Search Results (3)

This study examines the impact of gender diversity in the positions of board commissioners, executive directors, and audit committee members on the financial performance of firms experiencing financial trouble. It also evaluates whether the presence of a CEO with multiple responsibilities moderates this relationship. The analysis encompassed 224 publicly traded companies from the non-financial sector, spanning the years 2012 to 2021. The study employed the dynamic panel model system GMM to address issues of endogeneity, simultaneity, and heterogeneity in the data. The findings indicate that the presence of women on supervisory boards and in senior positions has a substantial impact. Companies with a higher number of female board members have reduced financial hardship among Malaysian listed enterprises. Female directors exhibit a greater level of caution and risk aversion while participating in management choices, which is a significant conclusion. Research indicates that the majority of financial variables are inherently endogenous, so dynamic models are better suited for analyzing the interaction between these variables. This study also presents the notable correlation between gender diversity on boards of management, CEO duality, and financial difficulty. Full article

Highly automated shuttle vehicles (SAE Level 4) have the potential to enhance public transport services by decreasing the demand for drivers, enabling more frequent and flexible ride options. However, at least in a transitionary phase, safety operators that supervise and support the shuttles with their driving tasks may be required on board the vehicle from a technical or legal point of view. A crucial component for executing supervisory and intervening tasks is the human–machine interface between an automated vehicle and its on-board operator. This research presents in-depth case studies from three heterogenous living laboratories in Germany that deployed highly automated shuttle vehicles with on-board operators on public roads. The living labs differed significantly regarding the on-board operators’ tasks and the design of the human–machine interfaces. Originally considered a provisional solution until the vehicle automation is fully capable of running without human support, these interfaces were, in general, not designed in a user-centered way. However, since technological progress has been slower than expected, on-board operator interfaces are likely to persist in the mid-term at least. Hence, this research aims to assess the aptitude of interfaces that are in practical use for the on-board operators’ tasks, in order to determine the user-centered design of future interfaces. Completing questionnaires and undergoing comprehensive, semi-structured interviews, nine on-board operators evaluated their human–machine interfaces in light of the respective tasks they complete regarding user variables such as work context, acceptance, system transparency, and trust. The results were highly diverse across laboratories and underlined that the concrete system setup, encompassing task and interface design, has a considerable impact on these variables. Ergonomics, physical demand, and system transparency were identified as the most significant deficits. These findings and derived recommendations may inform the design of on-board operator workspaces, and bear implications for remote operation workstations as well. Full article

By structural equation modeling (SEM), this paper analyzes and explores the four Potential Characteristics of the supervisory board. They are: Individual Heterogeneity of the Supervisory Member (Internal Heterogeneity), Organization Size of the Supervisory Board (Organization Size), Structural Characteristics of the Supervisory Board (Structural Characteristics) and Identity Background of the Supervisory Board (Identity Background). Then, it constructs a path analysis and theoretical model of the influence of supervisory board heterogeneity on corporate irregularities, and verifies each influencing factor and observation index. The results show that individual factor Professional heterogeneity is the most effective indicator of Internal Heterogeneity, but such Internal Heterogeneity has a very limited effect on the occurrence of corporate irregularities. Organization Size has a significant impact on corporate misbehavior, and Number of people is an important factor in constructing Organization Size, yet the frequency of staff Turnover is not significant. Although the Average Age, Party Member Ratio, and Female Ratio can well conceptualize the Structural Characteristics, their effects on supervision performance are not obvious. Identity Background, including factors such as Average Education, Government/University Experience, or External Supervisors, does not improve supervisory performance and reduce the occurrence of irregularities. The above findings provide a foundation for further analysis and integration of multiple heterogeneous factors, as well as further study of the “combined effectiveness” of the supervisory board, and deeper investigation of the actual impact of the supervisory board on irregularities. Full article