Artificial Intelligence in Accounting and Finance: Meta-Analysis

The use of the traditional system is declined greatly and with a modernization of the accounting and finance process there have been a great deal of change, and these improvements are beneficial to the accounting and finance industry. Adopting Artificial Intelligence applications such as Expert systems for audit and tax, Intelligent Agents for customer service, Machine Learning for decision making, etc. can lead a great benefit by reducing errors and increasing the efficiency of the accounting and finance processes. To keep ensuring a transparent and replicable process, we have conducted a meta-analysis. The database search was between the years 1989-2020 and reviewed 150 research papers. As meta-analysis results show, the majority of researches illustrate a positive effect of the impact of AI systems in the accounting and finance process. Key points:  Meta-Analysis has been applied for emphasizing positive results of the impact of Artificial Intelligence systems in the Accounting and Finance process.  Implementing Artificial Intelligence systems in Accounting and Finance process can increase the efficiency of the process.  Artificial Intelligence technology has been influential in all the areas of accounting, which are especially concerned with knowledge

Transformational Leadership and Leader Member Exchange: An empirical examination of Knowledge Management Practices and Organizational Performance through Employee Involvement

Purpose: Human resource behaviour tends to play a vital role in organizational overall performance. The study incorporates two of the most prominent behaviours of leadership and examine their influence on organizational performance and knowledge management practices through employee involvement. Method: A sample of 398 participants was collected from different industries from services sector through survey questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were carried out to find means, standard deviation, frequency scores and then tested for model fitness by comparing alternative models through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). In order to see the direction of hypotheses, we carried out Pearson Correlations analysis. For testing hypotheses PROCESS macro technique was used. Results: The results indicate that (1) the major influence on knowledge management practices and organizational performance is contributed by employee involvement, further transformational leadership has more impact on employee involvement, knowledge management practices and organizational performance as compared to leader member exchange; (2) employee involvement mediates the relationship between leadership behaviours and knowledge management practices as well as organizational performance. Conclusion: This study concludes that better relationship between manager and employee is necessary for the individual and organizational betterment and it occurs only when individuals are comfortable with their mangers. Keywords: Transformational Leadership (TL), Leader Member Exchange (LMX), Employee Involvement (EI), Knowledge Management Practices (KMP), Organizational Performance (OP) Paper Type: Research Paper

Impact of Retail Strategy, Location and Type of Business on Sales: A Case Study of Peace & Love Festival Borlänge

Purpose - This study primarily examines how local retail businesses strategically take advantage of an event like the Peace and Love Festival. The financial effects of the event on these businesses were studied with a focus on whether sales increase or decrease during the Festival. The influence of three important factors was examined; business strategy, location of business and type of business on local businesses’ sales during festivals. The study assessed the impact of specific location and the effect of these festivals on different types of businesses. It uncovers the influence of such events on businesses, particularly on their sales. Overall, such festivals have positive financial effects on all local business, except a few, which are further explored in the study. Methodology- The study adopts a qualitative research method in order to obtain a deeper knowledge of how local businesses take advantage of events and festivals. Primary data has been gathered by interviewing local businesses and respondents from Peace & Love Festival. In total, 22 retailers were approached and interviewed. Non-probability, purposive sampling was used for the research in determining the sample population. Semi-structured, face-to-face interviews were conducted with respondents. The collected data was documented and analysed using interpretivist paradigm and content analysis. Findings- The results indicate that various types of businesses experience different sales effects during such festivals. Location of retail outlets and their effective strategies influence sales. Findings also show that hotels, fast food restaurants, and beverage sectors show higher sales as compared to other sectors. The retail stores showed slight increase in sales, but electronics/appliances stores experienced almost no change, and some even showed negative sales. Practical Implication- Businesses can take maximum advantages of such events and enhance their revenue by adopting different strategies. Governments can take advantage of such studies, and promote festivals as they have influential power on attracting large number of visitors towards the host destination.

Getting Ready and Leading Higher Education in the times of COVID-19: An interview with Professor DrOsman Hasan (Pro-Rector Academics)National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan

Purpose: The purpose of this viewpoint is to present an interview with Professor Dr Osman Hasan (Pro-Rector Academics) to get his perspective on getting ready and leading higher education in the times of COVID-19. Design/ Approach/Methodology: A semi structured interview was conducted. Findings: This viewpoint type of paper is the one person’s personal view/ perspective, albeit, the person has a tremendous success in a top ranked national university with over a decade or experience as a fulltime researcher and academic. Originality/Value: This viewpoint reflects the valuable considerations for leaders in higher education sector. Keywords: Future of HEI, COVID-19, Teaching, Attracting Talent, Strategy, Paper type: Viewpoint

The Role Of Social Networking Between Knowledge Donating And Productivity Among Service Sector Employees

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the direct impact of knowledge donating behaviour on employees’ productivity and an indirect effect through social networking technologies. Social networking technologies play a vital role in the growth and learning of individuals and organizations in today’s competitive business environment. Recently, advancement in social networking technologies has brought a paradigm shift in the overall business environment and specific operational requirements. This study aimed to investigate the role of social networking (SN) between knowledge donating behaviour (KD) and employees’ productivity (EP). Methodology: For this purpose, data were gathered from targeted respondents belonged to the Universities and Banks located in the Northern Punjab region of Pakistan. Structural Equation Modelling technique using the SmartPLS was carried to statistically analyse the responses. Findings: The results showed that the hypothesized relationship between knowledge sharing behaviour (KSB) and employee’s productivity was significant and positively related, while social networking played a significant mediating role between this relationship. Implications: The findings provided useful insight to the managers and policymakers for planning effective use of social networking technologies to craft knowledge sharing behaviour among employees to create efficiencies and intended outcomes. Originality: The study has uniquely focused merging phenomenon of knowledge sharing behaviour in the service sector of Pakistan, specifically among academic and financial sector by exploring the impact of social networking technologies and provide valuable future direction for researchers to further extend the underlined idea in the wake of current Covid-19 Pandemic.

Transformation At ZABTech; An Institute Of Technical And Vocational Education (ITVE)

Subject Area of the Teaching Case. Managing Organizational Change, A Multiple Perspective Approach 3rd Edition Student level (e.g., BA level) and proposed courses the teaching case can be used on. This case could be helpful to discover, build, design and sustain the change and innovation in organizations for both undergraduates and graduates' students of BBA and MBA. Brief overview of the teaching case. This case-based on change managing organizational change course, i.e. appreciative inquiry 4D-cycle. This case could be helpful to discover, Dream (build), design and Destiney to sustain the change and innovation in organizations for both undergraduate and graduate students in their elective course. This case can be used as a motivational story in a short seminar to bring and sustain the change effectively and efficiently. Expected learning outcomes. To highlight the major issues which need to be discovered or appreciation for the best of what is current practice in technical and vocational institute in developing country; such as Pakistan. Based on the available knowledge students need to envision (or dream) about what the future could be. To explore the influence of leader in designing or co-constructing (through collective dialogue) and overcome the specified issues in ZABTech (iTVE). Students should identify the actions taken by leader to sustaining the organization's destiny or future.

Tourism Marketing Mix Applied for Inclusive Spiritual Tourists in Pakistan and Australia

Purpose: The paper displays an exploratory research on marketing of spiritual tourism in Australia and Pakistan. The main objective of this research is to explain spiritual tourism and present elements of marketing mix for attracting spiritual tourists with inclusive attitude. The paper describes spiritual travellers with inclusivity going on journeys for spiritual enhancement and veneration for divine places of other faiths considered as holy sites. Methodology: A qualitative study constructed on face-to-face interviews with tourists qualified as spiritual travellers was managed in selected Australian and Pakistani locations. The discussion notes were screened through theme-based assessment searching for ideas and themes surfacing from interviews aligned with elements of the marketing strategy. Results: This study resulted in acknowledging people, pricing and products as vital elements of tourism marketing complementing the spiritual tourism marketing strategy design and implementation. Conclusions: This study concludes with an inclusive spiritual tourism model indicating people, pricing and products to be embraced by tourism providers to enhance their marketing outcomes. This paper accomplishes by offering the recommendation for Pakistan’s tourism administration to market holy and blessed places linked with different faiths following the branding theme of “spiritual tourism”. Future Direction: Tourism marketing mix based on people, pricing and products, could be analysed by a quantitative research testing inclusivity based behaviour of spiritual travellers. Originality: The unique and primary study handled the threat of disinclination of tourists expressing their personal religious opinions through private meetings and face-to-face discussions.

Country-level Risk and the Tradeoff between Real Earnings Management and Accrual Earnings Management: Evidence from Pakistan

The aim of this study is to understand whether real earnings management (REM) and accruals earnings management (AM) can be used as substitute of one another in the context of Pakistan. Additionally, we also examine the effect of country-level political risk on earnings management. To achieve our desire objectives, we used a panel sample of 197 Pakistani firms for a period of 13 years (2007-2019). To measure REM, we follow Roychowdhury (2006) and to measure AM, we follow Jones (1991) and modified Jones (1995) model. For data analysis, we used simultaneous equation modelling and ordinary least square (OLS) regression with time and firm fixed effects. The results indicate that when the cost associated with REM(AM) increases, the firm’s inclination towards AM(REM) decreases which suggests that managers use both REM and AM approaches as substitutes of one another. Further, the results show that country-level political risks positively affect real REM while it has insignificant effect on AM. Moreover, the adoption of IFRS as accounting standards does not have any effect on the earnings management in Pakistan. This study can be extended to firm-level risk factors to examine their role in earnings management. Moreover, how manager use to adopt REM and AM in the highly regulated industries i.e., financial and services industries, also provides a promising opportunity for future research.

Post COVID-19: Towards Human Leadership And New Work Modalities

Covid-19 took us by surprise, sending us home to do home office; it forced companies, with no option to reply, to adapt and take action on a vital issue for the existence of life on our planet: To transform themselves into human and conscious companies. Emerging as a consequence, the need for a new type of leadership; so, companies are now at the centre of a paradigm shift that leaves them very vulnerable. If they focus only on facing the challenges, running the risk of not seeing the great opportunities -that the situation due to Covid-19 has revealed - that they will allow them to evolve and innovate from the management of human talent, developing innovative work methods that could substantially increase their productivity. Businesses are facing great challenges to survive, some are emerging victorious, but a large number of them have not been able to adapt and respond quickly enough. The key factors that are making the difference between a company that is getting ahead and another that is not, are its leaders. They are the ones that will determine the survival, growth or extinction of companies in the immediate future. This business context in which leaders play a starring role, opens up a range of work modalities.