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Global interest in adopting the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) has risen rapidly; however, the Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) countries have reacted differently towards the international diffusion. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of the IFRS adoption/rejection decision on the quality of MENA region firms' financial reporting.

The quality of accounting is examined through five metrics models to measure earnings smoothing, managing earnings towards a target and timely loss recognition. The research sample consists of nine countries over a period of ten years (2006–2015), resulting in 3,040 firm-year observations in the main phase, and 2,580 firm-year observations in the additional analysis.

The findings reveal that the overall sample of IFRS adopters in the MENA region has benefited from the adoption of IFRS, as the results show that there is a reduction in earnings management for IFRS adopters in comparison to local standards adopters. The sub-sample analyses also reveal that firms that adopted IFRS, in both the rentier (oil-dependent states) and non-rentier states, have a higher financial reporting quality than non-IFRS adopters. However, the magnitude of the financial reporting quality was higher for IFRS adopters in rentier states.

Similarly to previous research in this field, this study adopts a strict sample selection approach. Such an approach may limit the sample size, although the researchers have taken every possible step to ensure the use of an adequate sample size. The researchers acknowledge the strict period of ten years, despite having stated its rationale and importance of a more extended period to the quest of the paper.

This research provides valuable input by evaluating the current status of MENA region firms' financial reporting quality, based on their followed accounting regime. The implications of this paper result in better-informed decisions for investors as the information contents of the annual reports enhance comparisons that facilitate the further flow of investments. This research also provides significant insight into the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). The findings of this study will assist the IASB in understanding the MENA region by measuring the consequences of the countries' decisions on the quality of firms' financial reporting.

The findings of this study contribute to the literature by revealing that countries with medium levels of governance quality have benefited the most from the IFRS adoption, while IFRS adopters in countries with stronger governance quality demonstrate lower financial reporting quality.

The purpose of this study is to examine the degree, contents and trend development of Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) performance indicators disclosed in sustainability reports of large mining companies in Ghana.

Content analysis methods are used to analyse 50 sustainability reports of ten large-scale mining companies in Ghana, covering the period 2008-2012.

The study finds that there has been a widening and increasing trend in the disclosure of performance indicators in sustainability reports of the large mining companies in Ghana, in accordance with GRI guidelines. The findings suggest that good progress in the strategic sector has been made in the voluntary adoption of the GRI guidelines to increase transparency, credibility and comparability in sustainability reporting. The findings also indicate areas to be improved.

The Government of Ghana and the Ghana Chamber of Mines could learn from the findings about the current status of this matter in order for them to formulate policies and regulations which would encourage the mining sector in moving forward in the adoption of international reporting standards.

This paper initializes investigation into the degree, contents and trends of performance indicators in sustainability reports of large mining companies in Ghana using content analysis.

The purpose of this paper evaluates the effects of the Great Western Development (GWD) policy on agricultural intensification, land use, agricultural production and rural poverty in western China.

The authors collect county-level data on land use, input application, grain crop production, income, poverty and geophysical characteristics for 1996–2005 and use a quasi-natural experimental design of difference-in-differences (DD) in the empirical analysis.

Results suggest that the GWD policy significantly increased the grain crop production in western China. This increase resulted from higher yield, with increased fertilizer use and agricultural electricity consumption per hectare, and more land allocated to grow grain crops. The policy also increased land-use concentration, reduced crop diversity and alleviated rural poverty in western China.

This paper makes three contributions. First, the authors add to the growing literature on the GWD policy by evaluating its effects on farm household decisions and exploring the mechanisms and broad socioeconomic impacts in western China. Second, the authors take advantage of a quasi-natural experimental design to improve the identification strategy where input use, land allocation, production and off-farm labor participation are all endogenous in a farm household. Third, the authors explore a long list of variables within one integrated dataset to present a comprehensive picture of the impact of the GWD policy.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how the impact of Chinese peer-to-peer (P2P) platform reputation directly and indirectly (mediate effect) affects investors’ (lenders) investment choices.

Using data collected from 478 P2P platforms, this paper calculates platform reputation via a β function after establishing a reputation mechanism by game analysis. This is followed by testing both the direct effect of platform reputation on investors’ investment choices (proxying by transaction volume) and the indirect effect through credit-enhancing information using three regression models (median regression, OLS regression and random effect OLS regression). A robustness test by adding instrument variables is conducted to confirm the findings from the main regressions.

In China, P2P lending platform reputations have played both a direct and indirect (through credit-enhancing information) role on investors’ investment choices.

This paper expands the boundary of P2P online lending research by not only examining the direct, but also, importantly, the indirect effects of platform reputations.

This paper aims to provide insights on the void between the needs and demands of bank finance from female entrepreneurs and the supply, as well as the approaches of banks for that finance. In addition, it creates a conceptual framework recognising a tripartite and dynamic partnership amongst female entrepreneurs, banks and governments as essential to female entrepreneurship-development, based on Zambia as the context.

Concepts and theories are explained to construct a conceptual framework using the lens of multi-polar network theory and stakeholder engagement theory. In-depth discussions are facilitated through a bilateral partnership between each party and tripartite partnerships amongst female entrepreneurs, banks and governments.

The framework presents how female entrepreneurs, banks and governments are interconnected in the network as mutually benefiting stakeholders and shows their collective contribution to female entrepreneurship-development within certain contexts. The findings suggest that the sustainable development of female entrepreneurship depends on a dynamic tripartite partnership amongst female entrepreneurs, banks and governments.

The conceptual framework has important implications when setting up a nation’s enterprise development strategies and policies promoting inclusivity and diversity amongst a nation’s entrepreneurs. The contributions and the dynamic relationship of the three stakeholder groups should be acknowledged and considered to achieve sustainable development in female entrepreneur enterprises. The framework can be generalised to other emerging economies with similar social, economic and cultural profiles to Zambia, particularly in sub-Saharan African countries with patriarchal norms.

This paper extends multi-polar (network) theory and stakeholder management engagement theory, previously explained in homogeneous firms, to more complex and dynamic partnerships amongst heterogeneous organisations, i.e. female entrepreneurs, banks and governments.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between bank diversity and small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) firm innovation in China to evaluate the impact of recent bank deregulation.

Using a large data set that includes 8,143 firm-year observations of 1,122 listed SME firms in China and baseline and robustness regression analyses, the authors identify how bank diversity affects firm innovation and via what economic mechanisms. Potential endogeneity problems are considered and addressed in the design and analysis to minimize research bias.

The authors find robust evidence that bank diversity improves firm innovation. Specifically, the findings suggest that the positive effects of bank diversity on firm innovation are only significant for the firms which are more external finance dependent, have fewer growth opportunities and/or located in the provinces having low financial market development.

This study provides novel evidence and insights into the relationship between banking market structure and the determinants of firm innovation in the Chinese context, as a result of China’s banking deregulation.

The promotion of financial inclusion can disturb the composition of traditional bank concentration and change the relationship between bank concentration and the availability of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) financing. This paper concentrates on a less frequently explored area of research by examining the relationships between bank concentration, financial inclusion and SME financing availability respectively, and the interaction between bank concentration and financial inclusion after the implementation of a financial inclusion strategy in China.

Using firm-level data from 1,509 listed SMEs in China from 2007 to 2017 and applying rigorous analyses, we identify how bank concentration affects SME financing availability under the promotion of financial inclusion and also the mechanisms involved.

We find that bank concentration and financial inclusion respectively have positive impacts on the credit available to listed SMEs, indicating that the promotion of financial inclusion in China has reached a new high watermark. The positive impact of bank concentration is reduced when the level of financial inclusion is high. Conversely, a higher level of financial inclusion favours SME credit availability at only a low degree of bank concentration. Our findings suggest that financial inclusion has a substitution effect on bank concentration and has enabled us to add new interpretations to relevant theories; namely, the Market Power and Information Theories respectively.

This study provides new insights into the relationship between bank concentration and SME finance availability under the promotion of financial inclusion.

Determining the role of ethical leadership in the multinational companies’ (MNCs) control practices, the purpose of this paper is to extend Eisenbeiss’ (2012) four central ethical leadership orientations into multinational companies’ control contexts – the culturally diversified environment.

Adopting a multiple-case research design, the authors gather qualitative data from four MNC subsidiaries located in China, that connects three potentially diverse cultural contexts: German, Japanese and Chinese.

The findings of this paper confirm that ethical leadership compliance (or violation) positively (or negatively) contributes to the internalization of organizational practice transfer, moderated by cultural distance between foreign managers and subsidiaries’ employees. The results reveal that informal control and trust act as lubricants in the internalization process.

This paper evidences the connections between ethical leadership, organizational practice transfer and subsequent performance, along with inclusive cultural moderating factors.

This paper aims to develop an integrated and portable desktop 3D printer using direct extruding technology to expand applied material field. Different from conventional fused deposition modeling (FDM) which uses polymer filaments as feedstock, the developed system can fabricate products directly using polymer pellets. And its printing properties are also investigated.

A conical screw-based extrusion deposition (CSBED) system was developed with a large taper conical screw to plasticize and extrude fed materials. The 3D printer was developed with assistance of precision positioning and controlling system. Biocompatible thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) pellets were selected as raw materials for experiments. The influences of four processing parameters: nozzle temperature, fill vector orientation, layer thickness and infill density on the product’s internal structure and tensile properties were investigated.

It is concluded that the customized system has a high manufacturing accuracy with a diminutive global size and is suitable for printing soft materials such as TPU. Theoretical calculation shows the developed conical screw is more effective in plasticizing and extruding compared with conventional screw. Printed samples can achieve applicable tensile properties under harmonious parameter cooperation. Deposited materials are found to have voids among adjacent roads under unbefitting parameters.

The developed system efficiently improves material limitations compared to commercial FDM systems and exhibits great potential in medical field because soft materials such as biocompatible TPU pellets can be directly used.