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This study aims to provide insights into the possible impact of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) on public governance and perceived levels of corruption in developing countries.

Through a multivariate analysis on panel data applied to 36 countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and sub-Saharan Africa over the period 2010–2020, the authors test the impact of IPSAS adoption on transparency, accountability and perceptions of less corruption. The authors examine the moderating role of transparency and accountability in the strength of the relationship between IPSAS and perceived corruption.

The main results show that IPSAS adoption promotes an increase in transparency and accountability and leads to the perception of less corruption. Additional tests show that transparency and accountability strengthen the effect of IPSAS adoption and experience on perceived corruption.

The first limitation may be the use of the Transparency International CPI to measure the level of perceived corruption. Probably, the CPI does not reflect the actual levels of corruption in countries while the literature argues that these two measures are related. Also, the lack of data on the status and level of adoption of IPSAS by governments may be one limitation of the sample.

The study may help public authorities in their decision to adopt IPSAS. In light of the findings, standard-setting bodies could be encouraged to strengthen the disclosure requirements of IPSAS that make governments more transparent and accountable to limit perceptions of corruption.

This study may also help citizens understand the benefits of such reforms in protecting public assets and how such standards may help improve social welfare.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the few studies that examines the impact of IPSAS on good governance by combining the dimensions of transparency, accountability and perceptions of corruption in DCs. It also provides insights into the moderating role of public governance pillars. Finally, it includes the IPSAS experience of the country, which has been little tested previously.

The aim of this study is to explore employees’ perceptions of the role of human resources (HR) departments in Jordanian organisations and the reasons behind these perceptions.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 employees who work at different organisations in various industrial sectors in Jordan.

Employees perceive HR roles as: providing transactional services (traditional); working as business partners to facilitate other departments’ roles (limited). Perceptions of HR professionals and the role of HR departments were generally negative, due to: societal-cultural norms and stereotypes of HR departments and HR professionals; the role of Wasta (a localised form of favouritism) in affecting HR practices; employees’ personal experiences with HR departments and HR professionals at their workplace; and the non-availability of human resources management (HRM) degrees in Jordan.

Limited research has explored varying perceptions about HR departments and their impacts on business contexts in emerging markets, including Jordan. This research is unique as it identifies the reasons behind common misconceptions of HR roles in Jordanian organisations. It extends beyond existing literature by integrating employees’ perceptions of the role of the HR departments to understand the consequences for HR practices’ operational effectiveness. It also pioneers consideration of societal culture in shaping these perceptions, which helps us build theories for future testing and generalisation purposes in other contexts with cultural commonalities. This study also highlights the current state of HRM development in Jordan, which helps in setting the agenda for future research in the country and the Middle East and North Africa region.

This study aims to investigate the impact of gender diversity in top management teams and boards on environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. The authors propose a corporate social responsibility (CSR) committee as a moderating variable in this relationship, drawing on resource dependence and legitimacy theories. This study is crucial in understanding the dynamics of gender diversity and its impact on ESG performance in the banking sector.

The study examines a sample of Islamic and conventional banks from 10 Middle Eastern and North African countries during 2008–2022. Initial analysis was conducted using fixed effects panel regression, whereas the robustness test used the generalized method of movement dynamic system.

The findings, which are significant for both conventional and Islamic banks, indicate that female directors are crucial in promoting ESG performance in conventional banks. In contrast, female executives do not appear to contribute significantly. However, for Islamic banks, neither board nor executive gender diversity significantly affects ESG performance. Moreover, the find that the positive moderating role of the CSR committee is significant only for the nexus between board gender diversity and conventional banks’ ESG performance and for the connection between executive gender diversity and Islamic banks’ ESG performance.

Despite the widespread belief that gender diversity in top management teams is pivotal in promoting ESG performance, empirical studies supporting these claims are scarce, particularly in the banking sector. The study, therefore, brings a novel perspective to this discourse. These findings have the potential to significantly assist stakeholders in evaluating how gender diversity in top management teams influences banks’ sustainability practices, thereby empowering them to make more informed and impactful investment decisions.

This study aims to explore the auditors’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in Egypt, with a focus on how their demographic characteristics – specifically gender, work experience and audit firm size – affect their ability to identify key audit matters (KAMs).

The study used exploratory factor analysis to develop an index for evaluating auditors’ proficiency in distinguishing KAMs from non-KAMs, followed by multivariate regression analysis to analyze the impact of auditors’ demographics on this ability.

The study’s findings are significant as they highlight the influence of auditors’ gender and work experience on their capability to correctly classify KAMs. However, the size of the audit firm showed no significant effect on the auditors’ decision-making efficacy in identifying KAMs.

While the study illuminates critical aspects of audit judgment during unprecedented times, it acknowledges limitations, including its geographical focus on Egypt and reliance on self-reported data. The implications stress the need for audit firms and regulators to consider auditors’ demographic characteristics when formulating policies to enhance audit quality and reliability during crises.

This research breaks new ground in the auditing literature by shedding light on the distinct role of auditor demographics in shaping audit opinion during crises. It is one of the pioneering studies to quantitatively assess the impact of auditors’ gender, experience and firm size on KAM identification in a global health crisis. It provides a unique perspective on audit practices in emerging economies.

The purpose of the study is to find out the impact of Digital Financial Inclusion (DFI) on economic growth [(Industrial Production Index (INDP)] of Bangladesh.

Using the monthly data over the period 2018 M12 to 2021 M12, this study applied the Auto-regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model to assess the effect of DFI indicators on INDP. The secondary data was collected from the Bangladesh Bank and CEIC Global Economic Data.

The study found that the majority of DFI indicators are positively associated with INDP. From the short-run ARDL, it is seen that one unit positive increase in Point of Sales Transactions (POST) can increase the INDP by 0.055 units. From the long-run ARDL, it is seen that POST and e-commerce transactions (ECOMT) have a significant positive impact, while Automated Teller Machine Transactions (ATMT) have a significant negative effect on INDP. One unit increase in POST and ECOMT increases INDP by 0.13544 and 0.11611 units, respectively.

During the era of the fourth industrial revolution, the findings will be beneficial for policymakers, financial technology service providers, manufacturers, consumers, corporations and investors as they pave the way for a more inclusive approach to financial transactions for economic growth.

The study’s novelty is that it explored the influential DFI indicators and shed light on both short-run and long-run relationships between the indicators and macro-economy from the context of a developing nation.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-04-2023-0306

This paper aims to examine the dynamic relationship between economic growth and sustainable development, integrating the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) in 22 Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member countries across income groups.

Using annual data between 1990 and 2022, the authors apply the cross-correlation coefficient (CCC) approach of Narayan et al. (Economic Modeling, 2016, 53, 388–397) to examine the lead/lag relationship between GDP per capita and sustainable development. This study further validates the findings through a panel Granger causality test and a fixed panel regression model.

This research provides evidence of a U-shaped EKC for only 1 out of 22 (5%) OIC countries. For 13 out of the 22 (59%) OIC countries, increasing income growth is expected to enhance sustainable development in the future. The results show that as income levels rise, there will be a more significant decline in sustainable development for high-income OIC countries in the future than for both middle-income groups, contradicting the EKC hypothesis. The findings from the panel Granger causality and panel regression models also support the CCC results.

This study proposes a reverse version of the EKC hypothesis and contributes to the literature on economic growth and environmental sustainability. With increasing economic growth, the results can assist OIC member governments and policy-makers in designing tailored policies and practical measures for future sustainable development.

This paper aims to examine the connection between digital payments, ownership structure, and bank performance in Jordan, as well as investigate the moderating role of the independent director in the said relationship.

The study uses data from 12 Amman stock exchange-listed commercial banks, covering the period from 2010 to 2023. This paper employs econometric analysis of panel data, including ordinary least squares (OLS) regression as the primary approach, as well as the generalised method of moments, the two-stage least square (2SLS), and the dynamic model to deal with causality and endogeneity issues in the proposed equations. This ensures that the results are valid.

The results indicate that digital payments and ownership structure have a significant positive connection with bank performance. Additionally, the independent director variable appears to play a substantial and positive moderating role in the link between ownership structure (e.g. institutional ownership) and bank performance. These results strengthen and support the claims of agency theory and the information systems success model.

Overall, this research helps stakeholders, bankers, managers, investors, customers, and policymakers, identify the influence of digital payment and ownership structure on bank performance in developing economies such as that of Jordan.

This investigation offers a unique understanding by illuminating how digital payment and ownership structure affect bank performance in a developing country such as Jordan. Additionally, it opens avenues for future research to delve into this literature domain in North African and Middle Eastern nations, with a particular focus on Jordan. This investigation is among the initial explorations in Jordan that aim to elucidate these relationships. On the theoretical level, it adds to the agency theory and IS model. It provides new insights into the dynamics of industry banking in developing nations (i.e. Jordan).

After completion of the case study, the students will be able to analyze the FinTech industry in emerging markets, distinguish the growth strategies for startups in the hyper-growth phase, using the Ansoff matrix, evaluate and select geographical markets for expansion (foreign country selection) and understand the liability of foreignness concept.

In 2015, Islam Shawky, Alain Al-Hajj and Mostafa Menessy founded Paymob in Egypt, a FinTech start-up providing technological and financial solutions to consumers and merchants in the country. The company had grown into one of Egypt’s most prominent digital payment providers by deploying infrastructure and technologies that empower the underserved with access to financial services. In 2021, Paymob had gained a lot of support from venture capital investors that ended with closing the largest in Egypt Series A fund of $18.5m led by Dubai-based venture capital firm Global Ventures. Although Paymob had already reached great success in Egypt, the founders’ vision was to become the regional leader of digital payments, focusing on small and medium-sized enterprises. So, they are considering regional markets similar to Egypt’s, such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a call with a lot of structure but a lot of competition, and Pakistan, a market with much less competition but relatively unstructured. The founders found themselves in early 2022 deciding between these two markets in preparation for the next round of Series B $50m funding.

This case study can be useful for courses in executive education.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

The SARS-Cov2 pandemic has generated considerable debate about the role of vaccines in the fight against epidemics and the sensitivity and acceptability of new vaccines in emergency situations. The aim of this paper is to examine the nature of the relationship between remittances as an additional source of income and the acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine and to provide an overview of the determinants of acceptance or hesitancy of the COVID-19 vaccine. It uses logistic regression and propensity score matching to study the relationship between remittances and COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. Using data from the Arab Barometer survey (2021–2022) for 10 Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries, the results indicate that the number of people vaccinated among remittance recipients is higher than among those who do not receive remittances. The impact of international migration on vaccine acceptance in countries of origin can be seen in the transfer of norms and beliefs from host countries.

The paper uses logistic regression and propensity score matching to study the relationship between remittances and COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. using data from the Arab Barometer survey (2021–2022) for 10 MENA countries.

The results indicate that the number of people vaccinated among remittance recipients is higher than among those who do not receive remittances. The impact of international migration on vaccine acceptance in countries of origin can be seen in the transfer of norms and beliefs from host countries.

Other variables possibly linked to vaccine acceptance can be incorporated into the study.

In countries of origin, international migration should be taken into account in health policies. The convergence of health standards between developed and developing countries can also be achieved through international migration.

The link between migration, through remittances as a proxy for norm transfers, and health, particularly vaccine acceptance in a period of health crisis, has never been addressed in the literature.

This study examines whether common directors are guilty of contagion of corporate frauds from the customer side and, if so, how contagion occurs. Moreover, it explores a way to mitigate it, which is the increased digital orientation of firms.

Secondary data analysis is applied in this paper. We extract supply chain relations from the China Stock Market and Account Research (CSMAR) database as well as corporate fraud data from the same database and the official website of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC). Digital orientations are estimated through text analysis. Poisson regression is conducted to examine the moderating effect of common directors and the moderated moderating effect of the firms’ digital orientations.

By analysing the 2,096 downstream relations from 2000 to 2021 in China, the study reveals that corporate frauds are contagious through supply chains, while only customers’ misconduct can contagion to upstream firms. The presence of common directors strengthens such supply chain contagion. Additionally, the digital orientation can mitigate the positive moderating effect of common directors on supply chain contagion.

This study highlights the importance of understanding supply chain contagion through corporate fraud by (1) emphasising the existence of the contagion effects of corporate frauds; (2) understanding the potential channel in the process of contagion; (3) considering how digital orientation can mitigate this contagion and (4) recognising that the effect of contagion comes only from the downstream, not from the upstream.