‘Welcome on board’: resource dependency and agency theoretic evidence from the South African life insurance market

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdul Latif Alhassan ◽  
Kalwani Zyambo ◽  
Mary-Ann Afua Boakye
Keyword(s):  
Financial Performance ◽  
Life Insurance ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Resource Dependency ◽  
Insurance Market ◽  
Board Independence ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Positive Effect

Purpose This paper examines the role of corporate governance on the financial performance of life insurers in South Africa. Specifically, the paper tests two competing hypotheses on the role of boards as effective monitors of opportunistic behaviour of executives, as prescribed by the agency theory or as an effective resource, as advocated by the resource dependency view. Design/methodology/approach The paper estimates both static and dynamic panel data of 68 insurers from 2007 to 2014 using random effects, panel corrected standard error ordinary least squares and generalized method of moment’s estimation techniques. Board size, audit committee size, board independence and audit committee independence are used as the governance indicators while profitability is measured as returns on assets and equity. Findings The findings support both the resource dependency and agency theoretic views of boards. Specifically, the results indicate that large board and audit committees improve financial performance which supports the view of boards as effective resources for insurers. In addition, the role of non-executive directors in addressing agency conflict is reflected in the positive effect of board independence on financial performance. However, the long-run causal positive effect is only reported for audit committee size on return on assets. In addition, the paper also finds evidence of profitability persistence in the life insurance market. Finally, reinsurance usage, insurer size and market concentration were found to have a negative effect on financial performance. Practical implications The findings re-enforce the important role of boards in their oversight responsibilities and as effective resources in the operations of highly specialized insurance businesses. Originality/value As far as the authors are concerned, this empirical analysis documents the first evidence of the linkages between governance mechanisms and financial performance of an insurance market in Africa.

Board independence and corporate social responsibility reporting: mediating role of stakeholder power

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Afzalur Rashid
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Board Independence ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Reporting Practices ◽  
Csr Reporting ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
Stakeholder Power

Purpose This study aims to examine the association between board independence and corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting and the moderating role of stakeholder power on the association between board independence and CSR reporting. Design/methodology/approach Using a sample of 707 Bangladeshi firm-year observations, this study uses a content analysis technique to develop a 24-item of CSR reporting index. This study uses the ordinary least squares regression method to examine the relationship between board independence and CSR reporting. Findings The study finds that board independence does not influence CSR activities and relevant reporting in general. However, the non-influence of board independence and CSR reporting is offset by stakeholder power. Insider ownership, firm age, firm size, growth opportunities and market capitalisation have a positive influence on such reporting. Practical implications While this study suggests that stakeholders’ influence is an important factor in determining the firms’ incentives to disclose CSR information, this finding creates a new debate on the efficacy of independent directors and whether they are good monitors and are able to fulfil all the stakeholders’ expectations. Originality/value This study makes an important contribution to the literature on CSR practices by documenting that firms having powerful stakeholders induce the board and management to make more CSR reporting practices in the context of emerging economies.

Reconciling temporal conflicts in innovation ambidexterity: the role of TMT temporal leadership

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (8) ◽  
pp. 1899-1920
Author(s):  
Jiawen Chen ◽  
Linlin Liu
Keyword(s):  
Regression Models ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Least Squares Regression ◽  
Exploration And Exploitation ◽  
Temporal Perspective ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Temporal Aspects ◽  
Positive Effect ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This study aims to extend the temporal perspective on ambidexterity by investigating how and under what conditions top management team (TMT) temporal leadership improves innovation ambidexterity. Design/methodology/approach Using a questionnaire survey, data were collected from 165 small- and medium-sized enterprises in China. Ordinary least squares regression models were applied to test the hypotheses. Findings The findings show that TMT temporal leadership has a positive effect on innovation ambidexterity and temporal conflict mediates this relationship. Market dynamism and institutional support moderate the indirect effect of TMT temporal leadership on innovation ambidexterity. Practical implications Managers wishing to promote exploration and exploitation simultaneously should pay attention to the temporal aspects of their innovation strategy and improve their temporal leadership activities. Originality/value This study highlights the temporal conflicts in ambidexterity and clarifies the enabling role of TMT temporal leadership. It contributes new insights to the research on organizational ambidexterity and strategic leadership.

scholarly journals Audit committee – internal audit interaction and moral courage

2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (4/5) ◽  
pp. 403-433 ◽  
Author(s):  
Imen Khelil ◽  
Khaled Hussainey ◽  
Hedi Noubbigh
Keyword(s):  
Audit Committee ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Internal Audit ◽  
Moral Courage ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Second Stage ◽  
Internal Audit Function ◽  
Mixed Approach ◽  
Positive Effect

Purpose This paper aims to offer empirical evidence about the effect of the interaction between the audit committee and the internal audit function (IAF) on the moral courage of the chief audit executive (CAE). Design/methodology/approach A mixed approach was followed. In the first stage, questionnaires were sent to CAEs of 60 listed, financial and non-financial Tunisian companies. To enhance the depth of the analysis, in the second stage, semi-directed interviews with 22 CAEs from listed financial and non-financial Tunisian companies were performed. Findings This paper found that the existence of private access to the audit committee has a positive effect on the moral courage of the CAE. The number of meetings between the audit committee and the CAE, the examination of internal audit programmes and results together with the contribution of the audit committee to the appointment and dismissal of the CAE do not show a significant link with the moral courage of the CAE. It also found an insignificant relationship between the audit committee’s examination of interaction between management and the IAF and the moral courage of the CAE. Originality/value To the best of the authors' knowledge, this paper fills one of the major research gaps in the auditing literature by demonstrating the critical role of audit committee–internal audit interaction in promoting the CAE’s moral courage to behave ethically.

The financial leverage–financial performance relationship in the emerging market of Turkey: the role of financial distress risk and currency crisis

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ismail Kalash
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
Financial Performance ◽  
Financial Distress ◽  
Emerging Market ◽  
Currency Crisis ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Financial Leverage ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Distress Risk

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to examine how financial distress risk and currency crisis affect the relationship between financial leverage and financial performance.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses data of 200 firms listed on Istanbul Stock Exchange during the period from 2009 to 2019, resulting in 1950 firm-year observations. Pooled ordinary least squares, random effects, firm fixed effects and two-step system GMM models are used to investigate the hypotheses of this study.FindingsThe results reveal that financial leverage has negative and significant effect on financial performance, and that this effect is stronger for firms with higher financial distress risk. Furthermore, the findings provide moderate evidence that currency crisis exacerbates the negative association between leverage and performance.Practical implicationsThe results of this study have important implications for firms in emerging markets. Managers can enhance firm performance by reducing the level of financial leverage, especially in firms with higher financial distress risk. These firms incur higher debt costs, and then they can benefit more from the decreases in debt ratio in their capital structure. Moreover, the decreases in debt level have more importance in currency crisis times, when the access to external finance becomes more expensive and more difficult.Originality/valueTo the author's knowledge, this research is the first to examine the effect of currency crisis on the financial leverage–financial performance relationship and is one of few that investigate the role of financial distress risk in determining the linkage between leverage and firm performance.

FURTHER EVIDENCE ON THE LINK BETWEEN FIRM’S CONTROL MECHANISMS AND FIRM FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE: SULTANATE OF OMAN

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Essia Ries Ahmed ◽  
Tariq Tawfeeq Yousif Alabdullah ◽  
Muhammad Shabir Shaharudin ◽  
Eskasari Putri
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Financial Performance ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Board Independence ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Sultanate Of Oman ◽  
Firm Financial Performance ◽  
Corporate Social

Based on the agency theory perspective and its corporate governance problem, the current study investigated how control mechanisms affect firm financial performance with special concentrate on the role of audit committee on the enhancement of firm financial performance. The empirical findings of this study based on the listed companies in the Sultanate of Oman revealed that the control mechanisms, including committee size and board independence, positively enhance financial performance represented by ROE and therefore this leads to encourage firms to focus on such mechanisms. By contrast, audit size, board size and board independence are totally not motivated to engage with financial performance due to the insignificant link with ROA. On the other hand, a negative correlation has been found between board meeting and financial performance represented by ROE. The practical evidence of the implications  by the current study found that for improvement of firm financial performance; that even though if most of the GCC governments recently have focused on corporate social responsibility because largely voluntary nature of corporate social responsibility, they should focus of the control mechanisms that suggested by the current study to play a significant role for enhancing firm financial performance.

Alliance portfolio capability

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 281-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrich Lichtenthaler
Keyword(s):  
Financial Performance ◽  
Alliance Portfolio ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Alliance Performance ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Primary Type ◽  
Positive Effect ◽  
Conceptual Research

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework and propositions on a capability-based view that examine the role of a firm’s primary type of alliances, i.e., exploration or exploitation, in the determinants and impact of alliance portfolio capability. Design/methodology/approach – This is a conceptual research paper, which builds on prior conceptual and empirical management research. Findings – Regarding determinants, capability-based arguments indicate that firms with an emphasis on exploration alliances have higher levels of alliance portfolio capability. However, a focus on exploration alliances aggravates the development of alliance portfolio capability through alliance experience and a dedicated alliance function. Regarding impact, alliance portfolio capability may positively affect a firm’s alliance, innovation, and financial performance. While alliance portfolio capability is assumed to have an equally positive effect on alliance performance for all types of alliance portfolios, a relative focus on exploration alliances is expected to limit the positive effects of alliance portfolio capability on innovation and subsequent financial performance. Originality/value – These new conceptual arguments help to reconcile inconsistent earlier findings, and they deepen the understanding of interfirm differences in alliance portfolio capability and performance.

The effect of characteristics of audit committee and board on corporate profitability in Iran

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahdi Salehi ◽  
Mohammad Tahervafaei ◽  
Hossein Tarighi
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Emerging Market ◽  
Board Independence ◽  
Outside Directors ◽  
Governance Mechanisms ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Corporate Governance Mechanisms

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the relationship between the characteristics of the audit committee and the board and profitability among the companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) in Iran. Design/methodology/approach In this study, the companies listed on the TSE during the period from 2010 to 2015 are investigated. The Linear panel regression method is employed for this purpose. The independent variables of the study are composed of some corporate governance mechanisms including audit committee size, audit committee expertise, board size, board independence, chief executive officer (CEO) duality, and institutional ownership. Findings In spite of the fact that there does not exist any significant association between audit committee size and corporate financial performance, the results indicate that there is a positive and significant relationship between audit committee financial expertise and profitability. The authors found that the number of board members cannot affect corporate performance; moreover, duality of CEO role in Iranian companies does not affect company performance. However, the outcomes showed a positive and significant association between the proportion of outside directors on the board (board independence) and profitability at 99 percent confidence level. This implies that the role of non-executive directors in Iran is inconsistent with the stewardship theory. This is due to the fact that independent directors understand the status of business and market better than the board’s executive members. Finally, the results indicated that there is no significant association between institutional owners and Iranian companies’ performance. Practical implications The findings of this study will reveal more than ever the role of corporate governance mechanisms for society and users of financial statements because as tools on the CEO actions, they always have to pay attention to the implementation of corporate principles in the economic entity’ operation. Originality/value This is one of the most important studies that simultaneously examine the impacts of characteristics of the audit committee and the board on profitability in an emerging market, and the results of the study may give strength to Iranian as well other developing countries.

Does structural capital count in human capital-corporate financial performance relationship? Evidence from deposit money banks in Nigeria

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nnachi Egwu Onuoha
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Financial Performance ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Corporate Financial Performance ◽  
Significant Positive Effect ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
Structural Capital ◽  
Positive Effect

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore human capital and corporate financial performance link from the perspective of human capital theory, resources-based view and balanced score card approach, and the mediating role of structural capital in this relationship. Design/methodology/approach Overall, a data set was drawn from five-year annual reports of deposit money banks (DMBs) in Nigeria. Additionally, the bootstrap procedure was performed to test the mediating role of structural capital. Findings Specifically, the paper results indicate that whereas human capital has significant positive effect on corporate financial performance and structural capital, structural capital has significant positive effect on corporate financial performance. Additionally, the study finds structural capital to mediate the effect of human capital on organizational financial performance. Research limitations/implications This paper focused on 12 DMBs in Nigeria and their five year annual reports. Accordingly, future studies in this area should increase the number of banks and years, and include firms operating in insurance, manufacturing, telecommunication and oil and gas industries to permit comparability of results and broader basis for generalizability. Moreover, the study results provide insights that would serve as robust empirical basis for policy makers to insist on enhancement of the value of human and structural capital variables. Practical implications The managers of DMBs should commit to development of their employees through improvement in their training and health programs, among others. Also, they should ensure continuous improvement of their structural capital to enable the investments in their employee to translate to enhanced corporate financial performance. Originality/value To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to explore the mediation effect of structural capital on the human capital-corporate financial performance link using evidence from DMBs in Nigeria and, thus, extends and deepens extant literature on human capital-organizational performance nexus.

The role of interactive practice in business performance

2020 ◽  
Vol 120 (8) ◽  
pp. 1521-1542 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chao Feng ◽  
Nannan Xi ◽  
Guijun Zhuang ◽  
Juho Hamari
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Financial Performance ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Content Type ◽  
It Capability ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Marketing Performance ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Positive Effect

PurposeDespite the relatively long research continuum on IT capability and performance, the “IT capability-performance” link has remained hazy especially related to the mediating role of IT-based communication and networking overall. Therefore, this study investigates how IT capability affects Internet interactive practice and how it further affects marketing effectiveness and firm success.Design/methodology/approachThe authors collected the survey data from 504 manufacturers in China, and structural equation modeling is used to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe results indicate that (1) IT capability has positive effects on both interorganizational systems (IOS)-enabled and social media (SM)-enabled interactive practice; (2) IOS-enabled interactive practice has a significant positive effect on both marketing and financial performance while SM-enabled interactive practice has a positive effect on marketing performance but no effect on financial performance; (3) IOS-enabled interactive practice mediates the effect of IT capability on marketing and financial performance while SM-enabled interactive practice only mediates the effect of IT capability on marketing performance; (4) marketing performance mediates the impact of IOS-enabled and SM-enabled interactive practice on financial performance.Originality/valueThis study has highlighted the role of social media practice in the relationship between IT capability and firm performance, which makes certain theoretical contributions to the existing research.

How does collaboration between universities and R&D firms influence performance?

2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (9) ◽  
pp. 2436-2476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun-You Lin
Keyword(s):  
Academic Performance ◽  
Firm Performance ◽  
Financial Performance ◽  
Economic Research ◽  
Supporting Evidence ◽  
National Bureau ◽  
Knowledge Stock ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Positive Effect

Purpose How does university-firm collaboration affect the performance of both universities and firms? The purpose of this paper is to evaluate university-firm collaborations aimed at expanding the treatment effects of collaboration ambition on university academic performance as well as collaboration ambition focused on the firm’s production of innovation and financial performance for the top 110 US universities and the top 200 US R&D performing firms. Design/methodology/approach “Two studies, based on the three archival data sets (National Bureau of Economic Research-Rensselaer Scientific Papers Database and the Harvard Dataverse Network (DVN) US Patent Citations database and Compustat database), are undertaken in the top 110 US universities and the top 200 US R&D performing firms.” The study introduces a theoretical model that explicitly addresses collaboration diversity, number of collaborations, knowledge stock and the endogeneity problem that is generated by self-selection of collaboration ambition in university and firm’s performance. Findings The results suggest that the effects of adopting proactive collaboration decision on academic performance are insignificant in the firm subsample. However, more interestingly, the authors find supporting evidence of the negative impact of collaboration on university groups. The authors also find that collaboration diversity, knowledge stock and collaboration ambition lead to stronger firm performance but the number of collaborations is smaller on firm performance. Furthermore, the authors find that collaboration ambition moderates the positive effect of the number of collaborations on firm performance. Practical implications University-firm collaboration is a multifaceted relationship, suggesting that the empirical analysis can be interpreted through the university and the firm view to enhance the understanding of the collaboration for performance creation. This study articulates the positive role of collaboration diversity, knowledge stock and collaboration ambition and the negative role of the number of collaborations on university-firm collaboration in terms of university and firm performance. Moreover, proactive collaboration ambition has the positive effect of a higher number of collaborations on firm performance. The authors conclude that policy should refrain from overly focusing on collaboration diversity, number of collaborations, knowledge stock and collaboration ambition, and the authors consider the interactions between the number of collaborations and collaboration ambition on university-firm collaboration when discussing their effects on mutual performance. Originality/value This study demonstrates the effects of university-firm collaboration on academic performance. In addition, the authors discuss the factors that influence collaboration to help the firm to increase its innovation and financial performance. Therefore, it would be interesting to see simultaneously how university-firm collaboration affects the performance of both partners.

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