Background: This study examines the effect of adopting cashless payment in five European Union (EU) countries, namely, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, and Portugal, for the period of 2000-2012. Methods: The within and between effect of adopting cheque payment, telegraphic transfer, card payment and electronic money on these EU's economy are examined by applying the Pedroni residual cointergration and Panel Vector Error Correction Model (VECM). Results: There is short run causality running from cheque payment to telegraphic transfer and card payment, as well as causality running telegraphic transfer to card payment. In the long run, there is significant effect of adopting cashless payment on the economy of the five EU countries. Conclusions: The adoption of one type of cashless payment will affect another type of cashless payment in the short run. The impact of adopting cashless payment on economic growth can only be significantly observed in the long run. Hence, any policy that promotes cashless payment will not affect the economy immediately.

Purpose This paper aims to examine how board composition, political connections and sustainability practices affect risk-taking and performance of firms. Design/methodology/approach This paper used secondary data and regression technique to analyse the relationship. A sample consisting of 290 firm-year observations was applied in the analysis. Findings The findings show that a larger board size contributes to greater financial risk; however, this risk can be reduced with more independent directors in the boardroom. An optimal board size with appropriate number of independent directors is desired, as a large board size can be harmful to firm performance. Politically connected firms also generate lower risk-taking and performance, and the double-edged sword effect of political connections needs to be considered. In terms of sustainability practices, firms have to engage in sustainable development to maximise the firms’ value, not ignoring the vital role of women in strategising business performance. However, the effect of sustainability practices on firms’ risk-taking is still not noticeable. Research limitations/implications Even though the sample size is not large because of the limited availability of data, the findings, to a certain extent, could be generalised to emerging markets, as most emerging markets do have similar financial and economic developments. Practical implications The findings from this paper can be used to support the implementation of sustainability practices, especially in those countries where sustainability initiatives are yet to be widely accepted. Originality/value This is one of the first few studies that examined the effect of non-financial information on risk-taking and performance of firms. This study concludes the positive effect of sustainability practices on firm performance.

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Some of the problems of cash transactions were the inconvenience of handling cash and the limited availability of banking services to facilitate cash withdrawals. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of cashless payments on the usage of the internet and mobile banking services in twofolds. First, the Wald test was applied to determine the short-run causal effect of the diffusion from cash to cashless payment on the internet and mobile banking. Second, the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds test was employed to determine the long-run effect of cashless payments on the internet and mobile banking. The novelty of this study is threefold. First, this study employed the total value of cashless payments transacted per month data that were previously unavailable for time series analysis. Second, unlike studies on the intention to adopt cashless payments, internet and mobile banking, this study used data of actual transactions paid by a consumer. Third, this study established that the internet and mobile banking were delivery channels for cashless payments.

This study aims to explore the potential mediating effect of risk perception between environmental consciousness, social trust and environmental knowledge to climate change mitigation behaviors and community green activity participation. The data were gathered from various categories of age strata in Klang Valley, Malaysia, from which 210 respondents participated in this study. Factor analysis, partial least squares and structural equation modeling tools were used to achieve these aims. The findings indicate that environmental consciousness and social trust are key predictors of risk perception. However, environment knowledge is not significantly related to risk perception. The proposed mediating influence of risk perceptions on mitigation behaviors and green activity participation are not supported.

One of the most significant implications of technological advances in the banking sector is the possibility of delivering banking services through electronic channels (e‐channels). E‐channels provide alternatives for faster delivery of banking services to a wider scope of customers. Nowadays, e‐channels have gained increasing popularity in delivering banking services. However, prior to the implementation of e‐channels, several factors and investment costs must be identified to ensure a more cost effective and efficient execution of e‐channel services. A survey is thus conducted to determine factors that are essential for the successful implementation of e‐channels by domestic commercial banks in Malaysia. Data were collected from primary sources and were analysed via frequency analysis and factor analysis. The results of the survey suggested that banks’ operation management is the main factor affecting the success of ATMs, PC and branch banking, while product innovation and knowledge development factors are found to have the most significant effect on the success of banking kiosks and phone banking respectively.

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Fraud is an important issue in many countries such as in the United States, United Kingdom, including of Malaysia. Malaysian Approved Auditing Standards, AI 240 “Fraud and Error” was established to provide guidance on the auditor’s responsibility to consider fraud and error during the audit of financial statements. The auditors are required to appropriately assess fraud risk during the planning of the audit work so that they can provide reasonable assurance that any material misstatement in the financial statements has been detected. If the external auditors are not able to detect fraud, this may expose them to litigation. The present study aims to examine whether risk attitude has an effect on the external auditors’ ability to detect the likelihood of fraud. An experimental approach is adopted by sending case materials to audit partners and audit managers attached to auditing firms operating in Malaysia. The result shows that means difference exists on the ability to detect the likelihood of fraud between the external auditors who are risk averse and those who are risk taker.