Search results

This paper aims to highlight the relationship between the attributes of external auditor companies and voluntary corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures of audited firms using a sample of Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX)-listed companies.

Based on a sample of 410 firm-year observations for the period 2010–2016, this study first computes an eight-item CSR disclosure index, then ran a multivariate regression analysis between CSR disclosure scores and external auditor attributes, along with client firm characteristics and additional control variables. Finally, this paper performs various additional robustness checks.

The results reveal that external auditor attributes have a significant impact on shaping the CSR disclosures of ADX-listed firms. Overall, auditor age, size, industry specialisation and portfolio diversification positively affect the level of customers’ CSR disclosures. By contrast, the magnitude of audit fees and auditor experience in the UAE has no impact on the CSR disclosures of ADX-listed firms. This study controls for client firm size, financial leverage, ownership concentration and the proportion of independent directors on companies’ board of directors. The results remain robust to additional sensitivity checks such as audit company CSR practices, extreme quartiles of CSR disclosures and the panel data estimation method.

The research exhibits some limitations. First, this paper uses a simple index to measure CSR disclosures based on previous empirical studies, especially those related to emergent markets, which are not free from bias due to the lack of voluntary disclosure transparency for some companies listed on ADX. Second, although this study uses a seven-year observation period, the total number of observations remains limited due to ADX size. Third, other context-specific disclosures should be included such as cultural and governance variables (royal families ownership).

The study highlights the role of external attributes that can affect companies’ CSR disclosure policy, rather than firm-specific factors. The study also reshapes the concept of auditor quality beyond the dichotomy (“Big Four”/non-Big Four) used in the current literature.

The research adds to the current literature on CSR by revealing the impact of external auditor attributes on client firm CSR disclosure policy in an emerging market, the ADX.

This paper presents findings from an investigation of intellectual capital measurement, reporting and management in the South African mining industry. The research methodology employs a combination of content analysis of annual reports for the 20 largest listed companies in South Africa, combined with interviews with senior individuals in mining companies. Data is analysed in accordance with a selected intellectual capital framework consisting of 24 indicators across the three categories of internal, external and human capital. Results show that mining companies tend to report on fewer intellectual capital attributes than other companies and tend to focus more on external attributes such as business collaborations and favourable contracts. Results show that mining companies rate intellectual capital highly, but appear to be lacking in the measurement and reporting of intellectual capital. From these findings it is concluded that mining companies value intellectual capital but lack the appropriate systems and structures to manage intellectual capital meaningfully.

This study aims to reveal the role of performance on the likelihood of conflict occurrence and the conditions that affect this relationship. This study measures managers’ perceptions about the cause of the subordinate’s low-level performance, stability of the performance, propensity to trust of managers and investigate the effects of them on conflict types.

This study draws on the attribution theory for investigating the effect of the negative performance of subordinates on a conflict between manager and subordinate by using the quantitative research method. A random sample was drawn from 150 Turkish mid-level managers from midsized small and medium - sized enterprises companies. The hypotheses are tested by hierarchical linear modeling.

According to results, negative performance of subordinates may predict the types of conflict depending on the attributions of managers about negative performance. In addition, the manager’s attributions to the locus of control or/and to the stability affect the likelihood of conflict types occurrence, between managers and subordinates. Depending on the managers’ attributions, the propensity to trust of managers has a significant moderation effect on the relationship between performance of subordinates and the likelihood of conflict types occurrence.

This study advances knowledge on conditions that affect the likelihood of conflict occurrence. It contributes to the literature by suggesting performance as a predictor of conflict instead of an outcome of the conflict. The research is one of the rare studies investigating the relationship between attributions and conflict. In addition, it expands the understanding of personal traits and conflict interaction by testing the moderation effect of propensity to trust.

Multi-party systems (MPS) comprise interdependent stakeholders (teams, organizations) that engage in complex interactions and negotiations. Building on the approach/inhibition theory of power, the self-enhancement strategy and on social interdependence theory, this study aims to understand the mediating role of attributions (i.e. perception of who/what is responsible for a certain outcome) in the relation between perceptions of the stakeholders’ power (i.e. self-perceptions of power, power ascribed to others and others’ perception of one’s own power) and their perceptions of intergroup climate and future collaborative intentions.

Data were collected from 30 groups (113 participants) that took part in five multi-party simulations concerning the negotiation of funds allocation among six stakeholders. The authors have evaluated attributions, intergroup climate and future collaborative intentions using questionnaires and different facets of systemic power were derived from a round-robin procedure.

Mixed models and multi-level mediation analyses were carried out, and the results show that self-attributed power and power attributed by others predict internal attributions, while power attributed to others predicts external attributions. Moreover, attributions mediate the relationship between perceived power and future collaborative intention, as well as between power and perceptions of intergroup climate.

Managing the multi-party systems is a complex endeavor, and the results point toward ways in which power dynamics in multi-party systems can be addressed.

To the best of authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first empirical attempts to explore the association between the perceptions of power and attributions in multi-party systems engaged in negotiation tasks.

This paper aims to further progress in research on perceived quality of fresh fruit and vegetables. It seeks to develop and discuss two models for perceived quality of tomato, including the price variable as an indicator for perceived quality of tomato.

The data come from a survey of 400 consumers that measures the importance of a set of tomato attributes on a Likert scale. The models were adjusted by means of structural equation analysis. Two procedures were followed for model development: the first started from an exploratory factor analysis. In the second, relations and correlations among variables were established starting from the theoretical framework that differentiates among search, experience and credence attributes.

Two models of tomato perceived quality are formulated and discussed. Both established that the perceived quality of fresh tomato could be explained through nine attributes. Some of them can be deduced at the place of purchase; some, during consumption while others are a question of trust. With regard to using price as an indicator of the perceived quality of tomato, both models suggested the elimination of this variable from the model for perceived quality.

Studying perceived quality has received much attention in research on the behaviour of food consumers. Nevertheless, there are not many attempts to establish models for the perceived quality of fresh fruit and vegetables. Specifically, there are very few studies on consumer behaviour that analyse the perceived quality of tomato. Thus, this study is one of the first attempts to establish a model for perceived quality of tomato.

This paper reports the findings of a study designed to explore web searchers' perceptions of the causes of their search failure and success. In particular, it seeks to discover the extent to which the constructs locus of control and attribution theory might provide useful frameworks for understanding searchers' perceptions.

A combination of inductive and deductive approaches were employed. Perceptions of failed and successful searches were derived from the inductive analysis of using open‐ended qualitative interviews with a sample of 37 biologists at the University of Sheffield. These perceptions were classified into “internal” and “external” attributions, and the relationships between these categories and “successful” and “failed” searches were analysed deductively to test the extent to which they might be explainable using locus of control and attribution theory interpretive frameworks.

All searchers were readily able to recall “successful” and “unsuccessful” searches. In a large majority of cases (82.4 per cent), they clearly attributed each search to either internal (e.g. ability or effort) or external (e.g. luck or information not being available) factors. The pattern of such relationships was analysed, and mapped onto those that would be predicted by locus of control and attribution theory. The authors conclude that the potential of these theoretical frameworks to illuminate one's understanding of web searching, and associated training, merits further systematic study.

The findings are based on a relatively small sample of academic and research staff in a particular subject area. Importantly, also, the study can at best provide a prima facie case for further systematic study since, although the patterns of attribution behaviour accord with those predictable by locus of control and attribution theory, data relating to the predictive elements of these theories (e.g. levels of confidence and achievement) were not available. This issue is discussed, and recommendations made for further work.

The findings provide some empirical support for the notion that locus of control and attribution theory might – subject to the limitations noted above – be potentially useful theoretical frameworks for helping us better understand web‐based information seeking. If so, they could have implications particularly for better understanding of searchers' motivations, and for the design and development of more effective search training programmes.

For more than 40 years, researchers have examined an exhaustive set of attributes as price determinants in tourism and hospitality. In extending this rich research stream, this study aims to propose and empirically assess a new set of hotel attributes, namely, faith-based attributes that allow tourists to continue following the activities and rituals guided by their religions while on vacation.

Using the Bayesian quantile regression for the first time in the field of hotel pricing, the hedonic pricing models examine both internal and external faith-based attributes, namely, halal services, which cater to the needs of Muslim tourists, in a sample of 805 hotels across the top three non-Muslim country destinations (Singapore, Thailand and Japan).

By exploring the effects of faith-based (halal) attributes available in hotels located in the biggest cities of the above-mentioned destinations, this study provides evidence for the significant role of faith-based (halal) attributes in determining hospitality prices.

This study’s findings offer a resource for several implications for tourism and hospitality scholars, practitioners and policymakers, especially within the field of Muslim/halal tourism, to develop action plans and strategies.

This study is the first to introduce a novel set of faith-based hospitality attributes and empirically assess their impact on hospitality price formation. Additionally, it contributes to the hedonic pricing method by being the first to use the Bayesian quantile regression.

The purpose of this research is to determine how project managers attribute information technology (IT) project success and failure.

IT personnel from large Australian organisations completed an adapted version of the Attributional Styles questionnaire, which asked them to attribute causes along a number of attribution dimensions, for IT projects which have either succeeded or failed.

The results indicate that IT support workers attribute failure to external factors, whilst attributing success to themselves. On the other hand, executive management took a more balanced perspective which attribute success to external factors and only partially to themselves, whereas they attribute significant personal responsibility for failure.

More junior professionals and operational IT employees can learn from their senior professionals in attributing success and failure. Post‐implementation reviews and debriefings conducted by senior IT professionals are ways of passing on their experience in relation to project and self‐evaluations.

This paper takes a well established psychology theory and applies it to the management of information systems (IS)/IT projects. IS/IT research has not examined how IT professionals attribute success and failure within projects.

A recent contribution entitled Global Responsibility and the King Reports was made to the literature that represents a significant advancement in the understanding of how standards of good governance are practised. The corpus revealed key insights about macro-institutional governance regimes, yet, extraordinarily little about meso-organisational and even less so, micro-individual corporate governance practice. This study aims to shed light on the micro-individual level of corporate governance practice which has remained obscured by drawing pragmatic insights from the landmark South African King Code experience that may be applied to other governance jurisdictions for global organisational responsibility.

To unearth micro-individual corporate governance code practices, a phenomenological exploration of corporate governance practitioners’ (CGPs) perceptions was conducted. Qualitative semi-structured interviews with senior board members of securities-exchange listed companies were conducted with 10 directors of leading multinational South African corporations listed on Africa’s largest formal financial market; the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Recursive analysis of the qualitative data revealed key attributes that render a corporate governance code “fulfilling” as a consequence of being perceived as subjectively valuable by practitioners who are the ultimate end-users of the King Codes for advancing good corporate governance practice in each of their respective companies.

Two categories of fulfilling micro-perceived value attributes (MPVAs) of corporate governance codes emerged, namely, internal and external MPVAs. The three internal MPVAs are, namely, (I1) Meaningful innovation, (I2) Ethical pragmatism and (I3) Cultural transformation. The three external MPVAs are, namely, (E1) Governance legitimacy, (E2) Societal licencing and (E3) Risk mitigation. From these six attributes, two testable corporate governance code development propositions are advanced, namely, (P1) a corporate governance code with a higher constitution of MPVAs will fulfil CGPs more than one with less. (P2) A more fulfilling corporate governance code will enjoy higher adoption, application and/or compliance rates.

Illumining the subjective experiential perceptions that constitute the fulfilment of a corporate governance code deepens the pragmatic understanding of the “demand-side” or consumption of such codes in practice. Knowing these fulfilling MPVAs may also result in the development of codes that enjoy wider adoption and compliance rates thereby enhancing global corporate responsibility pragmatism through enhanced good governance. This study sheds light on the nexus where normative corporate governance principles and the enactment thereof meet at the coalface of organisational activity with an emphasis on those attributes that render them valuable to practitioners.

Entrepreneurs nurture their ambitions of founding tech start-ups that facilitate significant innovations despite vulnerability and considerable uncertainty by resolutely addressing multiple challenges to avert failures. The paper aims to answer how soon do tech start-ups fail, given their lifecycle comprising multiple stages of formation and what attributes hasten failure of tech start-ups over their lifecycle? These questions have not been answered adequately, particularly in the context of India's emerging economy, where an aspiring start-up ecosystem is striving to flourish at an exceptional rate.

The study addressed two specific objectives: (1) Does life expectancy vary between life-cycle stages? and (2) What attributes impact tech start-ups' failures? Primary data were gathered from 151 cofounders (101 who have experienced failure and 50 who are successful and continuing their operations) from India's 6 leading start-up hubs. The survival analysis techniques were used, including non-parametric Kaplan–Meier estimator, to study the first objective and semi-parametric Cox proportional hazard regression to explore the second objective.

The survival probability log-rank statistics ascertain that life expectancy is different across the life-cycle stages, namely emergence, stability and growth. The hazard ratios (HRs) throw light on attributes like stage, revenue, conflict with investors, number of current start-ups, cofounder experience, level of confidence (LoC) and educational qualifications as the key attributes that influence start-up life expectancy over its lifecycle.

The empirical study on tech start-ups' life expectancy has practical implications for entrepreneurs and investors besides guiding the ecosystem's policymakers. First, the study helps entrepreneurs plan for resources and be aware of their start-up journey's potential pitfalls. Second, the study helps investors to establish the engagement framework and plan their future funding strategy. Third, the study helps policymakers to design and establish progressive support mechanisms that can prevent a start-up's failure.

First and foremost, start-up life expectancy study by life-cycle stages provide detailed insights on start-ups' failures. The theoretical framework defined is replicable, scalable and distinctly measurable for studying the start-up failure phenomenon. The life expectancy of tech start-ups by life-cycle stage is a critical empirical contribution. Next, the attributes impacting start-up life expectancy are identified in the context of an emerging economy.