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This study aims to examine the interplay between focal and background goals in consumer financial decision-making and identify conditions that lead individuals to trade-off financial returns for background goals.

The current research reviews the relevant literature on consumer financial decision-making and goal systems theory to develop a set of hypotheses that is tested using three experiments.

The experiments show that individuals who have been subtly primed with self-expressive background goals, or experienced progress toward the focal goal of financial returns, accept lower financial returns for the opportunity to invest in stocks that allow for increased self-expression. Further, while subtly primed background goals exert a non-normative influence on investment decisions, explicit cues about an investment’s background goal-instrumentality create a backlash effect, and decrease individuals’ willingness to trade-off financial returns.

Future research could confirm the robustness of the findings of the present research by using different priming tasks and alternative ways of making the background goal explicit to individuals.

To achieve greater attraction among individual investors, it helps to frame a financial product or stock in communications materials in a way that sends subtle signals with which investors can identify. Such signals could include stressing the product/company’s home country (addressing individuals’ patriotism) or a particular product domain (addressing individual investors’ desire for interesting/exciting current/future products).

While previous research suggests that investment choices may be influenced by self-expressive motivations, to date, it remains unclear whether and when individual investors are actually willing to trade-off the focal goal of maximizing financial returns for the opportunity to satisfy alternative background goals.

Although board interlocking underlying forces are largely hidden, the purpose of this paper is to provide managers, auditors, analysts, regulators and other stakeholders with sociological board interlocking information considering the different backgrounds of their members.

The research sample gathered 1,606 observations from 2010 to 2017. For data analysis, the direct and indirect board interlocking linkages, considering the different backgrounds of board members, established the centrality indicators. Subsequently, the authors used these indicators according to each measured background in the regression models.

The results indicate that the political background of board interlocking members is positively related to real earnings management practices, while the financial background has a mitigating effect on such practices.

The findings suggest that individual skills and interests conveyed across the corporate social network have shaped corporate governance, with distinct impacts on the quality of accounting information.

The authors conclude that both backgrounds could have implications on agency conflicts, increasing (policy) or reducing (financial) information asymmetry between the company and its various stakeholders, which indicates that the authors must consider sociological and not just economic aspects within corporate governance.

The sociological background of individuals is necessary for the congruence of monitoring mechanisms, and consequently, the quality of accounting information.

This study examines the influence of the political and financial background of board interlocking members on real earnings management practices in Brazilian publicly traded companies in the International Financial Reporting Standards post-adoption period.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between potentials of top management teams’ (TMT) career development and corporate social responsibility (CSR) by examining listed manufacturing companies in China. More importantly, it tried to contribute to the understanding of the senior executive’s career development in the trend of upgrading the manufacturing industry.

The sample firms in this paper were selected from the China A-listed companies in the manufacturing industry. It collected CSR and TMT data from the Rankins CSR Ratings (RKS) Database and CSMAR database and applied the multiple regression to test the hypotheses. Moreover, it implemented the robustness test by using the standard regression method and the structural equation model.

The findings indicate that a firm’s CSR performance is significantly associated with TMT’s educational level and overseas background. The government background, academic background and financial background of high-level managers, instead, have a negative relationship with CSR performance. In addition, firm’s ownership moderates the relationship between TMT and CSR initiatives – the career development potential of TMT has different effects on promoting CSR in the context of different ownership. These relationships remain significant when the managers’ tenure, gender, age, wage and firm size are controlled.

The empirical research on the potentials of executive career development and CSR is limited to linear assumptions. Since there are fewer overseas holding companies in Chinese state-owned and private enterprises, it failed to reflect international differences.

First, CSR is related to the potentials of TMT career development and also the potentials of TMT career development are associated with the structure of the TMT. Second, to improve CSR, it is necessary to distinguish the different ownership of companies and then adjust the TMT structure correspondingly. Last, senior executives should choose their career direction according to their own distinct and inherent career development potentials.

This study explores the relationship between potentials of TMT career development and CSR. It not only expands the research in the field of CSR but also enriches the research on the career development of top executives.

This paper aims to explore the impact of corporate financialization (CF) on green innovation (GI) and further disclose the moderating role of CEO’s individual characteristics in such relationship from the perspective of corporate governance.

This paper uses empirical research methods to study the impact of CF on GI based on the evidence from China capital market.

The findings indicate that: CF has a significant inhibiting effect on GI; female CEOs weaken the inhibiting effect of CF on GI compared to male CEOs; and CEO’s financial background positively moderates the inhibiting effect of CF on GI.

This paper, first, supplements the research literature on the economic consequences of CF and influencing factors of GI in non-financial firms. Then, it opens up the internal impact mechanism of CF on GI, which is moderated by the individual characteristics of corporate CEOs. Finally, it provides important reference for how to suppress CF of non-financial firms, cultivate CEOs that meet the needs of corporate development and promote GI development of enterprises through empirical evidence from China.

This paper aims to examine how the diversity of educational levels within bank boards influences the efficiency and stability of banks operating in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Unlike previous studies, this analysis also investigates the role of board gender diversity in moderating the relationship between board educational level diversity and bank efficiency and financial stability in MENA.

In this study, a sample of 77 banks in the MENA region spanning the years 2011 to 2018 is used. The relationship between the presence of highly educated directors on the board, bank efficiency and stability is assessed using the ordinary least squares method. Additionally, the authors use the Generalized Method of Moments technique to correct endogeneity problem.

This study establishes a positive association between the presence of directors with advanced educational backgrounds on bank boards and bank efficiency and stability. Furthermore, the inclusion of women on the board strengthens this relationship.

These findings have important implications for policymakers and regulators in the MENA region, suggesting that promoting diversity policies that encourage the participation of highly educated directors on bank boards can contribute to enhanced efficiency and financial stability. Policymakers may also consider implementing quotas or guidelines to improve gender diversity in board appointments, thereby fostering bank performance in the region.

This study stands out for its innovation and distinctiveness, as it delves into the connection between board educational level diversity and bank efficiency in the MENA region. Notably, it surpasses previous research by investigating the moderating role of board gender diversity, thus offering valuable insights into the complex interplay between these two facets of board diversity. This contribution enriches the existing literature by providing novel perspectives on board composition dynamics and its influence on bank efficiency and stability.

This study aims to examine the literature on consumer financial capability. By analyzing the research trends, theories, definitions and themes, the literature on financial capability is synthesized, and agenda for future research is suggested. A framework is presented that portrays the antecedents as well as the outcomes of financial capability and their interlinkages.

Following a systematic approach, the review is based on 215 articles published during January 2007 and–March 2022, retrieved from Scopus. It presents the definitions and theories of financial capability, publication trends, influential articles, prominent authors, prolific journals and countries publishing on financial capability. Using bibliographic coupling, the intellectual structure of the topic is explored, along with offering a framework through content analysis.

The bibliographic coupling analysis identifies four major clusters of research themes and capability theory appeared to be the most prominent theory. The synthesis draws upon five conceptual definitions of financial capability. Based on the discussion, in this review, financial capability is defined as an individual ability to apply appropriate financial knowledge, perform desirable financial behaviors and take available financial opportunities for achieving financial well-being. A conceptual framework delineates the synthesized literature and propositions based on this framework and relevant research are proposed. Finally, directions for future research are discussed.

This paper is an attempt to offer a comprehensive synthesis of the scholarship on financial capability and its conceptualization. It further proposes an extensive future research agenda. The study has implications for financial services providers relating to retail bank marketing.

This paper aims to understand household’s latent behaviour decision-making in accessing financial services. In this analysis, the determinants of the choice of the pre-entry Mzansi account by consumers in South Africa is looked at.

In this study, 102 variables, grouped in the following categories: basic literacy, understanding financial terms, targets for financial advice, desired financial education and financial perception. Using a computationally efficient variable selection algorithm, variables that can satisfactorily explain the choice of a Mzansi account were studied.

The Mzansi intervention is appealing to individuals with basic but insufficient financial education. Aspirations seem to be very influential in revealing the choice of financial services, and, to this end, Mzansi is perceived as a pre-entry account not meeting the aspirations of individuals aiming to climb up the financial services ladder. It was found that Mzansi holders view the account mainly as a vehicle for receiving payments, but, on the other hand, are debt-averse and inclined to save. Hence, although there is at present no concrete evidence that the Mzansi intervention increases access to finance via diversification (i.e. by recruiting customers into higher-level accounts and services), this analysis shows that this is very likely to be the case.

The issue of demand-side constraints on access to finance have been largely been ignored in the theoretical and empirical literature. This paper undertakes some preliminary steps in addressing this gap.

The objectives of this paper are to examine the level of environmental disclosure in annual reports made by Malaysian public listed companies for the year ended 2009, and to investigate whether there are any relationships between board characteristics (board size and board independence), firm characteristics (business type) and human capital characteristics (age, knowledge background and proportion of female directors) and environmental disclosure in Malaysian public listed companies' annual reports for the year ended 2009.

The study constructs the environmental disclosure index with 11 disclosure themes based on research by Sharifah et al. to determine the environmental disclosure level. The study uses content analysis to find the environmental disclosure items and constructs an environmental disclosure index from the companies' annual reports. Hierarchical regression analysis is used to examine the relationships between the environmental disclosure index and board characteristics (board size and board independence), firm characteristics (business type) and human capital characteristics (age, knowledge background and proportion of female directors).

The results of the study reveal that there is a significant relationship between the existence of an independent non-executive chairman, the chairperson's age, the existence of a CEO with a law background and the industry type with the extent of environmental disclosure. The industry type is found to be the most significant variable that influences the level of environmental disclosure in Malaysian public listed companies for the year ended 2009.

The findings are limited to Malaysian public listed companies for the year January to December 2009. The source of the data used in this study is companies' annual reports only. This study has several implications that may apply in many countries, irrespective of whether they are developing or developed countries. First, it provides strong evidence to show that boards of directors and human capital are significant variables in the extent of disclosure. Second, it is useful to managers, especially to boards of directors in Malaysia, in identifying board characteristics and human capital characteristics that could improve companies' environmental activities; these could be disclosed in the interest of stakeholders and the public's environmental concern. Third, this study can also be used as an initial step for companies in to be involved in environmental activities. Prior studies have proved that these activities could enhance companies' image and reputation and could offer financial benefits to the business.

The study extends the previous studies by the inclusion of human capital characteristics as a factor that influences environmental reporting in Malaysia. This study has demonstrated that to mitigate the agency problems between firms and shareholders, society and stakeholders, and particularly environmental impact, the inclusion of human capital characteristics as an indicator may help to reduce expected costs and negative impacts on firm value, and may also demonstrate to society and the company's stakeholders that individual firms are doing their part to help solve society's social and environmental problems through additional disclosures.

This study examines the effect of working capital management and board diversity on firm profitability and firm value for a sample of Indonesian firms listed in the LQ45 index. The interaction of board diversity components with working capital management adds a comprehensive discussion to enhancing working capital management efficiency.

This study engages a panel multiple regression method. Data from a sample of LQ45 companies from 2010 to 2016 are analysed using a fixed and a common effect model. Board diversity is further analysed in interaction variables, whether it holds the moderating role in the relationship of working capital and firm performances. This study operates return on capital employed (ROCE) as the proxy of profitability performance and EVA-Spread for the firm's value performance. The simultaneous effect test is used for the robustness test.

The results indicate that working capital management and board diversity have no significant impact towards profitability. However, they significantly positively impact firm value, meaning that the market is attracted by effective working capital management and board diversity. However, the interaction variable analysis shows that gender diversity and education level diversity weaken the impact of working capital management towards firm value.

This study is not limited to one industry; therefore, future studies may focus on one industry and detect the pattern of working capital components in the particular industry. This study focuses on quantitative numbers to explain board diversity's interaction in working capital management to maximise shareholders' wealth. Future studies may consider a qualitative discussion to describe the quality of women's presence on the board, education level and educational background of board members.

Unlike most studies in which authors relate working capital and board diversity to firm performances separately, this study combines both components and analyses whether board diversity can act as a moderator effect. As part of corporate governance, it is expected that board diversity can enhance working capital management efficiency.

The purpose of this paper is to use qualitative research findings to describe and analyze the use of a new teaching approach for a better understanding of earnings management.

Three classroom workshop designs with finance professionals were performed as an experiment to discuss the underlying assumptions of mainstream earnings management research. The outcome of the experiment is analyzed and serves as a basis for reflection on the new teaching approach.

The teaching experiment revealed the value to participants in discussing the complexity of the accounting choice process. The workshops provided insights into the wide range of accounting choices that finance professionals are confronted with and into the differences in perception of the participants relating to the accounting choices to be made. These insights contradict the assumptions of a “neutral reporting process” and solely “purposeful interventions” used in mainstream earnings management research. Analyzing the elements of the different workshop settings in relation to the outcome of the discussion identified strengths and weaknesses of each setting and generated ideas for further development of the teaching approach.

This research note adds to the understanding on how qualitative research can be used in teaching and shows that it is also coherent with using teaching as a site for qualitative research.

The discussions relating to the limitations of mainstream accounting research are predominantly of a general nature. This research note takes these discussions into consideration by exploring the subject of earnings management, offering an alternative teaching approach.