Areas of Research
Accounting
The faculty of the Department of Accounting conduct research in a wide set of topics in accounting and business that include:
Auditing, Accounting System and Fraud Examination:
External and internal auditing are two of the most promising and timely avenues in accounting research. Much research is needed on different auditing regulations, standards, and techniques that have the potential to combat various financial reporting frauds, which is causing unprecedented harm to the society. Both accounting researchers and practitioners could benefit immensely from such research, as they are constantly struggling to ascertain the efficacy of various auditing regulations, rules, and procedures.
We have a group of researchers who are currently working in these fields and have been successfully publishing their works in different areas in auditing in both research and practitioner-oriented journals.
Market-based studies in financial accounting and corporate governance
While accounting academicians have conducted a considerable amount of market-based studies in different accounting regulations standards, with the evolvement of different accounting standards, especially international standards much more research is warranted in this area. Corporate governance-related research in the field of accounting is relatively new. However, to ensure an ethical accounting and auditing practice and preserving stakeholders’ wealth, there is a global outcry of corporate governance based accounting research.
Several faculty of our accounting department have been involved with market-based accounting research for quite some time, in collaboration with globally reputable researchers. Some market-based topics addressed by our researchers include capital market consequences of expensing research and development (R&D), and market valuation of various mandatory and voluntary disclosures such as segment disclosure, the disclosure of various components of comprehensive income. Further, some of our researchers are currently examining various facets of corporate governance, as it relates to accounting, such as independence of audit committee, and board members, the presence of accounting and/or financial profession in board members, and effectiveness of internal control.
Moreover, as more companies expand globally, several faculty members in the accounting department at AUS focus on investigating the impact of global diversification on such variables as the cost of capital and capital structure, firm performance, and attributes of financial reporting (e.g., conservatism).
Economics
The Department of Economics has a very strong record of research productivity resulting in publications in top-notch academic outlets. Our faculty have a number of specialization areas, some of which are as follows:
Central Banking, Monetary Economics, and Forecasting
Central banking is one of the course policy channels along fiscal policy in any economy. Therefore, it has gathered both academic and practitioners’ interest all over the world. Needless to say, policymakers need accurate and reliable forecasts for the policy recommendation they wish to implement well in advance of the practice stage.
We have a strong cadre of researchers in the department doing both theoretical and empirical research in these fields. They have publications in reputable journals in almost all aspects of theoretical and empirical monetary policy and forecasting.
Labor Market, Migration, and Remittances
One of the main features of the GCC economies is the structure of the labor. These economies are characterized with the notion of the large economies with insufficient indigenous populations. Thus, the amount of remittances flowing out of the region makes it one of the biggest remittance senders in the world. Additionally, the growing local youth population, as well as localization of the labor force, are important issues for policymakers and researchers.
Our researchers have extensive experience in conducting theoretical and empirical research related to many aspects of local and international labor markets and remittances, as evidenced by their research output, consulting services, and international research collaborations.
Economic Development and Political Economy of Conflicts
Development economics examines economic transformation of developing countries with an emphasis on improving the well-being of population – particularly poor people – in terms of standards of living, health, and education. Our faculty include economists who undertake high-quality academic work on various aspects of development.
Our faculty members also engage in inter-disciplinary research on causes and consequences – including economic sources and impacts – of conflicts, and the role of various institutions in preventing, managing, and mitigating the effects of conflicts. Their research output includes publications that significantly contributed to academic and policy debates.
Energy Economics
Faculty members have also been involved in producing high-quality research in energy economics and policy. Their publications in such reputable journals as Energy Economics, Energy Policy, and OPEC Energy Review focus on (i) estimating the (asymmetric) responses of US gasoline demand to changes in various factors including gasoline prices and consumer sentiment; (ii) estimating the price elasticity of demand for gasoline in fuel-subsidizing economies; (iii) using US consumer survey data to forecast the price of crude-oil, gasoline, and heating-oil prices; (iv) investigating the causal relation between electricity consumption and economic growth of OPEC members; and (v) evaluating the predictive accuracy of crude oil futures prices.
Household Behavior and Family Economics
As economics, in general, is about understanding decision-making, one of the most important decision-making nuclei is the household. Our faculty conduct research on a large array of decision-making at the family level, including, but not limited to, inheritances and bequests left to children, care given to parents on behalf of children, domestic violence and divorce, household wealth accumulation, investment in children’s future, to name a few. These issues have profound implications for economic growth, nation's wealth formations, as well as government policies.
Finance
Below is an overview of some major research areas in the Department of Finance:
Corporate decisions and corporate governance
Faculty in the department of finance conduct extensive research in several areas of corporate finance. These include R&D investments and innovation, mergers and acquisitions, bankruptcy, issuing securities, risk management, corporate social responsibility investment, information environment, ownership structure, government ownership, and valuation among others.
Financial markets research
This is a vast area of interest in the field of finance and focuses on financial markets dynamics, volatility, microstructure, asset pricing, short selling, market efficiency, anomalies in the stock markets, capital markets development, risk, etc.
Banking
Primary research interests in this area are risk, performance, and regulations in the banking sector, the interaction between micro and macro variables, macroeconomic implications of banking, liquidity creation, the industrial organization and the corporate finance characteristics of the banking system.
International business and finance
Faculty in the department of finance work on several areas of international finance including joint ventures, foreign investment flows, portfolio management and investments in emerging markets, the legal and cultural determinants of corporate decisions, sovereign wealth funds, and market dynamics and performance.
Islamic finance, institutions, and markets
Research in the area of Islamic Finance has been developing over the last twenty years. Areas in this field include the behavior of Islamic banks compared to conventional banks, the impact of Islamic finance on stock markets volatility, and Islamic finance and financial stability.
Management
Faculty members in the Department of Management pursue an active research agenda with work appearing in many of the top journals in Management including the Academy of Management Perspectives, Business Ethics: A European Review, Business Research Quarterly, Health Expectations, Human Relations, the Journal of Family Business Strategy, the Journal of Business Ethics, the Journal of Management, the Journal of Small Business Management, the Journal of World Business, Personnel Review, Public Administration Quarterly, and Public Policy and Administration to name a few. An overview of some of the areas that faculty members in the Department of Management focus on is highlighted below:
Business and Peace
Faculty in the department conduct research on Business and Peace with specific foci research questions related to the understanding of, and implementing best practices in, organizations that operate in conflict and post-conflict zones in ways that both minimize legal liability and enhance peace.
Corporate Governance
Faculty in the department conduct research on Corporate Governance with specific foci research questions related to the structure and value of executive compensation, board dynamics, board composition, behavioral governance, and the impact of corporate governance systems on organizational performance.
Family Business
Faculty in the department conduct research on Family Business with specific foci on research questions related to the goal-setting process of family business firms, succession and successor attributes, corporate governance and governance attributes of family business firms, and family business questions related to regional development and public policy.
Gender Equality in Organizations and Women in Leadership
Faculty in the department conduct research on research questions related to women in leadership, the gendered nature of the career development process, the importance of developing and deploying career enhancement strategies.
Human Resources Management
Faculty in the department conduct research in Human Resources Management with specific foci on research questions related to organizational and cultural values, expatriate management, talent management, and the Emiratization of public and private organizations.
Internationalization
Faculty in the department conduct research on the internationalization of SMEs with specific foci on research questions related the development and implementation of strategies for internationalization, international entrepreneurship, services internationalization, and foreign direct investment mechanisms in developing countries.
Knowledge Management
Faculty in the department conduct research on Knowledge Management with specific foci research questions related to the transfer of knowledge management both within and between organizations, knowledge utilization, and innovation strategies and technical transfer in SMEs.
Organizational Behavior
Faculty in the department conduct research on Organizational Behavior with specific foci on research questions related to organizational culture, teamwork, and cross-cultural issues that impact organizations.
Public Administration
Faculty in the department conduct research in the area of Public Administration with specific foci on research questions related to leadership in the public sector and public policy formulation, implementation, and administration in health care.
Top Managers
Faculty in the department conduct research on Top Management Teams with specific foci research questions related to the impact of top manager attributes on the organizational outcomes related to structure, strategy formulation, and performance.
Marketing and Information Systems
Services are an important component of tangible products and have emerged as the primary source of competitive differentiation for most firms. Thus, establishing the key drivers of customer loyalty and achieving excellence in service quality are critically important to organizations of all types. Because customers have increasing performance expectations of suppliers, firms must continually innovate to improve service quality. In the Department of Marketing and Information Systems, we have a number of faculty members working in the areas of customer satisfaction, service innovation, and loyalty behaviors within business-to-consumer, business-to-business, tourism marketing, and in the luxury brand management contexts. In particular, our faculty has publications in the high-impact journals related to marketing such as Journal of Retailing, Journal of Service Research, Industrial Marketing Management, and European Journal of Marketing among others.
Similarly, our department is also engaged in studying the areas of Information Systems and Supply Chain Management (SCM). Our focus is on challenges related to strategic alignment, strategies in e-commerce, smart tourism, social networks, logistics, procurement, inventory, and order fulfillment that have become key management concerns and sources of cost-cutting opportunities. We have pursued theoretical, qualitative, quantitative, and empirical research in both Information Systems and SCM related fields such as operations management. The department has produced publications in reputable journals such as Omega, Journal of Operations Management, International Journal of Production Economics, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, and Computers and Operations Research.
