Overseeing the external audit function: Evidence from audit committees’ reported activities

Recently, in response to calls for more transparency, many firms have begun reporting the activities undertaken by their audit committees in overseeing the work of the external auditor. We use a composite measure of audit committees’ reported oversight activities for a sample of S&P 1500 firms and examine the extent to which these reported activities are associated with audit quality. We find that when firms’ audit committees report exerting strong oversight, they have higher audit quality as proxied by audit fees, discretionary accruals, the likelihood of meeting or beating earnings benchmarks, and restatements. We also find that the market reacts positively to reports indicating strong oversight, consistent with perceptions of higher audit quality. This study extends prior literature on audit committees by introducing a new comprehensive measure of audit committees’ reported oversight activities and sheds light on how these activities map into audit quality.

Caring but sharing unintentionally: Lobbying for innovations and the leakage of knowledge

When firms engage in lobbying, their intended outcome is a regulatory change that benefits them. However, prior literature suggests that there may also be an unintended outcome of lobbying—the leakage of knowledge to competitors. In this paper, I explore when the intended and the unintended outcomes are more likely by theorizing about the relationship between lobbying and innovation. I predict that innovations that are novel are more likely to benefit from the intended regulatory changes. However, innovations that use knowledge uniquely possessed by a few firms are more likely to be compromised by the leakage of knowledge that happens during lobbying. I use new data from 1999-2013 on public U.S. firms that engaged in lobbying to federal agencies, the regulatory changes made by federal agencies, and the 16,000 patents applied for by those firms. I employ unsupervised machine learning (Doc2Vec) to measure knowledge leakage and an instrumental variable 2SLS mediation analyses to test the theory. The results suggest that the intended regulatory changes that follow lobbying can benefit innovations by facilitating wider adoption. However, unique technological knowledge that only a few firms possess may be expropriated by competitors during the process of lobbying. Overall, this paper demonstrates that fundamental aspects of innovation— such as institutional change, knowledge transfer, and technology adoption—are closely related to lobbying, a form of nonmarket activity.

Walking Our Evidence-Based Talk: The Case of Leadership Development in Business Schools

Academics have lamented that practitioners do not always adopt scientific evidence in practice, yet while academics preach evidence-based management (EBM), they do not always practice it. This paper extends prior literature on difficulties to engage in EBM with insights from behavioral integrity (i.e., the study of what makes individuals and collectives walk their talk). We focus on leader development, widely used but often critiqued for lacking evidence. Analyzing 60 interviews with academic directors of leadership centers at top business schools, we find that the selection of programs does not always align with scientific recommendations nor do schools always engage in high-quality program evaluation. Respondents further indicated a wide variety of challenges that help explain the disconnect between business schools claiming A but practicing B. Behavioral Integrity theory would argue these difficulties are rooted in the lack of an individually owned and collectively endorsed identity, an identity of an evidence-based leader developer (EBLD). A closer inspection of our data confirmed that the lack of a clear and salient EBLD identity makes it difficult for academics to walk their evidence-based leader development talk. We discuss how these findings can help facilitate more evidence-based leader development in an academic context.

Eye Movement and Pupil Measures: A Review

Our subjective visual experiences involve complex interaction between our eyes, our brain, and the surrounding world. It gives us the sense of sight, color, stereopsis, distance, pattern recognition, motor coordination, and more. The increasing ubiquity of gaze-aware technology brings with it the ability to track gaze and pupil measures with varying degrees of fidelity. With this in mind, a review that considers the various gaze measures becomes increasingly relevant, especially considering our ability to make sense of these signals given different spatio-temporal sampling capacities. In this paper, we selectively review prior work on eye movements and pupil measures. We first describe the main oculomotor events studied in the literature, and their characteristics exploited by different measures. Next, we review various eye movement and pupil measures from prior literature. Finally, we discuss our observations based on applications of these measures, the benefits and practical challenges involving these measures, and our recommendations on future eye-tracking research directions.

Accounting firms’ talent management practices: perceived importance and its impact on auditors’ performance

Purpose Prior literature on talent management (TM) in the audit setting has suggested several practices that may affect auditors’ performance. However, the study is limited in terms of a measurable set of comprehensive constructs of TM in the audit setting, as well as the impact of comprehensive TM constructs on auditors’ performance. Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine TM practices perceived to be important by auditors for auditors’ performance. Design/methodology/approach Data were obtained from 307 survey questionnaires received from auditors of large- as well as small- and medium-sized firms. Findings The study respondents perceived TM attributes related to supervision and review practices as the most vital for auditors’ performance. This category was followed by attributes related to ethics management practices along with training and development. The findings reveal that respondents generally perceived lower significance for attributes pertaining to work–life balance (WLB) and establishing a TM policy for auditors’ performance. While both top management and staff members of audit firms regarded WLB and establishing a TM policy to be of lower significance, top management placed greater importance on attributes related to ethics management, while staff perceived training and development attributes to be more critical. Originality/value This study examined a comprehensive set of TM practices (establishing a TM policy, recruitment, ethics management, training and development, supervision and review, remuneration, WLB and succession planning) and assessed the perceptions of audit practitioners on the significance of these practices on auditors’ performance.

Assessing the investment environment in container terminals: A knowledge gap model

This paper aims to evaluate the investment environment in container terminals (CTs) in one seaport from the attitudes of both terminal operators (TOs) and port companies (PCs). Evaluation criteria (ECs) regarding the investment environment in CTs are first created based on the prior literature and the CTs’ operational characteristics. A knowledge gap model based on an improved fuzzy AHP approach is then developed to assess the perceived differences on the ECs between TOs and PCs, by which the PCs managers could formulate practical policies to improve their investment environment in CTs. As an empirical study, the Taiwan International Port Corporation (TIPC) and its terminal operators in Kaohsiung port are examined to verify the research model. Results indicate that ECs with higher knowledge gap for TIPC include: Intra-port coopetition, Number of shipping carriers, and Business tax. Based on the result, theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

Measurement Invariance of Alabama Parenting Questionnaire Across Age, Gender, Clinical Status, and Informant

This study aimed to investigate the measurement invariance of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (for both long [APQ-lg] and short [APQ-9] forms) across age, gender, clinical status, and informant (i.e., parent vs. child reports). The sample was composed of adolescents (community sample: N = 1,746; clinical sample: N = 166) and parents ( N = 149). The analyses were conducted in R. Measurement invariance was assessed via multi-group confirmatory factor analysis, equivalence test, and subsampling approach. The original model of APQ-lg (five factors) showed a significantly better fit than other concurrent models (five concurrent models were specified, based on prior literature). For APQ-lg, we found measurement invariance across gender and partial measurement invariance across age, clinical status, and informant. For APQ-9, we confirmed the measurement invariance across gender and clinical status, while across age and informant partial measurement invariance was attested. Overall, our study indicated that APQ-lg and APQ-9 are two valid tools for measuring parenting practices with some caveats.

Graduating Otolaryngology Residents’ Ideal Practice Expectations: A Longitudinal Analysis

Objective Prior literature has indicated that the number of trained otolaryngologists required to meet the need of our growing population may be insufficient. Therefore, identifying trends in the subspecialty composition of future otolaryngology practices will elucidate workforce needs. Study Design One-page anonymous questionnaire. Setting The survey was completed by examinees at the conclusion of their American Board of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery oral examination from 2011 to 2019. Methods Data included age, gender, fellowship, practice type, and ideal future practice components. Results A total of 2286 examinees were included: 58.1% were male and 57.2% completed a fellowship. Ideal practice specialties included general otolaryngology (19%), rhinology (15%), head and neck (13%), and pediatrics (11%). General and pediatric otolaryngology had a negative correlation over time ( r = −0.81, P = .01, and r = −0.75, P = .03, respectively). An overall 45% of graduates reported 1 ideal practice area ( r = 0.61, P = .10), with a statistically significant decline in the number of ideal practice areas over time ( r = −0.79, P = .018). Men more commonly reported allergy, head and neck, otology, rhinology, and sleep medicine as part of their ideal practice ( P < .05), while women more commonly reported pediatric otolaryngology ( P < .05). There was a higher mean number of ideal practice areas among men than women (2.58 vs 2.1, P < .001). Conclusion There is a growing trend for more specialized otolaryngology practices. The data demonstrate a decline in considering general and pediatrics otolaryngology as part of practices, which portends a gap in access to comprehensive otolaryngology in the future.

Building Stronger Connections Among Students, Families, and Schools to Promote School Safety

Safe schools help promote positive social, academic, and educational outcomes. Research consistently suggests that students tend to be most successful in schools where they feel safe. For example, prior literature establishes that when students attend safe schools, they are more likely to graduate from high school compared to students who attend schools with behavioral problems or safety concerns. Over the last three decades, school shootings have garnered increased public attention, and the public has a heightened awareness that not all schools are safe environments for students. Drawing from ecological systems theory, this chapter will examine how the bonds between students and their schools are important for creating a school culture that is safe, inclusive, and supports the success of all students. Bridging social capital between families and schools also helps foster a safe school atmosphere, where students can focus on their academic and social development.

Strategic Behavior in Family Firms

Previous research emphasizes that the participation of the family in business operations is the source of resources and capabilities that conditions the strategic behavior of the family firm. This influence has been recognized as “familiness.” However, this definition is contextualized from static reasoning that ignores the effect of family dynamics on the behavior and value generation of the family-owned business. Prior literature has recognized that the family influence has a dynamic character based on the idiosyncratic process of knowledge management that manifests itself in the company, dynamic familiness. This family capability is shaped by family organizational routines through the family influence and aims to increase its knowledge portfolios for the strategic use of its resources. This chapter addresses the relationship between family influence and the process of learning and knowledge management. The analysis of this relationship allows assessing how family influence can promote the generation of family organizational routines based on knowledge management processes.