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Steam explosions are a major safety concern in many modern furnaces. The explosions are sometimes caused by water ingress into the furnace from leaks in its high-pressure (HP) cooling water system, coming into contact with molten matte. To address such safety issues related to steam explosions, risk based inspection (RBI) is suggested in this paper. RBI is presently one of the best-practice methodologies to provide an inspection schedule and ensure the mechanical integrity of pressure vessels. The application of RBIs on furnace HP cooling systems in this work is performed by incorporating the proportional hazards model (PHM) with the RBI approach; the PHM uses real-time condition data to allow dynamic decision-making on inspection and maintenance planning.

To accomplish this, a case study is presented that applies an HP cooling system data with moisture and cumulated feed rate as covariates or condition indicators to compute the probability of failure and the consequence of failure (CoF), which is modelled based on the boiling liquid-expanding vapour explosion (BLEVE) theory.

The benefit of this approach is that the risk assessment introduces real-time condition data in addition to time-based failure information to allow improved dynamic decision-making for inspection and maintenance planning of the HP cooling system. The work presented here comprises the application of the newly proposed methodology in the context of pressure vessels, considering the important challenge of possible explosion accidents due to BLEVE as the CoF calculations.

This paper however aims to optimise the inspection schedule on the HP cooling system, by incorporating PHM into the RBI methodology, as was recently proposed in the literature by Lelo et al. (2022). Moisture and cumulated feed rate are used as covariate. At the end, risk mitigation policy is suggested.

In this paper, the proposed methodology yields a dynamically calculated quantified risk, which emphasised the imperative for mitigating the risk, as well as presents a number of mitigation options, to quantifiably affect such mitigation.

We examine how superstition shapes corporate tax avoidance and do so by taking a risk perspective and focusing on the zodiac-year belief prevalent in China.

We adopt a difference-in-differences research design to compare the degree of corporate tax avoidance in the CEOs’ zodiac year with that in the adjacent years. We do propensity-score matching to form a sample of Chinese listed firms for the regression analysis.

We find causal evidence that firms exhibit a greater magnitude of tax avoidance in the CEOs’ zodiac years, a result attributable to relatively weak tax enforcement in the Chinese context. We also find that the zodiac-year effect on corporate tax avoidance is more pronounced for firms with tight financial constraints, firms with high business risk, firms headquartered in regions with a high degree of superstition and non-state-owned firms.

This study is the first to show that superstition is a determinant factor of tax avoidance and contributes to the tax literature by shedding light on the behavioral risk factors that shape corporate tax avoidance. We take the perspective of CEOs’ risk appetite to analyze how tax avoidance is influenced by the CEOs’ trade-off between the costs and benefits of avoiding taxes. Our results suggest that, when CEOs are more risk-averse, they attach more importance to financial risk than the risk of reputational losses and litigation associated with corporate tax avoidance. The findings imply that tax avoidance can be curbed by increasing (or decreasing) the tax (financial) risk confronting the CEOs.

This research aims to investigate the disciplinary functions of depositors and subordinated debt holders within Indonesia's dual banking system, examining the impact of regulatory changes on market discipline.

The study employs a comprehensive analysis of the dual banking system in Indonesia over 15 years. Utilizing a non-public dataset from the Financial Services Authority and the Indonesia Deposit Insurance Corporation, the study employs propensity score matching and difference-in-differences analysis.

The findings reveal distinct patterns in the exercise of market discipline by depositors over different regulatory regimes. During the blanket guarantee regime (2002–2005), depositors lacked the incentive to monitor banks but resumed their disciplinary role under the limited guarantee regime (2005–2017). Islamic banks faced simultaneous market and regulatory discipline, with market discipline prevailing.

This study contributes to the literature by providing novel insights into the interplay between regulatory changes, market discipline and depositor behavior within Indonesia's dual banking system. The utilization of a comprehensive non-public dataset from regulatory authorities adds to the originality of the research.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between corporate environmental responsibility (CER) and risk-taking in Chinese A-share listed companies from 2011 to 2020. It seeks to understand the influence of CER on risk-taking behavior and explore potential moderating factors.

A quantitative approach is used, using data from Chinese A-share listed companies over the specified period. Regression analysis is used to examine the relationship between CER and risk-taking, while considering moderating variables such as performance aspiration, environmental enrichment and contextual factors.

The findings indicate that CER positively influences corporate risk-taking, with significant impacts on information asymmetry and corporate reputation. Moreover, positive performance aspiration strengthens the effect of CER on risk-taking, while negative performance aspiration and environmental enrichment weaken this effect. Cross-sectional analysis shows that the positive association between CER and risk-taking is more prominent for firms located in areas with strict environmental regulation, for nonstate-owned firms, and for firms with higher levels of internal control.

This research contributes to the literature by providing insights into the dynamics between CER and risk-taking in the Chinese market context. It expands existing knowledge by considering the influence of performance aspiration on this relationship, offering practical implications for firms seeking to enhance corporate performance through strategic management of environmental responsibilities.

The Covid-19 pandemic appears to have engendered heterogeneous effects on individuals’ labour market prospects. This paper focuses on two possible sources of a heterogeneous exposition to labour market risks associated with the pandemic outbreak: the routine task content of the job and the teleworkability. To evaluate whether these dimensions played a crucial role in amplifying employment and wage gaps among workers, we focus on the case of Italy, the first EU country hit by Covid-19.

Investigating the actual effect of the pandemic on workers employed in jobs with a different degree of teleworkability and routinization, using real microdata, is currently unfeasible. This is because longitudinal datasets collecting annual earnings and the detailed information about occupations needed to capture a job’s routine task content and teleworkability are not presently available. To simulate changes in the wage distribution for the year 2020, we have employed a static microsimulation model. This model is built on data from the Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (IT-SILC) survey, which has been enriched with administrative data and aligned with monthly observed labour market dynamics by industries and regions.

We measure the degree of job teleworkability and routinization with the teleworkability index (TWA) built by Sostero et al. (2020) and the routine-task-intensity index (RTI) developed by Cirillo et al. (2021), respectively. We find that RTI and TWA are negatively and positively associated with wages, respectively, and they are correlated with higher (respectively lower) risks of a large labour income drop due to the pandemic. Our evidence suggests that labour market risks related to the pandemic – and the associated new types of earnings inequality that may derive – are shaped by various factors (including TWA and RTI) instead of by a single dimension. However, differences in income drop risks for workers in jobs with varying degrees of teleworkability and routinization largely reduce when income support measures are considered, thus suggesting that the redistributive effect of the emergency measures implemented by the Italian government was rather effective.

No studies have so far investigated the effect of the pandemic on workers employed in jobs with a different degree of routinization and teleworkability in Italy. We thus investigate whether income drop risks in Italy in 2020 – before and after income support measures – differed among workers whose jobs are characterized by a different degree of RTI and TWA.

This paper investigates one of the potential costs of rising segregation in American cities by evaluating empirically the extent at which ethnic-based segregation contributes to the onset and the speed of propagation of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Regression analysis based on matched data on early incidence of COVID-19 cases, segregation and covariates. Identification resorts on variations in segregation across MSAs and heterogeneity in the geography and timing of stay-at-home orders.

One cross-MSA standard deviation increase in segregation leads to a significant and robust rise of COVID-19 cases of 8.7 per 100,000 residents across urban counties.

Combines spatial data on COVID-19 cases and segregation; use of a new segregation measure; focus on early incidence of the pandemic and its drivers.

Despite the unparalleled importance of value within healthcare, value-based models remain underutilised in the procurement of medical devices. Research is needed to understand what factors incentivise standard, low-priced device purchasing as opposed to value-adding devices with potentially higher overall health outcomes. Framed in agency theory, we examine the conditions under which different actors involved in purchasing decisions select premium-priced, value-adding medical devices over low-priced, standard medical devices.

We conducted 2 × 2 × 2 between-subjects scenario-based vignette experiments on three UK-based online samples of managers (n = 599), medical professionals (n = 279) and purchasing managers (n = 449) with subjects randomly assigned to three treatments: (1) cost-saving incentives, (2) risk-sharing contracts and (3) stronger (versus weaker) clinical evidence.

Our analysis demonstrates the harmful effects of intra-organisational cost-saving incentives on value-based purchasing (VBP) adoption; the positive impact of inter-organisational risk-sharing contracts, especially when medical professionals are involved in decision-making; and the challenge of leveraging clinical evidence to support value claims.

Our results demonstrate the need to align incentives in a context with multiple intra- and inter-organisational agency relationships at play, as well as the difficulty of reducing information asymmetry when information is not easily interpretable to all decision-makers. Overall, the intra-organisational agency factors strongly influenced the choices for the inter-organisational agency relationship.

We contribute to VBP in healthcare by examining the role of intra- and inter-organisational agency relationships and incentives concerning VBP (non-) adoption. We also examine how the impact of such mechanisms differs between medical and purchasing (management) professionals.

This study examines how corporate litigation, both securities-related and not, is affected by hedge fund (HF) activism.

We use a difference-in-differences (DiD) method, along with propensity score matching and firm fixed effects and a comparison of HF and non-HF activists for identification.

We find that companies that are targeted by HFs face operation-related lawsuits, mainly from stakeholders or competitors. This effect does not seem to be caused by targets' higher tendency to settle the cases. Our evidence shows that HF activists increase firm value for the target firms that are prone to litigation.

Therefore, our evidence supports the idea that the higher operation litigation risks are unintended consequences of improving firm efficiency through cost savings or restructuring of target firms by the activists.

The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of stakeholder integration and project complexity on information technology (IT) projects in Kenya. The following research question guided our inquiry: what is the influence of project complexity and stakeholder integration on the performance of IT projects in Kenya?

To advance the current understanding of the effect of stakeholder integration and project complexity on IT projects, multiple regressions were used to predict how project complexity and stakeholder integration influence project performance. Both government-funded and privately funded IT projects from a developing country were examined.

The study found that any project’s complexity and stakeholder integration levels offer a distinctive contribution to its success. Theoretically, the study contributes to linkages between stakeholder integration and project complexity concerning IT project performance. Through the adoption of actionable research and theoretical elaboration, we have shown that the successful execution of IT projects is driven by the successful integration of stakeholders and monitoring the level of complexity at each phase of the project.

The findings of this study add to the burgeoning literature on the performance of IT projects and come with several managerial implications as well. It brings to the fore the concept of stakeholder integration as an essential element of project success. The findings suggest that the inclusion of stakeholder integration into corporate decisions, strategies and policies can be an asset to the production of sustainable competitive advantages needed during the implementation of IT projects in government entities and organisations. As shown in this study, all the above require a collaborative platform allowing for data sharing among diverse stakeholders to ameliorate distrust or lack of information.

This paper explores the association between directors’ and officers’ liability insurance (D&O insurance) and management tone manipulation.

This study uses data from A-share listed non-financial companies from 2009 to 2021 as its sample for empirical tests. In addition, the study relies on text analysis and the construction of models to investigate the relationship between D&O insurance and management tone manipulation.

The authors find that the purchase of D&O insurance will lead to management tone manipulation in the “management discussion and analysis” part of companies’ annual reports, and operating risk and agent cost are the two paths for the effect. Further analysis shows that having a male CEO and employing high-quality auditors can weaken the positive impact of D&O insurance on tone manipulation.

This paper provides a new approach for studying the literature related to D&O insurance and management behavior, and the findings enrich our understanding of the influencing factors and the mechanism of management tone manipulation, thus revealing policy implications for further standardization of the terms and system of D&O insurance in China.