Yuqian Zhang, Juergen Seufert and Steven Dellaportas
This study examined subjective numeracy and its relationship with accounting judgements on probability issues.
Abstract
Purpose
This study examined subjective numeracy and its relationship with accounting judgements on probability issues.
Design/methodology/approach
A subjective numeracy scale (SNS) questionnaire was distributed to 231 accounting students to measure self-evaluated numeracy. Modified Bayesian reasoning tasks were applied in an accounting-related probability estimation, manipulating presentation formats.
Findings
The study revealed a positive relationship between self-evaluated numeracy and performance in accounting probability estimation. The findings suggest that switching the format of probability expressions from percentages to frequencies can improve the performance of participants with low self-evaluated numeracy.
Research limitations/implications
Adding objective numeracy measurements could enhance results. Future numeracy research could add objective numeracy items and assess whether this influences participants' self-perceived numeracy. Based on this sample population of accounting students, the findings may not apply to large populations of accounting-information users.
Practical implications
Investors' ability to exercise sound judgement depends on the accuracy of their probability estimations. Manipulating the format of probability expressions can improve probability estimation performance in investors with low self-evaluated numeracy.
Originality/value
This study identified a significant performance gap among participants in performing accounting probability estimations: those with high self-evaluated numeracy performed better than those with low self-evaluated numeracy. The authors also explored a method other than additional training to improve participants' performance on probability estimation tasks and discovered that frequency formats enhanced the performance of participants with low self-evaluated numeracy.
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Yuqian Zhang, Anura De Zoysa and Kalinga Jagoda
The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the understandability of an accounting textbooks written in English and the language learning motivation of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the understandability of an accounting textbooks written in English and the language learning motivation of international students. Previous research assumed that native speakers of a language and second-language speakers would understand a given accounting text similarly and little attempt has been made to ascertain any individual differences in users’ capacity to read and understand a foreign language.
Design/methodology/approach
The 107 participants in this study comprised of full-time English as a Second Language postgraduate commerce students studying at a major Australian university. The authors used two-part questionnaire to examine the motivation of participants and the understandability of an accounting textbook using the Cloze test.
Findings
The results suggest that most international students have difficulty in understanding the textbook narratives used in this study. Furthermore, the results show that students’ motivation to learn a foreign language impacts on the understandability of an accounting textbook.
Practical implications
This study will help the educators, textbook publishers and students to understand the needs of ESL students. It is expected to provide guidance for authors and instructors to enhance the effectiveness of the accounting courses.
Originality/value
The accounting literature shows that there have been efforts by accounting researchers to measure the understandability of accounting texts or narratives. This research provided valuable insights of the learning challenges of international students and valuable recommendations to educators and publishers to enhance the delivery.
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Yuqian Zhang, Anura De Zoysa and Corinne Cortese
This study aims to investigate two issues inherent in accounting judgements: the directional influence of uncertainty expressions and how they might positively or negatively…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate two issues inherent in accounting judgements: the directional influence of uncertainty expressions and how they might positively or negatively affect accounting judgements and the foreign-language effect (FLE), which refers to the reduction of judgement bias that occurs when an accounting judgement is made in one’s foreign language. This study examines both issues in the context of accounting judgements made in Chinese and English languages.
Design/methodology/approach
This study conducted two experiments. The first experiment applied a 2 × 2 between-subject research design, and the second experiment adopted a 2 × 2 within-subject approach.
Findings
The overall results revealed that directionality biases existed in the exercise of accounting judgement in subjects’ native and foreign languages. However, when the language was switched from the subjects’ native tongue to a foreign language, overall directionality biases are reduced.
Research limitations/implications
This study suggests that the use of native and non-native languages can have unintended consequences on accounting judgements. However, because of the limitations of using students as proxies for professionals and applying self-assessed language scales, the literature would benefit from future research that extends the subject profile to professional accountants and that assesses language skills more objectively.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature on cross-lingual accounting, both theoretically and methodologically. It also extends the FLE theory to an accounting context, providing insights on how language is involved in judgements concerning uncertainty expressions.
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Anura De Zoysa, Nobyuki Takaoka and Yuqian Zhang
This paper aims to examine the impact of three key factors — corporate social responsibility (CSR) awareness, CSR affordability and CSR management system (CSRMS) sophistication—on…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the impact of three key factors — corporate social responsibility (CSR) awareness, CSR affordability and CSR management system (CSRMS) sophistication—on the CSR performance of Japanese firms.
Design/methodology/approach
Using responses to 36 items developed on the Global CSR standard of ISO26000, two CSR indexes were constructed to assess the CSR management system sophistication and performance of Japanese firms. The relationship between the three key variables (CSR awareness, affordability and management system sophistication) and CSR performance was then examined through a partial least squares (PLS)-based structural equation model. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey of 146 firms.
Findings
The results of the study found a positive relationship between CSR performance and three exogenous variables (CSR awareness, affordability and management system sophistication). Furthermore, the study found that CSRMS sophistication played a mediating role in the relationship between CSR performance and firms' CSR awareness and affordability.
Research limitations/implications
The study was limited to examining the CSR practices of a major province in Japan, which may hinder the generalisation of the findings to the rest of the country. Moreover, the data used for assessing the variables in this study were self-reported by the participating firms, in addition to being cross-sectional. The findings of this study clarified areas that policymakers, including Japan's business associations–Keidanren and Keizai Doyukai, and other relevant parties need to focus on for further improving CSR performances of Japanese firms.
Originality/value
This study highlights the role CSR awareness, affordability and CSRMS sophistication play in improving CSR performance. On the one hand, it identifies the critical role CSRMS plays in mediating the relationship among CSR performance, awareness and affordability. On the other hand, it advances CSR theory providing insight for practitioners to generate positive CSR outcomes.
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This study aims to investigate the influence of digital transformation on the overall financial performance of firms, with a specific focus on Chinese-listed companies from 2010…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the influence of digital transformation on the overall financial performance of firms, with a specific focus on Chinese-listed companies from 2010 to 2021. It seeks to understand the impacts on various accounting and financial indicators in emerging economies such as China.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employs a text-mining approach to construct a digital transformation index based on the data sample of 11,814 firm-year observations from China’s A-share listed companies. This index serves as a proxy to measure the extent of digital transformation and its impact on financial performance and health.
Findings
The findings indicate that digital transformation significantly enhances overall financial performance and health, as evidenced by increased profitability, reduced operational costs, and lowered financial risks. The study reveals a time-lagged effect, where the benefits of digital transformation become more apparent after about one year. Further analysis shows that the value of digital transformation is more evident in a firm’s asset items. This raises the possibility of recognising the by-product, such as data resources, in the digital transformation process.
Originality/value
This research offers a unique contribution by linking digital transformation to financial performance using a large dataset from China's A-share listed firms. Doing so enhances our understanding of the tangible effects of digital transformation on corporate performance. Furthermore, this research provides valuable insights for the advancement of future accounting practices and the development of standards.
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Bo Zhang, Yuqian Zheng, Zhiyuan Cui, Dongdong Song, Faqian Liu and Weihua Li
The impact of rolling on the performance of micro arc oxidation (MAO) coatings on ZM5 alloy has been underreported. The purpose of this study is to explore the correlation between…
Abstract
Purpose
The impact of rolling on the performance of micro arc oxidation (MAO) coatings on ZM5 alloy has been underreported. The purpose of this study is to explore the correlation between rolling and the failure mechanism of MAO coatings in greater depth.
Design/methodology/approach
The influence of rolling on the corrosion and wear properties of MAO coating was investigated by phase structure, bond strength test (initial bond strength and wet adhesion), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and wear test. The change of the surface electrochemical properties was studied by first principles analysis.
Findings
The results showed that the MAO coating on rolled alloy had better corrosion and wear resistance compared to cast alloy, although the structure and component content of two kinds of MAO coating are nearly identical. The difference in interface bonding between MAO coating and Mg substrate is the primary factor contributing to the disparity in performance between the two types of samples. Finally, the impact of the rolling process on MAO coating properties is explained through first-principle calculation.
Originality/value
A comprehensive explanation of the impact of the rolling process on MAO coating properties will provide substantial support for enhancing the application of Mg alloy anticorrosion.
Graphical abstract
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Emmanuel Flores, Xun Xu and Yuqian Lu
The purpose of this paper is twofold: to raise and address an important change for the human capital in the future of Industry 4.0, and to propose a human-focused perspective for…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold: to raise and address an important change for the human capital in the future of Industry 4.0, and to propose a human-focused perspective for companies underneath the new Industrial Revolution.
Design/methodology/approach
The research study follows a state-of-the-art literature review process. The nature of the selected approach enables to cover the extensive aim of the paper with sufficient scientific solidity that should support the understanding of every topic.
Findings
This work has presented three relevant aspects for Industry 4.0 and its human labour force: a workforce architecture with new interactions, a term to embrace the human capital of the future and a typology for referencing the required competences for Industry 4.0.
Research limitations/implications
The paper sheds light on an important aspect for the emerging Industrial Revolution, the human force. The result and conclusion sections suggest future implications for academia and the private sector, due to changes at the conceptual and practical levels of human operation in the industry – for example, new structural interactions among employees, additional qualities to human capital and different ways to identify the competences for the workforce.
Originality/value
This is an interdisciplinary study that tries to bring together a modern industrial term, a social focus and a company scenario. From this, it was possible to obtain a new social term, a novel typology of competences and a new company-scenario interaction.
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Yuqian Zhou, Gongbing Bi, Jiancheng Lv and Hongping Li
This paper aims to develop an optimal buyback promotion strategy for enterprises, including multibuyback strategy and self-buyback strategy, taking both the consumer's…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to develop an optimal buyback promotion strategy for enterprises, including multibuyback strategy and self-buyback strategy, taking both the consumer's multichannel psychological acquisition attributes and remaining market into account.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the game theory and Hotelling model, the authors formulate a new model to study the equilibrium of different buyback models, given the utility maximization of the consumers, the profit maximization and the constraint on nondecreasing market share of the enterprises, and the authors conduct comparative analysis.
Findings
Intuitively, enterprises buying back products of other brands would appeal to some consumers. However, the authors find that after implementing the multibuyback scheme, enterprises may not be able to seize competitors' markets or even lose their original customer base in the context considered in this article counterintuitive. In addition, the size of remaining market share and the consumer's multichannel psychological acquisition affect the choice of buyback promotion strategies. Moreover, after implementing multibuyback scheme, customers with old products subsidize those who receive additional discounts. Finally, the authors point out that the buyback strategy choices of companies with different goal-oriented are diverse.
Practical implications
This study has a very solid realistic background and provides guidance for enterprises to implement buyback promotion strategies. In addition, the authors unearth new influencing factors to provide a reasonable explanation for different buyback strategies in reality.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to explore the multibuyback promotion strategy as a new buyback method, where the two influencing factors the authors have not been proposed so far.
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Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the factors influencing the evolution of emerging technology innovation network (ETIN) in combination with the key attributes and life cycle of emerging technologies, particularly the impact of multiple knowledge attributes and technology life cycle on the ETIN evolution.
Design/methodology/approach
This study collects 5G patent data and their citation information from the Derwent Innovations Index to construct a 5G technology innovation network (5GIN) as a sample network and conducts an empirical analysis of the 5GIN using the temporal exponential random graph model (TERGM).
Findings
The results indicate that during the 5GIN evolution, the network scale continues to expand and exhibits increasingly significant core-periphery structure, scale-free characteristic, small-world characteristic and community structure. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the multiple knowledge attributes based on the key attributes of emerging technologies, including knowledge novelty, coherence, growth and impact, have a significant positive influence on the ETIN evolution. Meanwhile, the temporal evolution of ETIN is also found to be correlated with the life cycle of emerging technologies.
Originality/value
This study extends the exploration of emerging technology research from a complex network perspective, providing a more realistic explanatory framework for the factors influencing ETIN evolution. It further highlights the important role that multiple knowledge attributes and the technology life cycle play within this framework.
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Roberta Stefanini, Giovanni Paolo Carlo Tancredi, Giuseppe Vignali and Luigi Monica
In the context of the Industry 4.0, this paper aims to investigate the state of the art of Italian manufacturing, focusing the attention on the implementation of intelligent…
Abstract
Purpose
In the context of the Industry 4.0, this paper aims to investigate the state of the art of Italian manufacturing, focusing the attention on the implementation of intelligent predictive maintenance (IPdM) and 4.0 key enabling technologies (KETs), analyzing advantages and limitations encountered by companies.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey has been developed by the University of Parma in cooperation with the Italian Workers' Compensation Authority (INAIL) and was submitted to a sample of Italian companies. Overall, 70 answers were collected and analyzed.
Findings
Results show that the 54% of companies implemented smart technologies, increasing quality and safety, reducing the operating costs and sometimes improving the process' sustainability. However, IPdM was implemented only by the 37% of respondents: thanks to big data collection and analytics, Internet of Things, machine learning and collaborative robots, they reduced downtime and maintenance costs. These changes were implemented mainly by large companies, located in northern Italy. To spread the use of IPdM in Italian manufacturing, the high initial investment, lack of skilled labor and difficulties in the integration of new digital technologies with the existing infrastructure are the main obstacles to overcome.
Originality/value
The article gives an overview on the current state of the art of 4.0 technologies implementation in Italy: it is useful not only for companies that want to discover the implementations' advantages but also for institutions or research centres that could help them to solve the encountered obstacles.