Heritage transformation and the sociocultural impact of tourism in Umm Qais

Using the heritage site of Umm Qais as a case study, this article argues that tourism could radically shape or reshape the intangible and tangible heritage of the hosts’ communities at tourism destinations. Findings reveal that local culture and tangible heritage of Umm Qais were not resilient enough to absorb the changes brought about by tourism development. Although tourism transformed the residents of Umm Qais from agriculturalists to urbanites, and led to significant changes in traditions and the responsibilities of each individual within the society, there was no impact concerning the moral values such as increase of alcoholism, illicit drug use, and prostitution. Results also indicate that residents’ attitudes, whether negative or positive, are basically homogeneous about tourists, heritage, and tourism and its sociocultural impacts.     

Modelling the dependence structures of Australian iTraxx CDS index

In contrast to market expectations, the correlation between credit default swap (CDS) spreads and their respective stock prices in Australia was found to be positive. The global financial crisis (GFC) affected the nonlinear association between the two asset classes with firms experiencing financial distress and stock prices plummeting. CDSs issuers reacted to such exogenous shocks by increasing their risk premiums on their spreads, reflecting the increased inherent risk. By splitting the data into pre- and post-GFC contexts and by employing the use of Archimedean copulas, we observe a negative co-movement in the post-GFC period. This finding is robust to several equity indices. Overall, such result is critical for investors engaging in arbitrageur activities.     

Gender-diverse boards and audit fees: What difference does gender quota legislation make?

We investigate the effect of board (audit committee) gender diversity on audit fees in the French context. We also examine whether the relationship between the proportion of female directors and audit fees is moderated by the enactment of the gender quota law in 2011. We use the system GMM estimation approach on a matched sample of French firms listed in the SBF 120 index between 2002 and 2017. Consistent with the supply-side perspective, we contend that female independent directors and female audit committee members, by improving board monitoring effectiveness, affect the auditor's assessment of audit risk, resulting in lower audit fees. Our findings also document that, by breaking the glass ceiling, the effectiveness of the gender quota law lies not in increasing the proportion of female insider directors, but in boosting the appointment of female independent directors and female audit committee members. Using the difference-in-difference approach, our results reveal that female independent directors and female audit committee members are more willing to assert their monitoring skills after the quota law, leading to lower audit fees. Moving beyond tokenism, we show that, after the quota law, the negative impact on non-audit fees is strengthened only for female independent directors.     

Enterprise resource planning enabling segmental information reporting practices of UK‐FTSE 100

The ERP impact on management accounting practices has been widely recognised as having a knowledge gap in relation to how it may facilitate Segmental Information Reporting following the International Financial Reporting Standard No. 8’s (IFRS‐8) management approach. This study contributes to filling this gap by investigating the joint effect of the ERP and IFRS‐8 Post‐Implementation Review (PIR) on dimensions: quality, quantity and the reporters’ identity of FTSE‐100 companies in the period 2013–2017. The study found that ERP is significantly and positively associated with the dimensions of segmental information reporting. The implications of this study extend research and the practices of segmental reporting on the importance of ERP in operationalising segmental reporting and in understanding variations.     

What drives the banks' diversification decision? A dynamic nonlinear panel data approach

This paper empirically determines the drivers of functional diversification decision for 365 banks set in selected Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries over 1988–2015. For this purpose, we use a dynamic nonlinear panel data model. Our findings reveal that both market share and financial intermediation stratify the diversification decision for the whole MENA sample. Splitting the sample shows that the risk‐adjusted profitability and the loan loss provision ratio exert a major influence over the diversification indicator for Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) banks, whereas the net interest margin ratio, the bank market share, and financial intermediation are the major drivers of the strategic decision for the remaining non‐GCC banks.     

The impact of revenue diversification on bank profitability and risk: evidence from MENA banking industry

The aim of this paper is to investigate the effects of revenue diversification on bank performance while shedding light on the impact of the shift towards non-interest income sources. To this end, we use a sample of 275 banks from fourteen MENA countries over 1990–2011. The model estimation using the GMM system reveals that diversification, when taken as a whole, improves bank profitability. We also split the non-interest income and we find that trading-generating business lines contribute the most to boosting profitability and stability. Engaging in non-interest-related activities worsens the benefit-cost trade-off of diversification, induced by the increased insolvency risk.     

The Thai Rural Credit System: Public Subsidies, Private Information, and Segmented Markets

Thailand has sought to increase farmers' access to credit bygovernment intervention. In 1966 it created a government agriculturalbank to lend solely to farm households, and beginning in thelate 1970s it required commercial banks to lend heavily in therural sector, either directly or by making deposits in the agriculturalbank. The result was an enormous expansion of credit in therural sector. But because formal lenders were either unableor unwilling to solve the information problems involved in thebroad range of rural credit transactions, the informal creditsector (which charged interest rates many times higher thanthe formal sector) continued to thrive. Using household surveysand surveys of moneylenders, this article provides a detailedanalysis of the ways in which lenders in the informal sectorhave solved the information problems of providing credit. Theauthors argue that the informal sector is competitive, and thathigh interest rates reflect high information costs, not thescarcity of funds.     

Creative contests: knowledge generation and underlying learning dynamics for idea generation

Due to the heterogeneous nature of the crowd in online crowdsourcing, one key question discussed by academics and practitioners is whether participants are skilled enough to make valuable contributions. This research studies learning processes underlying idea generation in creative contests. Based on qualitative findings triangulating participants’ and brands’ perspectives, we identify six incoming and outgoing user skills which contribute to the development of valuable contributions and determine participation in future contests. Building on three types of brand instructions which emerge from the data, findings show how value is added by the collectivity and two complementary dynamics: (1) social learning and (2) learning from experience. From a managerial perspective, results provide guidance in designing successful crowdsourcing competitions by taking benefit from a multi-competent crowd.