Search results

This article analyzes the moderating role of investment opportunities, business risk and agency costs in shaping the nexus between excess cash and corporate performance.

This research uses dynamic regression models (two-step system generalized method of moments) to analyze the data related to 200 Turkish companies listed on Borsa Istanbul (BIST) for the years between 2009 and 2020.

The findings indicate that when excess cash increases, the financial performance deteriorates only for firms with lower investments compared to firms with more investments. In addition, investment contributes to better financial performance for firms that hold cash surplus, whereas the influence of investment is insignificant for firms that have insufficient cash. Agency costs of equity exacerbate the adverse impact of excess cash on financial performance while agency costs of debt mitigate this effect. Excess cash reduces the financial performance of highly leveraged firms. However, this impact becomes insignificant when debt ratio decreases. The findings also show that investment has more significant role than business risk in building the precautionary motive to hold cash.

The findings of this article are limited to the Turkish market. Future research is still needed in other emerging markets to compare the results and reveal more about the effect of excess cash on firm performance, and how other factors can change this effect.

The findings verify the increased significance of excess cash in the presence of investment opportunities and difficulties in accessing external funds. Nevertheless, the role of the equity related agency problem in reducing the benefits of cash surplus confirms the necessity of policies that support corporate governance, especially in emerging markets.

This article, according to the knowledge of author, is the first to examine the role of agency costs associated with debt and equity, and the compound effect of investment opportunities and business risk on the nexus between excess internal funds and corporate financial performance in emerging markets.

The increasing complexity of civil engineering projects necessitates focusing on new competencies of project participants. Based on the research on team performance and design processes that are more closely linked to the relevance of the project context, it is hypothesised that empathic abilities could play an important role in the performance of civil engineering projects. Therefore, this study aims to investigate whether performance can be improved by focusing on empathic abilities during the integrated design phase.

Semi-structured in-depth interviews with experts were conducted to explore the relevance of empathic abilities and their interaction with performance in a real-life infrastructure project. The project team’s empathy level was measured by means of a survey using Davis’ Interpersonal Reactivity Index method. Finally, differences between expected and measured levels of empathy were analysed.

The results provide insights into how empathic abilities interact with performance. The measurement indicates that, on average, professionals in the civil engineering industry score relatively low on empathy. In addition, differences were identified between the expected distribution and the measured empathy levels of the team, implying a potential for improvement, in particular by increasing the empathic abilities of the project management and increasing gender diversity.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to investigate a relationship between empathy and the performance of civil engineering projects. The results provide initial insights into the empathic ability of civil engineering project teams and the potential of empathy to improve performance. Furthermore, from an empathy perspective, this study advocates increasing the gender diversity of project teams to improve performance.

The Recast Energy Efficiency Directive 2023 has defined the concept of “split incentive,” also known as “tenant-owner dilemma.” This dilemma refers to the situation where neither landlords nor tenants have incentives to invest in energy efficiency upgrades. Although the Energy Efficiency Directive calls Member States to overcome legal barriers to remove split incentives and to encourage retrofits, the list of possible measures is too vague. This paper aims to discuss tenancy law measures designed to increase the energy efficiency of residential housing and to detect which Member States have already addressed this phenomenon.

This paper analyses, from a civil legal perspective, the possible private law barriers arising from the tenant-owner dilemma when performing energy efficiency works in selected countries and proposes legal reforms in tenancy law and related policies to overcome them. To do so, this paper follows a legal-dogmatic and comparative law methodology.

This paper concludes that some tenancy law provisions, such as the possibility to increase the rent after energy efficiency renovations and long-term leases, may challenge the tenant-owner dilemma in private rented markets, thus promoting renovations and retrofitting for energy efficiency purposes. It also proposes other policies intended to increase parties’ willingness to undertake works.

More research on the economic and legal efficiency to regulate some of the civil law measures to challenge the tenant-owner dilemma should be necessary.

The civil law measures included in this paper may help national policymakers meet the energy efficiency targets, according to what is established in the Recast Energy Efficiency Directive 2023.

Based on the economic theory of the tenant-owner dilemma, this paper investigates the elements of tenancy law that may contribute to less energy-efficient homes, proposing policies for those countries interested in addressing the energy-efficiency challenge from a private law point of view.

The purpose of this study is to understand how consumers' green trust and green brand equity (GBE) vary by perceived brand greenness and age in the US market from the lens of brand knowledge (brand awareness and brand image).

Three multiple-group comparisons of structural equation modeling were used to analyze the data collected from a questionnaire. An experimental design was applied (high vs. low perceived brand greenness). A total of 440 usable responses were collected from an online consumer panel. With a higher percentage of participants older than 60 years, two groups were used, younger (under 55) and older (over 55), within each brand condition to conduct age comparisons.

Consumers' previous brand experience is important. The most promising indicators are brand image and green trust for GBE. A difference was observed between the group comparisons. For the less perceived green brand, existing brand image played a more important role in the process, and there is a need to enhance its green trust. For the higher perceived green brand, more factors should be included to explain their GBE, especially for consumers under 55.

This study identified two moderators, perceived brand greenness and age, in the formation of GBE, which has not been widely explored in the literature. The findings provide significant insights for generational cohorts, focusing for the first time on the joint catalyst effect of greenness and age regarding the influence of GBE on consumers' commitment to green brands. Additionally, the fact that a higher percentage of participants are Baby Boomers enables this study to add to the existing body of literature and bring unique perspectives to understand their and their younger counterparts' attitude toward green consumption.

Built asset management processes require a long transition period to collect, edit and update asset conditions information from existing data sets. This paper aims to explore and explain whether and how digital technologies, including asset information model (AIM), Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain, can enhance asset conditions assessment and lead to better asset management.

Mixed methods are applied to achieve the research objective with a focus in universities. The questionnaire aims to test whether the integration of AIM, IoT and blockchain can enhance asset condition assessment (ACA). Descriptive statistical analysis was applied to the quantitative data. The mean, median, mode, standard deviation, variance, skewness and range of the data group were calculated. Semi-structured interviews were designed to answer how the integration of AIM, IoT and blockchain can enhance the ACA. Quantitative data was analysed to define and explain the essential factors for each sub-hypothesis. Meanwhile, to strengthen the evaluation of the research hypothesis, the researcher also obtained secondary data from the literature review.

The research shows that the integration of AIM, IoT and blockchain strongly influences asset conditions assessment. The integration of AIM, IoT and blockchain can improve the asset monitoring and diagnostics through its life cycle and in different aspects, including financial, physical, functional and sustainability. Moreover, the integration of AIM, IoT and blockchain can enhance cross-functional collaboration to avoid misunderstandings, various barriers and enhance trust, communication and collaboration between the team members. Finally, costs and risk could be reduced, and performance could be increased during the ACA.

The contribution of this study indicated that the integration of AIM, IoT and blockchain application in asset assessment could increase the efficiency, accuracy, stability and flexibility of asset assessment to ensure the reliability of assets and lead to a high-efficiency working environment. More importantly, a key performance indicator for ACA based on the asset information, technology and people experience could be developed gradually.

This study can break the gap between transdisciplinary knowledge to improve the integration of people, technology (AIM, IoT and blockchain) and process value-based ACA in built asset management within universities.

Drawing on the whole-life perspective of career development and the conservation of resources theory, the authors consider whether self-initiated expatriates' (SIEs’) cultural intelligence (CQ) is a general, cross-domain resource that helps SIEs gain resources in the work and nonwork domains. The authors contend that CQ will be associated with greater levels of organizational and community embeddedness, which in turn will facilitate their career satisfaction. The authors also propose the role of perceived host country community diversity climate as an environmental condition that, when low, strengthens the relationships between CQ and organizational and community embeddedness.

The authors examine the study hypotheses based on two distinct samples of SIEs (Sample 1: 169 Asian SIE professionals; Study 2: 147 SIE academics).

SIEs' CQ positively relates to their organizational and community embeddedness, which in turn is associated with greater levels of career satisfaction. The authors also find that SIEs with high CQ are more likely to experience community embeddedness and career satisfaction when they perceive that the host country community diversity climate is low.

First, this study goes beyond existing literature that rarely examines nonwork inputs to SIE career success. Second, extending previous CQ research with a strong organizational focus, the authors investigated how CQ influences SIEs' work and nonwork embeddedness. Third, the authors found that the absence of a peripheral ecological condition, perceived host country community diversity climate, may strengthen the direct relationship between CQ and embeddedness and the indirect relationship between CQ and career satisfaction.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of knowledge management (KM) drivers on perceived KM results in a public higher education institution. A structured theoretical model based on leadership, people, processes, knowledge processes, technology, learning and KM results was developed and tested.

A survey was conducted with the employees of a public higher education institution where an administrative reform was initiated. A valid sample of 257 respondents was obtained. The data were obtained from the application of a structured questionnaire based on the KM drivers and their results. A five-point Likert-type scale was used to measure respondents' answers. The main data analysis technique was structural equation modeling.

The results indicate knowledge processes, leadership and people factors have a positive and significant impact on KM results. On the other hand, organizational processes, technology and learning factors were not significant. However, the service length of servants in the institution influences the perception of knowledge drivers.

Public institutions should be attentive to people with more time of service because they may have difficulties with technological advances, reorganization of processes and adaptation to new ways of sharing knowledge.

This study advances on the analysis of KM results in the public sector and tests the moderation effect of time of service.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant mortality and morbidity worldwide. However, the role of dietary patterns as a potential risk factor for COVID-19 has not been well established, especially in studies with large samples. Therefore, this study aims to identify and evaluate the association between major dietary patterns and COVID-19 among adults from Iran.

In this cross-sectional study, the authors included 9,189 participants aged 20–70 who participated in the Yazd Health Study (YaHS) and Taghzieh Mardom-e-Yazd study (TAMIZ). They used factor analysis to extract dietary patterns based on a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Then, they assessed the relationship between these dietary patterns and the odds of COVID-19.

This study identified two major dietary patterns: “high protein and high fiber” and “transitional”. Participants in the highest tertile of the “high protein and high fiber” dietary pattern, which included vegetables, fruits, dairy and various kinds of meats such as red meat, fish and poultry, had a lower odds of COVID-19 compared with those in the lowest tertile. However, the “transitional” dietary pattern did not affect the risk of COVID-19.

In conclusion, a “high protein, high fiber” diet may lower the odds of COVID-19. This study suggests that dietary patterns may influence the severity and spread of future similar pandemics.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of firm-specific investor sentiment on Brazilian companies’ accrual-based earnings management between 2010 and 2018. The paper aims to bring deeper insight into the relationship between the investor expectations and managers’ decision-making in an emerging market.

The authors use the quantitative approach and apply a multiple linear regression model to test the relationship among the abnormal accruals, the firm-specific investor sentiment index and the control variables. The final sample includes data from 175 companies, between 2010 and 2018.

These results reveal a negative association between firm-specific investor sentiment and accrual-based earnings management, which could mean that the risk propensity of managers to manipulate earnings increases when they face known losses in the capital market.

The research findings provide a valuable understanding of how emerging capital market expectations can influence managerial decisions, such as accrual-based earnings management. The geographical area of study was limited to only Brazil.

Previous studies on developed markets show that market-wide investor sentiment positively influences accrual-based earnings management. However, the present study shows that the firm-specific investor sentiment index has a significant and negative relationship with Brazilian companies’ earnings manipulation, whereas market sentiment indicates contradictory relationship in previous studies in the country.

El propósito de este estudio es investigar la influencia del sentimiento de los inversionistas a nivel de empresa en la manipulación contable de las empresas brasileñas entre 2010 y 2018. El documento pretende aportar una visión más profunda sobre la relación entre las expectativas de los inversores y la toma de decisiones de los gestores en un mercado emergente.

usamos el enfoque cuantitativo y aplicamos un modelo de regresión lineal múltiple para probar la relación entre las acumulaciones anormales, el índice de sentimiento de los inversores a nivel de empresa y las variables de control. La muestra final incluye datos de 175 empresas, entre 2010 y 2018.

Los resultados revelan una asociación negativa entre el sentimiento de los inversores a nivel de empresa y la manipulación contable basada em acumulaciones, lo que podría significar que la propensión al riesgo de los administradores a manipular las ganancias aumenta cuando enfrentan pérdidas conocidas en el mercado de capitales.

los resultados de la investigación proporcionan una valiosa comprensión de cómo las expectativas de los mercados de capitales emergentes pueden influir en las decisiones de gestión, como la manipulación contable basada en acumulaciones. El área geográfica de estudio se limitó únicamente a Brasil y, en consecuencia, los hallazgos y conclusiones del estudio tuvieron sus límites.

estudios anteriores sobre mercados desarrollados muestran que el sentimiento de los inversores a nivel de mercado influye positivamente en la manipulación contable. Sin embargo, el presente estudio muestra que el índice de sentimiento de los inversores a nivel de empresa tiene una relación significativa y negativa con la manipulación de las ganancias de las empresas brasileñas, mientras que el sentimiento del mercado indica una relación contradictoria en estudios anteriores en el país.

Integrating the theory of consumption value into the stimulus-organism-response framework, this study aims to analyse the influence of external and internal factors on the customers’ perceptions of utilitarian, hedonic, social and epistemic values as drivers of the overall perceived value and customers’ continuance use of mobile banking (m-banking).

An online survey was conducted with 252 actual m-banking users, and the partial least squares structural equations modelling was applied to analyse the data.

The results reveal that ubiquity and gamification positively influence the perceived usefulness and entertainment, that is the utilitarian and hedonic perceived values. Furthermore, users’ self-congruence and innovativeness affect subjective norms and novelty-seeking, representing social and epistemic values. Except for the hedonic value, each value element impacts the overall perceived value, which in turn incites clients’ intention to continue using m-banking services.

By exploring the simultaneous effect of service-related and personal factors (stimuli) on different elements of perceived value (organism), this study contributes to the existing knowledge of consumption reactions (response) in the context of m-banking. The research of the Macedonian m-banking offers a closer insight into Western Balkan mobile commerce.

Integrando la Teoría del Valor de Consumo (TCV) en el marco Estímulo-Organismo-Respuesta (S-O-R), este estudio pretende analizar la influencia de factores externos e internos en las percepciones de valor utilitario, hedónico, social y epistémico de los clientes, como impulsores del valor percibido global y del uso continuado del m-banking por parte de los clientes.

Se realizó una encuesta en línea a 252 usuarios reales de banca móvil y se aplicó el modelo de ecuaciones estructurales por mínimos cuadrados parciales (PLS-SEM) para analizar los datos.

Los resultados revelan que la ubicuidad y la gamificación influyen positivamente en la utilidad y el entretenimiento percibidos, es decir, en los valores utilitarios y hedónicos percibidos. Además, la autocongruencia y la capacidad de innovación de los usuarios afectan a las normas subjetivas y a la búsqueda de novedades, que representan el valor social y epistémico. A excepción del valor hedónico, cada elemento de valor influye en el valor percibido global, que a su vez incita a los clientes a seguir utilizando los servicios de banca móvil.

Al explorar el efecto simultáneo de factores personales y relacionados con el servicio (estímulos) sobre diferentes elementos del valor percibido (organismo), contribuimos al conocimiento existente sobre las reacciones de consumo (respuesta) en el contexto del m-banking. La investigación del m-banking macedonio ofrece una visión más cercana del comercio móvil de los Balcanes Occidentales.

本研究将消费价值理论（TCV）纳入刺激-组织-反应（S-O-R）框架, 旨在分析外部和内部因素对客户感知功利价值、享乐价值、社会价值和认识价值的影响, 这些因素是客户整体感知价值和持续使用移动银行的驱动因素。

对 252 名实际移动银行用户进行了在线调查, 并采用偏最小二乘法结构方程模型（PLS-SEM）分析数据。

结果表明, 普遍性和游戏化对用户的有用性和娱乐性感知, 即功利性和享乐性感知价值有积极影响。此外, 用户的自我一致性和创新性也会影响主观规范和新奇寻求, 这代表了社会价值和认识价值。除享乐价值外, 每个价值要素都会影响整体感知价值, 进而激发客户继续使用移动银行服务的意愿。

通过探索服务相关因素和个人因素（刺激）对感知价值不同要素（有机体）的同时影响, 我们为现有的有关移动银行背景下消费反应（响应）的知识做出了贡献。通过对马其顿移动银行的研究, 我们可以更深入地了解西巴尔干移动商务。