Qian Long Kweh's research while affiliated with Canadian University Dubai and other places

Financial data may contain nonpositive values, which can be addressed using logarithm transformation or the addition of constant. However, production scale is important when employing data envelopment analysis (DEA) to assess the efficiency of input-output transformation. Traditional techniques of handling negative data values in DEA, such as adding an arbitrary constant or substituting a small positive value, fail to account for the effect of production scale on efficiency and can produce misleading findings. This study thus proposes a novel method for dealing with negative output values in DEA by revising them based on production scale. Overall, this study enables better informed decision-making by improving the accuracy of efficiency assessments in complex data settings containing both positive and negative values.

The study examines whether the board of directors with financial experience can effectively constrain earnings management pre- and post-International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). For a large balanced panel dataset of Taiwanese electronics companies over 2007–2017, we replace returns on assets in an augmented modified Jones model with efficiency scores derived using data envelopment analysis (DEA). Using DEA as an innovative adaptation in the accrual-based earnings management model, we aim to provide an accurate measure of earnings management. The results of our panel-estimated generalized least square (EGLS) regression models, which account for heteroskedasticity and auto-correlation problems, indicate that the proportion of board of directors with financial and/or accounting experiences reduces earnings management pre-IFRS. However, their ability turns weaker post-IFRS. Overall, this study thus not only has important theoretical significance in that a board of directors with financial experience might and might not curb earnings management but also has an important practical contribution to decision-makers in companies regarding the effectiveness of board financial experiences in the IFRS era.

The central concept of strategic benchmarking is resource management efficiency, which ultimately results in profitability. However, little is known about performance measurement from resource-based perspectives. This study uses the data envelopment analysis (DEA) model with a dynamic network structure to measure the resource management and profitability efficiencies of 287 US commercial banks from 2010 to 2020. Furthermore, we provide frontier projections and incorporate five variables, namely capital adequacy, asset quality, management quality, earning ability, and liquidity (i.e., the CAMEL ratings). The results revealed that the room for improvement in bank performance is 55.4%. In addition, we found that the CAMEL ratings of efficient banks are generally higher than those of inefficient banks, and management quality, earnings quality, and liquidity ratios positively contribute to bank performance. Moreover, big banks are generally more efficient than small banks. Overall, this study continues the current heated debate on performance measurement in the banking industry, with a particular focus on the DEA application to answer the fundamental question of why resource management efficiency reflects benchmark firms and provides insights into how efficient management of CAMEL ratings would help in improving their performance.

Although women are more conservative and more ethical than men, the proportion of female executives is still lower than that of men. Both Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) have strong influences in making corporate financial decisions. However, most of the literature focuses only on CEOs and ignores CFOs. Therefore, when bad news happens, it is possible that a female CEO/CFO can better alleviate the negative impact. We thus employ 4,405 firm-year observations over the period of 1996–2018, of which 680 are unique companies listed on the S&P1500 index, to examine how CEO and CFO gender influences stock returns and analyst recommendations. Our ordinary least squares and logistic regression results show that investors are pessimistic about companies led by female CEOs/CFOs, especially female CEOs. That is, when something bad happens, stock returns and analyst recommendations are worse for firms with female CEOs. Overall, this study is first to use stock returns to observe market reactions to firms with female CEOs/CFOs. In other words, the corporate remains unfriendly toward women, even those who are qualified as CEOs/CFOs

Inconsistent results of the impacts of intellectual capital (IC) investments on firm performance have raised question regarding the pros and cons of IC investments. However, analyzing the relationship between IC and firm performance from a nonlinear perspective remains under-researched. Hence, this paper aims to examine whether IC investments have a nonlinear relationship with firm performance. This study also examines the interaction effects of IC components on firm performance. We undertake the data that ranges from 2009–2022 on Malaysian public listed firms. The study separates the data into two periods, one without COVID-19 impact (2009–2018) and the other with COVID-19 impact (2019–2022), to examine the potential impact of IC to firm performance with and without the presence of COVID-19 pandemic. The study utilizes panel data regression method to analyze the hypothesized relationships. The results indicate that the relationship between IC components and firm performance is nonlinear when COVID-19 is not present, but this relationship changes in the presence of COVID-19 impact. That is, although continuous IC investments can be a safe investment strategy, their positive impacts on firm performance lose initial strength after a certain critical level of IC investments. Based on the findings, Malaysian public listed firms need to have skilled and intellectual labor force to support the transition from labor intensive industries to knowledge-intensive industries. Moreover, tangible investments play a contributing role in intangible investments. Managers should be careful in investing both physical and financial resources as their marginal costs may outweigh marginal benefits. Overall, this study is helpful to the managers and policy makers in deciding the optimal level of IC investments. The advice can also be taken with respect to combinations of elements of IC.

Purpose This study analyses the effects of firm efficiency on firm performance and how controlling shareholders moderate the link between the two variables. Design/methodology/approach This study employs data envelopment analysis to estimate firm efficiency and the panel regression method to assess the hypothesised relationships among 1,295 firm-year observations of publicly listed firms in Malaysia from 2015 to 2019. Findings The results indicate that firm efficiency (technical efficiency, pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency) has mixed relationships with firm performance (return on assets, market-to-book ratio and operating cash flows), all of which are being moderated by controlling shareholdings. Practical implications This study highlights the importance of assessing firm efficiency as the key success factor for improving firm performance. Industrial managers should manage efficiently their resources or operating costs in achieving their corporate financial goals. Moreover, this study notes the presence of controlling shareholders, who can be either self-interested or company goal aligned. Originality/value This study suggests becoming efficient in transforming inputs into outputs is a prerequisite before investigating accrual-based and cash-based firm performance measures, and the presence of controlling shareholders matters in these regards.

This study examines the impact of innovation on firm performance and how intellectual capital (IC) moderates the association between innovation and firm performance. We apply an innovation index that measures the frequency of innovative related words, which appear in firm financial reports to proxy for innovation. IC is estimated through the value-added IC (VAICTM) model. This study analyses Chinese firm-year observations of financial profitability (firm value) datasets, which total 19,152 (18,276) over the years from 2007 to 2019. Results indicate that the innovation index is positively related to financial profitability and firm market value. Moreover, the moderating outcomes suggest that IC boosts the positive relationship between innovation index and firm performance. Overall, this study highlights the importance of having innovation and IC together for gaining firm competitive advantages and progressing profitably. That is, firms should be innovative and must manage their IC well.