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This paper aims to examine the financial performance of Bangladeshi listed commercial banks. The study analyzed the financial performances of banks categorized into three generations—first, second, and third—based on their year of commencement of operations in the country. The data of a total of 24 banks, 8 from each generation, listed in the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), has been collected from audited financial statements for the time period of 13 years, from 2010 to 2022. Data has been analyzed using different ratios of profitability, liquidity, capital adequacy, operational efficiency, and credit risk. The ANOVA test also has been used to make a comparison of profitability—the return on assets (ROA), and return on equity (ROE) of the banks of different generations. According to the results, the average profitability ratios in terms of ROA, and ROE of the second-generation banks showed their credibility than banks of other generations; while first generation banks kept higher liquidity, and capital adequacy with higher credit risk than the banks of other generations. The first-generation banks also showed a lower cost-expense ratio, and a higher efficiency in terms of operation, than the banks in the second and third generations. The research also discovered that the profitability of banks of different generations significantly varies from one another.  

The proliferation of technology has innovated new ways of saving and investing money: online savings and investment platforms [OSIPs]. Predicting the intention to adopt Fintech has triggered the interest of many researchers in academia and industries. The primary objective of this study was to examine factors influencing the intention to adopt OSIPs in Nigeria by using data gathered from 640 digitally active citizens from selected cities in Nigeria. Reliability and validity tests were conducted through construct reliability and discriminant validity, respectively, through WarpPLS. Data were computed with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (version) 24 and analyzed with structural equation modeling via WarpPLS. The findings of this study showed that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and social influence significantly affect attitude while facilitating conditions predict intention to adopt. It was also found that attitude significantly influences the intention to adopt OSIPs. The paper also discusses the study’s research limitations and presents implications for theory and practice.

Previous studies have established that the telecommunications industry in Kenya is characterized by decreasing voice revenues, many regulations, technological progress and varying consumer needs. This phenomenon has resulted in industry companies developing sound innovation strategies to make sure they form a competitive advantage over their rivals with the aim of ensuring their survival and growth in the evermore cut-throat marketplace. Nevertheless, in spite of the essential part played by these innovation strategies to safeguard competitive advantage, several companies have failed to translate the plans into reality. Therefore, the major objective of this study was to investigate the influence of technological innovation on the competitive advantage of telecommunication companies in Kenya. Technological innovation was measured by expansion of Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) networks; new equipment and software; and partnerships and synergies. To satisfy the objective of this paper, a positivist philosophical stance was adopted and research design using cross-sectional survey data used. Data was collected using proportionate sampling from 247 managers. The results indicate that technological innovation improves the competitive advantage of telecommunication companies in Kenya. However, with government regulation as a moderating variable, only the new equipment, and software constructs had a positive and significant influence on the dependent variable. Ultimately, the findings suggest that government regulation moderates the influence of technological innovation on the competitive advantage of telecommunication companies in Kenya.

The study sought to determine the influence of human resource planning on firm performance of firms listed in the Nairobi Securities Exchange in Kenya. The study was anchored on human capital theory and shareholder value maximization theory. The research design used was a cross-sectional survey while the study population constituted all the 68 listed firms at the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) as in May 2017. The target population included the head of human resources and finance directors in all the listed firms. The sample size comprised of 136 respondents, and data was collected through structured questionnaires to meet the objectives of the study. Responses were tabulated, coded, and processed by the use of a computer Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) to analyze the data. Both descriptive and inferential statistical techniques were used to analyze the data. To test hypotheses, a simple linear model was used to test significance between the independent and dependent variable. The study findings revealed that the relationship between human resource planning and firm performance was positive and statistically significant and hence rejected the null hypothesis. The study concluded that the type and strategy of the firm, succession planning, matching skills with jobs and skills inventory are human resource planning indicators influencing the performance of firms listed in the NSE. It is therefore recommended that firms should continue to practice and maintain adequate human resource planning as it plays a fundamental role in achieving the objectives of the organizations.

This paper investigates how firms shifted their dividend policies and leverage policies in response to the economic shock caused by the 2008 financial crisis. The sample countries are United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, Australia, Japan, China, and Korea. The empirical relationship of firms’ dividend policies with their capital structures and earnings was likely to undergo a major change around the 2008 financial crisis, as firms adjusted their capital structures and dividend policies in response to the extreme credit crunch caused by the financial crisis. The extent and the speed that firms deleverage themselves and reduce their dividends were likely to be influenced by countries’ cultural and social norms. This paper finds a significant reduction in dividends across sample countries except Great Britain and France after the 2008 crisis. This finding supports the free cash flow theory that dividends are paid to dissipate free cash flow to address agency conflicts between managers and shareholders. This paper finds a higher correlation between dividends and leverages before the 2008 crisis, and that it strengthened after the crisis except Great Britain and Korea. This finding is consistent more with the pecking order theory than with the trade-off theory of leverage.

A nascent literature in finance and accounting on tail risk in individual stock returns concludes that bad news hoarding by corporate managers engenders sudden, extreme crashes in a firm’s stock price when the bad news is eventually made public. This literature finds that firm-specific crash risk is higher among firms with more severe asymmetric information and agency problems. A hitherto disjointed literature spanning the fields of international business, finance, and accounting suggests that geographic dispersion in a firm’s operations, and especially dispersion across different countries, gives rise to organizational complexities and greater costs of monitoring that can exacerbate asymmetric information and agency problems. Motivated by the confluence of arguments and findings from these two strands of literature, this paper examines whether stock price crash risk is higher among multinational firms than domestic firms. Using a large sample of U.S. headquartered firms during 1987-2011, we find robust evidence that multinational firms are significantly more likely to crash than domestic firms. Moreover, we show that the difference in crash risk between multinational and domestic firms is most acute among firms with weaker corporate governance mechanisms, including weaker shareholder rights, less independent boards, and less stable institutional ownership. Our analysis indicates that stronger monitoring from each of these three governance mechanisms significantly attenuates the positive relation between crash risk and multinationality. Our findings are robust to the use of alternative measures of crash risk and to controlling for known determinants of crash risk identified in prior studies. Our study offers new insights that should hold value for scholars and market participants interested in understanding the implications of heighted agency problems that multinational firms are likely to encounter and scholars and market participants interested in developing models that more accurately predict tail risk in the equity returns of individual firms.

By drawing on Ukrainian experience, this paper analyzes the anatomy of bank efficiency in a transitional economy. Acknowledging the vast disparities in the business technology of different size banks, in this comprehensive study, we innovatively estimate group-specific (distinct) frontiers for small, medium, and large size banks. The results from separate frontiers reveal that Ukrainian banks record 38% technical inefficiency, 26% pure technical inefficiency, and 17% scale inefficiency on average. Apparently, banks in transition waste about the two fifths of their factor inputs during the production of financial services. The cardinal source of sub-performance in transitional banks seems to be managerial inefficiencies. We also found that banks operating in areas with more political influence and more developed infrastructure outperform the banks operating in politically and economically weaker regions. The results also indicate that larger banks, enjoying public trust in a risky business climate, dominate smaller banks in all forms of efficiency. However, such bias for size causes large banks to suffer from decreasing returns to scale and small banks from idle capacity. Consequently, the policies promoting consolidation between small and large banks may alleviate the excess (idle) capacity for large (small) banks in a transitional economy.

This paper analyzes the total factor productivity developments in the Middle East banking, by drawing on the experience of Jordanian banks at the start of the new millennium. In order to control for the effects of different specifications of banking technology on the results, this study estimates the productivity and efficiency growth scores under two alternative approaches, production and intermediation models. On average, under the former model, we found 79% technical efficiency and 3.2% productivity growth, while under the later model we found 92% technical efficiency and 3.3% productivity growth for the sector. One implication is that the Jordanian banks can obtain considerable resource savings if they can catch up with the best practice banks. Among the organizational forms operating in this emerging market, we found that commercial banks generally outperform both investment and Islamic banks in terms of efficiency and total factor productivity growth.

In this paper, we examine the impact of CEO power on auditor choice. We are motivated by the competing financial reporting incentives arising from CEO power. Our empirical finding suggests that powerful CEOs are more likely to hire high-quality auditors as a signal of superior financial reporting quality. We contribute to the literature of auditor switch and extend the research on the links between CEO power and firm behaviors.

The Chinese stock market is an emerging market that has gained much importance over the past few decades. Because of this, it also serves as a great subject for studying market inefficiencies and anomalies. In this paper we provide a review of evidence regarding the development, efficiency and integration of the Chinese stock market. In particular, we review recent literature in the areas of market segmentation, cross-listings and calendar effects. This provides evidence of market inefficiency in China. We also pose questions that can be answered in future studies.

An individual’s attitude toward financial risk tolerance (FRT) is an important preference that influences financial decision-making under uncertainty. FRT involves inter-temporal resource allocation. Accurate and reliable measures of FRT are essential for professionals advising consumers as well as researchers who are trying to predict, and understand consumer behavior. This study explores cross-cultural risk tolerance by comparing random samples from Turkey, and the United States. Similar and distinctive attitudes and patterns regarding FRT are identified. Three subjective measures of FRT are employed in this study: Grable and Lytton (1999), Hanna, Gutter and Fan’s (2001) improved version of Barsky, Juster, Kimball and Shapiro (1997), and the Survey of Consumer Finance’s item on risk tolerance. Data was collected via an online survey that used the above-mentioned FRT measures. There were two versions: the original American English version, and a culturally translated Turkish version. To explore the correlation of FRT among measures, we use bivariate analysis by individually employing Pearson Chi-square test of independence, and cross tabulations analysis to each sample. In addition, by pooling both samples, we conduct cumulative logistic regression. We delineate FRT differences and consistencies between countries across subjective financial risk tolerance measures.