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This study adds to the literature on the audit expectations gap (AEG) by examining the extent to which lower levels of user cognisance of the role, objectives, and limitations of an audit are associated with unreasonable audit expectations and perceptions. Cognisance is proxied by respondents' demographic characteristics including profession, work experience, university qualification, age, and gender. Respondents include 130 Singaporean auditors, prepares, and users of audited financial reports. Results indicate that the AEG prevails where respondents have relatively little business work experience, and no university qualifications. This supports the premise that lower levels of cognisance of the audit function are associated with the AEG The study also argues that in obtaining results consistent with prior AEG studies set in other countries, the AEG is not affected or constrained by political, legal, social, or economic factors. The study recommends that the accounting professions continue to address the AEG by further educating the public on the role and limitations of an audit, extending the auditor's current responsibilities to match users' expectations, and ensuring the existence and monitoring of audit quality.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze gender disparities in labor earnings for a comprehensive set of 64 countries.

Using the methodological approach proposed by Ñopo, socio‐demographic characteristics are used to match males and females such that gender earnings disparities are computed only among individuals with the same observable characteristics.

Disparities are partially attributed to gender differences in observable socio‐demographic and job characteristics. After matching males and females with the same characteristics, the authors found that the earnings gap falls within a range between 8 per cent and 48 per cent of average females’ earnings, being more pronounced in South Asia and Sub‐Saharan Africa. The unexplained earnings gaps are more pronounced among part‐time workers and those with low education levels.

This paper presents a comprehensive view of gender earnings gaps in the world, simultaneously exploring many of the issues highlighted in the related literature. It adds value by exploring gender gaps in a comparative perspective, applying the same methods for several different countries.

The purpose of this paper is to attempt to verify the predicted relationship between the demographic (i.e. tenure, functional background, etc.) difference and cognitive difference among top managers and examine how such a relationship is affected by the communication among top managers.

The authors hypothesized that there is a positive relationship between demographic deviation and cognitive deviation of a focal manager on a TMT, and that such a relationship is mediated by the degree of communication that the focal manager has with other team members on the TMT. Using Structural Equation Modeling techniques, these hypotheses were tested based on a sample of 348 top managers that consist of 28 top management teams.

It was found that the hypothesized relationship between demographic deviation and cognitive deviation of a focal top manager was supported with respect to the tenure of a manager, but not the functional background of a manager. Moreover, it was found that communication frequency of a focal manager with other team members mediated the relationship between the tenure deviation and the cognitive deviation of the focal manager and that tenure deviation negatively influenced communication frequency, which in turn, negatively influenced the cognitive deviation of the manager.

These findings imply that: when constructing a competitive top management, practitioners such as boards of directors of a firm should pay more attention to the tenure diversity of a top management team because tenure diversity influences the cognitive diversity of the team; and communication among members of a management team can reduce the cognitive differences among members. However, communication happens more frequently among managers with similar tenure than among managers with dissimilar tenure. To promote consensus, managers need to watch for the forming of group fault lines along tenure within their teams.

As far as is known, this is the first study that uses relational demography to examine the influence of tenure difference on cognitive difference among members of a top management team and to expose a mediating role played by communication frequency.

The impact of the cognitive and demographic characteristics of top management teams (TMTs) on the strategic assets acquisition performance in organizations is evaluated. The evaluation measure is relative efficiency in converting generic inputs into valuable strategic assets using data envelopment analysis. Of the 12 TMT characteristics evaluated about three were statistically significant, and four were inconclusive. The study was performed on firms in the domestic airline industry.

The paper seeks to investigate whether the demographic and socio‐economic characteristics of complainers in a monopolistic market are different from those in a competitive market.

A literature review is undertaken, with particular emphasis on the socio‐economic characteristics of complainers. An empirical study is then presented. The empirical study consists of a large survey of satisfaction among consumers of the Norwegian Office for Social Insurance – a monopolistic governmental service provider.

The study reveals that complainers in this monopolistic market belong to lower socio‐economic groups. They typically have low incomes, are outside the labour market, have a modest standard of accommodation, and live alone.

The study analyses only one type of monopolistic institution in only one country. The generalisability of the findings might, therefore, be limited. The study demonstrates that consumer complaint behaviour in this monopolistic market differs from behaviour reported in competitive markets. Moreover, the study indicates that complainers in this monopolistic market are confronted with different complaint barriers when exit is closed.

The findings of the study suggest that a monopolistic institution should encourage dissatisfied consumers to complain, and should make internal switching possibilities known to consumers.

This paper is the first to study complainer characteristics in a monopolistic market structure empirically. The paper questions previous assumptions that complainers necessarily belong to upper socio‐economic groups.

Prior studies examining the relationship between organizational commitment and organizational behavior contain several limitations, such as mixed levels of measurement and lack of empirical study in different social contexts. Using Mowday, Porter, and Steers's approach, this study aims to investigate individual demographic, personal, departmental and community characteristics as factors affecting police officers' levels of strategy commitment.

Using attitudinal measures of individual, departmental, and community traits, which were developed by Michigan Regional Community Policing Institute, the current study collected data from 206 randomly selected South Korean police officers who were designated as community‐oriented policing (COP) officers or who were under COP training at the time of the survey.

The current study found that officers' creativity and community ownership were significantly related to strategy commitment to COP. In addition, it was found that officers' demographic characteristics were not significantly related to the levels of commitment to COP. Regarding departmental characteristics, supportive climate among officers was significantly and positively related to officers' levels of commitment to COP. Finally, officers in rural agencies were more likely to have higher levels of commitment to COP in South Korea.

Although the current study utilized random samples for data collection, the size of the data set was relatively small. Thus, generalization of the findings from this study should be cautiously carried out. Based on the findings, policy implications are suggested.

The current study attempts to identify factors affecting commitment to COP at multiple levels (individual, organizational and community levels) using attitudinal measures of various aspects of policing in South Korea. The findings will add to the comparative understanding on officers' commitment to COP.

The purpose of this paper is to assess differences in banking service quality (BSQ) perceptions across demographic subgroups of Islamic and conventional Jordanian banking consumers.

Data are collected using surveys. The survey contains items for three different measures of overall BSQ perceptions. The researchers mailed surveys to a random sample of 2,000 banking customers in Jordan. Responses to questionnaire items measuring respondents’ BSQ perceptions were analysed using one-way analysis of variance with Tukey’s honest significant difference post hoc tests to assess subgroup differences in six demographic variables: gender, age, occupation, income, education, and religion.

BSQ perceptions are significantly different in four of the six demographic variables. Age and education do not impact on BSQ perceptions.

The findings indicate demographic effects on Jordanian banking consumers’ perceived BSQ. Study limitations include demographic subgroup underrepresentation and survey structure. Future research should obtain a more representative sample for better generalisability.

The findings suggest that Jordanian banks should structure their services to best accommodate their customers’ demographics. In addition, banks can use the findings to guide the development of demographic-driven marketing to target and attract customers efficiently.

This study is the first to investigate demographic differences in the perceived service quality of Jordan’s Islamic and conventional banking customers. The findings can contribute to future research on BSQ, and guide Jordan’s banking management towards more effective marketing and service provision.

We review and summarize accounting literature that examines whistleblowing in the accounting context. We organize our review around the five determinants of whistleblowing identified by Near and Miceli (1995). The first determinant is characteristics of the whistleblower. Studies related to this determinant examine whistleblowers’ personality characteristics, moral judgment, and demographic characteristics. Studies related to the second determinant, characteristics of the report recipient, examine characteristics of the individual or individuals who receive the report and characteristics of the reporting channel. The third determinant is characteristics of the wrongdoer. Studies in this area focus on the wrongdoer’s power and credibility. Fourth, accounting studies related to characteristics of the wrongdoing examine factors that affect the dependence of the organization on the wrongdoing and evidence credibility. Studies related to the final determinant, characteristics of the organization, examine organizational perceptions of the appropriateness of whistleblowing, organizational climate, and organizational structure. For each determinant, we first summarize and analyze the findings of prior research, and then we present suggestions for future accounting research in whistleblowing.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of work values and socio-demographic characteristics upon the link between life satisfaction and job satisfaction.

The European Values Study (EVS) 2008–2009 is used as the dataset. The sample is limited to those who have paid jobs (28,653 cases).

Socio-demographic characteristics matter more than work values in explaining the effect of job satisfaction on life satisfaction. The association between life satisfaction and job satisfaction is stronger for higher educated individuals and those who are self-employed and weaker for women, married individuals, religious individuals and those who are younger. Extrinsic and intrinsic work values significantly influence life satisfaction independent of the level of job satisfaction.

It is important to pay attention to the working conditions and well-being of the core of the labour force, in other words, of those who are ready to invest more in their jobs. Also, special attention should be given to self-employment.

The paper compares the roles of work values and of socio-demographic characteristics as predictors of the association between job satisfaction and life satisfaction. It shows that the role of job in person's life depends largely on demographic factors, religiosity and socio-economic factors.

In this quasi‐experimental study we investigate value congruence and demographic dissimilarity among group members as factors which influence various types of conflict within workgroups. We also examine whether it is beneficial for members to be different or alike, to agree or disagree, in order to foster work group productivity. Results indicate that visible individual demographic differences (i.e., sex, age) increase relationship conflict, while informational demographic differences (i.e., education) increase task‐focused conflict. Value congruence of members decreased both relationship and task conflict, and the specific content of the values held by members influenced performance. Specifically, both detail and outcome group value orientations increased objective performance; outcome, decisiveness, and stability orientations increased perceptions of high performance; and both decisiveness and supportiveness orientations increased the satisfaction level of group members while a team orientation decreased individual member satisfaction in this sample.