The Relationship between CFO Compensation and Corporate Sustainability: An Empirical Examination of German Listed Firms

In this paper, we analyze the relationship between Chief Financial Officer (CFO) compensation and Corporate Sustainability (CS) by relying on stakeholder-agent theory and institutional theory. Taking a closer look at the German DAX30 and MDAX firms for the business years 2014–2018 (313 firm-year observations), we perform regression and correlation analyses to determine if the different CFO compensation components are related to CS. Our analyses use the environmental, social, governance (ESG) performance as a proxy for CS, determined by the Asset Four database of Thomson Reuters and the CFO compensation data from the Beck et al. (2020) database, and reveal a positive relationship between CS and CFO compensation for pension and stock compensation. Based on our knowledge, this study is the first empirical study that takes a closer look at the relationship between the different CFO compensation components and CS for the German DAX30 and MDAX firms. This result comes with important implications concerning the design of CFO compensation and for future research.

Reducing information asymmetry and building trust in projects using blockchain technology

The success of every construction project is highly dependent on effective communication and trust between key project participants. It is assumed that all participants in the project will work smoothly together to complete the project. Nevertheless, according to the principal-agent theory, there is information asymmetry between project participants because they also have their own self-interests. Information asymmetry is the situation in which one of the two parties is better informed than the other. Due to complexity of construction projects and the number of participants involved, implementation of blockchain technology would reduce information asymmetry. This paper provides a framework for implementation of blockchain technology in construction projects so as to reduce information asymmetry and enhance trust between project participants. Blockchain technology ensures that all project participants have access to all the information exchanged between them over the duration of the project, and thus helps in developing a more trustful relationship between them.

Rethinking Proxy War Theory in IR: A Critical Analysis of Principal–Agent Theory

This paper explores the question of what drives proxy alignment in war and argues that current proxy war scholarship needs further thinking to go beyond focusing on the principal–agent theory and individual actors’ motivation analysis. Rather, there is a need to look at the generative mechanisms of proxy alignment as a process that constitutes patterns of friend–enemy relations. The paper argues securitization patterns from domestic to regional and international levels drive actors to re-evaluate their positions and define their enemies and friends. This is a process of securitization alignment and confluence, which serves as a generative mechanism for proxy alignment in a conflict. Securitization alignment is based on a convergence of securitizations by different actors that create a friend–enemy dynamic and convergence of security interests between actors. The confluence of securitizations from the domestic level to regional and beyond also connects actors across different levels to be in alignment and impact the conflict.

The effects of performance evaluation on punishment in organisations

This article expands understanding of the relationship between punishment and performance in organisations. We analyse Korean data on performance and punishment as follows. While prior literature has focused on the effect of punishment on performance, this article examines the effect of performance gaps on punishment. Based on behavioural theory, strategic reference point theory and principal–agent theory, it sheds light on the negative relationship between performance gaps (cause) and punishment (effect). The article demonstrates that low performers are more often punished and high performers less so (i.e. a negativity bias). Our results also show that organisations prioritise light punishment over heavy punishment when disciplining employees in response to performance. Points for practitioners Low-performing organisations are more often punished and high-performing organisations less often so. The degree to which negative performance increases punishment is greater than that to which positive performance decreases punishment. Organisations prioritise light punishment over heavy punishment when disciplining employees in response to performance.

Promoting Information-Resource Sharing within the Enterprise: A Perspective of Blockchain Consensus Perception

The prevalence of information technology (IT) and information systems (IS) provides opportunities for enterprises to sustain open innovation. However, information silos that appeared with IS use have made IS inconvenient and thus impeded enterprises’ open innovation. The present study, therefore, aims to resolve this issue by helping understand how to encourage information-resource sharing within the enterprise. We first proposed a new concept—consensus perception—based on the blockchain characteristics and advantages derived from prior studies, and then developed a conceptual model based on the consensus perception and principal–agent theory. Second, we used this conceptual model to investigate whether blockchain technology (BT) can be used to promote information-resource sharing. The results showed that information security concern, perceived rewards, and openness have direct influences on information-resource sharing intention and that trust has indirect effects. The findings provide useful theoretical and practical contributions to sustain enterprises’ open innovation by adopting BT to solve the information-resource sharing issues.

A vállalkozások közzétételi gyakorlatának elméleti megközelítése = Theoretical Aspects of Accounting Disclosure

A vállalkozások közzétételi gyakorlata folyamatosan változott az elmúlt évtizedekben a változó jogi, gazdasági és társadalmi környezet hatására. Egyre több kutatás foglalkozik a közzétételi motivációs tényezőkkel, valamint a vállalati információk közlésével foglalkozó elméletekkel (érdekhordozói elmélet, megbízó-ügynök elmélet, jelzéselmélet, legitimitás elmélet). Tanulmányunkban kísérletet teszünk ezen ösztönző tényezők csoportosítására, valamint bemutatjuk a fenti elméleteket. = Business disclosure practices have changed progressively in recent decades as a result of the changing legal, economic and social environment. More and more research is dealing with the motivational factors of disclosure as well as theories dealing with the disclosure of corporate information (stakeholder theory, principal-agent theory, signaling theory, legitimacy theory). In our study, we attempt to group these motivating factors and present the above theories.