Call for Papers
Replication studies in finance and accounting
On the time- and region-related robustness of business research findings
Journal of Business Economics (Special Issue)
Editors:
Wolfgang Breuer, Department of Finance, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
Christian Hofmann, LMU Munich School of Management, Munich, Germany
Aim of this Special Issue:
Business economics as an applied science is strongly rooted in empirical research. Unlike in natural sciences, where laws of nature are assumed to be generally valid over time and space, this is not necessarily the case for real-life economic relationships. First, empirical economic findings in one region of the world cannot generally be assumed to hold true for institutional or cultural backgrounds in other societies. A prominent example is the difference in market reactions and outcomes between capital market-oriented Anglo-Saxon countries and bank-based financial systems like those in Germany or Japan. Second, empirical results may lose significance over time due to technological advancements or changes in human behavior (possibly even in response to these former studies!), which may render frameworks and insights obsolete that were valid in the past. For instance, behavioral anomalies that were previously exploitable may disappear once they are revealed in scientific publications. Third, from today’s perspective, it may be that previous studies exhibit fundamental and so far undetected weaknesses in methodology or data quality, which need to be disclosed. Especially the current surge in big data approaches has considerably expanded opportunities for empirical testing.
Against this backdrop, replication studies in business economics in general, and in finance and accounting in particular, gain special relevance. Of course, it is important that these empirical works are well-grounded in theory, so that the conception of the respective replication study already shows why an empirical test of earlier works could be of interest. We call on researchers to make such contributions to the field of finance and accounting.
Papers must be written in English and must not contain any reference to the identity of the authors.
Please submit an (extended) abstract of about 1,000 words to wolfgang.breuer@bfw.rwth-aachen.de by 05/31/2023. The authors of the selected abstracts will be invited to submit a full paper by 11/30/2023. They must not have been published previously. Submitted papers will be double-blind peer-reviewed and – upon acceptance – published in a special issue of the Journal of Business Economics at the beginning of 2025. Author guidelines are available at: http://www.springer.com/11573.