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This research intends to undertake a rigorous bibliometric analysis of product quality research trends and patterns, map the intellectual and social structure of the field, identify the predominant themes and propose a transition plan for future work in this discipline.

The procedure was carried out in a step-by-step manner. Following a specified search string, Scopus retrieved 1454 journal articles from the previous 39 years (1984–2022). To comprehend the field’s base, various techniques of performance analysis and science mapping were employed using RStudio and VOSviewer.

In light of the results, both the volume and influence of product quality studies have surged over the past four decades, with most works appearing in prestigious academic journals. A number of cross-country product quality collaborations took place in nations with little geographic, historical, or cultural proximity. Using co-citation analysis, five distinct subfields were identified within the literature on product quality. Finally, the use of co-word analysis helps understand the field’s underlying themes and concludes with a set of potential research avenues built on a content analysis of the articles from each of the five subfields.

To the authors' understanding, this study represents a pioneering effort to examine the research field on product quality using bibliometric analysis. Notwithstanding being rooted in scientometrics, this research’s outcomes are instructive for practitioners, academics and aspiring researchers in the field.

This study aims to develop a benchmarking model with productivity, management, and sustainability indicators (PMS), measure the performance of furniture firms in Vietnam, explore the causes of performance gaps, and identify the barriers and factors of benchmarking practice.

The article uses both qualitative and quantitative methods. Literature review, exploratory interviews and a grounded-theory process are employed to develop a benchmarking framework and identify performance gaps, barriers and factors of benchmarking practice. The PMS benchmarking model and quantitative analysis are utilized to assess performance indicators.

The study proposes the PMS benchmarking model and measures performance indicators of furniture firms. The sources of performance gaps are explored as design, material supply, the economy of scale, market, management systems and openness. Benchmarking practice encounters barriers of difficult indicators, unsuitable firms, insufficient benchmarking knowledge, reluctance to share data, unavailable and unreliable data, and weak engagement. Benchmarking practice is determined by core factors: leader; internal factors: systems, engagement, strategy, scope, culture; external factors: customers, suppliers, associations, support, competition.

Firms could learn benchmarking indicators and the causes of these gaps to improve their performance. When implementing a benchmarking study, scholars and practitioners need to pay attention to barriers and factors of the benchmarking practice to ensure effective results.

This study develops the PMS benchmarking model and estimates performance indicators in an emerging country with the performance gap justification. It provides readers with benchmarking barriers with solutions and success factors of benchmarking practice.

The purpose of this study was to identify key areas for benchmarking (BM) towards the improvement of small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) construction firms in developing countries.

The study employed the use of the quantitative research method in the collection and analysis of primary data collected from field surveys using a piloted close-ended questionnaire created following a review of available literature on BM. Based on 63 solicited views of professionals with SMEs (quantity surveyors, project managers and architects) data collected were statistically analysed using a one-sample t-test.

The findings of the study indicate that the key areas for BM towards the improvement of SME construction firms in developing countries in order of relevance are “Financial Performance”, “Competitiveness”, “Customer Satisfaction”, “Technology Advancement”, “Communication Skills”, “Collaboration”, “Employee Satisfaction” and “Product orientation”.

The study has given more insight into the areas that need more attention for SMEs BM to achieve improvement. It can therefore be suggested firms that adapted identified areas will derive the benefits of BM. It is further opined that more BM education should be provided to various SMEs construction firms to facilitate an effective and efficient BM regime aiming at performance enhancement in project delivery.

This forging research attempts to identify the key areas for BM towards the improvement of SMEs construction firms in developing countries. Although there have been several efforts to create BM tools for the construction industry.

This article investigated whether the executives' compensation and corporate governance attributes are aligned with stakeholders' demands for higher corporate voluntary disclosures. Moreover, the study also examined the moderating role of the auditor's reputation in the direction of association among executive compensation, corporate governance attributes, and voluntary disclosures.

The study used a sample of S&P BSE index constituents' 90 Indian firms for 2017–2019. The voluntary disclosure scores were fetched from the India Disclosure Index Report published by FTI Consulting. This analysis was carried out in two parts by applying four panel-data regression models in the agency and signalling theories framework. First, the study examined the association between executive compensation, board strength, composition, gender diversity, and voluntary disclosures. Second, the article investigated the moderating role of the “Big 4” in the direction of association among executive compensation, corporate governance attributes, and voluntary disclosures.

The willingness of executives to share private information with stakeholders depends on the compensation they receive from their employer. The higher compensation paid to executives leads to a higher “tone from the top,” which is better aligned with stakeholder interests. Further, the research also found that bigger board sizes, a higher proportion of independent and woman directors (indicators of good governance), and an auditor's reputation are associated with increased voluntary disclosure.

The findings showed that the executives' compensation and corporate governance attributes are aligned with stakeholders' demand for higher voluntary information from firms. Moreover, the study also found that the “Big 4” play a moderating role in this direction. The choice of a reputed auditor indicates the firms' long-term positive future perspectives, which strengthens investor confidence in the financial market.

The study suggests that fair executive compensation can address the agency problem.

This research furnishes managers and different stakeholders with significant implications of executives' compensation, corporate governance, and auditor's reputation in the best interests of a firm through reducing potential risks of information asymmetry.

Despite the significance of a gender-diverse workforce, there is a lack of comprehensive review of gender diversity and women's career advancement literature. Moreover, past literature focuses on women-on-board and other subsets based on outcomes like firm financial and non-financial performance, corporate social performance and board interlocks. The purpose of this study is to examine the research on gender diversity and women's career advancement through an analysis of 143 articles published during past decade. Theoretical frameworks, contexts and constructs-based contribution to scholarship were reviewed. The authors attempt to highlight key theories, constructs and contexts and provide direction for future research.

A comprehensive systematic literature review of 143 articles spanning January 2008–March 2023 about gender diversity and women’s career advancement was conducted.

Majority of the past studies have focused on women on board and top management team, and most of them have been conducted in the context of the USA and China. There is no specific industry which has been covered extensively. Resource dependency, resource-based views and agency theories are the primary theoretical frameworks used in the past studies. Furthermore, these findings suggest the scope to further focus on women’s retention and career growth initiatives, especially at levels other than top levels, for a stronger leadership pipeline.

This study has been conducted with a focused analysis of the context, constructs and theoretical frameworks, enabling future researchers to decide how and where to focus, to now strengthen retention of women.

This study analyzes the role of regional cooperative banks in identifying and financing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from a proximity perspective. Access to finance is a major challenge for SMEs. Regional cooperative banks can remove this barrier based on cooperative bank's characteristics and geographic proximity to SMEs. Understanding the interplay between these financial actors and firms can contribute to a better support of SMEs development.

The results are based on a case study of eight SMEs located in southwestern France. Interviews were conducted with two regional cooperative funds and eight SMEs. The interview guide included questions related to the company, the projects financed and how financing was accessed.

Results reveal that a combination of three forms of proximity allows regional cooperative banks and SMEs to establish effective financing operations. They show that regional cooperative banks are key players in the existing financing mechanisms for SMEs. Such financing is often used to gain access to larger players at a later stage. The findings suggest the need for public policies that promote the integration of financing actors in regional ecosystems to advance SMEs' development.

This article examines how SMEs access financing, with a focus on regional cooperative banks, which have received little attention in the literature. Moreover, the relationships between these actors are studied through the lens of proximity. Regional cooperative banks are able to finance projects that may have been overlooked by traditional banks due to trust-building local dynamics.

Audit rotation (AR) is a key policy initiative implemented in global jurisdictions to deal with concerns about audit quality. Auditing financial reports involves communicating attested value-relevant company information to investors, and hence audit quality plays a role in the quality of financial reporting information. This paper aims to investigate whether AR affects the degree of information asymmetry (IS) between investors. It further aims to examine whether voluntary AR results in less asymmetric information compared to mandatory AR. Additionally, it examines whether political connections moderate the association between AR and IS.

The authors use data from publicly traded banks across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for the period 2010–2018. The authors include several variables to control for corporate governance and other firm-specific characteristics by using country-year fixed-effects regression model.

The authors find higher IS for banks that periodically rotate auditor, while banks voluntarily choose to rotate auditors obtain high-quality audits, which results in higher trading volume and lower stock return volatility, hence lower IS. The results suggest that when banks voluntarily choose to rotate auditors, investors perceive these banks as more committed to obtaining high-quality audits relative to mandatory AR. Providing higher quality audits enhances the credibility of reported information and thus reduce the level of IS. Moreover, IS following AR is higher for politically connected banks than for similar but politically unconnected banks. Finally, investors perceive voluntary AR as a disciplining tool, which mitigates IS. This mitigating role is not affected by bank political connectedness.

This study has limitations as the definition of AR could be interpreted as binary or too narrow, and hence it may not be appropriate to generalize findings to different contexts. Nonetheless, this study casts light on a new perspective to reconcile the existing mixed evidence on the influence of AR on IS and the moderating role of political connections. A further limitation is that because of data unavailability, the authors were unable to use other proxies (e.g. bid-ask spreads and analyst forecast dispersion) of IS.

The present findings provide insight to regulators, policymakers and standard setters on the potential adverse effect of political connections on the role of AR in mitigating IS. The results underscore the importance of voluntary AR, and suggest that regulators, policymakers and standard setters encourage firms to rotate their auditors periodically.

This study provides evidence in a setting that is unique at the economic, social and regulatory levels. Prior literature is lacking and has been centered on developed countries or focusing on single-country specifications. The data set of this study is unique and allows us to examine the interplay between political influence that arises through ownership and management roles of influential members of state.

This study aims to investigate the association between corporate governance (CG) and the corporate social responsibility (CSR) information disclosure as well as the moderating role of state-ownership between CG and CSR disclosure.

To examine the relationship between CG and CSR disclosure, this study used the feasible general least squares and generalized method of moments method on a sample of 165 non-financial quoted companies over the 2015–2018 period, which account for about three-fourths of the Vietnamese stock exchange.

The findings suggest that enterprises with smaller board size consisting mainly of independent directors have a higher CSR disclosure level. Moreover, when the chief executive officer is concurrently the chairman of the board, the level of CSR disclosure falls. Additionally, the moderating role of state ownership enhances CSR disclosure.

The empirical results of this study form a solid foundation for policymakers and other stakeholders’ decisions in investing or establishing policies.

This study provides empirical evidence on the relationship between CG and CSR disclosure in Vietnam – a developing country with no legal requirement on CSR disclosure. Moreover, this study emphasizes the moderating role of state ownership between CG and CSR disclosure, which clarifies the role of state ownership in establishing CG mechanisms.

As the benefit of gender diversity continues to receive significant attention, a holistic investigation of its effect on corporate financial distress (CFD) is lacking. Therefore, this study examines the effects of board gender diversity, measured in different forms, such as the presence and proportion of female directors, family-affiliated female directors and the chief executive officer (CEO) gender, on CFD in Pakistan. The study also investigates the interacting effects of family-controlled (20 and 50% family-owned) companies on the association between board gender diversity and CFD.

The study applied the pooled cross-sectional logistic regression model to examine the effect of board gender diversity (presence and proportion of female directors, family-affiliated female directors and CEO gender) on CFD through a sample of 285 non-financial companies in Pakistan over the period of 2006–2017.

The results reveal that gender diversity on boards is significantly and negatively associated with CFD in Pakistan. In addition, when family ownership is 50% or more, the interacting effect of family control is found to be significant, while gender effects remain negative. The results suggest that female directors contribute to the long-term viability of companies, especially family-owned companies. Female directors are also found to be more prevalent in family-owned companies compared to their non-family counterparts.

The findings imply that female directors may efficiently manage and control all functions necessary to guarantee the company's long-term prosperity. Similarly, gender effects can outweigh the detrimental impact of family control when female directors are in reasonable numbers and of high quality in the boardroom.

The practical relevance of the findings is that female directors play a significant role on the corporate board. Thus, it is a wakeup call for Pakistani companies to recognize the critical role and uniqueness of women on the corporate ladder. Family companies can also galvanize on the uniqueness of women to improve their governance structure.

This study adds to the literature on the benefits of gender diversity in family and non-family-owned companies. Specifically, this study applied multiple measures of gender diversity and family control in a single study. In addition, the study was conducted in a country that is ranked as the second worst country in the Global Gender Gap Index 2022, implying that investigating this type of research would go a long way towards changing the minds of corporate executives and regulators about the critical role that women can play in the economy.

This paper aims to examine the impact of corporate governance mechanisms on forward-looking corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure (FCSRD).

The authors use the manual content analysis to measure FCSRD for a sample of 94 companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange from 2010 to 2016. Data on companies' FCSRD are manually collected from annual reports. The authors also use regression analyses to test the research hypotheses.

The authors find that board size positively affects FCSRD, while CEO duality and family ownership negatively impact FCSRD.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first evidence of how governance mechanisms affect FCSR information in corporate annual reports in a developing country.