Volume 21, Number 1, 2018

EN:

To the extent that there is considerable ambiguity and overlap when it comes to defining the managership and leadership constructs and their components, progress in advancing the field has appreciably slowed; but the frustration of scholars and practitioners is not abated. Hence, what is needed is a good faith effort to take a look at these constructs from 30,000 feet in order to get a better view of the ambiguities and overlaps which are harder to detect from the ground level. Such an effort invariably requires an historical perspective. Precise definitions of management and leadership constructs are necessary so that researchers possess adequate constructs required for formulating testable hypotheses. Moreover, international and American scholars need to be on the same page. Until that is accomplished, progress in advancing the field will continue to be stymied. Toward that end, this effort attempts to identify the ambiguities and overlaps and proposes tentative solutions.

EN:

We examined the phenomenon of corruption in social and economic life in Poland and found that corruption effectively undermines the functioning of the state by destabilizing the economy. One of our major findings was gross deception in project proceedings for contractor selection in major public investment sectors, for the benefit of the contractors. This type of corruption led to the de-concentration and de-specialisation of the corrupt individuals. They were forced to keep double books and bear the costs of keeping illegal transactions secret for as long as possible. This resulted in a decline of economic growth for the state. We also found abuses by private entrepreneurs in the infrastructure and legislative areas. They committed bribery to advance their own economic interests, often worth millions of dollars. These activities have suppressed the growth of states by reducing the number of investments, mismanaging natural resources, and blocking essential structural reforms. However, these pathologies were present not only in Poland but worldwide.

EN:

In this study, we analyzed the drivers of tax evasion occurring through international trade between Benin and its major import partners, namely France - a Western country - and China, a non-Western country. To this end, we scrutinized the co-movement between tax rates and tax evasion, and investigated whether tax evasion in Benin is driven by misclassification behavior or not. Unobservable by nature, tax evasion was measured by missing imports. The results show a positive relationship between tax rates and missing imports expressed in value and in quantity on products from China. Concerning France, the relationship is positive in value but negative in quantity. These two effects combined together result in a weak tax evasion on products imported from France compared to those from China. There is evidence of misclassification only on products imported from France.

EN:

This paper aims to report on how accounting practices are framed and implicated in experiential learning, adaptation and change processes at the micro level in one of the biggest publicly delivered social services program in India. The paper draws on Kolb (1984) and Lewin (1943) four stage experiential learning Model (ELM) to examine the role accounting plays in processes of learning, knowledge and adaptations. An attempt is made to theorise learning and adaptation that can be triggered and supported by accounting practices. Accounting processes gather meaning based on the manner in which they are enlisted in contextual and cultural environments. They are known to be not only be the change but also be the provider of the preconditions for change. In contrast to a negative enlistment of accounting in developing nations settings (Rahaman, Everett & Neu, 2007), this study argues that the accounting and accountability practices in MGNREGS create conditions for newer understandings, learning and change by providing information and concrete experiences around which communication, interactions and reflections take place and as a platform for testing, sense-making and knowledge assimilation in developing nation village settings. In effect, these accounting practices have the potential to positively shape not only organizational processes but the socio-economic life of the wider social at the micro level. Social services is an underexplored area in accounting literature and especially so in developing nation contexts. This paper introduces a social accounting perspective on learning and change at the micro citizen level in the field of social services. Also, it introduces the Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) and Kolb’s ELM as an alternative accounting framework, which has so far only been used for research in accounting education.

EN:

Nepal has been experiencing increasing food deficits for the past three decades. Inadequate irrigation facilities, labor shortages, conversion of agricultural lands to other land uses, land degradation, poor agricultural marketing, lack of necessary infrastructures, and poor agricultural productivity are commonly cited constraints to increased agricultural outputs. Cooperatives are one of the three pillars for the economic development of Nepal (public, private, and cooperative). Currently, there are a total of 34,512 cooperatives (13,578 savings and credit, 4,371 multipurpose, 10,921 agriculture, 1,658 milk, 1,423 consumer, 193 fruits and vegetables, 108 tea, 155 coffee, 184 Jadibuti, 93 bee keeping, 143 communication, 128 health, 48 sugarcane, 45 Junar, and 999 other), with a total membership number of 6,305,581 in Nepal. Despite these initiatives, Nepal’s agriculture is experiencing a serious downward spiral. Therefore, it is necessary to immediately identify and implement a theoretically grounded agricultural development framework in order to reverse the downward spiral of agriculture, accelerate economic growth, and achieve fast-paced socio-economic transformation. In this regard, I suggest strengthening cooperatives at the grassroots level for agricultural production within the framework of Asta-Ja (referring to eight Nepali “Ja”- Jal, Jamin, Jungle, Jadibuti, Janashakti, Janawar, Jarajuri, and Jalabayu) and integrating them vertically with public and private businesses at the regional and national level. Agricultural programs and policies need to be formulated so that they would focus locally on Asta-Ja resources and globally on international trade and treaties, global demand and supply, global climate change, the emerging concept of the fourth wave of industrialization, and other pertinent issues within the global context.