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1 – 10 of 17Ken W. Brown and Thomas M. Margavio
This study provides public administrators with an introduction into research of the determinants of audit fees. A working knowledge of external audit cost determinants can help…
Abstract
This study provides public administrators with an introduction into research of the determinants of audit fees. A working knowledge of external audit cost determinants can help public administrators hone their evaluation skills for use in audit-procurement. Most prior research on audit cost determinants has focused on the few hundred cities in the nation with populations exceeding 50,000. As a result, this study investigated the audit costs incurred by small cities with populations less than 50,000.
Besides providing a glimpse of small-city auditing practices, the study tested the significance of the Single Audit Act in audit-fee determination. Missouri municipalities with populations between 2,000 and 50,000 provided the sample for the study. Because Missouri is one of the few states in the nation that neither legislates nor monitors municipal auditing, it represents an unregulated audit market in which town officials decide on the need for an audit, the firm to conduct the audit, and the process by which the audit firm is selected. The results of a nine-variable regression model suggested that the size of the town, the existence of a city administrator, the complexity of the town's operation, the method of accounting, the timing and completion time of the audit, and audit-firm specialization in municipal auditing were important determinants of audit fees.
Sheryl D. Brahnam, Thomas M. Margavio, Michael A. Hignite, Tonya B. Barrier and Jerry M. Chin
As the workforce becomes increasingly diversified, it becomes increasingly important for managers to understand the conflict resolution attitudes brought to information systems…
Abstract
Purpose
As the workforce becomes increasingly diversified, it becomes increasingly important for managers to understand the conflict resolution attitudes brought to information systems (IS) by both men and women. This research was designed to investigate assumptions that may exist regarding the relationship between gender and conflict resolution. Specifically, the intent of this study was to compare the conflict resolution strategies of males and females majoring in IS in order to determine if gender‐based differences exist.
Design/methodology/approach
The Thomas‐Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument was utilized to assess the conflict resolution styles of 163 traditional‐age (18‐22) students enrolled in undergraduate IS courses at a large Midwestern university. Both ANOVA and t‐test analyses were utilized to investigate the relationship between gender and conflict resolution style.
Findings
Results of this study indicate that, when compared with their male counterparts, women are more likely to utilize a collaborative conflict resolution style and men are more likely to avoid conflict. As collaboration is generally considered more productive and avoidance more disruptive in the conflict resolution process, the study suggests that women may possess more effective conflict resolution attributes than their male counterparts.
Originality/value
The results of this paper lend support to the theory that an individual's gender may be related to the development of conflict resolution styles. These findings also support the premise that female students in IS are highly adapted with regard to their ability to work collaboratively (and thereby successfully) in situations where conflict is likely to occur.
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Geanie W. Margavio, Ross L. Fink and Thomas M. Margavio
Quality improvement decisions are the catalyst for substantialtechnological improvements being made in the manufacturing sector. Thenew technology, however, has developed faster…
Abstract
Quality improvement decisions are the catalyst for substantial technological improvements being made in the manufacturing sector. The new technology, however, has developed faster than techniques for evaluating capital investments in such improvements. This is largely because the benefits of quality improvement technology are difficult to quantify. The Taguchi loss function is incorporated into a net present value capital budgeting technique to provide an estimate of these benefits. Describes the loss function in relation to key quality costs: appraisal and prevention costs, and internal and external failure costs. External failure cost savings are generated by reducing variability in the manufacturing process. These savings are then compared with the cost of the quality improving technology. Results indicate that these savings can be substantial, depending on the achieved reduction in the process variability, the cost of capital, and on the estimate of the cost of processing a customer’s return of the product.
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The aim of this study is to identify and interpret the critical factors and performance measures of TQM. Based on extensive review of prescriptive, conceptual, practitioner, and…
Abstract
The aim of this study is to identify and interpret the critical factors and performance measures of TQM. Based on extensive review of prescriptive, conceptual, practitioner, and empirical literature; we were able to identify seven critical factors and more than 45 performance measures of TQM. A possible sequence for implementation of these factors is then presented.
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Suneerat Wuttichindanon and Panya Issarawornrawanich
In Southeast Asia, auditors play a crucial role in the quality of financial reports. With the introduction of a new format of auditors’ report that requires disclosure of key…
Abstract
Purpose
In Southeast Asia, auditors play a crucial role in the quality of financial reports. With the introduction of a new format of auditors’ report that requires disclosure of key audit matters (KAM), the disclosure practice of auditors is, thus, of great interest. Specifically, this study aims to investigate the factors that auditors take into consideration when issuing KAMs.
Design/methodology/approach
The research design is quantitative, with a focus on the number of KAM disclosures issued by auditors. As existing studies rely on the number of KAM disclosures in the analysis, this current research, thus, uses the quantity of KAM disclosures for comparison purposes. The analysis relies on secondary data and multiple regression analysis is used to establish the association between the number of KAM disclosures and three groups of determining factors, namely, auditor characteristics, corporate governance mechanisms and firm characteristics.
Findings
The significant determining factors of KAM disclosure include auditor’s litigation risk, firm complexity, profitability and industry type. Firms using a Big 4 audit firm, firms with many subsidiaries and firms in the technology, property and construction and finance industries have higher numbers of KAMs, while highly profitable firms issue lower numbers of KAMs. As for corporate governance mechanisms, the number of KAMs is significantly positively correlated with the number of independent directors (p < 0.10).
Originality/value
This research includes key corporate governance parties in the examination, including external auditors, independent directors and audit committees. The finding affirms the influence of Big 4 on KAM disclosure in Southeast Asia, while their roles are not significant in Western samples. The result also unearths the monitoring role of independent directors in KAM disclosure. The role of the audit committee in KAM disclosure is insignificant in Thai samples, while the committee role is statistically significant in the Western samples. Variations in the findings between this study and previous research could be attributed to differences in institutional settings between both regions.
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Anna Marie Johnson, Claudene Sproles and Robert Detmering
The purpose of this paper is to provide a selected bibliography of recent resources on library instruction and information literacy.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a selected bibliography of recent resources on library instruction and information literacy.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper introduces and annotates periodical articles, monographs, and audiovisual material examining library instruction and information literacy.
Findings
The paper provides information about each source, discusses the characteristics of current scholarship, and describes sources that contain unique scholarly contributions and quality reproductions.
Originality/value
The information may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.
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Zoran Vojinovic and Vojislav Kecman
In this paper we are presenting our research findings on how effective neural networks are at forecasting and estimating preliminary project costs. We have shown that neural…
Abstract
In this paper we are presenting our research findings on how effective neural networks are at forecasting and estimating preliminary project costs. We have shown that neural networks completely outperform traditional techniques in such tasks. In exploring nonlinear techniques almost all of the current research involves neural network techniques, especially multilayer perceptron (MLP) models and other statistical techniques and few authors have considered radial basis function neural network (RBF NN) models in their research. For this purpose we have developed RBF NN models to represent nonlinear static and dynamic processes and compared their performance with traditional methods. The traditional methods applied in this paper are multiple linear regression (MLR) and autoregressive moving average models with eXogenous input (ARMAX). The performance of these and RBF neural network and traditional models is tested on common data sets and their results are presented.
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Sigrit Altmäe, Kulno Türk and Ott‐Siim Toomet
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between Thomas‐Kilmann's Conflict Management Modes (CMM) and Fiedler's Leadership Style (LS) measures, both in the data…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between Thomas‐Kilmann's Conflict Management Modes (CMM) and Fiedler's Leadership Style (LS) measures, both in the data, and from the theoretical perspective. Based on the conceptual similarities, the authors first propose the existence of a relationship between Thomas‐Kilmann's CMM and Fiedler's LS measures, then establish the presence of the relationship, based on a dataset of Estonian managers.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use a unique dataset of 343 leaders and specialists from different Estonian organizations, on both Thomas‐Kilmann's CMM and Fiedler's Least Preferred Co‐worker test. The data were analyzed by multivariate methods.
Findings
The results indicate that leaders who are task‐oriented, according to Fiedler's model, tend to use more competing as the dominant CMM, while relationship‐oriented leaders are more accommodating. The authors also analyze the effect of individual characteristics, finding that younger managers are more task‐oriented while older ones are typically relationship‐oriented and conflict avoiding; women are more collaborative and less conflict avoiding, and men tend to use the accommodating mode more than women. Surprisingly, women tend to be more competitive.
Originality/value
This is the first study to establish a relationship between Fiedler's Leadership Style and Thomas‐Kilmann's Conflict Mode Instrument. This relationship can potentially be used for assessing the reliability and validity of measurements. The particular shape of it may be used to analyze the links between conflicts, relationships and assertiveness. Additionally, the paper provides an empirical analysis of conflict management habits and leadership styles of Estonian managers.
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Oluwakemi Gbadamosi, Abbas Ghanbari Baghestan and Khalil Al-Mabrouk
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the conflict resolution styles used by university students in handling conflicts, and to determine the effects (if any) of age…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the conflict resolution styles used by university students in handling conflicts, and to determine the effects (if any) of age, nationality and gender on how students respond to conflicts.
Design/methodology/approach
The Thomas-Kilmann conflict mode instrument was adopted to assess the conflict resolution styles (accommodating, avoiding, collaborative, competitive and compromising) of post graduate students in a University in Malaysia. Both ANOVA and t-test analyses were utilized to investigate the relationship between, nationality, gender, age and conflict resolution styles used by students.
Findings
Results of this study indicates that female students used competitive style more than male students, while male students are more likely to avoid conflicts. The older students were discovered to use more avoiding, while younger students are more likely to be competitive in nature. The findings did not reveal any significant differences in nationality.
Originality/value
This paper expands its focus from gender (which is the most commonly tested category) to other categories such as age and nationality, thereby giving room for these new categories to be tested extensively in future researches. The results reveal that students not only use different conflict resolution styles to address conflicts, but also there exists differences in the styles used by students of different age groups and gender.
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Enver Özkalp, Zerrin Sungur and Aytül Ayşe Özdemir
The aim of this study is to determine Turkish managers' conflict styles in different sectors, namely durable consumer goods, aviation, automotive and banking.
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study is to determine Turkish managers' conflict styles in different sectors, namely durable consumer goods, aviation, automotive and banking.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 130 managers' conflict management styles were assessed by applying the Rahim's 1983 Organizational Conflict Inventory‐II.
Findings
First, integrating and, second, compromising are found to be the most preferred conflict styles of Turkish managers. The other important finding is that preferring obliging styles of conflict management changes according to the status of managers. Obliging is mostly used when the conflict partner has an upper level status.
Research limitations/implications
Additional data from cross‐cultural studies are needed to form a comprehensive understanding of conflict management styles. Also, the number of respondents in the study is not enough to generalize the findings; additional data from different sectors could make the findings more valid.
Practical implications
There seems to be a need for seminars or practice‐oriented workshops on evaluating and understanding the nature of conflict and learning to manage conflict as a beneficial and creative process for the betterment of both individuals in organizations and organizations themselves.
Originality/value
The study provides a revised base for cross‐cultural conflict management studies and also highlights the national dynamics of Turkish managers' relationships, especially for international investors.
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