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The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of politically connected directors (PCDs), media coverage and their interaction on firm performance in an emerging market economy (UAE).

This study relies on the agency theory and the resource dependency theory and uses a panel data set of a sample of non-financial firms listed in the UAE stock market from 2009 to 2016. Data were analyzed using fixed-effects regression. Instrumental variable regression was used to address potential endogeneity.

PCDs and media are positively associated with firm performance (ROE and Tobin’s q). Media moderates the PCDs–performance relationship, as the interaction between PCDs and media coverage is negatively associated with firm performance. Under growing media attention, reputational concerns prevent PCDs from using their connections to gain particular advantages to their firms to avoid damaging their image.

Regulators need to acknowledge and define the roles of PCDs and media in business governance.

To the best of authors’ knowledge, this study is the first empirical examination testing the effect of the interplay between PCDs and media on firm performance in an emerging market economy such as UAE.

The study aimed to examine the effect of corporate governance mechanisms on the performance of Egyptian firms listed in the Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX) between 2014 and 2016.

We relied on agency theory and resource dependence theory to generate testable hypotheses and capture the empirical findings. We regressed various performance measures (Return on Assets; Asset Utilization Ratio, Tobin's Q) regarding governance mechanisms (institutional ownership, managerial ownership, board size, board frequent meetings, the presence of non-executive directors and female directors) while controlling for firm size, leverage, years of listing and market share. The study uses ordinary least square (OLS) and two stages least square (2SLS) regression analysis to address the possible endogenous impact of the firms' ownership structure.

Board gender diversity, the managerial ownership and frequent board meetings positively influence the Egyptian firms' efficiency measured by assets utilization, while the institutional ownership and board size have negative effects. When using Tobin's Q, the managerial ownership shows a negative effect while institutional ownership and board size present positive effects. When using 2SLS regression, findings remained stable whereas non-executive directors showed a significant negative association with assets utilization.

Policy makers are recommended to draft policies related to limiting the number of board members, diluting the government's indirect ownership of firms, empowering women in boardrooms and developing the skills needed for non-executive directors.

To the best of our knowledge, our study is one of very few that address firms' performance after a period of political instability accompanied by a greater role for females in the boardrooms of Egypt.

This study aims to investigate the effect of media coverage, negative media tone and the interaction between negative media tone and independent non-executive directors (INEDs) on strategic information disclosure (SD).

The authors rely on media agenda-setting theory, agency theory and a panel data set of 52 UAE non-financial listed firms from 2009 to 2016. Multivariate regressions examine the effect of media coverage and negative media tone on SD and examine the moderation of INEDs on the effect of negative media tone on SD while controlling for firm size, board size, board meeting frequency, firm profitability and leverage.

The results show that negative media tone has a negative effect on SD, and there is no association between media coverage and SD. The results show that INEDs are negatively associated with SD and have a negative moderating effect on the negative media tone–SD relationship. INEDs follow a conservative approach, encouraging less SD when their firms face negative media tone.

The authors measured media coverage and negative media tone by the number of news articles. In the robustness test, they use media tone score. They measured SD using an index that captures firm strategy dimensions. Though these measures are inherently subjective, they were used to measure variation in media coverage, media tone and SD across listed UAE non-financial firms. Mitigation of subjectivity was achieved through rigorous cross-checking measurements.

Findings assist UAE policymakers and the international business community with insights related to articulation of media to SD and INEDs’ role in moderating the effect of media on SD.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that combines media agenda-setting theory with agency theory and SD in an emerging market economy (the UAE). The study is also among the few studies that illustrate the possible role of INEDs under different media tones in emerging markets.

This paper aims to examine the relationship between the readability of annual reports and corporate performance in Qatari listed firms while controlling for a firm’s competitive position, governance structure and specific features such as size, age and industry type.

This study relies on both agency theory and legitimacy theory to develop testable hypotheses. It uses a sample of 126 firm-year listed companies in the Qatar Stock Exchange to test obfuscation in the annual reports through examining the association between the readability of Narrative Disclosures (NDs) and corporate profitability, financial risk and agency costs for the period from 2014-2016.

The findings show that firms with higher annual report readability are more profitable and have lower agency costs, which is an indication of the existence of “obfuscation.” Qatari firms may use narrative complexity as a disclosure strategy to enhance their image and consequently maintain their social legitimacy.

Although the study findings suffer from limited global generalization, they can be generalized across Gulf Cooperation Council countries. Thus, future cross-country research is encouraged.

The findings encourage Qatari policymakers to instate a policy for “Plain English” writing to make NDs easy to read by international investors.

This study is one of very few studies that examines the readability of annual reports in emerging market economies, i.e. Qatar. The study contributes to the paucity of research that examines English-written annual reports in non-English speaking countries.

The authors investigate the impact of disclosure tones and financial risk on the readability of annual reports in the banking sector. The authors also examine the moderating effect of banks' financial risk on the tone–readability relationship.

This study relies on the agency theory and the social psychology theory to formulate its testable hypotheses and explain the empirical findings. It uses a sample of 390 bank-year observations from banks listed in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Stock Exchanges during the period 2014–2019. It also employs random effect regressions to analyze the data and to examine the reverse causality/endogeneity in order to obtain robust findings.

This study’s results demonstrate that easy (difficult) to read annual reports is significantly associated with positive (negative) tone. Bank managers characterized as “too positive/optimistic” and banks with higher financial risks publish less readable annual reports. The results also show that the interaction between negative tone and a bank's financial risk is inversely associated with reading difficulty, indicating that managers prepare easy text to clarify causes of their banks’ high risks, yet they communicate this easy text with a negative tone that reflects their feelings/emotions towards the financial risks of their banks.

This study’s findings call for the use of a plain English text that bears a neutral tone and urge financial analysts to go beyond the financial aspects of annual reports. They also stimulate policymakers to draft policies, which ensure the presence of audit committee members who possess a broad expertise to uncover the linguistic issues embedded in the annual reports.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study dedicated to exploring the tone–readability association in the GCC's banking sector.

The study aims to explore the processes of implementing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system in a public service organization operating in an emerging market economy, namely, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The study draws on Laughlin’s (1991) model of organizational change to highlight how the introduction of an ERP system, particularly its accounting modules, disrupted the adopting organization’s modes of thinking and its members’ practices. It uses a case study methodology. Data collection methods included semistructured interviews, documentary evidence and personal observation.

The case study findings show that despite implementation and customization problems, the organization’s employees were forced to use the ERP system. The findings also highlight how the ERP system was acted upon to mobilize the organization’s members toward a new era of information technology. However, the misfit between pre- and post-ERP system accounting practices led to some organizational members to form absorbing groups that questioned accounting-based ERP system organizational changes. The top management’s persistent desire to adopt the ERP system through forcing the organization’s employees to use the system’s modules led the organization to undergo what Laughlin (1991) calls “colonization” organizational change.

The use of a case study methodology inherently limits the generalizability of the study’s findings. The case study was carried out over a relatively short timeframe, namely, ten months. Therefore, the use of a longitudinal case study to examine accounting-based ERP organizational change is recommended.

The study provides insights that can assist top management in formulating organizational change strategies. It also provides insights about emerging economies’ regulatory particularities that influence ERP system implementation.

The study is one of the first studies that utilizes Laughlin’s (1991) model of organizational change to examine accounting-based ERP organizational change in an emerging market economy.

The purpose of this paper is to explore political behaviours associated with the implementation of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system in a public service organisation from an emerging market country, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The authors’ theoretical framework is based on the notions of trust, agent reflexivity, ontological security, routines, control and power proposed by Giddens (1984, 1990). The authors explore how the political behaviour of organisation members emanates from the introduction of an ERP system (particularly its accounting modules), and how the interaction between individual power, trust and control shaped its implementation process. The case study methodology relied on diverse data collection methods including semi-structured interviews, documentary evidence and personal observation.

The authors show that the accounting-based ERP system created an episode of discomfort in the organisation, which facilitated reflexivity and critical reflection by organisation members and led to a re-assessment of ways of thinking pre- and post-dating the implementation of the ERP system. The findings illustrate the entangled relationship between the new accounting-based ERP system and the feelings of trust emerging during organisational change.

Although case studies are intrinsically limited in terms of generalisability, the authors’ investigation provides practical insights into the management of the needs of trust, ontological security and sources of power experienced by organisation members, since the fulfilment of such needs is the underlying pillar which the success of ERP systems rests upon.

This study is one of the first to apply Giddens’ (1984, 1990) conceptualisation to examine organisation change caused by the implementation of an accounting-based ERP system in an emerging market economy.

This study aims to investigate the association between organisational culture (OC) and the extent to which risk governance (RG) practices are implemented in Qatar.

It relies on the institutional theory and OC perspectives to generate testable hypotheses and explain the empirical findings, using data from 85 Qatari firms collected based on questionnaires. It also applies ordinary least squares regression to examine the associations between five OCs (innovation, outcome orientation, attention to detail, team orientation and tight versus loose control) and the level of implementing RG practices, whilst controlling for the presence of internal audit (IA), firm size, listing status, type (private/government) and sector (financial/non-financial).

An OC of “tight control”, the presence of an IA and being a private firm are significantly associated with implementing RG practices. An OC of teamwork is negatively associated with RG practices.

Policymakers and corporate managers are encouraged to set guidelines governing the formation of cohesive cooperative teams within organisations. They must develop strategies that promote the “risk culture” as a major component of OC. Policymakers should also monitor the culture and institutional forces behind the successful implementation of RG that involves the collaboration of employees at different organisational levels.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is novel because it empirically examines the OC–RG relationship in an emerging market economy (Qatar).

This paper aims to conduct an in-depth study of any changes that small medium enterprises (SMEs) environmental performance face, in the retailing and manufacturing sector, as well as to identify their main drivers. Furthermore, it seeks to investigate SMEs’ perspectives regarding the environmental management systems and more specifically International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) 14001 on the one side, whether it is a positive relationship between the implementation of “ISO 14001” by SMEs and their profitability of business on the other.

This study is a qualitative research, which combines secondary data enriched with daily articles and primary data using in-depth interviews with experts from the SME sectors, which attempts to build a sufficient “theory” by answering the research questions.

The business world has started to get widely involved with the environmental issues and even if this, in some cases, happened only for marketing purposes, it is difficult now to be changed. The SMEs have started to realise their responsibilities and act accordingly, but there is a long way to cover until their actions will be actually beneficial for the environment. However, the improvement or stability of SMEs’ environmental performance, meaning the implementation of more environmental activities, depends on the impact that those changes will have in every SME, due to the unique idiosyncrasy that each of it consists.

This paper reveals proper method for documenting monetary rewards to entrepreneurship through maintaining environmental issues accurately using information about profitability of SME’s. After maintaining environmental factors, the premia illustrates about the entrepreneurs concentrating not only profitability but also environmental concern.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of corporate governance mechanisms on the financial performance of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) listed firms.

Relying on a sample of 95 UAE listed firms affiliated to financial and non‐financial sectors, the paper performs a cross‐section regression analysis to test whether there is a significant relationship between governance mechanisms (voluntary disclosure, CEO duality, board size, board committee and audit type) and UAE firms' performance while controlling for firm size, industry type, firm listing years and leverage. The paper relies on data published on year 2008 and utilizes the accounting‐based measures of Return on Assets (ROA), Return on Equity (ROE) as well as the market measure (Tobin's Q) in order to measure the UAE firms' financial performance.

The empirical results show that voluntary disclosure, CEO duality and board size are significantly influencing the UAE accounting‐based performance measure, while none of the governance variables significantly affects firms' market performance measure. The results also reveal that firm size is the only control variable that significantly influences firms' performance. This paper provides evidence showing that the accounting‐based performance measures are more objective in the years where unstable economic conditions exist.

The paper's findings indicate that the underlying principles of corporate governance are applicable in emerging markets. The findings are important to regulators, investors, managers, and researchers aiming at developing new policies that establish better regulatory infrastructure that increases investors' confidence and attracting foreign investment.

The paper is one of very few studies that examine the relationship between corporate governance and firms' financial performance under economic turbulent in an emerging market economy, the UAE.