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Economic policy uncertainty (EPU) has huge impact and harm on real economy, so the economic logic and other economic effects behind this must be further studied. By constructing the “China Economic Policy Uncertainty Index” to capture the degree of EPU faced by Chinese companies, the authors empirically test whether and how EPU affects the level of executives' perquisite consumption.

This study investigates the relationship between EPU and executive perquisite consumption based on a sample of 3,185 publicly listed firms in China. To examine the relationship between EPU and executives' perquisite consumption, a mixed least squares method was used for regression. To alleviate the problem of missing variables that do not change over time and control the influence of unobservable individual heterogeneity at the firm level, the firm fixed effects model is used for regression.

The study finds that EPU is positively associated with executive perquisite consumption. This positive association is stronger for firms with smaller size, lower management shareholding and higher levels of separation of ownership and control. Effective external governance (i.e., analyst coverage, media coverage, auditor and market competition) can mitigate the relationship between EPU and executive perquisite consumption. Further analysis reveals that EPU increases executive perquisite consumption by holding more cash and decreasing firm risk taking. EPU hurts market value of firms by boosting executive perquisite consumption and tunneling.

In an environment with high EPU, the board of directors should reduce managers' compensation performance sensitivity to ease the agency conflict caused by uncertainty. Firms should improve their governance mechanisms and standard and pay attention to their environmental changes. Policymakers should pay attention to maintaining the continuity and predictability of policies, stabilizing the economic policy expectations of market entities and avoiding frequent changes in policies that can harm economic and firm value. The regulatory authorities should actively guide listed companies to increase active information disclosure during periods of high policy uncertainty.

This study contributes to the research on corporate governance by showing how EPU influences executives' behaviors. The authors advance relative studies by showing that this uncertainty embedded in a firm's external environments influences executive perquisite consumption. This study also contributes to the literature on how internal and external governances influence corporate behavior during uncertainty. These findings extend this line of research by suggesting that effective external governance is an attribute that can alleviate the effect of uncertainty on managers' opportunistic behaviors.

Deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) are the tool of choice for federal prosecutors when adjudicating corporate misconduct. A DPA is a negotiation that permits the allegedly guilty party from undergoing a criminal trial if they avoid committing further wrongdoing for a specified period. This paper aims to examine whether DPAs are a beneficial mechanism for the criminal justice system to use while adjudicating corporate misconduct. By conducting in-depth semi-structured qualitative interviews with 24 practitioners in the legal field and white-collar crime experts, this study identifies the shortcomings and advantages of DPAs and highlights what policy enactments might enhance their application. The study contributes to the existing literature by expanding the narratives used by judicial officials, legal practitioners and white-collar crime scholars on the role of DPAs.

The current study is an in-depth qualitative analysis that explores judicial actors’ and white-collar crime scholars’ opinions on the adoption of DPAs to adjudicate corporate misconduct. The literature on DPAs is currently derived primarily from law and literature reviews published by legal scholars. Clandestine negotiations are not accessible to the public and are frequently kept in sealed files unless a breach of contract occurs, resulting in the case proceeding to trial. Hence, a qualitative analysis is the best approach to evaluate the effectiveness of DPAs. Further, little evidence is available that focuses on the opinions of professionals who have participated in these agreements. The interviews were conducted over Zoom and lasted an average of 43 min, with the longest interview spanning 1 h and 45 min and the shortest interview being 14 minutes. A non-probability sampling method – specifically, snowball sampling – was used to generate a total sample of 24 legal professionals and white-collar crime scholars. Initial participants were found by contacting law offices specializing in white-collar crime litigation and using current networks to attain access to a broader range of participants. Then, 19 participants provided referrals throughout the study. The final sample consisted of nine government officials, eight legal practitioners and seven white-collar crime academics experts. One of the government official interviews was excluded from the final research project due to a lack of expertise in the field of white-collar crime. The interview questions were designed to promote in-depth conversation and insight into personal opinions on the adoption of DPAs. Several inquiries highlighted whether DPAs are an appropriate response to corporate misconduct and whether they reduced recidivism through their intended deterrent effect. Furthermore, several descriptive questions sought to understand which criminal justice actors support the adoption of DPAs in white-collar crime cases and why. Coding of the data was first conducted individually by each author. The researchers then compared thematic findings that reflected consensus.

An immediate theme identifiable in the research is the intrinsic value that DPAs offer in adjudicating corporate wrongdoing. As indicated by a participant, corporate misconduct is not “black or white,” stressing the importance of prosecutors having a middle ground between criminal prosecution and the dismissal of charges. A judicial official indicated that “DPAs are another essential arrow in a prosecutor’s quiver – and something a defense attorney can bargain for” (Respondent 5). Seven government officials and legal practitioners noted that you are unable to send a corporation to jail, and you do not simply want to put them out of business; thus, a DPA is the only tool in which the government can mandate structural change in a company without dismantling the entire entity. Only three academics concurred with the government officials and legal practitioners that DPAs are beneficial and offer prosecutors a vital middle ground. One academic, for example, stated that “DPAs have given U.S Attorney offices that ability to be involved for a considerable amount of time in a company's business, while simultaneously promoting change within the entity” (Respondent 14). Additionally, DPAs ensure that corporations are held criminally liable without triggering an endless cycle of collateral consequences for innocent third parties. One legal practitioner, for example, stated: “Just look at the Enron case; they charged Arthur Andersen with obstruction of justice and dismantled the entire entity they made it where the business was never going to come back. A small subset of individuals, in this case, should have been held responsible but instead, hundreds and if not thousands of people were harmed. With this in mind, DPAs are extremely important, in that it limits collateral consequences because DPAs take a more holistic view that criminal prosecution does not consider” (Respondent 21). Another respondent highlighted that “DPAs are the only tool available that can be employed to change an entire organization structurally” (Respondent 20). Ultimately, the findings suggest that there is a consensus among respondents that DPAs are an appropriate response to corporate misconduct, particularly when the agreement stipulates that a company must hire an external compliance monitor and update their current compliance system. Overall, participants emphasized that these stipulations promote a sense of corporate accountability, provide for the dismissal of guilty employees and mandate structural change. The majority of the respondents (n = 20) insisted that DPAs are advantageous, yet a subset of participants were skeptical of their use in white-collar crime prosecutions. One legal practitioner, for example, noted that “DPAs are political creatures that are awarded as political favors to the largest of corporations that our economy relies upon” (Respondent 17). Another government official confirmed this statement, indicating that “DPAs are a mere slap on the wrist for large corporations – they simply see it as doing business” (Respondent 6). Four academic participants emphasized that DPAs are typically negotiated with multi-level corporations and are not extended to the small businesses that suffer the dire consequences of criminal prosecution. One academic, for instance, stressed that “the question becomes is it fairly applied and being implemented properly. Larger companies are more likely to receive and benefit from a DPA, thus, raising the question of fairness” (Respondent 12). Another academic who was previously a government official stated: “DPAs risk abuse – there have been several instances where prosecutors have forced companies to donate money to favored charities and overstepped their powers. Sometimes DPAs also come with monitors. For example, banks typically have to pay for the auditor, and it becomes extremely intrusive, and it it not clear that they are efficient.”

Several limitations exist in this research. First, it is not a comprehensive study that is representative of the larger population, which limits generalizability. Given the contention of research on DPAs, this qualitative research contributes to the literature, and its findings are likely transferable to multiple settings in which DPAs are used. Second, DPAs are processed and drafted differently across jurisdictions; thus, comparing DPAs across state levels and among departments in the federal government would be equivalent to comparing apples to oranges. This comparison is yet another limitation to the study because criminal justice practitioners operate in both the state and federal jurisdictions. Another challenge in the current study and something that likely will be a problem for future researchers is the difficulty of gaining access to experts in an exclusive field of criminal justice, such as federal prosecutors, Department of Justice officials, federal judges and elite corporate defense attorneys. Ultimately, several obstacles arose during the study, particularly when recruiting participants to gain a large enough sample size to conduct meaningful analysis. This resulted in smaller sample size but rich, in-depth data that achieved saturation among participants.

Several policy implications are identifiable. First, it appears that DPAs are a mainstay of white-collar crime prosecution. No participants advocate for their complete removal from the prosecution process. Participants highlight that DPAs occupy an essential middle-ground between dismissal and criminal charges. Without this mechanism, prosecution would be impeded, and holding corporate criminal actors liable would increasingly become formidable. Although it appears that the system cannot function without DPAs, several respondents emphasize that we must begin to hold individuals accountable alongside corporations. Another policy implication that a minority of participants mentioned within the study involves ensuring that our compliance monitoring system operates appropriately. A majority of participants note that the overarching stipulation that promotes structural change within an organization is adopting a functioning compliance monitoring system, thus, emphasizing the importance of this process operating smoothly and ethically. The selection of an independent compliance monitor may be problematic. For example, a former government compliance monitor notes that not all monitors are experts in the field they are overseeing. A pharmaceutical expert, for example, may be attempting to regulate an automotive organization, which may present unique challenges. An agency of federal professionals dedicated to supervising specific industries such as automotive, pharmaceutical and financial would ensure that organizations are actually implementing the terms of the DPA.

Ultimately, the current research highlights the necessity of empirically studying the benefits and drawbacks of such agreements. Future research on the topic remains onerous due to the scarcity of a centralized database that contains extensive details of DPAs. The present study suggests that the verdict on DPAs is undecided, with more than half of the study's criminal justice professionals advocating for their continued and even increased use. However, about half of the participants, particularly academics, called attention to the agreements’ potential bias. The disagreement among participants is most contentious in the consideration of a DPA centralized database which would immensely aid future research and policy advancements.

This paper aims to fill gap in the literature and explore policy options for resolving the problems of accountability by framing three research questions. The research questions are (i) whether certain elements of Scott’s (2014) institutional pillars attenuate (accentuate) corporate and public accountability; (ii) whether the presence of ruling party-affiliated enterprises (RPAEs) create an increase (decrease) in the degree of corporate (public) accountability; and (iii) whether there is a particular form of ownership change that transforms RPAEs into public investment companies.

Using a qualitative research methodology that involves term frequency and thematic analysis of publicly available textual information, the paper examines Mechkova et al.’s (2019 forms of government accountability. The paper analyzes the gaps between the de jure and de facto accountability using the institutional pillars framework.

The findings of the paper are three. First, there are gaps between de jure and de facto in all three (vertical, horizontal and diagonal) forms of government (public) accountability. Second, the study finds that more than three fourth of the parties that contested the June 2021 election did have regional focus. They did not advocate for accountability. Third, Ethiopia’s RPAEs are unique. They have regional focus and are characterized by severe forms of agency and information asymmetry problems.

The main limitation of the paper is its exploratory nature. Extending this research by using cross-country data could provide a more complete picture of the link between corporate (public) accountability and a country’s institutional pillars.

Academic research documents that instilling modern corporate (public) governance standards in the Sub Sahara Africa (SSA) region has shown mixed results. The analysis made in this paper is likely to inform researchers and policymakers about the type of change that leads to better corporate (and public) accountability outcomes.

The institutional change proposed in the paper is likely to advance the public interest by mitigating agency and information asymmetry problems and enhancing government accountability. The changes make the enterprises investable, save scarce jobs, enhance diversity and put the assets in RPAEs to better use.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper that uses the institutional pillars analytical framework to examine an SSA country's corporate (public) accountability problem. It demonstrates that accountability is a domestic and a (novel) traveling theory. The paper identifies the complexity of resolving the interlock between political institutions and business enterprises. It theorizes that it is impossible to instill modern corporate (public) accountability standards without changing regulatory, normative and cultural cognitive pillars of institutions. The paper contributes to the change management and public interest literature.

This paper aims to examine the internal logical relationship between two intergenerational inheritance ways of passing property rights and residual control rights (RCR) and to construct a conceptual model comprising transfer elements, paths and timing of succession in this process.

Driven by the cases of Haixin, Tianyijiao and Changhe Group, this paper applies research methods of copying and expanding analysis logic, progressive deduction, content analysis and comparative research based on the perspective of HeXie theory to explore the deep interrelation of transfer elements, paths and timing during family business succession.

The findings present that the content of intergenerational inheritance of a family firm is the inheritance of property rights and RCR. First, the inheritance of property rights is a static inheritance of time-point delivery, whereas the inheritance of RCR is a dynamic inheritance process for a period of time. Second, the inheritance of property rights and RCR are not independent; only a “HeXie” succession of both rights can realize a successful inheritance of family firms.

This paper constructs the paths and timing model of intergenerational inheritance of property rights and RCR in family firms. This paper integrates the current literature studies on the family inheritance of property rights and RCR and explains their internal mechanisms. This paper also provides a theoretical foundation and empirical evidence for family business transitions in the business world.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how Supreme audit institutions (SAIs) address the issue of auditing ethical cases and, more specifically, to research whether the organizational structure of an SAI affects the variables of “corruption” and “trust in government.”

The authors categorized SAIs into two groups depending on their organizational structure according to two divergent philosophies: the court (French) and Anglo-Saxon models. These reflect the presidential and parliamentary systems, respectively. Given the lack of a common definition for these concepts, the authors tested their results using several indexes for corruption by examining OECD (The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) Member countries between 2015 and 2019.

The authors’ research showed that SAIs organized according to the Anglo-Saxon philosophy achieved better scores than judicial SAIs for all indexes, and the difference was statistically significant. This result confirms the results of previous studies; however, one single common SAI model worldwide is not necessarily the optimal solution for fighting corruption.

The topic of this paper is a challenging and promising one for scholars and practitioners alike, as it combines a review of SAIs' community practices with academic research by expanding the scant literature in this field.

Business-to-government corruption has destroyed many businesses and debilitated numerous countries. The paradox of plenty, or the curse of resources, is exacerbated in emerging oil and gas economies, where corruption is rampant. Corruption most frequently occurs within the tendering stage of construction projects and the current debate fails to arrest this ubiquitous boundless construct in small island developing states (SIDSs). The purpose of this study is to explain how the unique features of SIDS contributes to an understanding of B2G corruption during construction tendering.

This study elucidates corruption in the tendering process through the lens of collective action and principal–agent theories. Interviews with three experts and a questionnaire survey with 115 practitioners evaluated corruption in Trinidad’s construction industry. Principal component analysis reduced 33 corruption variables to 5 primary causes. In addition, the relative importance of potential solutions for curtailing corruption was assessed.

The derived factors highlight that governance within SID oil and gas economies, inadequate tender procedures and practices, reprehensible business growth strategies, unethical misconduct and the social networking context characterise public infrastructure tendering. The recommendations for minimising corruption in tendering are grounded in behaviour and deterrence theories and infused with technological advances.

Using surveys and interviews circumvents the limitation of the inability to measure corruption because of the confines of respondents’ recall triggers. However, corruption is mediated by cultural norms, which limits the generalisation of the findings.

The study concludes that corruption results from a lack of transparency in the construction supply chain. It leads to an awareness gap between project stakeholders, which is a major risk factor and source of mistrust. The result is a lack of traceable processes and coordination among stakeholders. Consequently, the study fills the gap in responsible socio-economic consumption in SIDSs.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of the rule of law, corporate governance and freedom of expression on the effectiveness of whistleblowing initiatives. This study interrogates the effectiveness of whistleblowing as a tool in combating economic and financial crimes, in political and corporate environments where good governance and the rule of law are firmly established and enforceable and where defamation is decriminalised.

The author conducted a comprehensive review of relevant textbooks, focusing on legal theories and concepts related to the research topic. This study analysed scholarly journal articles to gain insights into the current debates and research gaps. The author discussed seminal court decisions that have influenced the legal landscape pertaining to the research topic and reviewed newspaper publications to understand public opinion and societal implications related to the research topic.

To ensure effective whistleblowing as a tool of gathering information in combating economic and financial crime, good governance must be promoted, supremacy of law must be upheld, freedom of expression must be safeguarded and defamation must be criminalised.

This paper addresses a significant gap in the literature by examining the impact of criminal libel on whistleblowing, an area that has received limited attention in previous studies. The findings of this study have significant implications for policymakers, as they shed light on importance of the rule of law, good governance, freedom of speech and decriminalisation of defamation on effective implementation of an effective whistleblowing laws and policies.

Achieving project success is the goal of every project. Due to various project requirements, some of the key determinants of project success cannot be met. The purpose of this paper is to understand relying factors that can lead to a successful project that includes project management maturity, decision-making, coordination and knowledge management.

A self-administered survey was distributed to 231 project managers in the Malaysian project management community. Analysis using partial least square structural equation modelling was applied in testing the proposed relationship between these latent variables.

Finding shows that all the hypotheses were supported and significant. The most impactful factor is project management maturity, followed by knowledge management.

Implication to the project management industry includes providing autonomy to individuals involved in their expertise and management of efficient cross-functional teams between teams in the project. A systematic knowledge management system through a central repository would contribute to the efficient and flexible distribution of knowledge throughout the project process.

This study is one of the few studies focussing on determinants of project success in Malaysia.

This study aims to analyse how the collective processing of the #MeToo legacy in the form of community discourses and activism conceptualises organisational accountability for sexual misconduct at work and enhances the development of new accountability instruments.

The study draws on social movement theory and the intellectual problematics of accountability, together with the empirical insights from two research engagement projects established and facilitated by the author.

The study reveals multiple dimensions of how post-#MeToo community activism impacted the conceptualisation of organisational accountability for sexual misconduct at work. The movement enhanced discourses prompting a new societal sense of accountability for sexual wrongdoings. This in turn facilitated public demands for accountability that pressured organisations to respond. The accountability crisis created an opportunity for community activists to influence understanding of organisational accountability for sexual misconduct at work and to propose new accountability instruments advancing harassment reporting technology, as well as an enhancing the behavioural consciousness and self-assessment of individuals.

The study addresses a topic of social importance in analysing how community activism arising from a social movement has transformed accountability demands and thus both advanced the conceptualisation of organisational accountability for sexual misconduct at work and established socially desirable practices for it. The study contributes to theory by revealing the emancipatory potential of community activism to influence organisational accountability practices and to propose new instruments at a moment of organisational hesitation and crisis of accountability.

Public food procurement (PFP) plays an important role in establishing agri-food systems. The study explores local food system stakeholders' response to PFP interventions by addressing the question of how PFP transforms agri-food systems and how this new agri-food ecosystem is governed.

This article presents and discusses a unique case study of Jeonbuk, a rural province in South Korea, which successfully transformed its agri-food system into an ecosystem through its sustainability-oriented innovations (SOIs) among born ecopreneur farmers. This case not only offers insights into a novel way to create value chains through legislative, executive and judicial governance but also extends the body of knowledge on agri-food systems by introducing the concept of an agri-food ecosystem.

The findings indicate the importance of the ecosystem governance and knowledge exchange among internal and external ecosystem stakeholders. In particular, PFP institutions play a crucial role in facilitating the operation of public meal centers and cooperation among actors.

Taking an ecosystem lens to agri-food systems may offer agricultural cooperatives a wider perspective and better understanding of the governance structures necessary to successfully execute public interventions. Lastly, the Korean case differs from other developing countries, but its role model qualities could help to implement successful school meal programs elsewhere.

This paper reviewed and applied a conceptual framework aimed at identifying the role of PFP institutions in the value chain governance by studying a case study of a South Korean local school meal program. The study further extends the agricultural cooperatives research and contributes to a better understanding of the role of a municipality and an agri-food intermediary in the governance process involving producers and kitchens.