This research investigates the relationship between the expertise of female audit committee (AC) chairs and financial reporting quality (FRQ). Also, it examines the moderating effect of the expertise of AC female chairs on the relationships between internal control (ICS), components of ICS, and FRQ This study analyses 302 firms listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange from 2010 to 2016. Data on ICS, FRQ, and other corporate governance indications are collected manually from annual reports. This study concludes that the accounting expertise of AC female chairs enhances FRQ better than their male counterparts. Also, the accounting expertise of AC female chairs improve corporate governance mechanisms and ICSs (i.e., Control Environment, Control Activities, and information and communication). This research offers implications for shareholders and regulators. The accounting expertise of female AC chairs (WACCH) improve monitoring that enhances shareholder value and investor confidence. The regulator needs to be stricter regarding the requirements for AC chairs.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) affects dividend policy (the propensity to pay dividends as well as the dividend payout ratio) and what role family ownership plays in this regard in an emerging market.Design/methodology/approach: The study uses a sample of 1,480 observations from Pakistan for the period 2010–2016 and accounts for Hackman self-selection bias and endogeneity issues using a robust regression analysis. CSR activity is measured by CSR score developed through a content analysis of firms' annual reports.Findings: The study finds that the greater number of CSR activities increases the propensity to pay dividends, but reduces the dividend payout in dividend-paying firms. On the other hand, in family firms, the greater number CSR activities decreases the propensity to pay dividends, but increases the dividend payout in dividend-paying firms. The findings hold for a series of robustness and sensitivity checks, for example, alternative measures, specifications and estimators.Practical implications: A trade-off between firms' CSR activities and dividend policy needs to be the point of concern for investors, minority shareholders and policy makers. The role of the non-executive and independent directors becomes more important, especially in the family firms where family members sitting on the boards may drive CSR activities in their own interests opportunistically. The potential opportunistic behaviour of family members warrants the need for policy reform initiatives to strengthen the protection of other stakeholders' interests.Originality/value: The study highlights that family owners' efforts to preserve their socio-emotional wealth in family firms affect the relationship between CSR activities and dividend policy. Further, the relationship between CSR and dividend policy in emerging markets is different from developed markets. This study simultaneously focuses on both the propensity to pay dividends and the amount of dividend payment and documents that the implications of CSR are different for them.

Purpose: Investor sentiment (optimism or pessimism) may influence investors to follow others (herding) while taking their investment decisions. Herding may result in bubbles and crashes in the financial markets. The purpose of the study is to examine the presence of herding and the effects of investor sentiment on herding in China and Pakistan.Design/methodology/approach: The investor sentiment is captured by five variables (trading volume, advance/decline ratio, weighted price-to-earnings ratio, relative strength index and interest rates) and a sentiment index developed through principal component analysis (PCA). The study uses daily prices of 2,184 firms from China and 568 firms from Pakistan for the period 2005 to 2018.Findings: The study finds that herding prevails in China while reverse herding prevails in Pakistan. Interestingly, as investors become optimistic, herding in China and reverse herding in Pakistan decrease. This indicates that herding and reverse herding are greater during pessimistic periods. Further, the increase in herding in one market reduces herding in the other market. Moreover, optimistic sentiment in the Chinese market increases herding in the Pakistani market but the reverse is not true.Practical implications: Considering the greater global financial liberalization, and better opportunities for emotion sharing, this study has important implications for regulators and investors. Market participants need to understand the prevalent irrational behavior before trading in the markets.Originality/value: Since individual proxies may depict different picture of the relationship between sentiment and herding therefore the study also develops a sentiment index through PCA and incorporates this index in the analysis. Further, this study examines cross-country effects of herding and investor sentiment.

The study investigates the impact of management strategies (reducing chain of command, developing informal interaction, implementing incentive policy, easy performance appraisal, encouraging higher interdependency, and open space workstations) to mitigate the knowledge-hiding behaviours while using the psychological contract as a mediator between management strategies and knowledge-hiding behaviours. Symmetric (PLS-SEM) and asymmetric (fsQCA) methods are used to analyse time lag data collected from 457 employees of software houses. Except for the reducing chain of command, the PLS-SEM results show that all management strategies and psychological contract have a significant role in reducing knowledge-hiding behaviours. The fsQCA results suggest that all management strategies and psychological contract play their role in different causal recipes while influencing the knowledge-hiding behaviours, however, developing informal interaction, implementing incentive policy, easy performance appraisal, and psychological contracts have more consistent contributions in these causal recipes.

We study the effect of mood-proxy variables on index returns and volatility in six South Asian markets. Our mood-proxy variables include six weather (temperature, humidity, cloud cover, air pressure, visibility, and wind speed), three weather indicator variables (fog, thunder storm and rain or drizzle) and two biorhythmic variables (SAD and lunar phases). We adopt a robust approach and attempt to select the best parsimonious econometric model for each market. Our findings suggest that mood-proxy variables have some convincing influences in South Asian capital markets. In some instances, these variables are influencing returns while in other instances they are influencing volatility.