New lower bounds for the second variable Zagreb index

The aim of this paper is to obtain new sharp inequalities for a large family of topological indices, including the second variable Zagreb index \(M_2^{\alpha }\), and to characterize the set of extremal graphs with respect to them. Our main results provide lower bounds on this family of topological indices involving just the minimum and the maximum degree of the graph. These inequalities are new even for the Randi?, the second Zagreb and the modified Zagreb indices.     

On the relationship between compliance with recommendations on the audit committee of codes of good practices and financial reporting quality

Codes of good practices provide a soft alternative to the hard legislation approach to corporate governance. These codes include a set of recommendations that companies are expected to follow in order to enhance governance structures and practices. Some of these recommendations specifically aim to improve the effectiveness of the audit committee. We investigate the relationship between the level of compliance with recommendations on the audit committee of the Spanish Unified Code and financial reporting quality, as measured by discretionary accruals and by the opinion of the audit report. We use a sample of companies listed in the Spanish stock market for the years between 2007 and 2013. Results show a strong and positive relationship between the level of compliance with recommendations and the quality of financial reporting. We also report significant results for some specific recommendations. These results are robust to various checks. Therefore, the level of compliance with recommendations on the audit committee might provide a feasible and reliable indicator of the quality of financial reports released by the company.     

Human capital and agency effects on CEO compensation of IPO biopharmaceutical firms and the market’s response

This paper examines the determinants of base pay and total incentive compensation packages of CEOs of biopharmaceutical firms that have recently gone public, and whether human capital and agency factors affect the market’s response to the initial public offering. We find that in terms of net proceeds, the IPO market appears to reward the firms that have founder-CEOs and CEOs with higher incentive compensation. CEOs with prior venture capital experience are associated with receiving higher incentive compensation, while CEOs with a greater ownership interest in the firm receive lower incentive compensation but higher salaries. CEOs of firms with a greater percentage of insiders are associated with lower salaries. The results should add to our understanding related to human capital and agency theories, as well as help firms and investors better understand and structure CEO compensation.     

Leader individual differences,situational parameters,and leadership outcomes: A comprehensive review and integration

In this article, we provide a wide-ranging review of recent research on leader individual differences. The review focuses specifically on the explosion of such research in the last decade. The first purpose of this review is to summarize and integrate various conceptual frameworks describing how leader attributes influence leader emergence and leader effectiveness. The second purpose is to provide a comprehensive review of empirical research on this relationship. Also, most prior reviews primarily examined leader personality traits; this review includes a broader array of leader attributes, including cognitive capacities, personality, motives and values, social skills, and knowledge and expertise. The final broad purpose of this paper is to review and integrate situational and contextual parameters into our conceptual framing of leader individual differences. Few, if any, prior reviews have systematically accounted for the critical role of such parameters in cuing, activating, or delimiting the effects of particular leader attributes. We do so in this article.     

Autocratic leaders and authoritarian followers revisited: A review and agenda for the future

Despite a long history within the field of leadership, the subject of authoritarianism and how it influences leadership and leadership processes has been neglected in recent decades. However, recent global events make it clear that a better understanding of authoritarianism is needed and that leadership researchers would benefit from a renewed interest in studying why followers embrace autocratic leaders. The nature of authoritarian character, how authoritarian values develop, and how it is measured will be discussed. We will also review autocratic leadership, the factors that make it more likely, its consequences for followers, and the moderators of its effects. A future research agenda for the study of authoritarian character and autocratic leadership will be provided.     

Parental bereavement: a panoramic view

This study is aimed at identifying central themes of bereavement. A qualitative approach was employed in the analyses of interviews with 22 bereaved parents. The analyses yielded four central issues or themes of bereavement, each with its own set of sub-themes or categories, as the narrative demanded. The first of these themes, pertaining to the life of the family before the death of a child had taken place, was named the risk factor. Circumstances leading up to the death, surrounding the death, the cause of death, and the events following the death were coded as bereavement circumstances. The grief reactions codes were divided into categories of emotional, physical, behavioral, relational, spiritual, and cognitive reactions, as described by the participants. Finally, the mourning codes described the mechanisms employed by the participants in their attempts to survive and continue living after the death. These findings can be used in the training of support workers and the development of bereavement interventions.     

Two-stage evaluation of bank branch efficiency using data envelopment analysis

There are two key motivations for this paper: (1) the need to respond to the often observed rejections of efficiency studies’ results by management as they claim that a single-perspective evaluation cannot fully reflect the operating units’ multi-function nature; and (2) a detailed bank branch performance assessment that is acceptable to both line managers and senior executives is still needed. In this context, a two-stage Data Envelopment Analysis approach is developed for simultaneously benchmarking the performance of operating units along different dimensions (for line managers) and a modified Slacks-Based Measure model is applied for the first time to aggregate the obtained efficiency scores from stage one and generate a composite performance index for each unit. This approach is illustrated by using the data from a major Canadian bank with 816 branches operating across the nation. Three important branch performance dimensions are evaluated: Production, Profitability, and Intermediation. This approach improves the reality of the performance assessment method and enables branch managers to clearly identify the strengths and weaknesses in their operations. Branch scale efficiency and the impacts of geographic location and market size on branch performance are also investigated. This multi-dimensional performance evaluation approach may improve management acceptance of the practical applications of DEA in real businesses.