Executive characteristics and investment efficiency: The role of earnings smoothing and debt maturity

Nigerian economy depends on oil as the major source of revenue, failure to diversify the revenue base has raised questions about its sustainability and implication on the economy. This study uses market capitalization, broad money stock, credit to private sector, prime interest rate and deposit liability as proxies for the financial sector, while output in the manufacturing sector and manufacturing employment are used as proxies for manufacturing performance. The study examines the causal effects, shock effect and long-run impact using Granger Non-Causality, Vector Error Correction Model, and Dynamic Ordinary Least Square method, respectively. The results showed unidirectional causality, confirming the hypothesis of the ‘supply-leading view’ and ‘demand-following view’ except for market capitalization and output in the manufacturing sector, where independence was observed. The variance decomposition shows that the forecast error shock of credit to private sector and prime interest rate show more variations in manufacturing sector performance than other financial indicators. The long-run result using output in manufacturing sector as dependent variable shows a positive significant relationship with other financial sector indicators, except for broad money stock and deposit liability. This study recommended credit channel for transmission of monetary policy using interest rate to improve the performance of manufacturing sector, among others.

The study analyzes the implementation of responsible production practices in Kazakhstan’s manufacturing sector, an area of growing importance for sustainable development in emerging economies. The aim is to examine how environmental, operational, and social factors influence production processes and community contributions. Data were collected through an online survey conducted between May and August 2024, using a voluntary response sampling method. To enhance the representativeness of the findings, the sectoral distribution of the responding enterprises was analyzed post-collection. The survey captured top, middle, and line management responses to comprehensively assess sustainability practices. Structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed to evaluate the relationships between ecological operational efficiency, environmental protection, resource efficiency, waste management, social factors, product manufacturing, and community contribution. The findings reveal that environmental protection, efficient resource use, and effective waste management significantly strengthen manufacturing performance and enhance companies’ contributions to community development. In contrast, improvements in ecological operational efficiency and workplace social initiatives do not directly impact production outcomes. The study concludes that integrating sustainable environmental and resource management practices into production processes is crucial for enhancing both manufacturing performance and broader societal outcomes. The findings offer practical implications for industrial managers, policymakers, and stakeholders aiming to promote sustainability transitions in manufacturing sectors.

Acknowledgment
This study was funded by the Science Committee of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Grant No. AP19576593).

This study investigates the relationships between debt maturity structure and corporation R&D investment. Using a large sample of US listed firms over the period of 1995 to 2015, it was found that the use of bank debt positively influences R&D investment, whereas the use of public debt exerts a negative impact. However, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) mitigates the information asymmetry such that the advantages of private information from banks shrunk. As a result, public debtholders benefit more from the SOX and turn out to be positively influenced by the R&D investment after SOX. Moreover, bank debt impact on R&D spending reduces over the post-SOX. The results also find that the SOX influences the debt maturity on corporate R&D investment only for large corporations, the effects remain unchanged for small businesses.