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1 – 10 of over 19000
Article
Publication date: 10 May 2011

Isabel‐María García Sánchez, Luis Rodríguez Domínguez and Isabel Gallego Álvarez

The purpose of this study is twofold: to evidence the disclosure practices of Spanish companies in relation to a voluntary typology of strategic information; and to determine the…

3496

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is twofold: to evidence the disclosure practices of Spanish companies in relation to a voluntary typology of strategic information; and to determine the factors that explain these practices. Among the factors considered, the study seeks to focus on the role of the Board of Directors in depth. According to Agency Theory, strategic information has positive consequences on external funds costs. On the other hand, Proprietary Costs theory limits these practices, given that they can lead to competitive disadvantages.

Design/methodology/approach

First, online strategic information disclosure practices are analysed by examining non‐financial quoted Spanish firms. A disclosure index is created, and subsequently, certain factors related to corporate governance – Activity, Size and Board Independence – as well as other factors traditionally analysed, are used to explain the volume of strategic information disclosed on the internet.

Findings

The results indicate that Spanish companies, on average, give out little strategic information, mainly related to objectives, their mission, and the company's philosophy. “Company annual planning” and “Information on risks” are scarcely disclosed. The findings also emphasise that companies where the Chairperson of the Board is the same person as the CEO and, moreover, in which there is a lower frequency of meetings, disclose a greater amount of strategic information on their web sites.

Practical implications

The findings suggest that the disclosure of strategic information is a decision taken by executives with the aim of satisfying the demands of creditors and investors. The Board of Directors represents the shareholders' interests, but it does not participate in strategic decision‐making disclosure, maybe due to the fact that the proprietary costs lack influence.

Originality/value

The link between corporate governance and strategic information disclosed online has scarcely been analysed in previous literature. This study provides interesting insights into how several Board characteristics can affect the disclosure of strategic information on the internet.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 24 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 October 2010

Indra Abeysekera

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of board size on firms disclosing more, rather than less, strategic and tactical intellectual capital resources using the top 26…

3148

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of board size on firms disclosing more, rather than less, strategic and tactical intellectual capital resources using the top 26 of the 52 firms ranked by the Nairobi Stock Exchange for market capitalization in 2002 and in 2003. This study identifies intellectual capital disclosure by three separate categories: internal capital, external capital, and human capital. Hence, this study examines the influence of board size on six disclosure outcomes.

Design/methodology/approach

The study develops hypotheses using the resource dependency theory. Using content analysis for data generation, this study classifies firms that disclose more versus those that disclose less, using the mean for all firms for each disclosure outcome.

Findings

Using logistic regression, the study examines the influence of board size on each disclosure outcome and finds that firms disclosing more tactical internal capital and more strategic human capital have larger boards.

Practical implications

The findings provide insights into how a larger board size can help boards to overcome skill deficiencies in making more discretionary disclosure related to future earnings.

Originality/value

This study analyses the influence of the board size on six aspects of intellectual capital disclosure.

Details

Journal of Intellectual Capital, vol. 11 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1469-1930

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 July 2019

Judy Louie, Kamran Ahmed and Xu-Dong Ji

This paper aims to examine the voluntary disclosure practices of family and non-family listed firms and whether family firms have improved their disclosure practices following the…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the voluntary disclosure practices of family and non-family listed firms and whether family firms have improved their disclosure practices following the introduction of the Principles of Good Corporate Governance and Best Practice Recommendations in 2003 in Australia.

Design/methodology/approach

Voluntary disclosures are measured by constructing an index specifically for this study. Such indexes consist of corporate governance disclosure, strategic disclosure and future disclosures. They are then regressed on firm-specific variables while controlling for family and non-family firms. A total of 60 family firms and 60 non-family firms in Australia are randomly chosen from 2001 to 2006 for examining their disclosure practices.

Findings

The research findings show that family firms disclose information voluntarily to signal to the market regarding their growth potentials and abide by government regulations to improve their reputation. Despite the fact that compliance with the Principles of Good Corporate Governance and Best Practice Recommendations was not compulsory, this paper finds that the recommendation encouraged family and non-family firms to disclose more corporate governance information.

Practical implications

The findings from this research will help investors and regulators make more strategic decisions on investments and regulations respectively in family firms.

Originality/value

There has been limited empirical evidence on the disclosure practices and their determinants of family firms in Australia. The study will thus significantly contribute to the current knowledge in this regard.

Details

Accounting Research Journal, vol. 32 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1030-9616

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 July 2006

Vanessa Magness

The objective of this paper is to test Ullmann's hypothesis that strategy posture, modified by financial performance, must be considered in light of stakeholder power in order to…

12642

Abstract

Purpose

The objective of this paper is to test Ullmann's hypothesis that strategy posture, modified by financial performance, must be considered in light of stakeholder power in order to understand a company's social responsibility disclosure policy.

Design/methodology/approach

This study in this paper uses regression analysis to examine annual report disclosure of environmental information after a major accident in the mining industry. A multiple‐item disclosure score is tailored to the Canadian accounting environment, and used as a dependent variable.

Findings

This paper finds that companies that maintain themselves in the public eye through press release activity disclose more information than other companies. However there is no evidence to suggest that disclosure content is moderated by financial performance. Companies that obtained external financing one year after the accident made more disclosure than other companies. The significance of the external financing variable is evident when disclosure is restricted to discretionary or non‐financial items, but disappears if the dependent variable represents mandatory financial items.

Research limitations/implications

The paper shoes that while Ullmann addressed the matter of actual social responsibility performance, in addition to disclosure, this paper does not examine performance. Furthermore, press release activity is only one type of strategic posture. Future work that employs some other measure may yield additional insight into the decision‐making process.

Originality/value

Prior study of Ullmann's work has not considered the interactive impact of profit and strategic posture. Furthermore, the actual nature of the disclosure, voluntary versus mandatory, has not been specifically examined. This paper addresses both of these issues.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 19 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 25 November 2019

Mostafa Kamal Hassan and Fathia Elleuch Lahyani

This study aims to investigate the effect of media coverage, negative media tone and the interaction between negative media tone and independent non-executive directors (INEDs) on…

1704

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the effect of media coverage, negative media tone and the interaction between negative media tone and independent non-executive directors (INEDs) on strategic information disclosure (SD).

Design/methodology/approach

The authors rely on media agenda-setting theory, agency theory and a panel data set of 52 UAE non-financial listed firms from 2009 to 2016. Multivariate regressions examine the effect of media coverage and negative media tone on SD and examine the moderation of INEDs on the effect of negative media tone on SD while controlling for firm size, board size, board meeting frequency, firm profitability and leverage.

Findings

The results show that negative media tone has a negative effect on SD, and there is no association between media coverage and SD. The results show that INEDs are negatively associated with SD and have a negative moderating effect on the negative media tone–SD relationship. INEDs follow a conservative approach, encouraging less SD when their firms face negative media tone.

Research limitations/implications

The authors measured media coverage and negative media tone by the number of news articles. In the robustness test, they use media tone score. They measured SD using an index that captures firm strategy dimensions. Though these measures are inherently subjective, they were used to measure variation in media coverage, media tone and SD across listed UAE non-financial firms. Mitigation of subjectivity was achieved through rigorous cross-checking measurements.

Practical implications

Findings assist UAE policymakers and the international business community with insights related to articulation of media to SD and INEDs’ role in moderating the effect of media on SD.

Originality/value

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that combines media agenda-setting theory with agency theory and SD in an emerging market economy (the UAE). The study is also among the few studies that illustrate the possible role of INEDs under different media tones in emerging markets.

Details

Corporate Governance: The International Journal of Business in Society, vol. 20 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1472-0701

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 October 2013

Khondkar E. Karim, Robert Pinsker and Ashok Robin

The specific purpose of this study is to understand how firm size and public/private affiliation (employment status) affect voluntary disclosure decisions concerning…

1953

Abstract

Purpose

The specific purpose of this study is to understand how firm size and public/private affiliation (employment status) affect voluntary disclosure decisions concerning quantitatively immaterial nonfinancial information. Although the prior disclosure literature is large and has considered a variety of factors including size and to a lesser degree employment status, this study offers a new perspective by considering both factors in the context of qualitative materiality.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper presents 136 manager participants with 24 cues representing nonfinancial, realistic business events and solicits their disclosure judgments. The cues are adapted from Pinsker et al. and contain information that does not meet widely-accepted quantitative thresholds for disclosure (e.g. 5 percent of net income), yet were identified by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as more likely to be material. This paper uses a median split of total assets and total revenues to determine “large” and “small” firms. Managers' judgments are measured in an own-firm setting (The context is their current employer, which can be public or private.).

Findings

This paper finds that disclosure is positively linked to firm size, but this paper do not find an employer status effect. Additional testing reveals that private firm managers are sensitive to SEC oversight and other external, competitive pressures, suggesting that they face mimetic pressures to behave like their public firm counterparts. In sum, their findings contribute significantly to the disclosure, strategic management, institutional theory and judgment-and-decision-making (JDM) literatures.

Originality/value

Although there is a vast literature on public firm managers' voluntary disclosure behavior (mostly involving large firms), there is little research regarding the voluntary disclosure behavior of small or large private firm managers involving nonfinancial information.

Details

Managerial Auditing Journal, vol. 28 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0268-6902

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 May 2021

Mohammed Nuseir and Amer Qasim

This paper aims to systematically review how corporations are increasingly using social media to strategically disseminate information to investors, including different research…

1741

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to systematically review how corporations are increasingly using social media to strategically disseminate information to investors, including different research tracks, then identify the gaps to propose future research opportunities.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors searched for relevant scholarly work on Scopus and Google Scholar databases published during the period 2000–2020 in English. Both quantitative and qualitative papers were reviewed. Articles were filtered based on their relevance to the study's goal, resulting in the selection of 84 articles. A total of 16 articles were selected for inclusion in the systematic review.

Findings

In light of the existing studies’ limitations, this paper derives and summarizes 16 leading future research tracks. Results indicated that corporations could use social media to reduce information asymmetry between managers and investors. Nevertheless, social media for information disclosure purposes is used in a strategic way, whereby only positive news and voluntary information are disseminated.

Research limitations/implications

The implications for investors are that they can make better decisions by engaging in the process of “the wisdom of crowd,” which is facilitated by reciprocal communication. The implications for corporations are that sharing earning information through social networking platforms presents them with an opportunity to effectively manage their investors by reducing negative perceptions and increasing market response.

Originality/value

As far as we know, this is the first paper that uses a systematic literature review over the social media research field.

Details

Journal of Financial Reporting and Accounting, vol. 19 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1985-2517

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 18 August 2022

Jonna Pauliina Koponen and Saara Maria Julkunen

This paper aims to explore how and why salespeople enhance or hinder long-term business-to-business (B2B) customer relationships at the interpersonal level by considering self…

3605

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore how and why salespeople enhance or hinder long-term business-to-business (B2B) customer relationships at the interpersonal level by considering self-disclosure and relational cost and reward evaluations.

Design/methodology/approach

Data from interviews (N = 47) with B2B sales professionals were analyzed, focusing on the shift of the phases in long-term B2B customer relationships.

Findings

Long-term B2B customer relationships evolve at the interpersonal level through a process of continuous relational cost and reward evaluation, self-disclosure and business disclosure in three phases: becoming business partners, collaborative partners and collaborative and personal partners. The reward evaluations progress from being business related to including even more relational benefits. Disclosure progresses through general business disclosure and general self-disclosure; strategic business disclosure and personal life self-disclosure; and synergistic business disclosure and private self-disclosure.

Research limitations/implications

The long-term B2B customer relationships could be studied at the interpersonal level from the customer’s perspective. Self-disclosure could be studied in cross-cultural settings as well as gender differences should be considered in future studies. Business and social penetration theory could be applied to investigate different types of relationships and other professional relationships, such as those between employers and employees. It would be important to test whether the business-related and self-disclosure subtypes apply to the development of other types of professional relationships or whether other disclosure subtypes exist. The authors recommend exploring salespeople’s and customers’ privacy management strategies in multiple communication channels.

Practical implications

Managers may apply the results of this study in their customer relationship management and sales training.

Originality/value

The findings outline a contextual extension of social penetration theory.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 56 no. 13
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 February 2014

Grant Samkin, Annika Schneider and Dannielle Tappin

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the development of a biodiversity reporting and evaluation framework. The application of the framework to an exemplar organisation…

2362

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the development of a biodiversity reporting and evaluation framework. The application of the framework to an exemplar organisation identifies biodiversity-related annual report disclosures and analyses changes in the nature and levels of these over time. Finally, the paper aims to establish whether the disclosures made by the exemplar are consistent with a deep ecological perspective, as exemplified by New Zealand conservation legislation.

Design/methodology/approach

Viewing the framework developed by the paper through a deep ecological lens, the study involves a detailed content analysis of the biodiversity disclosures contained within the annual reports of a conservation organisation over a 23-year period. Using the framework developed in this paper, the biodiversity-related text units were identified and allocated to one of three major categories, 13 subcategories, and then into deep, intermediate and shallow ecology.

Findings

Biodiversity disclosures enable stakeholders to determine the goals, assess their implementation, and evaluate the performance of an organisation. Applying the framework to the exemplar revealed the majority of annual report disclosures focused on presenting performance/implementation information. The study also found that the majority of disclosures reflect a deep ecological approach. A deep/shallow ecological tension was apparent in a number of disclosures, especially those relating to the exploitation of the conservation estate.

Originality/value

This paper is the first to develop a framework that can be used as both a biodiversity reporting assessment tool and a reporting guide. The framework will be particularly useful for those studying reporting by conservation departments and stakeholders of organisations whose operations impact biodiversity.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 27 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 2016

Meropy Barut, Jean Raar and Mohammad I Azim

The purpose of this study is to illuminate the disclosure of biodiversity material contained in the reported information of 151 local government authorities (LGAs) in New South…

1248

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to illuminate the disclosure of biodiversity material contained in the reported information of 151 local government authorities (LGAs) in New South Wales, Australia. The introduction of the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity (an international treaty to sustain the rich diversity of life on earth) has made the issue of fauna management and monitoring, and the associated requirement for cost-effective information, much more important. As local communities are best placed to make decisions about the protection of their local environments, the content in external reports and other disclosures allows stakeholders to gauge how accountable LGAs are regarding the conservation of biodiversity within their geographical jurisdiction.

Design/methodology/approach

Content analysis was used to analyze the disclosures of these LGAs.

Findings

The results reveal marked differences in the reporting of biodiversity issues. In fact, LGAs in the state of New South Wales (Australia) have been, at best, lukewarm in their disclosure of strategic information relating to biodiversity, particularly in their strategic goals and plans.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the academic literature on biodiversity reporting by investigating existing reporting practices and providing evidence that a universally adopted framework for biodiversity reporting and reporting of local native fauna is required. In particular, the impacts of these practices need to be properly understood for LGAs to provide accountability to their stakeholders.

Details

Managerial Auditing Journal, vol. 31 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0268-6902

Keywords

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