RETRACTED: Sustainable stakeholder participation planning on the basis of analysis of competing project interest

Posted on by

Abstract

Sustainability has become more than just an aspiration in business. It has become an integral part of business strategy and decision-making. Organizations have realized that adhering to sustainability with its impact on multi-facets can drive business success. Long-term growth requires an understanding of the relationships between people and their surroundings. Engagement of stakeholders is essential for planning, designing, implementing, and ensuring the efficacy of programmes. Due to the requirement for sustainability and the engagement of a greater stakeholder range in project planning, the project plan complexity is growing. The lack of or insufficient engagement of stakeholders throughout the project life cycle, particularly in the early phases of implementation and planning, frequently has a detrimental effect on the intended project performance. Effective stakeholder engagement is essential to counterbalance the combined effects of a lack of contextual knowledge by stakeholders and a lack of support in the field. However, this integration encounters difficulties such as resource restrictions and competing stakeholder interests. To encourage stakeholder engagement with the initiatives, project resources may be allocated based on the relative importance of competing areas. This study intends to establish a Stakeholder Engagement Framework (SEF) to increase the effectiveness of stakeholder engagement in projects by systematically evaluating potential conflicts and integrating the perspectives of stakeholders and the project management team. To do this, we use fuzzy logic inputs to account for ambiguities throughout the project life cycle, as well as stakeholder theory, value-based management, matrix-based dependency modeling, and total quality management to provide a framework for stakeholder participation. Then we implement the suggested SEF methodology to organize stakeholder participation for a green building project. The suggested framework will promote stakeholder participation under long-term goals for project managers by identifying potential conflicts of interest.

Enhancing corporate governance quality through mergers and acquisitions

Posted on by

Abstract

This study examines whether the pre-deal target-bidder firm governance gap affects the bidder's postdeal change in governance quality. We estimate cross-sectional regressions using mergers and acquisitions from 2004 to 2016. We find that the bidder's firm-level governance improves for acquisitions where the target's governance quality is better than that of the bidder preacquisition. We attribute the results to reverse portability, suggesting that the predeal governance gap creates space for governance transfer, and bidders can adopt better governance of targets after the acquisition. Board independence, audit committee independence, CEO-Chairman separation, stock compensation, and equal treatment of minority shareholders serve as potential channels to demonstrate the bidder's higher governance after the acquisition. Our findings also reveal that bidders with governance improvement are also associated with higher operating performance. We extend the portability theory of Ellis et al. (2017) and suggest that governance can also travel from targets to bidders through mergers and acquisitions.

Tax avoidance and debt maturity in SMEs

Posted on by

Abstract

We investigate how tax avoidance affects the maturity structure of debt in firms where tax avoidance costs are presumably low, namely SMEs. Previous research has shown that creditors of listed tax-avoiding companies impose shorter maturities to more frequently reassess the tax avoidance risks in debt contracts. Using a sample of 110,690 firm-year observations of Spanish SMEs over the period 2007–2020, we examine the relationship between tax avoidance and debt maturity and the channels driving this relationship. We find that tax-avoiding SMEs show a longer debt maturity. This effect is stronger for SMEs with higher profitability, lower earnings management incentives, and higher reliability of financial reporting. We also find that tax avoidance reduces leverage and short-term debt, increases future cash flows, and decreases future cash flow volatility. Overall, these findings suggest that, unlike large firms, SMEs use cash tax savings to reduce leverage and short-term debt in their financial structure and that tax avoidance is positively valued by their lenders.

Here, there and Everywhere: On the Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Management Research and the Peer‐Review Process

Posted on by

Abstract

This editorial introduces and explains the Journal of Management Studies’ (JMS) new policy on artificial intelligence (AI). We reflect on the use of AI in conducting research and generating journal submissions and what this means for the wider JMS community, including our authors, reviewers, editors, and readers. Specifically, we consider how AI-generated research and text could both assist and augment the publication process, as well as harm it. Consequentially, our policy acknowledges the need for careful oversight regarding the use of AI to assist in the authoring of texts and in data analyses, while also noting the importance of requiring authors to be transparent about how, when and where they have utilized AI in their submissions or underlying research. Additionally, we examine how and in what ways AI's use may be antithetical to the spirit of a quality journal like JMS that values both human voice and research transparency. Our editorial explains why we require author teams to oversee all aspects of AI use within their projects, and to take personal responsibility for accuracy in all aspects of their research. We also explain our prohibition of AI's use in peer-reviewers’ evaluations of submissions, and regarding editors’ handling of manuscripts.