Abstract

Enhancing the capacity of a luxury brand to stir a deep connection with customers has always been the focus of practitioners in the luxury industry. This study explores the potential role of social media in converting attachment with a luxury brand into desirable marketing outcomes. The relationships between “luxury brand attachment,” “motivation,” “social media usage,” “word-of-mouth,” and “purchase intention” are examined to understand the drivers and outcomes of luxury brand attachment in social media. A questionnaire was administered to a sample of 341 social media users on various platforms. Data were analyzed using SPSS and Amos. The results revealed that the most important attribute generating luxury attachment in social media is the capacity of a luxury brand to show prestige and status. The direct relationship between luxury brand attachment and purchase intentions is nonsignificant. A stronger attachment to a luxury brand does not entice direct intention to purchase it unless certain motives drive consumers’ luxury engagement in social media. These insights can guide marketing managers in creating effective strategies for their luxury products.

Introduction

Over the past years, the luxury market has seen significant growth, with generated revenues of US$281 billion from the world’s top 100 luxury companies [1, 2]. The Gulf Cooperation Council’s (GCC) luxury sector has been valued at $11.4 billion in 2020, demonstrating substantial potential for growth due to factors such as rising economic development, a large young population, increasing penetration of e-commerce, and strong growth in the tourism sector [3]. Kuwait, historically referred to as the “pearl of the Gulf,” stands out as a particularly attractive destination for luxury products. The Chalhoub Group reports that Kuwait is the third-largest market in the Gulf, exhibiting the highest growth of 35% in 2021 compared to 2019 [4]. Despite this attractiveness, Kuwait’s luxury market remains underinvestigated [5], presenting unique cultural challenges for luxury brand managers.

In this context, social media (SM) has emerged as a pivotal platform for luxury brands. Social media is broadly defined as a set of digital platforms that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks [6]. It is characterized by its high interactivity, user-generated content, and the ability to connect and share with a broad audience. As of the latest data, SM platforms collectively boast billions of users worldwide, underscoring their influence and reach. Popular features of SM include instant messaging, content sharing, networking, and community engagement, which have become integral to modern marketing strategies, especially in the luxury sector [7].

Conclusion and Future Research Directions

In conclusion, this study delves into the complex relationship between LBA, social media engagement, and purchase intentions, particularly within the context of Kuwait’s affluent market. The findings underscore that the display of prestige and status is pivotal in cultivating LBA, which, however, does not directly lead to purchase intentions. The key lies in the role of motivation, which acts as a vital link in turning luxury attachment into consumer purchasing actions. This finding is particularly relevant for luxury brands aiming to effectively leverage SM without compromising their unique brand identities.

While the study contributes significantly to both theoretical and practical domains, it is not without limitations. The reliance on self-reported data from social media users about past behaviors and future intentions may introduce biases. Future studies might employ more objective data collection methods or triangulate findings with qualitative insights to enhance validity. The focus on a specific demographic in Kuwait limits the generalizability of the findings. Expanding future research to include diverse demographics and geographic regions will enhance understanding and applicability considering economic and cultural factors in these diverse regions. The cross-cultural studies would support the understanding of how digital platforms influence consumer behavior in distinctive luxury markets, filling the knowledge gap in the literature regarding the motives driving luxury brand engagement on SM. Additionally, the study’s approach to general luxury brand perceptions, without differentiating between various luxury levels, opens the door for more nuanced future research. Investigating how attachment to different tiers of luxury brands on specific SM platforms influences purchase intentions could offer deeper insights, considering the limitation that our study’s focus is not on specific platform usage but on the overall impact of SM on luxury brand engagement. Furthermore, exploring the psychological underpinnings, such as social identity and self-concept, that drive luxury purchases, particularly in the ever-evolving social media landscape, could yield valuable findings. This would not only address the current study’s limitations but also guide luxury brand managers in developing adaptive strategies in the digital era that resonate with a sophisticated and dynamic consumer base.

Abstract

Marketers use augmented reality (AR) to place virtual brand-related information into a consumer’s physical context. Grounded in the literature on AR, brand love, metaphor theory, and closeness as interpreted by the neural theory of language, the authors theorize that branded AR content can reduce the perceived physical, spatial distance between a consumer and a brand. This perceived closeness subsequently drives the closeness of the emotional relationship in the form of brand love. Two empirical studies validate this framework. Study 1 shows that using an AR app (vs. non-AR) increases the perceived physical closeness of the brand, which in turn drives brand love (i.e., relationship closeness). Study 2 replicates this finding in a pre-/post-use design. Here, high levels of local presence (i.e., the extent to which consumers perceive a brand as actually being present in their physical environment) drive perceived physical closeness, which leads to brand love. We also find that AR’s power to generate brand love increases when the consumer is already familiar with the brand. We discuss managerial implications for AR marketing today and in a metaverse future in which AR content might be prevalent in consumers’ everyday perceptions of the real world.

Introduction

When consumers use augmented reality (AR), they have a hybrid experience consisting of the real physical environment around them and virtual objects that appear to have been placed within that world (Flaviàn et al., 2019; Peddie, 2017). The main distinctive factor between AR and other digital presentation formats is contextual embedding (von der Au et al., 2023), which means that the virtual content is integrated into the user’s physical environment (Rauschnabel, Felix, et al., 2022). For instance, Pokémon Go users perceive virtual creatures sitting on their streets, IKEA Place users explore virtual couches in their living rooms, and car enthusiasts can experience virtual cars as if the vehicles were in their driveways using the Mercedes Benz cAR app.

The growing importance of AR marketing has been reflected in an increase in academic publications. However, as recent bibliographic analyses by Du et al. (2022), Jayaswal and Parida (2023), and Kumar (2022) reveal, only a few studies have tackled issues in brand management. Such studies typically focus on how AR can drive cognitive brand attitudes (e.g., Gatter et al., 2022; Zanger et al., 2022) or brand engagement and advocacy (Kumar et al., 2023b). What has not been sufficiently considered in relation to AR marketing is the potential to enhance brand love or other aspects of consumer–brand relationships (Scholz & Duffy, 2018). The present research is among the first to establish a link between AR marketing and brand love.

Conclusion

As we envision a future where AR plays a dominant role in consumers’ lives, the question of what is real and what is not becomes relevant. Our research shows that the question of what is near and what is far may also arise because AR can trigger closeness perceptions between a user and a virtual object. Marketers can benefit from this perceived physical closeness—especially in brand management—as this research shows. We hope that this research will inspire scholars to understand how AR can be used to solve personal, business, or societal problems. Using AR to create closeness between a user and a specific subject (e.g., a brand, a product, a topic, a societal problem, etc.) could be an effective strategy across disciplines.

Abstract

     This article addresses the negative implications of neutrality in bureaucratic systems and public service. Neutrality employs a sameness approach that reinforces impartiality, invisibility, and indifference, resulting in what we term discriminatory blindness. After a brief illustrative review of neutrality in public service, we critique neutrality as an organizational impediment based on its veiled negative implications and disparate outcomes that fail to center the human experience and treat people based on how they are situated to ensure equity in outcomes. We propose a framework to forge ahead with eight actionable types of initiatives and learning constructs to raise the consciousness of public practitioners. We conclude with an action-oriented and learning-focused approach.

THE PROBLEM WITH NEUTRALITY

     Neutrality fortifies organizational impediments in public service and obscures an unequal relationship, detachment from disparate outcomes, and tensions between human interactions (Gooden, 2015). Frederickson (2010) asked, “for whom is the organization well managed? For whom is the organization efficient? For whom is the organization economical? For whom are public services more or less fairly delivered?” (Frederickson, 2010, p. xv). Scholars have challenged the ideal of neutrality based on its veiled implications for vulnerable, minoritized, and marginalized communities (Blessett & Gaynor, 2021; Frederickson, 1991, 2005; Gaynor & Wilson, 2020; Gooden, 2015; Guy, 2021; Herd & Moynihan, 2018; Hooks, 2013; Portillo et al., 2020; Stivers, 2015).

Neutrality veils a bureaucratic apparatus protecting the status quo of discriminatory legislative practices (Caiden, 1996; Gooden, 2015; Huber, 1991). The veil of neutrality refers to the belief that neutrality’s evenhandedness is altruistic and a public good. The veil obscures legitimized biases, internal processes, assumptions, and disparate outcomes. The veil of neutrality is referred to in the literature as a rationalized myth that masks disparities in the equitable distribution of public services (Meyer & Rowan, 1977; Portillo et al., 2020). Hooks (2013) argued White supremacist thinking and practice remain ingrained in the political foundations and systems within the U.S. She referred to this as “imperialist White supremacist capitalist patriarchy” which demanded obedience, subservience, submissiveness, and docile participation in an interlocking system (Hooks, 2013, p. 4).

CONCLUSION

     Public administration faces a shifting paradigm that challenges neutrality as a bedrock. In this research, we adapted a framework to forge ahead with eight actionable types of cultural competence initiatives and learning constructs to mitigate disparate aspects of neutrality in public service. This article focused on the performative illusion of neutrality as an organizational learning impediment that preserves and promotes disparities, inequities, and exclusion based on the premise of objectivity. It’s time to move beyond the performative illusion of neutrality to rebalance and recalibrate public service mechanisms. To disrupt the deep entrenchment of neutrality that veils how the evenhandedness of efficiency reinforces exploitation, control, power, and dominance, it requires us to disentangle ourselves and unlearn what we have been socialized to adopt as norms.

     Public practitioners must become skilled at navigating and disarming the ubiquitous minefields of public service once boots hit the ground. Development of cultural competence requires work at the individual, collective, and organizational levels embedded in empathy, ethics, engagement, and equity (Meyer et al., 2022). Starke et al. (2018) argued it is the ethical responsibility of public administration programs to educate and prepare students to become culturally competent administrators. By default, failure to prioritize cultural competence would perpetuate dominant biased perspectives. The development of cultural competence requires reconstituting long-standing traditional modes of doing business as value hierarchies. Such a reconstitution can ensure that organizations intentionally and meaningfully engage with proposed changes and articulate an ethical commitment and responsibility to raise the consciousness of public practitioners.

Abstract

     In this study, we investigate whether and to what extent country-level board reforms affect audit pricing decisions. We find audit fees are positively associated with board reforms. An increase in audit fees is more pronounced for firms that switched up to Big N auditors following board reforms. After board reforms, firms are less likely to issue restatements, and both analyst forecast accuracy and management forecast frequency increase, indicating improved audit quality and information transparency in the postreform period. Moreover, the positive relation between board reforms and audit fees is more evident for firms in countries that lack institutional governance mechanisms, captured by emerging capital markets, high political risk, weak governmental enforcement actions and low corporate governance quality. Overall, our findings broadly support the view that audit fees increase upon demand for better audit quality.

INTRODUCTION

     To date, most empirical research on board and audit committee independence has not explicitly separated the gross costs and benefits of reforms, but rather, has focused on the net impact to financial reporting outcomes, firm value and capital markets in assessing the merits (Fauver et al., 2017; Cohen et al., 2014; Klein, 2002; Palmrose et al., 2004; Hribar & Jenkins, 2004; Becker et al., 1998; Dhaliwal et al., 2010; Griffin et al., 2008; Tsui et al., 2001; Abbott et al., 2003). This empirical stream has provided valuable, yet mixed, findings: the net effect of board independence and a separate audit committee varies significantly across firms, industries and countries (Fauver et al., 2017). Such variations call for a better understanding of the specific nature of costs and benefits to determine the economic trade-off of board reforms. To respond to such a call, this study is able to quantify the direct statutory audit costs incurred by firms by examining the adoption of board reforms.

     We focus on audit costs because the adoption of board reforms is likely to have a profound impact on audit time and effort to review clients’ financial statements. Therefore, audit fees represent a direct, observable and measurable cash outflow that may incorporate significant changes in the board structure and composition.1 The impact of board reforms on audit fees is twofold. On the one hand, a more effective board with independent directors may demand higher audit quality (greater assurance), which requires more audit effort, to protect their reputation and to avoid future legal liability.2 This is consistent with the theory that audit fee is an input-based audit quality measure and restatement is an output-based audit quality measure, according to DeFond and Zhang (2014). As a result, the demand for high audit quality may increase audit costs/fees by ensuring that auditors perform sufficient and appropriate audit procedures (Carcello et al., 2002; Abbott et al., 2003; Zhang & Yu, 2016) and thereby reducing the likelihood of future financial restatements, which supports quality demand hypothesis.3

CONCLUSION

     One of the potential benefits of board reforms is to improve the process by which auditors are selected, retained and compensated. That raises an interesting question to accounting researchers and practitioners. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to test the association between board reforms and audit fees in a global setting. Due to different types and components of board reforms as well as country-level characteristics, prior studies provide mixed evidence as to whether such potential benefits of board reforms are being achieved. This study provides a comprehensive empirical analysis of the relation between a board reform’s efficacy and audit pricing decisions.

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) provides to the client an effective technique for communicating with the Web world through ubiquitary object enabled networks. The rapid progress in IoT connected devices creates a huge amount of data in a second from personal and industrial devices. This information should be utilized to help business and functional objectives. Thus, there is an urgent requirement for adopting cloud computing, big data, and artificial intelligence techniques to enable storage, analytics, and decision making. In this article, we focused our consideration to integrate Cloud Computing, Big data and Artificial Intelligence technique with the Internet of Things devices. Cloud computing, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and IoT are different techniques that are already part of our life. Their adoption and uses are expected to make them more comprehensive and make them essential components of the future Internet. The Internet of Things (IoT) is a system of interconnected gadgets, digital or mechanical machines that are given exceptional identifiers and the capacity to move information over an organization without expecting human-to-human or human-to-pc collaboration.

Introduction

With the wide-spread discovery of techniques in the current digital era, increasing physical entities are interconnected to the Internet of Things (IoT) devices. In recent years IoT technologies are applied with different techniques such as Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, and Cloud Computing. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a technique which has the ability to compute a huge amount of task that is usually done by a human. Artificial Intelligence uses different learning techniques to facilitate automatic rules and regulations for decision making. Artificial intelligence is divided into two different modules such as learning module and predicate module [1]. The learning module is used for effective data collection, training, and data modeling. And the predicate module is used to take action on the current situation. The flow and storage of exponentially increasing data are easily managed by Artificial Intelligence (AI). The integration of cloud computing and IoT are also two different technologies that assume a vital part in our daily life. Cloud computing and the Internet of Things are merged together is expected to break both current and future internet which we called as new paradigm CloudIoT [2]. In the era of the internet which plays a fundamental role in cloud computing, it seems to be represented as a medium or the platform through which many different cloud computing services are accessible or delivered its services. If you are thinking that the internet as a virtual “space” for connecting users from over the globe, it is like a cloud, sharing information by using the internet. Cloud computing is the trending technology in the daily life of everyone which provides on-demand web services such as networking devices, data storage, servers, and applications. It provides higher flexibility and cost efficiency while users try to use cloud computing resources and applications.

Conclusion

The Internet of Things is a wide field and contains incredible and different variety of applications. The main aim of IoT is to provide a facility of exchange information and synergic performance between devices and peoples via global machine-to-machine (M2M) networks. Due to M2M network, exchange of information between the devices creates an exponential amount of data. It is impossible to manage or keep secure these generated personal or organizational data in local devices. The IoT techniques need centrally storage space for personal or industrial data. To avoid these problems, in this paper we have introduced the integration of Cloud Computing, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence techniques with the Internet of Things devices. The integration of cloud computing with IoT techniques stores the information centrally generated by the IoT devices. And the collected data which is centrally stored in cloud computing is managed, processed, and analyzed by the Big Data Techniques. To extract the high volume of IoT data in real-time, processing needs machine learning and AI algorithms.

Abstract

Empirical studies found that earnings management (EM) explains firms’ cost of capital both in companies in emerging and developed countries, but until now, it has not been analyzed whether the effect of EM on the financial cost is different among emerging countries inside or outside an economic area (Eurozone). Our results show that the cost of debt and the idiosyncratic component of the cost of equity are related to discretionary accruals and abnormal values of operating cash-flows, that the emerging country effect is more relevant on the cost of debt, that there is a Eurozone effect that makes discretionary accruals more relevant than abnormal values of operating cash-flow and that firms in emerging countries inside the Eurozone benefit from a lower EM penalty on the cost of debt than firms in other emerging European countries.

INTRODUCTION

The literature shows that cost of capital for companies in emerging countries is higher than that for companies in developed countries (González-Sánchez, 2022; Narayan et al., 2014). This means that investments in emerging countries have to achieve higher returns to compensate for this extra financial cost. In this context, our aim is to test whether the earnings management (EM) explains this extra financial cost of capital and, if the EM effect is different for companies in emerging countries if the country is inside or outside of Eurozone.

EM is the ability of the company’s management to manipulate the company’s results, with the intention of obtaining some private gain, but reducing the quality of financial reporting. The literature has analyzed whether EM has a negative impact on the quality of financial reporting, which may reduce the value of the company, causing stakeholders to lose confidence. More specifically, EM has also been analyzed in relation to issues such as the supervisory role of the majority owner in mitigating managers’ opportunistic behavior in EM (Mellado & Saona, 2005), insider trading (Sawicki & Shrestha, 2008), mergers and acquisitions (Zhu & Lu, 2013), debt issuance (Mellado et al., 2017), or bankruptcy risk (Agustia et al., 2020).

CONCLUSIONS

Empirical evidence shows that the financial cost of companies in emerging countries is higher than that of companies in developed countries. In this context, we test whether this difference is due to the way creditors and investors take into account EM in both types of companies or whether their interpretation of earnings manipulation is independent of the extra financial cost in emerging versus developed countries. Our main objective is to study whether there is a different effect for companies in the Eurozone and whether, as a consequence, companies from emerging countries inside the Eurozone have a different effect than other companies from emerging European countries outside the Eurozone.

To study this differential effect, we built a database composed of 4514 companies from 16 developed countries and 3399 companies from 21 emerging countries. The novelty of our sample is that all countries belong to the same geographical area (Europe), so that implicitly the economic, social, and cultural relations (among others) should not show substantial differences in the way EM explains financial cost. Moreover, by including in the sample developed and emerging countries that share a common regulatory framework and a common currency (euro), this difference should be nonexistent. The sample period is from 2012 to 2020.

Abstract

Recent developments in information and communication technology have blurred the line between the workplace and the home. This can have a negative influence on employees’ well-being and thus has gained increasing attention from academics and practitioners. In this study, we developed a research model based on the transactional perspective of stress and the challenge–hindrance stressor framework. We defined the two dimensions of work–family conflict as the perceptual stress resulting from a chronic challenge and hindrance technostressors, which ultimately affect employees’ satisfaction in both the work and family domains. We tested our model using a three-wave time-lagged survey study with data collected from 268 employees. Challenge and hindrance technostressors had different effects on these two main forms of work–family conflict (time-based and strain-based) but further induced negative effects on both job and family satisfaction. Overall, we make both scientific and practical contributions to the fields of work-related technology use and work–family conflict.

Introduction

Managing employee health and productivity is an essential aspect of modern organisational strategies. A study by Aviva (Wedgwood, 2022) showed that, nowadays, more employees were attracted to their current job for the work-life balance (41%) than the salary (36%). Other industry reports have shown that work–life conflicts are the main reason for job resignations (Joblist, 2021). Employees are currently experiencing increasing work–life conflict due to technology-induced stress (Li et al., 2021; Sarker et al., 2018). Previous studies have suggested that technology-related work stress often bleeds over into employees’ home domains with the potential to bring harm to both domains (Harris et al., 2021). Clearly understanding technology-related work–family conflict is therefore important, as a failure to intervene in the resulting stress can lead to major personal and family problems for employees (e.g., depression and divorce), which can cause productivity losses worth billions of dollars (Butts et al., 2015).

The term technostress has been coined for the stress-creating effects of technology use, in terms of the stressful experiences resulting from individuals’ inability to cope with information systems (IS) in a healthy manner (e.g., Ayyagari et al., 2011; Ragu-Nathan et al., 2008). Previous studies have investigated how technology use at the workplace induces technostress and blurs the boundary between work and family (Ayyagari et al., 2011; Butts et al., 2015). Among them, a significant number of studies examined episodic technostressors which are acute and result from transitory and periodic events (e.g., system breakdown) (Weinert et al., 2020). For example, technology-mediated interruption, which is considered as an episodic technostressor, is found to significantly hinder employees’ work and nonwork performance, by increasing errors in tasks and their execution time (Chen & Karahanna, 2018; Galluch et al., 2015). Similarly, Benlian (2020) investigated how daily and transient (i.e., episodic) technostressors trigger short-term work–family spillover and affect employees’ home lives. While, it is worth noting that, the chronic technostressors (e.g., “techno-overload” and “techno-invasion”) employees experience over the long-term can also significantly impact work–family conflict, as they result in ongoing resource depletion (Harris et al., 2021). In fact, studies have suggested that work–family conflict is associated more closely with chronic stressors because addressing such a source of stress requires a change in work or family life over a long period of time (Galluch et al., 2015). In addition, work–family conflict is often considered to be a type of role stress, which manifests in a prolonged response to chronic job-related stressors (e.g., work overload) (Ahuja et al., 2007; Grzywacz et al., 2006). Accordingly, as information systems (IS) researchers have mainly assumed that technostress is relatively static, investigations of how aggregated and retrospective technostress experiences contribute to employees’ work–family conflict and ultimately influence their performance in both domains are needed.

RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

Although our proposed model operates at the individual level, our data structure is nested, with 268 employees within 64 teams. Single-level analyses (e.g., ordinary regression) violate the assumption of observation independence when hierarchically clustered data are used and lead to downwardly biased standard errors (Preacher et al., 2010). Multilevel structural equation modelling (MSEM) can address our mediation hypotheses when the data are hierarchically organised (see Appendix C for a review; Preacher et al., 2010). As such, we followed Preacher et al. (2010) and conducted two-level path analyses using multilevel SEM with Mplus 7.4 (Muthén & Muthén, 1998). In this approach, we first conducted a psychometric assessment of the measurement model and then evaluated the hypothesised model. This approach ensured that the conclusions drawn from the hypothesised model were based on a set of measures with desirable psychometric properties (Hair et al., 2010). To avoid identifying any spurious cross-level moderation effects, we centered all of the predictors at the individual level (i.e., grand-mean centering) to reduce multicollinearity (Hofmann, 1997; Hofmann & Gavin, 1998). To confirm the robustness of our hypothesis testing, we also tested the conditional indirect effects using Monte Carlo bootstrap simulations in R (Preacher & Selig, 2012).

Abstract

     Mobile financial services (MFS) have been a powerful innovation to provide cost-effective services and wide coverage to the unbanked population of the world. The topic has gained considerable attention from researchers but lacks a clear guideline or directions for future prospects. Therefore, this article presents a systematic literature review on MFS adoption. Using the Web of Science database, the paper reviewed 118 articles and revealed significant models, conceptual frameworks, antecedents and variables that explain consumers’ adoption of MFS. The paper also outlines highly cited authors, studies and journals utilizing international platforms such as Google Scholar, ResearchGate and SCImago Journal Ranking. The findings of the systematic literature review indicate the technology acceptance model (TAM) followed by the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) as the leading conceptual framework, and MFS adoption antecedents can be organized into six different categories, viz. Cognitive determinants, affective determinants, social-based determinants, trust-based determinants, barrier-based determinants and consumer-based determinants. The paper concluded with an agenda for future studies with corresponding gaps in the literature.

Introduction

     The eighth goal of sustainable development goals (SDGs) aims to strengthen financial institutions and ensure universal access to financial services by the year 2030. In this regard, mobile financial services have become an influential instrument in stimulating financial inclusion in developing countries. These services have created a dynamic platform by extending the reach and access to financial services to those who have insufficient resources and restricted access to conventional banking (Sihvonen, 2006). As reported by Global System for Mobile communications Association (GSMA), nearly 2.5 billion people in developing countries are unbanked and rely on cash or informal sources for their financial requirements (Plenderleith, 2018). Besides, around one billion of these population have access to mobile phones, which can serve as the foundation to provide various financial services such as balance inquiry, money transfer, payments, investment, insurance and credit facility. Indeed, many major banks have leveraged mobile devices as a principal medium for customers to access their accounts. They have created mobile apps and websites to provide their customers with an appropriate blend of comfort, convenience and user experience (Chawla and Joshi, 2017). Given the magnitude of competition, service providers are inclined to adopt online channels in an attempt to overcome the restriction related to human service encounters (Alalwan, Dwivedi, Rana and Simintiras, 2016a). In particular, the internet and the high penetration of smartphones, on the one hand, have prompted banks, software companies and microfinance institutions to provide these innovative services to extend their client reach and, on the other hand, enabled individuals to perform their financial activities cost-effectively regardless of time and place constraints.

CONCLUSION

     The area of mobile financial services is gaining worldwide attention, witnessing an increasing number of scientific and nonscientific articles. Although, the literature on MFS adoption has been reviewed in the past but existing reviews did not focused on every form of mobile financial services, that is, mobile banking, mobile payment and mobile money. Accordingly, this study highlights the scholarly contribution by synthesizing extant literature on MFS adoption. To do so, we have conducted a systematic literature review on 118 articles published in Web of Science database

     It was observed that the research pertaining to mobile financial services has started appearing in journals from the year 2007 and the count has been gradually increasing ever since. Besides, the publication outlets, the most commonly used theories and frameworks, countries, statistical tools applied in the articles were listed to outline the context and characteristics of MFS adoption studies. Further, a comprehensive list of antecedents, moderators, mediators and consequences employed by researchers to examine MFS adoption is provided. With respect to the antecedents, the literature brings out a myriad of factors that have been used frequently in the studies. To facilitate the interpretation, the antecedents have been classified into six different categories: Cognitive determinants, affective determinants, social-based determinants, trust-based determinants, barrierbased determinants and consumer-based determinants.

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Fifth Generation of Network Technology

6.3 Internet of Things (IoT)

6.4  Industrial Internet of Things

6.5 IoT in the Automotive Industry

6.6 IoT in Agriculture

6.7 AI, IoT, and 5G Security

6.8 Conclusion

References

6.1 Introduction 

The world of Artificial Intelligence (AI), fifth-generation data networks (5G), and the rapidly growing Internet of Things (IoT) devices can be beneficial to us, but also present numerous flaws as they are all new and rapidly developing technologies. It is important to note that the 5G network has better security than the third generation (3G) and forth generation (4G) networks. Still, it has been said that some of the classic vulnerabilities and security flaws from 3G and 4G networks were directly carried over to the developing 5G network, thus presenting additional security flaws right out of the gate. Both AI and the IoT will benefit from the development of 5G networks where businesses can use such devices, which will be tied to the growing 5G network, and can serve several purposes throughout the business market, among other areas.

When it comes to consumer-based electronic devices, they are certainly on the rise. As technology improves, these devices will consume more bandwidth and data than ever before. The increase in data and bandwidth consumption from newly emerging technologies could include the ability to interpret human speech on-the-fly and identify various patterns throughout data or documents from a mobile device. This data can even adjust business efficiency, increasing overall profits with endless possibilities for automation in manufacturing. This is where the development of 5G data networks come into play. 5G networks will have the bandwidth needs for current and future data-hungry devices in a growing technological world.

AI technology is growing from ordinary scientists’ simple tools to as far as the use within the professional development community for higher intelligence use. These various organizations can use AI technology to fill the current gap in the data science area, a big gamechanger for data science! This also always gives end-consumers the ability to take their business and personal data wherever they go. This is a big deal when making end-consumers happy while retaining their privacy with their online data.

When it comes to data processing, with the help of 5G, AI, and the IoT, modern technology demands that data management and processing capabilities should have the data possessors brought to the data itself rather than sending the collected data processing elsewhere. This may also include the data processing and distributed data stores included within the data management process in order to guarantee that support is offered where AI, 5G, and IoT: Driving Forces Towards the Industry Technology Trends 118 6 AI, 5G, and IoT: Driving Forces Towards the Industry Technology Trends the received critical data is being stored. 5G network technology will be revolutionary to end-consumers, businesses, and data processing centers worldwide.

Abstract

     We provide a systematic literature review of the determinants and consequences of real earnings management (REM) in an international context. We provide a theoretical framework for REM, the development of REM measures, and review the determinants of REM, categorising these into financial reporting, auditing, governance and controls, capital market incentives, and regulatory determinants. We then review the empirical literature on the consequences of REM. We provide some suggestions for future research on measurement issues related to REM, and on filling gaps in the empirical research investigating its determinants and consequences.

Introduction

     We provide a systematic review of the determinants and consequences of real earnings management (hereafter REM) in an international context. Earnings management research has dominated the accounting research landscape for about three decades. Researchers initially investigated the determinants of accruals earnings management (hereafter AEM) following the seminal paper of Jones (1991). However, after the passage of the Sarbanes Oxley Act (hereafter SOX) of 2002, research on the determinants and consequences of REM proliferated.

     REM is defined as ‘departures from normal operational practices, motivated by managers’ desire to mislead at least some stakeholders into believing certain financial reporting goals have been met in the normal course of operations’ (Roychowdhury, 2006, p. 337). Examples of REM include, but are not limited to, overproduction designed to decrease the cost of goods sold and the cutting of R&D investment to boost current-period earnings. Managers are increasingly using REM, particularly in the post-SOX period, owing to the greater possibility of AEM being detected by auditors and regulatory authorities (Cohen et al., 2008).1 In a survey of 401 chief financial officers (CFOs) in the US, Graham et al. (2005), reveal that ‘80% of survey participants report that they would decrease discretionary spending on R&D, advertising, and maintenance to meet an earnings target. More than half (55.3%) state that they would delay starting a new project to meet an earnings target, even if such a delay entailed a small sacrifice in value’ (p. 32).2 This increased use of REM has, consequently, expanded academic research on the determinants and consequences of REM. In this paper, we use REM and real activities manipulation interchangeably.

Conclusion

     The current study is a timely review of the body of knowledge of REM, based on the papers published from 2006 to 2021. Since the passage of SOX in 2002, research on the determinants of REM has proliferated, owing primarily to a shift from more easily detectable AEM to difficult-to-scrutinise REM actions. We surveyed and synthesised the REM literature with respect to the measurement, determinants and consequences of REM. Our review suggests that the existing REM literature has made little effort to adopt suggestions aimed at improving the measurement models of REM originally proposed by Roychowdhury (2006). Second, the passage of the SOX, as well as IFRS internationally, motivated managers to engage more in REM than in AEM. Capital market incentives arising from IPOs, SEOs and acquisition activities also appear to drive firms’ REM behaviour. A vast body of literature has examined the relation between REM and various factors related to corporate governance and controls. Some such factors include corporate boards, TMT characteristics, incentive compensation structures, external ownership structure, market competition, and country-level political, economic, legal and cultural characteristics. However, the evidence on the relation between corporate governance and REM remains mixed. Third, studies that examined the consequences of REM are fewer in number than the ones that examined the determinants of REM and, importantly, also provide inconclusive evidence.

Abstract

1 | INTRODUCTION

2 | THE EARNED INCOME TAX CREDIT AND ITS EFFECTS

3 | DATA AND MODEL

4 | RESULTS

5 | DISCUSSION

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

REFERENCES

Abstract

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) transferred more than $67 billion to taxpayers in 2016. We estimate changes in spending that occur following EITC disbursement. We make three key advances in identifying the effect: using estimated EITC dollar benefits to differentiate the impact of low from high benefits; estimating the impact by liquid assets; and, employing a triple-difference model around the 1993 expansion and a separate triple-difference model over the number of children. We find that the EITC acts as supplementary SNAP benefits for those with small EITC benefits, while those with larger benefits increase spending on durables, particularly automobiles.

1 | INTRODUCTION

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is one of the largest anti‐poverty programs for working age adults with children, transferring more than $67 billion per year (IRS, 2017). In 2018, the EITC along with the Child Tax Credit lifted 5.6 million individuals out of poverty, including over 3 million children, and reduced the severity of poverty for another 16.5 million people, including 6.1 million children (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2019). The EITC transfers result in several beneficial impacts for recipients based on both the direct impact of the transfers but also through increasing earnings and employment. The greatest impacts tend to be for households with earnings up to the threshold phaseout part of the schedule ($18,340 dollars of earnings per year for a two dependent child household), which are more likely to be female‐headed single parent households, as well as for households without a member previously in the labor force (Dickert et al., 1995; Eissa & Hoynes, 2006). There is some evidence that likelihood of EITC receipt increases in economic downturns—enabling it to act as a social safety net (Bitler et al., 2017). Other benefits of the EITC include positive impacts on children’s test scores (Chetty et al., 2011; Dahl & Lochner, 2008).

Abstract

     This study offers a new perspective on how organisational factors influence migrant workers’ cultural intelligence (CQ) by examining a moderated mediation model of the mechanism underlying the relationship between perceived supervisor support and CQ. We tested our model using a survey on a sample of 462 migrants. We found that employees’ social exchange and subjective career success mediated the relationship between their perceptions of supervisor support and CQ. Furthermore, perceived organisational support moderated the social exchange–CQ relationship, and this relationship was stronger among workers with perceived high organisational support than for those with perceptions of low support. We also found that the indirect effect of employees’ perceived supervisor support on CQ via social exchange was stronger for those with perceived high organisational support than for those with perceptions of low support. This study contributes to a better understanding of factors that foster migrant workers’ abilities to navigate diverse workplaces.

Introduction

     Today’s global context is characterised by culturally diverse workplaces that require employees to have high levels of cultural competence if they are to successfully adjust to and survive in competitive work environments. Cultural competence (also referred to as cross-cultural competence or intercultural competence in the literature) is defined as “a set of congruent behaviors, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system, agency, or among professionals and enables that system, agency, or those professionals to work effectively in cross-cultural situations” (Cross et al., 1989, pp. iv-v). This concept is used widely in the workforce diversity literature in multicultural countries such as the USA, Canada and Australia, due to its important role in dealing with the issues involving minorities in the workplace. Indeed, cultural competency is an umbrella term for capabilities that help facilitate intercultural effectiveness (Ang et al., 2015). Despite a large literature on cultural competence, the conceptualisations and definitions of this construct are often ambiguous. Cultural competence is conceptualised as personal characteristics related to traits, attitudes/worldviews, capabilities or a mix of the above (Leung et al., 2014). However, cultural competence is conceptually distinct from cultural intelligence (CQ) in that cultural competence is a combination of ability and personality traits, which are specific to the knowledge of a country, while CQ is based on contemporary theories of intelligence, not specific to a particular culture, and distinct from personality traits (Ang et al., 2007, 2015).

RESULTS

Preliminary analyses

     We performed CFA to test the measurement model. Table 1 shows that the 5-factor model fits the data well, with (χ2[314] = 1045.91, SRMR = 0.04, CFI = 0.91, RMSEA = 0.07). The 5-factor model is much better than the 1-factor model (χ2[324] = 3888.23, p < 0.01, SRMR = 0.11, CFI = 0.57, RMSEA = 0.15) and the null model (χ2[351] = 8696.36, p < 0.01). The CFA results indicate that the five variables in this study are distinct. Since the data were self-reported, common method variance (CMV) may have influenced the results. As suggested and used by prior researchers (Podsakoff et al., 2003), we tested the extent of CMV in the data. If CMV exists, the 5-factor model with a method factor should fit the data significantly better than the 5-factor model. After running the analysis, the CFA results show that the 5-factor model could slightly benefit from the addition of the common method factor; however, the gain in model fit was very small (SRMR change = 0.00, CFI change = 0.01 and RMSEA change = 0.00). These results suggested that CMV was not a critical issue in this study, although it is present.