Guest editorial

Arun, Thankom; Jayasinghe, Kelum; Ashraf, Muhammad Junaid

doi:10.1108/jaee-01-2021-232

Cited by 3 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Using perception indexes, as summarized in Table 2, the two counties are expected to have different procurement rules, controls and transparency. In all publicly available ratios, Argentina appears as a country with more corrupt practices, which is consistent with Johnston's (2005) characterization and Arun et al. ’s (2021) expectations of accountability for emerging economies in a post-COVID-19 context.…”

Section: Government Procurement: Transparency Control Mechanisms and ...supporting

confidence: 82%

“…Although Canada is qualified as a Common Law country, one of its jurisdictions, Quebec, uses Civil Law; coincidently the country's most widespread case of procurement corruption occurred in the province of Quebec as documented by the Charbonneau Commission, hinting that Civil Law jurisdictions are environments more prone to corruption due to monopoly of power, wider discretion, weak accountability and limited transparency (Ferguson, 2019). As Arun et al (2021) predict Argentina, like most Elite Cartel countries has strong anti-corruption barriers and internal controls; however, corrupt activities are often set up to enrich and protect networks and higher-level elites who have direct access to define the details of new and obscure norms, policies and regulations (Johnston, 2005).…”

Section: Jaee 134mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We explore emergency purchases made during the first weeks after COVID-19 emergencies were declared in March 2020, both in Canada and Argentina in line with Arun et al. ’s (2021) call for research.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Changes in government procurement: COVID-19 as an opportunity for corruption

Porporato

Ruiz

2023

JAEE

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PurposeExplore the factors making emergency procurement more prone to corruption by advancing explanations for when rules and transparency are relaxed allowing corrupt practices to emerge. Describe institutional factors, such as corruption syndrome (Johnston, 2005, 2015) and legal system, and their impact on procurement rules changes.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative event study using publicly available data offer a timeline and explanation of government procurement control mechanisms and transparency roles in emergencies by comparing two countries. Argentina and Canada had very similar and advanced food procurement systems prior to COVID-19, but they took different stances when the pandemic broke out.FindingsLegal systems and corruption syndrome are linked, where Civil Law is related to Elite Cartels (Argentina) and Common Law with Influence Markets (Canada). The study contributes to understand the role of transparency to minimize the opportunity for direct purchases (electronic trails of decisions, justifications and approvals). Judicial system's actions favor corrupt practices and are aligned with elites despite the civil society outcry.Research limitations/implicationsResearch on corrupt practices has limited access to primary data due to fear of reprisals. Informal conversations revealing glimpses of corruption were used to identify publicly available documents. Numbers play a role in emergencies and performativity theory literature is enriched by providing an example of different interpretation of information when frameworks differ between civil society and courts.Originality/valueA comparative analysis that evidences the role of pre-existing institutional and social conditions shows when emergency situations will be used as an excuse to relax procurement control and transparency mechanisms which in turn facilitate corrupt practices.

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Section: Government Procurement: Transparency Control Mechanisms and ...supporting

confidence: 82%

Section: Jaee 134mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Changes in government procurement: COVID-19 as an opportunity for corruption

Porporato

Ruiz

2023

JAEE

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“…The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted the world's economies, including emerging economies. The future of accounting, accountability and development research in these countries must consider the “new normalcy” of the post-COVID context and explore the challenges they will face when rebuilding their public and private institutions (Arun et al , 2021).…”

Section: Special Issue Themesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Guest editorial: Transparency, accountability and the role of control mechanisms during the COVID-19 pandemic: a future research agenda in the context of emerging economies

Siddiqui

Arun

Yazdifar

2023

JAEE

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“…The Covid-19 pandemic created the biggest humanitarian crisis in decades and did not distinguish between rich and poor communities (World Health Organization, 2020; Arun et al ., 2021). As the focus at the start of the pandemic was on national governments and their capabilities to deal with the pandemic, studies on public accountability have dominated discussion in the scholarly community (Andreaus et al ., 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of the global pandemic on online accountability practices in INGOs

Uygur

Napier

2023

JAEE

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PurposeDespite increasing public attention and media coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic, little research was conducted on how the crisis affected accountability practices in the not-for-profit sector. This study focusses on international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) that operate in emerging economies worldwide but are registered in England and Wales and examines how their online accountability practices changed after the Covid-19 pandemic. The purpose of this paper is to address these issues.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use the theoretical lens of the situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) and a contingency approach to not-for-profit governance in order to assess how accountability practices have been shaped by the response given by INGOs to preserve their reputation which is argued to be damaged by the COVID-19 pandemic. They use Dumont's (2013) nonprofit virtual accountability index (NPVAI) for statistical analysis. They examine whether the five dimensions of the NPVAI have changed significantly as a policy of response to the Covid-19 pandemic. They also examine the documents used to disclose information on performance, governance and mission to understand if their content was affected by the pandemic.FindingsThe authors found two of the NPVAI dimensions: accessibility and engagement to be statistically different compared to before the pandemic. They also examined the documents used to disclose information on performance, governance and mission in order to understand if their content were affected by the pandemic. Their findings suggest that INGOs focussed on keeping their donors' attention and their fund flow rather than informing how they performed and how their governance has changed as a result of the pandemic. No statistically significant change was found regarding the dimensions of performance, governance and mission.Research limitations/implicationsINGOs which focus on humanitarian relief and crises management mainly in emerging economies were also affected by the pandemic. However little attention has been given to how accountability was being shaped by the Covid-19 pandemic. An analysis of how not-for-profit sector accountability practices were affected by the pandemic is, therefore, needed. Due to the nature of the pandemic online accountability practices is an area where research could focus on, until now few studies have been conducted on online accountability. The study contributes methodologically by assessing the applicability of the NPVAI for comparisons across different time periods rather than across different types of organisation at a specific point in time. The authors conclude that the NPVAI must be supplemented by some analysis of the content of key online documents and other material.Practical implicationsThe authors’ findings provide important implications for crisis management and its effect on accountability practices in INGOs that operate in emerging economies and the not-for-profit sector in general. The findings suggest that the crisis led to only limited changes in mission and governance as changes in these dimensions tend to occur over the long term. Although they expected the pandemic to lead to more performance information being released, this did not happen. The enhancement of online accountability practice in the engagement and accessibility dimensions shows that INGOs focussed more on maintaining their fund flow rather than on actions to target the pandemic. This is especially apparent as regardless of size the donation and fundraising links have increased throughout the pandemic. Overall, the study provides important findings specific to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on online accountability practices in the not-for-profit sector. The study's empirical contribution is to assess how not-for-profit organisations shape their online accountability practices to preserve their reputation and legitimacy.Social implicationsThe authors have expanded the discussion of the paper's contribution to theory, methodology and knowledge about online accountability and crisis management in the conclusion section of the paper. They found that INGOs have reacted to the pandemic by becoming more anxious about their ability to generate funds, and content analysis showed that there was little additional information about how INGOs' performance had been affected by the pandemic, which suggests that INGOs need to pay more attention to how they manage accountability in times of crisis.Originality/valueThe authors construct a conceptual framework using theories that have the potential to explain how external factors such as the Covid-19 pandemic can affect online accountability practices. Their paper also responds to the call for studies of the effectiveness of various accountability mechanisms in NGOs (Unerman and O’ Dwyer, 2006). Unlike previous studies they did not compare various sectors at a single point in time, but rather they assessed the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the reaction of INGOs by comparing online disclosures across time. This is a novel use of Dumont's NPVAI and therefore provides an important contribution to the literature.

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Guest editorial

Cited by 3 publications

References 17 publications

Changes in government procurement: COVID-19 as an opportunity for corruption

Changes in government procurement: COVID-19 as an opportunity for corruption

Guest editorial: Transparency, accountability and the role of control mechanisms during the COVID-19 pandemic: a future research agenda in the context of emerging economies

Impact of the global pandemic on online accountability practices in INGOs

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