Information technology and firm performance: mediation role of absorptive capacity and corporate entrepreneurship in manufacturing SMEs

ABSTRACT

The success of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) depends on dynamic capabilities, as it provides opportunities to remain competitive and perform well in the dynamic business environment. Although several studies show the significant positive impacts of dynamic capabilities on firm performance, our knowledge of the underlying mechanism through which IT capabilities affect the firm performance is not yet clear. Applying the dynamic capability view, this study investigates the intervening role of absorptive capacity and corporate entrepreneurship. The data of 417 respondents is collected from medium-sized manufacturing sector SMEs in Punjab, Pakistan. The research hypotheses have been analysed through the structural equation modelling method by using the Smart-PLS software. The research findings show that absorptive capacity and corporate entrepreneurship partially mediates the relationship between IT capabilities and firm performance. Furthermore, the sequential path of IT technical skills, absorptive capacity, corporate entrepreneurship, and firm performance is highly significant as compared to other paths.     

Laypeople roles at road traffic crash scenes: a systematic review

This study aimed to identify the roles of laypeople at road traffic injuries (RTIs). A systematic review was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The key words of ‘laypeople’, ‘layman’, ‘layperson’, ‘bystander’, ‘first responder’, ‘lay first responder’, ‘road traffic’, ‘road traffic injury’, ‘crash injury’, ‘crash scene’, ‘emergency’, ‘trauma care’, and ‘prehospital trauma care’ were used in combination with the Boolean operators OR and AND. We did electronic search on Google Scholar, PubMed, ISI Web of Science, CINAHL, Science Direct, Scopus, ProQuest. Based on the reviewed studies, some factors such as cultural conditions, knowledge, relief agencies, and demographic factors affect the interventions of laypeople at the crash scene in functional areas. Regarding the permanent presence of people at the crash scene, the present study can provide an opportunity to reduce different side effects of RTIs imposed on the society.     

Does stardom affect the informativeness of a CEO's insider trades?

This study examines whether the celebrity or star status of a chief executive officer (CEO) affects the informativeness of his insider trades. Using three different measures to identify star CEOs in a sample of S&P 1500 firms, we find that trades of non‐star CEOs predict future abnormal returns and earnings innovations and that trades of star CEOs do not. The predictive power of non‐star CEO trades is mostly attributable to opportunistic trades, not routine trades. We also find evidence suggesting that the abnormal returns associated with non‐star CEO insider trades are due to the lower visibility and consequently less scrutiny of non‐star CEOs compared with star CEOs.     

The role of the Securities and Exchange Commission in a developing economy: Implications for IFRS

Due to the widespread adoption of IFRSs throughout the world and little research on IFRS implementation in developing countries, this study investigates the role of the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding IFRS implementation in a developing country. Adopting a mixed methodology (39 interviews and 1647 enforcement documents); the findings have raised concerns as to the adequacy of enforcement mechanisms in implementing IFRSs in Bangladesh. More specifically, only 2.6% of enforcement actions were issued over the period of 1998 to 2010. Political connectedness is the major contributing factor for uneven enforcement activities in Bangladesh. The study also finds that inconsistencies with accounting regulatory framework (Companies Act, BSEC ordinances and IFRSs), multiple regulators, and donor agencies' influence impede the effective implementation of IFRSs. The study also provides policy implications for local and national policy makers namely, IASB, the World Bank and the IMF to rethink about the regulation of IFRSs in developing countries.     

Some general results for moments in bivariate distributions

The purpose of this paper is to present a closed formula to compute the moments of a general function from the knowledge of its bivariate survival function. The result is derived by utilizing an integration by parts formula for two variables, which is not readily available in the literature. Many of the existing results are obtained as special cases. Finally, two examples are presented to illustrate the results. In both the examples, mixed moments as well as moments for the series system and parallel system are obtained. The integration by parts formula in two variables, derived here, is of interest in its own right and we hope that it will be useful in other investigations. The integration by parts formula in two variables is derived as a special case of a general formula in n variables.     

The Role of U.S. Market on International Risk‐Return Tradeoff Relations

We study the intertemporal risk‐return tradeoff relations based on returns from 18 international markets. We find striking new empirical evidence that the inclusion of U.S. market returns significantly changes the estimated risk‐return tradeoff relations in international markets from mostly negative to predominantly positive. Our results are consistent with the lead‐lag effect between U.S. and international markets in the sense of Rapach, Strauss and Zhou.     

The Performance of Islamic Vs. Conventional Banks: Evidence on the Suitability of the Basel Capital Ratios

This paper examines the effect of various types of bank capital on the profitability and efficiency of conventional and Islamic banks. Our results show that higher quality forms of capital improve the profitability and efficiency for both systems although the results are stronger for conventional banks. The capital effect is more pronounced for large, too-big-to-fail, and highly capitalized banks. The results are robust across various subsamples, alternative profitability and efficiency measures, and different estimation techniques.     

Optimal introductory pricing for new financial services

Financial services institutions often provide special introductory prices to new customers who sign up for their services such as credit cards, credit monitoring services and online stock trading. Despite their prevalence, the decision to provide introductory prices to new customers entails challenges for decision makers. Providing small incentives may not perceptibly affect the adoption of the service while providing a large incentive leads to the loss of revenue and profits. As a result, the effectiveness of such activities on firm profitability remains largely unexplored. This study seeks to address this gap in the literature by exploring optimal introductory pricing of a financial service. Employing agent-based simulation experiments, we find that offering introductory discounts significantly increases a firm’s net present value (NPV) of profits. Moreover, the findings suggest the amount of discount and the duration of time that a new customer receives the discount are critical factors in determining the NPV of profits. The research and managerial implications are discussed.     

Scale Efficiency in the New Zealand Dairy Industry: a Non-parametric Approach

The aim in this article is to measure the scale efficiency of the New Zealand dairy industry and to examine the relationship between farm size and technical efficiency. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is applied to a sample of 264 dairy farms. The results suggest that 19 per cent of these farms are operating at optimal scale, 28 per cent at above optimal scale, and 53 per cent at below optimal scale. On average, the optimal size for New Zealand dairy farms is estimated at 83 hectares with a herd of 260 animals. Average technical efficiency is estimated at 89 per cent.     

Accountants’ cognitive styles and ethical reasoning: A comparison across 15 years

Recent attention to accountants’ ethics in the news, in professional practice, and by academia leads to questions about the ethical and cognitive characterization of students selecting accounting careers. We employ the Myers/Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) for assessing cognitive styles, and the Defining Issues Test (DIT) for assessing ethical reasoning to study differences between two groups of accounting graduates and new hires entering the accounting profession across a period of 15 years. We show that the dominant cognitive make-up of accountants has not changed significantly over the study period, which is consistent with prior research. Also, we hypothesize and provide evidence that this dominant style is associated with lower levels of ethical reasoning (as measured by the DIT) than other cognitive styles. The ethical reasoning scores are lower for the 2005 sample than for the 1990 sample. This result may be attributable to age, gender, grade point average, or political orientation; however, incomplete data in our sample does not allow us to make definitive conclusions regarding these control variables. We discuss the implications of these findings for curriculum development and professional practice.