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An Investigation of Auditors' Judgments When Companies Release Earnings Before Audit Completion
No full textThe majority of U.S. public companies release annual earnings prior to the completion of audit fieldwork. We investigate this phenomenon in a controlled experiment with audit partners and senior managers. We find that releasing earnings before completion of the audit pressures auditors to adopt the goals of management, thereby reducing the likelihood of post‐announcement audit‐adjustment recommendations. We also examine the effect of audit committee (AC) strength in improving auditors’ judgments after annual earnings are released. When ACs are actively involved in accounting issues and proactively communicating with auditors—characteristics currently lacking in most ACs—the negative effects on auditors’ judgments are completely mitigated. Our study provides evidence on potential unintended consequences of early release of earnings and the importance of investing in high‐quality ACs to mitigate adverse effects of client pressures on audit judgment and financial reporting quality
MOOC instructor motivation and career development
No full textAs MOOCs proliferate, a better understanding of MOOC instructors is essential. This study examined the motivation as well as the career and professional development of 142 MOOC instructors using a mixed-methods approach entailing an online survey combined with six MOOC instructor interviews. The research findings indicated that instructors’ motivation to teach MOOCs primarily related to intrinsic motivation. Importantly, this study classified different motivational factors of MOOC instructors into seven categories. While the frustrations of MOOC instructors included time for creating MOOCs and a lack of interaction in MOOCs caused, in part, by heavy reliance on asynchronous communication, many MOOC instructors perceived that MOOC teaching positively influenced their professional development. Most MOOC instructors learned how to teach MOOCs informally and individually. Nevertheless, they made efforts to help other MOOC instructors. Finally, this study pointed to the strong need for professional development of MOOC instructors in developing MOOCs and their effective implementation
Do Employers “Walk the Talk” After All? An Illustration of Methods for Assessing Signals in Underpowered Designs
Full text linkThis article presents two alternative methods to null hypothesis significance testing (NHST) for improving inferences from underpowered research designs. Post hoc design analysis (PHDA) assesses whether an NHST analysis generating null findings might otherwise have had sufficient power to detect effects of plausible magnitudes. Bayesian analysis with default priors offers advantages over NHST for assessing null findings and detecting signals in underpowered data. Both methods are illustrated by application to Pager and Quillian’s influential study on attitude-behavior correspondence. PHDA results suggest the original study lacked sufficient power to detect strong associations between employers’ attitudes and behaviors. Bayesian analysis confirms strong attitude–behavior associations cannot be ruled out given the data. Together, these results question a frequently cited conclusion about attitude–behavior incongruence in survey vignettes. Overall, the examples illustrate how these analytical tools can be useful for describing uncertainty surrounding estimates and for improving substantive and theoretical debates across sociology
A Cascading Approach to Training Discovery
Full text linkPurpose: The purpose of this paper is to illustrate why libraries should develop instructional plans to further integrate Web-scale discovery services into the academy, as well as propose a three-fold delivery plan to achieve this goal. Design/methodology/approach: This paper documents a strategy to integrate Web-scale discovery services into library training and instruction for multiple audiences. The strategy is informed by past analysis of discovery service search queries. Findings: It presents a three-part training plan that can be applied to multiple audiences, universities/colleges and even discovery service platforms. Practical implications: The strategies and practices detailed in this paper are easily adaptable to other institutions that currently subscribe to Web-scale discovery service products. Originality/value: This paper introduces an innovative approach toward transforming Web-scale discovery instruction across the academy, based on search query analysis
Grandfathering: Environmental Uses and Impacts
No full text“Grandfathering” grants preferential treatment to existing resource users over new entrants based on prior use. It is based on conceptions of first-in-time or prior appropriation and applied in a broad range of environmental and resource issues. We synthesize legal, economic, and political science perspectives to find that grandfathering removes incentives for users to anticipate regulations with proactive abatement. We analyze institutions ranging from long-enduring common property regimes to climate negotiations and find examples of how grandfathering can be detrimental to sustainability but also when it may be a mechanism with positive or necessary properties to bring stakeholders to the table
Hilary Putnam’s liberal naturalism about language use, reference, and truth
No full textIn his classic papers in the philosophy of language Hilary Putnam points out that even if one cannot tell an elm tree from a beech tree, one may use the word “elm” to make assertions and ask questions about elm trees. Putnam also observes that scientists may be able to raise fruitful research questions about a given topic despite not having any beliefs that accurately describe it. These compelling observations discredit some of our ordinary and philosophical assumptions about what it is to use and to understand language. The observations therefore prompt Putnam to ask what it is for a speaker to “use” a word to make assertions and ask questions, and how “use” in that sense, whatever it is, is related to what we call “language understanding.
Graying of U.S. Bankruptcy: Fallout from Life in a Risk Society
No full textAs neoliberal ideology and policies gained a foothold in the early-1980s, the social safety net for older Americans contracted. Responsibility for the risks associated with aging, namely retirement income and healthcare costs, was increasingly transferred from the state to the individual. Using data from the Consumer Bankruptcy Project, we report that since 1991 there has been more than a two-fold increase in the rate at which older Americans (age 65 and over) file for consumer bankruptcy, and an almost five-fold increase in the percentage of older persons in the U.S. bankruptcy system. This magnitude of growth is so large that the broader trend of an aging U.S. population can explain only a small portion of the effect. Respondents report that inadequate income and unmanageable healthcare costs are the chief reasons for their bankruptcies. Our findings suggest that neoliberal policies that offload healthcare costs and retirement savings onto older Americans may facilitate their bankruptcy filings
REGIONAL COMPARISONS: THE WORLDWIDE SURVEY OF FITNESS TRENDS
No full textFor the last 14 years, the editors of ACSM’s Health & Fitness Journal® (FIT) have administered an electronic survey to thousands of fitness professionals around the world to determine health and fitness trends (1-14). The survey helps predict annual health and fitness trends in a systematic way using the same methodology and helps to guide health fitness programming efforts around the world. Although the number of participating countries has ranged from 10 to 36 depending on the year, both Europe and South America have independently sought to utilize the worldwide ACSM survey to explore their own fitness sectors. Additionally, China is in its third consecutive year of surveillance and also has contributed to the Worldwide Fitness trends. Even though there could be an assumption that many trends identified in ACSM’s Worldwide Survey of Fitness Trends also may appear in other regions, this may not be the case. Therefore, it is important to have specific data from several European and South American countries to add to the established China and North America surveys to provide a more global understanding as to what extent the trends are confirmed in different regions around the world. In this article, the top 20 fitness trends from surveys in North America, China, Europe, and South America are compared. The authors thank our colleagues from Europe, South America, and China for replicating the methodology of ACSM’s Worldwide Survey of Fitness Trends in an effort to provide guidance for health fitness professionals in their region
Backyard voices: How sense of place shapes views of large-scale energy transmission infrastructure
No full textWhile scholars have assessed the drivers of public views of electricity gener-ation infrastructure, attention to transmission infrastructure has been limited.Moreover, economic benefits are often wielded to garner public support in sitingdebates, but questions remain about what shapes local perceptions of economicimpacts. We examine how the symbolic content and geographic scale of placesentiments shape residents’ interpretations and evaluations of proposed trans-mission infrastructure projects as a threat or an opportunity. We draw fromin-depth interviews with public officials, residents, landowners, and stakeholdersin communities along the routes of two proposed energy transmission projects inthe American Midwest. Symbolic meanings, including but not limited to thosereflecting economic identities, inform interpretation of project impacts and eval-uations of the projects as threats or opportunities. Place meanings at the local,state, and national scales also help define the values through which respondentsevaluate the projects
Effects of different types of instructor comments in online discussions
No full textThe current study examined the effects of different types of instructor comments on student engagement in an online discussion. In particular, this study examined three comment types: (1) praise-oriented comments, agreeing with students’ initial messages and recapping their ideas, (2) elaboration-encouraging comments, requesting elaboration on the initial messages ,and (3) perspective-widening comments, suggesting different or thought-provoking opinions responding to the initial messages. Seventeen graduate students enrolled in an online course were recruited. A content analysis was employed to evaluate the levels of knowledge construction. Interactivity was measured by the number of posts and idea units. It was revealed that perspective-widening comments facilitated students’ evaluation on the peer postings and brought up diverse perspectives, contributing to knowledge construction. While elaboration-encouraging comments led to high interactivity among students, praise-oriented comments had no significant effect on the frequency of interactivity