Die Messung von „Earnings“-Qualität

This paper presents the commonly used measures for earnings quality. It critically analyzes the measures within a theoretical framework and presents empirical results for Austrian listed corporations over a period of ten years. The analysis shows strengths and weaknesses of the measures, their conceptual relationship and empirical association. The knowledge of associations is also important to judge the robustness of empirical results based on a single aggregate earnings quality measure. The paper contributes to the understanding of opportunities and potential weaknesses of empirical research on earnings quality, and shows avenues for further research.     

Organizational commitment in the context of multinational corporations: a critical review and directions for future research

Abstract

The antecedents and outcomes of organizational commitment (OC) have been studied extensively over the last three decades. While the majority of research has focused on the OC of employees working in organizations based in a single country or region, studies have also emerged examining the OC of employees working in multinational corporations (MNCs). However, there has been no attempt to comprehensively review and synthesize the literature in this area, limiting our understanding on how to effectively manage OC in MNCs. The present study conducts a systematic review of empirical literature on OC in the MNC context. We review literature on the theoretical foundations, antecedents and outcomes of OC in MNCs, and evaluate empirical papers that expand our understanding of the nomological network of constructs to which OC is related in the MNC context. Building on the review, we then present a future research agenda, which targets opportunities for empirical and theoretical advancement of research on OC in the MNC setting.     

Tax and spend or spend and tax? An empirical investigation for Austria

The aim of this contribution is to discriminate between the rivallingspend and tax andtax and spend hypotheses in order to check empirically the relationship between government spending and taxation decisions in Austria. For that purpose, the authors estimate a tri-variate structural VAR Model of Austria's public sector that, besides expenditures and revenues, includes aggregate income as an additional variable. They implement impulse-response functions and frequency domain techniques in order to identify the causal relation between government outlays and receipts. The budget making process is interpreted as an error correction model which allows to estimate to what extent revenues and expenditures are adjusted whenever the government sees its long run budget constraint violate. The empirical findings strongly support the spend and tax view that budget decision-making is significantly dominated by the expenditure side in Austria.We are gratefully indebted to Peter Weiss and three anonymous referees for many valuable comments and suggestion.     

It’s not all about language ability: motivational cultural intelligence matters in call center performance

This study focuses on the role of motivational cultural intelligence (CQ) in call center performance. Call centers mainly rely on verbal communication with language ability playing a significant role in delivery of tasks. This study argues that motivational CQ, or the interest and efficacy when interacting with individuals from culturally diverse backgrounds, plays a significant role in call center performance. This study was conducted in the Philippines, one of the top destinations for offshore services like call centers. Studies were conducted at two time points to determine the relationship between language ability, motivational CQ, and task performance. At Time 1, the language ability of 125 call center agent applicants was determined and assessed. At Time 2 which was conducted six months later, performance data were obtained and the level of the motivational CQ of the respondents measured. Results show that language ability is positively and significantly related to task performance. However, when motivational CQ was included, the relationship between language ability and task performance became non-significant, which conveys the full mediating role of motivational CQ in that relationship.     

Country-of-Origin Effects and Global Brand Trust: A First Look

ABSTRACT

This article reports the results of a global survey that explored the relationship between country of origin and brand trust in 22 product categories. The product categories of interest ranged from high involvement, durable goods (refrigerators, washing machines) to low involvement, fast moving consumer goods (chocolate bars, yogurt, disposable batteries). Respondents included consumers from the United States, Nepal, India, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Bulgaria. Country-of-origin effects yielded the research's most interesting finding: Global brands might have a regional, or meso level, component which brand trust has uncovered for the first time.     

Information asymmetry and international strategic alliances

This paper examines how information asymmetry affects cross-border strategic alliance formation by US firms over the period 2000–2008. We construct a measure, information costs, based on both geographical distance and the proportion of worldwide GDP the partner’s home country represents. Consistent with our expectations, we find an inverse association between information costs and cross-border strategic alliances. When considering the proportion of alliances formed with publicly quoted overseas partners, we find this is unaffected by the level of information costs but rather the level of stock market development, tax rate and general economic conditions. Information costs are, however, significantly negatively related to alliances with overseas private organizations. Our results offer clear support for the on-going importance of information asymmetry in corporate decision making.     

Über das Aequivalenzprinzip

Abstract

Das Prinzip von der Gleichheit von Leistung und Gegenleistung wird in der Lebensversicherungsmathematik in der Regel so ausgesprochen: Es soll für einen beliebigen, innerhalb der Versicherungsdauer gelegenen Zeitpunkt die vorhandene Rücklage im Vereine mit dem versicherungstechnischen Barwert sämmtlicher noch zu erwartender Leistungen des Versicherten stets gleich sein dem versicherungstechnischen Barwert sammtlicher noch zu erwartender Leistungen des Versicherers. Unter versicherungstechnischem Barwert ist hiebei der auf diesen Zeitpunkt unter Rücksicht auf die Wahrscheinlichkeit der Leistung und die Verzinsung bezogene Wert dieser Leistungen zu verstehen. Unter den Leistungen des Versicherers sollen die vertraglich bedingten Zahlungen, aber auch die Verwaltungskosten und Dividendenzahlungen verstanden sein. Der Zeitpunkt, auf welchen die versicherungstechnischen Barwerte der beiderseitigen Leistungen bezogen werden, ist im übrigen willkürlich, nur muss er stets für Leistung und Gegenleistung derselbe sein. Das Aequivalenzprinzip gilt in gleicher weise für den Beginn und das Ende der Versicherungsdauer. Hieraus folgt in bekannter Weise die nur vom formal mathematischen Standpunkte verschiedene, inhaltlich aber völlig gleichwertige Darstellung der Rücklage in der prospektiven bezw. retrospektiven Gestalt, während der Rücklage selbst als einer nach den gewählten Rechnungsgrundlagen zu schätzenden Grösse, immer nur ein prospektiver Charakter zukommt.     

Towards a theory of accounting regulation: A discussion of the politics of disclosure regulation along the economic cycle

The paper by Bertomeu and Magee (this issue) endogenizes accounting regulation by a majority-seeking regulator and examines how the economic cycle affects mandatory reporting quality. This discussion puts the paper in the broader context of a theory of accounting regulation. Then, it focuses on crucial assumptions, including the exogenous evolution of the economy, the role of market frictions, the modeling of reporting quality, and the regulatory process and regulatory cycles, and provides suggestions for future research.     

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