Determinants of Awareness to Invest in Shariah-based Private Retirement Scheme (PRS): The Case of Public University Students in Malaysia

This study aims to identify four determinants that influencing students’ intention to invest into Shariahbased Private Retirement Scheme (PRS) in Malaysia among public university students. The purpose of this study is to identify the relationship between determinant namely attitude, social influence, religious obligation, and government support on intention to invest into Shariah-based PRS. The sample comprised of 370 students who were taking business courses in their programme. By using survey as a method to collect the data, the study found that all four determinants have significant influence on the awareness to invest in Shariah-based PRS. In addition, these findings will enhance the students’ awareness, knowledge and understanding of the importance of having a good financial planning for their retirement once they start their career

ESG Strategy Through the Integrated Business Model in Congruence with Circular Economy: Does Independent Board Members Matter?

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of the integrated Business Model disclosures on the financial performance of the top 30 Malaysian PLCs, moderated by a 50% presence of Independent Board of Directors as proposed by the Malaysian Code of Corporate Governance 2017 (MCCG 2017). The paper’s design will adhere to the purposive sampling methodology, utilizing descriptive statistics, multiple regression analysis, and quantitative content analysis derived from the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC)’s Integrated Report, along with previous studies. This approach aims to analyze the annual reports and integrated reports, aiming to explore the Integrated Business Model disclosures within the top 30 Malaysian PLCs. The originality of this paper lies in the design of the new Independent Board of Directors Scoring Index, which aims to identify the best disclosures among the top 30 Malaysian PLCs. This scoring index could prove beneficial to both academicians and practitioners, extending its utility beyond the Top 30 PLCs. The study serves as a systematic review of recent research developments in Integrated Business Model disclosures within the Integrated Report and the Annual Reports of the top 30 Malaysian PLCs. Keywords: ESG, Circular Economy, Governance, Integrated Report, Business Model, Independent Board of Director

Local Government Debt and Its Impact on Corporate Underinvestment and ESG Performance: Empirical Evidence from China

ESG ratings are closely linked to corporate resource allocation and overarching macroeconomic constituents. Nevertheless, there is a noticeable lack in the literature investigating the interconnected relationship between the growth of local government debt, corporate underinvestment, and ESG ratings. This study aims to investigate the impact of local government debt on corporate underinvestment and its subsequent effects on corporate ESG performance. To achieve this goal, this study utilizes special bond data from Chinese provinces spanning the period between 2015 and 2021. The findings suggest that as local government debt swells, it imposes financing constraints on local companies, leading to underinvestment, particularly for listed companies with a high proportion of fixed assets and non-state-owned enterprises. A key effect is a “crowding-out effect” in which local government debt absorbs resources that could otherwise be allocated to private corporations and non-investment sectors. This trend illuminates the concealed costs of a debt-reliant growth model extending beyond the financial sector to impact broader corporate behavior and ESG performance. Our research suggests that government debt, corporate financing constraints, and ESG investment are intimately linked. The study concludes with policy implications and recommendations aimed at mitigating the investment gap in Chinese enterprises and promoting sustainable economic growth

Exploring the Interrelationships between Public Health, Fiscal Decentralization, and Local Government Debt in China

This paper investigates the interrelationships among local government debt, fiscal decentralization, and public health. The investigation begins by constructing a theoretical model to analyze the inherent connections between these variables. Subsequently, an empirical analysis is conducted using data from China between 2015 and 2021. The findings demonstrate a bidirectional relationship between fiscal decentralization, local government debt, and public health. Specifically, it is observed that an increase in local government debt has adverse effects on both fiscal decentralization and public health, while fiscal decentralization has a positive impact on public health. These insights are consistently validated through rigorous regression methodologies, affirming the robustness and significance of these relationships

Firm's Characteristics And Capital Structure - Evidence From Firms In Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER) Of Malaysia

Study on capital structure of companies is abundant as it is reflecting the financial health of firm. Nonetheless, majority of them are either dealing with issues in developed countries or publicly listed companies only. We observed very limited studies on non-listed companies, including small and medium companies

Comparative study on board structure and performance between domestic and foreign banks in Malaysia

This study examines the performance of domestic and foreign banks with regards to the relationship between the board structure and their financial performance in Malaysia. The sample consists of 8 domestic banks and 16 foreign banks in Malaysia from 2012 to 2016.The board structures are board size (BS) and proportion of independent director (ID) as an independent variables and firm size as the control variable. Meanwhile, the performance is measured by four ratios, liquidity (current ratio), profitability (return on assets), risk and solvency (loan to deposit ratio) and efficiency performance (asset utilization ratio). The findings reveal that the board size is proved to be significant relationship with return on assets (ROA) as well as loan to deposit ratio (LDR) for both domestic and foreign banks but insignificant with the other ratios of both the domestic and foreign banks. Apart from that, independent director proportion showed an insignificant influence on financial performance with four financial ratios for both domestic and foreign banks. This study suggests that both domestic and foreign banks do have difference in terms of financial performance, domestic banks perform better than foreign banks in terms of generating good return on assets and loan to deposits ratio however foreign banks perform far better in terms of level of liquidity of the banks as compared to domestic banks

The institutional of Waqf in Malaysia: Awareness, accountability and transparency towards performance and economic growth.

Nowadays, waqf has been an important institution for Muslim economic well being. Based on history, waqf has been successfuly practice in the sixteenth-century during the Ottoman empire (Toraman et aI., 2004). Unfortunately, various studies found that there are still an ongoing issue of accountability and transparency of the waqf trustees. As a result, the standard waqf accounting should be enforced to complement the issues. As such, this study attempts to investigate the degree of awareness towards vitality of cash waqf

A Study of Performance of the KLSE Syariah Index

This study compares the performance of the Syariah Index (SI) and the Composite Index (CI) of the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE) during the period April 1 999 to January 2002, Both the raw and risk-adjusted returns were calculated for the indices for the whole and two sub-periods. Results based on the raw returns revealed that generally, the KLSE SI and CI recorded the same level of returns. Tests using performance measures of Adjusted Sharpe Index, Treynor Index and Adjusted Jensen Alpha revealed that there were also no significant difference in the (risk-adjusted) performance of both indices. We therefore conclude that Syariah-approved stocks were not more favourable than the other stocks in the KLSE.

Board Education, Growth and Performance of Family CEO Listed Firms in Malaysia

This paper examines the relationship between board education, board size, growth, ownership and firm performance of family CEO and nonfamily CEO listed firms in Malaysia. A sample of 37 firms and data were collected over a period of five years from 2012 to 2016. The 37 samples of family firms were subdivided into family CEO (21), and non-family CEO (16) firms. The independent variables were board education as measured by the proportion of board degrees (BDEG) and the proportion of board professional qualifications (BPRO), board size (BSIZE), growth, and ownership. Meanwhile, firm performance was measured by using return on equity (ROE) and return on assets (ROA). The findings showed that there was a significant difference between family CEO and non-family CEO firms at a five percent level for board professional qualifications confirming that altruism and nepotism were observed among family members which supported the argument of characteristics of nepotism such as granting jobs to family members regardless of merit. In addition, this study also found board professional qualifications as significant but negatively related to external firm performance in family CEO firms. This showed that board education has not really been emphasized among board members. Besides, growth has significant influence on family firm performance which is evidently reflected in their contribution to the countrys GDP