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Purpose Firms influence a government to their advantage in one of two ways: either through lobbying a government to change the rule, or through bribing bureaucrats to circumvent the rule. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether and under what conditions do corporate political activities facilitate firm growth in a multinational context, especially in developing economies. Design/methodology/approach This study is based on the data of the World Bank’s Enterprise Survey, conducted by the World Bank in the 2002 to 2006 period in 12 countries. To deal with a multilevel structure, the authors applied multilevel regression as the main analysis method. Findings The analysis reveals that both political activities are prevalent in emerging markets, but they play very different roles on firm growth. The authors also find that the effect of lobbying is more pronounced in politically durable countries where firms can secure their vested benefits by lobbying. Originality/value The paper contributes to the corporate political activities literature by investigating the distinguishing and contingent role of bribery and lobbying on firm performance.

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Smartphones have evolved constantly since they debuted early in the 2000s. However, hardware features and the external environment restrict their use, making it difficult to ensure high interactivity. The structure and usage of smartphone applications are also becoming increasingly complex and it is often found to be difficult to understand their interface design. These user environments and conditions inhibit smooth user interaction with applications. This is expected to negatively affect user intentions to use mobile applications eventually. However, information systems research has not shown much interest in the effects of smartphone applications' interface designs on user attitudes and behaviors. Thus, this study attempted to explore the effects that application interface design has on user attitudes and behaviors when using mobile device applications. This study specifically focused on the following interface design factors: simplicity, consistency, and metaphors. Data was collected through a survey, and structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed for analysis. This study's results showed that these interface design factors have a significant effect on user interaction with smartphone applications as well as a positive effect on users' intention to use mobile applications.

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