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This paper aims to explore the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures and earnings quality proxied by earnings accruals. Specifically, we examine whether CSR disclosures are context-specific, that is, whether companies dominated by powerful stakeholders are obliged to behave in a responsible manner to constrain earnings management, thereby reporting higher-quality earnings to investors.

This paper explores the relationship between CSR disclosures and earnings quality proxied by earnings accruals. Specifically, we examine whether CSR disclosures are context-specific, that is, whether companies dominated by powerful stakeholders are obliged to behave in a responsible manner to constrain earnings management, thereby reporting higher-quality earnings to investors.

Results show that managers in an emerging economy manage earnings when they provide more CSR disclosures. Such earnings management is achieved through income increasing discretionary accruals. Furthermore, companies from export-oriented industries dominated by powerful stakeholders (international buyers) disclosing more CSR activities, provide transparent financial reports through constraining earnings management.

The findings of this study are significant for both investors and policymakers. Investors should not take for granted that firms engage in CSR activities, behave ethically and provide transparent financial reports. As we document that firms might manipulate earnings through discretionary accruals and provide less transparent financial reports to shareholders, the credibility of firms’ CSR policies should be assessed with caution. Policies directing at promoting socially responsible practices instead of motivating the desired behaviour, may provide managers with additional incentives to utilise CSR for opportunistic behaviour. Thus, policymakers need to be cautious about this opportunistic behaviour and enhance monitoring to enforce social compliance. Possibly, some guidelines can be introduced to confirm that CSR disclosures are based on actual practice and not just a “green wash” statement to deceive stakeholders.

Extant literature indicates that people use existing social networks for various collective activities as there is a cost involved to create and maintain separate networks for different activities. The authors build on the relational sociology framework and test this assertion in by examining a dairy cooperative society, which is a community organization. We hypothesize that the cooperative members are likely to use existing social networks to operationalize their cooperative (dairy-related matters) and other social and personal relations. This study tests the hypothesis by studying information sharing relations among the dairy cooperative members in two different social networks: the dairy information network and social information network.

This study uses social network analysis to analyze relational data.

The study finds that the members of the dairy cooperative maintain both information sharing networks separately and that each network has different control and efficiency mechanisms.

The findings contradict the assertions of existing literature and establish that people ensure their business relations remain separated from their social relations to avoid the possibility of social conflicts affecting their business activities.

This paper seeks to explore the functions of Christmas mythemes for children’s consumption culture development. In addition, the purpose of this study is to provide an insight on the development of Central European Children into customers and how mythemes are associated with the wishing behaviour.

Levi-Strauss’ (1955) structural analysis was used to uncover the mythemes of the Christmas story for Austrian children. These mythemes then informed a thematic analysis of 283 Austrian children’s Christmas letters. Campbell’s (1970) functions of myths were used to reflect on the findings.

The Christmas mythemes uncovered were found to encourage materialism by linking self-enhancement (good acquirement) with self-transcendent (good behaviour) values. The role of myths to relieve the tension between the incongruent values of collective/other-oriented and materialistic values is expanded upon. Such sanctification of selfish good acquisition is aided by the mythemes related especially to the Christkind and baby Jesus. Instead, marketers should use Christmas mythemes which emphasise family and collective/other-centred values.

By first uncovering the “mythemes” related to Christmas, the authors contribute to the academic understanding of Christmas, going beyond origin or single myth understandings and acknowledging the multifaceted components of Christmas. The second contribution is in exploring mytheme’s representation in children’s Christmas letters and reflecting on their functions. This differs from previous literature because it looks at one of the main cultural vehicles for Christmas socialisation and its intersection with the mythemes that feed children’s consumption culture formation. Through the authors’ presentation of a conceptual framework that links mytheme functions with proximal processes using a socioecological viewpoint, the authors demonstrate the guidance of mythemes in children’s development. The third contribution is a reflection on the potential ethical implications for children’s formation of their consumer culture based on the functions of the mythemes. Furthermore, the authors add to the existing body of research by investigating a Central European context.

The purpose of this paper is to study the cascading effect of management actions on new product development (NPD) for achieving success in Indian manufacturing industries. The critical linkage of managerial support for establishing management actions has been explored to realize the NPD success in terms of financial and economic measures.

The structural equation modeling approach is used to investigate the relationship depicting the managerial control on management practices for NPD success. Primary data from 263 experts of Indian manufacturing industries have been collected for the purpose of this analysis.

Senior management motivation, risk-taking attitude, problem-solving capacity, awareness in novel development cascade the management actions such as information technology management, conflict management, project management, human resource management, strategic management, organizational factors, planning, long-term vision, and entrepreneurial culture to escalate the NPD success, which in turn be articulated by financial and economic terms.

The findings suggest that managerial support influences the adoption of management actions leading toward NPD success. The developed framework realizes the necessity of implementation of these management actions cascaded from the top management support (TMS) for influencing the financial and economic measures of NPD success.

The cascaded framework depicting the TMS for implementing management actions for NPD success in Indian manufacturing sectors adds novelty to the available literature. Moreover, this study uses a semi-structured questionnaire which incorporates the practical experiences of the experts for quantifying the constructs in a more detailed manner than available in the previous literature. Besides, the realization of comprehensive management actions along with the support from senior management escalates the implementation of the developed framework for NPD success in near future.

In academics and industry, significant efforts have been made to lead planners and control teams in evaluating project performance and control. In this context, numerous control metrics have been devised and put into practice, often with little emphasis on analyzing their underlying concepts. To cover this gap, this research aims to identify and analyze a holistic list of control metrics and their functionalities in the construction industry.

A multi-step analytical approach was conducted to achieve the study’s objectives. First, a holistic list of control metrics and their functionalities in the construction industry was identified. Second, a quantitative analysis based on social network analysis (SNA) was implemented to discover the most important functionalities.

The results revealed that the most important control metrics' functionalities (CMF) could differ depending on the type of metrics (lagging and leading) and levels of control. However, in general, the most significant functionalities include managing project progress and performance, evaluating the look-ahead level’s performance, measuring the reliability and stability of workflow, measuring the make-ready process, constraint management and measuring the quality of construction flow.

This research will assist the project team in getting a comprehensive sensemaking of planning and control systems and their functionalities to plan and control different dynamic aspects of the project.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how a redemption reward program of credit card works in China. The study also seeks to assess Chinese credit card users' level of awareness about the reward‐point programs. Additionally, the factors affecting the redemption of reward points, one customer loyalty program used by many credit card issuers worldwide, are also identified.

A telephone survey and a followed regression analysis were conducted in five major cities in China with more than 400 samples.

Lack of awareness about the reward points programs and the redemption procedure was shown. Low customer awareness about point‐based reward programs and, not surprisingly, low redemption rates were also discovered. The important conditions positively affecting redemption of reward points were found to include awareness of the reward point program, a positive attitude about the incentives, and average frequency of credit card usage. Also, redemption rates were higher for cards that had been issued more recently. Moreover, redemption behaviors and credit card usage habits may be changed in time of financial crisis.

Awareness of reward points programs, redemption procedure, and benefits of redemption of reward points should be increased by better and more effective communication strategy, provided by credit card marketers, to customers or potential customers.

The lower‐middle class market segment in China is studied to provide background information regarding behavior towards credit card reward programs in the banking industry. Additional information is provided towards marketing managers who hold the responsibility of promoting their usage and rewards.

This paper aims to identify the factors affecting the redemption of reward points, a form of customer loyalty program used by many Chinese credit card issuers. In addition it also assesses Chinese credit card users' level of awareness about the reward‐point programs.

A total of 401 telephone surveys were conducted in five major cities in China in 2007. Regression analysis was also conducted in the exploratory study.

Results show both low customer awareness about point‐based reward programs and, not surprisingly, low redemption rates. More specifically, lack of awareness about the reward points programs and the redemption procedure was shown. The important conditions positively affecting redemption of reward points were found to include awareness of the reward point program, a positive attitude about the incentives, and average frequency of credit card usage. Also, redemption rates were higher for cards that had been issued more recently.

The paper suggests that credit card marketers could communicate with their customers more effectively in order to spread and reinforce awareness about point‐based reward programs and encourage them to experience their benefits.

The study provides an original insight into an important element of consumer behavior with credit card reward programs in the banking industry serving a lower‐middle‐income segment in a developing region such as China. Guidance is also offered for marketing managers responsible for promoting credit card usage and reward programs.