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Previous studies have postulated that an advance payment system (APS) positively impacts the contractor's working capital and is paramount to ensuring an efficient and effective project cash flow process. However, scant research has been undertaken to empirically establish the cash flow performance and domino effect of APS on project and organisational performance.

The epistemological design adopted a positivist philosophical stance augmented by deductive reasoning to explore the phenomena under investigation. Primary quantitative data were collected from 504 Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) registered contractors (within the grade bandings 1–9) in South Africa. A five-point Likert scale was utilised, and subsequent data accrued were analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM).

Emergent findings reveal that the mandatory use of an APS does not guarantee a positive project cash flow, an improvement in organisational performance or an improvement in project performance.

The ensuing discussion reveals the contributory influence of APS on positive cash flow and organisational performance, although APS implementation alone will not achieve these objectives. Practically, the research accentuates the need for various measures to be concurrently adopted (including APS) towards ensuring a positive project cash flow and improved organisational and project performance.

There is limited empirical research on cash flow performance and the domino effect of APS on project and organisational performance in South Africa, nor indeed, the wider geographical location of Africa as a continent. This study addresses this gap in the prevailing body of knowledge.

The purpose of this paper is to determine best practices of aid agencies for outsourcing logistics to commercial logistics service providers (LSPs) in disaster relief. Moreover, it evaluates the application of the Delphi method for research in humanitarian logistics.

The paper is based on a two-round Delphi study with 31 experts from aid agencies and a complementary full-day focus group with 12 experts from aid agencies and LSPs.

The study revealed 12 best practices for outsourcing logistics in disaster relief and a compilation of more than 100 activities for putting these practices into action. Experts consider a proper balance between efficiency and compliance, a detailed contract and a detailed service request most important. Additionally, the Delphi method was found to be a promising technique for research on humanitarian logistics.

By critically examining the Delphi method, this study establishes the basis for a wider application of the technique in the field of humanitarian logistics. Furthermore, it can help to prioritize future research as the ranking of practices reflects the priorities of practitioners.

The paper provides guidance to practitioners at aid agencies in charge of outsourcing logistics.

This research is one of the first in the field of humanitarian logistics to apply the Delphi method. Moreover, it addresses the lack of literature dealing with approaches for building successful cross-sectoral partnerships.

Bootstrapping is a practitioner-based term adopted in entrepreneurship to describe the techniques employed in micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) to minimise the need for external funding by securing resources at little or no cost and applying strategies to effectively use resources. Working capital management (WCM) is a term used in financial management to define a set of practices used to manage business resources, including cash management. This paper explores the overlap and divergence between these two disciplinary distinct concepts.

A dual methodology is employed. First, the usage of the two terms in prior literature is analysed and synthesised. Second, the study uses factor analysis to explore how bootstrapping practices described by owners of 167 established MSMEs relate to the components of WCM in financial management.

The factor analysis identifies two main bootstrapping practices employed by MSMEs: (1) delaying payments and owner-related bootstrapping and (2) customer-related bootstrapping. Delaying payments is an integral practice in trade payables management and customer-related bootstrapping includes practices that are integral to trade receivables management. Therefore, links between bootstrapping practices and WCM practices are firmly established.

The study is not without limitations. Based on cross-sectional evidence for established firms in Ireland only, future studies could explore cross-country longitudinal panel data to fully examine life cycle and sectoral effects, as well as other external shocks (for example, COVID-19) on bootstrapping and WCM practices. This study does not explain why some factors (for example, joint utilisation and inventory management) are present in some bootstrapping studies and not in others; further case study research might help explain this. Finally, changes in the business environment facing start-ups and established enterprise, including increased digitalisation, online trading, self-employment, remote hub working and sustainability, offer new avenues for bootstrapping research.

This is the first study to comprehensively explore the conceptual and empirical links between bootstrapping and WCM. This study will enable researchers and practitioners in these two distinct disciplines to learn from each other. Accounting researchers and practitioners can broaden their understanding of how WCM “works” in MSME settings. Similarly, entrepreneurship researchers and practitioners can deepen their understanding of how bootstrapping can be adopted by businesses to manage resources effectively.

On the one hand, everyone agrees that economics should be fair, that workers should get equal pay for equal work. Any instance of unfairness causes a strong disagreement. On the other hand, in many companies, advanced workers – who produce more than others – get paid disproportionally more for their work, and this does not seem to cause any negative feelings. In this paper, the authors analyze this situation from the economic viewpoint.

To analyze the problem, the authors use general mathematical models of how utility – and hence, decisions – depends on the pay-per-unit.

The authors show that from the economic viewpoint, additional payments for advanced workers indeed make economic sense, benefit everyone, and thus – in contrast to the naive literal interpretation of fairness – are not unfair. As a consequence of this analysis, the authors also explain why the labor share of the companies' income is, on average, close to 50% – an empirical fact that, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, was never previously explained.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper that explains the empirical fact – that the labor share of the income is close to 50%.

Several e-payment technologies have diffused in Nigeria yet debit card usage on POS devices have not shown consumer confidence in its usage thereby affecting the cashless policy drive of the nation. The study considered an affective commitment of users as moderating their behaviours. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how user behaviour is moderated by an affective commitment on point of sale terminal.

Following the purpose of the study, the research design is a survey. The questionnaire was adapted from earlier studies and tested for reliability and validity using Cronbach’s alpha and content validity. Andrew F. Hayes process was used to analyse the moderation effect.

The finding revealed that affective commitment significantly moderates users’ ease of use of the device, their perceived usefulness of the device and their social image on their intentions to use the device.

The findings implied that there is a need for the development of policies and strategies which should be directed towards the users of the device. Equally, the general conclusions on collective e-payment channels in a society should be discarded given that each e-payment channel can have different factors influencing it than the others. This is where customer-focused advertising and awareness campaign becomes very important.

This paper declares that the research work is not submitted anywhere for publication or for review. It was conducted by the authors who have given their consent for it to be submitted to Rajagiri management journal

This paper aims to present a study on the effect of income and expense shifting on the corporate income tax evasion – an example of intentional noncompliance practiced by tax agents. The authors expected that the tool used would differentiate the extent of understatement of tax liability.

Two experiments were conducted in which young (N = 62) and experienced (N = 68) tax agents read a scenario placing them in a position of an employee responsible for tax planning and calculations of tax liabilities. The respondents’ task was to decide about the extent of the tax liability understatement using income or expense shifting.

Research demonstrated significantly higher extent of corporate income tax understatement when using income shifting compared to expense shifting in case of experienced tax agents (Study 2) and on tendency level among young tax agents (Study 1).

Results of the studies might be of interest to managers paying attention to tax procedures within the company, governmental agencies investigating corporate tax evasion, as well as educators responsible for tax agents’ initial training and lifelong learning.

This study concentrates on tax agents who are employed in companies and corporate income tax evasion, which has not been analyzed in the literature so far.

Cash flow deficit situations and working capital control are major challenges for many companies, especially those whose suppliers and clients have strong bargaining power. This study aims to describe the application of the Six Sigma methodology for solving these problems in a large German food can manufacturing company.

This paper follows the qualitative methodology of case study research. During different define, measure, analyse, improve and control process phases, the problem and critical aspects are identified to improve the quality of the payment process and improvements are suggested and implemented.

The results provide evidence of how Six Sigma can be useful in administrative–financial processes that are carried out within a company. This result is particularly interesting because it is about processes that have not applied Six Sigma methodology. For the company studied, this methodology has balanced its cash flow and this meant large amounts of savings, especially in bank interest to avoid having to ask for bank credits.

This case can be extrapolated to other companies, regardless of the company size, that present similar symptoms of cash deficit, especially if their bargaining power with suppliers and customers is low.

This study aims to explore homeless-support workers’ perceptions of homeless welfare recipients and their experiences of navigating new conditions placed upon them by UK welfare reform. It examines support workers’ views of the most punitive feature of the welfare system, sanctions, on those recipients.In 2012, the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Coalition Government introduced the largest and most radical overhaul of the UK benefit system, significantly increasing the level of conditionality and sanctions for non-compliance, part of a shift in welfare, suggesting that rights must be balanced by responsibility and the “culture of worklessness” and “benefit dependency” should be addressed.

Welfare reforms in the UK and the increased use of sanctions as part of welfare conditionality are reviewed. Data are collected from eight semi-structured interviews taking place in five housing support groups in the South East and South West of England in 2019–2020. The interviews followed an approach from interpretive phenomenological analysis.

Findings from this study indicate that the government’s reforms serve as a disciplinary measure for the poor, reinforcing inequality and social marginalization. To mitigate the effects would require a comprehensive review of universal credit prior to its full rollout to claimants. Data are analyzed thematically.

Welfare conditionality and welfare reform is well-researched in the UK. There is also a significant volume of research concerning homelessness. This paper, however, fills a gap in research concerning the experiences of those working in housing support agencies working with homeless people in the UK.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the application of Kafalah in the practice of Islamic banking in Malaysia generally and ascertain applicable rules governing the application under relevant legislations and Shariah. The study also aims to examine the legislations in the light of Shariah provisions governing Kafalah and propose amendments.

This is a qualitative research where primary data sources mainly legislations and secondary sources comprising of articles and books on the subject of Kafalah were examined. It is an exploratory legal research that primarily focuses on library studies and adopts doctrinal approach for content analysis of data from the identified sources.

Kafalah is widely used in Islamic banking in Malaysia with primary or secondary application in structuring such products/services as personal guarantee, bank guarantee, Islamic credit card among others. The substantive law applicable to Kafalah in Islamic banking in Malaysia is the Contracts Act 1950 as decided cases indicate. However, provisions of the Act are at variance with rules of Shariah applicable to Kafalah on absolution of guaranteed debtor, multiple guarantors’ liability towards guaranteed sum as well as recourse and recovery from principal debtor.

This research explored the practice of Kafalah in Islamic banking under Malaysian legal framework based on the available literature. The research does not embody an empirical evaluation.

This research suggests, with respect to the identified issues, an amendment to the Act for clarification as follows: that recourse and recovery from principal debtor is only where creditor has requested guarantor to settle outstanding debt, that presence of surety does not absolve principal debtor from his original liability and that multiple guarantors stand as having equal responsibility towards guaranteed amount. The research findings will assist policy and law makers to harmonize the relevant laws with the Shariah to facilitate sustainable development of Islamic banking.