BAR - Brazilian Administration Review

14

Authors: Tomas Aquino Guimaraes, Edson Ronaldo Guarido Filho, Bruno Batista de Carvalho Luz

The interdependence between governance and legitimacy of the courts is a subject that has not been much studied by scholars, especially those from the fields of public administration and organizational studies. Taking into account the importance of these topics for the functioning of these organizations, the purpose of this essay is twofold: to enrich the debate on the contribution of good governance to the legitimacy of courts, and to encourage researchers to address these themes in greater depth. To this end, the main literature on governance and legitimacy of courts is analyzed. Theoretical approaches contribute to the discussion of the functioning of courts, which are highly institutionalized organizations that depend heavily on a presumption of legitimacy. Ensuring this legitimacy has been one of the challenges for these organizations, which are required to adopt governance models that contribute to better management and performance. We argue that there are managerial and substantive implications for society, since the governance and legitimacy of courts can affect the system of justice. We put forward some propositions on the influence of judicial governance on the legitimacy of the justice system and on the perception of legitimacy of the courts. These propositions provide insights for a research agenda on these issues.

29

Authors: Renê Coppe Pimentel, Mara Jane Contrera Malacrida

This paper analyzes the informative content of quarterly earnings, operating cash flows, and accruals to assess future performance. The empirical analysis is based on 270 Brazilian non-financial firms listed on B3 from 2005 to 2018. Autoregressive models and variance decomposition were performed. Overall, results show that accounting earnings and accruals have incremental information content over operating cash flows in accessing future financial performance. Firstly, earnings have higher persistence parameters and capture a longer-term perspective showing that earnings, under the accrual regime, are more predictable than cash flows when using their past information. Secondly, the magnitude of accruals positively affects the persistence of earnings. Thirdly, as a component of earnings, operating cash flows are more persistent than the accruals component. Fourthly, high accrual levels are associated with lower future earnings. Finally, earnings have incremental informative power to explain future operating cash flows. This study contributes to the literature by providing evidence of the information content of quarterly performance measures with specific controls for accounting accruals processes, which is useful for financial performance forecasts in markets with low analyst coverage and restricted enforcement mechanisms.

24

Authors: Fabiana Gondim Mariutti, Janaina de Moura Engracia Giraldi

Country brand equity (CBE) is expanding in theory and in practice; however, little has been published on its conceptualization. By incorporating ‘reputation’ into the place brand equity construct at a country level, we provide a theoretical multidimensional framework for CBE. Seventeen interviews with international researchers were undertaken for theory building. A seven-dimensional CBE framework was developed according to the interpretations of two constructs — country brand reputation (‘share of experience’) and country brand image (‘share of mind’) — along with country brand associations, country brand awareness, country brand loyalty, country brand perceived quality, and channel relationships. We conclude by outlining potential further research avenues and implications for managerial practice. These contributions may guide policymakers, government officials, executives, and scholars in maximizing the value of a place brand (e.g., country, region, or city) by focusing on‘reputation’ as an added (qualitative and/or quantitative) construct. This study may also inspire insights into joint efforts of public and private strategies and actions on economic performance, consumer welfare, and business decisions for national prosperity.

26

Authors: César Tureta, Bruno Luiz Américo

This paper aims to analyze the aesthetic and material/technical controversies surrounding the production of parade floats from a samba school. Starting from actor-network theory and controversy analysis, we show how actors negotiate interests that exist in carnival production project. Our findings demonstrate that the disagreements over material and aesthetic dimensions are temporarily solved by gambiarra, which is the unconventional use of technical knowledge for generating a creative solution in resource and time constraints contexts. We also argue that controversy analysis is an interesting tool to study organizational aesthetics in project management: it allows for understanding the potential conflictual relationship between material/technical and aesthetic dimensions. We conclude by stating that gambiarra can have both positive and negative consequences of generating creative solutions for controversies.

22

Authors: Alan Diógenes Góis (in memoriam), Márcia Martins Mendes De Luca, Gerlando Augusto Sampaio Franco de Lima, Jislene Trindade Medeiros

In view of the influence of corporate reputation on investors’ choices and risk concerns, the purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between corporate reputation and bankruptcy risk in public firms. The investigation is a contribution to the burgeoning literature on corporate reputation associated with accounting, despite reputation being classified as an intangible asset capable of generating competitive advantage. Our sample included 4,578 observations (441 firms) covering the period 2005-2016. The overall score on the World’s Most Admired Companies ranking was used as a proxy for reputation. Bankruptcy risk was quantified by Altman Z-scores (Zang, 2012) and accounting information for each year in the period was retrieved from the database Compustat Global. Our results reveal that corporate reputation has a negative influence on bankruptcy risk, reiterating the importance of risk management. When firms attract and strive to secure the favor of stakeholders, they increase risk for the same reason. However, this effect is counterbalanced by good reputation. Thus, corporate reputation is a valuable strategic resource with which managers can boost confidence among investors, increase the firm’s credit worthiness and perpetuate the organization on the market. Furthermore, these results expand the literature on corporate reputation and risk of bankruptcy, and show signs that companies with high reputation have lower risk of bankruptcy and tend to honor their debts.

26

Authors: Gustavo Hermínio Salati Marcondes de Moraes, Bruno Brandão Fischer, Matheus Leite Campos, Paola Rücker Schaeffer

Research on the concept of entrepreneurial universities has dedicated significant attention to understand how academic ecosystems shape the propensity of its members to establish new ventures. In this article we look at a prior step of the entrepreneurial event, i.e., how universities’ dynamics and initiatives related to entrepreneurship affect the proclivity of faculty to engage in entrepreneurship support. We propose and validate a conceptual model that directly relates the university ecosystem with faculty engagement, having entrepreneurial experience of faculty as a moderator and analyzing differences between public and private institutions. Data comprises information from 680 faculty members of over 70 higher education institutions from all regions of Brazil. Analyses were performed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equations Modeling. Results point to a strong positive relation between developed university ecosystems and the engagement of faculty with entrepreneurial activities, especially for individuals with stronger entrepreneurial experience. No differences were found between private and public institutions. From a practical standpoint, it is possible to identify more effective, innovative, and systematic ways to implement intrapreneurial practices in universities.

33

Authors: Vinicius Andrade Brei, Leonardo Nicolao, Maria Alice Pasdiora, Rodolfo Coral Azambuja

Past research on product upgrades has focused either on understanding who and when will upgrade or on figuring out why consumers will upgrade, but seldom on all. It has also neglected the interplay between these matters with decision context and timing. This manuscript depicts a comprehensive approach where, for the first time, product characteristics, individual differences, process, and contextual variables are analyzed on a predictive model of real product upgrades, identified through the systematic collection of primary data from a panel of smartphone consumers. We tested one traditional linear logistic regression model and two types of non-linear, state-of-the-art machine-learning models (extreme gradient boosting and deep learning) to explain upgrading behavior. Results provide an integrative, yet parsimonious, product-upgrade model showing the importance of resources; news about the smartphone brand; sentimental value; predicted, current, and remembered enjoyment; update capacity; and how much the smartphone meets the user’s current needs as the most relevant variables to determine which consumers are more prone to upgrade their smartphones. Our findings advance upgrade decision theory by taking a holistic approach to the phenomenon and bridging different theoretical accounts of the replacement decision literature.

21

Authors: Duygu Keskin, Georges Romme

The methodology of design science (DS) has been emerging as a new form of engaged scholarship in which key managerial and organizational challenges are addressed and solved. These developments have major implications for management education, which has been repeatedly criticized for its lack of relevance to practitioners. However, design science methodology and its implications for management education are still unclear and disputed. Teaching and learning DS thus often suffers from the lack of a consistent methodology. In this respect, teaching DS is very much like mixing oil with water. The purpose of this paper is to compare various taxonomies for DS methodology proposed in the management literature and then develop a consistent taxonomy and integrative framework that may appeal to management students at undergraduate and graduate levels. The proposed framework for DS involves an iterative cycle of exploration, synthesis, creation and evaluation. Design principles arise from, but also connect and inform, these four steps in DS.

23

Authors: Nelson Rogeri, Manuel Meireles, Cida Sanches, Samuel Ferreira Jr., Marcio Luiz Marietto

This work proposes an artifact oriented by Design Science (DS) methods for measuring the degree of boldness in business social actors, especially entrepreneurs and businesspeople. To construct the artifact, the work of Eysenck and Wilson (1975) was used. The methodological approach used was Design Science, as the present object of study is considered an information artifact and, as such, has functions of data processing, reducing entropy (vision of syntax), forming meaning (vision of representation), and achieving viability (vision of adaptation). To ensure the validity of the study, a sample of users made up of 30 organizational psychologists was used, selected by convenience. The results demonstrated that using the artifact allows to measure entrepreneurs’ degree of boldness, affording them greater assertiveness in choosing and structuring their business. The study has a number of implications for managerial practice since by using the artifact it is possible to measure an entrepreneur’s degree of boldness and allow more assertive choices and structuring of their business, all the while reducing the rate of micro and small businesses that die early. In the academic field, the artifact will enable research on the degree of boldness of businesspeople with diverse other organizational variables.

24

Authors: Fernando Pires Barbosa, Mauri Leodir Löbler

Project portfolio management has been studied through diverse aspects. Different approaches have been used to improve project portfolio selection, but not all of them have been actually used. This study presents an artifact to improve project portfolio selection process in universities. The artifact considers strategic alignment and focuses on achieving consensus, considering university characteristics about strategic planning and decision making environment. The artifact was developed through an incremental approach using quasi-experiments in simulated situations to check and improve the accuracy of the solutions being developed. Finally, the artifact was implemented in a real situation inside a university, involving 185 projects, 15 criteria, and 12 people from different faculties and knowledge areas. Results show that the artifact is suitable to the university environment. Beyond the artifact itself and some highlights involving its development process, the multicriteria constructivist approach, the balanced scorecard, and the scoring technique, another contribution is an adapted AHP tool created to integrate traditional AHP from Saaty (1980) and a study from Bose (2015) to reduce cognitive conflict in group decision making. Other studies, in more diverse contexts, still need to be done, but the proposal seems to be promised.

27

Authors: André Luiz Surdi Debastiani, Graziela Dias Alperstedt, Grazielli Faria Zimmer Santos, Graziele Ventura Koerich

This study aimed to propose a business model framework for Brazilian agriculture from an integrative perspective between theory and practice. To do so, Design Research was adopted from the triangulation of data, combining primary and secondary data collection, a systematic review of the literature on the business model and its main frameworks. Field research included the application of a questionnaire with 531 producers and an in-depth interview with another 30 to capture their insight into the factors that influence their business performance. The results of the study revealed that unlike other sectors, which have customers as the central point of the business value generation proposal, in commercial agriculture organizations occupy this place, as they are focused on the production of commodities. In view of this, the proposed artifact has financial viability as the central pillar of the agricultural business model, with production costs, product sales prices and agricultural productivity as its main components.