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1 – 10 of over 410000The main goal of the article is to identify, analyze and evaluate the mediating role of HRM outcomes in the relationships between employee retention (ER) and company performance…
Abstract
Purpose
The main goal of the article is to identify, analyze and evaluate the mediating role of HRM outcomes in the relationships between employee retention (ER) and company performance results, with a specific focus on discerning any shifts or differences in this mediation across non-crisis and crisis times in the foreign subsidiaries of MNCs.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical research covered 200 MNCs headquartered in Central Europe. A Computer-Aided Telephone Interviewing (CATI) method was used for data collection. The raw data was adjusted using the Efficiency Index (EI) to accurately represent the relationships between the variables under study. The research hypotheses were examined, and the mediating effects were assessed through Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM).
Findings
The research findings provide valuable insights by exploring the mediating role of HRM outcomes between ER and company performance results, highlighting HRM’s crucial role in enhancing results in finance, innovation and quality, particularly during crises. They underscore the strategic importance of HRM in fostering organizational resilience and innovation.
Originality/value
The study offers a new methodological contribution through introducing the EI for a precise quantitative evaluation of the relationships between ER, HRM and company performance results. However, the greatest added value of this article is the creation of the ER-HRM Mediation Theory of Organizational Resilience through Innovativeness in Crisis.
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Eric Owusu Boahen and Emmanuel Constantine Mamatzakis
There are variations in religious social norms and legal environments around the world. In this paper, we aim to examine the interaction between variations in religious social…
Abstract
Purpose
There are variations in religious social norms and legal environments around the world. In this paper, we aim to examine the interaction between variations in religious social norms and legal environments on real activities manipulations and expense misclassification using a global sample of 63 countries. Our inquiry is motivated by a paucity of research on the interaction between legal environment and religion on earnings management practices in an international setting.
Design/methodology/approach
This study draws on a global sample of 63 countries to examine the effect of variations in religious social norms and legal environments on the trade-off between expense misclassification and real activities earnings management practices. Firm-specific financial data come from Global Compustat. Religion data are obtained from World Values Surveys of the World Bank. We obtain legal environment scores from the International Country Risk Guide.
Findings
Findings suggest that the interaction between law and religion serves as constraints on both classification shifting and real activities manipulation around the world. We find that religion strengthens the weak legal environment and the strong legal environment strengthens the weak religious environment to decrease both real activities manipulation and classification shifting when law and religion interact in an international setting. Therefore, our results contradict Zang's (2012) earnings management trade-off evidence. Again, our results contradict Malikov et al.’s (2018) evidence that mandatory International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption is associated with increased real activities manipulation.
Research limitations/implications
The study is limited to 63 countries limiting the generalizability of the findings.
Originality/value
This study provides novel evidence and shows that there is a link between law and religion. The interaction between law and religion decreases expense misclassification and real activities manipulation. We contribute that the interaction between religion and law benefits firms and increases shareholder value as real activities manipulation decreases. Therefore, strengthening the legal environment will complement religion, IFRS and other monitoring mechanisms put in place to mitigate unethical expense misclassification and real activities earnings manipulation around the world.
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This paper aims to examine the influence of sustainability reporting on bank performance. Furthermore, this study investigates the impact of the country’s economic development…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the influence of sustainability reporting on bank performance. Furthermore, this study investigates the impact of the country’s economic development, financial system and crisis in moderating sustainability reporting and bank performance relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
The sample consists of 400 listed banks from 19 countries over the 2009–2022 period. Panel fixed-effect regression is applied, and System Generalized Method of Moments is used as robustness to address endogeneity concerns. The results are robust and survive several sensitivity tests.
Findings
The results, aligning with legitimacy and agency theories, suggest a negative relationship between sustainability reporting and bank performance. Based on further classifications, results suggest the negative (positive) impact of country’s financial system (economic development) in moderating the sustainability reporting and bank performance nexus. Finally, this study documents the positive influence of sustainability reporting on bank performance during the crisis period. Overall, the findings fail to support the reduced information asymmetry accruing from higher sustainability disclosures in developing and bank-based economies.
Practical implications
This study has important implications for regulators, policymakers and other stakeholders, especially in light of recent banking scandals that have deteriorated stakeholders' faith in financial institutions' reporting quality.
Originality/value
This study extends the scant literature on sustainability reporting in banking from a cost-benefit vantage point. Furthermore, to the best of the author’s knowledge, no previous research has examined the moderating role of the country’s financial structure and crisis in sustainability reporting and bank performance relationship.
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Hugo Gobato Souto and Amir Moradi
This study aims to critically evaluate the competitiveness of Transformer-based models in financial forecasting, specifically in the context of stock realized volatility…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to critically evaluate the competitiveness of Transformer-based models in financial forecasting, specifically in the context of stock realized volatility forecasting. It seeks to challenge and extend upon the assertions of Zeng et al. (2023) regarding the purported limitations of these models in handling temporal information in financial time series.
Design/methodology/approach
Employing a robust methodological framework, the study systematically compares a range of Transformer models, including first-generation and advanced iterations like Informer, Autoformer, and PatchTST, against benchmark models (HAR, NBEATSx, NHITS, and TimesNet). The evaluation encompasses 80 different stocks, four error metrics, four statistical tests, and three robustness tests designed to reflect diverse market conditions and data availability scenarios.
Findings
The research uncovers that while first-generation Transformer models, like TFT, underperform in financial forecasting, second-generation models like Informer, Autoformer, and PatchTST demonstrate remarkable efficacy, especially in scenarios characterized by limited historical data and market volatility. The study also highlights the nuanced performance of these models across different forecasting horizons and error metrics, showcasing their potential as robust tools in financial forecasting, which contradicts the findings of Zeng et al. (2023)
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the financial forecasting literature by providing a comprehensive analysis of the applicability of Transformer-based models in this domain. It offers new insights into the capabilities of these models, especially their adaptability to different market conditions and forecasting requirements, challenging the existing skepticism created by Zeng et al. (2023) about their utility in financial forecasting.
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Juliano Nunes Alves, Moisés Pivetta Cogo, Leander Luiz Klein and Breno Augusto Diniz Pereira
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of knowledge management (KM) drivers on perceived KM results in a public higher education institution. A structured…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of knowledge management (KM) drivers on perceived KM results in a public higher education institution. A structured theoretical model based on leadership, people, processes, knowledge processes, technology, learning and KM results was developed and tested.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was conducted with the employees of a public higher education institution where an administrative reform was initiated. A valid sample of 257 respondents was obtained. The data were obtained from the application of a structured questionnaire based on the KM drivers and their results. A five-point Likert-type scale was used to measure respondents' answers. The main data analysis technique was structural equation modeling.
Findings
The results indicate knowledge processes, leadership and people factors have a positive and significant impact on KM results. On the other hand, organizational processes, technology and learning factors were not significant. However, the service length of servants in the institution influences the perception of knowledge drivers.
Practical implications
Public institutions should be attentive to people with more time of service because they may have difficulties with technological advances, reorganization of processes and adaptation to new ways of sharing knowledge.
Originality/value
This study advances on the analysis of KM results in the public sector and tests the moderation effect of time of service.
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Guang-Zhi Zeng, Zheng-Wei Chen, Yi-Qing Ni and En-Ze Rui
Physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) have become a new tendency in flow simulation, because of their self-advantage of integrating both physical and monitored information of…
Abstract
Purpose
Physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) have become a new tendency in flow simulation, because of their self-advantage of integrating both physical and monitored information of fields in solving the Navier–Stokes equation and its variants. In view of the strengths of PINN, this study aims to investigate the impact of spatially embedded data distribution on the flow field results around the train in the crosswind environment reconstructed by PINN.
Design/methodology/approach
PINN can integrate data residuals with physical residuals into the loss function to train its parameters, allowing it to approximate the solution of the governing equations. In addition, with the aid of labelled training data, PINN can also incorporate the real site information of the flow field in model training. In light of this, the PINN model is adopted to reconstruct a two-dimensional time-averaged flow field around a train under crosswinds in the spatial domain with the aid of sparse flow field data, and the prediction results are compared with the reference results obtained from numerical modelling.
Findings
The prediction results from PINN results demonstrated a low discrepancy with those obtained from numerical simulations. The results of this study indicate that a threshold of the spatial embedded data density exists, in both the near wall and far wall areas on the train’s leeward side, as well as the near train surface area. In other words, a negative effect on the PINN reconstruction accuracy will emerge if the spatial embedded data density exceeds or slips below the threshold. Also, the optimum arrangement of the spatial embedded data in reconstructing the flow field of the train in crosswinds is obtained in this work.
Originality/value
In this work, a strategy of reconstructing the time-averaged flow field of the train under crosswind conditions is proposed based on the physics-informed data-driven method, which enhances the scope of neural network applications. In addition, for the flow field reconstruction, the effect of spatial embedded data arrangement in PINN is compared to improve its accuracy.
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Hamed Hemmati Pourghashti, Malek Mohammad Ranjbar and Rahmat Madandoust
The purpose of this paper is to conduct a laboratory investigation on measuring the tensile strength of recycled concrete using a double punch test. Furthermore, one of the main…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to conduct a laboratory investigation on measuring the tensile strength of recycled concrete using a double punch test. Furthermore, one of the main goals of this study is to compare the tensile and compressive strengths of recycled concrete samples.
Design/methodology/approach
Recycled concrete samples were made with variables such as aggregate type (natural stone and aggregate recycled concrete), different water-to-cement ratios and different treatment conditions in the first stage. In the next stage, the double punch test was performed on them, and finally the results obtained from experiments were analyzed and investigated.
Findings
According to the above tests, it was concluded that: first, according to the laboratory results, the strength of concrete containing recycled aggregates becomes closer to the strength of concrete containing natural aggregates whenever the water-to-cement ratio is higher. Second, upon investigating the treatment conditions, it was observed that the treatment had a greater effect on the strength of the recycled concrete. However, this effect was less tangible in tensile strength. Third, upon investigating the results of tensile strength, it can be said that the Barcelona test results were closer to the direct tensile test results compared to the Brazilian test results. This indicates the higher viability of Barcelona’s test results. Fourth, the results obtained from the Barcelona tensile test for recycled concrete were closer to the results of the direct tensile test compared to the concrete containing natural aggregates, which suggests that the Barcelona test is more suitable as a tensile test for recycled concrete. Fifth, the effects of various factors on tensile strength were somewhat less compared to the compressive strength, although very close. Sixth, the relationships provided by the regulation for concrete tensile strength on compressive strength were highly inconsistent with the results obtained from the direct tensile test, for which the consistency was higher for concrete containing natural aggregates compared to recycled concrete. Seventh, the dispersion of results obtained from tensile tests was higher for recycled concrete compared to concrete containing natural aggregates, but lesser of this dispersion was observed in the compressive strength.
Originality/value
According to the laboratory results, the strength of concrete containing recycled aggregates becomes closer to the strength of concrete containing natural aggregates whenever the water-to-cement ratio is higher. Upon investigating the treatment conditions, it was observed that the treatment had a greater effect on the strength of the recycled concrete. However, this effect was less tangible in tensile strength. On the basis on the results of the tensile strength, it can be said that the Barcelona test results were closer to the results of the direct tensile test compared to those of the Brazilian test. This indicates the higher viability of Barcelona’s test results. The results obtained from the Barcelona tensile test for recycled concrete were closer to the results of direct tensile test compared to the concrete containing natural aggregates, which suggests that the Barcelona test is more suitable as a tensile test for recycled concrete. The effects of various factors on tensile strength were somewhat less compared to the compressive strength, although very close. The relationships provided by the regulation for concrete tensile strength on compressive strength were highly inconsistent with the results obtained from the direct tensile test, for which the consistency was higher for concrete containing natural aggregate compared to recycled concrete. The dispersion of results obtained from tensile tests was higher for recycled concrete compared to concrete containing natural aggregate, but lesser of this dispersion was observed in the compressive strength.
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Amanda Spink, Bernard J. Jansen, Vinish Kathuria and Sherry Koshman
This paper reports the findings of a major study examining the overlap among results retrieved by three major web search engines. The goal of the research was to: measure the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper reports the findings of a major study examining the overlap among results retrieved by three major web search engines. The goal of the research was to: measure the overlap across three major web search engines on the first results page overlap (i.e. share the same results) and the differences across a wide range of user defined search terms; determine the differences in the first page of search results and their rankings (each web search engine's view of the most relevant content) across single‐source web search engines, including both sponsored and non‐sponsored results; and measure the degree to which a meta‐search web engine, such as Dogpile.com, provides searchers with the most highly ranked search results from three major single source web search engines.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors collected 10,316 random Dogpile.com queries and ran an overlap algorithm using the URL for each result by query. The overlap of first result page search for each query was then summarized across all 10,316 to determine the overall overlap metrics. For a given query, the URL of each result for each engine was retrieved from the database.
Findings
The percent of total results unique retrieved by only one of the three major web search engines was 85 percent, retrieved by two web search engines was 12 percent, and retrieved by all three web search engines was 3 percent. This small level of overlap reflects major differences in web search engines retrieval and ranking results.
Research limitations/implications
This study provides an important contribution to the web research literature. The findings point to the value of meta‐search engines in web retrieval to overcome the biases of single search engines.
Practical implications
The results of this research can inform people and organizations that seek to use the web as part of their information seeking efforts, and the design of web search engines.
Originality/value
This research is a large investigation into web search engine overlap using real data from a major web meta‐search engine and single web search engines that sheds light on the uniqueness of top results retrieved by web search engines.
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The purpose of this paper is to test major web search engines on their performance on navigational queries, i.e. searches for homepages.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to test major web search engines on their performance on navigational queries, i.e. searches for homepages.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 100 user queries are posed to six search engines (Google, Yahoo!, MSN, Ask, Seekport, and Exalead). Users described the desired pages, and the results position of these was recorded. Measured success and mean reciprocal rank are calculated.
Findings
The performance of the major search engines Google, Yahoo!, and MSN was found to be the best, with around 90 per cent of queries answered correctly. Ask and Exalead performed worse but received good scores as well.
Research limitations/implications
All queries were in German, and the German‐language interfaces of the search engines were used. Therefore, the results are only valid for German queries.
Practical implications
When designing a search engine to compete with the major search engines, care should be taken on the performance on navigational queries. Users can be influenced easily in their quality ratings of search engines based on this performance.
Originality/value
This study systematically compares the major search engines on navigational queries and compares the findings with studies on the retrieval effectiveness of the engines on informational queries.
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Misraku Molla Ayalew and Joseph H. Zhang
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of the financial structure on innovation.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of the financial structure on innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
We utilize the matched firm-level data from two sources: the World Bank Enterprise Survey and the Innovation Follow-Up Survey. A total of 3,664 firms from 11 African countries are included.
Findings
The authors find a financially constrained and low technology-intensive firm that uses internal finance more than its peers is less likely to innovate. Our results also show that a firm that uses new equity and debt finance more than its peers is more likely to innovate. The results particularly suggest the significant effect of bank and trade credit finance on firms’ innovation. The extent and, in some cases, the direction of the effect of dependence on internal finance, new equity finance and debt finance on innovation vary due to the heterogeneity in firm size, age and ownership status. Corporate innovation is also associated with firm size, R&D, cooperation, staff training, public support, exportation and group membership.
Practical implications
The management of companies, particularly financially constrained firms, should reduce their dependence on internal finance, which negatively affects their innovation. As a remedy, they could improve their reliance on new equity finance and debt finance, especially bank finance and trade credit finance, which positively affect their innovativeness.
Social implications
A pending policy task for African business leaders is to design and evaluate reforms that help create strong financial sectors willing to provide capital to a broad range of firms, particularly small and young firms.
Originality/value
This study adds new evidence to the recent surge of debate on the trade-off between going public, using debt or heavily using internal sources to finance innovative projects, and which of these is more important in promoting firm-level innovation.
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