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The purpose of this paper is to examine employee perceptions of fairness and work morale as mediators of the relationship between leader reward behavior and employee behavior.

A matrix of meta‐analytic estimates containing the focal variables (leader reward behavior, fairness, morale, and employee behavior) was constructed following a literature review of published studies. This matrix was then analyzed using structural equation modeling to test a series of nested models.

Leader reward behavior is positively related to higher task performance and organizational citizenship behavior, and fewer intentions to turnover. These relationships are mediated by employees’ perceptions of fairness and work morale.

The paper extends the leadership literature by identifying two mechanisms (viz., fairness and morale) through which leader reward behavior relates to employee behavior. Possible limitations are the drawbacks associated with meta‐analysis (e.g. inability to make causal inferences).

Rewarding subordinate performance alone is not sufficient to increase task performance and organizational citizenship behavior and decrease turnover intentions. Instead, managers must ensure that their contingent reward behaviors are seen as fair by employees in order to have favorable effects.

To date, research on possible mediators of the effects of leader reward behavior has been scarce.

The paper offers a survey of major Italian accounting scholars and their work for the period from 1900 to 1950. Apart from the late works of Rossi and Besta, the main focus is on the contributions by Zappa, who undoubtedly dominated the scene. In this period, as well as later, most Italian accountants and “aziendalisti” adopted the so‐called “income system”. Although its premises originated with Fabio Besta, master of the so‐called “patrimonial or proprietorship system”, the Italian School under Zappa gave this system a new theoretical basis that differed fundamentally from that of Besta. Zappa also developed the dynamic aspect of accounting and business economics that still prevails in Italy. The paper also devotes attention to other Italian scholars, less well‐known abroad. In the area of cost accounting it concentrates on the views of De Minico and his disciple Amodeo, but also mentions other contributors. The final Section deals with Italian contributions to accounting history during this period

Credibility concerns regarding integrated reports can harm the intended decrease of information asymmetry between a firm and its investors. Therefore, it is crucial to examine whether voluntary third-party assurance enhances the credibility of integrated reports and, thus, decreases information asymmetry. Furthermore, this study aims to investigate the interaction effect between assurance quality and the disclosed connectivity of the capitals, a distinguishing feature of integrated reports.

Content analysis is performed of the 176 assurance statements included in the 269 integrated reports of Forbes Global 2000 firms disclosed from 2013 to 2015 and the 269 integrated reports themselves. Regression analyzes are applied to examine the associations between assurance, the disclosed connectivity of the capitals and information asymmetry.

The presence of an assurance statement in an integrated report significantly decreases information asymmetry. Surprisingly, assurance quality is not significantly associated with information asymmetry. However, an interaction analysis reveals that combining high assurance quality with high disclosed connectivity of the capitals allows a significant decrease in information asymmetry.

The paper demonstrates that the connectivity of the capitals of integrated reports and assurance quality are connected and together are associated with information asymmetry.

The results imply, both for report preparers and standard setters, that assurance quality is advantageous only when combined with disclosed connectivity of the capitals.

More information on non-financial information measured by the connectivity of the capitals of integrated reporting has an interaction effect together with assurance quality on information asymmetry.

This paper builds on a unique data set derived from the contents of integrated reports and accompanying assurance statements. Furthermore, it extends the integrated reporting literature by investigating the interaction between assurance quality and the disclosed connectivity of the capitals, which had not previously been examined in combination.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the determinants of success of elite athletes by applying the concept of career success to a sporting context. The concept of career success includes extrinsic (i.e. tangible) career accomplishments like medals as well as intrinsic factors referring to subjective judgements about career attainments. Thereby, a holistic perspective is taken which has not been studied extensively before.

Based on previous literature, a theoretical model was derived outlining how human capital, motivation, organisational characteristics and socio-demographics affect both intrinsic and extrinsic career success. To measure the impact of these factors, primary (n=1,249) and secondary data of elite athletes were collected. Regression analyses indicated that all factors included in the theoretical model were associated with extrinsic and intrinsic success.

Institutional support was an important driver for intrinsic career success while financial support affected extrinsic career success. There was no significant influence of extrinsic career success on intrinsic career success.

These findings imply that policy makers should offer enhanced dual career options, such as mentoring programmes, aspects like sport-psychological support and nutrition counselling, and long-term, stable financial support for athletes to maximise career success.

This paper applies the construct of career success to sports. A focus on the athletes’ intrinsic career success is placed as this area has been neglected in past research.

Examines the tenth published year of the ITCRR. Runs the whole gamut of textile innovation, research and testing, some of which investigates hitherto untouched aspects. Subjects discussed include cotton fabric processing, asbestos substitutes, textile adjuncts to cardiovascular surgery, wet textile processes, hand evaluation, nanotechnology, thermoplastic composites, robotic ironing, protective clothing (agricultural and industrial), ecological aspects of fibre properties – to name but a few! There would appear to be no limit to the future potential for textile applications.

This paper explores knowledge sharing (KS) and intellectual capital (IC) impacts on the success rate of equity crowdfunding (EC) campaigns in the Italian market, which represents a new model for financing entrepreneurial initiatives.

The relation between KS, IC and the success rate of EC campaigns is analysed with a panel regression that measures IC through the value added intellectual coefficient. Social network analysis is used to measure KS in the users' network on Twitter for EC campaigning. Specifically, the authors consider the information users exchange on social networks as a proxy of KS and identify the hubs influencing information dissemination, the size and strength of networks for each EC campaign. Finally, the success rate of EC campaigns is a ratio of the number of positive campaigns to the total number of campaigns for each platform.

The success rate of EC campaigns is positively related to IC and significantly and positively related to the number of connections the EC platforms have.

The positive relationship between the hub role of social network platforms and the success of EC campaigns provides an important signal to crowdfunding operators. As more potential investors focus on an EC campaign, a bandwagon effect could involve uninformed investors. This result is crucial in order to better understand how social media activity affects crowdfunding success.

Although the literature has examined the impact of KS on general firm performance and the mediating role of intellectual capital, no prior studies have examined the impacts of KS and IC on the success rate of EC campaigns in a specific market.

The purpose of this study is to explore the central users (hubs) in the dissemination of equity crowdfunding (EC) news on social media, with particular regard to Twitter. Specifically, the study explores some aspects related to the diffusion of news through social networks concerning EC.

Through a social network analysis (SNA) technique the authors define an understanding of the users' network that is created on Twitter when it comes to crowdfunding. Using Twitter data, the authors identify the central actors on the social network that produce and/or disseminate information about crowdfunding tools.

The results indicate that a large number of users tweeted about EC in relation to the introduction of the most important Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa (Consob) Regulation n. 20264 of 17/01/2018 on an equity model at the beginning of 2018; the growth in the use of this instrument in the first quarter of 2019 and the publication of Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa (Consob) Regulation n. 21110 of 10/10/2019. Moreover, the authors find that in the case of tweets concerning EC, the operators of the sector, with particular regard to crowdfunding platforms, are central to the network, followed by traditional and specialised media.

The results shed new light on a still unexplored research field concerning the diffusion of news about EC from a platform's perspective. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first explorative study that jointly investigates an EC model and social media in the Italian market, considering the impacts of two different and important regulations. In particular, this study contributes to the literature on EC by clarifying some new aspects related to the diffusion of news through Twitter.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the phenomenon of mergers and acquisition (M & A) in high-tech sectors with a special focus on biotechnological firms. Recent years have witnessed an impressive wave of M & As, but these operations, despite their popularity, have produced mixed results for their stakeholders and presented no systemic vision.

The paper is descriptive and the result of a secondary data-based research. Methodologically founded on the works of Rossi et al. (2011, 2013) and following an extensive literature review on M & A processes in high-tech sectors, the paper analyzes the dynamics, trends and attributes biotechnological M & As.

The biotechnology sector, over the economically turbulent past few years, faced a distinct difficulty in attracting significant investor capital. Traditional pharmaceutical companies with sufficient cash from their existing sales but facing a dried-out product and patent pipeline have acquired innovative, but cash-poor biotech firms. The findings indicate that the trends in the biotech industry make consolidation in this sector inevitable. For acquiring firms, therefore, it will be necessary to realize a rigorous process of strategic target identification, due diligence and unified post-merger integration as the only way to create a sustainable shareholder value and high firm performance.

The limitations of the paper are a consequence of its very nature, i.e. the fact that it is a descriptive, secondary data-based research. Further, empirical research is therefore necessary to test the findings, to refine the contextual parameters involved and to prescribe target-specific action.

The value of the paper stems from its definition of the link between the biotech industry attributes and M & A activities, consequently offering a valuable theoretical basis for empirical development and practical application, as well as a context for prescribed actions and processes.

Examines the ninth published year of the ITCRR. Runs the whole gamut of textile innovation, research and testing, some of which investigates hitherto untouched aspects. Subjects discussed include cotton fabric processing, asbestos substitutes, textile adjuncts to cardiovascular surgery, wet textile processes, hand evaluation, nanotechnology, thermoplastic composites, robotic ironing, protective clothing (agricultural and industrial), ecological aspects of fibre properties – to name but a few! There would appear to be no limit to the future potential for textile applications.

Much prior work involving director incentives and corporate behaviour has been focussing on their absolute dollar value or the intrinsic value and generated mixed findings. Comparison theories, however, suggest that the relative value of an incentive may be the main drive for individual performance. This study attempts to investigate the role of director relative pay in promoting the board’s intervention with unrelated diversification decisions.

The analysis uses data from firms operating in more than one segment during the period from 1999 to 2019. Data were obtained from WRDS databases. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis and the two-stage system generalized method of moments (GMM) were run to test the hypotheses. To test the robustness of the findings, alternative proxies for the key independent variables were used in separate analyses.

The results support the hypothesis that unrelated diversification negatively impact firm performance, while higher director relative pay will help reduce unrelated business diversification. The absolute director pay, however, has no significant impact on corporate strategic choices. The results also highlight the moderating effect of director overcompensation. Director overcompensation will cancel out the impact of relative director pay on unrelated diversification.

This study takes a fresh theoretical perspective by framing the investigation using the dimensional comparison theory to address the single untended comparison framework in the director pay structure – the intra-individual framework. It is the first to investigate the role of director relative pay in corporate strategic choices. The findings support the contention that the relative value of the incentive is an important indicator of the effectiveness of the pay.