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Integrated reporting adoption, disclosure and media legitimacy: evidence from the IIRC Pilot Programme
Get PDFPurpose: In recent years, several businesses worldwide have started to adopt a more integrated approach to corporate disclosure, following the integrated reporting (IR) framework. This paper aims to explore whether and how a firm’s voluntary decision to adopt integrated reporting and the extent of its integrated disclosure impact negative media coverage related to ESG issues. Design/methodology/approach: The study investigates the disclosures of 93 international firms from the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) Pilot Programme and a matching sample of 93 similar firms issuing traditional sustainability reports to assess the impact on media coverage around ESG issues. The final sample consists of 1,116 company-year observations over a six-year period. Findings: The results indicate that the voluntary adoption of integrated reporting alone does not significantly impact a firm’s level of media exposure. However, greater alignment of integrated disclosures with the IR framework results in reduced negative media exposure. These findings hold when the negative exposure is related solely to governance issues, but not when it pertains only to social or environmental issues. Research limitations/implications: The results of this study contribute to accounting and business research on media and corporate disclosure by providing new insights into how the media value integrated corporate disclosures. The results indicate that the media particularly value the adoption of the IR framework when it is applied more extensively, especially in relation to governance issues. They also demonstrate that analysing this reporting tool benefits from a perspective rooted in media legitimacy theory. This theory suggests that when facing negative media coverage, businesses can use corporate disclosures to shape media attention and restore their legitimacy. Practical implications: The findings of this work provide valuable insights for practitioners and the IFRS Foundation, guiding the refinement of the IR framework and reinforcing the growing global emphasis on corporate social and environmental performance. Furthermore, the study’s implications extend to managers, investors and policymakers. In accounting environments where IR is not mandatory, managers can use these insights to adopt IR practices, improving management quality through a comprehensive, integrated approach beyond financial metrics. Seeking external assurance can further strengthen the credibility of IR reports, fostering trust among stakeholders, including the media. Originality/value: This study provides evidence that a greater extent of integrated disclosure leads to more favourable media coverage of a business regarding ESG issues. This suggests that the media use the information disclosed by companies to inform their news and positively value the disclosure provided, especially when it aligns with the IR framework
Walking a tightrope without a safety net: A systems and psychodynamic exploration into the experiences of Black women in senior leadership roles in the UK
Get PDFThis study employed a systems psychodynamic approach to explore the experiences of Black women in senior leadership roles within UK organisations. A constructivist phenomenological enquiry was undertaken, using a psychoanalytically informed method, Free Association Narrative Interview (FANI) - which involved semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of six Black women of African and African-Caribbean heritage across various sectors in the UK. The data was analysed using Grounded Theory, with a systems psychodynamic lens applied to augment the findings. The study revealed that Black women in senior leadership often struggle to fully take up authority, and their experiences can be metaphorically described as “walking a tightrope with no safety net.” Five key themes emerged: systemic racism enacted through microaggressions; playing it safe; a projected sense of inadequacy; masking emotions; negative stereotype threats. Drawing from these findings, the study proposes three theoretical ideas for organisations to explore in order to better understand the complex dynamics shaping these challenges. It concludes with a set of recommendations for interventions aimed at creating environments in which Black women in senior leadership roles feel seen, safe, and authorised to lead with confidence and authenticity. The three theoretical ideas proposed in this study to explain the difficulties faced by Black women in senior leadership are: 1. Black women in senior leadership roles find it difficult to take up authority because of systemic racism enacted in overt and covert microaggressions. They experience the system as too dangerous, prompting the use of coping strategies to survive in role; 2. Through unconscious group processes Black women may identify with negative projections of failure and incompetence from the dominant groups, resulting in a sense of inadequacy in role and failure to perform in authentic ways and take up authority; 3. Black women often draw upon internalised personal defences. These defences influence how they take up leadership roles. If personal defences fail, they will resort to quitting to protect themselves
An investigation of affect transfer of social responsibility in ski sport events among sport tourists and employees
Get PDFThis research investigates the integration of social responsibility into Iranian ski tourism events and its positive affect transfer among employees and sport tourists. Study 1 comprised interviews with 30 employees of ski resorts and found that workers’ understanding and expectation of social responsibility of the ski resorts extended beyond benefits to local communities. Study 2 comprised a survey with 710 sport tourists of ski events and found that when the event includes social responsibility that benefits local communities, it positively moderates the relationship between satisfaction and ongoing loyal and emotional investment of sport tourists in these events. These results suggest the incorporation of social responsibility practices into ski events can transfer positive affects into desirable loyal and emotional outcomes among sport tourists, yet employees seek more ambitious social responsibility efforts
Methodology and Benchmark for Automated Driving Theory Test of Large Language Models
Get PDFLarge Language Models (LLMs), with their strong generalization and inference capabilities, have been increasingly leveraged to address the challenges of handling corner cases in autonomous driving (AD). However, a critical unresolved issue remains: the lack of a comprehensive understanding and formal assessment of LLMs’ driving theory knowledge and practical skills. To address this issue, we propose the first dedicated driving theory test framework and benchmark for LLMs. That is a cru- cial yet unexplored area in the literature, particularly for safety- critical applications in autonomous driving and driver assistance. Our framework systematically evaluates LLMs’ competence in driving theory and hazard perception, akin to the official UK driving theory test, ensuring their qualification for critical driving-related tasks. To facilitate rigorous benchmarking, we construct a comprehensive dataset comprising over 700 multiple- choice questions (MCQs) and 54 hazard perception video tests sourced from the official UK driving theory examination. Ad- ditionally, we incorporate two standardized MCQ sets from the UK’s Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA). For these two types of theoretical test items, we design tailored assessment methodologies and evaluation metrics, including accuracy, recall, precision, F1-score, real-time performance, and computational efficiency. The experimental results reveal that among all LLMs tested, only GPT-4o achieved an accuracy of 88. 21% in the MCQs test, successfully passing this component. However, in hazard perception testing, none of the evaluated models met the passing criteria under the given settings, highlighting the substantial improvements required before these models can be practically deployed for real-world driving applications. Our key insight is that the specific test questions LLMs fail to answer correctly directly reflect their deficiencies in understanding and flexibly applying traffic regulations, as well as in analyzing and responding to complex driving scenarios. This provides clear directions for future improvements
Der Tod faehrt durch die Strassen der Staedte! Polizei und Verkehrserziehung im staedtischen Raum Westdeutschlands nach 1945
No full textThe relationship between fear of movement and ankle biomechanical strategies in a 180° change of direction task
Get PDFObjective: To assess the association between fear of movement and ankle biomechanics and timed performance in a 505 agility change of direction (COD) test, and to assess the association between the biomechanical indices with timed performance. Methods: Twenty participants, who play football at a university level or higher, with a history of ankle injuries were recruited. All participants performed three maximal effort 505 agility COD tests. Three-dimensional ankle range of motion (ROM, measured using inertial measurement units) and the average ankle muscle co-activation (tibialis anterior, soleus, and peroneus longus muscles of the affected limb, measured using bipolar surface electromyography) were extracted from the stance phase of the final cutting step. Fear of movement was assessed using the Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia 11-item (TSK-11) questionnaire. Results: TSK-11 significantly correlated with ankle transverse plane ROM: r = -0.53 (95 %CI −0.79 to −0.11), t = -2.63, P = 0.017. There was no significant association between the COD timed performance and the four ankle biomechanical indices. Conclusions: Greater fear of movement may result in a stiffer turning strategy, which may reduce the risk of injury to the ankle. However, fear of movement is less likely to moderate ankle kinematic and muscle activation strategies that give rise to a performance-injury conflict
Essays on mergers and acquisitions around the world
Get PDFIn Chapter 1, we identify and explore three areas of research on US M&A. We also describe how each chapter of the paper relates to these areas of research. In the following chapter, we introduce a new test approach based on existing theory, particularly the well-known paper using the comprehensive policy uncertainty measure (EPU) developed by Baker et al. (2016). In Chapter 2, we introduce a novel test that builds upon existing theory, particularly notable papers that adopted the comprehensive policy uncertainty measurement (EPU) developed by Baker et al. (2016) to investigate the negative impacts of policy uncertainty on U.S. mergers and acquisitions (Nguyen and Phan, 2017; Bonaime et al., 2018). However, Hassan et al. (2019) discovered that firm-level political risk (PRisk) accounts for 91% of overall uncertainty. We replaced EPU with PRisk, and our results continuously support prior evidence indicating that uncertainties negatively influence deal performance. Nevertheless, we utilise the tax haven index, which was developed by Meier and Smith (2023), and the results suggest a strong positive correlation between the effective tax rate and the probability of cross-border mergers and acquisitions in the United States. Choi et al. (2022) suggest that successful lobbying could ease the negative effects of political risk on corporate investment decisions while reducing political risk (Islam et al., 2022). Liu et al. (2022) address that corporate tax rates could be strongly influenced by the manager's tone during the earnings conference calls. Following these tests, we continue to find that PRisk can be strongly mitigated by corporate tax rates. Thus, when firms face PRisk and tax payment issues, acquirers tend to bid for targets in tax havens. Chapter 3 examines the relationship between inflation and U.S. domestic transaction activities, building on prior studies that investigated state inflation dynamics' influence on cross-border M&A activities (Black, 2000; Uddin and Boateng, 2011; Boateng et al., 2017). Similar to studies by Travlos (1987) and Eckbo (2009), we test the likelihood of cash bidders versus stock bidders, finding that cash bidders’ shareholders generally enjoy more favourable returns (Travlos, 1987). A recent study by Yang et al. (2019) identified excess cash as a determinant of mergers and acquisitions. Our test finds that inflation significantly decreases the favorability of U.S. domestic transactions. However, firms tend to engage in acquisitions while holding excess cash during inflationary periods. Furthermore, pure cash deals tend to be more common during inflationary periods, and vice versa. Regarding shareholder returns, our findings align with Travlos's (1987) arguments. Chapter 4 investigates the effects of the insider trading laws' enforcement on cross-border acquisitions bid by U.S. acquirers. Prior studies have explored the initial enforcement of insider trading laws on stock market performance, both in terms of frequencies and profits (Bris, 2005). This argument is further supported by evidence showing enhanced capital market efficiency in developed markets, which reduces equity costs and improves liquidity (Fernandes & Ferreira, 2009; Bris, 2005). The impact of the enforcement of insider trading laws on firm valuation during transactions varies (Bhattacharya, 2023). Additionally, misvaluation (Rhodes-Kropf and Viswanathan, 2004) and stock price informativeness (Bai et al., 2016) have crucial impacts on mergers and acquisitions. Gao (2011) suggests that bidders prefer to pay with stock, indicating overvaluation. Myers and Majluf (1984) argue that when investors find companies issuing shares without the need to invest capital, this indicates overvaluation. Hackbarth and Morellec (2008) point out that insider trading laws prohibit insiders from sending signals to the market, so market prices reflect information from outsiders. In our test, the initial enforcement of insider trading laws positively affected U.S. acquirers significantly. Additionally, an increase in price informativeness drives cash bidders. Cash bidders have significant and positive returns, whereas stock bidders have negative returns. The last chapter provides a conclusion of the findings, limitations, and suggestions for further research directions
“I feel, therefore We are”: The body as an emotional map of the world between individual and collective states of mind
No full textBetween the human body and collective psychic life there is a special and mysterious unmediated relationship. This observation, in my experience, stems from the importance of the body in the therapies of people who have survived serious human rights violations. Why does political and social life invariably inscribe its marks on the bodies of those affected? Not only violent collective action, but also peaceful political life often uses the body as a vehicle for its representations and to manage its changes. This paper attempts to develop an argument about the reasons for such importance, developing the concept of oneness as a primordial state of mind that generates the first undifferentiated forms of existence, individual and collective.
Jung's concept of participation mystique and the more recent concept of ‘cultural complexes’ help to understand these phenomena with their related primordial states of mind. Jung used the term participation mystique, borrowing it from the anthropology, to denominate a state of unconscious identity between the individual's psyche and their environment. This expression also indicates all those cases in which the subject is not clearly distinct from the object, but is linked to it in a fundamental relationship of partial identity. This paper is going to pursue the hypothesis that in the interaction between collective and individual psyches ‘cultural complexes’ may have a direct grip on people’s bodies, according to the rules and mechanisms of states of identity, creating states of the mind that make up a sense of collective ‘We-ness’, in a very similar way to which the sense of ‘I-ness’ is know to arise from basic processes of integration within individual body
Citizen Kane: The Evils of Industrial Concentration
No full text“Citizen Kane” explores the power of the press, manipulating public opinion, the quest for power through industry concentration, and whether money makes for happiness. This chapter explores the questions that the film poses for competition policy authorities today about the breadth with which we should interpret “abuses” of competition in the media. We first trace the evolving implementation of competition statutes in the US and Europe, noting that early judgements were written expansively, capturing more than purely economic issues. We present the landmark Alcoa case in more detail as an example of a decision encompassing political and even moral concerns. We then watch the pendulum swing toward narrower economic analysis before swinging back toward a wider interpretation today in the light of the role of very large enterprises in the digital economy: the GAFAM firms have not only become economically important, but the role of Facebook (Meta) in public opinion and the electoral process has been hotly debated. After reviewing this spectrum of approaches, we investigate how the economic analysis of competition policy can incorporate political aspects of the media on a more concrete level and within the scope of existing law. We leave the reader with some final questions on what, if anything, competition policy should do to prevent high concentration and potentially abusive conduct in media markets in the light of the recent rise of the digital giants