scholarly journals Does bribery have a negative impact on firm performance? A firm-level analysis across 132 developing countries

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 398-415 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin C Williams ◽  
Alvaro Martinez-Perez ◽  
Abbi Kedir
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Firm Performance ◽  
Growth Rates ◽  
Developing World ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
National Level ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Level Analysis

Purpose – Reflecting the moral theorisation of bribery as a negative phenomenon, bribery has been widely shown to have a deleterious impact at the national level on economic development and growth. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate whether it is also the case at the firm level that bribery has negative impacts on firm performance. Until now, the few studies conducted in individual nations and regions have produced mixed results. Here, therefore, a more comprehensive evaluation of the relationship between bribery and firm performance is undertaken across the developing world. Design/methodology/approach – To do so, World Bank Enterprise Survey data on 106,805 enterprises across 132 developing countries is used to provide a firm-level analysis of the relationship between bribery and firm performance. Findings – The finding is that bribery enhances firm performance. Firms asserting that it is necessary for enterprises like theirs to give gifts or payments to public officials in order to get things done have 13.9 per cent higher average annual sales growth rates and 48 per cent higher annual productivity growth rates, after controlling for other determinants of firm performance. Practical implications – Given that engaging in bribery at the firm level results in higher firm performance, despite bribery having an overall detrimental negative impact at the country level, public authorities will need to develop measures to alter not only the cost-benefit ratio confronting individual enterprises but also the institutional deficiencies that result in the prevalence of bribery. Originality/value – This is the first firm-level evaluation of the relationship between bribery and firm performance across the developing world.

Access to skilled labor, institutions and firm performance in developing countries

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 328-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charilaos Mertzanis ◽  
Mona Said
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Firm Performance ◽  
Technological Progress ◽  
Skilled Labor ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Development Institutions

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of access to skilled labor in explaining firms’ sales growth subject to the controlling influence of a wide range of firm-specific characteristics and country-level economic and non-economic factors. Design/methodology/approach The analysis uses a consistent and large firm-level data set from the World Bank’s Enterprise Surveys that includes 138 developing countries. An instrumental variables model with a GMM estimator is used for estimating the impact of access to skilled labor on firm performance. In order to obtain more robust estimators, the analysis introduces country-level controls reflecting the influence of economic and institutional factors, such as economic and financial development, institutional governance, education and technological progress. Findings The results document a significant and positive association between access to skilled labor and firm performance in the developing world. The explanatory power of access to skilled labor remains broadly robust after controlling for a wide range of firm-specific characteristics: sectoral and geographical influences matter. The results also show that the association between labor skill constraints and firm performance is mitigated by country-level factors but in diverse ways. Development, institutions, education and technological progress exert various mitigating effects on firm-level behavior regarding access to skilled labor. Originality/value The paper’s novel contribution is threefold: first, it uses joint firm, sector and country-level information to analyze the role of access to skilled labor on firm performance; second, it uses consistently produced information at the firm level from 138 developing countries; and, third, it considers the controlling impact of a wide range of country-level factors that reflect a country’s overall development, institutions and evolution.

HR signals in the context of HRM-firm performance relationship: development of a conceptual framework

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiradip Bandyopadhyay ◽  
Kailash B. L. Srivastava
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
Human Resources ◽  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Relationship Development ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
The Relationship

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to reframe human resources' (HR) systems and practices as HR signals drawing from conceptualizations of signals. The construct of the strength of signal is developed to quantify the attributional ability of HR signals. To examine the role of HR signals in influencing employee behaviours and firm performance, human resource management (HRM)-firm performance relationship is considered as a framework to develop a firm-level conceptual model which integrates factors affecting HR signals and its consequences.Design/methodology/approachThe paper examines the existing literature on the relationship between HRM and firm performance. In the process, the paper considers the concept of HR signal and makes a case for the strength of HR signal. Finally, the paper offers a conceptual model in order to link the antecedents and consequents of HR signals.FindingsThe paper offers a conceptual model to address the gaps in the relationship between HRM and firm performance. It also brings into focus an understanding of HRM as signals and its importance in understanding firm performance.Originality/valueThe paper enriches the existing literature by examining HRM as HR signals. It adds to the literature by considering the attributional ability of HR, through the construct of the strength of HR signals.

Technology transfer and its impact on innovation and firm performance: empirical evidence from Turkish export companies

Kybernetes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Omer Cinar ◽  
Serkan Altuntas ◽  
Mehmet Asif Alan
Keyword(s):  
Technology Transfer ◽  
Firm Performance ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
National Level ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose The purpose of this study is to determine the relationships between technology transfer, innovation and firm performance. Design/methodology/approach The relationship between technology transfer, innovation and firm performance is examined by using data obtained from 252 Turkish export firms, which are among the top 1,000 firms in terms of export volume in Turkey. To examine these relationships, a theoretical framework is empirically tested using structural equation modeling and tested via an empirical study of Turkish export companies. Findings The results of this study can benefit policymakers in government at the national level and company decision-makers at the firm level. Furthermore, an understanding of the relationship between technology transfer, innovation and firm performance may help firms to make correct technology transfer decisions and focus on the correct type of innovation to increase firm performance in practice. The findings indicate the positive effects of technology transfer on innovation and firm performance. In addition, innovation mediates the relationship between technology transfer and firm performance in Turkish export companies. This study suggests that decision-makers should transfer the right technology because well-realized technology transfers lead to the improvement of corporate innovation capacities and improvement of firm performances for export companies. Originality/value There is no study that fully examined the relationship between technology transfer, innovation and firm performance. The proposed literature-based theoretical framework in this study is novel for Turkish export companies.

New evidence of the relationship between employee satisfaction and firm economic performance

2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (6) ◽  
pp. 906-929 ◽  
Author(s):  
Santiago Melián-González ◽  
Jacques Bulchand-Gidumal ◽  
Beatriz González López-Valcárcel
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
Organizational Performance ◽  
Employee Satisfaction ◽  
Performance Outcomes ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Worker Satisfaction ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Level Performance

Purpose – Employee satisfaction appears in any discussion about how employees can contribute to organizational performance. The purpose of this paper is to test the relationship between employee satisfaction and organizational performance; this later measured with three firm-level performance outcomes (return over assets, operating margin, and revenue per employee). Design/methodology/approach – At different times and from two independent sources the authors obtained firms’ data about worker attitudes and financial and productivity performance, respectively. The analyzed sample of 475 firms is the biggest among the studies that analyze performance and employee satisfaction at the firm level. The impact of employee satisfaction over firm performance was assessed. Findings – Overall satisfaction and satisfaction with senior leadership, compensation, and work/life balance, respectively impact firm performance. Research limitations/implications – The ratings come from both employees and ex-employees and the individual characteristics were unknown. Additionally as an internet-based sample there has been a lack of control over the individuals’ response process. Practical implications – Managers have evidence about the importance of their employees’ satisfaction on firm performance, and on how the facets involved on worker satisfaction impact the performance. Social implications – Employer review web sites are increasing their popularity. However, unlike the marketing field with consumers HR area has not taken advantage of this trend. The found results may contribute to highlight the importance of this kind of data. Originality/value – Hitherto there is only one empirical evidence about the positive role of worker satisfaction in objective and financial firm level performance. That was based in best-firms type data. The current study draws in a big sample independent of this kind of rankings. Additionally, the job facet satisfaction conceptualization considered demonstrates the usefulness of this way to understand the employee satisfaction.

Sales response to corporate social irresponsibility and the mitigating role of advertising

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stacey Sharpe ◽  
Nicole Hanson
Keyword(s):  
Negative Impact ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Irresponsible Behavior ◽  
Corporate Social Irresponsibility ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
The Relationship

PurposeThis study examines the relationship between corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) and firm-level sales and estimates the potentially mitigating role of advertising.Design/methodology/approachTo test their hypotheses, the authors conduct an empirical investigation using a sample of 381 US firms engaging in socially irresponsible behavior.FindingsThe results of this investigation indicate that while sales are negatively impacted during the year of a CSI event, they generally recover in the year immediately following the event. In addition, advertising is shown to mitigate the negative impact of CSI on sales in both the event year and the year immediately following. The authors also consider whether differences exist between CSI firms with and without advertising. From this comparative analysis, it is observed that CSI firms which advertise tend to experience more severe declines in sales. Also, such firms tend to recover from the negative implications of CSI sooner.Originality/valueThis paper provides a novel and empirical approach to assessing the relationship between CSI events and firm-level sales while quantifying the mitigating effects of advertising. Furthermore, the unique contributions and practical findings of this research generate strong support for the significant role advertising can play in helping firms recover from CSI-based brand crisis events and help to establish a promising path for future research.

scholarly journals Firm performance and innovation in the developing countries: Evidence from firm-level survey

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 235-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johnson Bosco Rukundo
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Firm Performance ◽  
Policy Option ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Services Sector ◽  
Service Sectors ◽  
Enterprise Surveys ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Innovation Impact

This paper investigates the relationship between firm performance and innovation in developing countries using micro data from enterprise surveys. The purpose is to empirically test the importance of firm performance in terms of sales, for a firm’s proneness to innovate specifically in developing countries. A two-stage least squares (2SLS) model is applied to a sample of 2356 firms from the manufacturing and service sectors. Results show that firm performance, defined as sales, is found to be a significant factor contributing to innovation among firms. This relationship holds in manufacturing firms even when distinguished from the services sector. The findings underline the importance of firms’ performance through increased sales. The paper adds to the existing limited research literature on performance and innovation studies in developing countries especially Africa. The paper results differ from previous research studies where focus has been on innovation impact towards performance. As a policy option, developing countries need to improve and promote an increase in firms’ sales that would spur them to introduce a new or substantially improved product or process.

Association between technological innovation and firm performance in small and medium-sized enterprises

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dja Shin Wang
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Technological Innovation ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Radical Innovation ◽  
Path Model ◽  
Incremental Innovation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Innovation Strategies ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose In developing countries, numerous small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) must innovate because of their scarce resources. This study aims to address the ambidextrous innovation (radical and incremental) associated with firm performance on the SMEs and investigate the moderating effect of environmental factors on the relationship between technological innovation and firm performance. Design/methodology/approach The authors formulate a path model with the variables to investigate the impacts of the two different innovation strategies and their joint effects on firm performance. Meanwhile, they hypothesized that external environmental factors – market dynamism, labour availability, business cost and competitive hostility – moderate the association of radical and incremental innovations with firm performance. The validity of the proposed model was evaluated using a structural equation modelling approach. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to evaluate the convergent validity of the constructs. Findings The authors find that positive association between radical innovation and firm performance; it shows that the radical innovation strategies are positively related to firm performance in SMEs. They also find that the relationship between radical innovation and firm performance has moderated by environmental factors. Second, they find that the incremental innovation strategies have a negative impact to firm performance, and the relationship between incremental innovation and firm performance has no moderated by environmental factors. Practical implications This paper suggests that the managers of SMEs must involve in technological innovation, and offer fourth main implications above. In particular, the authors forewarn SMEs’ managers of the necessity of generating that the relationship between radical innovation and firm performance has moderated by environmental factors, there are approaches fourth items around. Originality/value This study highlights the crucial importance of the mediating role of environmental dynamism when examining the relationship between ambidexterity (radical and incremental innovations) with firm performance; firms can perceive environmental factors and develop technological innovation strategies to enhance business performance.

Female directors and firm performance in Italian and Spanish listed firms

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 411-436
Author(s):  
Juan Francisco Martín-Ugedo ◽  
Antonio Mínguez-Vera ◽  
Fabrizio Rossi
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Thinking Styles ◽  
Method Of Moment ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Female Directors ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between women on the board of directors and firm performance in a comparative analysis between Italy and Spain. Design/methodology/approach The generalized method of moment is employed to examine this relationship in a sample of 1,393 firm-year observations. Findings The results show that the presence of women on the board has a positive impact on the performance of Italian and Spanish firms. However, when the whole sample is divided into Italy and Spain, some results are remarkable. For Spain, the presence of women on the board has a positive influence on firm performance, whereas for Italy the authors find a negative and significant effect on firm performance. This study also finds that the “masculinity” dimension has a negative impact on firm performance. Practical implications The results of this study have several practical implications. First, masculinity differences within the countries can have a large impact on firm performance and can explain some differences between similar countries. Second, the legal system of countries might not explain adequately some differences in the decision-making process. Third, cultural values and thinking styles, in terms of masculinity, might better explain why the results on the relationship between female directors and firm performance are mixed. Fourth, the findings suggest that it is very important to promote gender equality, not only by passing laws but also taking action about the educational system. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that investigates the relationship between female directors and firm performance between Italy and Spain considering the cultural differences in term of “masculinity.”

Does capital structure mediate the link between CEO characteristics and firm performance?

2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 164-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Akram Naseem ◽  
Jun Lin ◽  
Ramiz ur Rehman ◽  
Muhammad Ishfaq Ahmad ◽  
Rizwan Ali
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
Capital Structure ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Ceo Duality ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Financial Decisions ◽  
Gender And Education ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Ceo Characteristics

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to empirically capture the impact of a chief executive officer’s (CEO) personal and organizational characteristics on firm performance in the context of a developing country and to explore whether capital structure mediates the relationship between CEO characteristics and firm performance. Design/methodology/approach In order to test the hypothesized model, CEO duality, tenure and personal characteristics (age, gender and education) were taken as explanatory variables to study their impact on firm performance. Data were collected from 179 Pakistani companies from 2009–2015. The collected data were processed via panel data regression analysis under fixed effect assumptions. Findings Results show that CEO duality has a negative impact on firm performance and that a CEO with a dual role is more inclined toward debt financing. Moreover, a CEO with a longer tenure tends to be opportunistic and prioritize his/her personal interest while making strategic financial decisions, thus creating agency costs for the firm. Furthermore, CEO characteristics like age, gender and education have significant effects on firm financial decisions and firm performance. Finally, the debt and equity ratio partially mediates the link between CEO characteristics and firm performance. Research limitations/implications The findings of this study have limited generalizability due to the specific nature of the sample characteristics. Originality/value To the best of the authors knowledge, this study is the first to explore the impact of CEO characteristics on capital structure and firm performance. This work is also the first to explore the mediating role of capital structure in the relationship between CEO characteristics and firm performance by using Pakistani data.

scholarly journals The role of firm characteristics on the relationship between gender diversity and firm performance

2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (6) ◽  
pp. 1407-1419 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehmet Nihat Solakoglu ◽  
Nazmi Demir
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
Emerging Market ◽  
Gender Diversity ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Specific Factors ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Measures Of Performance

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand the effect of gender diversity on firm performance and evaluate how that relationship is influenced by some firm-specific factors for firms in an emerging market. Design/methodology/approach – The authors collected firm level financial data and firm level characteristics for the firms listed in BIST100 index of Borsa Istanbul for the period between 2002 and 2006. Due to endogeneity of gender diversity and firm performance, the authors utilize unbalanced panel data with 2SLS specification. To observe the sensitivity of results across measures of performance, three measures of performance, two accounting-based and one market-based, are utilized. Findings – Overall, the authors find some weak evidence that gender diversity impacts firm performance. In particular, the findings imply significant association between gender diversity and firm performance for firms that are targeting local markets, for firms in the financial sector and for firms that are family or block-owned. Moreover, findings are fragile with respect to the measures of diversity and performance selected. Originality/value – Although the relationship between gender diversity and firm performance are investigated several times in the past, there are not many studies that examines the role of firm-specific factors on that relationship. By revealing the factors that are important, this study provides an explanation why the existing literature leads to mixed results.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document