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This paper aims to examine the impact of the Australian Securities Exchange Corporate Governance recommendations on the breadth (amount of items covered) of (environmental and social) sustainability reporting by the firms in the Top 100, around the change from G3.1 to G4 disclosure regimes.

This paper undertakes comparisons of means and regression models to investigate the changes between disclosure scores of 98 listed entities from the 2013 G3.1 to the 2015 G4 disclosure regimes.

This paper finds that average disclosure levels did not change. Nonetheless, disclosure practices did vary by entity size and performance. Analysis of 2015 disclosures contingent on 2013 disclosure practice indicates that disclosure changes are consistent with a pattern of mean reversion.

Evidence that low disclosers increased disclosure and high disclosers reduced disclosers is consistent with the idea that sustainability disclosure is not so much driven by any ethical considerations, but rather by a desire to not be a disclosure outlier. Reliance on voluntary disclosure to achieve a socially desired level of disclosure is unlikely to bear fruit.

This paper contributes to the literature on sustainability by examining firm responses to change in disclosure regimes, and concluding that size and peer relativities drive the disclosure process.

Forecasting future period profitability is widely identified as an aim of financial statement analysis, and these forecasts are typically relied upon for the estimation of firm value. To facilitate this, the decomposition of earnings into its components or drivers, is typically advocated. This paper investigates the existence of systematic differences in persistence across the components of earnings. If components of earnings experience differences in persistence, this may provide insights into the determinants of aggregate earnings level and persistence. This paper provides evidence of differences in persistence between components of earnings. Differences are found between components formed on the basis of: financial ratios; operating and financing activities; and cash and accruals. Furthermore, there is evidence that earnings components improve the explanatory power of models evaluating aggregate earnings persistence, with this result being strongest for firms with extreme income decreasing accruals. Due to the pivotal role of earnings in firm valuation, the results from this paper have direct implications for valuation.

The length of stay (LoS) is of major importance from the perspective of the management of tourist destinations. As tourists heavily rely on the online reviews of other travelers as a primary information source, this study aims to empirically examine how the LoS can influence the online reviews for hotels, with special emphasis on the textual review content.

This study analyzes online review data collected from Booking.com by using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count program to operationalize review depth, analytical thinking and the authenticity reflected in customer reviews. Based on the analyzed data, this study used a series of regression analyses to understand the impacts of the LoS on online reviews.

The author’s analysis found that a longer stay at a hotel causes consumers to be more likely to post online reviews that not only include a numerical rating as well as written content but also lengthier and more detailed descriptions of their hotel experiences. Further analysis found that the LoS at hotels causes systematic differences in the linguistic attributes of the review content. Specifically, consumers who stay longer tend to write reviews with more analytical information, resulting in consumers perceiving the online reviews as more authentic.

Although the LoS has been considered a significant issue in tourism, studies examining the impact of different lengths of stay on consumers’ post-purchase behaviors are limited. In this light, the author’s findings demonstrate how the LoS can change the linguistic attributes of online reviews. It expands the body of knowledge of the LoS in tourism.

This study represents the first attempt to empirically examine and reveal how the different length of stay at a hotel systemically influences consumer review-posting behaviors.

IN the nature of things the Library Association Conference this year cannot have the spectacular character of the jubilee one of 1950; but that does not mean it will be less effective or less useful. Edinburgh is the second city of the United Kingdom, at least in appeal to bookmen, and probably Scots would object to our order of the hierarchy. Apart from the public libraries, a place that has the National Library of Scotland, the Advocates, the Signet and the University libraries, to name only the principal ones, with many associations and treasures, must have great attractions. On looking over conference reports generally, one can infer that the one institution in a town that is not frequented by librarians in the week is the public library. The obstacle is no doubt occupation with the meetings, which many delegates are naturally unwilling to miss. But we do suggest that library visits by newcomers to Edinburgh might be quite as important, in present impression and lasting effect, as most ordinary meetings can be. Since it must be admitted that our business at Edinburgh is to attend meetings, restraint is essential, but at least the Central Library and the fine Leith Library should be squeezed into the personal programme.

In a recent reference to changes brought about by the local government reorganisation of 1974, we criticised some of the names given to the new areas. Some of these name changes have made difficulties for those who follow from afar the doings of local authorities, as well as raising the ire of local people. Local names, however, are not the only casualty. The creation of new and larger governmental organisations rarely, if ever, results in economy and as anticipated, it was not long before the new local authorities were being directed to embrace financial stringency and all that it incurs. One such other casualty has been the loss of so many of the annual reports of local authority departments, very few now arriving at BFJ offices. In every case, the reason has been the same—severe restrictions on spending. Not that this was not necessary in many fields, but in respect of annual reports, we are convinced it was false economy. For so many of the reports, it was our pleasure to review them in the pages of BFJ. A prominent Labour politician was once heard to refer to them as “hard and dry reports for hard and dry officials”. It all depends probably on what you are looking for in them. Statistics there must be but most enforcement officers and public analysts, endeavour to keep these to the minimum, the general impression being that these are “dry”. If you are looking for trends, for comparison of the year under review with preceding years and then for comparing the results reported in one part of the country with another, where the population, eating habits, consumer reactions may be different, the tables of statistics are highly important.

It has often been said that a great part of the strength of Aslib lies in the fact that it brings together those whose experience has been gained in many widely differing fields but who have a common interest in the means by which information may be collected and disseminated to the greatest advantage. Lists of its members have, therefore, a more than ordinary value since they present, in miniature, a cross‐section of institutions and individuals who share this special interest.

In every country, specific cultures exist. In comparison most businesses have a variety of different cultures because there are different people working within the company. People with the same religion, language, beliefs and values share a culture. This, in turn, is shared with all types of people in the same cultural system. Here the author examines the art of managing people who are from different cultures, taking into account their different set of values, traditions, and ways of achieving various goals. It exposes some of the problems inherent in the host (local) country where a home (parent company) manager refuses or is incapable of internalizing the local culture in which the expatriate operates. Business tactics are enforced and implemented differently depending on the culture the decision‐maker is from. Therefore, one should always think globally and act locally.

The ongoing impact of COVID-19 and the subsequent perception of threat have shifted consumer perceptions and evaluations of service experiences. This paper aims to investigate how customers’ service evaluation is shared as customer reviews following the pandemic and the heightened perception of threat. In doing so, this research particularly investigates the shifts in the textual contents of online reviews.

This study used the textual contents in the online reviews posted on Hotels.com for 1,497 hotels in New York City for empirical analysis. In total, 109,190 observations were used for the analysis.

By analyzing actual online review data from an online review platform for hotel services, this study finds that the text reviews generated after the pandemic outbreak tend to contain words with stronger negative emotions. In terms of the pronoun choice, this study further finds that the use of “I” increases while the use of “we” decreases.

This research adds to the existing literature on service evaluation and online customer reviews by showing that there are shifts in the expressions used to communicate service evaluation through online text reviews, including the degree of emotionality and pronoun usage. Because potential customers are likely to rely on online reviews for their own decisions, the findings suggest that it is important for practitioners to be aware of such shifts and respond accordingly.

On 24th January this year the new and long‐promised legislation for public libraries in England and Wales made its bow in the shape of the Public Libraries and Museums Bill. Its first reading took place in the House of Commons on that day, and the unopposed second reading was on 5th February. As we write, future timing is uncertain, and it may be that by the time our readers are perusing these pages that the Bill will hare been passed in all its stages. The 23 clauses of the Bill occupy only 12½ pages. Briefly, the Bill will place the development of the public library service under the superintendence of the Minister of Education, and will set up two advisory councils as well as regional councils for interlibrary co‐operation. Non‐county boroughs and urban districts of less than 40,000 population which are existing library authorities will have to apply to the Minister for approval to continue as such. Clause 7 states that every library authority has a duty to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service, while the succeeding clause provides that, apart from certain exceptions, no charges shall be made by public library authorities. The Bill places considerable powers upon the Minister. Like most Bills, there is much in it which is open to interpretation. Does, for instance, clause 8, subsection (1) mean that those library authorities which are at present charging for the issue of gramophone records will have to cease doing so? This would seem to be the case, and we hope it is the case. On the other hand, which precise facilities are meant in subsection (4) of the same clause? Librarians will be disappointed that there is no reference to the need for library authorities to appoint separate library committees, nor is there a duty placed upon them to appoint suitably qualified persons as chief librarians. The Minister is given the power of inspection, and few library authorities or librarians will fear this. On the other hand no state financial assistance to library authorities is mentioned. In the 1930s and 19405 many wanted state aid but feared the consequential inspection. Now we have got the inspection without the money! When the Bill appeared, The Library World asked several librarians for their brief first impressions and in the following symposium will be found the views of a city librarian, a county librarian, two London librarians, a Welsh librarian, the librarian of a smaller town, and a member of the younger generation whose professional future may well be shaped by this new legislation.

Several aspects of the e‐book revolution are reviewed, as well as some related issues confronting libraries. Regardless of format, texts and text‐bearing devices have relationships of mutual dependence, and readers simultaneously experience both. The dominant relationship between texts and text‐bearing devices is shifting from static to dynamic. The e‐book revolution is more about new distribution systems for content, new digital rights management systems, and perhaps an unwitting or inchoate power struggle among the principal interested parties, than it is about the design and diffusion of dedicated reading devices. The e‐book revolution opens up possibilities for new and improved post‐retrieval processing of texts, defined as anything a person can do with a text after it has been retrieved. Librarians need to reassert – especially to the fledgling e‐book industry – the enduring principle of libraries as a social good. The two biggest challenges facing libraries are how to make the transition to an era dominated by dynamic relationships between texts and text‐bearing devices, and how to foster and facilitate robust and complex post‐retrieval processing of texts.