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This study explores how auditors' emotions, specifically negative moods triggered by flight delays, impact auditing quality.

Utilizing flight delays during audit assignments as a mood indicator, weather conditions at departure airports serve as an instrumental variable to provide a robustness check between flight delays and audit outcomes, employing a two-stage least squares model.

The findings suggest that such negative moods improve auditing effort and quality, as evidenced by reduced future accounting restatements and increased audit fees. The positive effect of flight delays on auditing quality is consistent across different tests and measures.

This study highlights the significance of auditors' emotional states on their professional performance, indicating a unique angle on auditing quality research by focusing on the emotional well-being of auditors as influenced by external factors such as flight delays.

This study examines the relationship between economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and managers' ex ante strategic choice on firms’ fixed and variable costs structure, i.e. cost rigidity and the moderating effect of government contracts and political connections.

Using a sample of 4,162 US firms during 2003–2019 and EPU measure from Baker et al. (2016), the authors examine the association between EPU and cost rigidity using multivariate regression analysis. The authors also examine the moderating effects of government customers and political connections using the subsampling method.

This study finds that increases in EPU leads to higher cost rigidity, suggesting that managers tend to look ahead and make an ex ante commitment to invest more in fixed costs to avoid congestion costs in anticipation of future product demand during EPU. The study also finds that the presence of government customers and political connections moderates the need for adopting greater cost rigidity.

This study measures firms' cost rigidity based on archival data. Future studies could utilize managers' cost structure choices using firms' internal management cost structure forecasts data to measure cost rigidity to examine the relationship between cost rigidity and EPU.

This study demonstrates that managers tend to make a proactive commitment to invest in fixed inputs when facing demand uncertainty from EPU to avoid congestion costs. This study also highlights the value of having government contracts and political connections by demonstrating that managers are less concerned about the congestion costs, hence weakening the impact of EPU on cost rigidity when they have government as major customers and/or political connections.

This study extends the management accounting literature by documenting that cost rigidity is related to EPU and that the relationship between cost rigidity and EPU also depends on whether the firm has government as major customers and/or political connections or not.

The delay in real estate projects in India is pervasive. Organization and management (O&M) and project management (PM)-related challenges are argued to contribute to project delays. This study examined the O&M and PM factors that cause delays, the level of implementation of various O&M and PM aspects in real estate projects and how the challenges can be alleviated.

Perception surveys among the consumers and relevant stakeholders engaged in real estate projects in the Bhubaneswar and Cuttack regions of India were conducted to collect data on the factors of delay and implementation of the O&M and PM aspects. Relevant statistical methods and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used for data analysis.

Findings suggest that from the O&M point of view, poor decision-making, mishandling of finance, concurrent execution of many projects, diversion and misuse of finance for unrelated activities, lack of PM personnel and poor management contribute to the delay. Further, although the project initiation is satisfactorily done, most of the PM principles are not largely used, thus leading to delay.

The study does have limitations, including its reliance on a perception survey of consumers and stakeholders, a limited sample size and a restricted number of projects. Nevertheless, the study highlights the need to address poor O&M and the insufficient application of PM principles to combat project delays in the Indian real estate sector.

Proper O&M and adequate application of PM will enable professional management of the projects and avoid delay.

Proper O&M and the application of adequate PM would reduce delays in real estate projects. Consequently, conflicts between the companies and consumers might be reduced and housing and infrastructure demands might be met.

The study manifested that the lack of adequate implementation of O&M and PM aspects leads to delays. So, it is theorized that O&M and PM play critical roles in the success of real estate projects. Appropriate implementation of the principles and best practices linked to these aspects might alleviate the challenges of delay in real estate projects in India.

Cross-layer approach in media access control (MAC) layer will address interference and jamming problems. Hybrid distributed MAC can be used for simultaneous voice, data transmissions in wireless sensor network (WSN) and Internet of Things (IoT) applications. Choosing the correct objective function in Nash equilibrium for game theory will address fairness index and resource allocation to the nodes. Game theory optimization for distributed may increase the network performance. The purpose of this study is to survey the various operations that can be carried out using distributive and adaptive MAC protocol. Hill climbing distributed MAC does not need a central coordination system and location-based transmission with neighbor awareness reduces transmission power.

Distributed MAC in wireless networks is used to address the challenges like network lifetime, reduced energy consumption and for improving delay performance. In this paper, a survey is made on various cooperative communications in MAC protocols, optimization techniques used to improve MAC performance in various applications and mathematical approaches involved in game theory optimization for MAC protocol.

Spatial reuse of channel improved by 3%–29%, and multichannel improves throughput by 8% using distributed MAC protocol. Nash equilibrium is found to perform well, which focuses on energy utility in the network by individual players. Fuzzy logic improves channel selection by 17% and secondary users’ involvement by 8%. Cross-layer approach in MAC layer will address interference and jamming problems. Hybrid distributed MAC can be used for simultaneous voice, data transmissions in WSN and IoT applications. Cross-layer and cooperative communication give energy savings of 27% and reduces hop distance by 4.7%. Choosing the correct objective function in Nash equilibrium for game theory will address fairness index and resource allocation to the nodes.

Other optimization techniques can be applied for WSN to analyze the performance.

Game theory optimization for distributed may increase the network performance. Optimal cuckoo search improves throughput by 90% and reduces delay by 91%. Stochastic approaches detect 80% attacks even in 90% malicious nodes.

Channel allocations in centralized or static manner must be based on traffic demands whether dynamic traffic or fluctuated traffic. Usage of multimedia devices also increased which in turn increased the demand for high throughput. Cochannel interference keep on changing or mitigations occur which can be handled by proper resource allocations. Network survival is by efficient usage of valid patis in the network by avoiding transmission failures and time slots’ effective usage.

Literature survey is carried out to find the methods which give better performance.

Utilizing the theoretical foundation of the stimulus-organism-response framework, the present work developed and investigated a conceptual model. The work explores the effects of perceived risk of COVID-19 on tourists' choice hesitation and choice confidence. Furthermore, it examines the impacts of choice hesitation and choice confidence on psychological distress, which, in turn, influences purchase intentions and risk-protective behavior. Additionally, the study assesses the boundary effects of vulnerability on the association between choice hesitation, choice confidence, and psychological distress.

An online survey was administered in China during COVID-19 to assess the postulated hypotheses. We collected 491 responses using purposive sampling, and covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) was performed to investigate the relationships.

Results show that the perceived risk of COVID-19 positively influences the choice hesitation and negatively impact choice confidence. It was also found that choice hesitation and choice confidence positively developed psychological distress, which, in turn, negatively triggered purchase intentions and positively developed risk-protective behavior. Additionally, perceived vulnerability had a significant moderating impact on the proposed relationships, strengthening psychological distress.

In the current context, this study measures bipolar behavioral outcomes using the S-O-R model. Because cognitive processes influence participation in health preventative behavior during the spread of diseases, we highlighted how the perception of risk and vulnerability to a pandemic serves as a reliable indicator of certain behaviors. This study advances understanding of how the psychological mindset of tourists copes with such circumstances. Due to the pandemic, tourists face limitations in their choices and are placing greater emphasis on adopting protective measures to mitigate associated risks.

This paper aims to examine the interrelation between two innovating strategies (product and process) on total factor productivity (TFP) growth and the dynamic linkages between these strategies, for Colombia. The authors first explore whether ex ante more productive firms are those that introduce innovations (the self-selection hypothesis) and if the introduction of innovations boosts TFP growth (the returns-to-innovation hypothesis). Second, the authors study the firm’s joint dynamic decision to implement process and/or product innovations. The authors use Colombian manufacturing data from the Annual Manufacturing and the Technological Development and Innovation Surveys.

This study uses a four-stage procedure. First, the authors estimate TFP using a modified version of Olley and Pakes (1996) and Levinsohn and Petrin (2003), proposed by De Loecker (2010), that implements an endogenous Markov process where past firm innovations are endogenized. This TFP would be estimated by GMM, Wooldridge (2009). Second, the authors use multivariate discrete choice models to test the self-selection hypothesis. Third, the authors explore, using multi-value treatment evaluation techniques, the life span of the impact of innovations on productivity growth (returns to innovation hypothesis). Fourth, the authors analyse the joint likelihood of implementing process and product innovations using dynamic panel data bivariate probit models.

The investigation reveals that the self-selection effect is notably more pronounced in the adoption of process innovations only, as opposed to the adoption of product innovations only or the simultaneous adoption of both process and product innovations. Moreover, our results uncover distinct temporal patterns concerning innovation returns. Specifically, process innovations yield immediate benefits, whereas implementing both product innovations only and jointly process and product innovations exhibit significant, albeit delayed, advantages. Finally, the analysis confirms the existence of dynamic interconnections between the adoption of process and product innovations.

The contribution of this work to the literature is manifold. First, the authors thoroughly investigate the relationship between the implementation of process and product innovations and productivity for Colombian manufacturing explicitly recognising that firms’ decisions of adopting product and process innovations are very likely interrelated. Therefore, the authors start exploring the self-selection and the returns to innovation hypotheses accounting for the fact that firms might implement process innovations only, product innovations only and both process and product innovations. In the analysis of the returns of innovation, the fact that firms may choose among a menu of three innovation strategies implies the use of evaluation methods for multi-value treatments. Second, the authors study the dynamic inter-linkages between the decisions to implement process and/or product innovations, that remains under studied, at least for emerging economies. Third, the estimation of TFP is performed using an endogenous Markov process, where past firms’ innovations are endogenized.

The purpose of this study is to delve into the complex interplay between earnings management (EM), the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) implementation and the reporting lag (RL) within the specific context of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, with a particular emphasis on the Saudi context, offering insights into their influence on financial reporting practices.

Using a panel data set of 135 Saudi companies over an eight-year period, covering four years before and after the mandatory adoption of IFRS in 2017, this study investigates the Saudi financial reporting landscape. It uses interaction moderation analysis to explore variable effects and includes robustness analyses to validate the findings.

The findings reveal three key outcomes. First, they challenge conventional expectations by showing no significant impact of discretionary accruals (DACC) on RL, contrary to established accounting theories. This deviation is attributed to unique market characteristics within the GCC region, including family-owned businesses, government involvement and distinct regulations, with specific insights relevant to Saudi Arabia. Second, an unexpected positive association between IFRS adoption and RL in Saudi Arabia emerged. Several contextual factors contribute, including transition costs, compliance expenses, institutional dynamics and reconciling IFRS with local Shariah principles. Most importantly, IFRS adoption significantly reduced RL, especially for companies with high DACC levels. This highlights IFRS’s transformative role, emphasizes aligning EM with international standards for investor confidence and mitigating nonconformity risks in the GCC region’s business landscape.

The research findings carry significant practical implications for companies operating within the GCC region, accentuating the strategic imperative of timely financial reporting to bolster credibility, align with international standards and fortify investor confidence. Moreover, regulators and policymakers are urged to consider tailoring accounting regulations to accommodate the distinctive GCC context, thereby adeptly addressing the intricacies stemming from the interplay of EM, IFRS adoption and RL dynamics in the region.

This study adds to the current body of literature by highlighting the significant moderating influence of IFRS transition on the nexus between DACC and RL. It underscores the crucial role of this global accounting framework in reshaping financial reporting practices.

This study examines the relationship between the characteristics of militarily experienced directors and financial statement footnote readability. The second research question considers whether CEO busyness impacts the relationship between military-experienced directors and financial statement footnotes readability.

We use nonfinancial listed firms on the Indonesian Stock Exchange from 2010 to 2018, which amounted to 1,002 firm-year observations. We test the hypotheses and use fixed effects and Heckman's two-stage regression.

This study documents a negative relationship between military directors and financial statement footnote readability. We extend this relationship by factoring board busyness into the equation. We find that the presence of military-connected and busy CEOs negatively impacts the readability of financial statement footnotes. The results remain robust after additional analyses.

Future research should consider a more robust measure of military-experienced directors. A broader context of directors' busyness should be considered, such as including multiple directorships.

We revisit the literature on military-experienced directors by considering political connections as one of the proxies for military connections in Indonesia. The findings largely support the convergence of the political connections literature in which rent-seeking activities are prevalent and prevent sound financial reporting.

The Chinese housing market has gone through rapid growth during the past decade, and house price forecasting has evolved to be a significant issue that draws enormous attention from investors, policy makers and researchers. This study investigates neural networks for composite property price index forecasting from ten major Chinese cities for the period of July 2005–April 2021.

The goal is to build simple and accurate neural network models that contribute to pure technical forecasts of composite property prices. To facilitate the analysis, the authors consider different model settings across algorithms, delays, hidden neurons and data spitting ratios.

The authors arrive at a pretty simple neural network with six delays and three hidden neurons, which generates rather stable performance of average relative root mean square errors across the ten cities below 1% for the training, validation and testing phases.

Results here could be utilized on a standalone basis or combined with fundamental forecasts to help form perspectives of composite property price trends and conduct policy analysis.

Skilled migrant (SM) women play a key role in developed countries especially in healthcare and education in easing staffing shortages and migrate expecting to gain qualification-matched employment (QME). The aim of this review is to assess whether SM women gain the anticipated QME, equitably compared to their skilled counterparts and to examine why and how they do so.

I conducted a systematic literature review to derive empirical studies to assess if, why and how SM women achieve QME (1) using SM women-only samples and comparative samples including SM women, and (2) examining whether they gain QME directly on or soon after migration or indirectly over time through undertaking alternative, contingent paths.

Only a minority of SM women achieve the anticipated QME directly soon after migration and less often than their skilled counterparts. Explaining the mechanism for achieving QME, other women, especially due to having young families, indirectly undertake alternative, lower-level contingent paths enabling them to ascend later to QME.

The SM literature gains new knowledge from revealing how SM women can gain positions post-migration comparable to their pre-migration qualifications through undertaking the alternative, contingent paths of steppingstone jobs and academic study, especially as part of agreed familial strategies. This review results in a theoretical mechanism (mediation by a developmental contingency path) to provide an alternative mechanism by which SM women achieve QME.