Theorising management accounting practices and service quality: the case of Malaysian health tourism hospital destinations

Private hospitals in Malaysia are now extending their healthcare services to cater for patients travelling from the global market. These organisations are aggressively gearing themselves up to deliver quality services and to demonstrate quality assurance on their services. Hence, service quality strategies and initiatives have become critical for success in hospitals and the way forward. In pursuing quality initiatives, hospitals need to gain access to quality-related information and adopting the appropriate management accounting practices would be an important enabler and facilitator to generate useful management information leading to organisational successes. This study examines the usage of management accounting practices in these hospitals and attempts to develop a management accounting framework that would effectively facilitate the implementation of service quality initiatives pursued. Structured questionnaire was used to gather the perceptions of hospital management on service quality implementation level, usage level of management accounting practices usage and performance level of hospitals. Quantitative methods using MANOVA and structural equation modelling with AMOS were employed for data analysis. The results show that service quality implementation level was not found to be higher in hospitals that have obtained more types of quality achievements as compared to those that have obtained less or no achievements. Hospitals have benefitted from the implementation of quality initiatives related to management, process and analysis. However, such benefit was not found in quality initiatives related to patient care. In terms of the mediating role of management accounting practices, the results show no mediation effect on the impact of patient care on hospital performance. Meanwhile, there was partial mediating effect on the impact of management, process and analysis on hospital performance. Specifically, the mediating effect was found to be stronger from the advanced accounting practices compared to the basic accounting practices. The findings lead to a conclusion that adopting the appropriate management accounting practices would effectively facilitate hospitals in their quality pursuits. Limitations of this study and recommendation for future research are presented

Theorising management accounting practices and service quality: the case of Malaysian health tourism hospital destinations

Private hospitals in Malaysia are now extending their healthcare services to cater for patients travelling from the global market. These organisations are aggressively gearing themselves up to deliver quality services and to demonstrate quality assurance on their services. Hence, service quality strategies and initiatives have become critical for success in hospitals and the way forward. In pursuing quality initiatives, hospitals need to gain access to quality-related information and adopting the appropriate management accounting practices would be an important enabler and facilitator to generate useful management information leading to organisational successes. This study examines the usage of management accounting practices in these hospitals and attempts to develop a management accounting framework that would effectively facilitate the implementation of service quality initiatives pursued. Structured questionnaire was used to gather the perceptions of hospital management on service quality implementation level, usage level of management accounting practices usage and performance level of hospitals. Quantitative methods using MANOVA and structural equation modelling with AMOS were employed for data analysis. The results show that service quality implementation level was not found to be higher in hospitals that have obtained more types of quality achievements as compared to those that have obtained less or no achievements. Hospitals have benefitted from the implementation of quality initiatives related to management, process and analysis. However, such benefit was not found in quality initiatives related to patient care. In terms of the mediating role of management accounting practices, the results show no mediation effect on the impact of patient care on hospital performance. Meanwhile, there was partial mediating effect on the impact of management, process and analysis on hospital performance. Specifically, the mediating effect was found to be stronger from the advanced accounting practices compared to the basic accounting practices. The findings lead to a conclusion that adopting the appropriate management accounting practices would effectively facilitate hospitals in their quality pursuits. Limitations of this study and recommendation for future research are presented

Management systems and the CSR engagement

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the most potent internal resources of a firm that contribute to the CSR agenda. Design/methodology/approach – The study adopts a quantitative approach to analyze Malaysian companies. A scorecard is devised according to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework. A logit/probit model is employed to differentiate firms that are CSR‐active from their non‐active counterparts. Findings – The results indicate that having universal accredited management systems in place differentiates CSR‐active companies from inactive companies. Also, firm size does not matter for CSR performance. Research limitations/implications – The study uses proxies to examine a firm's resources, and thus it might not have captured the implication of the resources fully. Also it identifies resources that have a bearing on the CSR level but does not investigate the conditions in which such resources can be relevant. Practical implications – The results imply that firms that are intent on being CSR‐active should consider implementing the various management systems relevant for their businesses. Managers responsible for the CSR agenda might wish to highlight the fact that adherence to such systems actually contributes to the bottom line, thus minimizing resistance from decision‐makers, who might view CSR as a costly initiative. Originality/value – The study provides an insight into the influence of management systems on CSR performance among firms in a developing country in Asia. This, to the best knowledge of the authors, has not been studied before

Management systems and the CSR engagement

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the most potent internal resources of a firm that contribute to the CSR agenda. Design/methodology/approach – The study adopts a quantitative approach to analyze Malaysian companies. A scorecard is devised according to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework. A logit/probit model is employed to differentiate firms that are CSR-active from their non-active counterparts. Findings – The results indicate that having universal accredited management systems in place differentiates CSR-active companies from inactive companies. Also, firm size does not matter for CSR performance. Research limitations/implications – The study uses proxies to examine a firm's resources, and thus it might not have captured the implication of the resources fully. Also it identifies resources that have a bearing on the CSR level but does not investigate the conditions in which such resources can be relevant. Practical implications – The results imply that firms that are intent on being CSR-active should consider implementing the various management systems relevant for their businesses. Managers responsible for the CSR agenda might wish to highlight the fact that adherence to such systems actually contributes to the bottom line, thus minimizing resistance from decision-makers, who might view CSR as a costly initiative. Originality/value – The study provides an insight into the influence of management systems on CSR performance among firms in a developing country in Asia. This, to the best knowledge of the authors, has not been studied before.Malaysia, Management techniques, Resource management, Social responsibility

Does it Pay to Be Good in Developing Countries? The Relationship Between Corporate Social Responsibility and Financial Performance in Malaysia

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a common business practice has only recently established a foothold in developing countries. This is evidenced by a lack of literature in the area of CSR among these countries. In Malaysia, for instance, only a third of large businesses can be considered CSR active. The purpose of this paper is to determine if there is a link between CSR performance and financial performance among these large businesses. We compare the monthly average returns of a portfolio of CSR active companies (based on disclosure) against a portfolio of inactive CSR companies as well as against the market, represented by the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange Composite Index (KLSE-CI). Both risk unadjusted and risk adjusted returns were utilized in this study. In either case, we do not find strong statistical evidence to show that our CSR portfolio outperforms the market; neither does it beat the non-CSR portfolio. Nevertheless, based on the results obtained by similar studies in the US, UK and Australia, there is reason to believe that CSR active companies may outperform their counterparts when consumers, employees and other stakeholders increase the value they place on socially responsible activities of a firm. Our findings also imply that international investors looking for socially responsible companies in developing companies to invest in need not incur significant opportunity costs when carrying out their investment strategies. Given that developing countries like Malaysia feature strongly in international investment portfolios like the Morgan Stanley International Composite Index (MSCI), socially responsible investors could extend their portfolios internationally without compromising their rate of returns

Corporate social performance and ethnicity: A comparison between Malay and Chinese chief executives in Malaysia

The call for corporate social responsibility is steadily escalating in the corporate agenda. Previous studies on the determinants of Corporate Social Performance (CSP) point to factors including the size of firms and the nature of industries, as well as the commitment of the leadership. This study explores how attributes of chief executives in Malaysia may affect the formulation and implementation of socially responsible policies and programmes of organizations. The suggestion is that companies with Malay chief executives demonstrate higher corporate social performance levels than companies with Chinese chief executives; and that the age of chief executives is a significant predictor of the CSP level. However, the education background of the chief executives has no noticeable effect on the level of CSP