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Drawing on signalling and impression management theories, this study aims to examine a bidirectional association between managerial tone in earnings conference calls and financial performance.

The sample includes non-financial firms listed in the FTSE 350 index during the period 2010–2015. Managerial tone was measured using positive and negative keywords based on the Loughran-McDonald Sentiment Word Lists, while return on assets was used as a proxy for firms’ financial performance.

The findings indicate that current financial performance positively affects the managerial tone in earnings conference calls. Likewise, the results also show that there is a positive relationship between managerial tone in earnings conference calls and firms’ future financial performance.

The results have important implications for top management to use more virtual communication media (i.e. earnings conference calls) to continue managing their relationships with financial stakeholders and helping them better understand financial performance, especially in countries where holding such calls is not yet part of firms’ policy.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies that explore the relationship between managerial tone in earnings conference calls and financial performance. Overall, this study contributes to managerial tone literature and holds significant theoretical and practical implications.

This study aims to examine the association between forensic accounting services (FAS) and the risk of litigation within the context of industrial firms that are publicly traded on the Amman Stock Exchange by using the resource-based theory.

This study uses a data set consisting of 250 firm-year observations from 2017 to 2021, obtained from the annual reports of 50 selected firms. Logistic regression techniques are used to examine the specifics of the investigated relationship.

The findings strongly suggest that companies that use FAS are more likely to face increased litigation risks. This observation suggests that these firms are subject to a more thorough level of evaluation or scrutiny, which inherently increases their vulnerability to potential risks. The study incorporated several control variables such as firm age, size, profitability and working capital. However, it is noteworthy that the connection between FAS and litigation risk emerged as particularly prominent.

Findings highlight the need for practitioners to tread cautiously with FAS. Although they provide in-depth evaluations, they can also unveil vulnerabilities, leading to increased legal action. Companies should balance the depth of FAS scrutiny against potential legal repercussions, ensuring they harness its benefits without inadvertently raising legal risks.

While most studies have emphasized the impact of forensic accounting on fraud, this paper covers a gap in the literature regarding the impact of FAS on litigation risks. The paper also facilitates the understanding of the correlation between firm characteristics and the likelihood of litigation.

This paper investigates the relationship between home spaces and social practice to explore how social practice informs the spatial typologies of the Korean home in the realm of everyday life. It identifies everyday activities socially embedded within the culture that contribute to a phenomenological understanding of the Korean home.

This paper incorporates a literature review of the conceptualisation of the traditional Korean home, as well as theoretical research concerning the spatial usage of the Korean home. This paper investigates (1) architectural and social aspects of traditional Korean homes, (2) social practice in the ondol, maru and madang as living spaces, and (3) the meaning of Korean home through analysis of spatial usages.

The analysis of the relationship between everyday activity and the home suggests that the Korean home is marked by (1) flexibility (changing the role and characteristics of individual components), (2) spatial extension (combining different areas), and (3) a blurred boundary between indoors and outdoors.

This paper considers the social and cultural aspects of the Korean home rather than its physical and architectural components; it demonstrates that the home as an everyday space holds both social and sacredness in a manner that is responsive to Korean cultural and social identity. Therefore, this paper will contribute to an understanding and provide knowledge of particular cultural types of the Korean home.

This paper aims to examine the relationship between the readability of annual reports and corporate performance in Chinese listed firms.

This research examined the annual report readability factors of Chinese listed companies by using a textual analysis method using Python to extract the text from the annual reports, convert it into numerical form to facilitate statistical analysis and then merge the results with data from the Chinese stock market to explain the impact on corporate performance and predict future earnings in the Chinese financial markets from 2008 to 2021.

Study findings indicate that firms with better financial reporting readability are more profitable, incur lower agency costs and have low earnings in the Chinese stock markets when readability is low (i.e. more complexity and length of annual reports). It was also found that when a listed company has a good performance, it prefers to use a short space to explain its operating and financial status. More generally, the means of the report length are short, and accounting terms are used less frequently; in the case of a poor company, the annual report is particularly long and accounting terms are more frequently used. In the context of the COVID-19 crisis, this study served as a proxy measure of returns prior to the announcement of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, an instrumental variable approach is used, which helps results to remain robust and control for fixed effects and potential endogeneity problems.

Although this study’s results cannot be generalised globally because of their limited scope, they can still be generalised across non-English speaking countries. Thus, future cross-country research is encouraged to examine the textual analysis of financial reports across those countries.

This study conveys two messages to investors and policymakers within the Chinese market. First, investors ought to pay greater attention to the nonfinancial information contained in annual reports to improve the accuracy of their predictions regarding future firm performance. Second, Chinese policymakers are encouraged to instate a policy for the use of plain English in annual reports to make them more readable by international investors.

This study contributes to the paucity of research that examines English-written annual reports in non-English speaking countries by examining the readability of annual reports in the Chinese market.

This research employs a behavioural approach to investigate the determinants of CEO disclosure tone inconsistency. By examining CEO characteristics and psychological attributes, the study aims to unravel the complexities underlying tone variations in Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) reports. Through this exploration, the research seeks to contribute to understanding ethical considerations in corporate communications and provide insights into the nuanced interplay between personal, job-related and psychological factors influencing CEO disclosure tone.

The study utilises a dataset comprising 1,411 MD&A reports from 143 companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange between 2012 and 2021. Multiple regression analyses with year- and industry-fixed effects are employed to examine the relationships between CEO gender, tenure, duality, ability and psychological attributes such as narcissism, myopia, overconfidence and tone inconsistency. Data analysis involves MAXQDA software for analysing MD&A reports and Rahavard Novin software for document analysis, supplemented by audited financial statements.

The findings reveal significant relationships between CEO characteristics, psychological attributes and tone inconsistency. Female CEOs exhibit reduced tone inconsistency, contrasting with previous research trends. CEO tenure correlates negatively with tone inconsistency, whereas CEO ability shows a positive correlation, indicating a nuanced relationship with performance. However, CEO duality does not exhibit a significant association. Psychological attributes such as narcissism and myopia are positively associated with tone inconsistency, while no substantial connection is found with managerial overconfidence.

This research contributes to the inaugural exploration of CEO disclosure tone inconsistency through a behavioural lens, advancing measurement precision in the field. By delving into CEO characteristics and psychological attributes, the study offers unique insights into the roots of tone inconsistency. Applying comprehensive lexicon and phraseology enriches the methodological approach, fostering dialogue among diverse stakeholders and adding distinct perspectives to the discourse on ethical issues in business. Through its meticulous examination of behavioural underpinnings, this study becomes a catalyst for reflection, dialogue and progress in corporate communications and ethical considerations.

The purpose of this paper is to argue the relationship between chief sustainability officer, sustainability performance and corporate governance. Specifically, this paper aims to empirically examine the mediation role of corporate governance on the relationship between chief sustainability officer and sustainability performance.

The study sample includes 484 European companies that were listed on STOXX Europe 600 index between 2010 and 2022. There are 15 supersectors and 17 nations.

Results of this study show that the profile of chief sustainability officer has a positive impact on sustainability performance. In addition, the corporate governance mediates the relationship between chief sustainability officer and sustainability performance.

The findings may be of interest to the academic researchers, investors and regulators. For academic researchers, the results would be interesting in discovering the dynamic relation between chief sustainability officer, sustainability performance and corporate governance. For investors, these show that the existence of chief sustainability officer provides sustainability performance from good corporate governance mechanisms. For regulators, these advise the worldwide policy maker to give the importance to chief sustainability officer roles to improve the engagement of firms in sustainability performance reporting.

This paper extends the existing literature by examining the mediation impact of corporate governance on the relationship between chief sustainability officer and sustainability performance in the European context.

This paper explores how the disclosure quality, measured by the abnormal tone of environmental and social report, may determine the environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) performance of the firm. This study also investigates the impact of the moderator “board of directors” to explore the extent to which a well-balanced board of directors may affect this association within an impression management strategy.

This work uses a sample of 616 firm-year observations using a sample of French firms indexed on SBF120 index from 2010 to 2017. To test the developed hypotheses, the GLS regression is applied and to control for endogeneity issue and sample selection bias, the authors used, respectively, the two stage least square (2SLS) procedure and the Heckman model.

Findings suggest that a well-balanced board of directors moderates the relationship between the ESG performance and the disclosure quality. The positive effect of abnormal tone management on ESG is weakened by the presence of a good structure of the board, attenuating impression management initiatives.

The research provides evidence of the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting quality, in particular disclosure tone management, on the level of ESG performance in the French context. As the board of directors may have a major impact on weakening impression management strategies in particular tone management practices, in order to improve CSR report quality, the authors recommend French companies to ensure a well-balanced board of directors.

This study helps investors to comprehensively evaluate the information disclosed on CSR reports. It unveils that a strong board composition induces better quality of CSR report and brings better ESG performance. Thus, the study results point to the importance of a well-balanced board of directors and the regulation of the narrative disclosure of CSR information.

This study aims to examine the effect of corporate governance (CG) mechanisms on financial fragility in non-financial corporations, using Nishi’s operationalization of Minsky’s financial instability hypothesis. Specifically, the study investigates the influence of board size, board independence, CEO duality and audit quality on the financial fragility of non-financial companies (NFCs).

Using a panel logit regression model, the authors analyse annual data from (66) NFCs listed on the Amman Stock Exchange, spanning over the period 2015–2021. This methodology enables us to assess the relationships between the identified CG mechanisms and the categorical proxy of financial fragility.

The findings of this study reveal that a large share of NFCs fall within Minsky’s “Ponzi” classification, indicating elevated levels of financial vulnerability. Remarkably, the analysis demonstrates that larger board sizes and the CEO-Chairman duality exacerbate financial fragility within these firms. Conversely, the study results suggest that board independence and audit quality exhibit limited effects on financial fragility. In addition, profitability, firm size and financial leverage are identified as key predictors of financial fragility.

This study adds to the current literature by using a financial fragility index grounded in Minsky’s financial instability hypothesis. The constructed index is then used to examine specific CG factors in relation to financial fragility, which offers new insights into the dynamics influencing the default exposure of NFCs. Furthermore, the study findings have direct implications for policymakers and stakeholders aiming to enhance CG practices and foster financial stability in the private sector.

This study aims to address a notable gap in the existing literature by exploring the relationship between gender diversity and dividend policy within the context of US Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs).

The authors use a substantial data set comprising 1,398 firm-year observations across 209 US REIT companies from 2011 to 2021 to address the research aims. Fixed effects models and generalized least squares regression methods are used in the analysis.

The results demonstrate a significant positive association between board gender diversity and higher dividend payouts among US REITs. This relationship holds after controlling for corporate governance and other firm-level factors. The findings have strong implications that the presence of women on REIT boards contributes to a greater propensity for discretionary dividend increases in the USA.

This research contributes to the literature by empirically examining female directors’ role in influencing US REITs’ dividend policies, an area lacking adequate prior scholarship. The paper also considers the unique regulatory environment of REITs, highlighting the importance of the study for externally financed firms.

This study explores the impact of intellectual capital on the adoption of supply chain analysis by manufacturing companies. The authors also examine the potential role of supply chain analytics in supply chain innovation and agility.

Data were gathered from 268 managers and directors of Jordanian companies. The hypotheses were tested using the Smart PLS software.

The results reveal that human, structural and social capital significantly impact supply chain analytics. Moreover, the findings show that supply chain analytics significantly affect supply chain innovation and agility. In other words, cultivating intellectual capital is crucial for utilizing supply chain analysis to enhance performance in terms of innovation and agility.

This study adds to the literature on the determinants of the adoption of supply chain analytics and its function in establishing the dynamic capabilities of businesses, including supply chain innovation and agility.