On Informal Institutions and Accounting Behavior

This book focuses on the Chinese context to investigate how informal institutions (Confucian culture and its dimensions, religion, political connections) in China affect accounting behaviors. This book tries to show that cultural influence and religious impacts in China are not trivial and increasingly important, and specifically, informal institutions have its bright and dark sides with regard to its effects on accounting behaviors. This book aims to investigate whether and how informal institutions (Confucian culture and its dimensions, religion, political connections) affect micro-level accounting behaviors, including but not limited to audit quality, financial misstatement, R&D, corporate misconducts, corporate philanthropy and corporate environmental responsibility.

This book provides graduate students, scholars and practitioners in the fields of accounting, business administration and religion with an in-depth understanding about how informal institutions as a set of social norms affect micro-level accounting behaviors.

First, this book is the first to focus on the Chinese context and investigate the effects of informal institutions on accounting behavior.

Second, this book documents systematic evidence to show the bright and dark sides with regard to the relation between informal institutions and accounting behavior in China.

Lastly, this book reveals informal institutions can serve as an important mechanism to affect accounting behaviors.

• Informal Institutions
• Confucian Culture
• Surname Connectedness
• Hometown Complex
• Religion
• Issuance Examination Committee Connection

• Accounting Department, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China

  Xingqiang Du

Xingqiang Du is Full Professor of Accounting at Xiamen University (2004–), Head of Accounting Department, Editorial Members at the Journal of Business Ethics (FT50 Journal) and Editor-in-Chief of Contemporary Accounting Research (in Chinese; CSSCI). His research focuses on how religion, Confucianism and different cultural dimensions affect accounting and auditing behavior, corporate governance and CSR. His studies have been supported by more than 10 scientific research projects including key NSFC project in China, and he has awarded the First Prize of Excellent Achievements in Humanities and Social Sciences of Chinese Universities by the Ministry of Education and the First Prize of Excellent Achievements in Social Sciences by Fujian Province. He has published more than 20 papers in Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, International Journal of Accounting, Management and Organization Review, Asia Pacific Journal of Management, etc.

Policies and ethics