PERFORMANCE INDICATORS IN THE DUTCH DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE

This paper focuses on the indicator systems that responsibility accounting may provide for performance evaluation in the public sector. Specifically, two conditions which such indicator systems should satisfy —'relevance' and 'coherence'—are examined. Thereby a value for money auditing model incorporating these conditions is developed and applied to a system of performance indicators created for a Dutch defence agency.     

A Meta-analysis of Loss Aversion in Product Choice

Loss aversion is a behavioral phenomenon with game-changing implications for economic theory and practice. We conduct a meta-analysis of 33 studies (providing 109 observations) investigating loss aversion in random utility models of brand choice. Specifically, we use multilevel modeling techniques to examine potential moderators of preference asymmetries as well as the variability of loss-aversion effects within and between studies. We find that loss aversion is manifest in product choice, but that it exhibits substantial variation across research contexts. Product-related variables (e.g., the category type), consumer characteristics (e.g., reference-point mechanisms), and particularly methodological decisions (e.g., model specifications) determine the observed degree of loss–gain disparity. Practical implications of the specific findings and opportunities for future research are discussed.     

Perverse Effects of Other-Referenced Performance Goals in an Information Exchange Context

We argue and demonstrate that an emphasis on outperforming others may lead to perverse effects. Four studies show that assigning other-referenced performance goals, relative to self-referenced mastery goals, may lead to more interpersonally harmful behavior in an information exchange context. Results of Study 1 indicate that assigned performance goals lead to stronger thwarting behavior and less accurate information giving to an exchange partner than assigned mastery goals. Similarly, in Study 2 performance goal individuals more subtly deceived highly competent opponents relative to lowly competent opponents, who received more blatant treatment. Finally, Studies 3 and 4 show in methodologically complementary ways that tactical deception considerations may account for the interpersonally harmful behavior of performance goal individuals.     

A statistic for random model testing

Variance of relative frequencies is shown to be a useful statistic for testing for the random model in social science research. An illustration from the sociology of science is provided to document the utility of the measure.     

How Institutions Influence SME Innovation and Networking Practices: The Case of Vietnamese Agribusiness

This paper addresses impacts of the institutional framework on small and medium‐sized enterprise (SME) innovation and networking practices. Through an explorative study of a domestic SME‐dominated sector in Vietnam, we find that the institutional framework limits incentives for long‐term investments, resulting in exploitative cost‐control strategies rather than product‐oriented innovation. Due to dominating social norms, SMEs form trust‐based friendship networks, potentially limiting knowledge acquisition and weakening business rationality. Institutional pressures reinforce negative influences on SMEs' incentives to develop innovation ambidexterity. The findings suggest that new institutional economic sociology provides a promising foundation for understanding how institutional frameworks influence SMEs' innovation practices in emerging economies.     

The impact of digital transformation on the retailing value chain

Consumers have traditionally made purchase decisions at the store shelf, giving institutional brick-and-mortar retailers great power to learn about and influence behaviors and preferences. With the rise of e-commerce, mobile shopping, and most recently smart technologies, new competitors threaten this long-standing supremacy. Adopting a value-creation perspective, we analyze how digitization started the erosion of institutional retailing as the primary interface to the customer. We develop a framework that identifies five new sources of value creation and propose how these advance and transform competition for this interface. Depending on the importance of the new sources of value creation (in different purchase situations), stationary retailing may prevail as an important interaction point in a multichannel decision journey. However, increasing diffusion of branded-product platforms including connected devices and online retail platforms is shifting this authority to new players. For the parties involved in this multilayered competition, acknowledging the changes and actively managing their position in the evolving eco-systems is crucial.     

The role of corporate governance in shaping accruals manipulation prior to acquisitions

Based on stock swap transactions involving public acquirers originating from the UK between 1998 and 2011, this paper investigates the role of corporate governance in shaping accruals manipulation prior to stock swap deals. In contrast to common claims that strong corporate governance constrains accruals manipulation, my results show that well-governed acquirers engage more aggressively in income-increasing accruals manipulation than those with weak governance. This finding is consistent with a role of corporate governance that incentivises managerial actions in the interests of firms’ shareholders. Overall, this finding highlights the setting-specific nature of the earnings management and corporate governance relation. My results are robust to different discretionary accrual models, differences in the firm's growth structure, merger and acquisition control variables, a control group of 100% cash acquirers, an analysis of buy-and-hold abnormal returns, and potential sample selection problems.     

After the "Bubble": Valuation of Telecommunications Companies by Financial Analysts

In this article, we present the results of a series of interviews given by financial analysts specializing in the European telecommunications industry. Our objective is to gain an insight into their approaches to analysis and valuation (information sources, valuation methods, determinants of recommendations, etc.). We also consider whether analysts' approaches have changed since the “high‐tech bubble”. We find that today they rely much more on the discounted cash flow analysis method than at the end of the 1990s, when valuation was largely based on multiples. In line with this, analysts have changed their focus from revenue‐oriented measures towards an assessment of profitability and cash flow generation. Further, analysts claim to have become more diligent and more critical in their analysis.     

The role of off-farm employment in the rural energy consumption transition — A village-level analysis in Jiangxi Province, China

Energy consumption in rural areas in China is characterized by high consumption of fuelwood, straw and other biomass. Off-farm employment can play an important role in the transition towards more sustainable sources of energy by increasing rural household incomes and reducing the amount of labor available for biomass collection. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of off-farm employment on rural household energy consumption choices, and to disentangle the various causal relationships that play a role in this respect. To this end, a hybrid farm household/village computable general equilibrium (CGE) model is used that has been calibrated for a remote village in Northeast Jiangxi Province where fuelwood is the main source of energy. The model takes into account nonseparability of farm household production and consumption decisions as well as linkages within the village between households involved in off-farm employment and households with no members working off-farm. Contrary to previous research for a richer region in rural China, we find that fuelwood is not an inferior good. The positive impact of more food consumption on fuelwood collection more than compensates the higher leisure demand associated with higher incomes. Shifts in production activities and in prices on village factor markets caused by increased labour scarcity (the lost-labour effect of off-farm employment), on the other hand, cause a reduction in fuelwood collection and consumption. This lost-labour effect is much stronger for migration than for local off-farm employment, because the latter can more easily be combined with on-farm work and fuelwood collection. For local off-farm employment the income effect dominates the lost-labour effect, resulting in a positive overall impact of higher off-farm participation on fuelwood consumption. For migration, on the other hand, the income effect and the lost-labour effect are almost equal in size. Hence, the amount of fuelwood collected and consumed does not change much when households participate in migration. The final conclusion is therefore that increased off-farm employment opportunities do not promote the transition of rural energy use in the poorer regions of rural China.