bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Workplace crime and the informal economy in Ukraine
Authors: Rodgers Peter , Williams Colin C. , Round John 
Published: August 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the criminal workplace activities of both employers and employees in Ukrainian enterprises. It challenges traditional definitions of corruption and suggests that the practices that can be observed fit into the category of organised crime because of the country's economic framework. The paper also explores how the practices are partially a legacy of Soviet economic processes.Design/methodology/approachA total of 700 household surveys were completed in three cities, Kyiv (where 450 surveys were completed), Uzhgorod (150) and Kharkiv (100). To complement these, approximately 25 in‐depth interviews were undertaken with workers in each region. Furthermore, ethnographic observations and “kitchen table” interviews also played an important role in the research. Although the research was oriented towards those working in informal economies, business owners (both formal and informal) were also interviewed.FindingsAs well as revealing the endemic nature of corruption in Ukrainian workplaces and the high levels of informal activity undertaken by workers, the research found that many people wish for their workplace to become more regulated.Research limitations/implicationsFurther interviews could have been carried out with state officials and in more locations. The implications are multiple but mainly they demonstrate the difficulty that those charged with economic reform in Ukraine must face.Originality/valueIt is one of the first studies to explore these issues in Ukraine using a variety of research methods.
Economic organized crime networks in emerging democracies
Authors: Dobovšek Bojan 
Published: August 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to highlight both the ways in which transnational organized crime has developed and will develop, and also some problems in relation to financing economic organized crime networks. These are related to the problem of state capture problem in emerging democracies.Design/methodology/approachThe literature and other sources have been reviewed to analyse trends relating to transnational crime organisations.FindingsIt was found that criminal organisations have moved in the last few years to strengthen their economic power, putting pressure on to states' politics through their networks. In some cases (such as tycoons in transitional countries) it seems that they have already entered a third phase – movement into politics. This form of elite organized crime could be characterised as a fifth branch of state authority, because it is influences, through the means of a great amount of money, corruption, networking and extortion, both the state economy and policy.Originality/valueThe analyses and conclusions help us to understand the transformation of organized crime and its influence on modern society, especially in emerging democracies. This may allow politicians and others to predict how economic organized crime will act in the future and how to avoid the current pressure being exerted by these groups.
A case study on the misuse of hawala banking
Authors: van de Bunt Henk 
Published: August 2008

PurposeSince 9/11, hawala banking (financial service providers who carry out financial transactions whereby cash, cheques or other valuable goods are accepted at one location and a corresponding sum in cash or other remuneration is paid at another location) has attracted a great deal of attention. Much has been written on the subject, but so far little empirical research has been conducted into the misuse of hawala banking for criminal purposes. This paper aims to fill this gap.Design/methodology/approachThe paper contains an analysis of 12 police files on the use of hawala banks by perpetrators of crime. The data gathered from these cases are compared to what has been reported on hawala banking in the existing literature.FindingsThe literature emphasises the importance of trust between client and banker, as well as between hawala bankers themselves. Trust is supposedly based on strong social ties (ethnic and family ties). The 12 cases studied (almost all of which concerned the misuse of hawala banking by drug dealers) put the significance of trust into perspective: the importance of ethnicity and personal trust should not be exaggerated. When the stakes are high, a common social background and shared ethnicity between bankers, as well as between bankers and their clients, seems to be less important than is often assumed.Originality/valueThe paper goes beyond the traditional focus on trust and strong social ties.
Tenure, firm's performance, and CEO's compensation
Authors: Nourayi Mahmoud M. , Mintz Steven M. 
Published: August 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to assess the association between Chief Executive Officer (CEO) tenure, compensation, and firm's performance.Design/methodology/approachThe paper compares the influence firms' performance on CEOs' cash and total compensation based on the length of tenure. It also examines pay–performance relationship for new CEOs vs those serving their last year in such positions.FindingsThe firm size appears to be a significant explanatory variable for CEOs' cash and total compensation regardless of CEOs tenure and measure of performance. Additionally, firms' performance is a significant determinant of cash compensation for CEOs during the first three years of their work as CEOs and not significant for those with 15 years or more as the company's CEO. Both market‐based and accounting‐based performance measures are negatively correlated with CEOs' total compensation regardless of length of experience.Research limitations/implicationsThis study did not differentiate routine CEO changes, i.e. normal retirement, from the non‐routine ones. Additionally, the results may be limited by the temporal nature of the sample. Future studies dealing with CEO turnover should cover a longer period of CEO' tenure and examine the nature of CEO's dismissal. Such a research design may provide additional insight to the CEO compensation and influence of performance measures in executive contracts.Originality/valueThis research offers some evidence in support of CEO incentives relative to the length of service as the firm's CEO. The findings indicate differences in pay–performance sensitivities on the basis of CEO's tenure. Comparing the pay–performance relationship for individuals serving their first year and those serving their last year as the firm's CEOs, the paper detects statistically significant differences in influence of performance on cash compensation.
New insights into executive compensation and firm performance
Authors: Canarella Giorgio , Gasparyan Arman 
Published: August 2008

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the relation between executive compensation, firm size and firm performance on a panel of the so‐called “new economy” firms in the USA over the period 1996‐2002.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use two measures of performance, total shareholder return and return on assets, and concentrate on total CEO compensation, which includes stock option compensation, as equity‐based compensation practices have been prevalent in new economy firms. The estimation process uses both the feasible generalized least squares method of Parks and Kmenta and the panel corrected standard error method of Beck and Katz. These methodologies investigate error structures that do not conform to the classical ordinary least squares assumptions.FindingsThe econometric results indicate that estimates on firm size are robust to alternative specifications of the error structures. There is evidence however that the effect of firm size on CEO compensation is more significant after the stock market crash of 2000. The opposite holds true for the estimates on firm performance. In addition, estimates on firm performance are more sensitive to the estimation method and the specification of the error structures.Research limitations/implicationsThe research presented in this paper is a first step in the direction of understanding the pay to performance relation in the “new economy” industries in the USA. Additional research is warranted, which should extend both the time series and the cross section aspects of the data.Originality/valueThe paper fills an important gap in the existing literature by providing rigorous econometric evidence on the pay to performance relation in the so‐called “new economy” industries. The evidence provided in this paper is relevant as it complements the findings in the literature on executive compensation in the so‐called “old economy” industries, which typically make up the samples of most previous studies.
Synchronous and lagged relationships between CEO pay and performance of quality companies
Authors: Tai Lawrence S. 
Published: August 2008

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the synchronous and lagged relationships between CEOs' pay and the performance of a group of public companies that had won a very prestigious award: the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA).Design/methodology/approachThis study uses three rates of return to represent firm performance: return on assets, return on equity and holding period return. Regression analysis is used to determine the direction of causality between CEO pay and firm performance and the existence of lagged relationship between them.FindingsThe findings indicate the existence of synchronous and lagged relationships between CEO pay and firm performance. However, the direction of causality is mainly from pay to performance, and not vice versa.Research limitations/implicationsThe results presented in this paper are limited by the small sample size of MBNQA winning companies. Although the award began in 1988, only a few companies won the award each year and many of them were not public companies. In addition, five companies won the award twice and one company won the award three times, which further reduces the sample size.Originality/valueThis paper finds the existence of synchronous and lagged relationships between CEO pay and firm performance for a group of quality companies.
CEO compensation, firm performance and operational characteristics
Authors: Nourayi Mahmoud M. , Daroca Frank P. 
Published: August 2008

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the impact on executive compensation (both cash and in total) of regulation, size of sales and number of employees, and nature of the business in terms of new‐economy vs traditional.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses the ExecuComp database as the information source. Regression analysis is used to test hypotheses that focus on firm size in terms of sales, market and accounting returns, and the number of firm employees. The sample consists of 455 US firms from 25 industries, and covers the period 1996‐2002.FindingsFirm size and market‐based return are the most significant explanatory variables in affecting executive compensation. More limited support was found for accounting‐based returns, as was changes in the number of employees.Research limitations/implicationsFindings of this study may be limited by the temporal context. Around the turn of this century may have been an unusual time in America's corporate history. The economic outlook of the late 1990s may be fundamentally different from the one facing firms now or in the future. Consequently, future research will be needed to determine to what extent these results can be generalized to periods of different economic prospects.Originality/valueThis study examines the impact of firms' operational characteristic on Chief Executive Officer (CEO) compensation.
Dividend payout and executive compensation: theory and Canadian evidence
Authors: Bhattacharyya Nalinaksha , Mawani Amin , Morrill Cameron K.J. 
Published: August 2008

PurposeThis paper seeks to present and test a model of the association between dividend payout and executive compensation.Design/methodology/approachThe authors develop a model based on Bhattacharyya whereby managerial quality is unobservable to shareholders, and therefore first‐best contracts are not possible. In the second‐best world, compensation contracts motivate high quality managers to retain and invest firm earnings, while low quality managers are motivated to distribute income to shareholders. These hypotheses arising from the model are tested on data for Canadian firms' dividend payouts over the period 1993‐1995 using tobit regression analyses.FindingsConsistent with the predictions of the Bhattacharyya model, the results show that, ceteris paribus, earnings retention (dividend payout) is positively (negatively) associated with executive compensation. These results hold when payout is defined as common dividends plus common share repurchases.Research limitations/implicationsThe Canadian data provide only limited information on the components of executive compensation. A more useful test would be possible with more detailed information on, for example, salary, bonus, and benefits.Originality/valueSeveral recent papers have documented an association between dividends and executive compensation. This paper presents and tests a model that provides a potential explanation for this link.
The monthly and trading month effects in Greek stock market returns: 1996‐2002
Authors: Floros Christos 
Published: August 2008

PurposeThe paper aims to investigate the monthly and trading month effects in the stock market returns of the ASE using daily data before and after the crisis of 1999‐2001. In addition, the study seeks to consider data from both periods of the ASE, before and after the upgrade of the market (May 2001).Design/methodology/approachThis paper examines the calendar effects in the Greek stock market returns using an ordinary least squares (OLS) model. Daily closing prices of the General ASE Index, FTSE/ASE‐20 and FTSE/ASE Mid 40 are used to calculate daily returns. The time period includes data from 26 November 1996 to 12 July 2002 for General ASE Index, 23 September 1997‐30 August 2001 for FTSE/ASE‐20 and 8 December 1999‐30 August 2001 for FTSE/ASE Mid 40.FindingsThe results show that there is no January effect. In other words, daily returns are not higher in January than in any other month. Moreover, the results for the trading month effect show higher (but not significant) returns over the first fortnight of the month.Practical implicationsThe results have important implications for both traders and investors. The findings are strongly recommended to financial managers dealing with Greek stock indices.Originality/valueThe contribution of this paper is to provide evidence using data before and after the financial crisis of 1999‐2001 in Greece.
The influence of the political elections on the course of the Athens Stock Exchange 1996‐2002
Authors: Floros Christos 
Published: August 2008

PurposeThe paper's aim is to examine the influence of the Greek political elections on the course of the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE). Using daily data from the ASE General Price Index, it seeks to empirically examine the effect of political elections (Parliamentary and European elections) on the course of the ASE over the period 1996‐2002.Design/methodology/approachThis paper examines the relationship between Greek political elections and ASE using ordinary least squares (OLS) models. It concentrates on the pre‐election and the post‐election periods of the last decade. Daily closing prices of the General ASE index are used for the period 1996‐2002.FindingsThe results show that two months prior to the elections index performance increases on average and the mean daily fluctuation decreases. One month before the elections, index performance decreases, the mean daily fluctuation increases and the change of daily exchange value increases on average. During the three‐month post‐election period, there is a considerable increase of index progress. Furthermore, between three and six months after the elections, a decrease in performance is found, while for a collective six months after the elections, there is remarkably positive course. Using a simple OLS model with a dummy variable, it is found that there is a negative effect of the political elections on the course of the ASE. However, this effect is always insignificant.Practical implicationsThe results have important implications for traders, investors and political analysts. The findings are strongly recommended to financial managers dealing with Greek stock indices.Originality/valueThe main contribution of this paper is to provide evidence using data before and after the financial crisis of 1999‐2001 in Greece.
Forecasting one‐day‐ahead VaR and intra‐day realized volatility in the Athens Stock Exchange Market
Authors: Angelidis Timotheos , Degiannakis Stavros 
Published: August 2008

PurposeThe aim is to evaluate the performance of symmetric and asymmetric ARCH models in forecasting both the one‐day‐ahead Value‐at‐Risk (VaR) and the realized intra‐day volatility of two equity indices in the Athens Stock Exchange.Design/methodology/approachTwo volatility specifications are estimated, the symmetric generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (GARCH) and the asymmetric APARCH processes. The data set consisted of daily closing prices of the General and the Bank indices from 25 April 1994 to 19 December 2003 and their intra day quotation data from 8 May 2002 to 19 December 2003.FindingsUnder the VaR framework, the most appropriate method for the Bank index is the symmetric model with normally distributed innovations, while the asymmetric model with asymmetric conditional distribution applies for the General index. On the other hand, the asymmetric model tracks closer the one‐step‐ahead intra‐day realized volatility with conditional normally distributed innovations for the Bank index but with asymmetric and leptokurtic distributed innovations for the General index.Originality/valueAs concerns the Greek stock market, there are adequate methods in predicting market risk but it does not seem to be a specific model that is the most accurate for all the forecasting tasks.
Challenges in assisting schools of librarianship and information studies in developing countries
Authors: Johnson Ian M. 
Published: August 2008

PurposeThis paper aims to review traditional forms of international support for developing schools of librarianship and information sciences, and traditional approaches.Design/methodology/approachThe review draws evidence from the literature and the author's extensive international experience.FindingsThe study notes that the traditional approaches have not been entirely successful, and that the sources of support for these approaches are changing. In the light of the growth in the number of schools in developing countries and countries with economies in transition, it suggests that traditional approaches may not be practicable. Alternative approaches suggested in the past have included making teaching materials available, including access to them over the internet, but these may be no more appropriate or practicable. The paper then draws on recent research into the emergence of electronic publishing in Latin America. Whilst there are still flaws in the electronic publishing system, it may suggest a possible new way forward.Practical implicationsThe challenge now is to determine how to facilitate similar support for developing schools of librarianship and information sciences internationally.Originality/valueThe paper challenges orthodox thinking about support for new schools of librarianship and information sciences in developing countries, and invites consideration of how new communications media could play a part in this process.
Enhancing the quality of LIS education in Asia
Authors: Sattar Chaudhry Abdus , Khoo Christopher S.G. 
Published: August 2008

PurposeThis paper aims to describe continuing effort to develop a repository of teaching materials for sharing and reuse in library and information science (LIS) schools in Asia. It also aims to propose a framework for carrying out a user study to validate the taxonomy and metadata, and evaluate how they support the reuse of teaching materials in four Asian countries.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a combination of approaches. The first phase focuses on building a repository of learning materials powered by taxonomy and metadata with enhanced searching and browsing capabilities. The second phase uses different evaluation techniques to propose a framework for assessing the usability of learning materials.FindingsThe potential for reuse of teaching materials in the area of information organization is examined by analyzing how various aspects of this topic are covered in three Master's programs in Information Studies, Knowledge Management, and Information Systems at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. A faceted taxonomy has been helpful in tagging different types of learning objects. A metadata scheme based on DC‐Education and LOM has been used for enhanced description of learning materials.Originality/valueThis paper makes contributions in several ways. It suggests guidelines for developing taxonomies in different domains; describes steps in building repositories of learning materials; and suggests a methodology for studying reusability of learning material.
Cultural mediation in library and information science (LIS) teaching and learning
Authors: Abdullahi Ismail 
Published: August 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to attempt to highlight the importance of culturally mediated instruction in library and information science (LIS) teaching and learning.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses three distinct approaches in culturally mediated instruction and learning environment, as product, process, and philosophy. The paper deals with the general concept of the cultural dimension of human development through identification of students who are culturally different from the main stream orientation, by creating culturally mediated instruction in a learning environment The paper further elaborates the role of LIS schools in this direction. It concludes by suggesting ways in which LIS education could be improved by being inclusive with the changing global society and its needs.FindingsIt is evident that culturally inclusive instruction can enhance the learning of LIS students who are responsive to the needs of their diverse communities and who are able to be change agents to their institutions and professions.Originality/valueThe paper presents ways by which LIS educators can create a better learning environment base inclusive of all cultures represented in the classroom. It redefines diversity of library education in a culturally mediated teaching and learning environment.
Rekindling the passion in your library job
Authors: Topper Elisa F. 
Published: August 2008

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the concept of job burnout and what can be done to solve the problem.Design/methodology/approachThis paper presents a literature review and practical strategies to jumpstart a stalled job.FindingsThe findings suggest that there are techniques that can be incorporated into one's life to make work meaningful once again.Originality/valueThe paper draws attention to the fact that in time one may experience job burnout and aids in determining what can be done to turn the experience around.