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1 – 10 of 70Mahmud Al Masum and Lee Parker
This paper aims to investigate how the technical logics of a World Bank-led performance management reform interacted with the social, political and historical logics within a…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate how the technical logics of a World Bank-led performance management reform interacted with the social, political and historical logics within a developing country (DC) regulatory organisation. The institutional environment both within and outside the organisation was considered to understand the performance management reform experience.
Design/methodology/approach
An interview-based, longitudinal, qualitative case study approach was used to locate accounting in its technical, social and political space. A large regulatory organisation in Bangladesh was investigated as a case study to reveal how traditional organisational practices and public sector norms mediated a performance management reform. Informed by the institutional logics (IL) and economies of worth perspectives, interviews were used to locate IL at macro-level and associated organisational actors’ strategic responses that ultimately shaped the implementation of a performance management system (PMS).
Findings
This paper reveals how accounting, as a social and political practice, influences accountability reform within a regulatory organisation. It provides an account of both the processes and resultant practices of an accounting reform initiative. While a consultative and transparent performance management process was intended to enhance accountability, it challenged the traditional organisational authority structure and culture. The new PMS retained, modified and adjusted a number of its characteristics over time. These adjustments reflected an amalgamation of the influence of institutional pressures from powerful constituents and the ability of the local agents (managers) in negotiating and mediating the institutionalisation of a new PMS.
Practical implications
The findings of this paper carry major implications for policy makers, particularly with respect to the design of future reform programs on PMS.
Originality/value
This paper offers a theoretical mapping of IL and its organisation-level interpretations and practices. Thus, the authors locate power and influence at field and firm levels. The findings of this study reflect historical, political and cultural backgrounds of the case study organisation and how these contextual forces were active in shaping the meaning of reform logics. Though the institutional environment and agents were unique to the case study organisation, this research offers a “process generalisation” that reveals how a best practice PMS was translated and transformed by the traditional organisational practices in a DC regulatory context.
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The purpose of this paper is to compare nine different models to evaluate consumer credit risk, which are the following: Logistic Regression (LR), Naive Bayes (NB), Linear…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to compare nine different models to evaluate consumer credit risk, which are the following: Logistic Regression (LR), Naive Bayes (NB), Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA), k-Nearest Neighbor (k-NN), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Classification and Regression Tree (CART), Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Random Forest (RF) and Gradient Boosting Decision Tree (GBDT) in Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Lending.
Design/methodology/approach
The author uses data from P2P Lending Club (LC) to assess the efficiency of a variety of classification models across different economic scenarios and to compare the ranking results of credit risk models in P2P lending through three families of evaluation metrics.
Findings
The results from this research indicate that the risk classification models in the 2013–2019 economic period show greater measurement efficiency than for the difficult 2007–2012 period. Besides, the results of ranking models for predicting default risk show that GBDT is the best model for most of the metrics or metric families included in the study. The findings of this study also support the results of Tsai et al. (2014) and Teplý and Polena (2019) that LR, ANN and LDA models classify loan applications quite stably and accurately, while CART, k-NN and NB show the worst performance when predicting borrower default risk on P2P loan data.
Originality/value
The main contributions of the research to the empirical literature review include: comparing nine prediction models of consumer loan application risk through statistical and machine learning algorithms evaluated by the performance measures according to three separate families of metrics (threshold, ranking and probabilistic metrics) that are consistent with the existing data characteristics of the LC lending platform through two periods of reviewing the current economic situation and platform development.
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Kristin Scott, Juan Meng and Ann Kuzma
The American Dream is tightly woven into the American culture and way of life. Despite the importance and ubiquitous nature of the American Dream, the topic is difficult to define…
Abstract
Purpose
The American Dream is tightly woven into the American culture and way of life. Despite the importance and ubiquitous nature of the American Dream, the topic is difficult to define and belief in the attainability of the American Dream changes over time. Because of the little academic research on the topic, this study aims to fill this gap and investigate what people think about the American Dream and what factors influence the perception that this concept is outdated among different two generations – Baby Boomers and Millennials.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey containing both open-ended and close-ended questions was conducted in two age groups via Qualtrics – 245 Millennials (born 1980–1996) and 253 Baby Boomers (born 1946–1964). Open-ended questions were analyzed using NVivo and closed-ended questions were analyzed using SPSS. Items on the online survey measured the definition of the American Dream, factors in defining it, the relevancy and attainability of the Dream, whether it was outdated, as well as Schwartz’s list of values (Lindeman and Verkasalo, 2005).
Findings
Three research questions were investigated. First, the results show that Baby Boomers and Millennials define the Dream similarly in terms of a house, family, happiness, freedom and equality. Second, they differ, however, in whether they believe that the Dream is relevant and attainable. Specifically, only Baby Boomers believe that the Dream is still relevant, but both generations believe that it is harder for younger generations to achieve the Dream. Third, the authors found similarities and differences in terms of demographics and values predicting whether the two generations believed that the Dream is outdated, and new values should be added. For both generations, values were more likely to predict the belief that the Dream was outdated. Using Schwartz’s values, those high in universalism were more likely to believe that the Dream was outdated and that new values should be added to the definition of the Dream for both generations. The values of security, self-direction, achievement and benevolence differed between the generations in believing that the Dream was outdated and that new values should be added.
Originality/value
This research provides insight into how these macrolevel beliefs influence people at the microlevel and how businesses or public policymakers can use these concepts to influence attitudes or behaviors.
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Qifeng Wang, Bofan Lin and Consilz Tan
The purpose of this paper is to develop an index for measuring urban house price affordability that integrates spatial considerations and to explore the drivers of housing…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop an index for measuring urban house price affordability that integrates spatial considerations and to explore the drivers of housing affordability using the post-least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) approach and the ordinary least squares method of regression analysis.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on time-series data collected from 2005 to 2021 for 256 prefectural-level city districts in China. The new urban spatial house-to-price ratio introduced in this study adds the consideration of commuting costs due to spatial endowment compared to the traditional house-to-price ratio. And compared with the use of ordinary economic modelling methods, this study adopts the post-LASSO variable selection approach combined with the k-fold cross-test model to identify the most important drivers of housing affordability, thus better solving the problems of multicollinearity and overfitting.
Findings
Urban macroeconomics environment and government regulations have varying degrees of influence on housing affordability in cities. Among them, gross domestic product is the most important influence.
Research limitations/implications
The paper provides important implications for policymakers, real estate professionals and researchers. For example, policymakers will be able to design policies that target the most influential factors of housing affordability in their region.
Originality/value
This study introduces a new urban spatial house price-to-income ratio, and it examines how macroeconomic indicators, government regulation, real estate market supply and urban infrastructure level have a significant impact on housing affordability. The problem of having too many variables in the decision-making process is minimized through the post-LASSO methodology, which varies the parameters of the model to allow for the ranking of the importance of the variables. As a result, this approach allows policymakers and stakeholders in the real estate market more flexibility in determining policy interventions. In addition, through the k-fold cross-validation methodology, the study ensures a high degree of accuracy and credibility when using drivers to predict housing affordability.
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Mahmoud Ali Hailat, Mohammad W. Alomari and Ala' Bashayreh
This paper investigates the impact of microfinance on poverty gap which is the shortfall in income or consumption expenditures below $1.90, $3.20 and $5.50 per day. The paper’s…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper investigates the impact of microfinance on poverty gap which is the shortfall in income or consumption expenditures below $1.90, $3.20 and $5.50 per day. The paper’s primary goal is to investigate how microloans have impacted the severity of poverty and influenced the cost of poverty eradication in Latin America, empirically evaluate these effects and offer appropriate policy recommendations.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper used panel data for 13 Latin American countries from world bank spanning the period 2001–2019 and Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares model for heterogeneous cointegrated panels. This study used Gross Loan Portfolio per active borrowers, gross domestic product per capita, Gini index, Inflation and Unemployment rate as independent variables and poverty gaps as dependent variables.
Findings
Poverty gaps narrow as the loan per borrower increases, and the degree of effect differs with the poverty line, with the magnitude increasing as the poverty line falls, underscoring microloans as an effective tool in closing poverty gaps and lowering the cost of poverty eradication. Growth of GDP per capita is helpful reducing the poverty gap, especially for the less poor of the poor. Inflation and unemployment have no to little impact on the severe poverty gaps, but they start to matter when the poverty line is $5.5 per day. Finally, income distribution inequality widens the poverty gap regardless of the poverty line used.
Originality/value
This study suggests several implications. For example, Latin American nations need to embrace tangible policies that encourage economic growth while reducing inequalities in income distribution to effectively eradicate poverty. More supportive environment is necessary to increase the effectiveness of microfinance operations, particularly for the poorest populations. Microfinance institutions need to set less stringent conditions for loan accessibility and repayment schedules that are commensurate with different levels of poverty. Finally, strengthening microfinance as a strategic policy to gradually close poverty gaps and reduce the cost of poverty eradication.
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Beatriz Gallo Cordoba, Catherine Waite and Lucas Walsh
This paper aims to understand if buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) services, a digital type of credit that targets young consumers, acts as a protective or a risk factor for food…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to understand if buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) services, a digital type of credit that targets young consumers, acts as a protective or a risk factor for food insecurity among young consumers in Australia.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses survey data from a representative sample of young consumers aged 18–24 from all internal states and territories in Australia. Propensity score matching is used to test two hypotheses: BNPL drives young consumers to food insecurity, and food insecurity leads young consumers to use BNPL.
Findings
There is evidence that BNPL use is driving young Australian consumers to experience food insecurity, but there is no evidence of food insecurity driving the use of BNPL services.
Practical implications
The evidence of BNPL driving young consumers to experience food insecurity calls for the adoption of practices and stronger regulation to ensure that young users from being overindebted.
Originality/value
Although the link with more traditional forms of credit (such as personal loans) and consumer wellbeing has been explored more broadly, this project is the first attempt to have causal evidence of the link between BNPL and food insecurity in a high-income country, to the best of the authors’ knowledge. This evidence helps to fill the gap about the protective or risky nature of this type of digital financial product, as experienced by young Australians.
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The purpose of this paper is to explore practices of Territorial-HRM within a network of shoemakers characterized by informal activities.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore practices of Territorial-HRM within a network of shoemakers characterized by informal activities.
Design/methodology/approach
Territorial-HRM is a relatively new topic in management sciences, hence a qualitative methodology has been conducted for better exploration. The methodology relies on the development of two series of semi-structured interviews conducted with several members of the network. Data were collected and analyzed based on the thematic analysis method.
Findings
Results show a type of Territorial-HRM that stands out from that of the formal territorial networks largely described in the literature in management sciences. This form of Territorial-HRM is characterized by the following specific practices: Territorial Based Recruitment (TBR), External Mobility, Labor Loan, Inter-Boss Training and Collective Learning.
Research limitations/implications
This study relies on a single research method with a relatively small number of interviews within an informal network in the Senegalese context. The authors recommend replicating the study in other contexts and developing representative samples in order to test or measure the relationships between grounded concepts of Informal Territorial-HRM.
Originality/value
These results reveal a quite different dynamic of the emergence of Territorial-HRM due to the specificity of the network, its informal nature and its socio-cultural anchorage. The paper adds strong enrichment to the Territorial-HRM field of research by laying out its foundation both in Informal Territorial Networks and in the English speaking academic world.
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Liubov Ermolaeva, Andrei Panibratov and Desislava Dikova
This paper aims to use the obsolescing bargaining power (OBP) Model (Vernon, 1977, 1998) to analyze the case of United Company Rusal, a Russian politically connected multinational…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to use the obsolescing bargaining power (OBP) Model (Vernon, 1977, 1998) to analyze the case of United Company Rusal, a Russian politically connected multinational companies (MNCs) that was one of the world’s largest aluminum companies between 2005 and 2014, having acquired and, ultimately, sold the Montenegrin aluminum smelter company Kombinat aluminijuma Podgorica.The authors did so with the aim of answering the following question: How do geopolitics affect the bargaining balance of power between a Russian MNC and a host country?
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used the discourse analysis methodology to identify the key players in the bargaining process and illustrate the evolving bargaining process.
Findings
The authors demonstrated that, over time, the shift in power from the Russian MNC to the host government had not merely been the result of the increase in committed MNC assets in the host country but, rather, of a geopolitical chess game involving the Russian Government, North Atlantic treaty organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU). By extending the OBP model with geopolitics, the authors found that a political agenda can influence the outcome of a bargaining process.
Originality/value
The authors extended the OBP model to illustrate the complex interaction between an emerging market MNC and an emerging host country government, indirectly influenced by two supranational organizations – the EU and NATO.
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Chioma Onoshakpor, James Cunningham and Elizabeth Gammie
Nigeria presents something of an entrepreneurial paradox. Women in entrepreneurship dominate the economy, yet patriarchal structures dominate society. This article investigates…
Abstract
Purpose
Nigeria presents something of an entrepreneurial paradox. Women in entrepreneurship dominate the economy, yet patriarchal structures dominate society. This article investigates how patriarchal factors impact entrepreneurial processes, in turn, creating unequal expectations of entrepreneurial opportunity.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts an intersectionality lens to explore how patriarchy is manifest for entrepreneurs. The reflective narratives of 30 entrepreneurs are analysed, provided through semi-structured interviews. An inductive qualitative approach accesses the gendered discourse of entrepreneurship as constructed by entrepreneurs. Within this discourse, the factors of patriarchy are exposed.
Findings
Findings reveal a multi-faceted patriarchy, with the informing factors of entrepreneurial gender roles, class and religion. The study explains how the interaction of these factors reinforce patriarchal ideals and create a variety of gendered images of what is acceptable entrepreneurial activity in Nigeria, and for whom.
Originality/value
This study contributes to growing insight on entrepreneurship in Africa and challenges linear arguments of entrepreneurship-as-emancipation for women. In complex and multidimensional contexts, entrepreneurs must navigate the intersection of factors sensitively, ensuring acceptance and fulfilment of societal expectations. The power of intersectionality as a theory of contextualisation is discussed.
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Raushan Aman, Maria Elo, Petri Ahokangas and Xiaotian Zhang
Entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) research has focused on high-growth scale-up entrepreneurship, whereas the role of EEs in nurturing the ventures of marginalised groups like…
Abstract
Purpose
Entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) research has focused on high-growth scale-up entrepreneurship, whereas the role of EEs in nurturing the ventures of marginalised groups like migrant women entrepreneurs (MWEs) has often been elided from extant discussions. This research explores how the EE's structure, policies and programmes advance diversity, equity and inclusion to foster MWEs, and MWEs' contribution to the dynamics and sustainability of the host country's EE based on EE actors' perspectives. We contribute to EEs' diversity, equity and inclusion, which are important but neglected social aspects of sustainable EEs.
Design/methodology/approach
The qualitative data was collected through thematic interviews with EE actors, including NGOs and entrepreneurial support-providing organizations based in Finland. The collected data was complemented by interviews with MWEs, archival data and published supplementary materials on ecosystem actors.
Findings
EE structure, policies, programmes and individual agency, coupled with MWEs' proactivity in lobbying the necessary actors in the required places for their interests, enhance their businesses' development. There were both impeding and fostering dynamics, which may have idiographic and contextual features. Evidently, by being occupied in various sectors, from science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to socially beneficial niche service sectors, MWEs contribute to the host country's EE dynamics not only through their productive entrepreneurship but by enriching the ecosystem's resource endowments and institutional arrangements.
Originality/value
We argue that exploring the gender and inclusivity aspects of EEs as the accommodating context is particularly relevant, given that the United Nation's sustainable development goals 5, 8 and 10 aim to improve women's empowerment at all levels, promoting sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, and ensuring equal opportunities and reduced inequalities within the population. Inclusion and embeddedness in EEs positively affect diversity and sustainability in the host country. Theoretically, our contribution is twofold. First, by exploring female migrants' entrepreneurial experiences within the EE based on EE actors' perspectives, we broaden the research on inclusivity in EEs and gender aspects and enrich the research on their societal impact, which has received scant attention from scholars. More specifically, we contribute to EE research with (1) a novel understanding of MWEs and EE elements, their interconnections and dynamism, (2) identifying previously ignored elements shaping MWE and (3) providing EE actor insights into the co-creation of EE for MWE. Second, by analysing the impact of MWEs' businesses on the host country's EE, we contribute to calls for research on MWE contributions to its economic environment.
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