Department of Accounting and Finance
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Browsing Department of Accounting and Finance by Author "Bocatto, Evandro"
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Item The human resources management of a democratic action: intentionality, elements and functioning(2018) Bocatto, Evandro; Perez-de-Toledo, EloisaIn reaction to the issue of citizens’ distrust, apathy and disengagement from representative democracy, we investigate democratic actions in which participation, deliberation, and political engagement take place: the participatory budgeting (PB) of municipalities. By integrating two epistemologies, historical-hermeneutic and empirical-analytical, we interpret the intentions to commit, and analyze the enabling conditions of its implementation, viz., PB’s human resources management. Content analysis methodology converts pieces of narratives into units of meaning, we provide evidences of the reasons why this reality is socially created, and capture its functioning. Findings from five cities show that the PB starts with the local government’s intention to respond to historical demands of civil society regarding direct participation in government. As a mean to this goal, we explain the human resources practices of attracting, developing, and retaining participants. We provide a practical benchmark for local authorities’ policy development, and for the literature of participatory management in municipalities.Item The impact of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) standards on the value of cash holdings: evidence from Canadian firms(2018) Perez-de-Toledo, Eloisa; Bocatto, EvandroInvestments in environmental and social initiatives by companies have increased considerably in recent years, as a response to an increasingly complex and demanding socioeconomic environment. However, a question that still needs to be answered is whether these investments provide a positive return or contribute to value creation. This paper aims to contribute at filling this gap by investigating the relationship between Corporate Social Performance (CSP) as measured by investments in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practices and firm value by comparing the market value of an extra dollar of cash for firms with high and low ESG ratings. Our results show that an extra dollar of cash is valued at a premium of $0.13 (or 13%) for high CSP firms as compared to low CSP firms. We find evidence to support the stakeholders theory and the resource based view by showing that managers who invest in ESG practices that receive the support of key stakeholders are acquiring unique resources and creating a sustainable competitive advantage, which positively affects value. We also show evidence that financial slack has value in the presence of future investment opportunities and when the cost and availability of capital is uncertain.Item A psychoanalytical approach to management research: the psychoanalytical problem, its resolution, and derivate research method(2022) Bocatto, Evandro; Perez-de-Toledo, EloisaKarl Popper has locked the reasoning of many researchers on a particular kind of rational thinking, that is, hypotheses stating and testing. For this reason, social sciences started to privilege a specific theory of personality. It is accurate to state that the common-sense knowledge, and resultant human "irrational" action, can be explained and even confronted by testing its assumptions. Nevertheless, Popper's categorization is not the only one possible. It neglects the irrationality of unconscious' intentions, a competing drive that directs human actions. In this paper, we discuss that, in accordance, management research and practice have strict relations with theories of personality that neglect the unconscious. For that reason, it assumes that humans are self-interested organisms like guinea pigs, neglecting this complementary supposition: the unconscious's intentions, structure, and dynamics that also drive human behavior, thinking, feeling, perceiving, and learning. The crucial integration of objective knowledge with the unconscious dynamic supposes the addition of the psychoanalytical problem to Popperian's psychological problem. Thus, the derivate capacity to explain human and social action understood as intention, plan, and act must consider conscious and unconscious intentions. The psychoanalytical approach to management research also provides ingenious methods like the awareness-enhancing interviews we present.Item Valuation of ESG factors: the moderating effect of cash holdings(2019) Perez-de-Toledo, Eloisa; Bocatto, EvandroIn this paper, we examine the value effects of investments in ESG practices by focusing on the valuation of a specific asset class, namely cash holdings. The main idea is that shareholders would value one dollar of cash at a premium when this dollar is invested in companies that follow a more stringent ESG strategy than in companies that do not. We argue that ESG initiatives can be value-enhancing investments if they enable companies to acquire resources that are valuable, unique, and inimitable (Barney 1991), and if they receive the support of key stakeholders (Freeman 1984). Therefore, by internalizing these resources companies create a sustainable competitive advantage that ultimately increases firm value.Item The westernization of the East: an opportunity for development or a fallacy?(2022) Bocatto, Evandro; Perez-de-Toledo, EloisaThe paper re-conceptualizes the terms West and East, arguing that West is related to development whereas East is in development. From the westernization metaphor, the article asks: Does the East intend to become the West? Content analyses and comparison of cases allow for the interpretation of countries’ intentions regarding economic, political, social, and environmental orientations of governments, institutions, and businesses. The paper concludes that the East is unlikely to find the ‘right’ model of growth by replicating the West because the Western model has mistakenly assumed unlimited resources for growth, among other reasons. To benchmark Western development is a fallacy to the East. Tradeoffs occur as the East chooses the Western economic model as its benchmark. The paper discusses the role of social and technological innovations in business and society as possible, albeit limited, solutions.