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This thesis consists of eight chapters investigating the relationship between bank competition and capital allocation. Following the introduction (chapter 1), the second chapter provides a review of the literature. The third chapter extends a seminal contribution in the bank competition literature, the model developed by Broecker (1990). In chapter 4 I show that an auction framework may be an inappropriate way of modeling bank competition and I explore the implications of modeling bank competition in a more robust fashion for the allocation of capital. The fifth chapter aims to resolve a long-standing discrepancy between the empirical and theoretical literatures on bank competition and capital allocation. While theoretical work tends to see few benefits from more intense competition, the evidence suggests that the allocation of capital improves as bank competition becomes more intense. The theoretical model developed in chapter 5 reconciles these results by modeling banks' objective function in a way consistent with empirical evidence on X-inefficiency in banks. Chapters 6 and 7 investigate the transmission mechanism through which a greater intensity of competition is transmitted within banks and study lending-related incentive structures through interview-based fieldwork. Chapter 6 provides motivation and outlines the scope of the study whereas the actual findings are presented in chapter 7. That chapter also analyzes the implications for the lending and monitoring decisions that co-determine the allocation of capital. Chapter 8 concludes.

The main purpose of this thesis is to look at how and why some strikes are more successful than others by applying mobilization theory and organizational leaning (OL) theory in the case of the Korean banking sector. It aims to observe the relationship between the effectiveness of mobilization and OL in unions by looking at how learning from previous strikes influenced strategy-making and outcomes of subsequent strikes. By focusing on four strikes in the Korean banking sector, the research explores how OL in unions affects the effectiveness of mobilization. It is thus intended to revisit and contribute to the existing theories of mobilization and OL. The sector has undergone massive restructuring since the national financial crisis, which was part of an Asian foreign currency crisis, in 1997. The Korean Financial Industrial Union (KFIU) organized four strikes between 1998 and 2003 against the restructuring in order to protect employment security. The union failed to gain satisfactory results at the first and third strikes, but were successful at the second and fourth actions. The evidence, based on interviews and primary and secondary documentation, from these four strikes suggests that the more successful results derived from the existence of positive learning (or OL) from previous strikes. In other words, when the union conducted higher-level learning, such as the adjustment of overall norms or rules and the change of organizational structures, it was able to increase strategic capacity. It was able to devise a more effective strategy, thereby more effectively mobilizing resources and opportunities. This, in turn, led to successful outcomes from the following strike. Studying the learning processes in unions reveals the function of dialogical organization in power (or mobilization). Thus, unions are more likely to succeed in mobilization when they conduct meaningful dialogical learning.

The concept of risk has been interpreted, defined and researched overtime in many different ways. This research uses semi-structured interviews to explore the perception of risk through the views of UK bank managers. Although different risks are identified and discussed in this thesis, the main risk that these interviews are concerned with is credit risk. It builds on previous work from Mikes (2009, 2011) and Wahlstrom (2009) and uses structuration theory to understand how human beings interact with social systems to produce organizational outcomes. Twenty five (25) interviews were conducted among banking managers and executives over a period of close to two years. There were five (5) banks that participated in this research but the largest two banks (Glass bank and Penny bank) were analysed and presented separately because of the significant differences in their approaches to risk management despite their similarities in size and international operations. The other three (3) banks were much smaller in operations with no global operations and not much overall differences in their approach to risk management. The research finds three distinct approaches to risk management, based on perception. The first approach is based on a perception of risk as a measureable and quantitative construct. Managers and risk executives from Glass bank are strong believers of this risk philosophy and hence, the social subject (agent) is consciously separated from the object (the system) and the rule and procedures are viewed as being separate and distinct from the agents that implement and reproduce them. This approach mirrors what Layder (1987) refers to as “structural dualism” where the subject and the object are independent of each other but work together to produce organizational outcome. The emphasis in this approach is on the structure. The second approach to risk is situated in the belief that risk should be explored as a social variable, where the emphasis is not exclusive to measurement and calculation but rather on understanding risk by examining customer needs and building relationships through communication in an effort to better serve risk needs. This approach was mostly evident in Penny bank where risk is operationalized, as opposed to being centralized as in Glass bank and the focus is on customer satisfaction and a moderate risk-return philosophy. The emphasis on this approach is on the agent. The third approach to risk, views risk as a mixture of both system or structure and agent. This approach was most common among the other three (3) smaller banks. Fairly equal weight was ascribed to understanding risk as a social force and measuring it as a wealth creator. In each case, the role of the agent was recognised but the importance of the agent in reproducing organizational outcome is different. This study also finds that the changes made to the risk management system after the financial crisis reflects an intensification of the old procedures in all of the banks. This, is a mostly because bank managers do not believe that the system is inherently flawed (as argued by McGoun 1995) but rather needs to be improved and perfected.

The main objective of this thesis is to explore how accounting tools and practices could be used to develop accounting for sustainable development (hereafter ASD) data recording and reporting practices. These practices aim to address the social and environmental aspects of the main operations of banking activities and services. The researcher used stakeholder, legitimacy and institutional theories to understand the ASD data recording and reporting practices. So, the main argument here is that ASD practices could be developed in banks in order to manage social and environmental aspects of banking activities. Therefore, the empirical findings of this thesis explore the ASD data recording and reporting practices that could be used to manage these issues. This exploration could be used to assess and measure the organisational progress toward the achievement of the main imperatives of sustainable development. In addition, this thesis explores the main motivations, challenges and impediments of applying the ASD data recording and reporting practices in the selected banks. In order to achieve the main objective of this research, this thesis was designed in four parts. Part One discusses the theoretical framing of ASD practices. This part includes chapter Two and Chapter Three. Chapter Two involves ASD theoretical emergence and development. Chapter Three involves the institutionalisation of ASD practices. Part two involves Chapter Four and Chapter Four. This part reviews the ASD literature and contemporary issues of ASD and rethinking capital. The purpose of this part of the thesis is to review and summarise the current literature in order to understand the theoretical framework of ASD practices and different forms of capital to explore the rationale of ASD practices in banks. Chapter Four discusses the main features of ASD and conventional accounting. Chapter Five discusses the contemporary issues on ASD practices and re-thinking capitals. Part three comprises the research methodology and methods Chapter (Six). This chapter discusses the methodological issues associated with the adopted research methods together with the research tools used for the data collection and analysis. It outlines the collected empirical data and the interviewees’ voices in order to links these voices with the current literature to create a coherent account of interpretation of ASD practices in these banks. Part Four comprises three empirical Chapters (Seven, Eight and Nine). They focus on detailing the main research findings that have been used to answer the main research questions. The last Chapter (Ten) includes some concluding thoughts and recommendations. The empirical research findings of this thesis show that there are institutional attempts in the sampled banks to develop organisational accounts of ASD data recording and reporting practices. Some of these attempts were formed and associated with the institutional sustainability entrepreneurs’ initiatives such as FORGE (2002) Guidelines on Environmental Management and Reporting for the Financial Services Sector, Global Reporting Initiative, The Equator Principles and UNEP FI. This thesis contributes to the body of ASD literature. It provides empirical investigation of how accounting tools and practices could be used to manage the social and environmental activities of the banking activities.

In the past much work has been done on HRM. A large portion of this work is dedicated to HRM ‘content’, whereas aspects related to ‘processes’ and ‘perceptions’ are often overlooked. To gain a holistic picture of HRM, this study brings together these three areas and investigates HRM from multiple perspectives. Under the spectrum of HRM as ‘content’, focus fall on exploring the different operating HR policies and practices and how these are horizontally integrated or vertically aligned. Under the spectrum of HRM as ‘process’ and ‘perceptions’, the aim is to explore the policy intentions of senior HR managers, their implementations by line managers and how they are perceived by non-managerial employees. This endeavor has been achieved in Cyprus – banking sector. By employing a contextualised case study approach, by triangulating results through questionnaires and interviews and by merging together various sources of information and different levels of participants (both within and beyond the bank), it was feasible to explore below the surface. This study adopts a pluralistic approach to HRM research, presents the ‘multi-vocality’ regarding several HR aspects and portrays the different and contrasting views of those affected by the operation of HRM.A number of main themes are central to this study. In particular, attention is drawn to: The main HRM policies and practices in the specific context The importance of influential forces shaping the operation of HRM The gaps between the intentions of senior managers and how policies are implemented by line managers The role of line managers and the barriers for effective delivery of HRM The way that employees experience and perceive HRM The reasons why employees have mostly negative perceptionsEmpirically testing theoretical propositions and models existing in HRM literature, a number of key findings have emerged. Concerning the content of HRM, in the particular settings, findings show that there are some ‘Core Plus Context’ specific HR practices. The presence of these practices (and the absence of some others) is influenced by various forces such as cultural/country features; legislation; sectoral / organisational characteristics and the nature of workforce employed by the bank. Concerning HRM as processes and perceptions, the findings unveil many factors contributing to the ‘gaps’ and ‘blockages’ that exist between intended-implemented and perceived HRM.In essence, results support one of the most critical concerns in HRM literature; the ‘rhetoric versus reality’ argument. This study confirms that it is one thing to know what the intended policies and strategic goals are (i.e. the content), another to explore how these are enacted (i.e. the process) and quite another to discover how employees at the ‘receiving-end’ experience and perceive these in their daily work (i.e. the perceptions).

Since the financial crisis of 2008, corporate governance (CG) has been the focus of much attention in the developed countries. One of the main priorities of governments in these countries has been to implement CG mechanisms that will improve the practice and effectiveness of boards of directors. But while much has been written about CG in developed countries, developing countries represent relatively untravelled territory in terms of CG research. Libya is the largest oil producer in Africa and its oil revenues form a steady stream of income for the country. However, the country ranks low in terms of international measures of governance. As an Islamic state, with a population that is approximately 97 per cent Sunni Muslim, the prevailing culture, systems, rules and regulations are all profoundly influenced by Islamic precepts. Indeed, the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) has taken steps towards developing a dual system of conventional and Islamic banking. As such, CG and boards of directors (BODs) in the banking sector are highly influenced by Shari’ah law and Shari'ah supervisory boards (SSBs). This research aims to examine the practices, roles and responsibilities of BODs in the Libyan banking sector (LBS) and to identify the factors that facilitate or hinder boards in carrying out these roles and responsibilities. Achieving this overarching aim will help bridge a gap in knowledge in terms of the roles and functions of Libyan boards of directors. To this end, the research investigates boardroom norms in the banking sector in the context of the board’s strategic, service and control and monitoring roles. The main goals of this research are to contribute to current literature and to provide insights that can be applied to corporate governance practice in Libya and, more broadly, the country’s economic development. The study adopts a pragmatic paradigm to address its central research questions. A mixed-method approach was employed: quantitative data was collected by means of a questionnaire survey, while semi-structured interviews were conducted to qualitatively explore the social processes that shape the roles of boards. 227 questionnaires were distributed to 16 Libyan banks (6 public, 6 private and 4 Libyan/foreign). 24 semi-structured, in-depth interviews were then conducted with board members from each bank in the sample; interviewees included chairmen, CEOs and independent non-executive directors. The analysis revealed that a number of key international CG regulations and structural features are already in place in the LBS. Drawing on the work done by other researchers in developed economies and the results from this research, the researcher developed a framework to explain board roles in general and how they operate in practice in the LBS. The findings indicate that BODs are perceived as playing an important strategic role and that most Libyan directors enjoy this role more than the control and service roles. The framework pays particular attention to the internal and external factors that impact upon board performance such as board size, CEO duality, board independence and board diversity. The impact of SSBs is also explored, shedding more light on the roles and responsibilities of the BOD in the context of the Islamic banking system. This study contributes to both theory and practice, providing some useful insights that will bolster the CG literature on developing countries and improve our understanding of BOD roles. The findings also support the Libyan government’s reformist agenda, the aim of which is to create a more attractive and effective investment environment.

The meaning of employee engagement is ambiguous among both academic researchers and practitioners. The term has been used differently; either a psychological state or a state of mind. This research aims to study employee engagement antecedents within the Nigerian banking industry with a unique contribution of identifying evolutionary waves in the development of the concept. Drawing on relevant literature, some basic employee engagement antecedents were selected and analysed using a correlational coefficient as well as thematic content analysis process. While much has been written on the topic, little is known about the engagement of administrative workers in most of the developing countries especially in the banking industry of Nigeria. This research fills this gap. Though a lot of research on the antecedents of employee engagement has been carried out with different findings, there is considerable confusion about the meaning of employee engagement. The thesis objectives include: (i) To study selected antecedents of the employee engagement concept within the Nigeria banking sector; (ii) To study and analyse the overlaps between employee engagement and other work attitude concepts (job satisfaction, motivation, employee involvement, employee commitment and organisation citizenship behaviour) with a view to provide more clarity on the overlaps between the concepts. The study was conducted using a mixed methods sequential design involving quantitative (questionnaires) and qualitative (interview exercise) collection of data. 800 employees were selected as the sample population for the study. Empirical findings show a positive correlation between employee engagement and other work attitude concepts (job satisfaction, motivation, employee involvement, employee commitment and organisation citizen behaviour) and define employee engagement as a cultural, multi-faceted concept, that is, a combination of different constructs put together to form a concept. Additionally, this study uncovered few other employee engagement antecedents such as target setting, employee union, economic situations, job security within the Nigeria banking sector, however, further investigation is recommended to clarify these results and explore the possibility of other variable influences. Finally, the knowledge gained from this thesis will be used by students who are interested in the topic of employee engagement, as well as in human resource management reviews, to address issues regarding the employee engagement.

This work uses the competing theories of regulation and ‘policy transfer’ analysis to examine why and how the global Financial Action Task Force (FATF) regime against money laundering emerged and was introduced in developing countries, particularly South Africa. It also examines the regime’s implementation efforts within South Africa’s banking sector. The popular explanation from the FATF is that this regime was introduced to help in dealing with issues of crime and protecting the financial system against abuse by criminals. The inquiry unfolds in the context of South Africa’s dual socio-economic conditions that straddle the developed-developing country divide. Findings of this study are that the global FATF regime did not primarily emerge for the proclaimed purposes of detecting or combating crime or to protect the global financial system from abuse by criminals. It may have instead emerged to deal with issues of competition, particularly regulatory and tax arbitrage. Evidence also clearly shows that the regime was imposed on many developing and small countries through the FATF’s strategies of naming, shaming and blacklisting those it labelled as Non-Cooperating Countries and Territories at the turn of the 21st century. The spread of the regime throughout the world at all costs appears to point towards a concerted drive to use or manipulate public sentiment about crime and to stigmatise mainly small and developing countries to the benefit of the narrow political and economic interests of some Western countries. Regarding the introduction of the FATF standards into South Africa, evidence shows that although the country was not blacklisted and was eventually made a full member of the FATF, the regime was, nevertheless imposed. In examining the imposition of these standards in South Africa, we found some of their crucial aspects were not designed for implementation under the socio-economic conditions of underdevelopment. Evidence also shows that they are not effective in detecting and combating crime despite the great, yet uncalculated, cost of compliance that they impose on society.

The recent financial crisis highlights the importance of understanding factors that affect financial market price efficiency. Experimental methods allow us to control the intrinsic value of an asset, thus become an attractive technique for studying asset market price efficiency. This dissertation consist three essays, all of which devoted to experimental asset markets. The first essay explores the role of liquidity on the mispricing of an asset. This issue has been the subject of Kirchler et al. (2012) AER paper. By re-analysing the evidence in that article, the first essay concluded that their experimental design have a weakness that biased the results. Therefore, I designed an experiment that eliminates the weakness. The results of my experiment indicate that Constant C/A ratio could reduce mispricing of experimental asset market significantly, but not necessary to lead to undervaluation. The second essay explores how the description of the asset market to the human participants influences the mispricing of the asset being traded. This issue has been the subject of Kirchler et al. (2012) AER paper. When re-assessing the evidence, I was puzzled by the findings and thought that the small sample size of the dataset collected might explain why a minor change to the description of the asset market provided to the participants produced completely different behaviour. This essay replicates the experiment, with a larger sample size and relies on different statistical tests to analyse the data. I find that the treatment with a different contest (“stocks of a depletable of gold mine”) exhibits similar level of mispricing and overvaluation with the baseline treatment., which is not consistent with Kirchler et al. (2012). The third essay is about an experiment that compares how team decision-making vs. individual decision-making differ in how they influence the mispricing of the asset being traded. The main result is that team decision-making does not result in smaller price bubbles. However team decision-making result in less variance among markets (sessions). Further more, my experimental design allows us to record the chat dialogues, which enable us to have insight into team decision-making. The content of the messages allows us explore the reasons behind traders' asks and bids.