Search results

To date, research on migration and entrepreneurship has rarely focused expat-preneurs. Based on recent developments in both fields, this paper aims to investigate the under-researched phenomenon of Chinese self-initiated expatriates who choose to temporarily live and do business abroad on their own volition.

To address this research gap, 15 in-depth semi-structured interviews with Chinese expat-preneurs living in Portugal were conducted, exposing their narratives about their multiple challenges.

The findings corroborate the theoretical need to look beyond narrow economic explanations for why individuals engage in transnational entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial itinerancy. A collective identity and ethnic community are important because they influence how opportunities are identified and pursued.

This is a qualitative and interpretative study in a limited geographical area, which does not intent to ensure generalizability. More research is needed to further understand the phenomenon of entrepreneurial itinerancy in Europe and among other ethnic communities.

The findings provide insightful inputs to Portuguese policymakers and locals on how to support ethnic entrepreneurship. Chinese expat-preneurs also benefit from understanding how to strength their ethnic social ties in connection with local communities.

This study contributes to the entrepreneurship and international mobility literatures by providing new insights into the nature and dynamics of Chinese “expat-preneurs”, including their entrepreneurial itinerancy, necessary to properly understand entrepreneurs’ diversity and assist in extending transnational entrepreneurial theory.

This study aims to investigate whether auditors compromise their independence for economically important clients in family business settings.

The authors empirically examine the research question based on China for the years 2011 to 2020. The dependent variable is the auditors’ propensity to issue modified audit opinions, which is a proxy for auditor independence. The authors use relative client audit fees as a proxy for client importance. To address endogeneity issues in the selection of family firms, the authors use the two-stage least squares regression model and, subsequently, the propensity score matching and Hausman firm fixed effect modeling.

This study reveals that the propensity to issue modified audit opinions is positively correlated with client importance. Big-N auditors are more likely to issue modified audit opinions for their economically important family firm clients, whereas such evidence is not found for non-Big-N auditors. Results are consistent and robust to endogeneity test and sensitivity analysis.

This study enriches the literature on auditor independence and the effect of family firms’ ownership structure factors on audit reporting behavior for their economically important clients. Findings may prove useful for managers and practitioners interested in family business.

This study aims to investigate how firms of different sizes respond to competitive pressure from peers.

This study employs machine learning techniques to measure competitive pressure based on management discussion and analysis (MD&A) documents and then utilises the constructed pressure indicator to explore the relationship between competitive pressure and corporate risk-taking behaviours amongst firms of different sizes.

We find that firm sizes are positively associated with their risk-taking behaviours when firms respond to competitive pressure. Large firms are inclined to exhibit a high level of risk-taking behaviours, whereas small firms tend to make conservative decisions. Regional growth potential and institutional ownership moderate the relationships.

Utilising text mining techniques, this study constructs a novel quantitative indicator to measure competitive pressure perceived by focal firms and demonstrates the heterogeneous behaviour of firms of different sizes in response to competitive pressure from peers, advancing research on competitive market pressures.

Understanding the adoption of m-commerce in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is critical for their sustainable development. This study aims to investigate the adoption of m-commerce in Vietnamese SMEs, leading to the identification of the critical determinants and their relative importance for m-commerce adoption.

An integrated model is developed by combining the diffusion of innovation theory and the technology–organization–environment framework. Such a model is then tested and validated using structural equation modeling and artificial neural networks in analyzing the survey data.

The study indicates that perceived security is the most critical determinant for m-commerce adoption. It further shows that customer pressure, perceived compatibility, organizational innovativeness, perceived benefits, managers’ IT knowledge, government support and organizational readiness all play a critical role in the adoption of m-commerce in Vietnamese SMEs.

The findings of this study can lead to the formulation of better strategies and policies for promoting the adoption of m-commerce in Vietnamese SMEs. Such findings are also of practical significance for the diffusion of m-commerce in SMEs in other developing countries.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt to explore the adoption of m-commerce in Vietnamese SMEs using a hybrid approach. The application of this approach can lead to better understanding of the relative importance of the critical determinants for the adoption of m-commerce in Vietnamese SMEs.

Wine tourism is gaining increasing popularity among Chinese tourists, making it necessary to thoroughly examine tourist behavior. While online reviews posted by wine tourists have been extensively studied from the perspectives of destinations and wineries, the perspective of the tourists themselves has been overlooked. To address this gap, this study aims to identify significant attributes intrinsic to the tourism experiences of Chinese wine tourists by adopting a text-mining approach from a tourist-centric perspective.

The authors use topic modeling to extract these attributes, calculate topic intensity to understand tourists’ attention distribution across these attributes and conduct topical sentiment analysis to evaluate tourists’ satisfaction levels with each attribute. The authors perform importance-performance analyses (IPAs) using topic intensity and sentiment scores. Furthermore, the authors conduct semistructured in-depth interviews with Chinese wine tourists to gain insights into the underlying reasons behind the key findings.

The study identifies eleven attributes for domestic wine tourists and seven attributes for outbound wine tourists. From the reviews of both domestic and outbound tourists, three common attributes have been identified: “scenic view”, “wine tasting and purchase” and “wine knowledge”.

According to the results of the IPAs, there is a pressing need for enhancements in the wine tasting and purchasing experience at domestic wine attractions. Additionally, managers of domestic wine attractions should continue to prioritize the positive aspects of the family trip experience and scenic views. On the other hand, for outbound wine attractions, it is crucial for managers to maintain their efforts in providing opportunities for wine knowledge acquisition, ensuring scenic views and upholding the reputation of wine regions.

First, this study breaks new ground by adopting a tourist-centric perspective to extract significant attributes from real wine tourism reviews. Second, the authors conduct a comparative analysis between Chinese wine tourists who travel domestically and those who travel abroad. The third novel aspect of this study is the application of IPA based on textual review data in the context of wine tourism. Fourth, by integrating topic modeling with qualitative interviews, the authors use a mixed-method approach to gain deeper insights into the experiences of Chinese wine tourists.

This study aims to investigate the influence of CEO’s only-child status on corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices. It seeks to extend the understanding of upper echelon theory by examining unexplored CEO characteristics and their impact on CSR decisions.

The paper uses manually collected CEO family information and Chinese Stock and Market Accounting Research data as a basis to examine the influence of CEOs’ early-life experiences on their engagement in CSR activities. The study applies attachment security theory from developmental psychology and uses upper echelon theory, particularly focusing on CEOs’ only-child status. A comparative analysis of philanthropic donations between CEOs who are only children and those who have siblings is conducted. The study also examines the moderating effects of corporate slack resources and CEO shareholdings.

Preliminary findings suggest that CEOs who are only children are more likely to engage in CSR compared to their counterparts with siblings. However, the difference in donation amounts between the two groups tends to attenuate with decreased slack resources and increased CEO shareholdings.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research represents the first attempt to investigate being the only child in one’s family and the CSR-related decision of CEOs, which extends the upper echelon theory by introducing the family science theory into the management domain.

Digital technologies over time are becoming increasingly pervasive and relatively affordable, finding a large diffusion in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) also for internationalization purposes. However, less is known about the specific mechanisms by which this can be achieved. Specifically, we focus on how SMEs can face the international environment, leveraging digital technologies and thanks to their intellectual capital (IC).

We analyze the relationship between digital technologies and the internationalization of SMEs, exploring the mediating role of IC in its three dimensions: human, relational and innovation capital, and assessing the possible moderating effects posed by international institutional conditions, specifically the Sino-US trade frictions. The relationships are tested using a sample of companies listed on China’s A-share Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) from 2010 to 2021.

Digital technologies help to internationalize SMEs. However, this positive relationship is affected (mediated) by the presence of an already consolidated IC. In addition, the institutional conditions of the international market, such as the Sino-US trade friction, moderate the components of IC differently. Specifically, the overall mediating effect of human and relational capital is boosted, while this does not happen for innovation capital.

First, this study contributes to the literature on organizational resilience, especially digital resilience, confirming its validity in the context of internationalization and, in particular, those processes adopted by SMEs. Second, we clarify the mechanisms through which digital technologies exert their impact on the process of internationalization and in particular the prominent necessity of having IC. Third, our conclusions enrich the understanding of how IC components react to turbulence in international markets.

This paper aims to offer insight into how strategies within the accounting profession, which has been becoming more global, might be changed by the recent outbreak of the Second Cold War between the West and the Rest of the World.

We explore the strategies of those who called themselves “Confucian accountants” in China, a country which has recently discouraged its state-owned enterprises from using the services of the Big 4. We do this by employing qualitative research methods, including reflexive photo interviews, in which Big-4 accountants, recognised as the most Westernised accounting actors in China, and Confucian accountants are asked to take and explain photographs representing their professional lives. Bourdieu’s notions of “economy of practices” and “vision-of-division strategy” are drawn upon to understand who the Confucian accountants are and what they do strategically in their pursuit of a higher revenue stream and improved social standing in the Chinese social space.

The homegrown Confucian accountants share cultural-cognitive characteristics with neighbouring social actors, such as their clients and government officials, who have been inculcated with Confucianism and the state’s cultural confidence policy in pursuit of a “socialist market economy with Chinese characteristics”. Those accountants try to enhance their social standing and revenue stream by strategically demonstrating their difference from Big-4 accountants. For this purpose, they wear Confucian clothes, have Confucian props in their office, employ Confucian phrases in their everyday conversations, use Confucian business cards and construct and maintain guanxi with government officials and clients.

This paper is the first attempt to explore Confucian accountants’ strategies for increasing their revenue and social standing at the start of the Second Cold War.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between accounting conservatism and pledging of shares by controlling shareholders of a firm to obtain a loan. The pledging of shares by the controlling shareholders of a firm results in alterations to the payoff and risk structure for these shareholders. Since accounting numbers have valuation implications, pledging of shares by a controlling shareholder has an impact on accounting policy choices made by the firm. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of controlling shareholder share pledging to obtain a loan on a specific accounting policy choice, namely, conservatism.

The paper uses a large data set from India comprising 14,786 firm years consisting of 1,570 firms belonging to 58 industries for a period of 11 years (2009–2019). The authors use ordinary least square regression with robust standard errors. The authors conduct robustness checks and the results are consistent across alternative statistical methodologies and alternative measures of the primary dependent and independent variables.

The primary results show that pledging of shares by the controlling shareholders results in higher conditional conservatism and lower unconditional conservatism. Further analysis reveals that the relationship is stronger when the controlling shareholder holds a majority ownership in the firm. Additionally, the results show that for business group affiliated firms, which are unique to developing countries, both the conditional and the unconditional conservatism are incrementally lower when the controlling shareholder pledges the shares. For family firms with a family member as CEO, the conditional conservatism is incrementally higher and the unconditional conservatism is incrementally lower. Finally, the authors show that the results hold when the pledge intensity variable is measured with a one-year lag and finally, the authors show that conditional conservatism is incrementally higher in the year of the increase in the pledge and the year after, but there is no such incremental impact on unconditional conservatism.

The research is limited to the listed firms in India. Since majority of the listed firms are controlled by families and the family firms around the world are heterogeneous the findings of the research may not be applicable to other countries.

The study has implications for policy-making and monitoring of the pledging by the controlling shareholders. It also helps the investors in making investment decisions with respect to family firms in India.

The study is unique as it focuses on the relationship between pledging of shares by the controlling shareholders and its impact on accounting conservatism. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first research integrating these two aspects.

Stewardship behavior is an important embodiment of the spirit of employee ownership, which is critical to the sustainability of companies, especially under the influence of the COVID-19 epidemic. Most previous studies have focused on how to motivate employees’ stewardship behavior, but little is known about how stewardship behavior affects employees themselves. The purpose of this study is to explore how employee stewardship behavior affects their work-family interface based on the conservation of resources (COR) theory.

In this study, structural equation modeling was conducted using two-wave survey data from 323 employees through three internet companies in Southern China.

Results reveal that engaging in stewardship behavior is positively correlated with both positive emotion and emotional exhaustion. Positive emotion and emotional exhaustion, in turn, mediate the effects of stewardship behavior on work–home interface. Family motivation influences the strength of the relationships between positive emotion or emotional exhaustion and work–family interface, that is, high family motivation strengthens the positive association between positive emotion and work–family enrichment and weakens the positive association between emotional exhaustion and work–family conflict.

This study suggests that managers should give employees more support and care to ease the worries of engaging in stewardship behavior. Also, organizations should recruit employees with high family motivation, which can reduce the negative effects of stewardship behavior on work–-family interface.

Based on an actor’s perspective, this study examines both the positive and negative effects of stewardship behavior on employees themselves, thereby increasing understanding of the dual effect of stewardship behavior. In addition, this study further elucidates the mechanisms that moderate the positive and negative effects of individual family motivation on their engagement in stewardship behavior within the COR theory.