Business Commons^™

Prosocial Implicit Trait Policies Underlie Performance On Different Situational Judgment Tests With Interpersonal Content, Stephan J. Motowidlo, Filip Lievens, Kamalika Ghosh

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This study tests the hypothesis that situational judgment tests (SJTs) with interpersonal content reflect implicit beliefs about the utility of prosocial action for job effectiveness and that agreeable people are more likely to believe that prosocial action is effective. Two hundred ninety-four undergraduates completed four different SJTs with interpersonal content and a measure of Agreeableness. Results show that the effectiveness of response options in these SJTs is positively correlated with the level of prosociality they express and that because of their prosocial elements, scores on different SJTs are correlated with one another and with Agreeableness. These results shed light on …

The Effect Of Lowering Public Insurance Income Limits On Hospitalizations For Low-Income Children., Jessica L. Bettenhausen, Matt Hall, Jeffrey D. Colvin, Henry T. Puls, Paul J. Chung

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Background and objectives: Thirty million children are currently covered by public insurance; however, the future funding and structure of public insurance are uncertain. Our objective was to determine the number, estimated costs, and demographic characteristics of hospitalizations that would become ineligible for public insurance reimbursement under 3 federal poverty level (FPL) eligibility scenarios.

Methods: In this retrospective cohort study using the 2014 State Inpatient Databases, we included all pediatric (age

Results: In 775 460 publicly reimbursed hospitalizations in 14 states, reductions in eligibility limits to 300%, 200%, or 100% of the FPL would have resulted in large numbers of newly …

Tax Knowledge Diffusion Through Individual Auditor Network Ties: Evidence From China, Chee Yeow Lim, Terry Shevlin, Kun Wang, Yanping Xu

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This study investigates whether network ties via sharing the same individual auditor influences the diffusion of tax avoidance knowledge. We find that firms with greater connection to low-tax firms through audit partners have lower effective tax rates (ETRs), consistent with tax avoidance knowledge being shared among firms through individual auditor network. The influence of audit network ties on tax avoidance at focal firms is stronger when partners’ tenure in low-tax firms is longer, and when partners have social connection with the top executives of focal firms. In addition, audit fees of focal firms with auditor network ties to low-tax firms …

The Hierarchical Effects Of Employee Choice Of Language: The Role Of Customer Bilingualism And Self-Concept Clarity, Fuad Hasan

Theses and Dissertations

The impact of the choice of language is continuously widening and deepening in different socio-political contexts due to globalization and multiculturalism (Heller, 2010). A nascent stream of research (Zolfagharian, Hasan, & Iyer, 2017) also suggests that, in multicultural service encounters, employee choice of language affects customer perceived interaction quality, which in turn influences a host of outcome constructs germane to service researchers. Therefore, this dissertation focuses on how employee choice of language works in customer mind and shapes their attitude toward service interaction and the service itself. The exploration of this underlying psychological mechanism is expected to provide answers to …

Entities With Oil And Gas Producing Activities, August 1, 2018; Audit And Accounting Guide, American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants (Aicpa)

Industry Guides (AAGs), Risk Alerts, and Checklists

No abstract provided.

Trajectory-Driven Influential Billboard Placement, Ping Zhang, Zhifeng Bao, Yuchen Li, Guoliang Li, Yipeng Zhang, Zhiyong Peng

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this paper we propose and study the problem of trajectory-driven influential billboard placement: given a set of billboards U (each with a location and a cost), a database of trajectories T and a budget L, find a set of billboards within the budget to influence the largest number of trajectories. One core challenge is to identify and reduce the overlap of the influence from different billboards to the same trajectories, while keeping the budget constraint into consideration. We show that this problem is NP-hard and present an enumeration based algorithm with (1−1/e) approximation ratio. However, the enumeration should be …

The Effect Of Tax System Characteristics On Cross-Border Mergers And Acquisitions, Jodi Michelle Henley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Although determinants of cross-border merger and acquisitions (M&As) have been given substantial attention in the literature, research examining the effect of tax system characteristics on cross-border M&As is more limited. Cross-border M&As have substantial tax implications for both the acquiring firm and the target firm. Because firms evaluate investments based on expected after-tax returns, I expect that managers consider potential tax savings or costs in making investment decisions across tax jurisdictions. In this study, I use hand-collected country-year-level tax system characteristics to examine tax determinants of the volume and direction of cross-border M&As. I find that tax system characteristics such …

Transaction Cost Optimization For Online Portfolio Selection, Bin Li, Jialei Wang, Dingjiang Huang, Steven C. H. Hoi

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

To improve existing online portfolio selection strategies in the case of non-zero transaction costs, we propose a novel framework named Transaction Cost Optimization (TCO). The TCO framework incorporates the L1 norm of the difference between two consecutive allocations together with the principles of maximizing expected log return. We further solve the formulation via convex optimization, and obtain two closed-form portfolio update formulas, which follow the same principle as Proportional Portfolio Rebalancing (PPR) in industry. We empirically evaluate the proposed framework using four commonly used data-sets. Although these data-sets do not consider delisted firms and are thus subject to survival bias, …

Why Accountants Should Embrace Machine Learning?, Benjamin Huan Zhou Lee, Gary Pan, Poh Sun Seow

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

AI and ML are enabling tools that take the tedious gruntwork out of accounting, freeing up professionals to provide valuable insights - as well as professional scepticism - which are sought-after services no machine can replicate.

The Social Capital-Control Nexus: Lessons From Implementation Of Accounting Control Systems In Two Chinese Organizations, Gary Pan

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

One common theme of Accounting Control System project failure centers on inadequate or inappropriate enactment of effective controls during project implementation. As Accounting Control Systems projects are viewed by many as a social process involving managing relationships among multiple stakeholders with diverse backgrounds and capabilities, there is a growing number of IS researchers that have utilized the social capital theory to examine the enactment of clan control during system implementation. Despite the growing interests, relatively little is known about the relationships between social capital and the formal as well as informal controls. Also, the moderating impact of social capital attributes …

Empirical Study: Impacts Of Objective House Factors On Residential Water Usage In Springfield, Missouri, Ran Qi

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The study is to examine the objective house factors impacting residential water consumption, to explain how each factor influences water bill in a household, as well as to call attention to use residential water resource more wisely. The results are based on regression data analysis. The Hedonic price model analyzes relations between marginal residential water bill and five independent variables, including: acres, building age, living area, home value, and a south Springfield designation. This study uses data from local households in Springfield, Missouri. Findings can be used in formulating policies related to urban water usage. City Utilities could use the …

Civil Rights Or Sovereignty Rights? Understanding The Historical Conflict Between Native Americans And Organized Labor, Colleen O'Neill

Occasional Papers

Unions have played important roles in Indigenous struggles in Latin America and in campaigns that fueled civil rights movements in the United States, including efforts to organize agricultural, hospitality, and health care workers. But, Native Americans have had less of a connection with organized labor. Indeed, in the current climate, labor and tribes seemed to be locked in an adversarial relationship. Tribal leaders see unions as a threat to their sovereignty. Unions, such as Unite-HERE and the United Food and Commercial Workers, clearly see their rights to organize as part of a larger civil rights struggle. Examining struggles between tribal …

Females On Djia Corporate Boards Compared Globally, Anne H. Declouette

Research Briefs

It is well-established that corporate boards around the world have been overwhelmingly male. Since the 21st century in the U.S. was ushered in by numerous corporate scandals - with women taking important roles in dismantling unethical behavior - women's inclusion on boards of directors has become an increasing focal point of research and discourse. Despite the increased research and attention, women continue to be under-represented on corporate boards in most countries around the world - including the U.S. But one country has taken dramatic action to change this trend. Other first-world countries have approached the subject less forcefully and, therefore, …

Mirror, Mirror On The Retail Wall: Self-Focused Attention Promotes Reliance On Feelings In Consumer Decisions, Hannah H. Chang, Iris W. Hung

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The authors propose that increased attention that consumers pay to themselves promotes relative reliance on affective feelings in making decisions. This hypothesis was tested in a variety of consumption domains and decision tasks, including real-life, consequential charitable donations. Consistent support from five experiments with more than 1,770 participants shows that (a) valuations of the decision outcome increase when consumers with high (low) self-focus adopt a feeling-based (reason-based) strategy. The hypothesized effect of self-focus on relative reliance on feelings in decision making is (b) moderated by self-construal. Further, greater attention to the self (c) increases evaluations of products that are affectively …

A Signaling Theory Of Institutional Activism: How Norway’S Sovereign Wealth Fund Investments Affect Firms’ Foreign Acquisitions, Gurneeta Vasudeva, Lilac Nachum, Gui-Deng Say

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Combining perspectives from institutional activism and signaling theory literatures, we suggest that an activist sovereign wealth fund (SWF) can serve as an intermediary signaler, providing cues about host countries’ institutional environment to internationalizing firms. By publicizing its investments and engaging in institutional activism, a SWF can signal the institutional quality of host countries to internationalizing firms, thus allowing them to overcome the well-known “lemons problem” in international decision-making. We examine the impact of a SWF’s signals on firms’ ownership choices in their foreign acquisitions. Our empirical analysis of Norway’s socially responsible SWF and firms from Norway and Sweden during 1998–2011 …

Retaining Valued Human Capital: Investigating The Demand Side Of The Labor Market, Dorothea Roumpi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

According to the Resource Based View, human capital resources are the key for sustainable competitive advantage. Human capital, however, is not an organizational possession and the voluntary turnover of valued human capital can erode an organization’s competitive advantage. In particular, subsequent losses in productivity and enabling rival firms to gain competitive advantage are only a few of the consequences of voluntary turnover.

The question of how organizations can influence turnover has triggered numerous conceptual and empirical papers. The majority of such endeavors focus on supply-side mobility constraints, exploring what organizations can do in order to minimize turnover intentions. On the …

Esg And Corporate Financial Performance: Empirical Evidence From China's Listed Power Generation Companies, Changhong Zhao, Yu Guo, Jiahai Yuan, Mengya Wu, Daiyu Li, Yiou Zhou, Jiangang Kang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Nowadays, listed companies around the world are shifting from short-term goals of maximizing profits to long-term sustainable environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals. People have come to realize that ESG has become an important source of the corporate risk and may affect the company's financial performance and profitability. Recent research shows that good ESG performance could improve the financial performance in some countries. Yet, the question of how does ESG affect financial performance has not been thoroughly discussed and studied in China. In this article, we study China's listed power generation groups to explore the relationship between ESG performance and …

Customer Level Predictive Modeling For Accounts Receivable To Reduce Intervention Actions, Michelle L. F. Cheong, Wen Shi

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

One of the main costs associated with Accounts receivable (AR) collection is related to the intervention actions taken to remind customers to pay their outstanding invoices. Apart from the cost, intervention actions may lead to poor customer satisfaction, which is undesirable in a competitive industry. In this paper, we studied the payment behavior of invoices for customers of a logistics company, and used predictive modeling to predict if a customer will pay the outstanding invoices with high probability, in an attempt to reduce intervention actions taken, thus reducing cost and improving customer relationship. We defined a pureness measure to classify …

Three Studies Examining The Effects Of Business Analytics On Judgment And Decision Making In Accounting, Bradley Lang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three studies investigating the relationship between business analytics and decision making in accounting. In an effort to improve performance, organizations increasingly emphasize fact-based decision making supported by business analytics, which translate complex data into manageable information through statistical analysis. While the recent focus on business analytics is transforming how managers make decisions, analytics alone do not generate increased performance; the synergy between business analytics and user judgments is a vital component of realizing value. To this end, Study I experimentally investigates how various characteristics of business analytics affect individuals' reliance and perceptions of the analytic. Through …

Essays In Leveraged Capital Markets, Kenneth D. Ford

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The debt capital markets for leveraged borrowers are ripe with information asymmetry, lender specialization, and borrower segmentation. In this dissertation, I explore how these factors manifest themselves and the economic consequences thereof. Essay 1 shows that adverse selection and moral hazard concerns are inherent in underwriting syndicates that differ in size and number of lead underwriters. Using a nested double selection probit model of syndicate choice, I examine the matching of issuers and underwriters and find that matches of issuer quality and underwriter reputation are positive assortative. Further, switching regressions show that yield spreads reflect uncertainty about the intrinsic values …

Reading Between The Lines: Not All Csr Is Good Csr, David K. Ding, Christo Ferreira, Udomsak Wongchoti

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate whether corporate social responsibility (CSR), as evidenced in annual financial reports, is associated with a firm’s financial performance in New Zealand. Design/methodology/approach: A word count approach of several key CSR indicators found in the audited financial reports of NZX50 constituent firms is used. Several variables are constructed that measure the presence of CSR within the annual report such as sustainability, responsibility, social, environment, diversity, employee and community, and eight other variables within the annual report that measure the penetration of stakeholder engagement. Control variables and alternative measures of CSR are also included. Descriptive statistics …

Experience And Signaling Value In Technology Licensing Contract Payment Structures, Reddi Kotha, Pascale Crama, Phillip H. Kim

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Whencommercializing technology, the lack of proven results and a reluctance toinvest upfront resources hamper efforts by firms to work jointly with inventorsto bring new discoveries to market. An effective contract payment structure – amix of upfront and royalty payments – can help overcome these hurdles. Weconduct our research in university technology licensing, where licensingmanagers act as intermediaries to unite inventors and licensee firms. Rather than leveraging their experience to bargainfor maximum payments, highly experienced managers offer contractual paymentstructures that trade lower upfront payments for higher royalty payments inorder to signal value. The signal instills confidence in the value of the …

Place, Space, And Foreign Direct Investment Into Peripheral Cities, Conor Mcdonald, Peter J. Buckley, Hinrich Voss, Adam R. Cross, Liang Chen

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Perspectives drawn from the economic geography literature are increasingly used to generate insights into locational issues in international business. In this paper, we seek to integrate these literatures further by investigating the locational determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) into peripheral cities within an emerging economy. Peripheral cities in emerging economies are attracting a growing proportion of global FDI flows, but the international business literature lacks a framework for understanding subnational determinants of FDI, particularly into non-core locations. We draw on the core-periphery model to build and test theory on how spatial interdependencies between subnational locations impact on the distribution …

Predicting Changes In Earnings: A Walk Through A Random Forest, Joshua Hunt

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This paper investigates whether the accuracy of models used in accounting research to predict categorical dependent variables (classification) can be improved by using a data analytics approach. This topic is important because accounting research makes extensive use of classification in many different research streams that are likely to benefit from improved accuracy. Specifically, this paper investigates whether the out-of-sample accuracy of models used to predict future changes in earnings can be improved by considering whether the assumptions of the models are likely to be violated and whether alternative techniques have strengths that are likely to make them a better choice …

Tax Planning Diffusion, Real Effects, And Sharing Of Benefits, Ling Cen, Edward Maydew, Liandong Zhang, Luo Zuo

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We investigate the diffusion of tax planning across firms, and the real effects and sharing of benefits from such diffusion. Using supply chain relationships among firms as a possible diffusion channel, we find that tax planning spreads from principal customers to their dependent suppliers. We find that tax planning diffusion has real effects on product markets and that both parties to the tax planning diffusion share in the benefits. As tax planning diffuses to suppliers, suppliers share the tax savings with their customers by reducing the mark-up on their products. Finally, we show that tax planning diffusion is more pronounced …

The Evolution Of The French Cfos' Role Since The Introduction Of The Financial Market Logic, Redon Marie, Toru Yoshikawa, Berland Nicolas

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper highlights the changes of the Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) role since the introduction of the financial market logic in France. Through an analysis of thirty-seven interviews with CFOs and observations during events organized by the professional association of CFOs, we show that the CFOs’ role evolved in different pathways depending on the relationships between logics. We contribute to the literature that studies professions from an institutional perspective by responding to the question of whether professionals change their role when the logic to which they adhere and from which they derive their role is being challenged, or whether institutional …

Affective Boundaries Of Scope Insensitivity, Hannah H. Chang, Michel Tuan Pham

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

People can be surprisingly insensitive to quantities in valuation judgments—a phenomenon called scope insensitivity, which is generally attributed to the operation of affective processes in judgment. Building on research showing that affect is inherently a decision-making system of the present, we propose that scope insensitivity is more likely to be observed in decisions that are psychologically proximate to the immediate self. Consistent with this proposition, results from seven experiments (and two replications) show that scope insensitivity is more prevalent in decisions that are temporally proximate, both prospectively (near future vs. distant future) and retrospectively (recent past vs. distant past), and …

Choosing The Precision Of Performance Metrics, Alan D. Crane, Andrew Koch, Chi Shen Wei

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

There is a standard trade-off in contracts between the provision of incentives and insurance. We hypothesize that this trade-off influences the precision with which firm performance is measured. We find that firm outcomes are measured less precisely when chance plays a large role in these outcomes. Further, this precision is determined through the choice of shares outstanding. This has several novel implications. Nominal stock prices can remain constant over time, and firms with unpredictable cash flows should have more shares and lower stock price levels, all else equal. We find evidence consistent with these implications.

Building A United And Shared Vision Beyond The Bottom Line, Siow-Heng Ong

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

No abstract provided.

The Competitive Dynamics Of New Dvd Releases, Anirban Mukherjee, Vrinda Kadiyali

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We study the market for new (movie) DVDs in the United States. Our demand model captures seasonality, freshness (i.e., time between theatrical and DVD release), and state dependence. We also develop a structural model of dynamic competition in which studios balance waiting for high-demand weeks, against reduced freshness, and against competitive crowding. We find that studios emphasize DVD revenues from larger movies (by theatrical revenue) over DVD revenues from smaller movies. Studios also emphasize revenue from consumers who prefer larger and fresher movies. These behaviors are consistent with managerial conservatism: studio executives forgo DVD revenues from smaller movies to ensure …