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In this study, we examine whether the social capital surrounding the firm's corporate headquarters mitigates managerial self-dealing in the form of opportunistic insider trading. We find strong evidence that the level of social capital in the region surrounding the firm's headquarters is negatively and significantly associated with insider trading profitability. We also find that the negative association between social capital and insider trading profitability is more pronounced when governance is weaker and corporate opacity is higher, instances where insiders have greater opportunities to trade on their private information. Further analyses on the potential mechanisms suggest that the negative association is stronger when the firm's social networks are denser and when the civic norms in the region are stronger. Overall, our article contributes to the growing social capital literature in accounting and finance by providing direct empirical evidence that social capital mitigates managerial self-serving behavior in the form of opportunistic insider trading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY: We investigate the relationship between critical audit matters (CAMs) and accruals quality. We find that companies with a higher number of CAMs in their audit reports are associated with poorer accruals quality, and this association appears to be driven by recurring rather than nonrecurring CAMs. An examination of specific CAM topics shows that revenue CAMs are associated with lower revenue-related accruals quality, and tax CAMs are associated with poorer tax-related accruals quality, suggesting that CAMs are indicators of poor accruals quality. A cross-sectional analysis shows that the CAM signal about poor accruals quality is attenuated for companies when the information environment is richer, suggesting that a rich information environment restrains the use of discretion in accruals estimation such that CAMs no longer indicate poor accruals quality. Overall, our findings suggest that CAMs can provide a relevant signal of financial reporting quality in certain circumstances. JEL Classifications: M41; M42; M48. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper focuses on image-to-text manuscript processing through Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR), a Machine Learning (ML) approach enabled by Artificial Intelligence (AI). With HTR now achieving high levels of accuracy, we consider its potential impact on our near-future information environment and knowledge of the past. Design/methodology/approach: In undertaking a more constructivist analysis, we identified gaps in the current literature through a Grounded Theory Method (GTM). This guided an iterative process of concept mapping through writing sprints in workshop settings. We identified, explored and confirmed themes through group discussion and a further interrogation of relevant literature, until reaching saturation. Findings: Catalogued as part of our GTM, 120 published texts underpin this paper. We found that HTR facilitates accurate transcription and dataset cleaning, while facilitating access to a variety of historical material. HTR contributes to a virtuous cycle of dataset production and can inform the development of online cataloguing. However, current limitations include dependency on digitisation pipelines, potential archival history omission and entrenchment of bias. We also cite near-future HTR considerations. These include encouraging open access, integrating advanced AI processes and metadata extraction; legal and moral issues surrounding copyright and data ethics; crediting individuals' transcription contributions and HTR's environmental costs. Originality/value: Our research produces a set of best practice recommendations for researchers, data providers and memory institutions, surrounding HTR use. This forms an initial, though not comprehensive, blueprint for directing future HTR research. In pursuing this, the narrative that HTR's speed and efficiency will simply transform scholarship in archives is deconstructed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metacognitive involvement in activities and critical thinking are the soft skills students require as a basic adaptation resource in information environment at university, in life, and at work. This research explored the correlation between metacognitive involvement and critical thinking which university students of technical specialties used to navigate information environment. The study involved 58 male and 12 female fourth-year students (21.26 ± 0.47 y.o.) of the Penza State University, Penza, Russia. The list of methods employed included scientific review, survey, testing, and Spearman’s correlation analysis. The survey involved the following questionnaires: Metacognitive Involvement in Activity (G. Schraw, R. Dennison, 1994; eight-factor version by E. I. Perikova, V. M. Byzova, 2022); Critical Thinking Test (J. Kincher, 1990); author’s own questionnaire of Students and Information Environment (N. N. Krylova, 2024). The correlation analysis revealed strong relationships between nine indicators of metacognitive involvement in activities and critical thinking (p ≤ 0.001 and p ≤ 0.01). The Structure of Error Correction factor of metacognitive involvement depended on such a parameter of information environment as the input intensity. The metacognitive involvement in activities correlated with the students’ assessment of mental and information load in the curriculum, e.g., the Metacognitive Knowledge factor correlated with the mental and information load in Physics and Mathematics while the Error Correction Structure factor was associated with the load assessment in technical disciplines. In addition, some individual parameters of information environment correlated with the students’ assessment of mental and information load. In this study, metacognitive involvement in activities correlated with critical thinking in university students as they interacted with information environment because these phenomena are not isolated psychologically from each other.

This paper examines the impact on stock return synchronicity of information provided by people who neighbor firms. Neighboring people have inherent advantages in acquiring and interpreting information. We employed novel satellite nighttime light data as a proxy for information held by neighboring people. Our analyses confirmed that brighter nighttime light was related to greater and better‐quality information production. Using a sample of 18,963 firm–year observations over the 2000–2013 period, we found that information from nearby people facilitated the incorporation of firm‐specific information into stock prices, resulting in lower stock return synchronicity. The results were robust when using the slope as an instrumental variable and were supported by various sensitivity checks. The effect of nighttime light intensity was more pronounced for firms operating across multiple geographic regions or diverse industries, those situated near more parks and shopping malls, and those with fewer institutional investors and less media coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some firms in the technology sector choose to cooperate with competitors ("co-opetition") in standard setting organizations (SSOs). These SSOs create technology standards that facilitate rapid market penetration of new technologies such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and 4G. Active participation in the standard setting process requires the exchange of proprietary information with competitors. Although the goal of such information sharing is to further a technology or a product market, firms potentially receive an additional benefit from access to competitor and industry information. We examine whether contributing to SSO committees enhances a firm's information set and allows managers to better predict future sales. We find that the centrality of a firm's location within the network of SSO collaborators is positively related to the accuracy of the firm's sales forecasts. This relation is stronger when firms exchange more information with direct competitors and with larger firms, when forecasting is more difficult ex ante, and when firms forecast over longer horizons. Our findings show that collaborating with competitors in the product market provides an important additional benefit of improving the manager's information set. This paper was accepted by David Simchi-Levi, accounting. Funding: This work was supported by the Wharton School, Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires, the Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires-Wharton Alliance, and the Mack Institute for Innovation Management. Supplemental Material: The data and online appendix are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2021.03152. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the impact of Chinese stock market liberalization on the quality of firms' information disclosures. Although previous studies have explored the economic outcomes of stock market liberalization, little is known about its impact on the quality of management earnings forecasts. We treat China's Stock Connect program as a quasi‐experiment and draw data from Chinese A‐share‐listed companies from 2012 to 2017. Using a staggered difference‐in‐difference model, we find that eligible firms issue more accurate earnings forecasts after implementation of the Connect program compared with ineligible firms. Our mechanism analyses show that the positive effect is more pronounced for firms with initially opaque information environment and higher ex ante agency costs, suggesting that market liberalization facilitates higher‐opaque firms to issue more accurate earnings forecasts to meet the information demand from foreign investors, and facilitates monitoring in firms with weak internal governance, thereby improving earnings forecasts quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines whether firms' corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance affects the informativeness of their earnings conference calls. Controlling for confounding information from earnings releases, we find a positive association between CSR performance and the magnitude of market reactions to conference calls. This association persists after controlling for systematic differences between firms with strong and weak CSR performance. A structural equation model further demonstrates that this positive association is due to firms with strong CSR performance providing a greater amount of information, whereas no evidence suggests that the positive association is attributable to the market perceiving the information to be more credible. We also find incremental effects of managers' tone and firms' possession of future unfavorable information on the positive association between CSR performance and the market reactions to the calls. Moreover, CSR performance is associated with reductions in financial analysts' forecast dispersion. Overall, these results are consistent with the idea that the ethical standards associated with CSR performance promote informative disclosures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the impact of a government-initiated CSR project on corporate misconduct using the unique setting of China's Targeted Poverty Alleviation (TPA) program. The difference-in-differences estimates show that firms participating in the TPA program engage in fewer misconduct activities than do their counterparts. This finding is robust to the parallel trends test, the placebo test, alternative regression specifications, alternative research designs, the reverse causality analysis, and the bivariate probit model with partial observability. Further analysis shows that TPA participation enhances the ability of external financial professionals to monitor performance by stimulating the dissemination of TPA-related incremental information, thereby contributing to the decline in corporate misconduct. The cross-sectional heterogeneity analysis shows that the impact of TPA participation on corporate misconduct is more pronounced in firms with higher information asymmetry, with weaker political connections, and with weaker internal governance. Furthermore, we find evidence that TPA participation improves corporate financial performance but does not deteriorate information transparency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the impact of short selling on firm-level employment growth. Exploiting the staggered short-sale deregulation in China, we find that short selling has a significant negative effect on employment growth. We establish causality by applying a propensity score matching difference-in-differences (PSM-DiD) method and an instrumental variable (IV) approach. Exploring the underlying mechanisms, we find that financial constraints, information transparency, and agency costs are three plausible channels by which short selling affects employment growth. Furthermore, a series of cross-sectional tests suggest that the effect of short selling on employment growth is concentrated in non-state-owned enterprises (non-SOEs), firms with higher operating risk, firms with lower governance quality, firms in regions with weaker labor protection, and in periods prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. Overall, our study offers novel evidence on the consequences of short selling on employment growth in an emerging market, complementing the literature on short sales and labor market outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of the growing popularity of social media over the past ten years, an urgent problem of fake news spreading has arisen, which underscores the research’s relevance. The aim of this article is to assess the efficacy of multimodal approaches in detecting fake news, a pressing issue given the substantial impact misinformation can have on health, politics and economics. To achieve this goal, a multimodal approach was chosen that combines deep-learning frameworks and pre-trained models. This approach provides a comprehensive analysis of textual, visual and audio information, allowing for more accurate identification of disinformation sources. The use of various knowledge-transfer methods made it possible to process information efficiently, improving the quality of classification. The study conducted a thorough analysis of various data-collection strategies, as well as a comparative analysis of available multimodal approaches to fake-news detection and the datasets used. The results of this study included a detailed analysis of current research work in the field of fake-news detection and the development of a multimodal approach to this problem. Textual, visual and audio information was processed using pre-trained models and deep learning, achieving high accuracy in fake news detection. The results of the study indicated that the multimodal approach allows for more accurate identification of sources of disinformation and increases the efficiency of fake-news classification compared to other methods. A comparative analysis of various data collection strategies and datasets was also conducted, confirming the high efficiency of the approach under various conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Nankai Business Review is the property of Nankai Business Review Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Hubei Open Vocational College is the property of Journal of Hubei Open Vocational College Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

For many policy issues, people holding the majority opinion often do not act in accordance with their beliefs. While underestimating public opinion appears as a likely cause, correcting this misperception often fails to motivate those in the majority to act. Investigating further, we surveyed a nationally representative sample (N  =   1,000) of Republican voters about vaccination. Despite a majority supporting vaccines, Republicans on average underestimated other Republicans' support. However, this misperception occurred primarily among anti-vaccine Republicans—a group that reported a greater willingness to share their vaccine views. We show how an information environment overrepresented with minority views may discourage majority view holders from speaking out even when they are aware of their majority status. That is, instead of experiencing pluralistic ignorance, those in the majority may be discouraged from expressing their views due to anticipated social conflict from engaging in an information environment disproportionately made up of minority views. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes and systematizes and education the theoretical and practical basis for the design of visual communication signs in the context of the transformation of the graphic form of the sign, methods of their meaning formation, complication and increase in functional tasks. The process of interaction between a person and the interactive environment of electronic communication through the "user-computer" connection has been studied. The signs of the interactive environment of the graphical user interface are classified based on possible communication connections and areas of application. A comparative analysis of the avant-garde trends in fine art and design of the 20th century in European countries and the modern interactive environment of electronic communication in the context of the formation of their internationality was carried out. Models of the conceptual and semantic foundations of the interactive environment of electronic communication have been developed and factors influencing their graphics have been identified. Features of the design of Internet communication are revealed. Practical recommendations for the design of an interactive electronic communication environment have been developed. The prospects for using the interactive environment are determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes the way and motivation of the Russian Federation to carry out psychological operations in the war of aggression that it has unleashed in Ukraine from the perspective of the information environment. These operations are specific to the cognitive layer of the information environment and are aimed at influencing the perceptions, behavior, and decisions of both the Ukrainian population and the international community by using disinformation, propaganda, and manipulation. By analyzing these operations, it highlights how Russia has exploited the lack of robust regulation of social networks. The analysis underlines the importance of developing effective strategies to counter these operations by increasing information resilience and strengthening protection mechanisms against harmful external influences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of China Media Report Overseas is the property of Edmondson Intercultural Enterprises and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Information Library Magazine 'INFOLIB' is the property of National Library of Uzbekistan named after Alisher Navoi and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Managers may provide incomplete disclosure for various reasons (e.g., high processing costs, operating uncertainty, proprietary concerns, agency conflicts, etc.). In contrast, rank‐and‐file employees face fewer of these limitations. Through "wisdom of the crowd" displayed on social media, employees can aggregate their individual private beliefs to provide an informative business outlook. Using employee data from Glassdoor.com, we find that employee business outlook disclosures reveal more information in loan spreads of private lending contracts when firms have more opaque information environments. Furthermore, we observe that employee disclosures help to reveal more private information when the business outlook is worsening and as employees' collective knowledge increases. This relation is more prominent when employees are expecting worsening performance, consistent with employee disclosures revealing more private bad news. Our study demonstrates the conditions under which employee disclosures on social media are more likely to disseminate private information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we examine the effect of worldwide corporate governance reforms on analyst forecasts using data on firms from 41 countries that have implemented such reforms. Employing a difference‐in‐differences design, we find robust evidence of a significant positive effect of these reforms, which mainly promote the independence of the audit committee and auditors, on analyst forecast accuracy. We also find significant improvements in post‐reform corporate governance structure and the quantity and quality of corporate disclosure, which validates the predicted economic mechanism of the impact of these reforms. Moreover, the reforms are effective in reducing analyst forecast bias and dispersion, suggesting an overall improvement in analyst forecast quality after reform implementation. Furthermore, we find a moderating effect of analyst general experience on the relationship of interest, which is consistent with the conjecture that improved corporate disclosures following reforms could be more beneficial for analysts with less experience. Overall, our findings shed new insights into how country‐level corporate governance reforms worldwide shape firms' information environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. The relevance of the work is determined by the need to rethink the imperial period of Russian history in the second half of the 19th century from a new per-spective in the context of the “bureaucratic center – province” dichotomy. The purpose of the study is to analyze the dynamics of changes in the ideas of various estates about the su-preme power of the Russian Empire in the 1870s–1890s. Materials and methods. The re-search was conducted on the basis of the principles of historical science: objectivity, histor-icism and consistency. The system – structural method was used by the author to study the results of the work of the censorship department in order to identify the mechanism of in-fluence on the population to form an image of power. The historical and anthropological approach is applied in the study of letters, diaries and notes of contemporaries, taking into account the specifics of the position of various estates in the Russian Empire in the post-reform period. The principle of conformity was applied in the study of the history of every-day life as a practice of survival of the population of the Russian Empire in 1870–1890 against the background of such challenges as wars, epidemics, famine of 1891–1892, regi-cide. Results. During the writing of the article, the main task was solved – on the basis of a wide range of sources to study the mechanism of forming the image of an official of the central and local administration as a representative of the tsarist government of the Russian Empire in the second half of the 19th century. Conclusions. In the course of the systemic re-forms carried out in the country, the need to concentrate the efforts of all state institutions and the church to form an attractive image of the supreme ruler, who decided to carry out changes that affected the lives of almost all estates of the vast empire, has become particu-larly relevant. In the post-reform period, the relationship between government and society in a modernizing society was reinterpreted in new categories – acceptance or rejection of transformations, trust or distrust of the tsarist official. Channels of influence on the popula-tion ran both through established practices used by government agencies, law enforcement agencies, religious organizations, zemstvos, and the periodical press, various public organi-zations, and charitable societies. We use the method of content-analyzing when analyzing periodical printing materials. Of course, when studying the social history of Russia during the second half of the 19th century, it is extremely important to isolate and separately exam-ine the opinion of educated society and the ideas that have developed in the peasant envi-ronment, as well as take into account the possibilities of broadcasting political experience in a large university city and a small county town. In our opinion, the ethnoconfessional characteristics of various territories of the Russian Empire play a significant role in the analysis of the problem of power and society.

Copyright of Contemporary Accounting Research is the property of Canadian Academic Accounting Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study analyzes the impact of the information environment (IE) and credit default swap (CDS) transaction costs on information transmission between the stock and CDS markets. Using the daily regression analysis on the Korean firm’s stock and CDS data from 2004 to 2023, the results show that companies with superior IE in the stock market exhibit a larger and more sensitive total information flow from the stock market to the CDS market. Companies with lower transaction costs in the CDS market demonstrate faster information flow. In the case of companies with superior IE, fundamental information is reflected in stock prices with high weight and thus the CDS spreads change reflecting information about stock prices. According to this study’s findings, the primary factor influencing the information flow from the stock market to the CDS market is the information environment of the company in the stock market, rather than transaction costs in the CDS market.

In the context of the growing popularity of social media over the past ten years, an urgent problem of fake news spreading has arisen, which underscores the research's relevance. The research aims to analyse current studies, focused on identifying and classifying fake news. To achieve this goal, a multimodal approach was chosen that combines deep learning frameworks and pre-trained models. This approach provides a comprehensive analysis of textual, visual, and audio information, allowing for more accurate identification of disinformation sources. The use of various knowledge transfer methods made it possible to process information efficiently, improving the quality of classification. The study conducted a thorough analysis of various data collection strategies, as well as a comparative analysis of available multimodal approaches to fake news detection and the datasets used. The results of this study included a detailed analysis of current research work in the field of fake news detection and the development of a multimodal approach to this problem. Pre-trained models and deep learning were used to process textual, visual, and audio information, which allowed for high accuracy in fake news detection. The results of the study showed that the multimodal approach allows for more accurate identification of sources of disinformation and increases the efficiency of fake news classification compared to other methods. A comparative analysis of different data collection strategies and datasets was also conducted, which helped to confirm the high efficiency of our approach in different conditions. The practical significance of the study is that it provides practical recommendations for the development and implementation of fake news detection systems based on multimodal approaches. Thus, this study not only reveals the actual problem of fake news but also provides practical tools for combating it, which is of significant importance for modern science and society. The study proposes a multimodal approach to accurately identify and classify fake news. [JJCIT 2024; 10(3.000): 281-293]

Firms and investors often react to financial news on social media. However, how they react to news of different nature and whether their reactions influence the stock market is far from clear. Employing data on financial news, tweets posted by firms and investors, and daily stock prices, we find that firms are more responsive to news with positive sentiment and low uncertainty, whereas investors are more responsive to news with high uncertainty. Moreover, the increased tweeting activities of firms and investors can improve the stock returns of firms. We further show that investors' social media reactions to news and the subsequent influence on stock returns depend on firm size. This paper provides a fuller picture of how firms, investors, and the stock market react to financial news, and reveals the nuanced interactions among them. We discuss how firms and investors can better leverage social media to improve stock performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the effect of media competition on analyst forecast properties in an international setting using 113,436 firm-year observations from 32 countries spanning 2000 through 2012. We find that firms in countries with stronger media competition enjoy more accurate, less optimistically biased, and less dispersed analyst forecasts. The effects of media competition on the properties of analyst forecasts are stronger for firms with lower institutional ownership, for firms followed by fewer analysts or by analysts from smaller brokerage houses, and for firms with weaker financial performance. This suggests that media competition plays a more pronounced role in shaping the information environment when information from nonmedia channels is likely to be limited or of lower quality. Finally, we find that analysts in countries with stronger media competition tend to follow more firms, suggesting that stronger media competition reduces analysts' information acquisition costs, which in turn, improves the properties of their forecasts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extant theories suggest that managers may use hedging either to alleviate underinvestment problems caused by costly external financing or to promote overinvestment by circumventing the scrutiny of external capital markets. We empirically investigate this issue using a hand-collected data set of hedging and investment behavior of oil and gas exploration and production firms. We do not find evidence that hedging alleviates underinvestment problems. However, we do find a strong positive relation between the extent of hedging and the propensity to overinvest. Further analyses indicate that the relation between hedging and overinvesting is stronger in settings where the firms' information environment is more transparent. A more transparent information environment makes it easier for outside capital providers to distinguish between value-enhancing and value-destroying investment decisions so that greater discretion over internally generated funds becomes more valuable to overinvesting managers. Our study highlights the role of hedging in facilitating overinvestment and the conditions under which this role is likely to be more salient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines whether voluntary disclosure enhances investment efficiency through its information-leveling role in the capital markets. We argue that investment efficiency improves with the quality of managers' past earnings forecasts because past forecast quality alleviates information frictions that inhibit firm access to investment capital. Our empirical results are consistent with this argument. To start, we document a baseline positive association between management forecast consistency and investment efficiency. Building on this result, we find that the consistency effect strengthens when cross-sectional attributes indicate higher information frictions and when industry-wide accounting quality is negatively shocked. In addition, we find that consistency effects are stronger for financially constrained firms and that consistency is associated with lower bid-ask spreads and positive changes in equity issuance. Overall, we show that building a reputation for high-quality management earnings forecasts can help firms overcome information frictions that contribute to suboptimal investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reveals the essence, content and structure of digital culture of undergraduate students, psychological and pedagogical features of its formation in the information and educational environment of the university. The model of the pedagogical system of formation of digital culture of undergraduate students in the information and educational environment of the university is developed and substantiated. The methodology of formation of digital culture of undergraduate students in the information and educational environment of the university is compiled. The effectiveness of the model of pedagogical system of formation of digital culture of undergraduate students in the information-educational environment of the university was checked in the process of pedagogical experimente model of the pedagogical system of formation of digital culture of undergraduate students in the information-educational environment of the university on the basis of the developed criteria of effectiveness and the compiled methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Accounting & Auditing (2314-4793) is the property of Beni Suef University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In line with the wide implementation of IFRS around the globe, the significant shift in the Indian accounting system appertained to the Ind AS is expected to have a substantial impact on the firm‐level information environment. Nevertheless, the question of whether the adoption of such standards moderates the relationship between leverage and firm performance remains unanswered. In this backdrop, we aim to close this research gap employing 3120 firm‐year observations from 401 Indian non‐financial firms for a period from 2013 to 2022. Notably, we found that the leverage among Indian firms discourages profitability. Further, the adoption of Ind AS negatively moderates the leverage and firm performance association. The findings suggest that the enhanced transparency and the firm's reporting quality dissuade risk‐averse investors from investing in highly levered companies. As a result, investors avoid risky investments, and firms must strive to foster their trust and motivation. The conclusion of the present research draws significant implications for management and policymakers while also contributing to the ongoing debate on capital structure and firm performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the relationship between ESG and financial performance and explores the influence of firms' information environment on this relationship. To do this, we construct an information environment index from several proxy measures, evaluate ESG performance using Refinitiv's ESG scores, and evaluate financial performance using return on assets and Tobin's Q. We find that the information environment index has a positive relationship with both return on assets and Tobin's Q ratio. On the contrary, ESG has a negative association with return on assets but a statistically insignificant relationship with Tobin's Q. The negative relationship of ESG with return on assets is convex and weaker in companies with better information environments. We also show that in firms with high asset turnover ratios, ESG does not harm profitability. Separately examining the ESG components reveals that each similarly relates to profitability but that governance has a less negative impact. Our study reveals non-linearities in the relationship between ESG and financial performance that can help companies set better targets and implement better practices about ESG. The moderating effect of the information environment reveals the importance of information dissemination in preventing ESG practices from creating unfavorable consequences. This study may shed light on a more effective ESG policy by showing ways to reduce the adverse financial effects of ESG practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Polish Journal of Management Studies is the property of Czestochowa University of Technology, Faculty of Management and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Urban day-to-day travel systems generally exist in various types of cities. Their modeling is difficult due to the uncertainty of individual travelers in micro travel decision-making. Moreover, with the advent of the information age, intelligent connected vehicles, smartphones, and other types of intelligent terminals have placed urban day-to-day travel systems in an information environment. In such an environment, the travel decision-making processes of travelers are significantly affected, making it even more difficult to give theoretical explanations for urban day-to-day travel systems. Considering that analyzing urban day-to-day travel patterns in an information environment is of great significance for governing the constantly developing and changing urban travel system and, thus, of great importance for the sustainable development of cities, this paper gives a systematic review of the theoretical research on urban day-to-day travel and its development in an information environment over the past few decades. More specifically, the basic explanation of an information environment for urban day-to-day travel is given first; subsequently, the theoretical development of micro decision-making related to individual day-to-day travelers in an information environment is discussed, and the theoretical development related to changes in urban macro traffic flow, which can be recognized as the aggregation effect formed by individual micro decision-making, is also discussed; in addition, the development of understanding different types of traffic information that travelers may obtain in an information environment is discussed; finally, some important open issues related to the deep impact of information environment on urban day-to-day travel systems that require further research are presented. These valuable research directions include using information methods to fit day-to-day travel patterns of cities and implementing macro and micro integrated modeling for urban day-to-day travel systems based on complex system dynamics and even quantum mechanics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the factors that influence international certification among Pakistani manufacturing firms. About a third of such firms in Pakistan hold one or more certificates related to management or technical processes. The existing literature suggests that this demand is influenced by factors such as sector of activity, market competition, human capital and information environment, ownership type, and available resources. By analyzing a large, random sample of Pakistani manufacturing firms, we find strong correlations between these factors and international certification. We also discover that owner attitude, an aspect overlooked in previous studies, plays a role in the certification decision. While our statistical model does not fully explain the determinants of certification for small firms, we do find that certification is associated with increased profitability among small enterprises. This implies that small enterprise development agencies can improve the effectiveness of their programs by considering certification status as an additional criterion for allocating support funds. The results of our study have policy implications related to exporting, staff training, diffusion of firm ownership, and enhanced information access facilitated by modern technology tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aims to explore the socioeconomic landscape of Ukraine at the turn of the 19th- 20th centuries, particularly focusing on the role of rumors in the peasant informational environment and their impact on societal sentiments and behaviors. Methods: The research utilizes a combination of historical analysis and communication theory, examining archival sources, existing literature, and the dynamics of rumor propagation within the peasant communities. It also incorporates mathematical models of rumor spread and interdisciplinary insights from psychology, sociology, and demography to understand the phenomenon comprehensively. Key Findings: Role of Rumors: Rumors emerged as a critical tool for understanding societal moods and political processes. They reflected real fears, hopes, and expectations and influenced public behavior and event development. Nature and Spread of Rumors: Rumors, characterized by anonymity and distortion, spread rapidly, especially in times of crisis, and often represented the only accessible form of information for the largely illiterate peasantry. Impact of Land Reforms: Economic uncertainty and legal changes, particularly related to land reforms such as the abolition of serfdom and Stolypin’s reforms, were central to the rumors. These rumors often depicted reforms as deceitful, exacerbating tensions and fears among the peasantry. Socio-Political Consequences: The lack of reliable information sources and increasing censorship fostered a reliance on informal communication channels. This environment allowed for manipulation by various forces, including political groups and foreign agents, especially during World War I. Conclusions: Rumors played a vital role in the peasant informational environment, driving both consolidation and destabilization. The absence of trustworthy information and the prevalence of censorship created fertile ground for rumor propagation, significantly impacting the socio-political landscape. The study highlights the need for further research into the dynamics of informal communication and its effects on society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]