Perceptions Of Executives Research Articles

Green investor behavior and corporate green innovation: Evidence from Chinese listed companies

Businesses embracing green innovation can encourage high-quality green economic development in addition to reducing emissions. In this paper, we use the Difference-in-Differences (DID) to investigate the influence of green investor behavior on the green innovation of companies, using the first-ever green investor investment in a company as a quasi-natural experiment. According to research, green investors have the power to accelerate corporate green innovation greatly. Three key strategies that green investors can use to do this include raising institutional investment levels, enhancing the green perception of executives, and bringing in top talent. Heterogeneity analysis shows that non-high-polluting, big, and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are more likely to benefit from green investors' green innovation effects. Further analysis reveals that (ⅰ) green investors' influence on an enterprise's level of green innovation can help it improve its ESG ratings; (ii) green investors can encourage green innovation in source control but have little effect on green innovation in end-of-pipe treatment; (ⅲ) green investors can support both non-green and green innovation in enterprises, but have a greater influence on green innovation. This study strengthens the micro relationship between green investors and corporate green innovation. It also supports the theoretical underpinnings of corporate green innovation, which is significant for advancing green innovation, environmental protection, and high-quality economic development in emerging economies.

Perceived Technological Innovativeness, Entrepreneurial Proactiveness, and Performance in Established Women-Led Companies

The contribution of women as corporate executives to their companies’ entrepreneurial outcomes is significant, as they can often enhance critical aspects of organizational innovativeness and proactiveness. This research investigated the effect of perceived technological innovativeness (PTI) on perceived entrepreneurial proactiveness (PEP) and, subsequently, the effect of PEP on the perceived company performance (PCP) of established firms with females in their top management teams. An examination of a judgmental sample of 83 female executives employed in Greek firms with over €10 million annual turnover showed that PTI had a significant and positive effect on PEP, and subsequently, PEP had a significant and positive effect on PCP. Apart from corroborating existing literature about the positive impact of entrepreneurial proactiveness on company performance, the study indicated that, according to the perceptions of female executives, entrepreneurial proactiveness acts as a bridge between technological innovativeness and company performance. Thus, it appeared that when a company is characterized by (or fosters the advancement of) technological innovativeness, it encourages creative thinking and focuses on opportunity identification and exploitation. This proactive approach to technological innovativeness enables the organization to improve its performance by staying ahead of its competitors, adapting to the dynamic environment, anticipating future market trends and exploiting opportunities.

Assessment of the Barriers and Enablers of the Use of mHealth Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa According to the Perceptions of Patients, Physicians, and Health Care Executives in Ethiopia: Qualitative Study.

Digital technologies are increasingly being used to deliver health care services and promote public health. Mobile wireless technologies or mobile health (mHealth) technologies are particularly relevant owing to their ease of use, broad reach, and wide acceptance. Unlike developed countries, Sub-Saharan Africa experiences more challenges and obstacles when it comes to deploying, using, and expanding mHealth systems. In addition to barriers, there are enabling factors that could be exploited for the design, implementation, and scaling up of mHealth systems. Sub-Saharan Africa may require tailored solutions that address the specific challenges facing the region. The overall aim of this study was to identify the barriers and enablers for using mHealth systems in Sub-Saharan Africa from the perspectives of patients, physicians, and health care executives. Multi-level and multi-actor in-depth semistructured interviews were employed to qualitatively explore the barriers and enablers of the use of mHealth systems. Data were collected from patients, physicians, and health care executives. The interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, translated, and coded. Thematic analysis methodology was adopted, and NVivo software was used for the data analysis. Through this rigorous study, a total of 137 determinants were identified. Of these determinants, 68 were identified as barriers and 69 were identified as enablers. Perceived barriers in patients included lack of awareness about mHealth systems and language barriers. Perceived enablers in patients included need for automated tools for health monitoring and an increasing literacy level of the society. According to physicians, barriers included lack of available digital health systems in the local context and concern about patients' mHealth capabilities, while enablers included the perceived usefulness in reducing workload and improving health care service quality, as well as the availability of mobile devices and the internet. As perceived by health care executives, barriers included competing priorities alongside digitalization in the health sector and lack of interoperability and complete digitalization of implemented digital health systems, while enablers included the perceived usefulness of digitalization for the survival of the highly overloaded health care system and the abundance of educated manpower specializing in technology. mHealth systems in Sub-Saharan Africa are hindered and facilitated by various factors. Common barriers and enablers were identified by patients, physicians, and health care executives. To promote uptake, all relevant stakeholders must actively mitigate the barriers. This study identified a promising outlook for mHealth in Sub-Saharan Africa, despite the present barriers. Opportunities exist for successful integration into health care systems, and a user-centered design is crucial for maximum uptake.

The impacts of dynamic capabilities on SMEs' digital transformation process: The resource-based view perspective

Research background: SMEs' concern for the digital literacy of their workforce, their interest in increasing digital literacy among employees, and securing their digital platforms, have been major issues in their digital transformation process. To reduce those obstacles, the dynamic capabilities of SMEs included in the Resource-based View (RBV) might be an effective solution since they help companies be more competitive and proactive against the threats they face in the digitalization process. Purpose of the article: This research aims to investigate whether SMEs' dynamic capabilities positively contribute to their digital transformation process. Methods: In line with the proposed relationships, this paper analyzes SMEs from Czechia by running Ordinal Logistic Regression analyses. The research sample is created by stratified random sampling and purposive sampling methods. The research data is collected via telephone surveys. Findings & value added: This research does not find a positive relationship between the dynamic capabilities of SMEs and the digital transformation process. While the results related to digital literacy are negatively associated with digital transformation, no significant relationship exists between security actions and the digital transformation of SMEs. This paper extends the scope of RBV on the digital transformation of SMEs by analyzing various dynamic capabilities of SMEs that have not been included in a sole study. Moreover, the perceptions of SME executives are considered by this research to provide effective solutions for the problems they face in digital transformation. Having a joint venture agreement with well-experienced IT companies, having a network with partner firms, looking for funding opportunities in the EU, participating in some practical training, and providing internships for bachelor students might enable SMEs to hit their targets in digital transformation.

The role of executive characteristics in their evaluation of financial conditions of European SMEs

The majority of SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) have a lower amount of financial assets and earnings compared to their larger counterparts. Therefore, their probability of encountering financial troubles is greater. However, the obstacles they face and perceive might differ depending on their executives’ characteristics. In this regard, this research targets to indicate similarities or differences in the perception of financial conditions by companies’ executives who are of various gender, age, and educational status. Moreover, this paper analyzes SMEs from different countries. By doing so, this research also aims to examine international differences in executives’ characteristics and their perceptions of financial conditions. In line with those targets, the researchers create an internet-mediated questionnaire and direct it to the randomly selected respondents who are owners or executives of 1,156 Czech, Slovakian and Hungarian firms. The researchers also use independent samples T-test and ANOVA tests for analysis purposes. According to the results, while the educational status of executives does not play a determining role in the perceptions of financial issues in all research samples, the perceptions of financial conditions differ depending on Hungarian executives’ gender. Moreover, there are significant differences in the perceptions of older and younger Czech executives regarding the financial performance of their companies. Although some studies investigate firms’ or executives’ resource-based view characteristics, they are limited in investigating a single relationship and a research sample (firm characteristics and bankruptcy of a country’s SMEs, etc.). Since this paper sets and investigates differences in various executive-level characteristics and financial issues of different countries’ SMEs, it might draw prospective readers’ attentions, who might be firm executives, policymakers, financing institutions, and academicians. Moreover, comparing various samples from different countries’ SMEs in analyzed relationships is another crucial value addition that this research creates when filling the literature gap.

Factors that favor or hinder the acquisition of a digital culture in large organizations in Chile.

Organizational culture is often perceived as a valuable strategic asset supporting business transformation and the exploitation of digital technologies. Still, it can also be the source of inertia that impedes change. The research question proposed is What factors favor or hinder the acquisition of digital culture in large organizations in Chile? The aim is to rank factors that promote a digital culture based on the perception of executives using the Delphi method. The expert panel was selected with strategic criteria, considering practical knowledge, up-to-date experience on the subject, and having high decision-making positions in large companies in Chile. The main statistics used are media, maximum, minimum, and average range, along with the search for consensus determined by the interquartile range and Kendall's W concordance coefficient. Results show a high level of agreement on the importance of digital strategy and digital leadership factors when favoring a digital culture in large companies in Chile. However, large companies in Chile must pay attention to the conservative triad of elements that characterize Chilean work culture that considers the belief that changes are exclusively possible when commanded by the strategic apex, a hierarchical work culture that prevents collaborative work, and the rejection of disruptive change. These factors and cultural characteristics will likely hinder any attempt to succeed in a digital transformation plan.

Examining the perceptions of executives regarding accounting information system (AIS). Evidence from listed companies in Saudi stock exchange (TADAWUL).

The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of accounting information system (AIS) on the firm performance of selected companies listed in Tadawul, the stock exchange of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Data was collected through a self-administered online questionnaire during 2022 from 180 executives working at different levels in selected companies. The sample size of the study included 51 listed companies from different sectors. Corporate governance, customer satisfaction, and profitability were the proxy variables used to determine firm performance. The relationship among the variables was subsequently tested by multiple regression. The outcomes exhibited the positive relationships among them.

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The perception of communications executives in companies: The role and challenges of internal communication

The Covid-19 pandemic has tested the role of internal communication (IC) in managing adaptation to change and digitalisation in companies, in the context of a sudden switch to implementing remote working, the reorientation and temporary interruption of activity and mass redundancies. With the aim of analysing the effect of Covid-19 on the assessment of corporate communication managers regarding the business environment and the challenges faced by IC departments in Spain, a statistical analysis compares data collected in 2018 and 2020 (N=118 and N=69 respectively) on the perceptions of members of Dircom (Asociación de Directivos de Comunicación) [Association of Communication Executives]. In addition, a systematic analysis of the 2020 open questions is carried out. The results highlight an improvement in the perception that investment in IC is sufficient during the pandemic, although it remains among the worst rated aspects of the business context. Managing digital and media developments, linking IC with corporate strategy and strengthening the role of communication in decision-making are the greatest perceived challenges, with no changes due to Covid-19. On the other hand, the majority of the respondents believe that Covid-19 is having a positive influence on IC, showing its importance for the proper functioning of the business during the pandemic, with an increase in its actions. More than half of the respondents appreciate that IC has driven business values and changes in the way these departments operate; two-thirds have learned lessons for their business; and almost three-quarters perceive that the incorporation of audiovisual and on-line media will continue.

Is the Global Competitiveness Index by the World Economic Forum a reliable tool for the design of labor market policies? Evidence from Latin American countries

Abstract Most of the competitiveness gap in Latin America is due to its labor market, one of the areas with the highest rates of subjective indicators in the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI). This paper analyzes the subjective component of the GCI in the labor market area and discusses its accuracy for policy advice. We focus on the set of countries that highly rely on the GCI for policy advice and highlight that the perception of business executives of the labor market as rigid contrasts with the significant experience of flexibilization policies undertaken in the region over the past 3 decades. We show that the GCI has been largely constructed with opinion data from large firms, a business sector that accounts for <5% of total firms in the countries of study. Furthermore, the questionnaire exhibits obvious flaws. Thus, we do not find that the GCI provides a solid base for policy advice.

Understanding the perceptions of Brazilian executives of software firms about Critical Success Factors

Our objective is to understand the perceptions of the Brazilian executives about the CSFs to achieve superior organizational performance. We defined a qualitative and quantitative design composed of an Analytic Hierarchy Process and Content Analysis methods. We identified that Marketing and Innovation are the most important CSFs and the interviewed executives suggested three additional factors, i.e., Investment in Startups, Digital Marketing and National Culture, that were not previously identified in the literature review. We highlight the availability of a new framework of CSFs based on different sources and in-depth interviews with Information Technology (IT) executives. Our study also contributes to an overview of CSFs in the Brazilian IT industry.

Supplementary material for paper: "Understanding the perceptions of Brazilian executives of software firms about Critical Success Factors"

Supplementary material for paper: "Understanding the perceptions of Brazilian executives of software firms about Critical Success Factors"

The relative merit of two segmentation approaches: executives views and a cost-benefit analysis

PurposeThis study aims to capture the views of executives about the merit of using the two segmentation approaches (quantitative vs qualitative). Furthermore, this study aimed to examine costs and benefits for two different segmentation approaches, using a minimax simple cost-benefit analysis (CBA) matrix.Design/methodology/approachA total of 16 semistructured interviews were conducted with executives within the University of Sharjah (UoS). Furthermore, a minimax approach was applied to the CBA study.FindingsEvidence in this study found that the financial cost of quantitative segmentation approaches was higher than qualitative approaches. However, the decision-makers trusted the quantitative approach more regardless of the incurred costs. The study also found that there was a limited knowledge about social marketing and segmentation among executives.Research limitations/implicationsLimitations of this study relate to the methodology applied, the sample selected and the lead research. Another factor is selection bias, which limited this study to one organization’s executives. It is conceivable that middle-level management would have had the desire to participate because they make the recommendations to top management in decision-making. The researcher did not collect precise data on time taken to design, implement and analyses the two segmentation studies, which qualified the precision of the CBA. Also, the fact that the sample includes participants from a relatively narrow range of disciplines should be noted as a limitation of the study.Practical implicationsThe current study provides a case study demonstrating how CBA provides a dollar amount estimate permitting alternate segmentation approaches to be compared and contrasted, assisting in the value estimation of any social marketing project.Social implicationsThe paper draws upon two streams of the literature: social marketing and CBA. The paper focused on the understanding of the literature, CBA offers a technique applicable to demonstrating cost savings that can be derived from choosing one method over another. Moreover, CBA assists in understanding the benefits or potential opportunity cost both financially and nonfinancially.Originality/valueThis paper presents one of the first studies conducting a CBA to compare and contrast two segmentation approaches in social marketing. The study provides interesting insights into the perceptions of management executives over alternative research methods, although the results are limited to a case study.

Improving how we lead and manage in business marketing during and after a market crisis: the importance of perceived status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness and fairness

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to outline and investigate a set of five experience elements from neuroscience research labeled SCARF that could impact the quality of perception, evaluation and engagement of executives, managers and employees in business-to-business (B2B) companies during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The proposed experience elements are perceived status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness and fairness. The authors demonstrate that all five elements are influential factors in B2B employees’ workplace environment during the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors outline several specific managerial implications and describe how companies can make better decisions related to several important market crisis decisions via a growth mindset built on the five experience elements. The authors also pay attention to implications to several B2B areas of research focus, including salesforce management and buying/supplier relationships.Design/methodology/approachThe authors first examine existing B2B research to gauge if the five elements have been examined in B2B business contexts. They then analyze a combination of quantitative and qualitative survey data from 335 employees of different B2B companies to see if the five experience elements surface in discussion on how the pandemic has impacted their work experience and careers.FindingsThe authors find that several B2B research studies have looked at each of the individual components of the SCARF model, but none of them have yet included all five elements together in research or looked at them in the context of COVID-19. The results of analysis of surveys from employees in 335 B2B companies provide strong evidence that all five elements are influential factors in B2B employees workplace environment during the COVID-19 pandemic.Originality/valueThis study contributes to prior research focusing on how B2B companies can thrive during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The research offers valuable practical insights and detailed examples of how to apply a set of five elements/experiences that industrial and business-to-business organization leaders should adopt in their conscious decision-making evaluation and in their communications with employees, suppliers and customers during and after the pandemic.

The Impact of Countries’ Credit Rating Scores on the Export Performance of Companies

In the research, a conceptual model with the export performance scale EXPERF (Export Performance Scale) being the dependent variable and with country credit ratings being the independent variables has been developed, and it is intended to empirically investigate the impact of the country credit rating score on the export performance of enterprises by focusing on the country credit rating among many factors that affect the export performance of enterprises. Regarding the model, in the first stage, the relation between the country’s credit rating covering the years between 1993-2016 and the export performance of the enterprises is examined using secondary data through panel unit root tests analysis. In this context, the H1 hypothesis that the country credit rating score given by the credit rating agencies has an impact on the export performance of companies is supported, and it is found that the credit rating score of Turkey affects the export performance of businesses. In the field research covering the second stage of the research, ISO 500 enterprises constitute the universe in which the data is collected. A questionnaire regarding the perceptions of business executives about the export performance of companies in 2013, when Turkey’s credit rating score was raised up to investable level, and in 2016, when Turkey’s credit rating score was lowered, was developed based on the EXPERF scale, and the export performance was measured with online or faceto-face application of the questionnaire to the business executives who participated in the study voluntarily. A judicial sampling method was used in the study, and 306 business executives responded to the questionnaire. The H2 hypothesis that there is a difference between the change in the country credit rating and the export performance of the enterprises is not rejected according to the EXPERF scale, which measures the increase in the country credit rating in 2013 and the decrease in the country credit rating in 2016. Export performance of enterprises differs significantly in the periods when the credit rating of the country decreases and rises.

The Decline of Indonesia’s Leadership Role in ASEAN: Systemic and Domestic Constraints of Jokowi’s Foreign Policy Alterations

This article addresses how systemic stimuli and domestic constraints, specifically on the perception of foreign policy executives, influence Indonesia’s leadership decline in ASEAN under Joko Widodo’s first presidential term. Through the lens of neoclassical realism, it is concluded that Indonesia’s leadership decline in ASEAN is attributed to the changing geopolitical landscape of Asia, with the assertive rise of China and the need to find other models of grand strategies in facing the regional hegemon. Furthermore, there is a unified perception of the irrelevance of maintaining a leadership role in ASEAN, and how the foreign policy executives of the Indonesian President and the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs have concluded to this approach. Implementation of this research is the contribution to the foreign policy framework in facing certain systemic stimuli in the region of Asia, and to understand the role of a unified perspective among foreign policy executives to the actual output of foreign policy. This article contributes to the discourses of; (1) neoclassical realism, specifically on the role of systemic stimuli and elite perceptions as intervening variables in understanding alterations in foreign policy behavior, and (2) empirical analysis of Indonesia’s leadership role in ASEAN during the presidency of Joko Widodo.
 
 Received: 16 August 2021 / Accepted: 25 October 2021 / Published: 3 January 2022

Corporate Environmental Disclosures of Oil and Gas Companies in India: An Analysis of Executives’ Perceptions

Environmental and sustainability issues have assumed significance, leading to social and legal pressures on the companies across the world to take steps to reduce and prevent adverse impact of their activities on the environment and to disclose this information to the concerned stakeholders. The present study aims at investigating the perceptions of executives from 26 listed Indian oil and gas companies on Corporate Environment Disclosures (CEDs)in the annual reports using a structured questionnaire.The questionnaire was constructed on the basis of eleven environmental indicators provided in international oil and gas industry guidelines for voluntary sustainability reporting framework. An attempt was made to determine whether the extent and type of environmental disclosures have correlation with executives’ position in the organization, their knowledge about the annual reports, their stock holdings in the company and the value stream to which the companies belonged. It was found thatthe responding executives were well aware of the environmental issues associated with activities across the value chain in the oil and gas industry. They agreed that these issues are material and must be disclosed in the annual reports, but had different perceptions on the importance of four environmental issues given in the questionnaire for disclosure in the reports. A significant statistical relationship was found between perceived corporate environmental disclosure index (PCEDI) and respondents’ positions in the company and their knowledge on the annual reports. It is suggested that a greater role to knowledgeable senior executives at key positions should be assigned to deal with sustainability disclosure affairs.

‘Capitalism: what has gone wrong?’: Who went wrong? Capitalism? The market economy? Governments? ‘Neoliberal’ economics?

AbstractThe paper contributes to a symposium of the Oxford Review of Economic Policy on ‘Capitalism: What has Gone Wrong, What Needs to Change, and How can it be Fixed?’. The analysis starts from the observation that, in the United States, the United Kingdom, and continental Europe, widespread discontent has become an important political force. I attribute this discontent to a sense of unfairness in developments of the past few decades. I relate this sense of unfairness to: (i) negative effects of structural change, including joblessness and regional decline, (ii) the observation of extraordinary growth in executive remuneration and financial-sector remuneration, coupled with government bailouts in the global financial crisis, and (iii) changes in public policy and public discourse, with a retrenchment of public services and public investment, except for bailouts and a focus on ‘efficiency’, the meaning of which is driven by the perceptions of corporate executives rather than standard welfare economics. To capture these developments, one needs to think about ‘capitalism’ in the sense of French capitalisme or German Kapitalismus, with a focus on the symbiosis of wealth and power, including the elimination of competition, rather than merely another term for the market economy.

Perceptions on the impact of anti-bribery measures, strategies and programs on the persistence of bribery practices in Nigeria

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to assess the perceptions of the grassroots on the impact of combative policy measures, strategies and programs introduced by the government and the civil society to reduce persistent occurrences of bribery practices in Nigeria.Design/methodology/approachMulti-stage or cluster sampling was used to acquire the data for this paper via survey questionnaire administered to the grassroots in Abuja, Nigeria. The data set is used to assess the impact of the various policy measures, strategies and programs on the persistence of bribery practices in Nigeria. The multiple linear regression method was used to estimate the data generated from 836 responses in Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26.FindingsThe result of the estimations indicates that the respondents perceived that some of the policy measures, strategies and programs introduced have reduced persistence of bribery practices in Nigeria, whereas others have remained ineffective in reducing the persistence of bribery practices in Nigeria.Originality/valuePrevious studies on the impact of anti-bribery policy measures, strategies and programs were largely based on the perceptions of international institutions and business executives; this study appears to be the pioneer to focus on the perceptions of the grassroots in Abuja, Nigeria.

Climate change mitigation information disclosure of oil & gas sector in India: A perception analysis

Greenhouse gas (GHG) information of business activities disclosed in corporate annual reports lack consistency in content due to variability of perceptions on environmental issues among company executives. Prior studies examined factors affecting environmental disclosures by comparing different firm characteristics, but no reference of executives' perceptions on climate change disclosures was identified in the existing literature. This study aimed at investigating perceptions of executives from 26 listed oil and gas (O&G) companies on climate change mitigation (CCM) information disclosures in annual reports. A questionnaire was constructed referring to the sustainability reporting framework of International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association (IPIECA) to receive responses from executives of the sample O&G companies. The study revealed that the executives of O&G companies across different value chains perceived materiality for disclosure for all the four climate change indicators- GHG emission, energy use, renewable energy, and flared gases. Significant differences in mean scores of CCM information disclosures existed within four groups of executives holding different positions as well as executives who had different levels of knowledge about annual reports. This study puts forward that climate change mitigation disclosures in annual reports gets affected by level of positions held by executives in their respective companies and their level of knowledge of annual report.

Deliberating or Stalling for Justice? Dynamics of Corporate Remediation and Victim Resistance Through the Lens of Parentalism: The Fundão dam Collapse and the Renova Foundation in Brazil

Using the political corporate social responsibility (PCSR) lens of parentalism, this paper investigates the more subtle and less-visible interactional dynamics and strategies of power, resistance and justification that manifest between a multi-stakeholder-governed foundation and victims of a mining corporation’s dam collapse. The Renova Foundation was established to provide remedy through a deliberative approach to hundreds of thousands of victims from Brazil’s worst socio-environmental disaster—the collapse of Samarco Mining Corporation’s Fundão tailings dam. Data were collected from a combination of fieldwork and archival analysis to assess the perceptions of victims, their defenders and foundation executives. The findings reveal 12 dialectical tensions from Renova’s attempts to remedy the victim’s injustices. The case analysis contributes through proposing a dialectical process model of stakeholder resistance and subversion to parentalist PCSR. The case reveals the pivotal use of time via the act of stalling as a strategic resource to exhaust victims and reach settlements. Furthermore, organizations justify their parentalism by blaming delays on the bureaucracy and shared responsibility of multi-stakeholder deliberation. Ultimately, I contend that victims must have an equal voice in the outcome of their remediation and that businesses responsible for causing harm should not decide these matters.