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This paper attempts to investigate the effect of corruption on the real and accrual earnings management of target firms in the process of mergers and acquisitions.

The sample includes target firms from the European area that participate in mergers or acquisitions announced during 2010–2020. The preliminary empirical part estimates the level of earnings management during the period two years before the deal's announcement to identify whether the sample follows the manipulation behavior that the literature suggests for target firms. The primary empirical analysis focuses on the impact of corruption on real and accrual-based earnings management proxies, employing regression models and two alternative proxies for corruption. The existing literature points out that the combination of low levels of corruption and an integrated legal system reduces earnings manipulation.

The findings provide strong evidence for systematic downwards accounting manipulation practices, whereas the findings for real earnings management are not significant. The findings of the main empirical part show that corruption is positively associated with accrual-based manipulation and negatively related to real earnings management. In essence, in economies with a high level of transparency, managers adopt the manipulation of operating activities as a less detectable practice of earnings management instead of engaging in accounting procedures.

This study contributes to the literature highlighting the diversification of these firms' manipulation strategies according to the national level's corruption status.

The purpose of this study is to identify segments in the Gen Z population (born between 1996 and 2010) in Europe, the USA and Australia, based on brand- and lifestyle-related variables and perceptions about their online activities. This study explores how these segments differ and provide insights into cross-country similarities and differences.

An online survey was conducted with 4,304 participants, and cluster analysis and analysis of variance were used to identify and profile Gen Z segments in each of three geographical areas.

Five segments in Europe and four segments in the USA and in Australia were identified. Segments differ in terms of the importance they attach to exclusivity, inclusivity and sustainability of brands, how Gen Z members perceive money issues and stand in life and how they perceive their online activities. Similar segments are found in the three geographical areas.

This study proposes a conceptual and analytical approach for exploring intra-cohort diversity. Future research can apply this approach to different generational cohorts and use it to study intra-cohort diversity in other parts of the world.

This study provides input for marketing practitioners to create better focused and more effective campaigns.

Cross-country generational cohort research is scarce, and especially intra-cohort diversity is under-researched. This study offers a deep and fine-grained insight into the diversity of the Gen Z cohort across three geographical areas, based on representative samples in these areas.

The purpose of this study is to gain a broad understanding of public perceptions of the police and violence.

This study uses survey data collected from a nationally representative sample (N = 1,223) by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) Center for Public Affairs Research at the University of Chicago. Descriptive, bivariate correlational and multivariate regression analyses of the data were conducted.

Descriptive analyses show the populace is equally concerned about the police use of violence and violence against the police, but bivariate analyses indicate the two types of concern are unrelated, and multivariate regression analyses show that few variables impact both types of concern. Consistent with prior research, young people and racial/ethnic minorities reported greater concerns about police violence than did older adults and Whites, yet neither age nor race/ethnicity impacted concerns about violence against the police. Perceived mistreatment by the police was the only variable which impacted perceptions of police violence and violence against the police in a consistent and cogent manner.

This study is the first to examine public perceptions of the police as both the agents and victims of violence. The results indicate public perceptions of the police are more complex than was previously believed.

Human resource analytics (HRA) has developed as a new business trend and challenge, stressing the strategic relevance of human resource management (HRM) to senior management executives. HRA is a process that uses statistical techniques, to link HR practices to organizational performance. The purpose of this study is to carry out recent development in HRA, bibliometric analysis and content analysis to present a comprehensive account of HRA to fill the gap in the evolution and status of its research.

The study is based on the recent advances in HRA in terms of it evolution and advancement by analyzing and drawing conclusions 480 articles retrieved from the Web of Science (WoS) database from 2003 to March 2022. The methodology is divided into four steps: data collection, analysis, visualization and interpretation. The study performed a rigorous bibliometric assessment of HRA using the bibliometric R-package and VOS viewer.

The findings based on the literature survey, and bibliometric analysis, reveal the path-breaking articles, the prominent authors, most contributing institutions and countries that have contributed to the HRA scholarship. The results show that the number of publications has significantly increased from 2015 onwards, reaching a maximum of 101 journals in 2021. The USA, China, India, Canada and the United Kingdom were the most productive countries in terms of the total number of publications. Human Resource Management Journal, Human Resource Management, International Journal of Manpower, and Journal of Organizational Effectiveness-People and Performance are the top four academic outlets in the field of HRA. Additionally, the study identifies four clusters of HRA research and the knowledge gaps in HRA scholarship.

The present study is based on the articles retrieved from the WoS. The study underpins HRA research to understand the trends and presents a structured account. However, the study is not free from limitations. It is recommended that future research could be undertaken by combining WoS and Scopus databases to have a more detailed and comprehensive view. This study indicates that the field is still in its infancy stage. Hence, there is a need for more arduous research on the topic to help develop a better understanding of this field.

The findings of knowledge clusters will drive future researchers to augment the field. The evolution of the four clusters and their subsequent development will fill the gaps in the literature. This study enriches the HRA literature and the findings of this study may assist academicians, researchers and managers in furthering their research in the identified research clusters

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) own and control technological resources and capabilities that make them critical actors in accelerating the transition toward net zero. Even beyond the energy sector, stakeholders are putting increasing pressure on MNEs to reduce the carbon intensity of their operations, that is, to improve their carbon performance. While there is unambiguous evidence that national climate policy is a critical catalyst for long-term carbon performance improvements, there is limited research on how MNEs’ carbon strategies react to climate policies. This chapter reviews the concepts, drivers, and strategies connected to carbon performance in the broader sustainability and management literature to clarify potential complementarities to international business (IB). The authors then highlight how MNEs will face increasing institutional complexity along two dimensions: (1) the structural diversity of institutional environments and (2) institutional dynamism, primarily reflected by public policy. The proposed conceptual framework maps these two dimensions to national and subnational levels, and the authors present two data sources that allow the quantitative analysis of country differences in the diversity and dynamism of national climate policy. The authors conclude that there are ample opportunities for IB researchers to explore MNEs’ strategic reactions to climate policy and to inform policymakers about the consequences of national climate policy in the global economy.

This study aims to investigate the effect of income and asset diversification on earnings management using discretionary loan loss provisions (LLP) in banks, and the role of risk level in mediating this effect.

A sample of banks operating in Middle East and North Africa countries was used to test the mediation model of Baron and Kenny (1986) with different measures of diversification and risk.

The results show that bank income and asset diversification have unique and combined effects on earnings management. The results also support the idea that a risk-mediating effect contributes to explaining this relationship among banks. Specifically, bank diversification strategies positively affect LLP-based earnings management by increasing bank risk. This result is relevant for conventional banks. However, only a direct and positive effect of diversification strategies on LLP-based earnings management can be observed in Islamic banks, and the indirect effect is not supported.

This study extends previous research by examining the unique and combined effects of income and asset diversification strategies on earnings management in the banking sector. Specifically, it provides new evidence that diversification strategies increase LLP-based earnings management, both directly and indirectly, through bank risk.

The struggle for racial justice has always faced significant challenges and controversies across interpersonal, intergroup and structural levels. As racism continues to evolve and adapt to new social, political and technological developments, researchers, activists and practitioners grapple with complex and intersecting issues. This chapter discusses some of the ongoing challenges anti-racist endeavours face today. It engages with contemporary global issues, such as international migration, globalisation and the digital revolution that have implications on the fight against racism. The chapter covers topics such as the recent backlashes against anti-racism, the emergence of the ‘colour-blind’ ideology and the challenges anti-racism faces in the realm of technological advance and digital spaces. Additionally, this chapter explores the discourse of decolonisation as a radical approach to anti-racism. It concludes with a critical discussion of the idea that mainstreaming and expanding anti-racism to include racial majorities may enhance its effectiveness.

This study aims to propose and develop a new digital collaborative supply chain (CSC) model completely based on the emerging Industry 4.0 technologies. The digital model aims to support the main factors likely to affect CSC. This proposed model combines the most well-known digital tools such as blockchain technology, Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud computing (CC).

Motivated by its effective solution to enhance trust, traceability, transparency and minimize costs and risks, the combination of the most well-known digital tools such as blockchain technology, IoT and CC to develop a new digital CSC model is addressed in this research. This study first investigates and conducts a deep review analysis that explores how Industry 4.0 technologies can enable collaboration mechanisms. Second, based on an analysis of literature review, the main factors likely to affect CSC have been identified and analysed. Finally, the authors combine digital tools to support the identified factors to enhance transparency, traceability and trust by proposing a new digital CSC model. This proposed model will be used as a referential guide to encourage and motivate SC actors to collaborate in digital CSC.

This work provides many important contributions to theory and practice. First, role and impacts of the most well-known digital tools such as blockchain technology, IoT and CC for digitizing CSC have separately presented and developed. Second, the authors conceptualized a framework by developing a new digital CSC model. This conceptual digital model can be used as a referential guide for all SC actors in order to motivate them to collaborate in a modern, intelligent, secure and reliable SC. It can also support all factors affecting CSC.

The originality of this study is first investigating separately the roles and impacts of each digital tool on CSC performance. Second, the authors combine the most well-known digital tools such as blockchain technology, IoT and CC in order to develop an efficient, smart, modern and new digital CSC model. In this combination, CC is used as platform as a service enabling to link and connect the blockchain and IoT to support the main factors affecting CSC. Unlike to digital CSC model with only one digital tool, the proposed model is more realistic since depending on the information to be shared with other actors, the most appropriate tool will be automatically detected and used. This solution offers a large choice to SC actors for real time data and information sharing. In addition, the proposed model will largely enhance traceability, transparency and trust in CSC.