; the typology of outcomes suggests service managers ways to motivate customers and employees to participate in co-creating services.

This paper defines and establishes the conceptual forms of co-creating services and the identified outcomes, and develops an integrative framework of co-creation in services.