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Using a meta-regression analysis, we quantitatively review the empirical literature on the relation between effective tax rate (ETR) and firm size. Accounting literature offers two competing theories on this relation: The political cost theory, suggesting a positive size-ETR relation, and the political power theory, suggesting a negative size-ETR relation. Using a unique data set of 56 studies that do not show a clear tendency towards either of the two theories, we contribute to the discussion on the size-ETR relation in three ways: First, applying meta-regression analysis on a US meta-data set, we provide evidence supporting the political cost theory. Second, our analysis reveals factors that are possible sources of variation and bias in previous empirical studies; these findings can improve future empirical and analytical models. Third, we extend our analysis to a cross-country meta-data set; this extension enables us to investigate explanations for the two competing theories in more detail. We find that Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory, a transparency index and a corruption index explain variation in the size-ETR relation. Independent of the two theories, we also find that tax planning aspects potentially affect the size-ETR relation. To our knowledge, these explanations have not yet been investigated in our research context.

The objective of this paper is threefold. First, it aims to empirically study whether firm-specific/idiosyncratic uncertainty, macroeconomic/aggregate uncertainty and political uncertainty have an adverse influence on firms' investment decisions in Pakistan. After establishing this, it scrutinizes whether the uncertainty effects on investment are different for firms of different sizes. Finally, it investigates whether any heterogeneity exists in the uncertainty impacts across different industries.

The empirical analysis is based on an unbalanced panel data of 468 nonfinancial firms listed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) during the period 2000–2018. Departing from the literature, the paper builds a time-varying composite volatility/uncertainty index based on the principal component analysis (PCA) by utilizing the constructed volatility series for sales, cash flows and return on assets to gauge firm-specific uncertainty for each firm included in the analysis. Likewise, the paper develops a PCA-based composite index for macroeconomic uncertainty by using the conditional variance series of consumer price index (CPI), industrial production index (IPI), the interest rate and the exchange rate obtained by estimating the (generalized) autoregressive conditional heteroscedastic, (G)ARCH, models. Finally, political uncertainty is measured by political risk components maintained by the Political Risk Services Group. The empirical framework of the paper augments the standard investment equation by incorporating all three types of uncertainty. Firms are grouped into small, medium and large categories based on firms' total assets and the size indicators are generated. Next, the indicators are multiplied by each uncertainty measure to quantify the differential effects of uncertainty across firm size. Firms are also differentiated by sectors to explore the sector-based asymmetries in the uncertainty effects. The “robust two-step system generalized method of moments (2SYS GMM) (dynamic panel data) estimator” is applied to estimate the empirical models.

The results provide robust and strong evidence of the detrimental influence of all three types of uncertainty on investment. Yet, it is observed that the strength of the influence considerably varies across uncertainty types. In particular, compared to firm-specific uncertainty, both macroeconomic and political uncertainties have more unfavorable effects. The analysis also reveals that the effects of all three types of uncertainty are quite different at small, medium and large firms. Specifically, it is observed that although the investment of all firms is influenced adversely by magnified uncertainty, the adverse effects of all three kinds of uncertainty are quite stronger at small firms than medium and large firms. These findings support the phenomenon of size-based asymmetries in the effects of uncertainty on investment. The results also provide evidence that either type of uncertainty quite differently affects the investment policy of firms in different sectors.

The findings help different stakeholders to know how different types of uncertainty differently affect corporate firms' investments. Further, they suggest that firm size has a vital role in ascertaining the adverse effects of uncertainty on investment. The paper identifies to which type of uncertainty investors and policymakers should care more about and to which types of firms and industries they should concern more during volatile times. Firms should have more fixed assets and expand their size to mitigate the detrimental effects on investment of internal and external uncertainties. The government should enhance the political stability to induce firms for a higher level of investment, which, in turn, will result in higher growth of the economy.

The originality of the paper is credited to four aspects. First, unlike most previous studies that have utilized a single volatility measure, this paper constructs composite uncertainty indices based on the weights determined by the PCA. Second, it examines the effect of political uncertainty over and above the effects of idiosyncratic and aggregate (macroeconomic uncertainty) for an emerging economy. Third, and most important, it provides first-hand empirical evidence on the role of firm size in establishing the asymmetric effects of uncertainty on investment. Finally, it provides evidence on the industry-based heterogeneity in the uncertainty effects.

This paper aims to confirm the existence of size, book to market (BM) and momentum effects in the New Zealand (NZ) stock market. It also aims to compare the performance of the CAPM, the Fama‐French (FF) model, and Carhart's model in explaining the variation of stock returns.

The paper adapts the Fama and French methodology using a 2×3 size‐BM ratio sort. It also forms three portfolios based on past returns to verify the momentum effect.

The paper documents significant BM and momentum effects but a relatively weaker size effect. The paper finds some improvement in explanatory power provided by the FF model relative to the CAPM but it still leaves a large part of the variation in stock returns unexplained. The FF model is also unable to explain the strong momentum effect in New Zealand.

The findings imply that: cost of capital estimates would be more accurate using Carhart's model; portfolio managers can increase returns by investing in small and high BM firms that are recent winners; performance evaluation should take into account the size, BM, and momentum effects; and the existence of size and BM return premia appear to be rewards to risk bearing.

The existing literature testing the robustness of the FF model in markets outside the USA is sparse, especially in emerging markets, with most of these studies suffering from data problems. The NZ stock market provides an interesting setting for such a study because of its unique characteristics.

The purpose of this paper is fivefold: to identify the various results of previous empirical studies on the effect of mastery learning and students achievement in Nigeria schools; determine the effect size for each of the studies examined; determine the mean effect size of the overall studies examined; find out the mean effect size of studies that examined the effect of gender on academic achievement in mastery learning strategy; and determine the mean effect size of studies that examined the effect of school locations on academic achievements using mastery learning strategy.

This study adopted survey research design using the ex post facto procedure. This study being meta-analytical used already existing data (research results). The sample of research reports included both published and unpublished research reports on the effects of mastery learning on students’ academic achievements in Nigeria between 1980 and 2016. The study adopted a purposive sampling technique in selecting the sample. This was to ensure that studies: were centered on mastery learning and students’ academic achievements; were carried out in Nigeria; appeared in published and unpublished literature between 1980 and 2016; have the statistical values of the research results of each independent variable to be considered (e.g. t-test values, χ² values and correlation values).

The study revealed that the mean effect size for all the studies was 0.536, indicating a positive mean effect size. The strategy, thus, has a significant effect on students’ achievements. School location, also, did not mediate in the use of the strategy.

Based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations were made: teachers should use this teaching strategy to enhance students’ achievements in difficult concepts in different subject areas. Since the result of this study has shown that the strategy has positive and large effect size, government and school proprietors should, with the collaboration of higher institutions concerned with teacher education, endeavor to organize seminars and workshops to serving teachers to enable them embrace effectively the principles and processes of implementing the strategy in the classroom. Since the result of this study has established the size of the effect of mastery learning strategy on the academic achievements, subsequent researchers should no longer direct their efforts in determining its effects on academic achievements but on the ways of improving the use of the strategy in teaching at all levels of education.

Available literature has shown that though most previous research findings revealed that mastery learning approach has an effect on academic achievements of students, no efforts have been made toward resolving the inconsistencies of those results by integrating them and establishing the extent of the effect of the strategy on academic achievements. This study, therefore, was designed to fill these gaps created by the non-existence of integrated studies on effects of mastery learning and academic achievements of students in Nigerian schools.

High-performance work systems (HPWSs) are linked to performance, but few studies explore creativity behaviours (CBs). The present study includes job satisfaction as a mediator, and firm size and competitive rivalry as moderators to better understand the context.

Data were collected using a sample of 310 New Zealand managers. Data analysis was a moderated mediation analysis in structural equation modelling using Mplus.

The authors find HPWSs are directly related to CBs and job satisfaction, with job satisfaction fully mediating HPWS effects. Two-way moderation effects show managers in small firms report the highest CBs with high HPWSs, and a significant moderated mediation effect is found with firm size, showing a strong positive indirect effect from HPWS, which diminishes as firm size increases.

HPWSs hold the key to providing managers with opportunities for enhancing their CBs. Exploring the distinct bundles of HPWSs in the present study provides avenues for firms to understand and expand their influence on managers.

The findings of firm size as a boundary condition provides unique insights that aid our understanding of the effectiveness of HPWSs on CBs, and how small-sized New Zealand firms might extract better advantages from HPWSs. A major contribution is testing external firm factors (size and the business environment) to understand what roles they may play on managers’ creativity.

Using data from the British National Childhood Development Study, this paper examines the quality–quantity trade-off in fertility in multiple measures of child achievement. The results exhibit three characteristics: (1) Family-size effects appear very early in child development – as early as age two; (2) the effects are found in a broad array of achievement measures: labor market, cognitive, physical, and social; and (3) by age 16, the effects of family size stop growing (and what little evidence there is of change after that is not consistently in one direction). The paper argues that these results are inconsistent with preference-based explanations of the trade-off and point to some family-resource constraint. However, the relevant constraint appears more likely to be temporal than financial.

Board size is an important dimension of corporate governance. The purpose of this study is to propose and test indirect effects of organization size on organizational performance via board size, in the context of industry.

The study’s predictions were tested in 288 medium and large organizations listed on the Australian Securities Exchange using archival data.

The findings of this study suggest the following: organization size is positively associated with board size and this relationship is stronger in manufacturing organizations; board size is positively associated with performance and this relationship is conditional on industry; and organization size has an indirect effect on performance via board size, and this indirect effect is also conditional on industry.

The results provide some support for the resource dependency theory, agency theory and contingency theory.

The findings suggest that directors should take into account the effects of board size and industry to provide a more precise assessment of the board’s performance.

It predicts and tests the pioneering moderating effect of industry (manufacturing vs services) on the organization size–board size, board size–organizational performance and organization size–board size–organizational performance relationships.

Applying the institution-based view and the resource-based view, this study explores how state ownership influences early internationalization of emerging market firms, how it interacts with firm size to have an impact and how the proportion of SOEs moderates this interaction effect.

Based on a sample of 717 Chinese listed firms, this study uses Poisson regression, ordinary least square regression and Heckman two-stage estimation to analyze the data.

This study finds state ownership does not influence early internationalization, state ownership and firm size jointly can have a significant impact, and the proportion of SOEs in an industry sector can moderate this interaction effect.

This study enriches our understanding of the impact of home government involvement on internationalization strategies of emerging market firms, contributes to early internationalization research by building the theoretical mechanisms about these direct and interaction effects and by providing empirical results and provides important advices to firm decision-makers and government policymakers. By examining these interaction effects, it also provides a solution to the theoretical conflict created by the two opposing effects of state ownership.

The objective of this paper is to examine the framing effects of discount presentation format in comparative price advertising in a low‐price and a high‐price product context. In particular, the authors study whether identical discounts presented in percentage and absolute terms result in different consumer perceptions of transaction value and purchase intention. Although price promotions have been the subject of previous research, a closer examination of the potential moderating influence of discount size in both contexts is warranted.

Two separate experiments were designed to isolate the effects of the manner in which discounts are numerically expressed and the size of the discount on consumers' perceptions of a retail price promotion in a low‐price and a high‐price product context.

The effects of discount framing in comparative price promotions are found to be influenced by discount size in the case of the low‐product context but not the high‐price one.

It is recommended that the study be replicated for other types of low‐price and high‐price products to confirm the generalisability of the results for each product context.

Retail managers' choice of discount presentation format for both low‐ and high‐price product contexts, and in the case of the former the additional manipulation of discount size, have an impact on the ability of comparative price promotions to accelerate purchases. Meanwhile policy makers should continue to assign significant time and resources to investigating concerns about misleading price comparison based promotions.

The paper provides original insights into the importance of considering the joint effects of discount presentation format and discount size on consumers' perceptual and behavioural responses to retail price promotions, unlike previous research, which has examined these framing effects separately.

From the intra- and inter-regional dimensions, this paper investigates the linkage between industrial agglomeration and inventory performance, and further demonstrates the moderating role of firm size and enterprise status in the supply chain on this linkage.

Using a large panel dataset of Chinese manufacturers in the Yangtze River Delta for the period from 2008 to 2013, this study employs the method of spatial econometric analysis via a spatial Durbin model (SDM) to examine the effects of industrial agglomeration on inventory performance. Meanwhile, the moderation model is applied to examine the moderating role of two firm-level heterogeneity factors.

At its core, this research demonstrates that industrial agglomeration is associated with the positive change of inventory performance in the adjacent regions, whereas that in the host region as well as in general does not significantly increase. Additionally, both firm size and enterprise status in the supply chain can positively moderate these effects, except for the moderating role of firm size on the positive spillovers.

In view of firm heterogeneity, managers should take special care when matching their abilities of inventory management with the agglomeration effects. Firms with a high level of inventory management are suited to stay in an industrial cluster, while others would be better in the adjacent regions to enhance inventory performance.

This paper is the first to systematically analyze the effects of industrial agglomeration on inventory performance within and across clusters, and confirm that these effects are contingent upon firm size and enterprise status in the supply chain. It adds to the existing literature by highlighting the spatial spillovers from industrial clusters and enriching the antecedents of inventory leanness.