Bassem Salhi

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of chief executive officer (CEO) characteristics on the earnings management examined by the discretionary accruals.,The sample includes 151 French firms listed on the CAC ALL shares index from 2006 to 2015. The paper uses the feasible generalized least square regression technique to test the relationship between CEO characteristics and earnings management.,Using discretionary accruals as a proxy for earnings management, the results obtained from the three models (Jones modified 1995; Kothari et al., 2005; Raman and Shahrur, 2008) indicated that there is a positive and significant relationship between CEO duality, CEO nationality and the quality of financial communication. However, no significant relationship was found between CEO board member, CEO turnover and earnings management.,A literature review finds that fewer studies have investigated the relationship between earnings management practices and personal CEO characteristics in the French context. Furthermore, no study yet has examined the influence of CEO nationality and CEO age on earnings management practices. This study provides empirical data about the impact of CEO’s characteristics on earnings management and how these different characteristics can facilitate the transition to manipulate and influence the quality of financial communication.

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to present the Islamic stock and Sukuk market efficiency and focus on the presence of investor herding behaviour (HB) captured by Hurst exponent estimation.,The Hurst exponent was estimated with various methods. The authors studied the evolving efficiency of the “Dow Jones” indices from 1 January 2010 to 30 December 2016 using a rolling sample of the Hurst exponent. In addition, they used a time-varying parameter method based on the Hurst of delayed returns. After that, the robust Hurst method was considered. In the next step, the efficiency of the different activity types of Islamic bonds was studied using an efficiency index. Finally, the Hurst exponent estimates were applied to assess the presence of HB.,The results show that, firstly, there’s a strong correlation between the “DJIM” and “DJSI” prices and returns. Secondly, by using robust Hurst estimate, it is observed that the “DJIM” is the most efficient market. The Hurst exponent estimation results show that HB is more intensive in the Islamic stock market. These results indicate also the inexistence of this behaviour in the studied Sukuk market.,Sukuk as Islamic financial assets is recent. Their relative time series are not long enough to apply the long memory approach. Furthermore, this work can be extended to study other Islamic financial markets.,Herding affects risk-return characteristics of assets and has an impact on asset pricing models. Practitioners are interested in understanding herding and its timing as it might create profitable trading opportunities.,This work analyses the impact of Islamic principles on the financial markets and their ability to understand some behavioural biases.,This study contributes to the literature by identifying the efficiency and the presence of HB with Hurst exponent estimation in Islamic markets.

Abstract: This study aims to analyze the relationship between internal governance mechanisms and risk -taking by banks in Tunisia. Empirical analyzes conducted from a sample of 10 Tunisian banks during an analysis period of 8 years from 2002 to 2009, also show significant results. Indeed, the concentration of capital and the size of banks have negative impact and highly significant risk on banks. In addition, Tunisian banks are foreign owned and tend to take less risk than other banks. As for the particip ation of the state in the capital, it has increased the risk in Tunisian banks. In addition, the size of the board has a positive and highly significant impact on bank risks, while the proportion of institutional administrators on the board is negatively and signifi cantly related to the ris k.

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the direct and indirect links between corporate governance and tax avoidance using corporate social responsibility (CSR).,This study is based on a sample consisting of 300 UK and 200 French firms over the period 2005-2017. This study is motivated by structural equations and system models that specify both a direct link and an indirect link between corporate governance and tax avoidance.,The results show that CSR fully mediates the relationship between corporate governance and tax avoidance in UK firms. In addition, in French firms, CSR partially mediates the relation between corporate governance and tax avoidance.,The findings may be of interest to the academic researchers, practitioners and regulators who are interested in discovering corporate governance score, tax avoidance and CSR. Regulators must evaluate their actual corporate governance mechanisms and their country’s legal system before mandating additional governance mechanisms for firms in their country.,This study proved empirically that firms with a higher level of social responsibility are better positioned to obtain more transparency through reducing tax avoidance.,This paper extends the existing literature by examining the mediation effect of CSR on the relationship between tax avoidance and corporate governance.

Abstract: The objective of this study is to explore the effects of financial literacy level and risk aversion on the saving behavior. The literature review showed dialectical results. Therefore, this study attempts to clarify the debatable of these results by studying the mediating effect of risk aversion on the relationships between demographics determinants and saving behavior moderated by the effect of the financial literacy level.,The data were collected from the University of Normandy; the study sample included 516 respondents representing different segments of French households. The structural equation analysis was utilized to control the impact of financial literacy as a moderate variable and the risk aversion as a mediator variable among the link between sociodemographic factors and saving behavior.,The results demonstrated that there were significant effects of demographics factors on risk aversion. Moreover, financial literacy moderates the relationships between risk aversion and saving behavior.,The major limitation of this research is the small size of the study sample. This paper is restricted to French households. Future financial education training should cover the European context.,This study provides further evidence that financial literacy should be considered an important factor for improving household well-being. The paper encourages governments and financial institutions to create a national financial education program.,This paper is the first attempt to employ a sample of low-income households after financial education training in the French context.

Abstract: Entrepreneurial intention is a rapidly evolving field of research. A growing number of studies use entrepreneurial intention as a powerful theoretical framework. However, a substantial part of this research lacks systematization and categorization, and there seems to be a tendency to start anew with every study. Therefore, there is a need to take stock of current knowledge in this field. In this sense, this paper carries out a review of the literature on entrepreneurial intentions. A total of 409 papers addressing entrepreneurial intention, published between 2004 and 2013 (inclusive), have been analyzed. The purpose and contribution of this paper is to offer a clearer picture of the sub-fields in entrepreneurial intention research, by concentrating on two aspects. Firstly, it reviews recent research by means of a citation analysis to categorize the main areas of specialization currently attracting the attention of the academic community. Secondly, a thematic analysis is carried out to identify the specific themes being researched within each category. Despite the large number of publications and their diversity, the present study identifies five main research areas, plus an additional sixth category for a number of new research papers that cannot be easily classified into the five areas. Within those categories, up to twenty-five different themes are recognized. A number of research gaps are singled out within each of these areas of specialization, in order to induce new ways and perspectives in the entrepreneurial intention field of research that may be fruitful in filling these gaps.

Abstract: Examines the motivation for achievement as a psychological factor that shapes economic development. Refuting arguments based on race, climate, or population growth, the book instead argues for cultural customs and motivations - especially the motivation for achievement - as the major catalysts of economic growth. Considering the Protestant Reformation, the rise of capitalism, parents' influences on sons, and folklore and children's stories as shaping cultural motivations for achievement, the book hypothesizes that a high level of achievement motivation precedes economic growth. This is supported through qualitative analysis of the achievement motive, as well as of other psychological factors - including entrepreneurial behavior and characteristics, and available sources of achievement in past and present highly achieving societies. It is the achievement motive - and not merely the profit motive or the desire for material gain - that has advanced societies economically. Consequently, individuals are not merely products of their environment, as many social scientists have asserted, but also creators of the environment, as they manipulate it in various ways in the search for achievement. Finally, a plan is hypothesized to accelerate economic growth in developing countries, by encouraging and supplementing their achievement motives through mobilizing the greater achievement resources of developed countries. The conclusion is not just that motivations shape economic progress, but that current influences on future people's motivations and values will determine economic growth in the long run. Thus, it is most beneficial for a society to concentrate its resources on creating an environment conducive to entrepreneurship and a strong ideological base for achievement. (CJC)

Abstract: We apply the system GMM regression estimation approach to a matched sample of French firms listed on Euronext Paris during the period 2001–2010 in order to investigate the relationship between female directors and earnings management by considering their specific (statutory and demographic) attributes. We first find that the presence of female directors deters managers from managing earnings. However, this finding does not hold when the statutory and demographic attributes of female directors are taken into account, thus showing that the detection and the correction of earnings management require particular competencies and skills. Interestingly, we find that business expertise and audit committee membership are key attributes of female directors that promote the effective monitoring of earnings management. An important implication of our findings is that the decision to appoint women on corporate boards should be based more on their statutory and demographic attributes than on blind implementation of gender quotas. Finally, our supplementary analysis reveals that female CEOs and CFOs are strongly inclined to reduce earnings management.

Abstract: Cryptocurrency markets are complex systems based on speculation Where investors interact using strategies that generate some biases responsible for endogenous instabilities This paper investigated the herding biases by quantifying the self-similarity intensity of cryptocurrency returns' during the COVID-19 pandemic The main purpose of this work was to study the level of cryptocurrency efficiency through multifractal analysis before and after the coronavirus pandemic The empirical results proved that COVID-19 has a positive impact on the cryptocurrency market efficiency

Abstract: The cointegration analysis and a vector error-correction (VEC) model are applied to examine the short- and long-run relationships among foreign direct investment (FDI), economic growth, and the environment in China and India. The results show that FDI inflow plays a pivotal role in determining the short- and long-run movement of economic growth through capital accumulation and technical spillovers in the two countries. However, FDI inflow in both countries is found to have a detrimental effect on environmental quality in both the short- and long-run, supporting pollution haven hypothesis. Finally, it is found that, in the short-run, there exists a unidirectional causality from FDI inflow to economic growth and the environment in China and India - a change in FDI inflow causes a consequence change in environmental quality and economic growth, but the reverse does not hold.