Vivek Kumar
@iimkashipur.ac.in
Assistant professor, strategy area, iim kashipur
IIM Kashipur
RESEARCH INTERESTS
CSR, sustainability
Scopus Publications
Scholar Citations
Scholar h-index
Scholar i10-index
Scopus Publications
Vivek Kumar and Arpita Srivastava
Emerald
Purpose This paper aims to map the evolution of research in business ethics from 1991 to 2018. It aims to identify the major themes and how they have evolved. It also aims to identify gaps in the literature for recommending future research agenda. Design/methodology/approach This study uses co-word network analysis. Co-word network analysis is a bibliometric technique used to objectively identify research themes via article keywords. The study examines articles from 1991 to 2018, which is a span encompassing a greater number of articles than previous bibliometric studies in business ethics. This time span was split into four periods and major research themes were identified for each period to map the changes in research agendas in the business ethics discipline over time. Findings The findings point to increasing maturation of the discipline, a slight decline in ethical decision-making research, a rise in research at the intersection of leadership and ethics and exponential growth in studies on corporate social responsibility. Ethical issues in business-to-business contexts are understudied. Research in environmental disclosures and leadership is expected to grow in the future. Originality/value This is the first study in business ethics to use keywords for analyzing the evolution of a discipline. This study encompasses more articles than any other study in business ethics. Finally, this is the only study to use co-word network analysis to study business ethics literature.
Mita Mehta, Anil Khurana, and Vv Ravi Kumar
IEEE
Blockchain technology allows secured exchange (peer to peers) with the consensus-based algorithm. Corporate governance focuses on the governance of corporate data through a secure mechanism. This paper aims to interpret the possibility of a robust corporate governance mechanism through blockchain technology to eliminate the chances of corporate fraud. There are multiple uses of Blockchain in cooperate governance. Authors have discussed how shared information consensus prevents possible losses to fraud embezzlement. Boardroom practices to disclosures, blockchain technology, and distributed ledger technology hold a strong possibility of implementing it. Past studies have stressed the impact of technology on corporate governance and the positive relationship between blockchain technology and governance. Taking the lead from antecedents, the authors have elaborated on leveraging blockchain technology for improved corporate governance in the present study. The paper uniquely explores the application of blockchain technology for sound corporate governance which provides potential for direct application by organizations globally.
Safal Batra, Vishal K. Gupta, Vivek Kumar, and Charles A. Pierce
Informa UK Limited
Vivek Kumar and Arpita Srivastava
Elsevier BV
Ranganathan Chandrasekaran, Rashi Desai, Harsh Shah, Vivek Kumar, and Evangelos Moustakas
JMIR Publications Inc.
Background A global rollout of vaccinations is currently underway to mitigate and protect people from the COVID-19 pandemic. Several individuals have been using social media platforms such as Twitter as an outlet to express their feelings, concerns, and opinions about COVID-19 vaccines and vaccination programs. This study examined COVID-19 vaccine–related tweets from January 1, 2020, to April 30, 2021, to uncover the topics, themes, and variations in sentiments of public Twitter users. Objective The aim of this study was to examine key themes and topics from COVID-19 vaccine–related English tweets posted by individuals, and to explore the trends and variations in public opinions and sentiments. Methods We gathered and assessed a corpus of 2.94 million COVID-19 vaccine–related tweets made by 1.2 million individuals. We used CoreX topic modeling to explore the themes and topics underlying the tweets, and used VADER sentiment analysis to compute sentiment scores and examine weekly trends. We also performed qualitative content analysis of the top three topics pertaining to COVID-19 vaccination. Results Topic modeling yielded 16 topics that were grouped into 6 broader themes underlying the COVID-19 vaccination tweets. The most tweeted topic about COVID-19 vaccination was related to vaccination policy, specifically whether vaccines needed to be mandated or optional (13.94%), followed by vaccine hesitancy (12.63%) and postvaccination symptoms and effects (10.44%) Average compound sentiment scores were negative throughout the 16 weeks for the topics postvaccination symptoms and side effects and hoax/conspiracy. However, consistent positive sentiment scores were observed for the topics vaccination disclosure, vaccine efficacy, clinical trials and approvals, affordability, regulation, distribution and shortage, travel, appointment and scheduling, vaccination sites, advocacy, opinion leaders and endorsement, and gratitude toward health care workers. Reversal in sentiment scores in a few weeks was observed for the topics vaccination eligibility and hesitancy. Conclusions Identification of dominant themes, topics, sentiments, and changing trends about COVID-19 vaccination can aid governments and health care agencies to frame appropriate vaccination programs, policies, and rollouts.
Manish Bansal, Ashish Kumar, and Vivek Kumar
Emerald
Purpose This study aims to explore peer performance as the motivation behind gross profit manipulation through two different channels, namely, cost of goods sold (COGS) misclassification and revenue misclassification. Design/methodology/approach Gross profit expectation model (Poonawala and Nagar, 2019) and operating revenue expectation model (Malikov et al., 2018) are used to measure COGS and revenue misclassification, respectively. The panel data regression models are used to analyze the data for this study. Findings The study results show that firms engage in gross profit manipulation to meet the industry’s average gross margin, implying that peer performance is an important benchmark that firms strive to achieve through misclassification strategies. Further results exhibit that firms prefer COGS misclassification over revenue misclassification for manipulating gross profit, implying that firms choose the shifting strategy based on the relative advantage of each shifting tool. Practical implications The findings suggest that firms that just meet or slightly beat industry-average profitability levels are highly likely to engage in classification shifting (CS). Thus, investors and analysts should be careful when evaluating such firms by comparing them with other firms in the same industry. Originality/value First, this study is among earlier attempts to investigate CS motivated by peer performance. Second, this study investigates both tools of gross profit manipulation by taking a uniform sample of firms over the same period and provides compelling evidence that firms prefer one shifting tool over another depending on the relative advantage of each shifting tool.
Arpita Srivastava and Vivek Kumar
Elsevier BV
Manish Bansal and Vivek Kumar
Emerald
Purpose This study aims to investigate the impact of mandatory corporate social responsibility (CSR) spending legislation on the earnings management strategies of firms. Design/methodology/approach The authors use panel data regression models to analyze the data for this study. This study covers the post-legislation period, which spans over five years from the financial year ending March 2015 to the financial year ending March 2019. Findings The results show that firms manipulate accounting measures to avoid breaching the cut-off criteria for mandatory CSR. In particular, the results show that firms operating around the operating revenue threshold misclassify operating revenue as non-operating revenue. In contrast, firms operating around the net worth and net profit thresholds do downward real and accrual earnings management. These results are consistent with several robustness measures. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that examines the impact of mandatory CSR spending on earnings management.
Vivek Kumar and Arpita Srivastava
Emerald
Purpose This paper aims to describe an innovative recruitment campaign at HCL Technologies, India’s fourth largest information technology company. This campaign received media coverage in 60 national and international news outlets. Design/methodology/approach Using case study methodology, this paper explains how the unique process was carried out. Risks associated with the process are also identified. Findings It reveals that creative thinking and innovate practices can generate high social media engagement at a very low cost, while also fulfilling the task of recruitment. Managing risks inherent in the process is essential for reaping the rewards of this creative recruitment process. Practical implications The process described here can be emulated by other companies too. If executed well, rich dividends can be obtained at a modest cost. Companies can increase their engagement and brad equity at a low cost using this process. Originality/value The case study described here is unique in its approach toward recruitment and brand building.
Vivek Kumar, Munish Thakur, and Saroj Kumar Pani
Canadian Center of Science and Education
This paper reviews the current state of research in the area of corporate political activity to build an integrated model. This model segregates the related but scattered corporate political activity constructs in literature into enablers, motivators, moderators, choices, and outcomes of corporate political activity. This model can be help in reconciling contradictory results in literature. For instance, several studies have found evidence positive, neutral, and negative effect of CPA on performance. This model suggests that CPA-performance relationship is enabled and moderated by several factors, and controlling them may yield a better picture of CPA effect on performance. We further suggest gaps in current literature and give suggestions for future research in this area.