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Article
Publication date: 23 December 2022

Yu Song, Bingrui Liu, Lejia Li and Jia Liu

In recent years, terrorist attacks have gradually become one of the important factors endangering social security. In this context, this research aims to propose methods and…

Abstract

Purpose

In recent years, terrorist attacks have gradually become one of the important factors endangering social security. In this context, this research aims to propose methods and principles which can be utilized to make effective evacuation plans to reduce casualties in terrorist attacks.

Design/methodology/approach

By analyzing the statistical data of terrorist attack videos, this paper proposes an extended cellular automaton (CA) model and simulates the panic evacuation of the pedestrians in the terrorist attack.

Findings

The main findings are as follows. (1) The panic movement of pedestrians leads to the dispersal of the crowd and the increase in evacuation time. (2) Most deaths occur in the early stage of crowd evacuation while pedestrians gather without perceiving the risk. (3) There is a trade-off between escaping from the room and avoidance of attackers for pedestrians. Appropriate panic contagion enables pedestrians to respond more quickly to risks. (4) Casualties are mainly concentrated in complex terrains, e.g. walls, corners, obstacles, exits, etc. (5) The initial position of the attackers has a significant effect on the crowd evacuation. The evacuation efficiency should be reduced if the attacker starts the attack from the exit or corners.

Originality/value

In this research, the concept of “focus region” is proposed to depict the different reactions of pedestrians to danger and the effects of the attacker’s motion (especially the attack strategies of attackers) are classified. Additionally, the influences on pedestrians by direct and indirect panic sources are studied.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. 53 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 November 2023

Hussain Syed Gowhor

This study aims to evaluate the suspicious transaction reporting (STR) as a financial intelligence tool to identify the potential strengths and limitations of STR and to come up…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to evaluate the suspicious transaction reporting (STR) as a financial intelligence tool to identify the potential strengths and limitations of STR and to come up with the criteria, which will make this tool an effective one in early detection of terrorist financing activities.

Design/methodology/approach

Considering the research aim, this research uses the funnelling method for identifying effectiveness criteria. Funnelling is a method of literature review that helps find pertinent literature by refining the search through filtering the available research (Ridley, 2008). Using this method, the researcher first applied the criteria of actionable intelligence to filter the financial intelligence tools to select the most promising and important tool (suspicious transaction reporting) for early detection of terrorist financing activities. The funnelling method was also applied to derive the effectiveness criteria from the operational features, and corresponding limitations, of the suspicious transaction reporting system. The funnelling method was also used to identify those operational features and limitations of suspicious transaction reporting that have the most direct relevance to the early detection problem of suspicious transaction reporting.

Findings

There are some operational features of STR that give rise to certain limitations that undermine its effectiveness in terms of early detection of terrorist financing activities. The limitations of STR necessitate a search for criteria that will make STR effective in early detection of terrorist financing activities. Based on the operational features and their corresponding limitations, effectiveness criteria for STR have been derived in this study. It is shown how these effectiveness criteria can remove the limitations of STR.

Research limitations/implications

The list of operational features and the corresponding limitations based on which the effectiveness criteria have been derived may not be exhaustive. There may have other operational features, and corresponding limitations that also make STR largely ineffective in the early detection of terrorist financing activities, and for which more effectiveness criteria should also be derived.

Practical implications

The limitations and the effectiveness criteria will pave the way for redesigning STR in such a way that will make it highly useful for detecting financing activities relating to imminent terrorist attacks.

Social implications

The society will experience fewer terrorist attacks that will make the society peaceful, happy and vibrant.

Originality/value

In this study, the effectiveness criteria of STR for early detection of terrorist financing activities have been derived in an innovative way by deducing them from the operational features of STR and the corresponding limitations.

Details

Journal of Financial Crime, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1359-0790

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 May 2022

Fabian Teichmann and Sonia Ruxandra Boticiu

This paper aims to examine the current situation in Afghanistan after the rapid withdrawal of US troops and the Taliban takeover of the country, and how this has shed new light on…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the current situation in Afghanistan after the rapid withdrawal of US troops and the Taliban takeover of the country, and how this has shed new light on the financing of terrorism.

Design/methodology/approach

Informal interviews were conducted with alleged perpetrators as well as formal interviews with compliance experts to further investigate the subject of terrorist financing in the wake of the latest changes in Afghanistan and terrorist financing through hawala banking. The interviewees were analysed through a qualitative analysis.

Findings

Based on the interviews, it was concluded that both illegal and legal sources of income could be used by terrorist financiers. This study also shows why hawala represents a significant challenge for counter-terrorist financing policies.

Originality/value

While existing literature sufficiently links parallel banking systems, such as hawala, to terrorist financing, this study shows the implications for Switzerland’s perceived commitment against financial crime in light of current changes in Afghanistan, and in addition, certain dogmatic weaknesses of Article 260quinquies of the Swiss Penal Code are critically analysed.

Details

Journal of Financial Crime, vol. 30 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1359-0790

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 May 2022

Godwin Okafor and Camilo Calderon

This paper investigates the relationship between terrorism and firm financial performance in Nigeria. The country has become one of the riskiest countries in Sub-Saharan Africa…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper investigates the relationship between terrorism and firm financial performance in Nigeria. The country has become one of the riskiest countries in Sub-Saharan Africa due to the intensity of recent terror attacks. Also, there is a growing focus on the importance of firms, given firms' economic contribution towards growth, employment and economic and industrial transformation. However, no study has tried establishing a relationship between terrorism and firm financial performance. Therefore, providing empirical proof of this relationship is the primary purpose and motivation of this paper.

Design/methodology/approach

Data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) and the Global Terrorism Database (GTD) were used for this study. The baseline analysis was estimated using the pooled ordinary least squares regression technique. For robustness checks, the fixed effects technique was used to control for heterogeneity across the authors' sample of firms and unobserved factors that are time-invariant, while the IV technique was employed to control for any potential endogeneity.

Findings

The results obtained from the regression analysis were robust to different econometric estimations and approaches. Terrorism was found to have a consistent and significant negative impact on firm financial performance. Furthermore, the marginal effect of terrorism on firm performance was more substantial when state-level terrorism data were used.

Originality/value

Studies often focus on the impact of political instability (which is a measure subjectively based on perception) on foreign direct investment or on the activities of multinational corporations. The authors' research is new in supplying evidence of the relationship between terrorism (an objective measure) and the financial performance of manufacturing firms in Nigeria. Methodologically, this study also employed spatially distributed incidents of terrorism within the country. This is because incidents of terrorism are often spatially distributed within a country (i.e. province or state). This will provide new evidence of the effects of within-country variations of terrorism on firm financial performance.

Details

International Journal of Emerging Markets, vol. 18 no. 12
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-8809

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 September 2023

Anindita Bhattacharjee, Dolly Gaur and Kanishka Gupta

India is not geographically close to either Russia or Ukraine. However, India's trade relations with them make it vulnerable to the consequences of the war between these…

Abstract

Purpose

India is not geographically close to either Russia or Ukraine. However, India's trade relations with them make it vulnerable to the consequences of the war between these countries. Thus, the present study aims to examine the impact of the Russia–Ukraine war on various sectoral indices of the Indian economy.

Design/methodology/approach

Event study methodology has been used in this study for analysis. The date of the war announcement is the event day. The sample studied includes ten sectors of the Indian economy listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). Results correspond to the period of −167 days to +20 days of the announcement of the war, i.e. from June 25, 2021, to March 28, 2022.

Findings

Almost all the sample sectors earned significantly positive abnormal returns in the post-event period. The metal industry has led this group by showcasing the highest abnormal returns. Though Indian sectors made overall positive returns, the market soon corrected itself and abnormal returns were wiped out.

Practical implications

These results can benefit portfolio managers, analysts, investors and policymakers in hedging risks and selecting suitable investments during increased global uncertainty. The study's conclusions help policymakers establish an institutional and supervisory framework that will make it easier to spot systematic risks and reduce them by putting countercyclical measures in place.

Originality/value

India has no geographical proximity or trade relations with Russia or Ukraine, as strong as any other European country. However, Russia has remained a strong ally to India in the trade of defense equipment. Similar is the case with Ukraine, a significant global partner for India. Thus, the impact of conflict between these two countries has not been limited to Europe only but has also engulfed related economies. Hence, the present study is one of the first attempts to examine the burns sustained by the Indian economy due to this war.

Details

Journal of Economic Studies, vol. 51 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3585

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 February 2024

Andreas Schwarz and Audra Diers-Lawson

This study aims to contribute to strategic crisis communication research by exploring international media representations of third sector crises and crisis response; expanding the…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to contribute to strategic crisis communication research by exploring international media representations of third sector crises and crisis response; expanding the range of crisis types beyond transgressions; and developing a framework that integrates framing and crisis communication theory.

Design/methodology/approach

Quantitative content analysis was applied to identify patterns in crisis reporting of 18 news media outlets in Canada, Germany, India, Switzerland, UK and US. Using an inductive framing approach, crisis coverage of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) and intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) between 2015 and 2018 was analyzed across a wide range of crises, including but not limited to prominent cases such as Oxfam, Kids Company, or the Islamic Research Foundation.

Findings

The news media in six countries report more internal crises in the third sector than external crises. The most frequent crisis types were fraud and corruption, sexual violence/personal exploitation and attacks on organizations. Exploratory factor analysis revealed three components of crisis response strategies quoted in the media, conditional rebuild, defensive and justified denial strategies. Causal attributions and conditional rebuild strategies significantly influenced media evaluations of organizational crisis response. Three frames of third sector crises were detected; the critique, the damage and the victim frame. These frames emphasize different crisis types, causes, crisis response strategies and evaluations of crisis response.

Originality/value

The study reveals the particularities of crises and crisis communication in the third sector and identifies factors that influence mediated portrayals of crises and crisis response strategies of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) from an international comparative perspective. The findings have relevant implications for crisis communication theory and practice.

Details

Corporate Communications: An International Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1356-3289

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 May 2023

Kais Baatour, Khalfaoui Hamdi and Hassen Guenichi

Illicit trade is pervasive in many nations and may be influenced by the level of national IQ. The current interdisciplinary paper aims to study the association between national…

Abstract

Purpose

Illicit trade is pervasive in many nations and may be influenced by the level of national IQ. The current interdisciplinary paper aims to study the association between national intelligence and illicit trade across nations.

Design/methodology/approach

The illicit trade index scores for 84 countries, developed by the Economics Intelligence Unit, are used to measure the dependent variable. The independent variable is national intelligence, while economic development, unemployment and Hofstede’s cultural dimensions are the control variables. Two-level hierarchical linear models (HLMs) are used to empirically test the above-mentioned association.

Findings

The empirical results suggest that the higher the degree of national intelligence, the lower is the degree of illicit trade across nations. In addition, economic development, unemployment and national culture play an important role in explaining cross-country differences in illicit trade.

Practical implications

Regulatory authorities should find the results of this cross-national research useful in evaluating the likelihood of illicit trade from a cognitive perspective, and in implementing reforms to curb this type of economic crimes.

Originality/value

This interdisciplinary study makes novel contributions to the literature on economic and financial crimes. First, for the first time to the best of the authors’ knowledge, an association between national intelligence and illicit trade is examined. A second original contribution of this study compared to earlier research is related to the use of two-level HLMs. Third, the investigation of the association between intelligence and illicit trade takes a new control variable into consideration, i.e. unemployment, a variable which is found to have a significant effect on illicit trade and that has not been used directly in relationship with illicit trade so far.

Details

Journal of Financial Crime, vol. 30 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1359-0790

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 April 2024

Hajira Batool

The purpose of this study aims to investigate the estimated symptoms of posttraumatic stress (PTSD) among the residents of the violent line of control (LoC) of Azad Kashmir.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study aims to investigate the estimated symptoms of posttraumatic stress (PTSD) among the residents of the violent line of control (LoC) of Azad Kashmir.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is a quantitative, exploratory study. The sample comprised 235 males and 225 females, aged 18–35years (N = 460). The traumatic appraisal questionnaire (TAQ) was applied to the determined sample and their responses were statistically analyzed.

Findings

It was identified through quantitative research that people living near the LoC had higher PTSD symptoms as compared to those living farther away. Moreover, females exhibited higher PTSD than males. Religious beliefs were identified as the most common coping mechanism used by residents of LoC.

Practical implications

Awareness sessions and seminars will be conducted with the help of mental health professionals in those areas with high estimated PTSD symptoms. This research will also help mental health professionals in Azad Kashmir to understand PTSD issues of LoC people.

Originality/value

This study focuses on estimating PTSD symptoms among residents living near the LoC in Azad Kashmir, an area characterized by violence and conflict. This research offers practical implications for mental health interventions, such as conducting awareness sessions and seminars with the help of mental health professionals. Furthermore, the study can enhance the understanding of PTSD among LoC residents, aiding mental health professionals in providing more effective support and care.

Details

Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1759-6599

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 February 2023

Katherine Taken Smith, Lawrence Murphy Smith, Marcus Burger and Erik S. Boyle

Cyber terrorism poses a serious technology risk to businesses and the economies they operate in. Cyber terrorism is a digital attack on computers, networks or digital information…

Abstract

Purpose

Cyber terrorism poses a serious technology risk to businesses and the economies they operate in. Cyber terrorism is a digital attack on computers, networks or digital information systems, carried out to coerce people or governments to further the social or political objectives of the attacker. Cyber terrorism is costly in terms of impaired operations and damaged assets. Cyber terrorism harms a firm’s reputation, thereby negatively affecting a firm’s stock market valuation. This poses grave worries to company management, financial analysts, creditors and investors. This study aims to evaluate the effect of cyber terrorism on the market value of publicly traded firms.

Design/methodology/approach

Financial information was obtained on business firms that were featured in news stories as targets of cyber terrorism. The firm’s stock price was recorded for 1, 3 and 7 days before and after the news article. Percentage changes in the firm’s stock price were compared to percentage changes in the Dow Jones Index to ascertain whether the firm’s stock price went up or down matching the market overall.

Findings

Results indicate that stock prices are significantly negatively affected by news of cyber terrorist attacks on companies. In all three time periods after the cyber terrorist attack, there was a significant negative decline in the stock value relative to the Dow Jones Index. Thus, the market valuation of the firm is damaged. As a result, the shareholders and institutions are financially damaged. Furthermore, exposed system vulnerability may lead to loss of business from consumers who have reduced confidence in the firm’s operations.

Practical implications

This paper examines the risks posed by cyber terrorism, including its impact on individual business firms, which in turn affect entire national economic systems. This makes clear the high value of cybersecurity in safeguarding computer systems. Taking steps to avoid being a victim of cyber terrorism is an important aspect of cybersecurity. Preventative steps are normally far less costly than rebuilding an information system after a cyber terrorist attack.

Originality/value

This study is original in examining the effect of cyber terrorism on the stock value of a company.

Details

Information & Computer Security, vol. 31 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2056-4961

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 16 October 2023

Nurcan Ensari and Ronald E. Riggio

Muslimophobia, or prejudice toward Muslims, results in employment discrimination, social exclusion of Muslims, anti-Muslim hate crimes, and physical and verbal assaults, in the…

Abstract

Muslimophobia, or prejudice toward Muslims, results in employment discrimination, social exclusion of Muslims, anti-Muslim hate crimes, and physical and verbal assaults, in the United States and globally. Moreover, anti-Muslim incidents are on the rise in many countries. In this chapter, we provide a review of Muslimophobia and its dynamics and consequences in the workplace. We also make suggestions for reducing prejudice toward Muslim employees, using social psychological perspectives, particularly intergroup contact theory, and research on prejudice reduction. It is also argued that leaders play an important role in the combating of Muslimophobia, including creating opportunities for personalized interactions with Muslim employees and disseminating more information about Muslims and Islam. This chapter concludes with practical implications and suggestions for future research directions. Although there is much work to be done in reducing Muslimophobia and discrimination against Muslims, social psychological research emanating from intergroup contact theory suggests that it is a viable path for researchers and practitioners to pursue.

Details

Inclusive Leadership: Equity and Belonging in Our Communities
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83797-438-2

Keywords

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