IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/reveco/v86y2023icp520-539.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Gambling culture and earnings management: A novel perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Alharbi, Samar S.
  • Atawnah, Nader
  • Ali, Muhammad Jahangir
  • Eshraghi, Arman

Abstract

Do gambling preferences affect earnings management in a corporate context? We examine this potential link and find a positive and significant association between local gambling culture, as proxied by faith and firm-level earnings management. The results are robust to potential endogeneity tested through relocation of corporate headquarters and change regressions. We also show that the impact of local gambling preferences on earnings management is stronger when firms are more risk-taking as proxied by higher earnings volatility. Further, this positive association between gambling preferences and earnings management is mitigated by closer monitoring through institutional investors and takeover threats.

Suggested Citation

  • Alharbi, Samar S. & Atawnah, Nader & Ali, Muhammad Jahangir & Eshraghi, Arman, 2023. "Gambling culture and earnings management: A novel perspective," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 520-539.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:reveco:v:86:y:2023:i:c:p:520-539
    DOI: 10.1016/j.iref.2023.03.039
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1059056023001107
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.iref.2023.03.039?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bin Srinidhi & Ferdinand A. Gul & Judy Tsui, 2011. "Female Directors and Earnings Quality," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(5), pages 1610-1644, December.
    2. Orihara, Masanori & Eshraghi, Arman, 2022. "Corporate governance compliance and herding," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    3. Suraj Srinivasan, 2005. "Consequences of Financial Reporting Failure for Outside Directors: Evidence from Accounting Restatements and Audit Committee Members," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(2), pages 291-334, May.
    4. Sam Han & Tony Kang & Stephen Salter & Yong Keun Yoo, 2010. "A cross-country study on the effects of national culture on earnings management," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 41(1), pages 123-141, January.
    5. Hilary, Gilles & Hui, Kai Wai, 2009. "Does religion matter in corporate decision making in America?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(3), pages 455-473, September.
    6. Huang, Ying Sophie & Wang, Chia-Jane, 2015. "Corporate governance and risk-taking of Chinese firms: The role of board size," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 96-113.
    7. Mao, Yaping & Renneboog, Luc, 2015. "Do managers manipulate earnings prior to management buyouts?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 43-61.
    8. Kumar, Alok & Page, Jeremy K. & Spalt, Oliver G., 2011. "Religious beliefs, gambling attitudes, and financial market outcomes," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(3), pages 671-708.
    9. Michael, Michael & Ali, Muhammad Jahangir & Atawnah, Nader & Muniandy, Balachandran, 2022. "Fiduciary or loyalty? Evidence from top management counsel and stock liquidity," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    10. Alharbi, Samar & Atawnah, Nader & Al Mamun, Md & Ali, Muhammad Jahangir, 2022. "Local culture and tax avoidance: Evidence from gambling preference behavior," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    11. Fan, Yaoyao & Jiang, Yuxiang & Zhang, Xuezhi & Zhou, Yue, 2019. "Women on boards and bank earnings management: From zero to hero," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 1-1.
    12. Alec N. Kercheval, 2012. "Financial Economics: A Concise Introduction to Classical and Behavioral Finance, by T. Hens and M. O. Rieger," Quantitative Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(10), pages 1487-1489, October.
    13. James R. Brown & Steven M. Fazzari & Bruce C. Petersen, 2009. "Financing Innovation and Growth: Cash Flow, External Equity, and the 1990s R&D Boom," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(1), pages 151-185, February.
    14. Atawnah, Nader & Balachandran, Balasingham & Duong, Huu Nhan & Podolski, Edward J., 2018. "Does exposure to foreign competition affect stock liquidity? Evidence from industry-level import data," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 44-67.
    15. Rajgopal, Shiva & Venkatachalam, Mohan, 2011. "Financial reporting quality and idiosyncratic return volatility," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1-2), pages 1-20, February.
    16. Brian J. Bushee, 2001. "Do Institutional Investors Prefer Near†Term Earnings over Long†Run Value?," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(2), pages 207-246, June.
    17. Kumar, Alok & Page, Jeremy K. & Spalt, Oliver G., 2016. "Gambling and Comovement," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 51(1), pages 85-111, February.
    18. Dou, Yiwei & Khan, Mozaffar & Zou, Youli, 2016. "Labor unemployment insurance and earnings management," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 166-184.
    19. Roychowdhury, Sugata, 2006. "Earnings management through real activities manipulation," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 335-370, December.
    20. Rajgopal, Shiva & Venkatachalam, Mohan, 2011. "Financial reporting quality and idiosyncratic return volatility," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 1-20.
    21. Mao, Yaping & Renneboog, Luc, 2015. "Do managers manipulate earnings prior to management buyouts?," Other publications TiSEM a149f02c-c03f-438d-b71a-b, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    22. Cornett, Marcia Millon & Marcus, Alan J. & Tehranian, Hassan, 2008. "Corporate governance and pay-for-performance: The impact of earnings management," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 357-373, February.
    23. Ronan G. Powell, 1997. "Modelling Takeover Likelihood," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(7‐8), pages 1009-1030, September.
    24. Alok Kumar, 2009. "Who Gambles in the Stock Market?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(4), pages 1889-1933, August.
    25. Tao Shu & Johan Sulaeman & P. Eric Yeung, 2012. "Local Religious Beliefs and Mutual Fund Risk-Taking Behaviors," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(10), pages 1779-1796, October.
    26. Iftekhar Hasan & Chun‐Keung (Stan) Hoi & Qiang Wu & Hao Zhang, 2017. "Does Social Capital Matter in Corporate Decisions? Evidence from Corporate Tax Avoidance," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(3), pages 629-668, June.
    27. Hasan, Iftekhar & Hoi, Chun-Keung (Stan) & Wu, Qiang & Zhang, Hao, 2017. "Does social capital matter in corporate decisions? Evidence from corporate tax avoidance," Bank of Finland Research Discussion Papers 21/2017, Bank of Finland.
    28. Graham, John R. & Harvey, Campbell R. & Rajgopal, Shiva, 2005. "The economic implications of corporate financial reporting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1-3), pages 3-73, December.
    29. Cain, Matthew D. & McKeon, Stephen B. & Solomon, Steven Davidoff, 2017. "Do takeover laws matter? Evidence from five decades of hostile takeovers," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(3), pages 464-485.
    30. Sunder, Shyam, 2005. "Minding our manners: Accounting as social norms," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 367-387.
    31. Koh, Ping-Sheng, 2003. "On the association between institutional ownership and aggressive corporate earnings management in Australia," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 105-128.
    32. Hazarika, Sonali & Karpoff, Jonathan M. & Nahata, Rajarishi, 2012. "Internal corporate governance, CEO turnover, and earnings management," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(1), pages 44-69.
    33. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2017_021 is not listed on IDEAS
    34. David Hirshleifer & Angie Low & Siew Hong Teoh, 2012. "Are Overconfident CEOs Better Innovators?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(4), pages 1457-1498, August.
    35. Adhikari, Binay Kumar & Agrawal, Anup, 2016. "Religion, gambling attitudes and corporate innovation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 229-248.
    36. Ali, Ashiq & Zhang, Weining, 2015. "CEO tenure and earnings management," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 60-79.
    37. (Xuefeng) Jiang, John & Petroni, Kathy R. & Yanyan Wang, Isabel, 2010. "CFOs and CEOs: Who have the most influence on earnings management?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(3), pages 513-526, June.
    38. Scott D. Dyreng & William J. Mayew & Christopher D. Williams, 2012. "Religious Social Norms and Corporate Financial Reporting," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(7-8), pages 845-875, September.
    39. Chan, Yue-Cheong & Chui, Andy C.W., 2016. "Gambling in the Hong Kong stock market," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 204-218.
    40. Kothari, S.P. & Leone, Andrew J. & Wasley, Charles E., 2005. "Performance matched discretionary accrual measures," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 163-197, February.
    41. Zaman, Rashid & Atawnah, Nader & Baghdadi, Ghasan A. & Liu, Jia, 2021. "Fiduciary duty or loyalty? Evidence from co-opted boards and corporate misconduct," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    42. Cornett, Marcia Millon & McNutt, Jamie John & Tehranian, Hassan, 2009. "Corporate governance and earnings management at large U.S. bank holding companies," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 412-430, September.
    43. Chung, Richard & Firth, Michael & Kim, Jeong-Bon, 2002. "Institutional monitoring and opportunistic earnings management," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 29-48, January.
    44. Scott E. Yonker, 2017. "Do Managers Give Hometown Labor an Edge?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(10), pages 3581-3604.
    45. Ding, David K. & Ferreira, Christo & Wongchoti, Udomsak, 2019. "The geography of CSR," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 265-288.
    46. Ugur Lel & Darius P. Miller, 2015. "Does Takeover Activity Cause Managerial Discipline? Evidence from International M&A Laws," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(6), pages 1588-1622.
    47. Joshua D. Coval & Tobias J. Moskowitz, 1999. "Home Bias at Home: Local Equity Preference in Domestic Portfolios," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(6), pages 2045-2073, December.
    48. Samar Alharbi & Md Al Mamun & Nader Atawnah, 2021. "Uncovering Real Earnings Management: Pay Attention to Risk-Taking Behavior," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-18, September.
    49. Dane M. Christensen & Keith L. Jones & David G. Kenchington, 2018. "Gambling Attitudes and Financial Misreporting," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 35(3), pages 1229-1261, September.
    50. Christo Pirinsky & Qinghai Wang, 2006. "Does Corporate Headquarters Location Matter for Stock Returns?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(4), pages 1991-2015, August.
    51. Dhaliwal, Dan & Judd, J. Scott & Serfling, Matthew & Shaikh, Sarah, 2016. "Customer concentration risk and the cost of equity capital," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 23-48.
    52. Kim, Jaehyeon & Kim, Yongtae & Zhou, Jian, 2017. "Languages and earnings management," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 288-306.
    53. Callen, Jeffrey L. & Fang, Xiaohua, 2015. "Religion and Stock Price Crash Risk," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 50(1-2), pages 169-195, April.
    54. Yu, Fang (Frank), 2008. "Analyst coverage and earnings management," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(2), pages 245-271, May.
    55. Duc Duy Nguyen & Jens Hagendorff & Arman Eshraghi, 2018. "Does a CEO’s Cultural Heritage Affect Performance under Competitive Pressure?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 31(1), pages 97-141.
    56. Chen, Yangyang & Podolski, Edward J. & Rhee, S. Ghon & Veeraraghavan, Madhu, 2014. "Local Gambling Preferences and Corporate Innovative Success," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 49(1), pages 77-106, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jeffrey L. Callen & Xiaohua Fang, 2020. "Local Gambling Norms and Audit Pricing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 164(1), pages 151-173, June.
    2. Ahsan Habib & Mabel D' Costa & Ahmed Khamis Al‐Hadi, 2023. "Consequences of local social norms: A review of the literature in accounting, finance, and corporate governance," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(1), pages 3-45, March.
    3. Alharbi, Samar & Atawnah, Nader & Al Mamun, Md & Ali, Muhammad Jahangir, 2022. "Local culture and tax avoidance: Evidence from gambling preference behavior," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    4. Lei, Guangyong & Qiu, Baoyin & Yu, Junli & Zuo, Jingjing, 2023. ""Hitting the jackpot" in corporate tax strategy: A perspective on gambling preferences," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    5. Zuo, Jingjing & Qiu, Baoyin & Zhu, Guoyiming & Lei, Guangyong, 2023. "Local speculative culture and stock price crash risk," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    6. Jay Cai & Guifeng Shi, 2019. "Do Religious Norms Influence Corporate Debt Financing?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(1), pages 159-182, June.
    7. Alexandre Garel & Jose Martin-Flores & Arthur Petit-Romec & Ayesha Scott, 2021. "Institutional investor distraction and earnings management," Post-Print hal-03096196, HAL.
    8. Atawnah, Nader & Zaman, Rashid & Liu, Jia & Atawna, Thaer & Maghyereh, Aktham, 2023. "Does foreign competition affect corporate debt maturity structure? Evidence from import penetration," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    9. Adhikari, Binay Kumar & Agrawal, Anup, 2016. "Religion, gambling attitudes and corporate innovation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 229-248.
    10. Ji, Qiong & Quan, Xiaofeng & Yin, Hongying & Yuan, Qingbo, 2021. "Gambling preferences and stock price crash risk: Evidence from China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    11. Lei Chen & Zhi Jin & Yongqiang Ma & Hui Xu, 2019. "Confucianism, openness to the West, and corporate investment efficiency," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 25(3), pages 554-590, June.
    12. Xue, Lixing & Chen, Chong & Wang, Na & Zhang, Lirong, 2023. "Gambling culture and corporate financialization: Evidence from China's welfare lottery sales," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    13. Lamia Chourou & Luo He & Ligang Zhong, 2020. "Does religiosity enhance the quality of management earnings forecasts?," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(7-8), pages 910-948, July.
    14. Gao, Lei & Wang, Ying & Zhao, Jing, 2017. "Does local religiosity affect organizational risk-taking? Evidence from the hedge fund industry," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 1-22.
    15. Lijun Ma & Xin Wang & Che Zhang, 2021. "Does Religion Shape Corporate Cost Behavior?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 170(4), pages 835-855, May.
    16. Garel, Alexandre & Martin-Flores, Jose M. & Petit-Romec, Arthur & Scott, Ayesha, 2021. "Institutional investor distraction and earnings management," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    17. Li Fan & Jie He, 2023. "The Impact of Gambling Culture on Entity Financialization," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-19, February.
    18. Chen, Tai-Yuan & Zhang, Guochang & Zhou, Yi, 2018. "Enforceability of non-compete covenants, discretionary investments, and financial reporting practices: Evidence from a natural experiment," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 41-60.
    19. Cai, Ye & Kim, Yongtae & Li, Siqi & Pan, Carrie, 2019. "Tone at the top: CEOs’ religious beliefs and earnings management," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 195-213.
    20. Adhikari, Binay Kumar & Agrawal, Anup, 2016. "Does local religiosity matter for bank risk-taking?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 272-293.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Gambling; Earnings management; Earnings volatility; Ownership; Takeovers;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G10 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • L83 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Sports; Gambling; Restaurants; Recreation; Tourism
    • M4 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:reveco:v:86:y:2023:i:c:p:520-539. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620165 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.