Market response to dividend change announcements: unregulated versus regulated US firms

This paper attempts to determine whether there is a significant difference in how the stock market responds to dividend change announcements of regulated (both utilities and financials) versus unregulated firms and, if so, which factors cause this difference. An analysis of dividend change announcements of US firms over the period 1962–2016 shows that the market response is larger for unregulated than for regulated firms, but this difference is statistically significant only for dividend increases (not for dividend decreases). Further, cross-sectional analysis indicates that, for dividend increases, the difference between regulated and unregulated firms increases with diffused ownership and informational asymmetry. When both these factors are controlled for, the difference between regulated and unregulated firms becomes statistically insignificant. Thus, the evidence suggests that the significant difference in market response to dividend increases of regulated versus unregulated firms can be explained by differences in diffused ownership and informational asymmetry. There seems to be no intrinsic difference between regulated and unregulated firms in the market response to dividend decreases.     

Non-farm work and food security among farm households in Northern Ghana

This paper examines the impact of non-farm work on household income and food security among farm households in the Northern Region of Ghana. We analyze the impact by employing propensity score matching method that accounts for self-selection bias. The matching results show that participation in non-farm work exerts a positive and statistically significant effect on household income and food security status, supporting the widely held view that income from non-farm work is crucial to food security and poverty alleviation in rural areas of developing countries.     

Linking Societal Trust and CEO Compensation

We examine the association between societal trust and the levels of CEO compensation and the proportion of equity-based compensation of 897 firm-years from 18 countries over the 2007–2013 period. We find both the levels of CEO compensation as well as the proportion of equity-based compensation to be lower in countries with higher levels of societal trust. This suggests that costly regulations on CEO compensation may not be as necessary in jurisdictions with higher levels of societal trust. We also examine the association between pay disparity and societal trust. Consistent with our finding of lower pay at the CEO rank, we find pay disparities are lower in countries with higher levels of societal trust.     

An Interpretive Inquiry of Accounting Practices in Religious Organisations

This paper reports the study of accounting practices as embedded in two religious organisations in Malaysia. The research is an attempt to study accounting practices in a cultural setting that has not been the subject of previous interpretive accounting research. The study also makes a contribution towards the need for accounting research to become more explanatory of accounting as social practice wherein theory is both informed, and is developed by observation. This is achieved by developing grounded theory from the data and is in accordance with recent calls for case studies in accounting research to be more concerned with producing social theories of accounting practice.     

Triggering the internationalization of Malaysian quantity surveying firms

Although there is an increasing trend of services being traded across borders, quantity surveying (QS) firms in the construction sector remain under-researched. The triggers for the increasing globalization of QS firms are not clear, nor how these triggers are perceived by managers at different levels. A questionnaire was administered in over 84 QS consultancy firms, and the results were analyzed using the repertory grid technique, allowing a comparison between the general respondents and a focus group of senior managers. The findings show that senior managers with significant experience realize the importance of a strong internal capability of the QS firm and the capability to develop innovative offerings, coupled with an awareness of the target market and the ability to secure revenue through key contracts. Firm- and location-specific factors were more important than other competitive advantages or foreign markets’ characteristics when deciding to globalize.     

Reducing failures in software development projects: effectiveness of risk mitigation strategies

Risks as uncertain conditions with negative consequences on a software project could increase the failure rate of a project if it is ignored. To identify the effectiveness of risk management strategies, a questionnaire survey among over 1000 software professionals was conducted. Post Hoc Multiple Comparison Test and Kendal’s non-parametric test were employed to analyse risk mitigation strategies in terms of effectiveness in reducing time and cost overruns. Findings reveal risk mitigation strategies related to the technical part are not as efficient as that in the managerial part such as the users’ involvement and commitment in reducing time and cost overruns.     

The evaluation of East Asian banks by considering economic and political conditions as well as country risk

This paper evaluates the performance of East Asian banks during the period of 2000–2010 by controlling country-specific conditions comprehensively. Particularly, it seeks to show that country-specific conditions are significant factors in estimating the common frontier by which the performance of all banks are compared. Thus, disregarding political conditions, regulatory environments, and country risk would lead to inaccurate efficiency scores because of the inaccurate common frontier. Following this further, an inaccurate measure of bank performance can hardly reveal bank problems before turning into a crisis. Our results confirm the significant impact of country-specific conditions on the common frontier, and hence bank efficiencies. The findings suggest that researchers, bank managers, and regulators also consider other factors other than economic conditions in their evaluations and decisions.     

Structural separation versus vertical integration: Lessons for telecommunications from electricity reforms

Structural separation between network and retail functions is increasingly being mandated in the telecommunications sector to countervail the market power of incumbent operators. Experience of separation in the electricity sector offers insights for policy-makers considering telecommunications reforms. Despite apparent competitive benefits, the costs of contracting increase markedly when short-term focused electricity retail operations are separated from longer-term generation infrastructure investments (which require large up-front fixed and sunk cost components). The combination of mismatches in investment horizons, entry barriers, and risk preference and information asymmetries between generators and retailers leads to thin contract markets, increased hold-up risk, perverse wholesale risk management incentives, and bankruptcies. Direct parallels in the telecommunications sector indicate exposure to similar complications, intensifying many of the contractual risks arising from regulated access arrangements. Thus, as in electricity, competition between vertically integrated telecommunications providers would likely induce more efficient and sustainable investment and competition than would separation.