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1. Introduction
Financial management is the backbone of any business, including firms involved in hospitality (including but not limited to hotels, restaurants, and casinos). In the hospitality industry, managers at the property level are charged with using owners' invested assets to enhance revenues and reduce expenses to achieve desired net profits. However, managers at the corporate level are more involved in issues related to investing excess cash and raising debt and equity capital. Dividend policy and decisions, which to some extent signal board-level views on the firm's future development opportunities, also play a significant role in hospitality finance. The hospitality industry is fairly capital-intensive ([56] Karadeniz et al. , 2009; [73] Lee, 2007), requiring managers at all levels to have adequate financial management skills and access to strategies for achieving the goal of financial management, namely value enhancement or creation for owners ([1] Andrew et al. , 2007). Nevertheless, given increasingly complicated operating environments and more sophisticated and educated customers and stakeholders, good financial management has become even more critical in coping with ever-changing operating parameters. It is critical that practitioners as well as academics understand the recent research on financial decisions and phenomena.
Research in hospitality financial management has noticeably emerged since the late 1980s and early 1990s. Many papers have been published to disseminate new knowledge or unveil existing phenomena in the field, and to explain the managerial implications of financial management issues and problems to industry stakeholders. However, as [43] Harris and Brown (1998) point out in their review of research and development in hospitality accounting and financial management (with more focus on accounting than finance), some of this work has tended to be inward-looking, with inadequate methodologies and superficial results. [3] Atkinson and Jones (2006) also noted in their review (with more focus on management accounting than finance) that not much progress has been observed in areas highlighted as "innovative" in 1998, and little evidence exists of the development of new theories. Another critique is that studies have tended to replicate mainstream financial research, with the only major difference being the use of a hospitality sample. This contributes minimally, if at all, to our knowledge. While the hospitality industry does share some commonalities with other service industries, some unique operating characteristics...