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Transformative learning experiences can expand individual personal and professional capacity. In this work, the meaning and significance of individual growth is viewed through the lens of public value, focusing on the connection between person and place. This chapter details how Nuffield International Farming Scholars perceive public value contributions stemming from their individual development and subsequent engagement in civic life and community development. Voices of program participants provide insight on capacity building experiences as part of sustainable community development efforts, and how perceived outcomes for individuals such as professional and personal benefits, post-program engagement, and a sense of reciprocity are motivators leading to public value contribution.

The authors measure the impact of culture on Sharia; Social and Financial Disclosure (SSFD) of Islamic Banks (IBs) around the world.

Content analysis is used to measure levels of disclosure for a sample of 136 IBs of 25 countries for years 2013 and 2014. Different cultural measures are used. These include secrecy/transparency as suggested by Gray (1988) and Hofstede (1980, 1983, 2001, 2010)’s culture dimensions which include: Power Distance; Individualism; Masculinity; Uncertainty Avoidance; Long-Term Ordination and Indulgence. Ordinary least square (OLS) regression is used to test the research hypotheses.

After controlling bank-specific, corporate governance and country characteristics, the authors found that Hofstede’s culture dimensions have a significant impact on SSFD. They also found that Gray's transparency dimension positively influence levels of sharia, social and aggregated disclosure. Therefore, they conclude that culture influences levels of disclosure in IBs.

This study has policy implications for managers and regulators of Islamic banking industry.

This study is the first to use both Gray and Hofstede models in the context of IBs around the world. It also the first to explore the impact of culture on three different disclosure levels for IBs.

Purpose – Recruiting sufficient participants who adequately represent the population of interest is an ongoing issue for accounting experimental researchers. This study investigates the impact of recruitment method on the number of participants, effort on the experimental task, and sample bias with respect to three individual difference variables (locus of control, social desirability response bias, and prosocial behavior). We employ five different recruitment methods: three forms of monetary compensation and two levels of an appeal for help with a research project.

Methodology – We recruit students in five sections of the same course taught by the same instructor (not one of the researchers), manipulating recruitment method across sections. Immediately following recruitment, participants completed a simple experimental task and scales for the individual difference variables.

Findings – We find that the method of recruiting resulted in different response rates, with appeal from a fellow student yielding the highest response rate, and appeal from a professor yielding the lowest response rate. Effort was greatest for the appeal from the professor and least for the draw. While the five subsamples that resulted from the five recruiting methods were not different with respect to the individual difference variables, the relationship of those variables to effort did vary.

Research Implications – Our findings suggest that researchers must carefully consider recruitment method not only in terms of how many participants can be attracted, but also in terms of the potential impact of the manner in which recruitment was conducted on the attitudes and behaviors of the participants during the experiment.

Prior research suggests that hospitality firms behave differently than other firms in terms of financing and investment issues. Such behavior may be attributable in part to agency problems and corporate governance structures in hospitality firms. This paper contains a report of an investigation into whether corporate governance mechanisms differ in hospitality firms relative to other industries. Our findings suggest that hospitality firms are more likely to experience agency problems than are nonhospitality firms. Hospitality firms have lower governance control mechanisms, better financial performance and higher-quality earnings than nonhospitality firms. An understanding of corporate governance control mechanisms helps to reduce agency problems and improves the hospitality firm's performance in the hospitality corporation.

Purpose – The aim of this article is to examine the effects of ownership concentration and board characteristics on the performance of firms domiciled in Jordan.

Design/methodology/approach – The article employs two-stage least square (2SLS) regressions on a sample of 103 firms listed on the Amman Stock Exchange for financial years 2002–2005.

Findings – The empirical results suggest that ownership concentration, multiple directorships and board size are each positive and significant in determining firm performance. Although this result contradicts the findings of some developed country studies, they are consistent with recent emerging market studies.

Implications – The findings of this article echo some of prior researchers’ contention that reforms in corporate governance principles in emerging markets should go beyond adopting the best practice in developed markets and take into account the country- and firm-specific characteristics.

Originality/value – This article exploits a unique dataset of ownership and board characteristics in an emerging market, as well as provides additional evidence on the relation between corporate governance and firm performance. Results of this research provide useful information for policymakers and legislators to understand the environment for corporate control in developing countries.

As demand for access to colleges and universities prompts higher education systems for creative and efficient solutions, we examine technology-centric approaches to education delivery and their implications for policy, student outcomes, and resource allocation. Our work is framed by Kingdon’s adapted multiple streams theory of national policymaking. However, the real elephant in the room may be the skyrocketing costs of administration that may need wrangling before resources can be directed to the future potential savings obtained through developing infrastructure for, and delivery of, tech-centric teaching approaches. We provide examples and strategies, policy implications, and recommendations for research and practice.

Today’s society is plagued with a myriad of sustainability-related issues such as poverty, climate change, environmental disasters, shrinking biodiversity, eroding of potential food-producing systems, disease and choking urban population. The nature of the problems requires societies to work collectively to find a solution to end such issues. Research is needed along with a supportive, functional and cohesive leadership across disciplines, sectors and organizations. Sustainability is the strategic imperative that one cannot keep ignoring any longer and time has come to build the momentum toward excellence, quality and reengineering. Institutions of higher education should work as equal partners in this journey toward sustainable development. World’s leading international agencies are promoting and stimulating the intellectual debate toward incorporating sustainability in main stream education with the help of thought leaders. The effort will help learners to take informed decision and responsibility toward creating environmental integrity and economic welfare for all. This volume talks about innovative pedagogy and learning methods that address the current scenario and offer solutions to meet them. The case studies and approaches written by various authors from Malaysia to Australia talk about curriculum development and integrating sustainability with the core philosophy of the university. The authors have elaborated how leadership education needs to innovate for dealing with the current sustainability challenges. This volume is topical and comes at the right time when there is a heightened interest in sustainability education across the globe.

For firms using target costing, separating decision management from decision control helps to minimize the agency costs incurred throughout a product's economic life. Prior literature focuses on decision-management issues related to target costing, such as new product development (i.e., initiation) and production (i.e., implementation). In contrast, this article highlights the decision control aspects of target costing, which consist of ratifying product proposals and monitoring the product's implementation. While products initiated with target costing are chosen because they meet their allowable cost, product ratification requires assessing how well products contribute toward strategic goals, such as improving the firm's market value. To facilitate the ratification decision, this article develops an equation for determining a product's net present value (NPV) based on the same accounting data used during the initiation process. The article also describes monitoring a product's implementation through periodic comparisons to flexible budgets and a post-audit review at the end of the product's economic life.