News sentiment,credit spreads,and information asymmetry

This paper examines how the sentiment of firm-specific news affects CDS spreads conditional on the degree of information asymmetry. Using a large set of news releases, we document a strong negative relationship between the sentiment of firm-specific news and CDS spreads. More importantly, consistent with the role of public news in reducing information asymmetry, we find evidence that the relation between news sentiment and CDS spreads is stronger for firms with higher information asymmetry. Furthermore, the relation is stronger for news with negative sentiment and during the 2008 financial crisis. Our results are robust to alternative sentiment measures.     

Institutional distance and Turkey’s outward foreign direct investment

This study empirically examines the relation between institutional distance (ID) and Turkey’s outward foreign direct investment (TODI). The empirical results use panel data from 2002 to 2016 to show that TODI is attracted to countries with better institutional quality. We also find that host country political stability, government effectiveness, control of corruption, and rule of law attract TODI. We also document that TODI is positively related to cultural distance (CD) and ID is not moderated by CD.     

Institutional quality,investment efficiency,and the choice of public–private partnerships

We examine a sample of 625 public–private partnership (PPP) firms from 1980 to 2015 that straddle nine countries with varying degrees of economic development and PPP markets. We find that the motivations of the firms that undertake PPP investments vary. While private sector firms in economies with low institutional quality choose to engage in PPPs to alleviate capital constraints attributed to underinvestment, those in economies with high institutional quality participate in PPPs to solve the problem of overinvestment due to an abundant cash flow. In the long run, the benefits of lower capital constraints through PPP investments are more pronounced in economies with high institutional quality.     

Institutionalising multiple accountability logics in public services: Insights from Australia

This paper reports on a field study of how a range of inter-institutional and inter-organisational forces shape the evolving rhetoric and practice of multiple accountabilities in public services. Drawing on the institutional logics perspective, we carried out a qualitative field study in the Australian Commonwealth Public Service involving semi-structured interviews, two focus group discussions, and the examination of internal accounting, management reports, and government archival records. The findings suggest that emphasis on conventional instrumental mechanisms and reporting tools, such as budgeting and accrual-based reporting, support managerial (instrumental) accountability through compliance logics. We conclude that an emphasis on public (relational) accountability through public dialogue is central to the public sector accountability debate, and that more attention needs to be paid to the question of how to balance the dual logics (instrumental and relational) in public services. The findings provide practical insights for public sector managers, policymakers and governments responsible for designing and implementing reforms, accounting tools, and accountability practices.     

The role and impact of professional accountancy associations on accounting education research: An international study

This paper explores the relative influence of the accounting academy and accountancy professional associations in the debate concerning the profile and quality of accounting education research. This research analyses 13 semi-structured interviews undertaken with members of key accounting professional associations in Australia, New Zealand (ANZ) and the United Kingdom and Ireland (UKI). The paper makes a theoretical contribution by the novel application of the institutional logics theory to the literature concerning professional accounting associations (PAAs) demonstrating the dominant commercial logic of the education function and the more traditional fiduciary logic of the technical function. The research finds that the primary stakeholders in the professional accounting curriculum development model are the PAAs and employers, whilst the accounting academy is relatively absent. The relative independence of the education and research and technical functions within PAAs is also identified: academic research and technical activity has little influence on professional education and vice versa. However, PAAs’ funding of academic research is common across all four countries for brand recognition and in some instances to influence policy rather than informing the professional curriculum.     

S&P 500 Affiliation and Stock Price Informativeness

Abstract

When firms are added to a stock index, more information should be discovered, traded on, and incorporated into their stock prices, making them more informative. We test this hypothesis using a large sample of additions to the S&P 500 index. Using two alternative statistical tests, we find that the stocks added experience more random, less predictable return and, thus, appear to be priced more efficiently information-wise. We further find concurrent increases in institutional ownership and investor awareness, which tend to contribute to the higher pricing efficiency, adding to the literature. These findings should be of interest to academics and practitioners.     

Japan's FDI drivers in a time of financial uncertainty. New evidence based on Bayesian Model Averaging

In this paper we analyse the determinants of Japanese outward FDI stock for the period 1996–2017. This period is especially relevant as it covers a process of increasing economic globalization and two financial crises. To this aim, we consider a large set of candidate variables based on the theory as well as on previous empirical analysis. Our sample includes a total of 27 host countries. We select the covariates using a data-driven methodology, the Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA) analysis. Moreover, we also analyse whether these determinants change depending on the degree of development (emerging vs developed) or the geographical areas (EU vs East Asia) of the countries considered. We find that Japan's FDI can be explained by a wide variety of variables, that include not only the typical gravitational ones but also institutional and macroeconomic variables, including those that measure financial development. Moreover, Japanese FDI can be explained by both horizontal and vertical FDI motives in the groups of countries analysed. However, in developed, and more precisely, EU countries, horizontal FDI strategies are predominant, whereas for East Asian and emerging countries, there is more evidence in favour of vertical FDI.     

创新要素流动与产业结构变迁关系及其空间溢出效应研究

创新要素流动既是优化资源配置的关键，又是产业结构调整的内在动力，反之，产业结构变迁又会通过微观效应推动创新主体创新。基于1998-2018年内地30个省市面板数据，研究了创新要素流动与产业结构变迁的互动关系及空间溢出效应。回归结果表明：R&D人员流动对本地区产业结构高级化以及其它地区产业结构合理化具有促进作用，同时，抑制了本地区产业结构合理化与溢出地区产业结构高级化；R&D资本流动对本地区产业结构高级化以及其它地区产业结构合理化具有抑制作用，但是对本地区产业结构合理化以及其它地区产业结构高级化具有促进作用；产业结构合理化对R&D人员及R&D资本流动具有促进作用，但是抑制了其它地区的R&D资本流动。     

历史制度主义视野下我国科技人才政策战略转型与变革逻辑

改革开放以来，我国科技人才政策历经恢复调整、初步确立、转型完善、深化改革到全面建设等5个发展阶段。基于历史制度主义分析范式，探究我国科技人才政策变革逻辑与动力机制。结果显示，路径依赖是我国科技人才政策保持结构稳定性与内在连贯性的基本阐释工具，体现在回报递增效应、多主体协作效应和制度场域自我强化等方面；关键节点在政治逻辑作用下成为科技人才政策变革的原始驱动力，其本质是在保证政治属性不变的前提下建构以绩效为核心的强制性制度变迁。进一步，在借鉴发达国家成熟经验的基础上，构建以“缓冲器”式中介组织为核心的行政认同、市场协调和学术本位之间的合理张力，进而推进利益相关者群体利益协调与整合机制成为我国科技人才政策不断自我革新的有效治理路径。     

Owners’ rule-based decision-making in family firm strategic renewal

We explore the process and consequences of family firm owners applying informal rules to decision-making in the context of later-generation family firms attempting strategic renewal. Based on the case studies of two firms in a Nordic country where the owners serve as non-executive board members, and following institutional action theory, we propose that informal rules – based on historical precedents and cumulative experience – applied to a family firm’s decision-making play many roles. They sustain family traditions over time, transfer experience over generations and depersonalise family members’ use of power. In addition, the rules on governance structure, governance processes and the content of the strategies form a hierarchy and can both facilitate and hinder the renewal.