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This study analyses the effects of firm efficiency on firm performance and how controlling shareholders moderate the link between the two variables.

This study employs data envelopment analysis to estimate firm efficiency and the panel regression method to assess the hypothesised relationships among 1,295 firm-year observations of publicly listed firms in Malaysia from 2015 to 2019.

The results indicate that firm efficiency (technical efficiency, pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency) has mixed relationships with firm performance (return on assets, market-to-book ratio and operating cash flows), all of which are being moderated by controlling shareholdings.

This study highlights the importance of assessing firm efficiency as the key success factor for improving firm performance. Industrial managers should manage efficiently their resources or operating costs in achieving their corporate financial goals. Moreover, this study notes the presence of controlling shareholders, who can be either self-interested or company goal aligned.

This study suggests becoming efficient in transforming inputs into outputs is a prerequisite before investigating accrual-based and cash-based firm performance measures, and the presence of controlling shareholders matters in these regards.

This study aims to examine the relationship between managerial ability and innovation efficiency, the mediating effect of digital transformation and the moderating effect of internal control.

This study collected A-share manufacturing listed companies in China from 2008 to 2019 and analyzed the data by means of multiple regression analysis, mediating effect test, moderating effect test and heterogeneity test. Finally, the authors conducted robustness test by remeasuring key variables and adding control variables.

The empirical results show that the higher managerial ability can improve innovation efficiency, internal control has a positive moderating effect and digital transformation plays a partial mediating effect on the relationship between managerial ability and innovation efficiency. Specially, it is found that the mediating effect of digital transformation is not significant in non-state-owned firms.

This study suggests that it is necessary to focus on the managerial ability in terms of both cultivation and supervision, to further deepen the digital transformation from the aspects of firms, government and society, especially to support the digital transformation of non-state-owned firms, and to make efforts to improve the corporate governance mechanism and internal control system, so as to better comprehensively realize the improvement of enterprise innovation efficiency.

Based on the mediating effect analysis of digital transformation and the moderating effect analysis of internal control, this study explores the role of managerial ability on innovation efficiency from a new perspective, expanding the related theoretical framework and research boundaries.

This paper analyses and assesses the effect of firm-specific determinants (FSDs) on supply-chain performance (SCP) and export performance (EP). It examines SCP’s influence on EP and its mediating effect on the relationship between FSD and EP.

This paper develops a theoretical framework based on the resource-based view (RBV) and dynamic-capability theory to understand SCP’s role in the FSD-EP link while empirically validating using the Indian automobile industry segments (IAIS) data. The sample frame comprises all listed firms in IAIS between the financial year 2010-11 and 2021–22, with continuous data availability throughout the considered timeline. The paper employs factor analysis for dimension reduction, a panel-data-fixed-effect model to analyze the relationships, bootstrap to test the mediation effect and focus-group discussion for validating the results obtained through statistical analyses.

FSD directly influences SCP’s efficiency aspect and EP. Distribution efficiency and inventory efficiency characteristics of SCP directly impact EP and completely mediate the relationship between FSD and EP.

This study provides significant insights into how firms can increase EP by focusing on firm-specific and SCP-related factors. To improve EP, firms should concentrate on enhancing distribution and inventory efficiencies. Firms must focus on critical firm-level factors like age, size and raw-material import capability to increase their ability to solve SC-specific barriers and improve SCP, resulting in enhanced exports.

This study investigates the impacts of FSD on SCP and EP and examines the mediating effect of SCP on the relationship between FSD and EP. Such a mediating role of SCP has rarely been probed in the literature.

Recently, machine learning (ML) methods gained popularity in finance and accounting research as alternatives to econometric analysis. Their success in high-dimensional settings is promising as a cure for the shortcomings of econometric analysis. The purpose of this study is to prove further the relationship between intellectual capital (IC) efficiency and firm performance using ML methods.

This study used the double selection, partialing-out and cross-fit partialing-out LASSO estimators to analyze the IC efficiency’s linear and nonlinear effects on firm performance using a sample of 2,581 North American firms from 1999 to 2021. The value-added intellectual capital (VAIC) and its components are used as indicators of IC efficiency. Firm performance is measured by return on equity, return on assets and market-to-book ratio.

The findings revealed significant connections between IC measures and firm performance. First, the VAIC, as an aggregate measure, significantly impacts both firm profitability and value. When the VAIC is decomposed into its breakdowns, it is revealed that structural capital efficiency substantially affects firm value, and capital employed efficiency has the same function for firm profitability. In contrast to the prevalent belief in the area, human capital efficiency’s impact is found to be less important than the others. Nonlinearities are also detected in the relationships.

As ML tools are most recently introduced to the IC literature, only a few studies have used them to expand the current knowledge. However, none of these studies investigated the role of IC as a determinant of firm performance. The present study fills this gap in the literature by investigating the effect of IC efficiency on firm performance using supervised ML methods. It also provides a novel approach by comparing the estimation results of three LASSO estimators. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study that has used LASSO in IC research.

This study investigates the combined influence of corporate governance (CG) and debt maturity (DM) on the investment inefficiency among non-financial 506 NSE-listed firms in India between 2009 and 2022. Additionally, this study also investigates the moderating effect of short-term debt (STD) maturity concerning the relationship between CG and investment inefficiency.

Utilizing the residuals extracted from the Biddle et al. (2009) investment model, three different forms of investment inefficiency (investment inefficiency, overinvestment and underinvestment) were measured. To measure the internal governance of firms, a new corporate governance index (CGI) was developed using 65 new governance stipulations, whereas STD was measured as short-term debt divided by total debt. Interaction effects between CG and DM were also estimated. Employing CGI and STD along with firm-specific control variables, many pooled regression models were estimated. Endogeneity issues were addressed through two-stage least squares. Robustness checks were also conducted using the two-step system GMM, alternative measures of dependent and independent variables.

The findings demonstrate that higher CG and shortened DM increase investment efficiency. This evidence implies that firm-level governance and short-term debt reduce information asymmetry and increase management oversight. Additionally, the evidence suggested that shortened DM and CG complement one another to increase investment efficiency, suggesting companies that utilize STD to a greater (lesser) extent demonstrate a greater (lesser) impact of CG in reducing investment inefficiency.

This work first advocates the establishment and implementation of robust corporate governance mechanisms to control agency conflicts, moral hazard, adverse selection and limit opportunistic behavior of managers for improving investment efficiency. Second, since interaction effects suggest a complementarity between CG and DM, it is advocated that STDs can be used to achieve optimal investment choices to control moral hazards and adverse selection and discourage suboptimal investment levels.

This work provides new evidence concerning the effects of CG and DM on various forms of corporate investment efficiency (investment inefficiency, overinvestment and underinvestment, using alternate measures) in an emerging economy like India having a unique institutional framework and macroeconomic environment using a newly developed firm-specific CG index for a large sample of companies using recent data.

The aim of this research is to explore the impact of digital resilience on firms' international performance. Using internal operation efficiency and innovation as channel variables, this paper explores the relationship between digital resilience and international firm performance of Chinese listed firms.

The research design follows a quantitative approach. Using firm-level panel data from 2007 to 2020, this paper tests the hypotheses between digital resilience and international firm performance through internal efficiency and innovation.

The results note that digital resilience has a positive effect on internationalization while operation efficiency is a channel through which digital resilience promotes internationalization. Digital resilience also facilitates innovation by improving research and development (R&D) efficiency and matching innovation collaborators.

This paper is one of the first to explore digital resilience in the context of internalization and international firm performance. This paper extends the notion of resource-based view (RBV) to examine the relationship between digital resilience, internal efficiency and innovation on international firm performance.

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 explores entrepreneurial orientation (EO) on project portfolio success in new product development projects, with the moderating effects of digitalization capability and modularization process.

The sample data of 204 firms was used to analyze the research hypotheses. This study adopted hierarchical regression to test the theoretical conceptual model incorporating EO, digitalization capability, modularization process, and project portfolio success.

These results indicate that EO positively affects project portfolio success. More importantly, digitalization capability and modularization process positively moderate the relationship between EO and project portfolio success.

Prominent studies have focused on different antecedent and consequence factors of project portfolio success; however, the impacts of EO still need to be noticed. This study makes a pioneering effort to make up this gap and investigate the effects of EO on project portfolio success, digitalization capability, and modularization process as moderators, which can enrich the current literature on project portfolio management.

This study aims to examine how the Bank of Ghana’s (BoG’s) directive on establishing a Cyber and Information Security Governance Committee (CISGC) affects banks’ financial performance (FP) and efficiency. The FP of banks is measured by return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE), while efficiency is measured by operational costs to operating revenue (CIR). The study examines the CISGC’s cyber and IT expertise, committee size, meetings and female representation features.

Data from 20 universal banks in Ghana between 2019 and 2022 was used to examine the impact of the CISGC features on Bank FP and efficiency using generalized least squares regression and robustness test.

CISGC’s cyber and IT expertise has a positive impact on ROA, but no impact on ROE or CIR. Their size, meetings and female representation do not affect performance. This highlights the need for key measures to be instituted for effective cyber and information security governance.

This study has several limitations. First, the scope was initially limited to universal banks in Ghana. Future studies should cover all banks operating in Ghana.

When forming the CISGC, banks should ensure that cybersecurity expertise is represented, and that female representation is considered. Additionally, given the ongoing evolution of cybersecurity threats, banks should ensure comprehensive digitization and robust cybersecurity safeguards.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first to investigate how CISGC impacts bank performance in Ghana following the BoG’s Cyber and Information Security directive.

This paper aims to define the efficiency achieved by urban transport companies in Spain concerning the resources they use, considering the type of management used for implementation, public-private, and size.

This study consisted of an analysis of the efficiency of 229 public-private urban transport operators during the period 2012–2021 using Data Envelopment Analysis, the Malmquist Index and inference estimators to determine productivity, efficiency change into Pure Technical Efficiency Change (PTECH), and scale efficiency change.

Based on the efficiency analysis, the authors concluded that of the 229 companies studied, more than 35 were inefficient in all analysed periods. Considering the sample used, direct management is considered significantly more efficient. It cannot be concluded that the size of these companies influences their efficiency, as the data show unequal development behaviours in the studied years.

This study provides arguments on whether there is a significant difference between the two types of management in the urban transport sector. It also includes firm size as a study variable, which has not been previously considered in other studies related to urban transport efficiency. Efficiency should be a crucial factor in determining funding allocation in this sector, as it encourages operators to optimize and improve their services.