Religion, crime, and financial reporting

Artikel

The literature provides evidence on the separate roles of injunctive and descriptive norms in explaining corporate financial reporting, ignoring that descriptive norms are likely endogenous and partly explained by injunctive norms. We jointly analyze the direct and indirect effects of religious social norms (an injunctive norm) via local crime rates (a descriptive norm) on financial reporting quality. We find that religious social norms relate negatively to corporate earnings management and tax avoidance. We also show that this association is partially explained by crime rates in the firm’s geographical environment, underlining the indirect relation between religious social norms and financial reporting quality. Overall, the study highlights the importance of considering the interrelations between injunctive and descriptive norms when analyzing the effect of norms on corporate decision-making.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Journal: Journal of Business Economics ; ISSN: 1861-8928 ; Volume: 90 ; Year: 2020 ; Issue: 5-6 ; Pages: 879-916 ; Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Management ; Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis ; Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility ; Accounting and Auditing: General
• Subject: Injunctive norms ; Religion ; Descriptive norms ; Crime ; Earnings management ; Tax avoidance

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Hofmann, Christian ; Schwaiger, Nina
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Springer
• (where): Berlin, Heidelberg
• (when): 2020

Further information

• DOI: doi:10.1007/s11573-020-00982-2
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET