Search results

1 – 10 of over 37000
Article
Publication date: 1 January 2010

Yawen Jiao

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of “soft information” in firms’ debt issue and capital structure choices, and present a new model reconciling the gap between…

3321

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of “soft information” in firms’ debt issue and capital structure choices, and present a new model reconciling the gap between theories of capital structure and empirical findings.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper develops an analytical model of debt issues under asymmetric information in a setting where, in addition to observing the amount of debt the firm issues, outside investors obtain “soft information” signals through their own information production or noisy voluntary disclosures made by the firm. This paper analyzes the benefit and cost for the firm's debt issue decisions in this setting, and specifies the effect of soft information on these decisions.

Findings

If sufficiently precise soft information is available to outside investors, the firm's debt issue behavior is significantly altered relative to that in existing models. In particular, an inverted‐U shape relationship is found between the intrinsic value of the firm and the amount of debt it issues. Moreover, there is a negative relationship between the amount of debt the firm issues and the precision of soft information. Further, it is found that firms about which outside investors receive more favorable soft information issue less debt.

Research limitations/implications

The model predicts an inverted‐U shape relationship between firms’ debt ratios and operating performance. It also predicts that firms about which outside investors receive more favorable or more precise soft information have lower debt ratios on average. A rationale is provided for the existence of firms’ investor relations departments.

Originality/value

Firms’ capital structure choices remain a topic of significant importance. This paper incorporates the soft informations into firms’ debt issue decisions and proposes a new model of capital structure that generates insights into firms’ financing decisions and disclosure decisions, as well as information production by outside investors.

Details

Managerial Finance, vol. 36 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0307-4358

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 November 2020

Sajjad Ahmad, Shehzad Ahmad and Kanwal Ameen

The purpose of this paper is to study the self-perceptions of university information professionals about continuous professional development (CPD) opportunities regarding their…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study the self-perceptions of university information professionals about continuous professional development (CPD) opportunities regarding their soft skills.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative design using in-depth interviews was used. The population was all the information professionals working in the public sector universities of Pakistan, but the geographic range of the population, to reduce travelling expenses and to complete the study in time, the interviews were restricted to the universities of the capital city Islamabad and provincial capital Peshawar. A total of 21 interviews were conducted using a snowball sampling technique to select information professionals.

Findings

The findings revealed that only three information professionals attended CPD opportunities in soft skills. More than half of the information professionals stated that CPD programmes have an overall “good” impact on the development of their soft skills. Similarly, more than half of the participants stated that CPD training opportunities on soft skills are very limited. The majority of the participants held professional associations responsible for the development of information professionals’ soft skills. It was also found that communication and persuasion skills, self-management skills and interpersonal skills were the top three soft skill categories for which they urged CPD programmes.

Research limitations/implications

During interviews, most of the Assistant Librarians were not expressive and comfortable. This might be because of a lack of their soft skills knowledge, poor communication skills and interview anxiety.

Originality/value

According to the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first of its kind in Pakistan that dealt with the CPD opportunities regarding soft skills of university information professionals using a qualitative research design.

Article
Publication date: 22 December 2020

Sajjad Ahmad, Kanwal Ameen and Shehzad Ahmad

The purpose of this study is to investigate the self-perceptions of university information professionals about the current state of their soft skills and to highlight the barriers…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the self-perceptions of university information professionals about the current state of their soft skills and to highlight the barriers faced in the development of such skills.

Design/methodology/approach

A sequential mixed method research design using a questionnaire followed by in-depth interviews as data collection tools were used to achieve the objectives of the study. Self-completion questionnaires were used to collect the data from 560 respondents spread over 33 universities of Pakistan. Then, 21 interviews were conducted with purposely selected library and information professionals at the qualitative phase.

Findings

The findings of the survey revealed that the majority of the information professionals perceived themselves “moderately competent” in soft skills. Only 14.8% information professionals considered themselves “competent”. The qualitative findings revealed that university library and information professionals generally faced several barriers in the development of their soft skills that included “lack of administrative support”, “lack of personal commitment”, “lack of financial support by the parent organizations”, and so many others, which might have affected their current levels of soft skills.

Research limitations/implications

The possible limitation of this study may be the bias of the respondents, toward their self-judgment. During interviews, most of the assistant librarians were not comfortable and expressive. This might be due to lack of soft skills knowledge, interview anxiety and poor communication skills.

Originality/value

This research is the first study in Pakistan that dealt with the state of soft skills and barriers in its development among university library and information professionals having a large number (N = 372) of respondents.

Article
Publication date: 2 November 2017

Sajjad Ahmad, Kanwal Ameen and Midrar Ullah

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the university information professionals (UIPs) preferred modes of soft skills learning and differences in their opinions based on…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the university information professionals (UIPs) preferred modes of soft skills learning and differences in their opinions based on gender, designations and experience.

Design/methodology/approach

Quantitative research design using a questionnaire was used for data collection. Data were analyzed through SPSSS version 20.0, using descriptive and inferential statistics. The population of the study included all the UIPs working in the central libraries of the general public sector 33 universities in Pakistan, with nearly a population of 560.

Findings

The major findings showed that “mentoring sessions by experts” was the most preferred mode of soft skills learning followed by “learning from colleagues”. It showed that UIPs preferred to learn soft skills from experts and colleagues. Independent-samples t-test results found that “mentoring session by experts” was more preferred by females than males. A one-way ANOVA results found significant differences of opinion regarding the “mentoring session by experts” method between librarians and assistant librarians (p = 0.044). Results were statistically significant also between more experienced and less experienced regarding “real project/assignment-based method” and “mentoring session by experts”. In addition, for “formal online courses” and “self-training through reading books”, results were statistically significant between experienced groups of 1-5 years and 11-15 years. Overall results indicated that from UIPs’ perspective, soft skills should be taught to them using face-to-face methods.

Originality/value

This is the first study in Pakistan that dealt with the preferred modes of soft skills learning of UIPs by using a large group (N = 372) of respondents.

Article
Publication date: 11 February 2014

Andreas Rauterkus and George Munchus

– This study aims to examine empirically the relationship between loan denials and lender distance and location.

439

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to examine empirically the relationship between loan denials and lender distance and location.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses the 2003 Survey of Small Business Finance (SSBF) to draw the sample. This survey, conducted by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, collects information on small businesses' use of financial services. In total the survey gathered information representing 4,240 firms (all sample firms have fewer than 500 employees). A number of statistical tests are conducted to test the relationship between loan denials and lender characteristics.

Findings

The results of this study indicate that credit scores have no impact on the geographical location and lender distance; however, lender distance decreases with the length of relationship with the lender and the age of the business. This suggests that informationally opaque businesses seek out lenders nearby to maximize the value of soft information, whereas established businesses put no value on that. However, the probability of loan denial is not affected by the distance between the borrower and the lender. At the same time borrowers in rural areas are more likely to be denied. Thus, there seems to be a location effect in lending.

Originality/value

This study closes a gap in the literature with regard to the value of soft information in light of increasing bank consolidation. Furthermore, this paper uses borrower data, making this – to the authors' knowledge – the first study on lending distance that does not utilize lender data.

Details

Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, vol. 21 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1462-6004

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 23 March 2022

Marco Papa, Mario Carrassi, Anna Lucia Muserra and Monika Wieczorek-Kosmala

To determine whether to entrust the European Union (EU) to create a new nonfinancial reporting framework or endorse the extant reporting framework developed by the Global…

2292

Abstract

Purpose

To determine whether to entrust the European Union (EU) to create a new nonfinancial reporting framework or endorse the extant reporting framework developed by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), this study aims to explore whether the mandatory implementation of the EU Directive positively impacted the GRI-based environmental disclosure.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors compared the pre- and post-EU Directive environmental disclosure of 16 Italian environmentally sensitive companies. The authors used an extended coding scheme and developed a unique scoring system to compare the quantitative and qualitative changes in environmental disclosure.

Findings

The analysis showed that the quantity of environmental disclosure increased after the mandatory EU Directive adoption. The most significant change was observed regarding the disclosure topics explicitly required by the Italian legislature. Additionally, disclosure of soft information continued to prevail over that of hard information in the post-Directive period. While the Directive boosted the level of adherence to GRI standards, Italian companies disclosed information that could be easily mimicked (soft) instead of objective measures that could be verified (hard). In light of this evidence, the endorsement of extant GRI standards could be a valuable option for enhancing the comparability and transparency of environmental disclosure.

Originality/value

This study used an original extended coding system and proposed related environmental disclosure indexes that allow monitoring changes in environmental disclosure over time. To the authors’ best knowledge, this study is one of the few that justifies the significant impact of regulation (here the EU Directive) on the increase in environmental disclosure and that uses hard and soft information typology to examine the quality of environmental disclosure.

Details

Meditari Accountancy Research, vol. 30 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2049-372X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 1993

Andre Bonfrer, Don Peters and Peter Mazany

An exploratory study examines the relationships between particular managerial practices and qualities of soft intelligence information provided by the sales forces of firms…

Abstract

An exploratory study examines the relationships between particular managerial practices and qualities of soft intelligence information provided by the sales forces of firms responding to a mail survey. The hypotheses explored were formulated from a review of the literature and anecdotal data. Among the findings are positive associations between managerial practices designed to improve the information provided by the salesforce ‐ such as training, involvement in decision making, recognition and performance evaluation ‐ and various dimensions of the information gleaned from the salesforce. This paper recommends the use of the salesforce as a source of marketing information, and identifies key managerial practices which may be used to improve the flow of information from the salesforce to the organisation's information system.

Details

Asia Pacific International Journal of Marketing, vol. 5 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0954-7517

Article
Publication date: 15 January 2020

Xiao Song, Hao Ying, Xiande Zhao and Lujie Chen

The accounts receivable pool (ARP) is an e-invoice management system that provides suppliers with easy access to financial service. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the…

Abstract

Purpose

The accounts receivable pool (ARP) is an e-invoice management system that provides suppliers with easy access to financial service. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the strength and weakness of ARP mechanism and suggest efficient methods to identify creditworthy borrowers.

Design/methodology/approach

By decomposing the sales records of 348 ARP borrowers and predicting the occurrence of overdue incidences, this study first portrays the creditworthy borrowers by sales features. Then, content analysis was applied to measure the loadings of soft and hard information, and examined the effectiveness of different information structures in creditworthiness assessment.

Findings

For ARP borrowers, upward trend and low volatility reveal their creditworthiness. In order to identify creditworthy borrowers beforehand, ARP financiers who have elaborated more soft information and less hard information can perform better.

Originality/value

This study first discussed ARP finance from a critical perspective and underlines borrower assessment to eliminate the defect of loose recourse. The empirical evidence presents the sales features of creditworthy borrowers. Moreover, the results suggest an efficient approach for ARP financiers to conduct better assessment.

Details

Industrial Management & Data Systems, vol. 120 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-5577

Keywords

Content available
Article
Publication date: 4 March 2024

Jie Yan

The purpose of the study is to examine the use of alternative information in bank lending to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Understanding alternative information and its use…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of the study is to examine the use of alternative information in bank lending to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Understanding alternative information and its use in bank lending to SMEs is important because it has become a growing part of the future of SME finance. The results and findings of my study not only enrich the finance literature but, more importantly, also address the use of Fintech in the risk management of SME lending, a new and complex problem that is specific to both the information technology and finance field.

Design/methodology/approach

To answer the research question, the author used a case study approach that relies upon qualitative data and analysis. By iterating between the existing literature, theoretical pieces and empirical findings, the author explain and interpret in detail how the use of alternative information impacts loan outcomes and develop insights to guide future research.

Findings

The case is outlined in two time periods including the prepartnership period and the postpartnership period. It highlights the establishment of a partnership between LoanBank and FintechInc (pseudonym), aimed at SME-focused Fintech lending. The findings underscore how the partnership has enabled a mutually beneficial situation where LoanBank and FintechInc leverage each other’s strengths to provide efficient and effective lending services. The adoption of alternative information in the risk management Fintech (RMF) platform of FintechInc has transformed LoanBank’s lending processes, showcasing how technological innovations can enhance SME lending practices.

Originality/value

The study’s originality mainly lies in the three detailed insights regarding alternative information’s impact on SME lending: information, platform properties and financial inclusion. The information part demonstrates that RMF platforms expand the information used for lending decisions, shifting from traditional hard and soft data to incorporating various alternative information sources. The platform properties part suggests that location, openness and technology also play a pivotal role in shaping lending outcomes. Finally, the financial inclusion part proposes that the use of alternative information has the potential to improve financial inclusion and offer better credit terms to previously underserved borrowers.

Details

Qualitative Research in Financial Markets, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1755-4179

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 May 2003

Johan Frishammar

This paper addresses the issue of information use in strategic decision making. The study employs a case study as a research strategy together with personal interviews and…

8273

Abstract

This paper addresses the issue of information use in strategic decision making. The study employs a case study as a research strategy together with personal interviews and documentation as means of data collection. The starting‐point is four specific strategic decisions recently made by medium‐sized companies in Sweden. The study provides the reader with an insight into management information behaviour when taking strategic decisions, by addressing questions such as: Why is information used? What kind of information does management use? How do they obtain it? And finally, where do they obtain it? In addition, a short review of the literature pertaining to the above stated questions is provided.

Details

Management Decision, vol. 41 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0025-1747

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 37000