Search results

This paper aims to examine whether and how gender diversity and CEO gender can influence firm value in the emerging market of Pakistan. The study further tests whether these relations vary across state-owned enterprises (SOE) and non-state-owned enterprises (NSOE).

This study considers Pakistani listed firms over the period 2010-2017. The firms have been divided into SOE and NSOE for additional analysis. Tobin’s Q is used to measure firm’s value.

The authors document that female directors (FDirectors) on corporate boards is positively associated with firm value. The findings also illustrate that female CEOs (FCEOs) enhances a firm value. Additional analyses show that the influence of FDirectors and FCEOs on firm value is stronger in NSOE than in SOE.

The results suggest that gender diversity and CEO gender play a significant role in corporate decisions. The findings imply that FDirectors discipline the management, reduce agency conflicts and thereby improve corporate governance, resulting in higher firm value.

This study has two important contributions. First, while prior studies mostly based their arguments on using gender diversity of corporate boards, this study shows that a firm performance can be significantly improved if a female serves as a CEO. Second, this study also tests the stated relations for SOE and NSOE and show that gender diversity plays a significant role in NSOE than in SOE.

Although recent literature has examined diverse measures adopted by SMEs to navigate the COVID-19 turbulence, there is a shortage of evidence on how crisis-time strategy creation behaviour and digitalization activities increase (1) sales and (2) cash flow. Thus, predicated on a novel strategy creation perspective, this inquiry aims to investigate the crisis behaviour, sales and cash flow performance of 528 SMEs in Morocco.

Novel links between (1) aggregate wage cuts, (2) variable operating hours, (3) deferred payment to suppliers, (4) deferred payment to tax authorities and (5) sales performance are developed and tested. A further link between sales performance and cash flow is also examined and the analysis is conducted using a non-linear structural equation modelling technique.

While there is a significant association between strategy creation behaviours and sales performance, only variable operating hours have a positive effect. Also, sales performance increases cash flow and this relationship is substantially strengthened by e-commerce digitalization and innovation.

Theoretically, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first inquiries to espouse the strategy creation view to explain SMEs' crisis-time behaviour and digitalization. For practical purposes, to supplement Moroccan SMEs' propensity to seek tax deferrals, it is argued that debt and equity support measures are also needed to boost sales performance and cash flow.

This study aims to examine the influence of corporate governance variables on firm performance and also to find out whether the corporate governance mechanism is capable of mitigating the vertical agency crisis. Here the researcher uses corporate governance mechanisms such as board meeting frequency, board independence, percentage of non-executive directors, percentage of woman directors on board and the board size to measure the firm performance and, at the same time, tries to mitigate the agency crisis, which is measured through return on asset and asset turnover ratio.

The present study considers period from 2009 to 2020 with data corresponding to a panel of 271 non-financial firms listed in 500 NSE index, India. The study introduces a panel regression model to analyze the data collected from the sample firms.

The study detects a positive as well as a statistically significant relationship between board size and vertical agency cost. The study also observes a negative relationship between board independence and agency cost. Further, the study finds a positive relationship between corporate governance variables and firm performance, though it is non-significant.

As the study progresses, the study detects a negative relationship between non-executive directors and agency costs. This study tries to give policy prescription to the corporate policymaker regarding various measures to be taken by the firm for the improvement of firm performance and reduction of owner and manager conflict inside the company. The study fills the literature gap by revealing a significant relationship between corporate governance, vertical agency crisis and firm performance.

While pursuing energy management, firms simultaneously strive to boost sales as a path towards economic performance. Also, the literature suggests that family firms exhibit greater environmental commitment than their non-family counterparts. To examine these contentions, this review espouses contingency theory to interrogate the correlations of (1) energy consumption targets, (2) energy efficiency enhancing measures, (3) energy consumption monitoring and (4) the domestic sales performance of small family firms in Turkey's food sector.

Data were sourced from the World Bank Enterprise Survey. A sample of 137 family firms in food production, processing and retail was analysed using non-linear structural equation modelling. Path coefficients were determined to estimate the extent to which energy management practices predict domestic sales.

The path analysis revealed that although energy consumption targets do not directly increase sales performance, they stimulate firms' energy efficiency enhancement measures and energy consumption monitoring to produce this effect by 21%.

The contingency lens espoused leaves room to capture further antecedents in small family food firms' technical, managerial, ownership, operational and architectural configuration that may also interact with or predict the propensity for energy management.

For practitioners, the inherent findings demonstrate that there are firm-specific material benefits arising from adopting energy management practices. And, although small firms such as family food businesses may have low energy intensities, they can improve their sales performance by setting energy targets, installing energy efficiency enhancing measures and embarking on energy consumption monitoring.

Public stakeholders in Turkey such as the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, the General Directorate of Energy Affairs and affiliate institutions can reflect on these findings to develop a coherent national energy management policy for small firms. Such initiatives are especially relevant to Turkey and its ambitions to join the EU which requires member states to set up a national energy efficiency action plan.

This inquiry is one of the first to examine energy management in the food sector at the family firm level through the contingency lens. Theoretically, the results draw attention and shed new light on disparate energy management practices and their discrete yet substantial contribution to sales performance.

The role institutional quality plays in the rising pace of globalization and its associated health effects remain unclear in the literature. This study, therefore, empirically examined the moderating role of institutional quality on the globalization-health outcomes nexus in Nigeria, a country with a relatively weak health system.

The study employed Dynamic Ordinary Least Square (DOLS) to estimate the empirical models. The Fully Modified Ordinary Least Square (FMOLS) and Canonical Cointegration Regression (CCR) techniques were thereafter used to check the consistency and robustness of our results. Annual time-series data spanning from 1984 to 2020 were sourced from the World Development Indicator, KOF Globalization Index, International Countries Risk Guide (ICRG) and Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin databases.

The results revealed that overall globalization and its three dimensional components (economic, political and social globalization) adversely affect life expectancy in their separate models, but increased life expectancy significantly after their interaction with government effectiveness. Also, real GDP, health aids, government recurrent health expenditure are other determinants of life expectancy in Nigeria.

The Nigerian government should put in place appropriate mechanisms directed toward building and sustaining government effectiveness. This will help mitigate the negative effects of globalization and utilize its net positive benefits to improve life expectancy in Nigeria.

The research is the first to comprehensively examine the moderating impact of institutional quality on the nexus between overall globalization as well as its three dimensional components (economic, political and social) on health outcomes in Nigeria.

Amidst the concerns surrounding knowledge sharing, especially in academia, the study attempts to understand its impact on Research output. To deepen our understanding, the study considered the differing impact of age on knowledge sharing and research output through the lens of Continuity Theory and Socioemotional Selectivity Theory.

Data were collected from 385 faculties working in higher education institutions in India. The study uses Hierarchical regression analysis in SPSS 22.0 to test the hypotheses proposed.

A three-way interaction analysis of 385 faculties confirmed our presumption that the effect of knowledge sharing on research output was different for the two-age groups. Surprisingly, the positive effect of knowledge sharing on research output was stronger in older faculties than younger ones. However, technology usage and its effect on research output, declined with age.

Findings gave interesting insights which contradict our earlier notions of increasing age and suggest that instead of blaming increasing age alone for the reduced output, attention must be paid towards other hidden influencing factors.

The study is the first of its kind that investigates the effectiveness of knowledge sharing in academia and the impact of age on the underlying phenomenon. This study makes a novel attempt to deepen our understanding of the impact of age on research output.

By taking the theory of entrepreneurial legacy as the baseline, this study explores the various aspects of succession planning in indigenous family businesses especially the role of female family members in succession and conflicts in family businesses.

The study is qualitative in nature and adopts narrative inquiry to explore the aspects of succession planning. In doing so, the study utilizes an in-depth interviewing technique with nine participants who run their family-owned firms which are mostly in their second or third generation for analysis.

The findings are concurrent with the literature that indicates a lack of strategic succession planning although ordinary or natural succession does occur in some firms. The study also reports a lack of consideration for female members in succession, daughters in particular, for traditional family firms (FFs) in contrast to entrepreneurial FFs.

The study has many implications for family-owned firms in Pakistan as they need to align their family business with the theory of entrepreneurial legacy and its three strategic activities in order to ensure the longevity of their business.

Exploring how succession planning takes place in family indigenous family businesses and what is the role of female family members in succession and conflicts in family businesses are original contributions of this study.

Employee voice has emerged as a strong predictor of positive organizational outcomes. Grounding the theoretical model in resource-based theory; this study conceptualizes how high-performance work system (HPWS) can enhance organizational innovation of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) through voice behaviors. Specifically, the purpose of this paper is to empirically test if employee voice mediates the relationship between HPWS and organizational innovation.

This study used a quantitative strategy and cross-sectional survey method for the collection of data from SMEs operating in Pakistan. A list of SMEs was obtained from the federal government organization responsible for the development of SMEs in Pakistan. A self-administered structured questionnaire was distributed and 239 randomly selected SMEs responded to the survey.

Findings confirmed the conceptualized model and revealed that HPWS was significantly and positively related to employee voice and organizational innovation. Employee voice was found as a significant predictor of organizational innovation and mediating factor in the relationship between HPWS and organizational innovation.

This study is limited in terms of variables included in the conceptual model and relatively small size of the sample that was derived from a single federal organization. More variables and SMEs can be included in future studies to get broader results and, potentially, better findings.

SME managers/owners can design HR function in such a way that employees will be encouraged to raise their voice and participate more in the organization. Scholars should study voice behaviors distinct from citizenship behaviors.

This study is the first of its kind to conceptualize the relationship between HPWS, employee voice, and organizational innovation in SMEs of Pakistan.

The purpose of this study was to examine a moderated mediation model of job dissatisfaction and workplace social support in the relationship between work–life conflict and turnover intentions.

Data were collected in a cross-sectional survey of 220 police investigation officers. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was applied for data analysis.

Empirical findings of study indicate that work–life conflict enhances employee turnover intentions by creating job dissatisfaction. However, workplace social support buffers this effect and reduces turnover intentions by weakening the effect of work–life conflict on job dissatisfaction.

This study contributes to personnel management and organizational psychology literature by explaining how workplace social support can affect the mediating process of job dissatisfaction through which the relationship between work–life conflict and turnover intentions is determined. The limitations are related to external validity, single source data and cross-sectional nature of data.

Organizational leaders and practitioners can take insights from the findings of this study that if workplace social support prevails at a level greater than work–life conflict, it will nullify or suppress the effect of work–life conflict on turnover intentions by reducing job dissatisfaction.

The originality value of this study is that it has addressed the scarcity of testing boundary conditions of the indirect effect of work–life conflict on turnover intentions through job dissatisfaction.

In artificial intelligence, the optical character recognition (OCR) is an active research area based on famous applications such as automation and transformation of printed documents into machine-readable text document. The major purpose of OCR in academia and banks is to achieve a significant performance to save storage space.

A novel technique is proposed for automated OCR based on multi-properties features fusion and selection. The features are fused using serially formulation and output passed to partial least square (PLS) based selection method. The selection is done based on the entropy fitness function. The final features are classified by an ensemble classifier.

The presented method was extensively tested on two datasets such as the authors proposed and Chars74k benchmark and achieved an accuracy of 91.2 and 99.9%. Comparing the results with existing techniques, it is found that the proposed method gives improved performance.

The technique presented in this work will help for license plate recognition and text conversion from a printed document to machine-readable.