The purpose of this research is to investigate how COVID-19 impacted supply chains and to develop future research directions from thereof. Using a systematic literature review methodology, this study analyzes publications on Google Scholar and Scopus that explored the impact of COVID-19 on supply chains. The research thoroughly reviews and analyzes a total of 95 studies that were found relevant and significant. COVID-19 had a significant impact on supply chains and organizations a like and therefore the study has revealed the following findings. Although some scholars claim that the pandemic revealed the fragility of supply chains, brought many logistical activities to standstill, and completely disrupted markets, but other researchers found that it has also created unlimited opportunities for organizations and industries. This review concluded that extant of literature falls into four themes; those who believe that COVID-19 was a complete threat, researchers who believe that it was both a threat and opportunity, those who believe it created enormous opportunities and lastly scholars who proposed a model that can help mitigate the impact of the pandemic on supply chains. This study opens the door wide for other researchers to explore how COVID-19 pandemic impacted supply chains positively and negatively across many industries and contexts. The study also provides an easy reference for business managers who are interested in knowing what would be the consequences of such pandemic on their organizations and how to take the right decisions that can help mitigate the many threats while at the same time maximize any opportunities created.

The relationship between companies and society has been questioned for a long time. However, the effect of the motives behind CSR regarding the companies’ actual engagement with CSR has received little attention, especially in emerging markets. This paper tackles this issue for the first time using a sample of Jordanian companies. We explore the effect of two types of motives on the level of engagement in CSR: extrinsic motive (financial) and intrinsic motives (ethical and altruistic). The relationship between the company’s actual financial performance and CSR is also investigated. Primary data were collected using a questionnaire, distributed to Jordanian company’s managers in five sectors: pharmaceutical, technology and telecommunication, construction, farming, and financial services. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to depict the relationships. Results show that the intrinsic motives have a significant effect on CSR, while the extrinsic motive has none. When intrinsic motives were tested separately, results showed that the ethical motive had a significant effect, while the altruistic had no effect. In both cases, CSR was shown to be more significantly driven by the company’s financial performance. Different stakeholders such as policymakers, entrepreneurs, researchers, and investors may use the results of this study to increase companies’ involvement in CSR.

This study investigates how corporate boards of directors influence the quality of external audit in a sample of service firms listed on the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE). We contribute to the literature by providing empirical evidence on the efficacy of the corporate governance mechanisms through corporate boards to influence audit quality in an emerging country setting (i.e., Jordan). According to Chua (1986), this is mainstream “market-based” accounting research. We regress multiple dimensions that capture the quality of financial statements’ audit on a group of board of directors (BoD) characteristics for total observations of 225 firm-year obtained for 45 companies during the period (2014-2018). Specifically, the multidimensional analysis of the response variable, audit quality, includes audit firm’s internationalization, audit fees, auditor tenure, and the number of licensed practitioners at the audit firm. Using multiple linear (Panel Least Squares – PLS) and logistic regression models, we document empirical evidence that audit quality is positively affected by the independence and size of boards but negatively affected by CEOs duality, while no influence of the board’s expertise on any measures of the audit quality. The study provides implications for policymakers and investors regarding the signals that firms can send regarding the quality of financial statements audit when complying with the best practices of corporate governance

Using 1320 European mergers and acquisitions (M&As) completed between 2003 and 2012, this paper investigates patterns of earnings management and the implications for non-cash acquisition premia considering both the form of payment and the target firm’s listing status. The empirical evidence documented in this study suggests that management teams engage in pre-merger upward earnings management and that it is more evident for private rather than for publicly listed targets in order to compensate for the higher information asymmetry. This earnings management procedure leads to higher takeover premia even after controlling for variables such as the acquirer’s internal investment opportunities, profitability or available free cash flow.

This paper investigates the effects of the lagged real earnings management on the firms’ future profitability using a panel dataset (for the years 2012–2017) from the Jordanian industrial companies listed in the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE). We follow Roychowdhury (2006) to measure real earnings management using two proxies: abnormal sales (REMS) and abnormal production (REMP) in the regression analysis. Our findings reveal that real earnings management through abnormal sales has an insignificant effect on the firms’ future profitability. However, we document evidence that firms’ future profitability is adversely and significantly affected by real earnings management through abnormal production. We contribute to the ongoing debate in the literature of real earnings management and its ramifications on firms’ profitability, specifically in the context of developing countries. This research provides implications for policymakers, investors and managers regarding the potential consequences of channel stuffing practices at the different stages of the supply chain on the firm’s future profitability. Future research is suggested to focus on how real earnings management can possibly disrupt supply chains.

This paper empirically examines the post-merger performance of a sample of 1,320 European mergers and acquisitions deals. Specifically, we investigate the impact of pre-merger earnings management of acquirers on both the short-term and long-term post-merger performance, for M&A deals completed between 2003-2012, considering both the form of payment and the target firm’s listing status. The findings suggest that acquirers report higher abnormal accruals before those deals where they pay with their stock and the target firms are private. The reported evidence suggests that, as a consequence, investors correct for these efforts in the long-term post-merger period – usually within the first 12 months. Moreover, acquirers are likely to experience positive abnormal returns in case of bidding for private targets, whereas negative abnormal returns are documented in case of a publicly traded target, respectively.