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1 – 10 of over 36000Yuqian Zhang, Juergen Seufert and Steven Dellaportas
This study examined subjective numeracy and its relationship with accounting judgements on probability issues.
Abstract
Purpose
This study examined subjective numeracy and its relationship with accounting judgements on probability issues.
Design/methodology/approach
A subjective numeracy scale (SNS) questionnaire was distributed to 231 accounting students to measure self-evaluated numeracy. Modified Bayesian reasoning tasks were applied in an accounting-related probability estimation, manipulating presentation formats.
Findings
The study revealed a positive relationship between self-evaluated numeracy and performance in accounting probability estimation. The findings suggest that switching the format of probability expressions from percentages to frequencies can improve the performance of participants with low self-evaluated numeracy.
Research limitations/implications
Adding objective numeracy measurements could enhance results. Future numeracy research could add objective numeracy items and assess whether this influences participants' self-perceived numeracy. Based on this sample population of accounting students, the findings may not apply to large populations of accounting-information users.
Practical implications
Investors' ability to exercise sound judgement depends on the accuracy of their probability estimations. Manipulating the format of probability expressions can improve probability estimation performance in investors with low self-evaluated numeracy.
Originality/value
This study identified a significant performance gap among participants in performing accounting probability estimations: those with high self-evaluated numeracy performed better than those with low self-evaluated numeracy. The authors also explored a method other than additional training to improve participants' performance on probability estimation tasks and discovered that frequency formats enhanced the performance of participants with low self-evaluated numeracy.
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This paper aims to uncover the relationships between marital power and influence strategies used during couples' vacation decision processes. Marital power includes two…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to uncover the relationships between marital power and influence strategies used during couples' vacation decision processes. Marital power includes two dimensions: the first dimension is objective and composed of actual economic resources; the second is subjective and composed of feelings such as spousal love or self‐esteem.
Design/methodology/approach
192 couples completed a questionnaire that included statements describing different influence strategies utilized during the vacation purchase‐decision process; respondents indicated the frequency with which they employed each strategy.
Findings
Subjective marital power is associated with the use of spousal influence strategies. Objective marital power does not predict the use of these strategies.
Research limitaions/implications
These findings highlight a hitherto understudied aspect of marital power – subjective power.
Practical implications
Consumer researchers and vacation marketers should take into account the subjective marital power balance and its impact on influence strategies during couples' vacation decision processes.
Originality/value
This study shows that during a vacation decision process, the marital power balance between partners impacts on the choice of spousal influence strategies. Secondly, economic power is not the dominant factor that affects the choice of influence strategy; rather, interpersonal power is influential in the use of spousal influence strategies during the vacation decision process.
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Richard Lee, Jamie Murphy and Larry Neale
Using an extended theory of planned behaviour (TPB) model to test how customer loyalty intentions may relate to subjective and descriptive norms, this study further seeks to…
Abstract
Purpose
Using an extended theory of planned behaviour (TPB) model to test how customer loyalty intentions may relate to subjective and descriptive norms, this study further seeks to determine whether consumption characteristics – product enjoyment and importance – moderate norms‐loyalty relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a two‐study approach focusing on youth, an Australian study (n=244) first augmented TPB with descriptive norm. A Singapore study (n=415) followed up with how consumption characteristics might moderate norms‐loyalty relationships. With both studies, linear regressions tested the relationships among the variables.
Findings
Extending TPB with descriptive norm improved TPB's predictive ability across studies. Further, product enjoyment and importance moderated the norms‐loyalty relationships differently. Subjective norm related to loyalty intentions significantly with high enjoyment, whereas descriptive norm was significant with low enjoyment. Only subjective norm was significant with low importance.
Research limitations/implications
Single‐item variables, self‐reported questionnaires on intended rather than actual behaviour, and not controlling for cultural differences between the two samples limit generalisablity.
Practical implications
The significance of both norms suggests that mobile firms should reach youth through their peers. With youth social pressure may be influential, particularly with hedonic products. However, the different moderations of product enjoyment and importance imply that a blanket marketing strategy targeting youth may not work.
Originality/value
The study extends academic knowledge on the relationships between norms and customer loyalty, particularly with consumption characteristics as moderators. The findings highlight the importance of considering different norms with consumer behaviour. The study should help mobile firms understand how social influences impact customer loyalty.
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Narrative accounts of subjective consumer experience are, in one form or another, a staple of qualitative market research. They have an obvious connection with the literary form…
Abstract
Purpose
Narrative accounts of subjective consumer experience are, in one form or another, a staple of qualitative market research. They have an obvious connection with the literary form of creative non‐fiction (CNF), yet this connection has rarely been explored. Based on the assumption that writing craft is a neglected yet fundamental part of qualitative research practice, this paper seeks to contribute a new, literary‐based perspective to the interpretive turn in qualitative market research.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on a range of extant literature to draw out the distinguishing features of CNF, placing these in juxtaposition to biographical and narrative auto‐ethnographic consumer research. The overall aim is to begin to detail the particular qualities of writing that might contribute to better qualitative research. To assist in this quest the attempts at scholarly discussion in the paper are interpolated with a series of digressive interludes written in an auto‐biographical CNF style. These interludes are intended to exemplify aspects of the interpretive research mentality.
Findings
This is a conceptual paper seeking to draw attention to and develop a relatively neglected research agenda. The concluding reflections suggest some tangible consequences of this research. The paper suggests that a stronger focus on research writing craft through CNF can liberate the imagination of research respondents and enrich the analysis of narrative forms of qualitative data.
Originality/value
This paper addresses the vast area of narrative‐based qualitative research from a perspective which will be entirely new to many researchers and practitioners. It suggests tangible benefits that this new perspective could bring to the work of each.
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Gideon Becker and Thomas Dimpfl
Financial theory suggests that with increasing labor income risk, the reluctance of households to hold stocks increases. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the determinants…
Abstract
Purpose
Financial theory suggests that with increasing labor income risk, the reluctance of households to hold stocks increases. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the determinants of a household’s decision on whether to invest in risky financial assets.
Design/methodology/approach
Income risk is measured as the observed variation of household income over a five-year period. The authors use both the time and the cross-sectional dimension of the German socio-economic panel to control for unobserved heterogeneity.
Findings
The authors find that indeed higher variation, i.e. higher income risk, reduces the propensity to invest in risky assets. However, when controlling for household heterogeneity, as well as subjective measures of a household’s financial situation (income satisfaction, worries about financial situation), the impact of observed labor income variation vanishes. It is therefore concluded that in particular the perception of investment risk and of the riskiness of the environment determines the investment decision to a great extent.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to a better understanding of a household’s investment decision-making process. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first to fully exploit the panel structure of the data to control for unobserved heterogeneity which leads to novel conclusions with respect to the effect of labor income.
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Stephanie Perkiss and Lee Moerman
The purpose of this paper is to present a forward-looking case of climate change induced displacement in the Pacific Islands as a multidimensional phenomenon with a moral…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a forward-looking case of climate change induced displacement in the Pacific Islands as a multidimensional phenomenon with a moral dimension. Instead of seeking to provide a definitive solution to an imagined problem, the authors have identified the complexity of the situation through an exploration of the accounts of place and accountability for the consequences of displacement.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper explores displacement from a sociological perspective. The authors use the sociology of worth (SOW) to anchor explicit and competing moral claims in an evaluation regime that considers questions of justice and the common good. The public accounts of place in the Pacific Islands provide the empirical material for a consideration of a situated crisis. While SOW is generally adopted for current crises or disputes, this study explores the pre-immigrant story and a future case of displacement. Bauman’s (1998, 2012) perspective on globalization is used to narrate the local conditions of place in a global context as reflective of a dominant social order.
Findings
Since place is a multidimensional concept and experienced according to various states of being including physical, functional, spiritual and emotion or feeling, displacement is also felt at a multidimensional level. Thus to provide an account of a lived experience and to foster a moral accountability for climate induced displacement requires a consideration of multiple accounts and compromises that need to be considered.
Research limitations/implications
As with the majority of accounting research that is concerned with the suffering of those at a distance, we too must tackle this conundrum in a meaningful way. As members of a society that is the largest per capita emitter of greenhouse gas, how do we speak for our drowning neighbors? The paper concludes with some insights from Boltanski (1999) as a way forward.
Originality/value
The paper presents a forward-looking scenario of a looming crisis from a sociological perspective. It adds to the literature on alternative accounts by using stories, media, government reports and other sources to holistically build a narrative grounded in a current and imaged social order.
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Alessandra Mazzei and Silvia Ravazzani
The purpose of this paper is to provide a suitable framework for managing diversity in organizations coping with social, communication, marketing, and organizational challenges.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a suitable framework for managing diversity in organizations coping with social, communication, marketing, and organizational challenges.
Design/methodology/approach
The issue of diversity is explored from the organizational, marketing, and corporate communication viewpoints. This multidisciplinary approach leads to the design of qualitative exploratory research based on three case studies of multinational companies.
Findings
The companies cover a wide range of diversity, including all visible and non‐visible features, especially in relation to competencies and expertise. They pursue social, competitive and communication aims and strive to reflect internal and external stakeholders' expectations. They all implement integrative managerial practices and show an increasing orientation to the leveraging of people's uniqueness in their daily activity.
Practical implications
Managing the diversity issue means that companies must develop a concept of variety, which involves more than mere diversity. They must balance social, communication, marketing and organizational aims and enhance the development of individual talent. All organizational functions must be included in the definition of a contextual approach to the implementation of diversity policies.
Originality/value
The paper suggests a model centred on the leveraging of variety that goes beyond assimilating minorities and integrating diversity. The “Leveraging Variety Model” takes into account both economic and social pressures in order to maximize the ability to satisfy stakeholders' expectations, reflect the external environment, enhance the knowledge creation potential and communicate effectively from an intercultural perspective.
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Teresa Eugenio, Pedro Carreira, Nina Miettinen and Isabel Maria Estima Costa Lourenço
The study investigates whether the level of sustainability concerns of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Malaysia and the Philippines is positively associated with…
Abstract
Purpose
The study investigates whether the level of sustainability concerns of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Malaysia and the Philippines is positively associated with accounting students' intentions to engage in sustainability accounting through its effect on students' attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control regarding environmental sustainability practices.
Design/methodology/approach
This empirical study relies on a structural equation model computed using data collected through a questionnaire and data collected from the HEIs websites.
Findings
The findings show that the willingness to engage in sustainability accounting is determined by students' subjective norm and perceived behavioural control, but it is not determined by attitude regarding environmental sustainability practices. The authors also found that the greater the concern with sustainability of the HEI in which a student is enrolled, the greater his/her attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control towards environmental sustainability, and, indirectly, the greater his/her intention to engage in sustainability accounting.
Originality/value
These findings add to the literature on higher education and sustainability accounting by high-lighting the importance of the HEIs sector in promoting sustainability policies and practices, in acting as role models regarding sustainability issues, and in preparing students for building a sustainable society.
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Jane Broadbent and Jeffrey Unerman
One of the most important considerations in any research project is a compelling research question, the addressing of which will produce socially and/or economically relevant and…
Abstract
Purpose
One of the most important considerations in any research project is a compelling research question, the addressing of which will produce socially and/or economically relevant and beneficial insights based on high‐quality evidence. The purpose of this paper is to explain that each possible research question requires use of the particular research methods that will produce the high‐quality evidence relevant to that question, with the nature of the evidence and the methods required varying from research question to research question.
Design/methodology/approach
This discussion paper explores and explains the role and function of interpretive accounting research advocates its adoption.
Findings
As the research method needs to be suited to the research question, any restriction imposed on the credible research methods that are considered acceptable severely limits the ability of the accounting academy to serve the needs of society and the economy by addressing the broadest possible range of research questions. From this perspective it is vital for academics to recognize that both positivist/quantitative and interpretive/qualitative methods produce high‐quality credible research evidence.
Research limitations/implications
Any preconceptions within a nation's accounting academy over the unacceptability of either positivist or interpretive research will damage the health and relevance of that academy in the longer term.
Originality/value
The paper argues that both positivist and interpretivist research are needed, drawing on notions of subjectivity, objectivity and inter‐subjectivity in the context of the social construction of both accounting information and research data, and in the context of the socially constructing nature of research evidence.
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Yunita Awang, Abdul Rahim Abdul Rahman and Suhaiza Ismail
This study aims to examine the influence of attitude, subjective norm and adherence to Islamic professional ethics on fraud intention in financial reporting among Muslim…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the influence of attitude, subjective norm and adherence to Islamic professional ethics on fraud intention in financial reporting among Muslim accounting practitioners in the Malaysian banking institutions.
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire was used for a sample of 121 Muslim accounting practitioners who are participants in the financial reporting process of Malaysian banking institutions. The data are analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling.
Findings
The study found that attitude and subjective norms are positively significant in influencing fraud intention in financial reporting. In other words, the more the respondents were in favour of fraud and perceived that their referent groups would approve or support the behaviour, the stronger their intentions to commit fraud. On the other hand, the result for Islamic professional ethics is insignificant, which indicates that the Muslim accounting practitioners may not be significantly influenced by the Islamic code of professional ethics on their intention towards fraud in financial reporting.
Research limitations/implications
The study adds to the scant literature investigating factors influencing Malaysian accounting practitioners’ intentions for fraud in financial reporting in the banking sector. The limitations include the use of scenario leading to the issue of social desirability bias and the use of purposive sampling technique that limits the generalizability of the results.
Practical implications
The findings provide potential avenues for Malaysian banking sector managers to enhance their recruitment and training programmes and give some insights to the public, especially the banks shareholders and depositors, into the fraud in financial reporting intention of the actual participants in the financial reporting process.
Originality/value
To the author’s knowledge, this paper is the first to examine, in the Malaysian banking setting, the influence of attitude, subjective norms and adherence to Islamic professional ethics on the fraud intention in financial reporting among accounting practitioners. There are few investigations to date on the factors of influencing or mitigating the accounting practitioners’ intention to commit fraudulent reporting.
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